Challenge update and More Pears

It's lovely to be able to share two more finished Pears for the Pear Tree Christmas decoration. Only 7 to go!

It's especially lovely to post two tiny finished items when I have spent such a lot of time and mind power on the Eight Is Great Challenge today. 

This morning I was keen to keep sewing, and start embellishing the wallhanging with fabric paint.

I started with a twinkly glitter/crystal product, and applied it with a damp paint brush on dry fabric. Oh! What a mistake! 

It dried showing the opaque medium as a cloud. You can see in this close up. As the day drew on, the clouds started to attract dust and fluff and were starting to look really dirty.

Before I finished painting the background fabric I added a bit of water to some of the fabric paint, and it went kind of milky, then the glitter spread beautifully! And it had the desired effect without the gooey clouds, glittery fabric without stiffness.. perfection! 

Wouldn't it look wonderful like this all over? I set about trying to remove the excess. It dried very quickly on the fabric in the warm climate here, but the packaging says to avoid washing it for 72 hours for a permanent fix. That gives me a small window to try to remove the excess paint blobs.

After googling how to remove fabric paint, I opened my nail technician kit and tried pure acetone, pure ethanol, dishwashing liquid and a toothbrush... no... not coming away.

Only one thing for it, complete the quilting, add the binding, then wash it. Seriously wash it. 

It is now in the washing machine on a soak cycle with sard wonder spray, biozet powder and vanish stain remover. In the morning it should be blob free, ready for a milky wash of glittery paint that dries clear without stiffness.

Isn't this what a challenge is for? Learning all the time! It's late here. Way past bedtime. I hope to share the finished item tomorrow.

Update the next day:

The glitter has all washed out leaving behind clumps of glue stuff. I have been applying pure Eucalyptus oil with a brush one one clump at a time, then using tweezers to rub the gluey stuff off. It's half done now - ooh what a sticky mess... then I will rinse it in the washing machine, and reapply glitter paint in a diluted wash.

It smells really good!

A new challenge

The first challenge has been posted at Persimon Dreams. It is the eighth season, and so the very first challenge for this year is Eight Is Great.

After googling and reading a variety of images and background information, here are my first sketches.

My brain has been going all day, I'm sure my eyes were also googling like Cookie Monster's going in all directions, if they were following my thoughts.

This is the fabric pallette pile. Thank goodness for half price sales at this time of the year.

As well as a full brain, my fingers have been working on the Pears embroidery.

I am so excited to be starting the challenge!

I did it!

I did it! I stuck to it, and I've finished machine stitching the six QAYG table runners!

Trois Oiseaux  (Three Birds) QAYG tablerunner

And I need to buy 10cm of fabric for the last one. It was pretty close I can tell you! But, somehow I had cut up more of the red squares than I needed (I have enough for another table runner), not yet! Not now!

I like to use the pre-printed labels to attach the label before quilting, then the label can never be removed. I usually remember, and I've even done it on 5 of the runners (not that they are likely to be stolen). It is a good practise, nobody can ever remove your information without ruining your quilt.

I enjoyed studying quilt history a few years ago, and there are so many quilts with no known story. Are you telling the story of your quilt on the label?


Keeping along with the pears, 4 calling birds is finished. A few more have been hand stitched, but I cannot cut them out yet. I've been economical with the fabric and put them close together, which means if I cut them out without stitching all of their neighbours the hoop wont fit.

Three pears so far

I have a tendency to keep projects in bags like this.

 I am often called the "bag lady" for taking so many bags around with me. I like to keep each project in its own bag. I also like to see what is in the bag. I wonder what I could make from tea towels as projects bags, maybe with a clear window. And my threads are becoming tangled. It looks like my baby boy has been into the threads, or perhaps I have dropped some, there are less colours in here than when I started...

Hmm... what to do on the sewing machine next? I might finish another Christmas project... let's have a rummage.

Counting the 12 days of Christmas

I think I must have the most lovely DH in the world!....  *LOVE* .....Feeling very pleased with myself, instead of starting to cut up my new stash into bits and pieces, I continued with the last two table runners (which now have the backing spray basted on, and the centre is started for each one).  When I professed how well behaved I had been, my sweetheart says I don't have to finish everything now, I can have bits going here and there.. oh! My Heart! He really is my True Love. Hee Hee. You know you have Mr Right when he says "You can never have enough stash", although, that was before I went shopping yesterday. xxxx

It is wonderful to read other dear quilters' blogs and hear about their families who support their crafts whole heartedly too.

As for evening handwork, I am working on the Pears for the 12 Days of Christmas.

I haven't yet decided whether they will hang off a dead branch or a little appliqued tree mini quilt type thing.

I bought fabric to make two of these, I wonder who will end up with the other one. Maybe I could have one in the house and one in my studio, and keep them both?

I modified the Hatched and Patched pattern a little bit. The stitcheries are the same - I am hand stitching them onto muslin, then I have machine blanket stitched them onto synthetic felt from Kmart, and inserted a ribbon and used a triple stitch on the sewing machine to join the front and back.

Ooh, I have cracked open yesterday's new stash - the 75c ribbon. It's a lovely jacquard cotton.

I had to google when the 12 days of Christmas start. They start on the 25th December. I wonder if I will have them all finished by the 5th January, which is the 12th night.

Happy 4th day of Christmas. xo

Sewing Adventures

It's been a wonderful week of sewing adventures. I've finished a quilt, and started new projects. Feeling inspired and happy!

Now I have to slow down on the machine sewing and cutting mat part, and lean towards more handwork during the day.

It's too hot here to be outside, even under fans, and I've had heat stroke symptoms three times in the last five days.

Before it happened today, I was able to start the binding on the QAYG Christmas bird table runner.

...And a whole lot of cutting out - I cut the rest of the fabric, and found I had enough for another 5 table runners - that's 6 in total with the same fabrics. Yippee! Lots of presents on their way.

While I pieced pictures from the panel to make the 8 inch square centres, I also stitched the red squares that form the centre line of the runner, using them as leaders and enders. (There are so many projects going around at the moment with four patches, I am tempted to make one, just while I am doing other things. Hmmm. Maybe I could use this bag of fabric scraps I put aside for a wedding quilt for my sister, and actually make her something.)

Pieced centres

Scrap bags - looks like I started a double wedding ring by hand. Groan. Next!!

Daytime sewing of binding on the monsters quilt, and stitchery is going to follow. Perhaps I can make the next table runner tomorrow night in the cool.

Started one of the pear tree stitchery projects

A Sewing Holiday At Home

Today, for the first time in a long time, I realised that I had my quilter's head back. I'm not sure you could say it's my "normal brain", but it's a "normal quilter's brain".

What I mean is, I am actively enjoying the projects I am working on, and I have the next three projects planned, because I know I will be onto them soon.

What do I mean?

I went to Sunlit Blooms local quilt shop for the first time today. I had barely been there 5 minutes when I had been greeted and welcomed by 3 different staff, and asked if there was anything in particular I was looking for. It was such a contrast from the other LQS I had been frequenting -
 where they don't seem to take any interest in what I'm making or ask me if I need anything (although I do like their fabrics). I enjoyed myself immensely, and found out that SB have two sit and sew mornings each week! Although they are about to finish up for Christmas until February.

Next thing you know, I am fondly caressing the Christmas fabrics, and there was nobody there to stop me from buying things for the next project! Well I did go into the shop holding this pattern I'd had for a few years.

Right now I have finished the quilt top for the wedding - it was quite windy today, this is the best photo so far. I am hand stitching the binding on the Horsey quilt.  The binding is machined onto Monsters. Soon I will have the bindings on, and I will be looking for some handwork.

This will be the border fabric for one pear tree 12 Days of Christmas.

This will be the border fabric for another pear tree 12 Days of Christmas.

Now I can choose the colours for the stitcheries, ready to work on in the evenings. I've had this pattern for absolutely years, and hadn't made it. The pattern says to use cereal boxes to keep the pears stable. Erm. No. That's not my style. I did have this cheap stiff "felt" from Kmart, and it looks like it will go with the border fabric. Terriffic.

Now I need to wait a couple of days before measuring myself to make the Christmas skirt. And yet, there is more time available to use the sewing machine before it is put away for a while. The next project in mind is a Quilt As You Go tablerunner in Christmas fabrics.

This means I have six projects in my head: Time For Love wedding quilt, Horseys quilt, Monsters Quilt, Christmas skirt, QAYG tablerunner and the 12 Days Of Christmas wallhanging I've been meaning to finish since 2010 - that's six years ago.

Does this ever happen to you? Hahaha. I made sure the bobbin was full so I wouldn't run out just before I finished machine stitching the binding onto the Monsters quilt, and instead I ran out of binding. Dang it! Had to cut another strip. Thank goodness I have a whole bolt of black Emma Louise muslin.

Totally exhausted and it's not even 7pm. I think it's time to hang up my brain for a while.

No wonder I'm tired - look at this. I've used a whole reel of thread this month.

I usually use the large cones of Signature cotton thread in grey or ivory, but I had a few reels in this colour and was able to use some up in the projects I've been working on.

Thank you for joining me. Rest assured, there will be more to see in the next few days.