Tuesday, November 15, 2016

Stitching in the heat

Summer has arrived with a vengeance here, after a couple of months of mild spring weather,suddenly the days  are in the mid 30s (90s) with climbing humidity.  My sewing room has windows facing north and west and it gets very hot.  It's been the last room to have any attention in this house of renovations, so there's no blinds or curtains up yet, only an old sheet tacked up which falls down with annoying regularity, and doesn't really keep the space cool.


So my sewing machine and I have migrated to the dining table.  The sun is away from here by mid morning and there's usually a cooling breeze from the east.  And I can keep an eye on the building progress across the road, as another out-of-character -for -the -neighbourhood house goes up!


Today's the 15th of the month, and that means Kate and Gun are hosting ScrapHappy Day today.  I haven't been here since last month's SHD, but it's been one of those kinds of months!

I'm pleased to say I've accomplished a couple of projects to show you today.  This cot size quilt went off to Tasmania last month to an organisation that supports teen mums.  It had been finished for a while, just the binding needing sewing down, and for some reason I'd put it away and forgotten about it.  So a quick finish and away it went, I bet it already has a little some-one spitting up on it!


Next is a quilt top only at this stage, which is also destined for a Young Parent's Program in SE Queensland.  More scrappy log cabins


Sweet pastels this time
And remember the orange and blue number from here .... it's still being quilted.  I was just getting so bored quilting around those squares, so I put it away and started on the pastel blocks.  Much easier and way more satisfying!  It was a pain too, to have to keep taking the walking foot on and off to work on other projects.....i know, life's hard! I'm thinking I need another sewing machine, this one ready to quilt with all the time and another to do regular sewing on.  


There's no rush for this, if it's ready I'll send it off with the pastel one at the end of the month, if not, there'll be somewhere else to send it.


I'm joining with Kate and Gun who kindly host ScrapHappy Day every month.  They both have a list of Happy Scrappers who join in, so go check out what everyone's doing.  Or if you have your own scrappy project, you might like to join in.  Here's what Kate has to say about it.........
"
ScrapHappy is open to anyone using up scraps – no new fabrics. It can be a random or formal quilt block, a pillow or pincushion, a bag or hat, a collage or rag rug. Anything made of scraps is eligible. If your scrap collection is out of control and you’d like to turn them into something beautiful instead of leaving them to collect dust in the cupboard, why not join us on the 15th of each month? Either email me at the address shown on my Contact Me page, or leave a comment below. You can also contact Gun via her blog to join. You don’t have to worry about a long term commitment or even join in every month, just let either of us know a day or so in advance if you’re new and you’ll have something to show, so we can add your link."

Eastern Water Dragon

Must go,  time to let the chooks out and walk Mirrhi while it's still relatively cool  out there.  I'll leave you with this fellow who spends his day surveying his world from atop Buddha's head.

Till next time...........

14 comments:

  1. Always rewarding to make a thing of beauty from the scraps. Scraps tell the stories of our lives and to gift your quilts shares so much to the recipient. I'm glad you shared.

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  2. Hi Terry, always great to see you here, and thanks for your lovely comment.

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  3. Those two Young Mum quilts are gorgeous, some lucky young woman and her little one are going to be very happy!
    Thank you so much for promoting ScrapHappy; I love the idea of reducing waste, of making something beautiful out of unpromising material. The more of us who do it, the better!
    Hope your hot northerlies ease soon; we're due a week (!) of thunderstorms, starting on Thursday. Happy days...

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    1. I like to think that receiving a quilt will set some young woman on the path of creating her own one day! We've already had a few thunderstorms, one last week came out of nowhere suddenly and a great strong gust of wind blew my jacaranda down.....no damage, just a poor broken tree. Stay safe, your storms can turn nasty.

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  4. beautiful quilts & am sure they will be much loved & treasured

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    1. Quilts for wrapping treasures in....thankyou Selina.

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  5. What a lovely finish! And the pastel top will be beautiful too. I have two sewing machines, ostensibly one for patchwork and the other for quilting. Mostly the "quilting" machine gets used to apply bindings now that my son has the long-arm and can do the actual quilting. ;-) I do love making and donating quilts, don't you?

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    1. I'd like a long-arm in the next room with someone to do the quilting :) I don't think I'd bother making quilts now if I couldn't donate them somewhere....yes, I do love it.

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  6. Lovely quilts Nanette! I kept my old Ekna so I could have an extra machine set up with a walking foot! lol. On the Janome the feet all just snap on and off... Except the walking foot where I have to get out the screw driver thingy...and unbelievably I find that a pain! Lol. Your water dragon is a beauty!

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    1. Thanks Maria. It's getting the walking foot on and off that annoys me too....someone needs to come up with one that snaps-on/off. My backyard riverbank is full of water dragons, from tiny new hatchlings to very big old ones. This one is a bit cheeky and not at all scared of Mirrhi or myself.....she's not allowed to 'chase' so that might be why.

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  7. Beautiful quilts and for a worthwhile cause too - I admire you for being able to part with them though I suppose one can only have so many quilts. I leave my walking foot on and use it for almost everything which is probably not the right thing to do but it seems to work for me.

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    1. Thanks Lyn.... I hadn't thought about not parting with them, maybe because I start with the idea they're not for me? You leave your walking foot on!?......beware the quilt police!...just kidding, I don't think it matters, and I've done it, but for some things I really want that quarter inch seam.

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  8. Really love the pastel quilt, such a lovely mix of colours and fabrics. Do hope the new building across from you isn't a godawful design lol

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  9. New building is a blot on the landscape...and very noisy over there. I love the pastels too.

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