My Quilting Piece de Resistance

At the beginning of this year I decided I was cutting back on the number of projects I was going to do - ha! Lots of minor projects have cropped up, however I want to show you what I consider my ultimate in my quilting journey.

I found a lovely stand at a craft show displaying a hexagon quilt that was totally hand stitched including the putting together stage. Now, I like a challenge as much as the next person, but this one took my fancy and I had to get involved and start creating what I hope will end up as a gob-smacking beautiful quilt - all hand stitched!

The above photo is not my quilt, I took it at the craft show and so the seed was planted.

Each month you purchase a kit which includes 2 stitcheries to be completed in whatever colours and stitches you choose. Along with transfers to create a second set if required. Then you find fabrics to back each hexagon with and eventually stitch your hexagons together to form your quilt.

I took my time in choosing my background fabrics and eventually decided I wanted to create my very own 'Liberty' quilt. Yes, this is really going to be my Piece de Resistance quilt.

I have stitched Month #1

They are not totally finished though, I still have to do shading on the machine one with watercolour pencils. However I could not wait to see what they would look like on the backing fabric I have picked for them.

This is just pinned, so shading is to be done. Still a lot of work to do, and this is only #1 of goodness knows how many, as each month we get another package. 

Those of us that can visit the Quilted Rose shop just north of Brisbane do so once a month to stitch and chat and exchange ideas on how we create our hexagons.

It is a great project to take with me in the caravan as it is does not take up a real lot of room.

Now though, it is time to do a little more stitching on them on a rather cool Sunday morning.

For now, enjoy your stitching - take care and look after yourselves,

June

It's Mother's Day

 Today is Mother's Day here in Australia, and Peter (hubby) surprised me with a trip to the markets at Redcliffe which is just across the bay from us, but road wise you have to head out to the highway, down the highway, then back out to the coast which takes around 45 minutes. It was a lovely morning however the weather was threatening, however we managed to see everything we wanted to and get back home before the heavens opened up. The road along the bayside was closed off for the market stalls to set up and ply their wares. There was some good items available too. 

Stopped off for a coffee at the cutest coffee van, and the coffee was pretty good too.

A quiet afternoon was welcome considering the weather.

I was also blessed with several messages - both a surprise and out of the blue - and a phone call for Mother's Day, so my day has been very good.

For now though, I must go get dinner ready. So take care and look after yourselves.

'Til next time,

June

Busy, Busy, Busy

Our tripping around this year is not all that busy as we start planning for another big trip next year. And as we had decided we would not go up to Bjelke-Petersen Dam in Sept/Oct, we chose to hop up there for a mini break of just 10 days. Although my sewing machine did not come along, I did take some hand stitching with me. One day whilst the fellas were out fishing I sat out under the awning stitching and gained a new 'Supervisor'.

Silly bird tried to pinch one of my thread bobbins (bright yellow), however he left without it, thankfully.

As mentioned in my previous post I was setting up a production line for making some cute thread bins. Well All came to fruition yesterday when hubby & I set up a stall at the local Trash & Treasure market at the local Uniting Church, just at the bottom of our street - very convenient.

Peter had quite a bit of wood work from himself and a couple of other members of the Woodcrafters group he belongs to.

This is him beginning to set everything up around 6.30am - yes an early start. All the items on the front table were what he had made.

As you can see from this photo, my 'little lot' was confined to the front corner on the left. I had not made a great deal, and I was optimistic that hopefully I would sell some of my little lavender items seeing as it is Mother's Day here next Sunday.

I had lavender pillow stacks (of 3), some lavender parasols, the thread bins and I had also made up some packs of tealight candles. Hanging above these things were some mini throwovers I had made which are really good for just putting over bowls (salad etc) on the table rather than cover the whole table with a big throwover. You can see them hanging in the second photo above.

Although we (ourselves did not do all that well) we had a great time catching up with people we had not seen for a while and possibly meeting new friends. I guess I was a bit deflated that I only sold two items, but realising that perhaps it was not really the right market for this type of thing. Perhaps the market at the end of November (Christmas market) will be a better one, and I will have more time to create a better range of item. Hopefully I will be able to get a bit more table space!

Now to settle down and begin a new project for this year - more about that next time, but for now, time to go put the kettle on for afternoon tea.

Take care,

June