knitting on holiday

Madly knitting, a good relaxing pastime for our holiday! A scarf for Isabel, she is going the easy bit, I am doing every 4 th row- with the pattern! Its great as she has never really wanted to knit before, urged on by the 11 year old here who is so keen to use her hands, actually who never sits still!.  And a beanie for the lovely young man who has lent us his bed to sleep in!

I do have hand sewing to do, but really enjoying the knitting!

 

Beanie in progress

Sewing at half speed and an excellent day out

I have been machine quilting a delicate piece of silk, and have had he machine at a very slow speed to enable me to stitch accurately. Now I am machine piecing another quilt, wondering why it is sewing slowly even though my little foot is planted to the floor! However it is somewhat satisfying piecing a little slower than very fast!
A sneak peek at the silk below.Still quite a bit more to go.

 My daughter- she said 'its cold', so she wrapped herself in her brothers quilt. Its actually stinking hot, and I had just turned the air con on so I could sew in comfort. She has started to read "The Book Thief", its on her knee, but temporarily superseded by her iphone! she was checking to see if he author was Australian- yes.
 An excellent read, do we go and see the movie? or will it ruin the book?
Went to see Rocky Horror Show this week with Craig McLachlan starring- excellent! could almost reach out and touch him! fantastic. Such a showman.

The excellent day out was yesterday, my small group met at one of our homes- air con required! we sat and sewed, some went to different areas and made ourselves comfortable. Some hand sewed, some cut and machine pieced (me) some machine quilted- new thread making all the difference!-, some hand stitched, or read a delicious array of books laid out for us to peruse. We shared a lovely delicious lunch, some stories, a picture of a new grandbaby, and several projects underway- or plans of projects to be underway soon.
 A great day that we all wish we could do every week. How lucky am I to have found these women- as  a friend said last year about an art quilt group - 'these are my people'.
Yes, these are my people.
 You know who you are.

So much to quilt- so little time

The New Year has started with a big bang- so much to quilt and so little time.
I have not have any holidays - yet so its full steam ahead working then coming home to rest or quilt, and loving the Bis Bash cricket on TV, havn't quite go t to a game due to my paid employment, but enjoying Ricky Ponting and his comments on TV so its a good way to entertain myself while quilting,
I have so many projects on the go at the moment, but not as many as some, I have discovered- that's lucky!

We had a lovely sewing day the week before christmas with some friends, lots done by some,I spent a lot of time searching for a piece of fabric required for a challenge- I did find it and it has continued to cause me some grief as I have stitched it- so much fraying.....  grrr

The current projects are for exhibition, some just because, its the age old problem of what to finish first! Oh and of course, we are having another day today, do I take my machine and do some serious piecing?, can't do quilting as my machine sits down in the table and to quilt out is a hardship- maybe i need on of those portable tables that your machine can sit down into!!

I subscribed to Superior Threads thread club this year, what a  treat!, I did get the mixed box of thread as I couldn't decide which particular style to choose, I get6 different reels each month, lovely yummy colours and a range of different weights. Oh and of course I added some extras along the way. Maybe more work and less time off to help pay the way!

Ready for a day out sewing...

The start of one of the latest pieces, its Cactus silk- frays like crazy, but is interestingly soft and fun to work with.

A new year, a new quilt!

Some quilts finished and some about to be started! this is how I plan to work through the year- finishing, oh and some starting.

The blue and white is finished.

The blue and gold is ready to quilt, I am just doing some ditching first before I tackle to hard stuff.

Might start a Dear Jane as I have run out of hand work and am having a holiday soon where I might need some hand work, and I have enough knitted garments and the climate here is not conducive to jumpers.

But what sort of fabric do I want for my Dear Jane? scrap sounds good at this stage, but it needs to be cohesive, hmmm, might have to think a bit harder about this one.

Have been spending some of the hot horrid weather inside perusing blogs, and am very inspired to get on and finish some of my quilt tops that have been lingering waiting for some diving inspiration. So many ideas so little time, especially if I am wasting it by reading blogs- but wait! that is not wasted time - it is research.

Xmas gift from lovely husband

OOh another xmas gift! lucky me!

About to be quilted, maybe some musical motifs?

Sneak peek! finished at last! the colour is not quite right, it is very blue!