Yarn about turtles and renovations

I finished painting my bedroom ceiling.  I did three coats and thought it looked ok until I saw it at night time under artificial lights!  Still, by then I'd moved on to the walls so the patchy ceiling will stay there forever!  I later discovered that this particular ceiling paint has 1.5 stars because it's rubbish.  Ah well.

I also did three coats on the walls and they came out lovely.  Just as I was heaving a sigh of relief that I'd finished the decorating I looked at my windows...and ended up sanding and varnishing those!  Which means I now know that all of my windows need the same treatment and there are 19 of them!  They're huge too!  Deep breaths.

So I'm all finished and guess what?  I looked at the blue mosaic tile on my bathroom floor and it had to go!  My husband has taken over this job.  Phew!  But I guess I'll be doing that window!

I might move back into my bedroom one day.

I quilted a very lovely small turtle quilt for Marie from my Tuesday sewing group this week.  Marie machine stitched the appliqué shapes onto the top which made quilting very difficult for me as my machine's foot catches in anything that's not smooth and it has a tendency to rip holes in things.

So I covered the quilting area in tracing paper and quilted over the top of it with no problems.

I love the part when I unroll the quilt once I've finished quilting but this time there wasn't much to see!

Bree, my youngest son's girlfriend, helped me tear off the paper.  It's nice and thin so it's easy to remove.

Here is the lovely quilt.  Cute isn't it?!

Jim and I went to Bendigo for the weekend and I dragged him to the Bendigo Woollen Mills.  He followed me around the store for a short while then found himself a seat and left me too it.  All they needed was a coffee machine and he's have been quite comfortable all day!

Here he is carrying my stash back to our accommodation.

And here's my stash woo!  The yellow is to make another poncho.  The blue is a shawl.  The variegated is a wrap.  The pink was purchased for a friend.  I'm going to be very busy!

 

No, I haven't finished the sunflower baby quilt Annie!

Back on track

I finished the jelly roll quilt for my friend.  I don't know when I'm going to deliver it but I think my friend will be pleased.

I used a variegated thread so the back looks lovely too.

I started a new project.  I'm making cushions for the foster kids I volunteer with. The girl wanted her name and pink, purple and yellow spots.  I cut out the name and spots and she arranged them.  I was about to encourage her to spread the colours out more evenly when I hear her saying "Big sister, middle sister, little sister" as she grouped the colours together.  So, I shut up.  I haven't started the boy's cushion.  He wants teal colours with hearts.

I'm back to making the Sunflower farm quilt.  Here it is on my design wall (not in order) so that I can see what needs to be done.  I have all the eyes to put on to my newest batch of animals and then I can sew the rows together and add the final appliqué shapes.

I stitched all of the decorative features on my machine too.  My hand stitching would have been tidier but I started with my machine so I'll finish with it.

I'm also busy painting my bedroom.  I've done the doors, the coving and one coat of the ceiling, which just about did me in.  It needs another coat and possibly more but we shall see...  In the meantime I'm sleeping on a mattress on the floor in the spare room.  Fun!

Quilted. Not bound.

Not quite as nice as a Shaken. Not stirred martini but I'm excited nevertheless!  

The quilt top came together very easily and quickly.

I had to run into town to buy some backing because the sheet I'd purchased for this was too small.  I was going to buy more of the lilac because it was still on sale but I realised I'd pay the same for a bigger sheet that I wouldn't need to piece to make large enough so I bought a queen sized flat sheet this time.  The lady at the counter asked if I had the right size because there are no refunds on sheets you've previously opened.  It was as though she knew what I'd done...

I put the quilt on the frame.

And started quilting it.  I didn't get far before my thread snapped.  Then snapped again.  And again...

These pieces of masking tape are to mark where my threads broke so I could see them easily when I went to bury them.  Look at them all.  My quilt has spots!

But I got it finished yeah!  And I've actually put the binding on!

All I need to do is hand sew the binding to the back of the quilt and make a label.  I'd like to say that I'll be getting straight back to the Sunflower Farm quilt but...

I started something new!  Oops!

I'm on a (jelly) roll!

Sorry, I couldn't resist the pun.  Terrible wasn't it? Ha ha!

I sewed all of the blocks together.  They were very quick to do.

I started cutting out the sashing and I was a bit worried that I wouldn't have enough because I'd made my quilt bigger.  But, luckily, the pattern was incorrect and even after cutting my extra sashing I had half a metre of fabric left over!  I'd have been very annoyed if I'd bought expensive fabric and only needed half of what was required and annoyed even more if I'd followed the instructions and cut out too many worthless pieces out of my expensive fabric!  But it worked out for me yeah!

I started adding the sashing and I sewed rows together and then joined those rows.

Two done, five to go.  It all goes together quickly so as long as I don't start something new I'll be done very soon!

What baby quilt?

So the Sunflower Farm quilt hasn't been touched.  It's not as though I have a deadline or anything ha ha!

I'm making a quilt for Karen, a lovely friend, who needs a bit of uplifting.  I looked through what I could reach of my stash in my messy studio and found a pink/red/purple jelly roll and then I went online to see what design I should do.

I found this free pattern on the Fat Quarter Shop site and all I needed was some solid fabric for the sashing.  

Judy reminded me that there was a sale on at Lincraft so off I went and although I was disappointed with the fabrics I did buy some lilac for the sashing and pink for the binding.

I used my new fancy ruler and rotary cutter for the first time and it seemed ok but it'll take me a while to get used to using something different. I cut all the jelly roll strips into 6 1/2 inch rectangles.  The pattern suggests this for a more random look otherwise you can sew the jelly roll strips into sets and then subcut them.

 

I decided that I wanted to make my quilt squarer because if I add another row to the side it makes the quilt look more even and I'd end up with a squarer quilt. I took these fabrics out because I didn't think they really worked so as I was making it bigger and I'd removed fabric I needed to add more fabric.  I used some of the pink for the binding and some purple I found in my stash.

I kind of randomly put the fabrics together into sets of five.

Then I was so impatient, instead of cutting the lilac sashing, I started sewing!

I've done a row!

Six more and sashing to go!

 

Retreat was fun!

Before I went to retreat I made a label for the panel baby quilt.

And I stitched it as well as the binding and the quilt is done.  It does feel a bit like cheating just quilting a panel but they're so cute!

I finished painting my walk in wardrobe.  It had all these scuff marks on the walls from the previous owner's suitcases.  That was twenty years ago, mind you, but who paints their cupboards?!  My cupboard is full of cubby holes and shelves so I had to use this little roller.  It took me forever.  Let's hope my bedroom walls are quicker.  That's if I ever get around to painting them!

Then Judy and I went to retreat yeah!  We usually stop at quilt shops on the way to Ballarat but we skipped them this time and went to a Craft Alive exhibition.  This particular exhibition is much smaller than the ones in Melbourne but I think it was better.  There were more bargains that's for sure!  I purchased a new cutting mat, and a couple of true cut rulers, grips to stop your rulers from sliding and a rotary cutter that runs along the lip of the ruler so it doesn't slip.  I'm hoping I'll have better luck with my cutting now.  Hans, from Know-how sewing essentials offered 20% off everything AND gave me a further discount.  Thanks Hans!  I was thrilled!

Judy bought lots of fabric.  She'll be retiring in just under two years (she's counting the days) and will be working away through her stash in no time!

We arrived at our lovely accommodation.  We've stayed here before and it's perfect for two. I started drinking work straight away.  After saying that the Easter bunting wasn't a priority this is, of course, what I started first!

Still going...

Then I moved on to my Sunflower Farm blocks.

I finished all I could do on the blocks and then I started sewing some blocks together before adding the animals that sit on the seams.  I have weeks of sewing ahead of me!

And what was Judy doing I hear you ask?  She placed a project on the design floor and ummed and ahhed over it for what seemed like all weekend.  Here's her sewing machine looking all lonely!

I have noticed this very strange thing with Judy at retreats.  She floats around doing what looks like nothing and then all of a sudden she's finished a billion quilts.  How?!!

Ok so maybe not a billion but Judy finished these three quilt tops this weekend.

 I've only just emptied my sewing things out of my car and so I haven't done anything since the weekend.  But I have to crack on if I want that baby quilt finished before June!

Ouch!

I did a bit more of the Sunflower Farm quilt but I wasn't really serious about it because I'll be sewing it at retreat this weekend.  Oh!  Tomorrow in fact!  Yeah!  Judy and I are going to Ballarat to do some sewing in an Airbnb and it's going to be fun!

Some threads don't blanket stitch as nicely as others and I don't know why.  I did pull the loose loops through to the back so it doesn't look messy but it's annoying!  I changed my needle and turned the thread on the spool in case that was the problem but it just kept looping.

I've stuck all the letters onto my Easter bunting.  I might sew some at retreat.  Maybe.

One of my son's friend's is having a baby girl in a couple of weeks so I decided to quilt this lovely panel for her.  I wanted a heart quilting design but the ones I had were too basic so I used the blossom design that I used on Barb's quilt because of the flower in the panda's hair. I'll have to look for a nice heart design sometime because they're always useful designs.

I didn't get off to a good start.  I quilted my finger.  The same finger I quilted while I was making Gail's quilt!  Ouch!  I didn't get blood on the quilt though!!

I've also been painting my walk in wardrobe.  The contents of the wardrobe are currently strewn around my son's old bedroom which also needs decorating so I have to get a move on.  I hope to do last minute painting tomorrow morning before I pack up the car (with things I haven't packed yet!) and go away for the weekend!