Behind The Scenes

I’ve been slowly making some progress with my Facets Plus Quilt that I’m making as part of the quilt along being hosted by Amanda over at This Mom Quilts. Amanda designed this quilt as well, and even though I’m not exactly keeping to the pattern I am staying within the general design. And I’m loving it!

These are my first round of blocks done in one of the colourways I’m using. Note that it matches in with the sheet on my spare bed which is standing in for a design wall. This is the bed it’s going on once it’s finished so I couldn’t be happier!

I decided to make each colourway separately so that I wouldn’t get confused. That happened anyway and so I’m just making all the rest at once in a big marathon effort. This quilt-along finishes up next Monday so I’m sure you’re wondering if I’m going to have it finished on time. The answer is a resounding no, not even close *sigh*.

Frankly, I blame my tardiness on nerves and anxiety over the designing and writing of my Cloud 9 block tutorial for next week’s hop. I have a rabbit in the headlights response to anxiety which means I operate on super-slow speed and while my practice blocks were made relatively quickly ( the first one being binned, the second one being okay) the final one was made painstakingly slowly, all measurements being triple checked.

If you haven’t heard anything about this upcoming hop all the details are over on Yvonne at Quilting Jetgirl’s blog here. Yvonne, Cheryl at Meadow Mist Designs and Stephanie at Late Night Quilter are co-hosts. It will be run over 3 days and there are some very talented quilt bloggers taking part. It’s my turn on Tuesday and I hope you’ll all come back to see what I made then.

See you then!

Linking up with Hilary at Young Texan Mama for Sew Cute Tuesday and Lorna at Sew Fresh Quilts for Let’s Bee Social.

My Upcycled and Recycled Sewing Space

Welcome to my sewing space where every piece of furniture has been salvaged from somewhere and then painted to within an inch of its life. While the rest of the house is decorated in whites and off whites with hints of grey and dark navy, in this room my love of colour and pattern has been let off its leash. It’s a small room with a lot in it.

As you can see, in the far corner is my sewing machine, the Brother Dream Creator – I’m sending big love thoughts at it as I write this. It sits on a small dining table I bought second hand. I bought the chair for $5 from an op-shop and painted it several colours before settling on lime green… for now.

The trolley thing next to it is a cheap thing. The plastic boxes were transparent so I painted them with craft paint. I keep things like coloured pencils in there; some of the boxes are empty. It makes a great place to sit the fan on in summer.

The cane chair was bought second hand. I didn’t paint it but I’m thinking about it ;-).

The blanket box has been with me for a long time. An ex-work friend gave it to me. The top is made out of chipboard, so I covered it in paper and painted and decorated it. It has lasted remarkably well. It houses things like cushion covers and tablecloths.

My sister is a lino-cut print artist in her spare time (@jennifernoone) and she sent me this print as a birthday present a few years ago. I have a few of her other prints but, being red, this one seems to go really well in here. You’ve probably noticed I have room for a few mini quilts on the walls as well.

This is my cutting, basting, general craft activities table. It is made from an open Japanese style bedhead someone had on their verge for one of those shire pickups. I brought it home, nailed a few MDF panels to it, added some legs as best I could and painted big sunflowers on it in the style of the time. It’s 63” by 36”, so a very generous size. It barely fits in the room.

Underneath the table I have a small chest of drawers (another roadside find); some A3 paper boxes painted and decorated sitting on some planks on wheels like big skateboards; and my ironing table that I made from timber that was in the shed. The boxes hold sewing notions and yarn. The ironing table is on wheels (almost everything is in this room) and pulls out for quick jobs like seam pressing. If I take some of the furniture out of the room I can have it in an open space for pressing yardage and quilt tops and backs.

This room may not be much if you’re looking for a studio but it works like a dream. What it doesn’t have is a design wall. Usually I use the spare bed or the floor, and if I want to see what a single block looks like I often attach it to the fridge with a magnet and stand back.

Thanks for visiting. I can’t wait to see your space!

One Lovely Blog Award

I was totally delighted when Sharon of Yellow Cat Designs nominated me for the ‘One Lovely Blog Award’. Have a look at Sharon’s blog and meet her beautiful cat, Bella.

The Rules:

• Thank the person who nominated you, and give a link to his/her blog.
• List the rules.
• Display the image of the award on your post.
• List seven facts about yourself.
• Nominate (up to) 15 bloggers for this award, and notify them.

1.    I have 109 roses in my garden, not all are different varieties. A lot are David Austin English roses and I definitely favour varying shades of pink. It would be hard to pick a favourite, but just on sheer numbers I would have to choose David Austin’s “Sharifa Asma”, it performs well and the fragrance is exceptional. Expect to see the odd rose turn up here from time to time.

2.    I am passionate about gardening and I have a sadly neglected garden blog, Yard Tales,  that I ran (note the past tense here, well, maybe) for two years. Garden blogging doesn’t yield anywhere near the same readership as a quilt blog. A popular non-professional (and non-edibles) garden blog will probably have a readership of 50. Without the community support we have, a garden blog relies on google searches for visits. After 2 years I have 5 followers and I know them all personally. I am extremely grateful for the strong on-line quilt community.

3.    Back in the late ‘80s when women’s body boarding was in its infancy my friend and I entered a body boarding contest to pick two people to be sent to Sydney to represent Western Australia. My friend entered because she wanted to go to Sydney, I entered because she wanted support. I came 5^th in the state, or that’s the spin one of my workmates puts on it. My friend was pretty keen and reasonably experienced; I was ill-equipped and had half-heartedly paddled around only a couple of times. To set the scene, the contest was held in a remote section of the beach with all the usual trappings (the marquee, the guy with the bullhorn, a loud hooter thing); it was winter and the surf was sloppy; and the lone spectator was my friend’s mother (unlike the above photo, taken last summer). I headed out into the water for my heat and lost one of my (secondhand and loose) flippers on the first wave. I looked for it for a while and giving up started heading back to the beach. One of the organisers started heading down to the water’s edge waving me to go back out. They needed me to stay in for the duration of the heat otherwise they wouldn’t have enough numbers to qualify as a contest, so I went back out and floundered around for another 20 minutes. There were 5 of us in the contest.

4.    The past is another land they say and the 80s were no exception. Back in the heyday of Reebok high-tops I was a full time gym and aerobics instructor. Nowadays I’m pretty much a slob in comparison.

5.    There’s always a goal attached to taking on a new interest and with the gym stuff it was entering a fitness figure body-building competition. When it was clear that stress injuries were going to finish my athletic career it was a case of now or never. The last couple of days in the lead-up to the contest were the most unhealthiest I have felt (beyond the hangovers of my youth and genuine illness). To get maximum muscle definition you have to dehydrate yourself and manipulate your diet, varying extremes of carbs and protein. I came somewhere in the middle of a pack of 13 this time.

6.    I love a good detective series on TV and I have only just discovered repeats of Poirot. Often the set designers feature Bauhaus style art which makes for a bonus!

7.    I am fascinated by snails, there’s no squishing them and moving on at my house. I love to watch them interact with each other after rain. I’m no David Attenborough but I have seen them mating and one laying its eggs in the sand. Did you know it takes 2 years for a snail to grow to maturity? And that their first original shell is added to as they grow? Also if their shells crack or partially fall off it will repair. Marvellous creatures.

Whew! Did you make it to the end?

My nominations for this award are, in alphabetical order

Anja at Anja Quilts

Fellow Perth quilter Carla at Granny Maud’s Girl

Fellow Miss-Bee Hivin mate and owner of the cutest dog in the world Heide at Heide’s Quilty Hugs

And Sharla at the tongue twisting  Thistle Thicket Studio