Winter in Warrandyte

The perfect season for sewing. 

Yarra River Warrandyte

We have had a lot of rain, that's why the river is high, and very cold weather, below zero which is unusually low for around here. I think the coldest day was when I had to go and drop off our quilts to Margaret for the Applique Guild display at the Melbourne Craft and Quilt Fair (on now!). We arranged pick-up a few suburbs away for first thing last Sunday morning, it was -2 degrees!

To meet that rendevous I just had to finish the label and binding for my AWS. I also had to make a hanging sleeve for the first time.

I asked Katrina her advice on binding and she recommended finding colours in the border and I found this stripe. I was initially worried that this fabric may have been too bright but I think it looks great. Thanks Katrina!

Who would have known that I also have matching AWS socks :)

It's always handy to make some mistakes in your quilt as these can then end up in your label. For some reason I made way too many HSTs for this block...

...which then ended up as a very nice label.

I have finished my Gossip in the Garden top (yay!) I did end up swapping one of the grey background Dresden's, I think it looks more balanaced now (and how Lenore had planned it).

You can all stop looking now as I found the border fabric in my sewing room, so no excuses to get this finished...

...well except we all know that when one (or almost two) quilts finish we must start new ones - despite a few WIPs lurking in the wardrobe.

I've wanted to try working in wool for ages and I bought Words to Live By by Primitive Gatherings back in March 2013. After being inspired by Karen at Moose Bay Muses with her woolly posts over the months I didn't want to wait another year for next Winter so I've started.

Words to Live By - Charity

After searching around on the internet I've come up with a method that suits me that combines different ideas. First I iron Vleisofix onto the wrong side of the wool (this can be a challenege as it looks pretty much the same on both sides). I don't use steam.

I then cut out the pieces and put a small amount of glue on the back. I use Roxanne's. 

The applique pieces are then finger pressed in place onto the background fabric. I use glue so that I can turn the whole block over without all the pieces falling off - so that I can press on the wrong side of the block to seal the Vleisofix (once again no steam). Doing it this way means you're not ironing on top of the wool so it won't scorch. You could probably use something more tacky than Vleisofix, then you wouldn't need glue.

I'm lucky to have a great buttonhole stitch on my Husqvarna. I've taken this photo so that I won't forget the settings :) 

I like to have the stitches relatively close together to prevent the wool from fraying. There are some lovely wool threads available but I'm just using good old Gutermann cotton.

I thought I might stitch the words but I've decided to just ink them instead. I want to find a pen that is more of a real jet black - any suggestions?

Next block is Passion.

I'm really happy with how these blocks are turning out and it's just so delicious working with wool in Winter. 

If you are in Melbourne you might want to brave the cold and see my Antique Wedding Sampler and Judy's linen and Liberty 'Bunny Love' quilt that are on display at Jeff's Shed. Judy and I will be volunteering on the Applique Guild of Australia's table and the G'nT Sisters will be visiting on Saturday. I will also be wandering around tomorrow (Friday) please say 'hi' if you see us.

Cheers

Carole

ALOYF July Goals

I don't usually follow the brief for A Lovely Year of Finishes as you are meant to have one goal but you know me, I just can't stick to one project.
Anyway one of my goals for this month is to finish putting the top together for Gossip in the Garden.

It is a bit tricky to put together but Anni Downs has written very clear step-by-step instructions - this is most appreciated!! I think I need to swap the bottom Dresden block with the grey background for the one near the centre on the white spot background - oh well it's not all sewn in, some of it is just pinned.
I also made an error with the long stemmed flower, somehow my stem didn't come out long enough so I drew a red heart and appliqued it under the cup-pot.

Now, I still just have to find the border (I haven't had a real look yet).

I haven't quite finished with Antique Wedding Sampler yet. I did make the binding at our last G'nT Sisters retreat but I still haven't made a start on sewing it on. This is my other goal for July - to finish putting on the binding.

At our retreat I decided to make a block for each of the Sister's AWS's, to keep me 'in the loop'. We picked out the fabrics together for Lynne's block #9. I just need to add the small leaves.

Very different colours to mine but I love it! That fabric in the large leaves is an old Robyn Pandolph one. To see more blocks made by the Sisters visit here we had a very productive weekend.

To finish this post you'll never guess who we saw out today Sunday driving, would you believe Batman in his Batmobile?

If you look closely you can just see his pointy ears (on the rhs - he even knows how to drive in Australia!)

You just never know who you might see on a country road in Victoria :D