115 years old and still marvellous! and some excitement!

This is my granny"s sewing machine, a Singer Treadle, released in 1900. I have been inspired by a friend, bought a new belt, had my lovely husband install it, and a little oil later we are running nicely. Granny used to sew all her clothes on it till she was in her 80's.

I am doing some textural machine quilting using Aurifil polyester thread, the tension is almost perfect.
However I do understand why Granny's legs were so strong and muscly!

Its almost like a gym session to get it working well!

                                                           Plain fabric and texture

 The serial number means that this machine was released in 1900. It has been well loved and used. I even remembered how to wind the shuttle bobbin and put it back in!

I have had a quilt accepted into the Wolloongong Modern Quilt Show to be held in Kiama at the end of May. This is exciting as I plan to go and see this exhibition! I did get one rejection, but that's not so bad after all, one quilt in is marvellous!

A little random stitching

As in the last blog, I have been enthused.
I have been doing some random and not so random stitching.
A new group on Facebook OMG quilts has got me a little enthused, however I have projects to finish before I really get excited but I have had a little play.

A little stitching each day seems to soothe the soul and make me happier!

A small quiltlet, random, but fun stitching. 3 small pods.

The new Down Under Quilts, which features a project by me 

the cushion project

The quilt inspired by the cushion project, its on the design wall, waiting for further inspiration, I rarely deign a quilt form start to finish, they evolve as they grow!

 I

Seed pods

Some seed pods, which is a quilt for a special group exhibition.

Reinvigorated

This week I have been madly quilting, I seem to have found the lost spark!

This is a quilt top made by my friend Kate, I have nearly finished the quilting, although the border is looking a little lost at the moment, it has been fun, and has kept me sane! The feathers are soothing

almost quilted

A quilters helper, this is the back of the quilt

some of Pauline's wonderful quilting

The blue and white raffle quilt is finished, beautifully quilted by Pauline Ball, This is the quilt pattern by Geta Grama. I am really happy with it, I will take more whole quilt pictures when it is hung at the exhibition in October.
Oh dear there is the next big deadline! the Queensland Quilters show, I have several quilts  ready to be quilted, so had better get my skates on!
We are off to the Wollongong Modern Quilt exhibition in May, just for a short weekend, looking forward to the inspirational works there!

Indigo dyeing with friends

This last weekend, I had a lovely day off in the country dyeing with a very smelly vat of indigo dye.

Such fun, I wore totally the wrong clothes! some of my friends took off their clothes, at least I was restrained enough to leave my white skirt on and not spill any!
Some of the prep work involved mad stitching just before we left and then some drawing up of threads in the car. I had a fair idea of what to do, but next time will make some more time available for the prep work! I wrapped some small pebbles with thread in an old fashioned way, this one is yet to be undone, that's a job for today.
Just hope not too much colour washes out in the rinsing!

Such fun to be able to sit and stitch with friends, some not stitching, some learning the finer art of making a quilt!
Some just chatting. Some brave men went and walked up a mountain, my husband went to the local golf course to play- only to find a tournament on!

Interestingly this years Queensland Quilters exhibition theme is blue and white, I have made one blue and white quilt- a pattern by Geta Grama, of Romania, who has kindly given us permission to use her pattern for our raffle quilt. This is it almost finished, the quilt is now quilted and I am putting a hanger on it, tickets available soon!
I have also made another blue and white for my daughter, blue scraps sort of, except the scrap bin is still full.....

Stitched, dyed and drying in the sun, the result is below, I think this is my favourite

Machine stitched lines in a long stitch, pulled up, this was a good car project, pulling the threads up!

Hanging on the line, its almost dark, but the design is pleasing

A simple folded design, this one was the longest in the dye pot, hope it doesn't fade too much!

Progress at last

I have been busy, both  at work and at home.

A long weekend away with the girls sewing, eating and generally relaxing has given me some inspiration and also sewing time.
There are deadlines looming, so the best way to deal with those is to start a new project!

A blue and white for my entry into the Queensland Quilters October show, more work on my hexagon quilt, and some fun stitching on some fun fabric by Ali George of Aliquilts.

Oh and a picture or 2 in the latest Down Under Quilts! you will have to buy it to see them!

Detail of cushion

more cushion

funky pieced cushion

detail of funky cushion

start of blue and white

hand stitched Ali quilts fabrics, a nice relaxing thing to do!

Ask a busy person

What do I need? another project that is not my first choice to make!
Isn't that what we do, give a project to a busy person because we know they will finish it, I am a bit of a bunny like that-the busy person who will fit everybody else in!
Of course, I am a silly girl,

I am piecing a raffle quilt for Queensland Quilters, its  a fun modern quilt, the pattern is by Geta Grama, from Romania. I bought the pattern and Geta graciously allowed us to use it for a raffle quilt. The theme this year is blue and white, so its quite fitting I am almost finished, it just needs the borders, then its off to a friend to quilt. I am quite happy with this , it was easy to make and the instructions were great, even though I suspect that Geta's first language is not English.

I have been gifted some books recently from my son, he did some internet shopping, I am again very happy with his choices, and I even emailed Victoria Findlay Wolfe to say how much I enjoyed her book. Now to make a Double wedding ring quilt!
The Emporia Rose is form the guild library, I am a little besotted by Rose Kretsinger, she did the most amazing quilting and applique. I must finish my Rose quilt soon! its almost ready to piece the blocks together and baste!

Thread I am using for hand stitching on  a piece made by a friend, it may be shown publicly, so no sneak peek here!

Busy quilting at last!

Its as busy as it can get here.
Number one son is on bed rest for several weeks after a back injury, Uni yet to start- lucky for him.

Quilting and getting on top of my challenge commitments and other self imposed commitments is taking up most of my non paid employment hours!

I am enjoying doing some modern piecing, also getting back to some improvisational piecing.
There are many pinterest pages and other blogs and websites to take my interest and keep me from actually quilting, it takes a fair amount of self control to get away form the computer!

Pictures in the next blog= the computer needed to be cleaned and stripped, they are all on a hard drive- another day I will try to figure it out!! it was hard enough to access this blog due to password difficulties......