Busy Bee

If you're a regular reader you'll know we're on the brink of moving overseas, so our house is on the market and we're busy doing all the sorts of things one has to do to finish off life in one spot before taking it up again in another; so consequently I have little time to sew at the moment.

However I did finish off a few bee blocks lately for The Simply Solids and Do. Good Stitches groups I'm part of.

This was November's Simply Solids block. Everyone had been sent the same background fabric and added a coloured solid from our stash.

I was rushing to make a couple of wonky cross blocks in "manly solid colours" for Do Good Stitches November. I wanted to get them done and put the machine away and generally tidy up for our open home so I was doing these before breakfast, thinking Oh this'll be easy, just smash them out...

Never a good plan - ended up misaligning the block on the wrong line when trimming to 12 1/2" and suddenly it was 11 1/2"! ***# never mind sew it on again, by the time it's with the others and quilted no-one will notice...!??

then didn't quite have enough fabric for the other one so was a bit loose with instructions and ended up with this wonky cross interpretation.

The Anna Maria Horner feathers blocks for Sharon for October's Do. Good Stitches were a bit of a fiddle, but fun to do.  Quite happy with how they turned out; although there's always something... I didn't notice until I'd uploaded my photos that the filaments on one feather were upside-down!

Great to be able to use pieced trimmings from my Wrenly runner and my (so far) unresolved Oakshott experiment.

The last block was for Tracey for October's Simply Solids bee.

She asked for us each to choose a block from the Summer Sampler and make it up in summery colours. I chose this Rocky Road to Kansas which is a paper pieced block.  I quite enjoy paper piecing. I haven't done heaps, but I enjoy the precise results and have gradually evolved a way which works for me to minimise the fiddling.

I can't remember where I came across the various tips which make it easier but thought I'd share the one I find the most helpful tip:

When you've put your first two pieces right sides together behind the paper I like to trim my seam allowance first. So- find yourself a(n appropriate!) postcard and line it up with the seam line and fold the paper back along the seam line.

Trim 1/4" along the line.

This is how it looks from the other side.

 Then sew and do the same for the next side.

I find it makes it easier to neaten up and I can sort of see where I'm up to somehow.

Do you have any favourite paper piecing tips?

The Path to Drunkenness

Now I know why this block is called this (Drunkard's Path for those not in the know)! 

It'll drive me to drink I swear!

I've been procrastinating on this one for July's do. Good Stitches.  Still a few days left in July...Two blocks is enough! One warm and one cool. Good to have the opportunity to try something I'd never do on my own! Never say never!

That said, I did do this quilt incorporating curved piecing, but the bits were a bit lot bigger! Like maybe three times the size

I laid out the Wonky Crosses so far. I think I'll need about 10 more blocks and am pondering what I need more of? Have some ideas, but canvassing opinions?

And I'm enjoying doing some forward planning

Now I'm off to make Osso Buco or we'll be having dinner at midnight!

Has anything been driving you to drink?

~Camilla

Linking up for the first time with Needle and Thread Thursday 

Slow Slow Quick Quick Slow

Things have been kinda slow over here. 

My work's been a bit slow, which has been good coz it's the school holidays.

And it's been good to be about with the kids, including the oldest home from NZ for Uni holidays, hanging out with his brother in the kitchen in these photos, evidence for the fact that he even cooked us a few meals while he was home :-)

We're sorting out towards a move back to NZ at the end of the year. 

That's a slow process. 

I'm in the midst of instituting a new and efficient filing system (hmm I fear in my secret self that however good the system is, it's the filer here who's not so efficient) and going through every cupboard and drawer. Sorting out's been slow, I'm not good at making long term decisions about what to chuck out. I've been burnt in the past by chucking out things I shouldn't have and consequently now probably keep too much. That, and I'm super indecisive and can't bear to waste something that might come in useful later. It probably won't, but as soon as I chuck it out I'll think, now where's that little box that'd  be perfect for this....!

We also have to prepare the house for sale, which means means tons of little jobs, yet keeping the big picture in view, so not being too detailed about it.

Even tho' things have been slow, time's going fast somehow and I don't want to live towards next year while I'm preparing. We're here now and I want to savour it. So in a way I want to slow down.

I've been slow sewing and blogging too.

I'm still playing with the Oakshotts and ideas are synthesising for a quilt with them. I have some sketches, but really I just have to take the plunge with my idea. I'll show you bits soon.

Altogether I'm slightly stuck in my creative decisions...

This quilt which has been stalled for ages at the quilting stage is finished except for the binding, but now I've decided (almost) to remake it!

I think I've been stuck with the quilting, not so much because I got bored with doing it, as because I'm disappointed with the quilt as a whole.

I love that feature 60s floral so much that I didn't want to cut it up too much. Liz made a stunning quilt with big pieces of Japanese fabric which inspired me- here's just a section of it

But even though  I love I'm happy with the back of my new one and even the quilting in the end...

It just doesn't do it for me. Last weekend I finished the quilting and then straightaway I SOOO nearly cut it up to make this inspiration of Ashley's.  

From Ashley at Film in the Fridge

Which I'm sure is a much better use of the lovely big scale. I'd convinced myself to cut up the finished quilt to make it quilt as you go and just add a new backing over the top of the old one and stitch in the ditch around the hexagons. But...then I waste the strip of floral on the back. I suspect the solution is to unpick the quilting and re-make it properly. Not sure I've got the energy for that yet, having just finished all that quilting after so much procrastinating; so maybe I should just bind it and use it and re-do it down the track?!

Do you ever have dilemmas like this or is it just me? 

I have made the July block for the Simply Solids Bee

And I've started on the July do.Good Stitches Drunkards Path blocks

Just as well there's a Slow Blogger linky to join!

Travelling and not much Sewing

Well it's been a whole month! In that time I've been to NZ to visit family and friends. Love those people and that place!

Brick Bay north of Auckland

 I enjoyed the cool wet Autumn weather in Christchurch -yes really!

Then a brief trip further South to visit our our son at University in our hometown of Dunedin

Dunedin has some stunning beaches:

Photo credit- this was taken by our daughter!

Good to have two of the siblings together again. The youngest was on a school trip. A music one to Europe mind you, so almost worth missing NZ for!

My husband, me and our eldest

Looking back inland across the estuary

Colour palette inspiration

Local wildlife

The view from our son's college room across the chapel roof

And as if that wasn't enough, we've just returned from Mt Gambier in SE South Australia for Generations in Jazz a fantastic high school jazz festival. We stayed a bit away in the sleepy riverside town of Nelson. We didn't have much time for exploring after all that music, but what we did left us looking forward to returning at some stage.

Boathouses on the Glenelg River at Nelson

With all the travelling I haven't had much time for sewing at all in the last month.

I took the baby cross quilt (as opposed to a cross baby quilt!) I've been making, to Mt Gambier to finish off. I rushed to complete the quilting on the morning we left so I could bind it during the 5 hour car trip -it didn't take me that long!




 Before we went to NZ I had nearly finished the quilting, when I ran out of the variegated thread I'd been using only two rows from the end. None in stock at any shop... so they ordered it for me and it was waiting when I got back from NZ.

Taken at Nelson Ocean Beach, where the river doesn't quite meet the sea any more!

I'm really happy with how this quilt has turned out. I used Katie's tutorial which made it all really quick and easy and the colour palette worked out well. Hopefully the recipient likes it for her wee boy.

Apart from finishing off this quilt I've managed a few bee blocks and that's it.

This is for Kathy for May's Simply Solids block.

Kathy asked for I'm a Ginger Monkey's Scrap Vomit B Block. I already changed some of my initial colours, but overall I'd say this has been a learning experience! I'm not so keen on the colours and I think it's a value problem in the background/corner squares, (do you think so?); but in the end I decided not to remake it again as when it's part of a larger very mixed colour selection it'll be OK and at least the central diamond is defined.

I've also joined another bee for Do.Good Stitches, which is a charity bee making quilts for needy people. I'm part of the "Cherish" Australian based circle. This month we were asked to make two black and white 4x4 blocks. So I cut those out before I went to NZ but didn't manage to sew them together until I got back last week.

I'm looking forward to a sewing day with Liz this Friday, but overall things aren't very speedy at the moment on the sewing front. Slow bloggers of the world unite!