Fat me.......

Okay, here's the photo that did it!!! Sandie took it while I was waiting for permission to dive into the pile of Chicken Scratch fabric and because she is taller than me, the angle of the photo makes me look even worse. I couldn't wait to get to the local gym and sign up for a whole twelve months after seeing this plus I went shopping and bought all low-fat groceries and will try to stick as closely as possible to the Weight Watchers diet as money and circumstances will allow. Don't worry, I'll be posting more photos of thinner Viv at a much later date!

Blocks for Norma and Brenda

This is the third time I have tried to publish these two blocks which belong to Norma (top) and Brenda (bottom) who both live in the US. Norma's block is mostly green and cream in keeping with the colours in the skirt of the little Snowflake fairy in the centre picture. I found working on this block was very relaxing probably because of the lovely gentle quiet colours. Norma hasn't seen this block in the flesh yet so I hope she likes it when she sees it.

Brenda's block on the bottom is a lot brighter than I usually do but that was what she requested, ie. Bright colours. This was a fun block and I finally found just the right place to attach the gold Easter Bonnet charm which I received in a swap last year. I dyed the butterfly ages ago and thought it was a bit bright until I realised that it was a perfect balance to the fabric in the bottom corner. I tizzied him up a bit with coral coloured beads on his lower wings. It was great meeting Brenda in the flesh after she had made the long journey from Texas to Australia for the Easter gathering.

Tatted circle

This is the little bit of variegated green tatting which I did on the plane coming home from the Easter Gathering. I chose a plastic shuttle which didn't have a crochet hook imbedded in one end so that it wasn't regarded as a dangerous weapon of mass destruction! Once it was finished at about the same time as the wheels of the plane came down for landing, it looked a bit like a Christmas wreath. I blocked it flat and attached it to the corner of my own Easter Gathering block then added a corded flower in the centre and little coloured plastic flower beads around the edge. If I do another one for a Christmas wreath, I wouldn't use the variegated thread again, instead I would use a plain dark green one. However, this one looks quite happy on the corner of my block.

Catherine learning how to TAT

These two photos show Catherine concentrating while I was teaching her to Shuttle-tat. She managed to pick it up quickly and it wasn't long before she was doing knots which slid along the shuttle thread just as they were supposed to. I hope she goes on to complete edgings and motifs for her crazy quilting projects which are beautiful anyway. Check out Catherine's blog "Calidore's Garden Ramblings" in my side panel.

Melanie Roses

At the Easter Gathering we all took turns at being (a) the teacher and (b) a student. Consequently all of us learnt new skills and techniques which we hadn't known before. Julia taught us how to do "Melanie Roses" using 4ml silk ribbon. This is a block which I am working on for myself and these are my first attempt at Melanie Roses. I am really glad that Julia chose to teach these as apart from being very easy to do, they look totally true-to-life.

The first crazy quilting blocks for the Easter Gathering

These two blocks are very similar in colour even though the only common fabric is the rose pink satin. The one at the top was for Sandie who very kindly hosted the Easter Gathering. Sandie loves pink so although the picture in the centre was of a darling little Angel walking a pet lamb (Sandie's an animal lover) and mostly greens and creams, there was enough pink in there for me to add pink fabrics and threads. I was really happy with the way the colours combined to create a sort of harmoneous feeling.

The bottom one was for Julia who is primarily a "Victorian" person and loves sludgy colours. She does the most gorgeous crazy quilting using colours on a black background - something I have yet to muster up the courage to try. Her picture was a Victorian style Angel with palm leaves which set the tone of the block. I remember telling Julia that I was working on a block with an Angel in a cream dress with a rose pink shawl around her shoulders and asking her to guess who it was for. "Well, it can't be for me - it must be Sandie's!!" she answered.........which put me off a bit so it got put to the back of the list while I thought about it. In the end, I was happy with it and I think she was too.

More Easter Gathering blocks

The block at the top of these two was for my friend Mary Lewis. Mary always loves cream on cream so that is what I gave her. The picture in the centre was of a cute little girl Angel leaning on an old cross which was covered in Ivy so I added a little bit of green and gold colours to compliment the cream. I am always amazed at how many shades of cream there are......from yellow cream to greyish cream, whitey cream to pinkish cream........on and on and on......thousands of them!

The bottom picture was Maria's, who had asked for turquoise. I was soooooo far out of my comfort zone with these colours as I usually like either old Victorian colours or bright zingy colours toned down with black. I had heaps of fun trying to match the colours in the old postcard, adding vintage buttons and a gold crucifix charm, beads and sequins. The three flowers on the bottom left were stitched from threads unpicked from a rayon crocheted cardigan (Mary spent hours unpicking that jumper while I was visiting her in Mollymook last October) but the flowers, worked in rows of stem stitch, turned out just right for that corner.

More Easter Gathering blocks

Here are two more of the Easter Gathering blocks. The top one was for Belinda (Bear) who specifically asked for purples. I tried to add as many shades of purple as I could put together but the picture (which looks a bit blurred here) demanded that I add some complimentery aqua and green colours as well. Nevertheless, I was happy with this block and it passed muster with the people I work with who watched these blocks grow every lunch break.

The bottom block was done for Kathy who has had a bit of a tough time of it lately and requested that no-one do blocks for her because she just didn't have the time to reciprocate. Well, Kathy is our friend and we all thought that she deserved to get a dozen blocks anyway. I hope she likes this one when she eventually gets it.

Easter Gathering Crazy Quilted blocks

These are the first two of the block I made for other people at the Easter Gathering. The top one was for Maureen who requested Creams and pastels. Everyone had a silk print of an old Edwardian Easter postcard in the centre of their block and Maureen's picture seem to demand yellows, golds and apricot colours to be added to the cream.

The one underneath was for Catherine. Her picture was of a yellow chicken hatching from an egg and surrounded by very pretty pastel coloured flowers. I loved the colours in this block and skipped from one area to the other adding seam treatments and embellishments with the greatest of east as the block sort of "spoke to me" about what it wanted me to add next.

Easter Gathering of Crazy Quilting friends

As soon as the UK holiday was over, the next exciting thing in my life was the Easter Gathering of the some of the Australia crazy quilters. In the end seven of us plus five husbands manage to get togther at Sandie's place near Port Pirie in South Australia. Pictured here are the other six cquilters. Back row: Brenda from Texas, Maureen from Victoria, Sandie from South Australia. Bottom row: Maria from Tasmania, Catherine from Victoria and Julia from Western Australia. Julia and I plus our DHs Eddie and Reno flew from Western Australia to Adelaide then picked up a hire car and drove to Pt Pirie. We had the best time ever, sightseeing, sewing, learning new skills to use in our crazy quilting, diving in for a Chicken Scratch (I didn't mean to bring home more stuff than I took with me......but everyone knows what happens during a chicken scratch when you see a beautiful piece of fabric that you simply MUST have!) Sadly six other ladies had to pull out for various personal reasons but everybody made a block for each of the others which meant that all of us made twelve blocks to give away and came home with twelve blocks made by twelve other people. Great fun was had by all!!

Flower Fairies

Before we went to England, I bought three Flower Fairy books on eBay.uk and had them posted to my mother-in-law's address so they were waiting for me when I got there. I love the Flower Fairies by Cicely Mary Barker and the little Columbine Fairy is definitely my favourite fairy of them all. I am trying to encourage my grand-daughter Taylia to love them too although at the moment she is in love with Snugglepot and Cuddlepie, just as I was at six or seven yrs of age. I also bought lots of Mill Hill seed beads and over-dyed threads for my crazy quilting on Ebay from UK sellers which were sent to M-i-l's address so it was a bit like an early Christmas for me when we arrived, opening all my parcels.

Scottish Highlands

We also spent a few days exploring the Scottish Highlands around Fort William and Mallaig and stayed in a lovely Bed & Breakfast called "Glenlochie" at the foot of the mighty Ben Nevis. The snow at the top of the Scottish mountains was the only snow I saw the entire time we were away and it was so far away that it looked more like icing sugar on a huge cake. I've wanted to visit Scotland ever since I was a little kid and was egged on by my grandmother whose father was Scottish. Grandma instilled a great Scottish pride in me but sadly she never actually visited Scotland herself....how she would have loved the place! Much to my family's amusement, I played the side-drum in the Perth Ladies Highland Pipeband from when I was twelve until I was fifteen years old and my favourite Scottish singer is Kenneth MacKeller.

View in Wales

We travelled to Wales to spend a few days with Eddie's cousin Rob, his partner Karyn and Rob's 92 yr old mother Aunty Nesta. What a great time we had driving around the Welsh hills with it's patchwork of fields and hedgerows. I asked Rob to stop the car at the top of this hill so I could photograph the landscape. I wish I could capture the view in crazy quilting but that green colour is so peculiar, not at all like the greens in Australia. I think Wales is so pretty and the colours change with the weather.....

Our Very Special UK friends

Nothing is nicer than catching up with old friends especially when we only see them every three or four years. This particular evening we went to a pub for a meal and a quiz night which was a lot of fun. Marlene on the left is married to Ron in the centre right while Vic at the back on the left is married to Rosalie on the front right and that's me at the back in the black jumper. These are special friends who are always there when we land in England. Ron and Marlene have been to Australia to visit us once but we are still working on Vic and Rosalie.

Blog Catch-up time.

I am so ashamed. I haven't had time to add to my blog since last November. So much has happened since then that I need to go back to November and start at the beginning. In December, Eddie and I went to England to spend Christmas and New Year with his Mum and his extended family. Here is my favourite photo of the two of them together, standing in Anlaby Road in Hull, Yorkshire. My lovely mother-in-law certainly doesn't look 84 years old in this trendy outfit!

Inside the studio

At the moment, the studio is still a bit of a mess until the walls and ceiling go in but that won't be until the electrician has been in next week. I thought of every reason why I'd need an electric plug - sewing machine, commercial overlocker, domestic overlocker, light box, iron, kettle, lap-top computer ........so I ordered four double plugs, which will get rid of having to use power boards or double adaptors. That extra power point is bothering me - please, can someone think of a good way to use it?? 

Another view of the studio and signal

This is another view of the studio showing how low the patio roof is compared to the wall of the building - it will have to go - this shot also shows Eddie's railway signal which is the reason I got the studio in the first place. I wanted to move to a bigger house with a bigger sewing room but Eddie just couldn't bear to go through the hassle of moving his precious signal which a fully restored, fully working 1911 West Australia Govt Railways signal. The post is solid jarrah and took eight hefty blokes to move it from the car trailer to the backyard while all the metal bits were imported from England. When we have a bbq, all the blokes think it's great fun to move the lever which moves the arm, which changes the colour of the light from the lamp from red to green and which also makes every dog in the neighbourhood bark like crazy! We saw it in the back garden of a house which was for sale on Great Eastern Hwy. It was the day that runners were taking the Olympic flame through Guildford so we there to watch. The agent came out and asked "Are you interested in looking at the house?" I said, "No, but how much do they want for the railway signal?" A month later we got a phone call to say, "$500". It was in a pretty dilapidated state but Eddie thought $500 was really cheap, so it's been in our garden ever since. Actually the signal makes the studio look like a signal box or some other station building - I hope Eddie doesn't want to use it for a model railway room..........nah! It's mine - I've waited years for something like this....

Side view of Studio

Another view of the studio frame although it doesn't look very big in this photo. The long window is on this south side looking into the garden while the door and smaller window face into the patio. 

Studio - Work in Progress

I took this photo from our patio at 6 o'clock this morning to show the work in progress on the studio from when the two guys arrived at noon and left at 5pm. This photo shows the proximity to the end of the patio so that I can walk out the family-room door and into the studio without getting rained on. The back wall has been insulated and cladded so I guess the other walls and roof will be done today. This is so exciting after the long 6 months wait.......at least things are moving along quickly now. 

Day One of my Studio

The two guys got to my place at lunchtime yesterday and this is what they acheived in just half a day. It was so exciting watching the girders and framework being put together. They arrived back at seven o'clock this morning and the sliding door is in place and they are working on the front wall. These are photos which I took early this morning before they arrived.

My BIGGEST UFO quilt

This would have to be the BIGGEST UFO imaginable. I started making the hexagons in 1995 while on a plane between Australia and England and took lots of cut-out paper templates and pre-cut fabric shapes with me to work on while on holidays. I made the mistake of measuring the quilt from the floor on one side of the queen sized bed, over the top and down the other side to get the width, then I measured from the floor at the end of the bed, up the length of the bed and over the pillows (in this photo, a lot of the quilt is tucked down below the camera out of sight), and over the pillows to get the length. Then I stitched enough hexagon flowers separated by calico hexagons to finish the whole of the outside edge, thus committing myself to this HUGE size. One momentous day about four years ago, I finally reached the middle and therefore last flower and my hands shook so much I could hardly sew. Each hexagon flower has a yellow patch in the centre surrounded by two dark, two medium and two light colour co-ordinated ones. Every hexagon was hand tacked to the paper then top-sewed with tiny slip-stitches to it's neighbours. There will not be one single machine stitch in this quilt but I have to admit that I have been procrastinating about the actual hand-quilting, even though the quilt, wadding and backing is all sandwiched together and held with quilter's safety pins. It is awkward to manipulate and hand-quilt because of the sheer weight of it all and also because I am using a large hoop to keep the fabric taut. This is my UFO to finsh next year in Sandie's UFO challenge. I intend to finish it off by sewing a wide border to the backing fabric, bringing it through to the front, tucking it under the last row of flowers and then using the applique method to stitch the flowers down on the border, making a straight edge. 

Hexagon quilt UFO

This is another view of the quilt from the side of the bed. This photo shows the small area where I have begun to hand quilt each hexagon. It's not particularly hard work, just awkward because of the large ring I am using to hold the quilt taut while I quilt. The quilt measures 11 feet x 10 feet in total with each hexagon measuring 2 1/2 inches across. 

This is the meccano set which hopefully, one day.........sigh.........might become my studio. At the moment it just consists of the welded wall frames and roofing trusses, roofing metal sheets, weathertex slats for the sides, gutters and downpipes and a box of bits which bolt it all together. This all arrived three weeks ago but because the sliding door and two windows hadn't arrived, it wasn't possible to construct it. Well, three weeks later, the door and windows have still not arrived and if they are not here by Monday I am going to lodge an official complaint against the company with the Ministry of Fair Trading. It has been nearly six months since I signed the contract and all we have is a concrete slab covered in meccano bits. It's dragging on far too long now.......