Wearing too many hats??

I know that certain people have been checking my blog for another post, and am conscious that it is 8 days now, so this morning I will catch up, so that I can cross that off from my LOOOOOOONG list of "to do's". And then I will stand with Max and continue with this quilt that I started a "sometime" ago, but had to baste and unzip to get exhibition quilts done. (I can tell you there are lots of triangles in this quilt!!) I thank this customer for being so understanding and patient.

As I reported not so long ago, my mind has been whirling in a lot of directions, and things have not calmed down yet. You think that after this, or that, life will settle, but then something else comes along to take it's turn in the queue, so I wonder if things will change? Perhaps I am wearing too many hats, or is it this "getting older" thing, and slowing down, that we don't fit as much into each day?

Some of the "hats" I have been wearing, and what has occupied my time recently..... being a new grandma and a quick Melbourne trip to visit,.....being a longarm quilter and finishing customer quilts.......finishing local girls quilts ready for our exhibition.......squeezing a couple of my own quilts into the queue.....being on the committee and attending meetings to plan the quilt show.......also being Publicity Officer for the group and getting the word out about our show......being on the SAQG Appraisal Panel and attending a day in the city, followed by a visit to mum and dad.......planning and some cutting for the next Mystery retreat that is coming up in 4 weeks time.....spending some time in my very neglected garden, and pulling weeds that have grown so high!........general household duties (which is a long way down on my priority list, and looks like it too!)........ planning next term's KYB meetings which start next week..........and fitting in other general things like shopping, doctors appointment, car service and a funeral.

There are other things that I am conscious of that I should be doing and haven't, but hopefully people will understand. There are emails that i have not replied to, and phone calls I need to make. I know that I have missed a few birthdays and need to catch up with those.

My back yard, and you can see I have done half of the vegie patch so far, .....

..... and even found some sweet peas just starting to bloom.

Thanks to our Assistant Secretary for these great signs, which appear at the entrances to our town. We would love to see you visit our show, and I will remind you in a few days time again!

A couple of photos from the Melbourne family!

Some pics of quilts that my quilter managed to fit in on the weekend. Bindings and hanging sleeves are in the process of being done. Our nights are still very cold, but I have not lit the fire in the lounge, as I would be very tempted sit in front of it each evening. My plan has been to use the small heater in the front sewing room, and watch TV sitting at the tables there, while hand stitching the bindings, until bed time.

This is Cabin Fever, which is one of the Pick a Case Mystery quilts that I cut a few of. When I need a piecing "fix" therapy weekend, I can grab one of these to sew. One friend asked me who it was for, and I told her that I don't need a reason to make a quilt. I just do it because I enjoy making them. 

There was a certain amount of "reverse" stitching on this quilt. As you can see the backing is made up of 3 different fabrics to use up what I had. (Thankyou Jean for sewing this for me!) When the quilt was trimmed, there was enough of the dark blue to make the sleeve, which I duly stitched on before the binding was machine sewn. Then I started hand sewing to the back, and part way around, I realised that I had sewn the hanging sleeve to the matching fabric, but this was the bottom of the quilt!! As you can see from the photo above, I wanted the smaller on point square to be at the top left! So after my unpicking and redoing the sleeve it is now where I need it to be. The sleeve fabric does not match the backing now, but does it really matter, as it is my quilt, isn't it??

 This is my Dream Big panel that I purchased in Paducah last year. (Did I say last year?? It seems like years ago now.)

This is a small scrappy quilt that finishes at 48" square without borders. Little cases of these kits will be for sale at the exhibition, with the pattern, and this is my sample. The binding is on, and will be sewn down while we are spending time at the show.

This is my Celtic Knot quilt, that is 15 years old, and almost finished! (Just the binding and sleeve to do!) I started this in a workshop with Gina Burgess, and we were to design our own celtic pattern. (Note, one pattern!!) I enjoyed doing this and decided that I would do 9 of them and make a large quilt!! I made 3 blocks, as shown, and stored them away in a box, with the fabrics and notes, and I might have started a few other projects over time as well?? A few years went by, and not sure how many, and I pulled out the box and decided I had been a bit lot ambitious initially, and that finished would be good! So I put the blocks on point with setting triangles, and added side borders to make it a more useful size and added it to the pile of tops waiting for my quilter!!!?? I even had the backing and wadding prepared. And of course I had some starry quilting planned "in my head"! That starry quilting turned out to be much less than was originally planned, as once again, finished was good.

In the class we had to design our own pattern and also make our own bias tape. This is the fabric that I purchased, and we used the Clover bias maker to make our tape, and added strips of vliesofix to the underside.

I found the box this morning with all the notes and patterns etc from that class. (And of course, it was the LAST box I looked in wasn't it?)  This is my sample of stitching down the bias strips. We used a twin needle and monofilament thread. While this is great because you can't see the stitches, it was my first and last time using this. It is so fine you can't see it, and I had a lot of machine troubles after that, where it would "bind" up, and I am sure some of this "plastic" stuff got down into my machine?? Might be wrong, but that's my story and I 'm sticking to it.

The pattern I made for one of the blocks!

And my binding is all prepared ready to sew on, one evening this week.

Some strips cut ready for another mystery kit.

A bundle of fabrics that arrived recently.

Well, this has turned out to be more of a marathon post than I thought, and now it's time to get back to those triangles. Bye for now,

Blessings, From Jude