I'll never use varigated threat EVER again

Ah, finishing touches, and its only 2am!

Morning Photo....

Quilting detail photo

Thought for the day:

Variagated thread looks beautiful on the cone. But not on my work!. It appears to be a perfect colour match. However once you start stitching, it looks inconsistent....and you cant go back, because unpicking the stitches will disintegrate into little tears on the fabric (on a domestic machine).... this quilt taught me a lot about last minute disasters and late nights. At least for my work and style of quilting, this thread does nothing to assist!

Also, I DO NOT recommend Glad press and seal...it stuck so heavily to the fabric that I had to tear it away and then pick at the stubborn strands with tweesers. I never mark anything, but for once I wanted to try a quick tip I'd been let in on....and it was a disaster. I finished (and will now stick to) freehand, like I always have. Thank goodness I only commited this technique to 1 border.

Well, now that I've highlighted all the positive experiences of quilting I will finish by saying that I am greatly relieved that Manor House is packaged and travelling as I type. In fact, it's probably already in Sydney. I just hope that when I see it at the Show that it will be the way I remembered and that I wont be too embaressed. I always like to let quilts sit a few weeks so I can view them with fresh eyes....and with my late night finishing marathon I didnt get the chance.

I will put all this down to 'experience' and move on....

Stencils at the ready!

Still Stitching Away.....

She's given up trying to sit on my quilting as I'm stitching, but I started so early this morning (5am!) that I forgot to put on the heating....and I hadnt noticed how chilly the house was until I just stopped to have a coffee.....and I just had to snap a pic of Mooshi, waiting patiently (and hopefully) for me to remember to heat the house! Her look says it all......

Well, back to work.....

Rose Lewis

A highlight of yesterday's show was my daughter asking me when I'd managed to make another table runner???!

On second inspection she noticed that it wasnt my table runner at all....it was a student's! She loved it, and so do I !


Thank you Rose for allowing me to post your beautiful work. I love the trapunto and butterfly quilting, you've really made this design unique.


It's always really interesting to see what students end up making after a workshop, in fact, that's one of my favourite things about teaching - seeing the end results filtered through the creativity of so many talented women!

Stencilling allows individuality to shine
through, so if you're a quilter and you've been thinking of doing a workshop that's a little different, why not try a stencil workshop? The results are
definitely worth your time!

9:15 on Sunday Night

Making up for lost time, here is a very quick progress update

While I Should Have Been Working.....

While my quilt in progress waited at home....and although I'm behind schedule and really didnt have the time......I went ahead and had a lovely morning out at the Waverley Patchworker's show.....and I'm so glad I did. It seems that everything I do on my quilt is one step forward - three steps back. It's just one of those quilts that has a mind of it's own and wont budge! It's very frustrating, so by this morning I really needed to get away from my machine and just relax a little...so onto the show!

I quilted the raffle quilt (above) on my domestic sewing machine and my daughter was hoping to win it back in the raffle...she fell in love with it when it was at home and didnt want me to part with it after I had done my quilting duty! Unfortunatley she didnt win but congratulations to whoever did...it's a beautiful quilt.

BASTED! and other positive thoughts.....?

Sometime's I wonder why I put myself through all this!

Funnily enough I didn't mind staying up a few nights in a row, happily applique-ing until 2am and by 6am I was awake and ready to go again. This just proves how addictive quilting is, you know you're being a glutton for punishment...and yet your hands keep on creating.....but you cant wait to smile that satisfied smile of seeing your quilt FINALLY FINISHED! ...so you keep on at it.....

At least basting indicates that youre that little bit closer to holding your finished masterpiece....

Yesterday was basting day, and after a few glitches and a few hours unpicking and re -stitching, I'm finally basted!

I've learnt a few valuable lessons (just when I dont have time!)...

Never use batting you've never tried before!
Inspect the batting before using - for some reason, mine wouldnt straighten out after light creasing and those stubborn folds wouldnt go away!

When in doubt, do not stitch any further - just stop. There's no point hoping it's going to be ok, if you've noticed something askew, it probably is.

Well all these things happened to me...but the good news is, I'm over them and they're now righted, phew, its over. When you come across what seems to be an insurmountable glitch....go and clean the house, you'll find your enthusiasm for quilting renewed in no time at all!

Unfortunately, all this means that I missed one of my favourite groups today...so sorry to you all, I missed you as I was stitching away. Looking forward to catching up next week. When this quilt is finished I will bring it along to show before it makes its journey to Sydney,

now its back to the sewing machine.....

Just a Short Break!

So many leaves....so little time. Just taking a short break, will update early next week and will (hopefully) have some serious progress! Basting starts MONDAY!