Stitching in the rain

Sent home from work early due to ex tropical cyclone Debbie!

Whats a girl to do?

Make more Farmers Wife blocks of course!

Today I excelled and made 4!

Life sometimes sends us an opportunity, and we should grab it with both hands. If the power goes, I have the treadle to fall back on!

 This is week 12, and I am happy with the progress

 Often I think my fabric choices are interesting, it is fun to use the different prints and have some unexpected results.

 This one I accidentally reversed the lights and darks, oh well, it looks nice

I love the prints here!

I am up to block 31. Almost a third of the way there. There are 111 blocks in total.

My planned trip to Bundaberg this weekend for 2 workshops has been postponed, I have the bag packed, but that will have to wait for another time. 

A bonus weekend of sewing and quilting for me.

Continuing on my plan to finish projects and not to start anything new......

Fiddly pieces!

The Farmers Wife, week 11 is one block this week.

Such fiddly pieces....

Lots of starch required, and some almost accurate sewing.

The week has flown by so fast, I am on a mission this year to finish more projects than I start!

This also is the year of stitching red.

Many new projects are rolling around in my head, however this week I am really trying hard to finish projects- I am in a strange way winning this battle.

Farmers Wife week 10

A busy week, 2 posts in one day.

The Farmers Wife is a little late, 2 blocks made today.

 I can't actually believe its been 10 weeks so far!

These are blocks 25 and 26.

Hoping for a slow week so I can get lots done!

Class prep and samples are priority now. A primary school music teacher once told me that her job was like " putting on a one woman cabaret show each lesson! "  sometimes teaching quilting can be a bit like that, everybody at a different stage in their journey, and everybody has something to learn about something, no matter how long they have been sewing for!

A short hiatus with a starfish

I have been away in Melbourne at a workshop. Sophie Standing has been teaching all over Australia, and I was lucky to be able to have a weeks leave from work and travel with a friend to attend. 
Melbourne was hot, we thought we were escaping the Brisbane heat....however it did not dampen our enthusiasm. We met lots of lovely like minded 'textile artists' and had a very busy 4 days exploring the starfish, learning new techniques and making new friends. 
The resulting art works were all so different.
The background is a 'duck' fabric - a heavy weave, which I painted before the class.

I am very happy to be continuing my "year of sewing red".

The class was at Werribee, I have never been there before, the hotel was very comfy, the range of eateries was very multicultural. 
I am very happy with my starfish, she does need some tweaking and finishing. I do have a plan!

Learning new ideas and techniques and watching and listening to Sophie troubleshoot with both my own and others' work was really interesting. Learning all the time.

I took lots of progress pictures, and am really happy I took the time to do so, even the back of my work.

 At the end of the first day, so much more to do!

Detailed stitching, Using the hoop is a new thing for  me, however it does reduce the distortion, I must explore this more

 The left lower arm, a little fun!

 

The back, always interesting, and a good way to see how far I have come, and how far to go!

At the end of the fourth day, still some work to do.

I am really happy I took the time to attend, so many ideas floating around in my head, and projects awaiting to be started!

A little starch and a steady seam allowance!

The whole business of doing this project is making sure the seam allowances are accurate with such small fiddly pieces. My can of spray starch is doing well to hold the pieces firm to stop any small distortion.
The other thing is that I am working my way through the book, from 1 to 111. The easy choice of making the blocks that I like is not for me this time. I am making then whether I like them or not!
Some blocks are a pleasure to make, some not so. I am only using the red fabrics, I am finding it is interesting to see how the different reds play together. 
Who knew there were so many reds?

Week 9, some fun with the plaid and striped fabrics!

 My other project this week is a ruler work sampler using my Bernina Q20. 
This is a really thick slubby silk, it is a little heavy to move through the machine accurately, I am using the Supreme Slider and the manual mode.
So far so good!

Measure twice, cut once!- or abandon that block!

With so many deadlines approaching, I have found it difficult to continue with some projects- working 4 days a week and trying to complete projects is quite exhausting!

I have so many ideas floating around in my head, that its really hard to not start new projects.....

My piece for the AQC challenge has been accepted into the first round, which I am really happy about. 

Another challenge in progress is not so nice looking. I must keep reminding myself that I am a midwife - not a trained artist ) I have other skills!), that it takes time to make good art.

oh well- back to the Farmers Wife!

A lovely block with fun fabrics.

My weekly Art Project is moving along nicely.The Farmers Wife got a lift yesterday with 4 blocks being pieced. One of them was not right, way too many triangles and silly little pieces. Then I used Basting spray instead of spray starch! The ironing board cover is now washed, and I can start again. However some blocks need to be put aside and maybe never made again!

 This was fun too, I am not sure about my fabric choices, but that is half the fun, choosing different combinations to see how they end up! Too many prints?

 Simple, yet striking.

 This is the misfit, the triangles were small, and I should have  been a little more careful- both with cutting and stitching.- one to remake at a later date..... perhaps.

 I have been dabbling with some vintage linens, this satin is too soft and slippery and was difficult to mark, however I am continuing- note to self- buy (or scrounge from friends) heavier satin! The background stencil is from Cindy Needham- Ultimate Backgrounds- its a wavy line crosshatch. I am trying them out as class samples and as a library for my own research.

 Starting the background

 Half stitched!