blasts from the past....

 I am happily working on my Ginger Jars and will wait to show the last few till I can take some pics. I am completing my second last one at the moment.

My mum has been getting in touch with her mojo lately and has become quite enthusiastic about working on some very old bom projects that she had started. She may never get them done but that's ok but in the meantime she is finding enthusiasm and purpose again. I had to take her to  have her 16yo dog put to sleep a few weeks ago and she is finding it difficult to adjust to life without her. She was a wonderful little dog and has kept her company through some very difficult times. I miss her terribly too, she was like one of my own.

while I was setting up mum's sewing space I found two quilted projects that have long been awaiting their binding. Mum doesn't have the capability to finish them so I have kidnapped them and hope to get a start on them over the upcoming cup weekend.

These are quite a blast from the past...

the first is the Homespun Magazine block of the month-Breast of friends. We both worked on this quilt many years ago. Her workmanship is perfection. I have showcased some of my favourites..

the dress on the right is made up of french knots!

The second was a block of the month too. I think it was called Bluebirds of hope.  Both quilts had contributions from Australian designers. Can pick the designers?

I hope you have enjoyed the time travel..

Melbourne weather has been very up and down the last week. One day it's hot then the next two it's cold and raining. We are used to it but it confuses the plants a little 

This lovely succulent, whose name I do not know, popped it's flower buds during the two days of rainy weather. I thought the flowers were not going to make it but then it was sunny and they dried out and have put on a great show.  My irises have been flowering beautifully too and taken a little bit of a battering with the rain but they too have recovered. I'll share a pic or two next post.

 

Happy sewing

Marina

A finish calls a new start?

 

Binding for my Christmas snowglobes is done and dusted, just need to wait for Christmas!

The check part of the strip turned out exactly as I had imagined so have to be happy with that.

The next Ginger jar flowers have been completed!

I have enjoyed building a stash of the Japanese woven fabrics and now will have ample left over after this project.  I was deliberating what to use them for and an old pattern that I have contemplated many times just seemed to be popping up over social media, as if on purpose. I have been imagining it in the woven fabrics and though it will be perfect.

There are many times I have considered this pattern and now it was time.  Just like that it was bought and mailed.

Want to know what the project is?

I am a big fan of Irene's designs and have made quite a few. Her patterns are very easy to follow and there are always lots of diagrams. She is a wonderful lady and designer.

This may be my last big quilt that I make but I did say that after I finished Celebrating Mary Brown and Okehampton before that.

Wish me luck!

One garden pic to finish my post...

This is an oxalis triangularis plant (related to clover, and you will see the similarity) I absolutely love it and No 1 son gave me a plant a few years ago. It has done so well that I now have 6 plants! I will keep two and the others will find new homes. At night the petals fold down. On long stems in the breeze they look like butterflies.

Hope you have a wonderful, crafty week

Marina

Happy pick up

 Last friday I received a message that I was looking forward to getting! My Snow globes quilt had been quilted and was ready to be picked up.  I swung by after work and I am so happy with it.

The quilt design has very cute little bells/baubles in the design.

Binding needs to go on but thanks to a full on social weekend it has to wait to be done.

The fabric to the right of the quilt is the backing fabric. There is heaps left so I am going to bind the quilt in this fabric. The weave is really tight so I think it will suit ok.

I managed to finish another ginger jar block since my last post and I thought I would put the blocks up on my Caswell design board to see how they are blending together.

I am quite happy with the picture and love to see how it's progressing. I haven't had much time to prep a new bunch of flowers but hoping that I will get to this week.

I found a surprise orchid flower in the garden. This plant has been growing nicely for the past year or so after it was separated from its' parent plant. I didn't expect flowers for a while so was pleasantly surprised, especially with the colour. The original plant had brown flowers but this one seems to have toned it down to pinky purple. There is a second spike that has just appeared. Bonus!

Happy days!

Marina

just like that.....

 Well just like that the school holidays have come and gone. I feel I had a lot of things booked in, either running around for mum, brunches with friends and some grandie time. Left little remaining for me but it has been great all the same.  I will be happy to get back into routine.

I have managed to get a third ginger jar block completed and as I was waiting on an order for more wovens from Japan, I only spent the time prepping and sewing the ginger jars, leaving the flowers for when the fabrics arrived. My order arrived on friday so some flowers are underway on the fourth block.

Here is No 3

I received some other lovely mail last week. Sue from Kiwikids happened to spy some doilies and generously thought of me. she had a kiwi collaborator- Julie from Threadbare blog (NZ) So thankyou lovely ladies they are perfect!

One of my holiday goals was to finish off the remaining four pieced blocks for my Kim Diehl sampler. Unfortunately the motivation for that seemed to allude me. 

Nevermind it will come.

For those Elf on the shelf afficionados....... my favourite online shop has reopened for the year. 

My Magical moments on line shop is up and running and has some fantastic new accessories that may or may not have made their way to my shopping cart. Thanks to some reward points I saved a few dollars on my purchase so Miss elf can bank the savings.

I was looking after little Miss 6 last week and was very tempted for us to get out the christmas stuff but I think it's just a little bit tooooooo early (even for me). lol.

Happy days

Marina

Craft and quilt show

Saturday I ventured into the city to check out hte Craft and Quilt show at Jeff's shed.

It has been years since I have made the trip as when I last went I found it quite disappointing and I must say the feeling was the same this time. There were only about half the amount of traders from what I remember, definitely not like in it's heyday. Sadly I did not find anything from the traders to tempt me and my account balance was intact.  

The quilts on display were beautiful and there was a lovely selection of styles.  I found a few that were definitely in my wheelhouse and some amazingly beautiful workmanship. I only got a few photos as my phone wasn't fully charged and I didn't want to get stuck in the city with a flat phone.

Here are the few pics I took...

 These mini's were absolutely Amazing! by the same quilter.

these incredible dresden plates were about the size of a 50 cent piece! incredible

 

On the craft front, I managed to finish two ginger Jar blocks.

Happy days

Marina

September and Spring

 Spring  has arrived and it has graced us with some lovely days, a promise of things to come. I have been also noticing that the sun is getting up a little earlier too. As much as I love winter I feel I have also missed the loveliness of sunshine.  With September here it is only a matter of time till I can start getting festive and the elves will return.  I am afraid I won't be doing Elves at my new school as there isn't really a place for them to enjoy their shenanigans so they will become home elves.

On the crafty front, I have been looking forward to starting my Ginger jars but there has been so much indecision. The background fabric I chose was fine for the blue jars but sadly the white background jar I sewed just got lost on the background.  I needed to decide whether to continue with just blue jars or perhaps mix up the backgrounds. Dilemma no 1

Dilemma no 2. I wasn't really inspired by my fabric stash that I wanted to use for the flowers. I think that is the problem when you have had the same fabrics in your stash for a long time and used them in so many projects. I wanted to try something new!

I have been looking over the past months at the inspiring Japanese applique designs on the net and on instagram and felt this was an avenue I might like to try.  So.... onto the internet and after some searching and on line therapy ..... I had my fabrics chosen and ordered. It seems there wasn't a place in Melbourne that has the woven japanese fabric. (If anyone does know of somewhere I would love to know) Perhaps they aren't really in vogue any more?  There is a shop in NSW - BeBe Bold that specialises in Japanese fabrics, sashiko and boro goodies and it was there I found my background.  For the colour packs I wanted, I found a lovely shop in Japan that had amazing service and variety and it seems they are the ones that have been tempting me all this time on Instagram with their gorgeous designs- Studio Quilt.

Now enough blathering, get to the pics you say..

These will be my two backgrounds and I feel they go together well. I have had great reassurance from various crafters whose opinion I have sought.

I can't wait to start the floral arrangement on the first blue block.

Tuesday afternoon the was a beautiful day and the dogs got to have a lovely walk.  I must say I needed and enjoyed it too.  

Please rest assured that I am just sitting on the ground, I have not collapsed as some others on Facebook may have suggested.  Though in hindsight looking at the photo,  it did remind me of when Dorothy's house fell on the wicked witch of the West, no ruby slippers for me though! Just runners with orthotics! lol

 I am hoping there will be lots more walks in the near future.  I am sure the dogs will second that motion.

Craft show is on this weekend in Melbourne and I am toying with going.  It has been many years since I have gone.  We'll see if thoughts turn into actions.

Happy sewing

Marina

Saturday sewing.

 I have had a great sewing marathon session today. I was hoping to get the next four pieced blocks for the Simple Sampler sewn up. All the pieces were prepped ready to go and that saved a lot of time.

They aren't the most perfect of blocks but they will do. There was definitely some fudging taking place to get things to fit but it's amazing what a good press can do. The imperfections I see just confirm to me that piecing is not my first love. (I must admit that the photo does improve the look of them)

I have four pieced blocks to go and then I can tackle the appliqued borders. Now that's something I am looking forward to.  Only three weeks to school holidays so those last four blocks will hopefully get done then.

I am also hoping to start my Ginger jars!

This is how the pieced blocks look so far, with their appliqued neighbouring blocks.

Nice to put them together to give some encouragement.

This is the original design for the Simple Sampler. I have made the applique blocks without a border as I felt it was too much for my eye and the applique was switched from felted wool to cottons. 

I do love the original but I knew it was not going to get done with all that extra piecing.

I'll save my patience for the applique.

Two sunny days for us in Melbourne. Spring is letting us know that it is just around the corner.

hope the sun is shining where you are

Happy sewing!

Marina

Something blue....

Last Thursday my Christmas snow globe top was dropped off at Jemima's for quilting. A pretty Lori Holt backing with holly and a teal colour theme to match the front was selected and a great all over quilting design of baubles on a string. They both will work perfectly.

While there I thought I'd pick Veronica's brain for some advise on backgrounds for the ginger jars. She has a great eye for fabric and I've been going there so long she knows my style and she always is such a pro at quilt maths. 

I wanted something a little more in my zone even though I love the Tilda background fabrics in the pattern.  I ended up with a lovely light cream fabric with a stripe, tone on tone. I love it and can't wait to start. while working out the freezer paper for the applique I realised I don't think I want my quilt to be as big as the pattern and it just seems like I am working with giant pieces so I thought I'd shrink it a little to 80%. I feel much happier with the pieces this size.  It's like when you knit most things in 8ply and you then decide to knit in a 14ply. It may not sit right so I've made another adjustment.

Adjustments so far:

• applique jars instead of piecing
• possibly use a variety of ginger jar shapes in the blocks
• reduce size to 80%
• use a different background style.

Saturday afternoon we were invited to dinner at No2 son's house so not needing to cook dinner it was a great opportunity to have a sew. My Kim Diehl project has stalled a little with the pieced blocks but I had two cut out ready so off I went. Well after some sewing, unsewing, recutting due to directional fabric I finally managed one block. I was confident I'd manage the two but it wasn't to be. Managed the last of these blocks on Sunday. Of course it wasn't without drama. The next set of four blocks is just as challenging as far as I'm concerned. All the pieces are sorted for when I feel like taking them on.

thought it might be a good time to revisit my Works in Progress list....

 Works progressed:

• Simple Sampler- pieced blocks to be done. 4 down 9 to go an extra one done!
• Snow globes/stitcheries- 1 block done, two more stitcheries completed and blocks ready to prep.  Top done and at quilters 

Ready to start.

Tilda Ginger jars

Slow works in progress

Tilda cushion applique designs- free patterns to be made into small quilts. Two done, two more to do - no progress

Mini hearts- two new rows done, one needs to be added to the main body.

Here is my latest Hellebore. this is the third year without seeing flowers ... I swore if I didn't get a flower this year it was see ya later. Well she must have been listening. One stem of flowers and it will be enough to  save it's skin.

Happy sewing!

Marina

Snowglobes

 And just like that a top has come together!!

I am happy to see this orchid blooming again this year. There were four spikes until there was a canine accident and then there were three......

They have been brought inside now to be enjoyed and protected.

the black hellebore has bloomed again too. It is a favourite.

Short and sweet this week.

Have a good one!

Marina

new temptations....

 Well another week has just flown by. It would be nice to slow the days down sometimes.

All my snowglobes are done but they aren't able to be shared at the moment as they are all pinned together ready to sew them up. I hope to get the top done this weekend so that I can get it to the quilters in time to get it back by the end of the year.

I already miss not having such a handy project that is easy to pick up. I thought it best to give some attention to my heart blocks. I had decided that now that it is a decent size piece it might be more economical, time wise, if I sewed up hearts into 9 patch blocks then sewed them onto the main piece, instead of sewing a single row together and adding.

It seems to be a strategy that works.

While watching Good Omens 2 this afternoon I got the next section done.  I hope to start Season 3 tonight. I am loving it. Michael Sheen and David Tennant are amazing together. If you are fan of theirs you definitely need to watch Staged. filmed during lockdowns. 

Now to sew them onto the main piece.

Here is my Billy boy photo I promised. Our boy is now ten, he is such a good boy and thankfully still in good shape. This photo was after a good wash and trim. We have owned Curly Coated Retrievers for 40 years and I have always loved trimming and grooming them myself. They wouldn't win ribbons for my hair cutting but there is only ever a few weeks between a good and bad haircut.

From when we bring home as puppies their coat care training begins. One pair of curlies we had, used to line up the minute they saw scissors come out to be the first in line for a trim, the same happened when the bath got filled up.

These days we take advantage of the ergonomic height of the dog wash at the Car wash. It's perfect and Billy is the perfect gentleman, getting up and down when asked. Being a water dog we have never had an issue with getting wet lol.

A new project is in the works thanks to some encouragement from Fiona from Bubz Rugz. She is undertaking Tilda's Ginger jars quilt that showcases Tilda's Something Blue fabric range.  Being a blue and white fan I had secretly been coveting this fabric but wasn't sure what quilt design would tempt me. Jemima's patchwork had designed an applique quilt to showcase this fabric range but their supplies sold out quite quickly so I left it at that. 

When Fiona shared her project I thought it was absolutely perfect the applique flowers pushed me off the fence and Fiona had a spare copy of the pattern that she generously offered to send me. So off I went like bull at a gate. Fabric has been ordered though I do need to decide on a background fabric. I have also toyed with ideas as to how I can alter the sizes of the ginger jars so that they will be more varied than the original. the shorter jar on the cushion will be incorporated I think. I also will be appliqueing my ginger jars as piecing is  not my strong suit.

Well here we go.....one project ends and another inspiration appears!

Happy days

Marina

new things

 In one of my earlier posts I eluded to the big changes that have happened in my world.

One of those things was changing workplace after 9 years at the same school. I have left a great bunch of work mates and I do miss them terrible but sometimes you have to be the change.

I have been gone nearly two months and although not regretting the change I am feeling the loss of the people. People that know you well, your family life and your work life, your sense of humour and your emotions.  My new workplace has a lovely team and I have felt welcomed but they don't know me. I hope they will eventually

I had an amazing send off from my work colleagues and I thought I'd share some of the festivities here too.

The theme they went with was 'so long, farewell' and I think you can guess where this is heading......

This was my work desk and the theme song for the day was the So long, farewell song from the Sound of Music. So many emotions....

 I think I make a good Maria, even if my  head is a little large lol

These are my team- don't know how I got to be the boy with the high voice in this pic?

biscuits and cakes courtesy of my work bestie.

these were a belated gift from my boss....

And of course some sewing... I am plowing through these stitcheries and enjoying them a lot. Fiona from Bubzrugs realised she has this stitchery panel and has decided to stitch hers up too. She is going with the snow globes theme also and I can't wait to see her spin on this idea.

Latest stitchery ready to get stitched down.

First row done! it's coming together fast

It's hellebore time again and earlier this year I dug mine up and put them back into pots where I could keep a better eye on them, as they were pretty miserable in the ground where I planted them and I've been rewarded with healthier plants and some lovely blooms.

Unfortunately the aphids are loving them too but I am trying to keep them at bay without chemicals as sometimes sprays damage the flowers or foliage.

I think they are such pretty flowers, for some reason they turn green once they start to fade! there you go.

thanks for making it this far....

Have a great week

Marina