May is for Makers

You’re no doubt aware of the May is for Makers campaign currently underway.

While I couldn’t commit to buying five new patterns during the month, I did decide to purchase a book last week from my favourite Aussie designer, Jen Kingwell. Surely a book is as good as a pattern?

I have been admiring a particular quilt for quite some time, though I have no idea when I will find the time and patience to make it. It’s the Glitter quilt…

Isn’t it lovely?

Anyway, to further support my favourite Aussie designer, I decided to purchase the templates the following week, meaning that when they arrive I will have no excuses but to hop to it, and start another quilt.

No excuses except my inexperience with Y-seams and using templates that is. However, by the time I have constructed this quilt I shall be a master of the Y-seam. Or less competent, and the quilt will be reduced to a lap-sized version, including extensive borders.

I prepared (as one does), by buying some fabric last weekend, while in Wellington. I did the rounds of The Busy Bee, Stitchbird, Wellington Sewing Centre and Nancy’s Embroidery. All before lunchtime. The Hubbie has the route down pat now, and has a snooze in the car while I indulge inside each shop. I also took advantage of the trip to buy some more Aurifil thread, this alone making the two hour drive worth it. It will be great when Aurifil gets a NZ Distributor, and my LQS starts stocking the thread. Until then it’s another excuse to go for a long drive south.

So, my stash of Alison Glass fabric is prepped and ready to go, just waiting on the templates to arrive. While waiting I shall enjoy our local Tote and Gloat Quilt Show this weekend. I am the contact person for the Merchandisers, and am hoping this means I get a good look at everyones fabric and notions before the crowds arrive.

What are you up to this week?

Linking up with Lorna at Sew Fresh Quilts.

 

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It’s raining, it’s pouring

The autumn rains have arrived! Actually, to put it more accurately, it’s pouring with rain. The streets of the capital are under water, schools evacuated, and The Hubbie is starting to keep an eye on the local river levels.

I am just thankful the rain arrived today, since yesterday I volunteered my services to pick apples at a local orchard for our community harvest group. In exchange for a few hours labour, I got several kilograms of apples, and the satisfaction of knowing we had diverted apples to local food banks, rather than having them lie and rot.

Given this was my second fruit picking outing for the week, I suppose it’s not surprising I haven’t made much progress on the quilting front.

The big push has been the Gypsy Wife #2, which has been trimmed and is ready for binding. Proper progress photos will have to wait for the rain to pass.

This was my first attempt at using one of the embroidery stitches on my Husky to quilt with. The results were mixed. It appears the slightest change in tension, caused by the drag of the quilt through the harp space of the machine, caused the stitches to vary in width. While this annoyed me greatly, it didn’t annoy me sufficiently to want to undo all my work and return to plain quilting. Nevertheless I won’t try this again with such a big quilt.Perhaps this approach is best kept for QAYG projects. Opinions on this, and hints for future success will be gladly entertained.

I also finished a small pink baby quilt, and passed it on to a friend for binding. It used blocks passed on by an older quilter whose eye sight has faded, and who is thus unable to finish her WIP’s. I can only describe it as shockingly pink. It will go into the Guild’s charity quilt pile until needed.

The rain is getting heavier as I write this post, the satellite tv signal is gone, and I am resigning myself to losing The Hubbie to emergency management responsibilities in the near future. I’m sure the local farmers are going to be thrilled to lurch from drought to flood in the course of 24 hours.

Linking up with Lorna at Sew Fresh Quilts.