Getting on With It...

A whole week since my last posting! I’ve been caught between doing what I do or blogging about doing what I do – and I find that although blogging looks so quick and easy, if I blog about what I do, then I don’t get very much done. Of course I’m not complaining, I do love blogland…but with my limited skills, it takes me longer than most to share what I’m doing!

I’ve been attempting to catch up on my emails today; it’s almost infeasible how quickly your email inbox becomes 300 unread messages waiting for me to get typing. That’s another reason why I love the Yahoo Group so much – members don’t often have to wait long for an answer, there’s usually someone helpful that answers their question before I’ve even read yesterday’s emails. I do love helpful members!!!

I’ve also been very excited, looking at Hearts Desire Blocks in my Yahoo Bom Group. There’s going to be some spectacular quilts being finished soon. I really do love each colour scheme; they all work in their own way. Today I got my next BOM quilt back from my ‘sample sewer’ and that motivated me to get up to speed with Hearts Desire so I can get stuck into the next quilt. I like to make one along with everyone else taking part…but do think I need to reconsider whether I will be able to keep on doing this as I have got quite a lot on and need to get ahead. Anyway, today I finished the centre block and I really love it.

One less thing to do...

WOW: WIPs On Wednesdays

Well, Volcanic Ash has blotted out my Sydney Show plans this year - with my flight cancelled, I won't be attending. Oh well, there's plenty to do right here at home!

Today’s WIP is one Work In Progress that will likely take years. I am teaching my DD to paint. There is just no fast track around these lessons; they take years of time, patience and practice. It’s very gloomy in the photo because we were seated in front of her bedroom window for natural light. So no room lights were turned in. You can’t find tone with light globes interfering. We were very lucky that there was an ample stream coming in through the window. I have several painting WIPs (of course I do) and she has just started her own, so I was talking her through one of my own pieces before she carries on with her own.

With quilting being so much on my mind, I have purposefully neglected painting – I just feel that there isn’t room for both. Well I know there is no room to do both. Unless I win the lottery and can purchase another house to store all my things in. Then I would just need more time...

See You In Sydney (flight permitting)

I'm hoping to make it to The Sydney Show tomorrow (volcanic ash permitting!). It doesn't look good on the fly out front, but I will remain hopeful until the last minute. If you don't see me at the show, you know why.

Hearts Desire Part 5

Guess What?

Block 5 is (finally) launched

Mr. Toshiba is back in action– I’m not 100% satisfied with his recovery, but the fine tuning is next week’s problem. He got back on his feet long enough to allow me to launch Part 5. Let’s just say – I love Warranties…

Back to Hearts Desire. Yes, we’re nearly at the end. I do feel like a strict task master each month with this BOM which refuses to slow down. But I do feel it’s worth it, and hopefully next month, when the last block is launched and the end is in sight, you will too.

 

You didn’t think Hearts Desire would get easier as the months passed by, did you??

 

This month is all about the main border surrounding the inner square and, being a Hearts Desire, it’s a flourishing border with just enough room to show off your beautiful quilting when you reach that stage.

There are: 4 flower heads, 4 baskets and a picket row of leaves to fence it in. The border itself is rippled. Now that Block 5 is here, the strongest sense of direction has arrived and you can finally get a real sense of how your finished quilt will look. Yes, there is 1 month yet to go, but this month moves everything towards the design’s final placement.

Looking through the BOM Blocks so many of you have listed in the Yahoo Group is nothing short of breathtaking. I love browsing through your unique colour palettes and although I am always saying it – it’s true, I do live a little through each and every interpretation that is being quilted. I love seeing quilters make designs their own, and I definitely feel this when viewing the photos posted in the group.

 

A note on this month’s pattern: please read the pattern carefully before starting. I have included a layout guide and I have gone ahead and reversed some key pages for you to save you the additional trouble. This means that you are ready to print without requiring a photocopier yourselves, but please do measure your blocks against the pattern.

 

While gluing the pages together, it is easy to lose 1/8th of an inch and over 12 pages this adds up!

Be accurate and double check your measurements at the end.

 

 

 You can find  my BOM on my website or in my YahooGroup

How I Mitre Corners

Draw a line on both borders

 Fold and press the edges with an iron

 Position the pressed edge on top of the 2nd mitred line,

then apply a tiny amount of Elmer’s Glue along

the inside edge and press flat

Leave open a 1/4 of an inch from the edge. The pin indicates where 1/4 inch is .You leave this 1/4 inch open to attach the centre of the quilt top later on (blocks)

Stitch the seam with a slightly smaller stitch making sure that the tension does not stretch or warp during stitching

Cut away the excess fabric making sure

that you leave a 1/2 inch seam allowance

Gently release the glue by tugging the seam open and press flat

Turn to the right side and check that everything is positioned correctly and is nice and flat

For those of you making Block 5 of my BOM Hearts Desire, continue reading: We are now referring to the curvy applique detail which was added to the base border and was left pinned back during mitre-ing. I purposefully did not mitre the applique with the seam because it creates too much bulk if you do. For absolute precision, I prefer to mitre overlay appliqué separately.

Follow the pics below for a visual on how I do this

Notice how the applique is pinned back? Now that you have mitred the border fabric, go ahead and mitre the applique too

Remember to leave a 1/4 inch seam allowance just as you did with with backgrounbd border fabric- you will need it when adding the centre quilt

Mitre the background border fabric

Mitre the applique 'overlay' next and when both are neatly mitred, then you are able to position the applique basket over the mitred seam. And your corners will all look something like this.

WOW: WIPs On Wednesdays

My WIP this week is no grand affair: it’s a repair. Yesterday evening, very late and I decided to bind some of my patterns together after my photocopier DIED. But I accidentally insert a photocopier transparency instead of a plastic transparency (distracted by the above) cover sheet and wham!

The piercing blades came down and became fused in the too thin plastic. The effect is like trying to hole punch fabric.

Disaster! No amount of wiggling helped.

And now on top of every other project that needs to get done, I have a binding machine that needs to be fixed. Why didn’t I pay more attention? Luckily, very luckily my DH pulled the machine apart and patiently unscrewed everything…and there were a lot of ‘covers’ and screws and bits that I was convinced would never go back.

I had an instant headache watching my beloved binding machine go to pieces. But then –and this is the most impressive part – it came back together. Perfectly. And it binds better than it ever did. And I can’t remember any other appliance ever successfully coming back together this easily. It feels too good to be true.

The binding machine has been rescued from my carelessness. From broken to brilliant in under one hour. I am so lucky to have a DH who knows how to fix things.

See, I tear myself away from quilting to make biscuits every once in a while and my DH repairs all my mistakes. Ahhh, just the way I like it.

Block 5 Will Not Be Launched On The 15th

Hello Everyone,

Mr. Toshiba, my photocopier died today. Without warning, he just snapped and that’s it, all my day’s plans over. My bright, shiny scanner, PDF converter and printer as well as old fashioned photocopier. The machine designed to streamline all my electronic tools into one smooth unit has stopped working.
This means that this month’s BOM Block 5 of Hearts Desire will not be launched tomorrow, the 15th of June. My DH has already called the technician who will look in on the machine tomorrow. I expect to launch the block on Thursday the 16th or Friday 17th of June, by the end of this week.

I know this is frustrating, but it really can’t be helped. I apologize for any inconvenience, but I simply won’t release patterns unless I am 100% certain that they are spot on when they reach you.

I convert my original patterns firstly by scanning them in, then I PDF convert them. Then, once I have created the pattern into one file and added the instructions, I ‘launch’ it online via my website and print of off from the online source. It’s a triple checking process against my originals. Even 5mm out is unacceptable and cannot be tolerated in a pattern.

Hopefully tomorrow will prove a better day!