Sewing, and reverse sewing!

As reported in my brief post on Friday morning, Pat and I headed up the highway for a day in the city. The 3 hour journey always goes by quickly as we find lots to talk about. And we enjoy our day every 2 months viewing and appraising quilts. We see an amazing variety of quilts.

After our meeting with the Panel I had a couple or quilt deliveries to make, and we visited a nearby fabric store, where we might have spent some money. This was also the where we met up with Raylene, who came back to Bordertown with us for the weekend of sewing.

It was a cold and wet wintry day, and this is the rainbow that we saw in the sky near Murray Bridge on the way home. The colours, were much more vibrant than the photo shows.

This was not a planned retreat weekend, and meals were mainly heated dinners from the freezer. We were too busy sewing to worry about cooking. The weather has been cold, and rather wet, but inside it has been cosy and warm, with the fire burning. Perfect sewing weather.

As well as Raylene, Pat stayed over as well. The word spread, and Jocelyn came to sew with us. The local girls are all on a mission to get things finished for our upcoming exhibition.  We were visited by Helen, Pauline and Jean. 

Jocelyn is working on a quilt that she started a few years ago, that features circles appliqued on a background. 

Raylene brought some hand applique to work on, but I don't think it even came out of the bag. She was too busy helping the rest of us fix up our "mistakes". And there were plenty of these. Pat started out by sewing the side setting triangles onto a quilt. And was devastated to find out that a mistake had been in the cutting measurements. Thanks Raylene for unpicking these!!

Last weekend I showed  the strips I had cut for the next Antelope Canyon quilt, and during the week I had cross cut these into pieces. And Thursday evening, I started sewing the blocks. It was my intention to finish sewing this quilt on Saturday.  After an early morning start, things were going well, and I thought I might be finished by lunch time!!

What is that saying, "don't count your chickens before they hatch"?? That might apply to sewing as well, as my "quality control officer" found a mistake in my blocks!! And 3 rounds  needed to be unpicked!!

Thanks Raylene for unpicking for me. It was a few hours later, that the mistake was fixed. And by the end of the day, I had 4 blocks sewn, ready to be joined the next morning. So much for thinking that I was going to be finished by lunch time! 

We retired to the lounge for the evening, with our heated dinners, put our feet up, and watched a movie.We enjoyed the story of Florence Foster Jenkins.

And Sunday morning, about 9.30, this is my finish. It needs a name. Do you have any ideas?

As Pat did not have enough fabric left to recut her triangles, this project was put away, and another one started. Another Antelope Canyon quilt was to be made, so a plan needed to be drawn up, strips cut and crosscut, labelled and bagged.

And this is the progress before Pat had to leave for home this evening.

After my red quilt was finished, I put the binding on my bed runner, and my binding fairy is hand stitching it for me. Then I turned my attention to my hexagon quilt, which needed the rows sewn together. These were all set in seams, and now they are done, and just need the border on all 4 sides, and it will be ready for the quilter!!

But I will mention that this also had it's share of unpicking. The top and bottom borders had half hexagons to straighten up the edges, but the sides needed a different shaped piece. I cut enough for 9 on each side, well I thought I had cut enough. I sewed them on one side and turned my attention to the other side, but could not find the other 9!! So I cut 9 more. And I will add here that the top was in 2 sections still, as I thought to sew the centre seam after straightening up each side first, so I was not handling such a large amount of quilt?? And then after sewing them on the other side, and having 2 straight sides, I went to sew the centre set in seams, and what did I find? That I had sewn those missing 9 pieces, onto one edge of the middle section? Errr derrr!

Pat and Jocelyn have left, and Raylene is still here. She will return home by train on Tuesday. It is our local group's patchwork day tomorrow, so we will have a visitor.

Time to switch off, and head to bed, ready for action with Max tomorrow. My weekend sewing for me is over. In spite of the mistakes, much has been achieved, and it has been a great time of chatter, sewing, and much laughter, with good friends.

Blessings, From Jude