Chooky's Churn Dash SAL

 I better post my progress on the Churn Dash SAL before the end of June comes. I wasn't sure about participating when Chooky put out the call for anyone interested in making a churn dash quilt. I did reply that I was thinking about it, without actually committing to make one. Her reply was to think harder!!

I had purchased a range of reproduction fabrics from a shop at Missouri Star when we were in the USA back in 2018, and this has been patiently waiting for me to do something with it. So I found them in the dark depths and got them out on the table and kept thinking. Eventually I committed to join in.

After laying these out on the table, I was walking past some other bundles and came across a bag containing the leftovers from an early kit.................and went down a rabbit hole, wondering what I could do with these??

                               

This was the original pattern, called Amelia, and it was a kit that I purchased from Craftsy long ago. 

Before I knew it, I was cutting these into units to make churn dash blocks!! Because I am using leftovers, the backgrounds are not all the same, and I had to change out the centre squares as well. But I am using up a bundle of leftover fabrics that has been sitting around for possibly 8 years!

I will have to put on my thinking cap when it comes time to sash the blocks, and may have to bring in more fabric, but that's a decision for down the track. I don't think there will be enough border fabric leftover either, so may have to get creative with that too.

                           Here are the first month's blocks from a total of 25 to be made. 

So where does that leave the original selection of fabrics? They are back in the drawer for another day. Maybe they will turn up as churn dash blocks in a Ready, Set & Sew kit for sale??

Now I am up to date with this post, I better get busy and catch up with blog reading as I am behind again. I no sooner catchup and 2 days later there are more posts and I play catchup again!

It's late Saturday afternoon and I am heading to the lounge by the fire to read blogs. My week has been occupied getting my bookwork up to date, and I can report that I have got to June 1st! Max was busy yesterday quilting a couple of QFO quilts (Quilt For Others) and adding binding to one. I spent some time at our group's Saturday sewing day this morning stitching a binding on one of those quilts. I came home at lunch time and have been feeling a bit "blah", so hope it's not leading to anything.

Be back sometime,

Blessings, From Jude

Alone again....... for now..................

 How can 10 days go so fast? It hardly seemed any time at all since I met the train from the city to pick up the fairy. And here we are, back to the railway station again this afternoon. We are fortunate to have this service, which runs from Adelaide to Melbourne and back again twice a week. A lot of the stations enroute have closed, but thankfully Bordertown is still on the list. There were quite a few passengers on board today and Raylene was not the only person to get on here. 

The station platform is much lower than the train doors, and it is quite a leap up to get on board. Don't think it would be very easy for much older passengers, and I wonder if they have wheelchair access? It's just as well that the fairy is still very fit and able.

As it is a week tomorrow since my last post, I had to think about what we had been up too this week. I don't have a lot of photos to show, but I can tell you that we have been very busy. 

                           Kits have been cut and packed and fabric bundles cut and packed.

                             

                     Bindings have been finished on the Angels quilts. Patchwork meetings were attended.                                                                   The Go Cutter received a work out.

                                        

Finished donation quilts were placed in the queue with their backings to await the quilter. (Perhaps she better get busy??)

The revolving door was working well, and we enjoyed the company of guests (and pizzas) one evening  during the week.

I did start Max up and loaded Pat's quilt that she finished at retreat. This was large.....

............and I decided that this is the only photo you will get. At least on the machine you can see the borders, which were not visible on the last photo on the bed.

There was also a lot of stitching time, as Yvonne came back to work on her quilt.

Raylene made another string quilt, this time in different colours, and again we chose the border fabric first! The first layout was like this,........................

 but we were both not so sure, and so the yellow blocks were swapped with the blue..................and we like this much better. (The string drawers still have lots of strings in them!!)

One evening I was 'cruising' around online and came across a video to make this quilt, using a layer cake. So went searching in my stash for a layer cake  to make a trial run. I was struggling to get the right mix of darks and lights, and variety, so don't look too hard. I'm glad Robyn is still agile enough to crawl around on the floor. It was a difficult task shifting the colours around, and often when a change was made, it turned out that it was too close to another the same!! 

I decided to just sew the blocks together as they landed, as it will keep someone warm!! There were a few blocks left over from the layer cake and I was thinking about how to incorporate them into a border, until I finally decided to KISS. (Even now, I can see some blocks that should have been changed!)

I do have to state that we have spent time with feet up by the fire watching TV, reading, or knitting. (Well I haven't been knitting!) The weather outside has been VERY cold, but I know it is June and we need to expect that. 

I'll be back soon with a progress post of my Churn Dash blocks. 

The next few days will be spent with the computer and the bookwork trying to get up-to-date and ready for the end of the financial year.

Keep warm,

Blessings, From Jude

Together again....................

Here it is Tuesday afternoon, and Margaret has just left the building, and all is quiet again....(well, except for Raylene and I!!) The vacuum cleaner has been out, beds stripped and washing done. There are still some things to be put back to order, but tomorrow is another day. Counting the sewing day last Thursday, there has been a total of 5 days of fun, conversation, laughter and of course stitching here at        Number 8. There were 5 stayers besides myself and quite a few locals calling in to say hello, or join us with stitching.

There were 5 machines set up on the tables and would you believe they were all Pfaff machines!!

In a recent post I said that Raylene was sorting the strings into colours for another string quilt, and here she is starting on the blue blocks.............

...and don't they look so much different when they are trimmed!!?

Then onto some purple blocks...............

....................and then more of orange.

Then it was time to lay them out into some sort of order, and this is what was decided on. Of course, there is always a few to offer opinions and change things around.

Ta daaa, here is the finish! I received one comment from someone, who said how the border matches  the colours in the blocks so well....... I have to tell you that we worked "backwards" and picked the border print and made the blocks to suit. Much easier than trying to find a matching border afterwards. This is now waiting for a backing and in the quilting queue and will be donated.

Margaret, from over the border, arrived Friday afternoon, and she is the lady who sent me the email enquiring whether there was anything happening here for the long weekend. Thus the one who we can blame, credit for things starting back up again. She set her Pfaff up and set to work sewing these strips together. An elderly neighbour has passed away and she is making quilts to be donated with some of this fabric.

This pretty little quilt was finished off and later a lot of bling was stitched to it and will be donated as a fiddle rug to a nursing home. Sorry missed a few photos, as Margaret also made a teddy bear.

Robyn's sewing history includes much clothes making but is fairly new to patchwork. Here she is getting a lesson in adding binding to one of the Angel's quilts...............

                   ...................and using her new Pfaff machine...............

.............and the job has been finished. Now adding the label and another quilt ready to be donated.

Awhile ago, a lady from the local Salvation Army secondhand store asked Raylene if she would be interested in working on something that had been given to the store. It was a very large crocheted rug, which had not been finished and was very heavy. The fairy is always up for a challenge, and with lots of advice from us all, it was decided that the rug needed to be divided into 4 sections. It was 20 blocks across by 20 down, so she set about dividing into sections of 10 x10. 

After the sections were divided they needed to be edged and loose threads fixed. Raylene started on this, and Erica volunteered to edge them.

And it wasn't long before there was 4 finished rugs, which have now been taken back to the shop to sell. A fantastic effort and made into more useable rugs.

During the dividing process there was lots of black wool ends, which ended up all over the house. Thankfully most of them have now been vacuumed.

As well as edging the rugs, Erica finished the binding of one of her own quilts, while also  enjoying the conversation and renewing friendships made at the retreats over the years.

I had a bundle of 2 1/2" strips that I had been thinking about using, and decided to  make a scrappy trips quilt. It didn't take long for me to get the strips sewn together into units.....

.........and then they were stitched into a tube, before cutting and resewing back into the blocks. (It seemed like a good idea at the time, but after a few blocks I realised that it was much more work!!) I had intended to make 20 blocks, but soon changed that to 16 and a lap size!! 

And ta daa, by Sunday afternoon I had a finished top. The sashing looks very pale in this photo, but is actually more yellow. Another quilt for the queue and to be donated.

Yvonne has been making string blocks over the last few months. She is fairly new to patchwork, but is a very creative card maker and is learning fast.

2 heads are better than one, and here is Yvonne and Pat placing the blocks, and choosing a sashing colour.

Yvonne was not here for the whole weekend, but came for some sessions and has made this much progress. The borders will be more strings, in an effort to use them up, and then this will be in the quilting queue and donated somewhere. (Even after all these blocks, the string containers are growing!)

                                              

Helen called in for a chat a couple of days, and will be back to sew another time.

Julie came for part of a day, and brought her crocheted blocks that have been "around" for some years, and wondered how she could finish them ???..................

............and here is the queen of advice giving her some ideas. Stay tuned for an update, sometime. While she was here, Julie got lots of inspiration and went home with an idea for a patchwork quilt.

While you have seen a few photos of Pat helping others, she also managed to achieve some finishes of her own. 

I may have posted this quilt of Pat's before, but now it has borders and will be in the quilting queue as soon as she has picked out a backing.

In between the productivity, there was much conversation and sharing and solving the problems of the world!! The range of topics to chat about were numerous and every so often one of us would quote an old saying, which led to wondering how and why this came about. I should have written them down, as I am struggling to remember them now.

Evenings were spent in the reclining position, with wool in hand, for those are skilled in this.  Someone said this pic looks like the ladies in the old folks home all lined up!!??

Robyn has a birthday this week, so we decided to "have a party" for lunch on Monday and made her a cake. The fairy went out to the shed and resurrected the pink hats and paper flowers to make the event more festive.  There is a Pink box, where things that were usually brought out for the Pink retreats, have been stored for the last couple of years.

Of course we had to have a group photo, although the day girls are not in this. I think this is probably the first group pic since March 2020??

As each lady reluctantly left, (and the departure times were stretched out to be as late as they could), they all commented that it was so good after all this time to be together again, and that we need to do it again real soon. I think the weather has been very cold this weekend, but it has been warm with the fire and the renewal of friendships inside. I have only been outside once in the last 5 days, and that was to attend church Sunday morning.

There are plans for more weekends soon, and I would like to hear from you if your are interested.

Blessings, From Jude