New projects gets ready to start - Kathy's sample quilt

The start of a project

After so much procrastination, I am ready to start my next major project. It will be a sampler. I will be taking blocks from where-ever I find them and hopefully at the end of the day the quilt will be awesome. I like the sashing and on-point from the farmers wife, so this has been incorporated. 

This is last year's birthday present

I always enjoy having a border, so this will be included. Currently I have a border added, but, I very much doubt this is what it will look like in the end. This will be a design in progress until I am actually finished.

The colours for the block backgrounds

 I went shopping today to get the sashing fabrics as well as some muted colours for the background portion of the blocks. I am trying to only use solid colours. It will be a stretch for me. I will try and see if I can do this.
 I am going to be documenting this quilt in the same way that I did the Dear Jane. I will show each pattern piece as well so that if you want to make any of the blocks, you can just take the pattern piece and copy it. The Kathy's sampler quilt tab will be have the blocks as I make them. I will probably be driving my self nuts by adding a schedule and a progress chart. It really is difficult getting an A type personality to act like a zennny zennist.

Taz was helping with the fabrics, he was all over them when they were having their picture taken. As soon as the fabric was being packed away again, Taz decided that this was a box and it had fresh fabric in it and that he needed to do some investigation. 

Here are some pictures of Taz being himself.
He looks so sweet in the first picture. He is trying to show that he is a calm and handsome fellah and will wait patiently while his people take his picture.

These next two are showing him spotting the fact that his tail has escaped and its eventual capture. He had a bit of a chew on it, just to show the tail who is boss. He so enjoys this, though he tries to hide it.

Phew! after so much cuteness he is exhausted. He can barely fit in this silly box. He now has to think what he can do next. Even though he is so tired, he is also very bored. Maybe he can go and chase the birds outside, or nap, or is he actually hungry...

Hope you all have an amazing weekend. I know I will.
Have a good one.

Spring is sprunging

As I thought, the rain on Saturday has made all of the blossoms spring forth. Here are the blossoms from our garden as well as the cats, who suddenly appeared and took a walk with me outside. We even had a neighbors cat who joined us for the walk.

Leiea is now 14 and the Grand Madam of the family 

Tabatha is our new girl, so soft and silky

Taz is Taz and that is cool

The neighbours cat who joined us for the walk

Hope you enjoyed the walk around the garden.

have a good one!

Saturday in August

I am currently washing the wall hanging that I have been entertaining myself with. I took a picture before hand in case all of the colours run and the batting crunches up, but, not in a good way. It has been a fun little project and kept me nicely busy. I may add another picture of this once it has been hung up or looks like a clown caught in a down pour.

Sewing machine in for a service and the over-locker taken out for the first time in 15 year... rather dusty.

I need to make a cover for both my sewing machine as well as the over-locker. I bought some amazing fabric about a year ago that I want to make into a skirt. Unfortunately or fortunately I have been busy with one quilt project after another. Well first step is getting out the over-locker and setting it up. Well that step is done, now to find the skirt fabric... It may be a while longer before I have a new skirt.

Electric quilt is going great. I found out that all of the blocks for the farmers wife are available for this package. An order has been put in. So that is serious points in favor of my next quilt being a farmers wife quilt. At the same time my husband ordered me a second book on Japanese quilt design. I love the blocks as they are extremely complicated. The understated tones I am not to sure about.

Well that is my Saturday, Hope you too are having a fun day. We are currently having rain... yay.. hopefully all of the fruit blossoms will come out.

Have a good one.

All done, washed and hung up.

Over the birthday blues.

It is now a week after my birthday and I have settled into my new aged age. I have learnt that to be a happy human, one should not have preconceived notions of how things should happen. Well I was made to feel extremely special without having to worry about it before hand. 

I received all sorts of fabrics from each of my family members. It is as if I have a fabric stashing problem. They have facilitate my stash in plumping up in a good way. The fabric that I had ordered last year for my birthday, eventually got back to the States and as of yesterday they are coming back to Africa. Hopefully I will get it this time. Inside the parcel is all the colours of the new range for Kona solids. Well they were the new colours last year. 

I was also given a variety of silk threads to use on Applique. It really does make a difference.  I also received a hand vacuum cleaner to pick up all the thread when I am busy sewing. (this too is fabric related)

My husband and my youngest know how I have been battling to decide what I should do for my next quilt and organised for me to get a book on Japanese blocks and a copy of EQ7. I have been diligently doing the lessons. It is now even more fun to decide whether I will create my own blocks, draw up the Farmer's wife's blocks, or do the Japanese blocks or a combination of all three.

This year we had a public holiday on my birthday and had a marvelous morning tea to celebrate the day. We have a gloriously warm morning and it was fun and relaxing.

With regard to my next quilt, first things first, and I am diligently going through all the lessons for EQ7. It will be the only way for me to be able to use the software without hating it. I do believe you have to learn how to use software. I think it is only instinctive if you are a robot or you wrote it yourself. I never have problems using stuff I wrote. I have watched all of the lesson videos and I have completed 4 of the lessons. I will share once I have drawn up a few choices for my next quilt.

I am happily stitching away on my wall hanging. It is coming together nicely. It also keep my fingers busy. I hate not having a project. I was thinking of bucket lists, as one does as you get older and I realized that what I had written in 2013 is still true. Give it a read, it is just a bit of fun. Click here

  Hope you all are having an amazing week.

  Have a good one.

August blows in

August is here and with it we get the winds that blow away winter and herald the start of spring. Today it is extremely fresh. It feels as if it snowed on the mountains. Hopefully this cold front will be the last on for this winter.

I have been busy making a wall hanging. It is a zen garden and I am just following my nose with the design and execution of it. My husband described what he wanted as a picture in the study and I am trying to create it. It is also keeping me busy until the 10th on which day I will be a year older and I will then be getting inspiration in the form of books to try and kick start my next quilt.

Hope you are having an amazing weekend. 

Have a good one.