♪♫•*¨*•Fireflies & Cats in the Garden•*¨*•♫♪: quilts

Showing posts with label quilts. Show all posts

Saturday, September 3, 2011

A little stitch here and a little stitch there!

Last weekend I did not do a stitch in any of my cross stitch pieces, but I did stitch!

Many, many moons ago I got bitten by a different type of stitching bug - the patchwork and quilting bug. Unfortunately I argued with the sewing machine (and my ex-husband) and didn't do many blocks. You see my ex-husband was not as supportive of my stitching as my dearest darling husband of today is. My motto is 'Stitching Forever, Housework Whenever', but that did not go down well with the ex! Think that was probably one of the reasons I finally saw the light... but that is another story!

As I was saying, once upon a time I did try to teach myself to quilt. I bought some templates and made some very simple blocks, which I found again only recently hidden away in a box with what was the beginning of my stash. All the blocks were machine pieced and made using one set of templates.

Can't remember the name of this one

Card Trick

Ohio Star

Friendship Star

Can't remember the name of this one either

When I found my old blocks I also discovered a long misplaced piece of stitching. This Pierrot was one of the first things I ever stitched. Now that I have found it again I will have to finally do something with it. I might turn it into a cushion... or not! I actually have another kit that is the partner to this so maybe I should stitch that as well and then do something with the two of them... oh boy, my stitching list is long enough as it is!!

Pierrot - stitched way back in the 1980's sometime....

So that was then and this is now....

Since I started reading the "Elm Creek Quilts" series of books by Jennifer Chiaverini I have started to get this feeling that I want to start making these beautiful 9 patch blocks again. The descriptions of the quilts in the books have fired up my imagination and for the last couple of months I have even dreamt about quilt blocks.... very strange!

So last weekend, I gave into the feelings and started to look around the internet to see what quilting blogs and info I could find to give me the hints and tips to start off again. Dear Hubby has lots of quilting stuff that he has started accumulating over that last couple of months, but we don't have a lot of info relating to the traditional hand piecing and quilting that I want to have a go at.

On Sunday I pulled out my old templates and the material in my original stash and decided to have a go! And this is the result. The block is all hand pieced. As you can see the seams aren't exactly the straightest, but overall the block turned out ok. Nothing went particulary wrong, and lots of practice will make the block look better.

Hand pieced... in 2011

While I have been bitten by the "Quilting Bug" I am still going to be doing my cross stitch. Cross Stitch is my first love and quilting will be just something else that I want to do when (if) I have the time. For the next couple of weeks I will be cross stitching as I have a few pieces to finish off, and then I would like to have a go at playing with some 9 patch blocks for awhile.

Wish me luck!

Til next time, happy stitching no matter what type of stitching you might do...

Friday, June 24, 2011

Cats and Quilts...

Q: What does a cat do when presented with a nice warm lap covered with a lovely snuggly quilt?

A: He snuggles up and goes to sleep!

One happy cat!!
Daisy dog is snuggled up in the background on her bed!

Notice the dog does move!!!

Last night Hubby settled down to unpick the quilting on the quilt that he is making for his youngest son's 21st birthday. After quilting about half he decided he didn't like the free-motion quilting that he did - so out it is coming.... Now, back to the story! After Hubby made himself comfortable on the couch with unpicker and ORT's jar a certain young puddy tat decided it was time to have a sleep on the couch next to Dad, but when he discovered that Dad had a quilt on his lap... well, that was different - couch or Dad's lap with a quilt on it!! Dad's lap won hands down! So the evening passed with Oscar asleep on Hubby's lap while Hubby unpicked his quilting....

This week has been yet another busy week at work even with the boss away for the week! We are now in winter's cold grasp and amazingly we are actually getting some decent rain. The weekend, and most of next week, has more rain forecast too, so fingers crossed, and with a little bit of help from the Gods above we will actually see some of that precious rain start to flow into the dams....

I haven't done a lot of stitching this week - have been way too tired to do too much at night after work, but I do have a bit of stitching update for you.

Margaret Sherry Culinary Cat 2 - kitty is now almost half done, and he is now looking pretty cool! Looking forward to finishing him off and starting number 3.

Flower Fairy - this cute little fairy is coming along quite nicely. I have been alternating between the kitty and the flower fairy over the last week and they are now both on the home run.

Finally, one last little pic... on Saturday Hubby and I went to Spotlight to participant in the sale! I was good... but Hubby found some nice new fabrics to add to his stash. I did find this cute little box though. It is a Gutermann thread box and was filled with 4 or 5 coloured sewing threads which Hubby has added to his stash and the box is in my stitching box. Have no idea what I will use it for.. but I'm sure it will come in handy to store needles or scissors or even ORT's!!

With our weather forecast like this for today and the weekend

You will probably find me doing this....... albiet with stitching in one hand and a cuppa of tea in the other!!

Til next time, hope you have a wonderful weekend and get lots of stitching done!

Saturday, January 15, 2011

It's Saturday, and all is well - or is it?

As I sit here today pondering what to write my heart goes out to the people in Queensland that are going through such a traumatic and heart breaking time. The power of water is something to marvel at when it is the sea breaking on a sandy beach or a beautiful waterfall, but when it is rain and storms, and swollen creeks and rivers wreaking havoc on the land and people's homes and livelihoods, and lives are being lost (both human and animal) it is something to be very fearful of.

We have been watching over the last few weeks what has been happening in Queensland, and especially over the last few days, and have also seen the floods in our own state of WA in Carnarvon. There have been devastating floods in NSW as well, and now there are floods in Victoria and heading for SA. I have also read that Tasmania and the NT have been hit by severe rain as well. The scale and horror of this disaster in Queensland just seems to keep on growing. Even now there is more rain expected for the East Coast as well as a cyclone!

The Courier Mail has a series of photos of the Queensland floods which tell a tale of a state torn apart, not just a city. There have been some amazing stories of survival, but there are so many more stories of heartbreak. At times the images that we have been watching have been so over-powering that I am struggling to believe what I am seeing. It is like watching the 2007 disaster movie "Flood" where London was flooded when a tidal surge overwhelms the barrier in the Thames Estuary.

Except what we have been watching this week is real... not Hollywood hype and make-believe and computer graphics! Mark and I have been to God's Own Country (Queensland) a couple of times now - we have walked along those streets in Brisbane that were flooded and no longer visible 2 days ago, and as the water recedes are now covered in this revolting stinking mess of mud and goodness knows what else!

As I have been reading some of the Aussie blogs that I follow, and the local papers, I have been heartened to see how much the Aussie spirit is flourishing. Armies of volunteers are heading into Brisbane to begin the mammoth task of cleaning up the city. Clean ups are also beginning in the other towns and communities that have been flooded. There are some areas that are still water logged and will be for some time to come. The road back to normality will be long and hard, and I don't know how many will actually be able to stay the distance.

While blogging I have also seen a number of crafters wanting to do something to raise funds to help the flood victims. I have listed some links to crafters who are doing something to help raise funds for flood relief. I am sure that there are many more people out there doing things to help online, these are just the ones that I have seen so far.

Also the Queensland Government has set up a relief fund to raise much needed funds to help out the people of Queensland.

Our hearts and prayers are with all those people around Australia that have been affected by this devastating show of nature's fury.

And while all this is going on in our backyard, there are now devastating floods in Brazil.... Words truly can't describe what we are seeing at home and around the world at the moment, all we can do is pray and help out where we can.