This blog is always way behind, because so much of what I do creatively ends up on the Fibrecircle blog. That's not all I create, of course, but managing two blogs does take rather more time than one.
So what have I done this year? I finished a blouse for my daughter but photos of clothes look nothing much lying flat and she hasn't posed for a photo (nor is likely to, really!) So you'll have to take my word for that one.
I finished all the blocks for my Dutchman's Puzzle quilt, including the half and quarter blocks for the sides, since the blocks will be laid out on point. This may not sound like a huge achievement, until you realise that that these blocks were from a swap with my library co-workers back in the 1990's. I blogged about here about twelve months ago. Here's where I mention that I hand piece my quilts these days, mostly as an end-of-day therapy, and hand quilt them too. I realised that one of the things I enjoy about quilting is the meditative process of putting a needle through cloth and that I wasn't enjoying spending all my time at the sewing machine. I sew clothes by machine, and machine embellish and assemble things I make, and that's plenty of time on the machine.
My plan with these blocks is to sash them, so I'll make a template for the sashing and contemplate whether I want to use one fabric or many for the sashing. In the meantime, I'm making more 6in Prosperity blocks for my grandson's quilt. I have a nice pile of them but I think they'll be set on the square, so I'll need a lot more yet.
I've also made a pair of earrings and have two other pairs in the making. I'm a real sucker for earrings and, while I don't yet have a different pair to wear every day of the year, I'm working on it! These ones are inspired by in a book called Making Vintage Accessories, using lace as an element. As I had some genuine elderly lace (if it isn't quite vintage), bought when my daughter was a baby, I thought I'd play with some of it.
I painted the lace elements to suit some feature beads I bought a couple of years ago.
I've assembled one pair and even worn them! Aren't they so girly? The lace is silver, which was hard to photograph well.
I also made a little bag. Helen from Fibrecircle gave each of us a kit of fabric and some instructions. I suspect a sinister plan on her part to be rid of some of her stash, an idea I have stored away myself! It's a cute little bag, with a ring closure.
I've been busy all the time this year, sometimes creatively and much more on administration for the new ATASDA travelling suitcase exhibition, which is now on the road. My friend Maz and I decorated one of the suitcases this time, and here it is drying on the floor.
The design was inspired by a desert flower called Apteranthes europaea, common in Morocco, and other parts of North Africa. It used to be known as Caralluma europaea, so the suitcase is called Cara for short. Both suitcases are now on the road and can be booked on marrakesh@atasda.org.au.
I've also made two postcards and I'm currently painting a couple more, played with transfer printing, done some shaving cream marbling, painted quite a lot of fabric in different ways, dyed fabric and done some serigraphy monotypes, also known as deconstructed screen printing or breakdown screen printing. Most of that is over on the Fibrecircle blog, and you'll have to wait for the rest!
There's some progress to report on the tidying of the workroom, and quite a bit of progress on the orphan blocks quilt top. I now have twelve 12in blocks:
Looking good, isn't it? I'm amazed at how quickly they go together! I've started with the awkward sizes, 7 1/2in blocks and so on, and they are much quicker to make into 12in blocks than I'd ever imagined. I'm only working on them in the evenings, when I watch TV (not that often) and occasionally during the day. I still have a pile of 4in and 3in blocks to play with, as well as a number of the 6in blocks I pieced from 1 1/2in Half-Square Triangle units. You can see one of those in the bottom left hand corner. I added slightly oversize pink sashing triangles to two of them, to make them 8 1/2in finished, and then added the pieced border to this one. I am generally making them in pairs, so there is some continuity between the blocks. They'll probably have sashing between the blocks in the end.
The real challenge has been to keep it interesting. I got bored with piecing sashing for the 7 1/2in Nine Patches (top left and elsewhere) but I still have some of those blocks to use. I have a lot of different sized Log Cabin blocks too. Some may become a border, just as they are, but the odd-shaped ones need something to be added to them. Unless I get too bored.
I've cut out a couple more of the blue and white Bear's Paw blocks, for when that time comes! That's an old UFO, dating from 1998. The original blocks were a friendship swap from a group of quilters who were library staff at Kuring-gai Library, back when I was Turramurra Librarian. I think I received five or six in the swap and I've gradually made more over the years, so I now have 15, 14in blocks. It will be a quilt one day, and a lovely reminder of some very good people. Wonder how many more I need to make? I guess I should decide how big I want that quilt to be!
