Naive Rebel Method versus Traditional Grandmother's Garden:

Don't you love those hexagon 'granny's garden' flowers? One can do a whole quilt out of hexagons like this, called Grandmother's Garden. One day (maybe when I am a Granny myself) I would like to use all our family sentimental pieces of material from dresses, shirts etc for such a quilt, and scraps of material are always saved for that purpose. But in the mean while I cannot resist hexagons, especially tiny ones. Last term I started hexagons having no idea what I would do with them. I have a fetish with not being 'too tradtional', especially when it comes to quilting. The grandmothers Garden quilt being the only quilt pattern with repetitions that I actually like, maybe it is because one came to us via a missionary parcel when my Dad was working at the pharmacy at Jubilee Mission Hospital in Hommenskraal, Boputhetswana during my glorious free my preschool days? My sus has that quilt now, which I am very pleased about, but I feel the urge to one day make a family heirloom for my own kinders. When I think of that old quilt I think of weaver birds and thorn trees, thunderstorms and African dust - all beautiful memories... But I am getting distracted and sentimental now, aren't I? As I was saying, I couldn't resist the urge to make some hexagon flowers and even though I am already making a mini quilt with this special Bible verse, I couldn't resist the urge to make another mini quilt using these flowers up for something arty. The more I went along, the more rebellious I felt in terms of quilting, so I Made the quilt first then added the flowers and grass afterwards, with no visafix, quilting as I stuck every thing onto the quilt, buttons off centre, flowers falling off the quilt. Loose thread left hanging were appealing to me and then the scraps of material left over were just begging to be added. I tried an old cowbell, which everybody liked, but it was too conventional for a rebel quilt, so I took it off. Finally I got the kids to go and look for/make the best stokkie (stick) to hang the quilt on, Erica's stokkie won as she had made notches to hold the string. Actaully, I plaited a few pieces of crotchet cotton to hang up the quilt and this is my final result: In a messy corner of the house, next to the front door, hangs our first skinny rebel quilt:

Isaiah 40: 6b-8

All flesh is grass,
and all its beauty is like the flower of the field.
The grass withers, the flower fades
when the breath of the Lord blows on it;
surely the people are grass.

The grass withers, the flower fades,
but the word of our God will stand forever.

Erica's Triumph: "Horsing Around"

We haven't been doing nothing, even though we have not been blogging here, I promise. Slowly, slowly Erica and I keep going with our quilting. And finally Erica's hard work has paid off as she triumphed in the big Queensland Quilters Show last week, scooping first prize for Primary Age for her "Horsing Around" Quilt. The quilt was started last year with lessons from Vision Patchwork, Ipswich to help. But she extend their quilt with two extra blocks, didn't want to do paint work/writing on her quilt and designed her own horses on the top two blocks! With a flood and many dramas in between she finally finished it just in time for the Brisbane Craft Show at the huge Brisbane Convention Centre!

I am soooo proud of her, "Well done Erica!" Who can resist loving such a sweet quilter!

 

Erica receives her prize from Lorraine Curthew, Queensland's famous quilt/textile artist! Kim Boland from Queensland Quilters at the podium.

How to do blanket stitch!

http://stitchschool.blogspot.com/2009/12/blanket-stitch.html

Erica's Knitted Bag

Tomorrow one of Erica's best friends is having a birthday party. They are hiring a bus and going down to the Gold Coast for party games-what fun! Making a present for someone is always so much nicer than just buying one, so this week has seen Erica as busy as a bee with all her planning and knitting. Erica knitted a bag all on her own! It is gorgeous. Today I helped her line it, give it a strap and decorate it! She did the most gorgeous french knots up the strap, don't you love the little rose like knots? Then she threaded a ribbon and some wool through the stitching on the reverse and it looked so good that we reversed it and made the front the back and the back the front, back to front or is it front to back! Whatever it is, take a look...

African Love Quilt

1 Corinthians 13 (ESV)

The Way of Love

13:1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.

4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

8 Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. 11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. 12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.

13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

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Aren't those words so exquisitely beautiful - the greatest love poem in the world!

The idea for this quilt emerged today at about 10o'clock. I could not get to start it until about 2 PM. And then it just did not seem to gel in my mind, It seemed slow in coming- partly because I was nursing a two day old sinus/migraine. So it really came together as I went along. Also, I had lost my 'print onto material' paper so I had to go and get some more. I landed up buying, washing, drying and ironing more material for the quilt too. Then I had a catastrophe of not knowing the new paper very well and I accidentally ironing the writing directly into a smudge, so had to start again. Any way despite all this I finished at 1 ish in the morning, and I am very pleased it will be done and ready for giving at the wedding we will attend tomorrow. The couple have been working in Sudan and have come 'home' for the Wedding, hence the African theme.

The boys are really pleased as the couple have said we can wear anything we wish to wear, "jeans will be warmly smiled upon!".

We are not meant to be giving gifts, so this quilt will have to be called a glorified wedding card! Will have to make an envelope for it in the morning!
Nighty nights!

Nativity Sewing

I am using the bean bag method for making these little characters. I just gather up circles. for the body, add a tubed strip for the arms and then add hair and faces, wings and halo's for angels- very easy - only fiddly and it takes a lot of time. I like the fact that with the soft material, I can mould them into characters with poise and movement! I don't think I will finish all I want to do this year. The baby Jesus at the end of this post was made years ago, so this is an ongoing act of love for my children. I feel very passionately about having nativity scenes that the children can play with and enjoy 'acting out' the Christmas story with.

Christmas Quilt done in under 24 hours!

Okay so I cheated....firstly it was a panel and secondly my lounge room looks like a bomb has hit it, ( apart from sewing, I did not do much else) and thirdly I only did buttons/knots instead of 'proper' quilting and fourthly I had two children helping me, Jo and Erica! (I pay my kids to help me sew as I am that desperate to get quilts done, what with my brain popping with ideas and all. My girls have had woodwork classes with the boys and the boys have learnt how to sew....Jo wants to make some easy money, so he will sew!) But despite the cheats we are still we are very happy with the results, take a peek at the details...we used bells to embellish and bunches of cotton on buttons to look like ribbon....






Thanks for a gorgeous panel, Nancy Halvorsen!