All pressed up and somewhere to go

I am supposed to be knitting, but have managed to achieve something that I feel I can brag about....I am up to date with reading my blogs!!!! Thanks to QM I keep up with everybody's blogs using google reader. Love that little reader, except when it tells me that there are 200 or so posts to read. The technique I used was to see which blog had the most posts, and read them all in one hit - even if there were 56 of them. There are some blogs that I read as soon as I see a new post, but lots that I read later. Thanks to reading the one with the most for the last couple of weeks, I am up to date - no new posts to read. Woohoo.

You are probably wondering what the title has to do with this post. On Wednesday I took a quilt to be quilted. Mum had said when I bought my townhouse that she would pay for one of my quilts to be quilted. I instantly thought of this quilt:

It was made at a workshop with Jenny Bowker, I think it wa 2002? It is a Broken Star quilt, made using Jenny's Pieces of Eight technique. I fell in love with the paisley fabric, and just love the quilt to bits. I think it will go on a wall, but to start with it can hang out on the couch with me. We took it to Caroline Conlan to quilt, it is being custom quilted. I am sure that it would look ok with edge to edge quilting, but I don't want it to look ok, I want it to look stunning. I will post a pic when I get it back, I hope I get it back soon. I have to measure the left over outer border fabric, I had hoped to use it for the binding, but think it might not be enough.

BTW, congrats to Jenny for winning Best of Show at the Canberra Quilters exhibition.

Fun and games at the craft show

On Thursday I went with my Mum to the Canberra Craft and Quilt Fair. Thursday used to be the quietest day, but I think it was busier than usual. My sister decided that she wanted to go, so we met her and her 2 girls inside. She had the 2 kid pram with her, so the children were nicely contained. Cathy commented on the many filthy looks she was receiving from mostly older ladies. It is amazing how poorly some people tolerate prams, but for Mum's like my sister taking the children in the pram is the only way they can get to things like the craft show. I told her not to worry about it, she had paid for her ticket (well Mum did, thanks again Mum) so she had every right to be there. The kids loved looking at everything, there were so many things to see.

When I converted my handbag to the backpack style I commented to my sister that I would get filthy looks too, but my back and shoulder don't tolerate wearing my bag on the shoulder for long. I didn't notice any evil looks, but I guess they were all behind me. I figure if people can lug trolley bags around, then others have the right to prams and bags on their backs.

I managed not to spend too much at the show I bought some Lang yarn for mittens and a hat at Yarns Galore.
They are the same dye lot, but look different. Two years ago I bought some different Lang Yarn wool from that stand, they were the same dyelot but looked like they were not. I made them into a scarf earlier this year and wore it to the show.

At Threads and More I fell in love with the colours of their Noro. I bought some Kureyon and some Silk Garden to make a hat and mittens for the ravelympics.
I have knitted tension swatches with each, the Silk Garden is much nicer to knit with.

Other purchases included a hat pattern and a Beadie for holding knitted tops together.
I figure the Beadie is sort of neutral so will work with whatever colour I wear.

I tried on the beanie at the stand, cos I have had trouble finding hats that don't look dicky on me. I thought the hat looked pretty good, much better than the hat I wear every day at work. My sister wants to learn how to make a hat, so I thought this pattern would work since it is knitted on straight needles. I only use circulars these days cos I find them more comfortable. I think I have worked out the needle size I will use. I needed a smaller size to get tension, so will use 4mm instead of the 5mm for the stocking stitch section. I am adjusting the pattern to make it a bit smaller so will keep my fingers crossed. To enable the repeats to work I will try taking off 12 stitches.


I bought the One Skein Wonders book from Can Do Books and have enjoyed flicking through that. There are some felted things I would like to try. I also bought a Curvemaster foot from Punch with Judy, she has so many things on her stand, if you want some sort of gadget for patchwork or other machine sewing, then she will usually have it. If not, she can try to get it. I also bought another purple thang, I have two of them but have no idea where they are.

One of the things I had planned to do with my week off was organise my spare room and my study/sewing room. Nup, didn't happen. I did find buttons on Monday that were for two knitted tops I was doing for DN1. The newest one would fit DN2. Of course, when I was looking on Wednesday for the safe place I had put them, I couldn't find them. I thought I had put them on a shelf, I know they are in a little white paper bag somewhere.

I have managed to catalogue a lot of my stash on ravelry, but have not yet opened the 40L plastic container in the cupboard. I know I have some zhivago, tapestry and some other yarns in there. And then there is the baskets of sock and baby wool. I desperately need some proper shelves in my cupboards to organise my stash properly.

Well, I am off to knit my hat. We have a Scquilters dinner tonight, so I plan to knit when I am not eating. I hope to finish the hat tomorrow or Monday arvo so I can show it off at SnB.

It's raining, it's pouring

It has started to rain outside, which sort of justifies not going to stitch and bitch, but sitting at home and stitching instead.

I am managing to have a quiet weekend with some creativity thrown in. Last Friday I went to the VIP night at Hobbysew, and saw some really yummy fabric. Usually when I go to patchwork shops I try not to touch the fabric, because once you touch fabric you like you have to take it home with you. I've been on a quilt related no-spending spree for a while, and was doing pretty well. I tried to avoid patchwork shops, I compared it to being an alcoholic in a pub, I was addicted to fabric/fibre/colour and couldn't have any.

I was being a well behaved addict until I saw the Moda Sunshine Range by April Cornell. The fabric that jumped out at me was this lovely piece of paisley.

I have decided that maybe I don't have the aversion to paisley that I thought I had - or maybe there are nicer paisleys around these days. This will be my third quilt with paisleys. And maybe even the first paisley quilt that I finish. One is sitting ready for the quilter when I iron the backing, and the other is yet to be cut up Chocolat, another Moda fabric.

The range I fell in love with was only $13.95 a metre, and the green fabrics were discounted for the VIP night (Christmas in July). Here are the fabrics that I am using, all cut into strips and matched into pairs. I went to Calico Patch to get a couple of fabrics that are in it, they had a couple of diffferent fabrics in the range to the ones at Hobbysew. I like to spread myself around the shops, it means I get great choice because all the shops in Canberra have differences in the fabric they stock, and the shops all get some of my business.

The strips of fabric hanging on the clothes airer are the reason I didn't get to Stitch n Bitch at Dickson on Monday night, I spent the evening admiring the fabric and rearranging the the pairs into more suitable partnerships. I couldn't tear myself away! It is a pity that once again I am missing SNB (this time in Civic), but I am really pleased that I am inspired to do some patchwork. Since I moved into my place in May last year I have had fabrics and rotary cutting gear all ready to start a quilt, only to put it away again a few days later untouched. I have my groove back!

Here is the pattern that I am using, but I am not doing the prairie points. Not enough hours in my day to waste on those. I saw this quilt made up in Hobbysew, and it looked great. The green at the very front is the inner border, and the blue paisley is outside border and binding. I also managed to pick up a nice green backing that was discounted.
Here are some of the strips ready to get a rectangle chopped off one end before sewing into their pairs.

The rectangles that go on the outside of the blocks ready for squaring off. I love my bright yellow rulers, they are great for accuracy. The colour is not so great though, I am definitely not a fan of yellow. This quilt only has yellow in it because it needs some.

The strips pinned ready for sewing. I don't know where the rest of the pins are, probably pinning another UFO. I used all the pins in the tin to pin my pairs together. Now all I need to do is get the sewing machine out of the cabinet and set it up to sew. Then more pressing, cutting, sewing etc till the blocks are done. Pity that my sewing room is in the middle of the house with no windows. Only a skylight that is letting in no light due to the overcast day.

After I have done some sewing, it is time to make chillie con carne before Private Practice comes on. That will give me some meals in the freezer besides soup. Having a freezer full of dinners is great for late shifts at work, after 10 hour shifts or other days when I couldn't be bothered cooking. If I can drag myself away from the computer I can have some blocks ready to show the girls at Wendy's tomorrow. But first, COFFEE - I have only had one today.