Where did that week go?

This past 2 weeks have flown by without time to draw breath! work and then some teaching machine quilting classes have taken all my time and energy, with my creative time being limited to class prep and recovery.

So here I am with no Farmers Wife blocks this week, and no hope in the next 2 weeks, and I was doing so well....

Stitching time for myself has been sadly limited.

I am trying really hard to finish some pieces for the Queensland Quilters yearly exhibition, 2 weeks away now and my time is even more limited.

I am going to Melbourne as guest artist with Bernina on the Q20 demonstrating ruler work, come along and see what it is all about if you are in Melbourne. 

Then I am really looking forward to a week with my mum, sitting and hand sewing and walking the beach- even in winter 'our' beach in Tasmania is marvellous!

This is one of my exhibition pieces, I am up to the binding, it is an improv piece of some of my husbands old shirts, they are so soft, it will be a lovely quilt to snuggle under- perhaps for his teardrop caravan that he is starting to build....

 Our son has been living in Colombia teaching English for the past 16 months, our daughter recently visited with him for 2 weeks, they had a marvellous time together. I asked for a Mola souvenir. They chose these 2 pieces, one is a bag and the other a fantastic panel. They know that I like red, and I am impressed that they chose pieces that I love! 

Being surrounded by textiles their whole lives seems to have paid off.

X plus quilt - a family gift

One sad and lonely block this week, and its very late.

I had hoped to get some more done,but life got busy. Paid work- can you believe it! house guests , and many nights out with friends!

This block was deliberately pressed with the seams open, it worked well, till I stitched it upside down! The centre isn't quite right the second time around, 

but I am not undoing it again.

This week I am trying to quilt this rather large XPlus quilt for my cousin for a 21st birthday gift. The birthday was last week, the quilt top took 2 weeks to make.

It is a bit special as I have used mostly her late grandmothers fabrics. The grand plan is to get it quilted and ready to bind before I head to Melbourne next week for my demonstration on the Bernina stand at the Craft and Quilt fair.

I do have a lot of work to do between now and then, some blocks to prepare, its good to have a pieced block to demonstrate ruler work on.

Below is one of the variations of quilting designs, I really like my plastic sheet, I found it at the art supply store, I do have a border of masking tape so I don't accidentally draw on my quilt.

 Partially quilted, I think that if I do a few hours every day I will be OK time wise....

 Bunched up on the quilting table

 The centre of one of the blocks, the gold fabric really sings with the pebbles!

Farmers wife progress

I had a busy day yesterday and pieced 4 more blocks, I am happy to say that I am using my new light fabrics. However the box of red and white fabric is not reducing at all!

These are block 60-63.

I have been piecing another quilt this week, a birthday quilt, can't show it yet, but I think that the recipient will be happy. I was trying to reduce a particular stack of fabric, it appears to be no different even after piecing a queen sized quilt!

Of course, I had to do a little machine quilting today, this is a class sample (fat quarter size) for my class tomorrow, ruler work on the domestic machine. I have  a lot of pieced blocks, but a whole cloth is fun. Lets hope my students have fun too!