Wednesday, June 28, 2006

Updation LOL =)

I haven't posted anything in a while because I haven't done anything for a while. I've been slack. My last two posts about mum's work are only to distract from the fact I haven't done much myself. =P

Mum's been hand quilting the hearts on the Valentine's Quilt. It's coming along, very slowly. In the mean time, I've been working on my 'homework' for my quilting class which is in a weeks time (and I haven't even finished one block!) but pictures of those blocks should be posted soon.

A few days ago I also bought the 'Dear Jane' book, with the intention of making mum a DJ quilt for her 50th birthday. If you know mum and you read this please keep it quiet! It's going to be a surprise! My Dear Jane quilt (Mum's Jane) has it's own blog, http://djbyfee.blogspot.com and a link is located in the side bar. I'm buying background fabric in cream to match mum's room for it today or tomorrow so I can get started. =)

As soon as I finish my 'homework' blocks, you'll hear from me again. =D

Sunday, June 25, 2006

Mum's Finished Hand Quilting


Mum's Finished Hand Quilting Posted by Picasa

It's not the best photo, I know, but the feather design is visible. I'm proud of her. Hopefully one day she'll accomplish a whole cloth quilt! =)

Sunday, June 11, 2006

Mum's Hand Quilting


Mum's Hand Quilting Posted by Picasa

I just had to post this picture because I'm so proud of mum's first attempt at hand quilting. (Actually when I took this picture this was her second or third attempt, she'd unpicked it so many times that I had to record one of the earlier attempts!) She took a class yesterday to learn the ThimbleLady's way of quilting, which is pain-free supposedly, so she won't wreck her hands anymore. I think she's doing well, she's getting the stitches at the back, and she's sewing 7 stitches per inch after only one day of learning. I think that at the quilt show she might actually buy a silver thimble custom fit for her. =)

Monday, June 05, 2006

The Second Class Block


Second Class Block Posted by Picasa

This is a really small picture of the second block for my monthly class. I still need to finish one more (everything is made in pairs) but all I have to do on that one is the stippling. The circles were made with twin needles and a walking foot, then cross-hatched an inch apart. There's stippling everywhere else.

I've found that I'm nearly afraid of stippling, I tense up and my shoulders get tight and everything aches after a while because I'm so tense. I know I need to relax more but it's hard! I've only stippled a few times and I know that I can't be perfect at it from the start but for a beginner that's pretty darn good! Once I'd finished though, I went and showed mum and she was impressed. She even told me I'm a better machine-quilter than her! But I'm the one taking the class, so I should be!

I've reasoned with myself that stippling is artistic scribble with thread, it's not meant to be perfect. I was looking through an Australian Patchwork & Quilting magazine and I noticed the mistakes I made with stippling were the same mistakes on one of the project quilts. When I showed mum, I tried to point out the mistakes I made (overlapping stitches, pointy bits, etc) but when I tried to find them I really couldn't. Not because there was so few or many mistakes, but because the stippling blended with the fabric and wasn't obvious enough to stand out. She was impressed and I do like impressing her. Anyone else who sees it is usually impressed too (or being nice) so I can't complain.

I can't wait to show the girls when we have our next class this Wednesday. Last month they were ready to kill me for my blocks, this time I hope they'll be just as envious! =)

Completed Valentine's Top


Valentine's Top Posted by Picasa

This is a (very dodgy) photo of my completed Valentine's Day top (which mum mostly finished). A friend said it'd be more special that way because we both worked on the top together (it sounds nice in theory but I think mum did most of it!) Mum wants to hand quilt it, after realising how hard it is to machine quilt my grandmother's quilt. We thought about sending it out to a professional machine quilter but not only are they too expensive, mum made the very good argument that if we sent it out, we wouldn't have done it all ourselves. Mum agreed with this, I think she's looking forward to hand-quilting it.

Lately she's been interested in the Thimblelady's way of pain-free hand quilting (because mum has carpel tunnel syndrome and can't work with her hands much) and I'm not going to stand in her way. I think it's really good that she wants to learn new things. =) She's hanging out for the quilt show in July, we're going to be like children in a candy store. =D