Dancing in the New Year

- well I was in bed fast asleep for the actual event but I am very thrilled to have finished my dancing girls quilt

Introducing Mama Tembu.....

93" x 84"

The African Queen block was drafted and shared freely by Sew Preeti Quilts for International Women's Day in 2017.  Find it HERE....

Coming from Zimbabwe, Africa and danced my way through my youth (and maybe a bit more) I just had to make some blocks with some Africa style fabrics I had in my stash....

 

Some have hands in demurely, and others facing outwards rather precociously....

Quilted on the Sweet Sixteen....

Mama Tembu's Wedding is a song that I danced to so much in the 70's and 80's - the African beat is hard to not dance to. (sung by Margaret Singana with Ipi 'NTombi)

So my African Queen dancing girls is called Mama Tembu.  I very seldom name my quilts but this one is my youth ... so it gets a name.

A lovely bold blue backing and orange binding.....

Righto, Gotto Go..... I had a long day of binding... all 354" of it... thanks to the Tuesday girls for keeping me company...

A finish or two.... or more....

This years ornaments were finished in November but of course I couldn't show them....

I made about 20 ... sadly the ones I posted overseas didn't arrive in time even though I posted them early... hopefully they will give some new year cheer though......

As you see I went for the Merry Grinchmas theme......

Over the last couple of days I have been sewing down the binding and hanging pockets on the African Silhouttes quilt

(it is for Hubz and he likes a rod in the bottom to hold it down as well as one in the top to hold it up.... so I obliged even though my eyes rolled to the back of my head!)

Black on black binding is not the most fun... but it is done now and hanging up in his office

I have continued plodding along with my Naive Melody blocks and these are what have been done...

I have 20 more to do then they can all be sewn together....

We survived a lovely day, had lots of lovely food, Debs and Xav came round and spoilt us very much and we had lots and lots of long chats to our locked down families in UK ... and played Risk, the board game gift this year.  It only took 10 hours for me to conquer the world......

I do enjoy this time in between Christmas and New Year... I always feel like I should be doing nothing at all .... and I enjoy endulging that feeling!... and of course eating left overs....

Righto, Gotto Go.... I do hope you had Happy Christmasses and Happy New Year to you all ....  I'll catch up with you next year! 

Retreat Sewing....

A lovely weekend with friends (new and old).... its always lovely to get to know some people over an extended time.....

I took my large machine (Pfaff Grandquilter) as I can change the foot plate and quilt with it easily.  It is heavy and I think I need to treat myself to a trolley bag one day...

I went round all the black edges of the silhouettes in black, around the coloured borders of the blocks in a clear thread then used a lovely lightly metallic thread in the sky (so in real life you can see the odd sparkle)

Up the sashing was some scrolls...

... and leaves around the borders.... black on black the quilting is not obvious but adds texture

I even added the binding but will not sew it down until we have made a decision about how we are going to hang it....  so not quite a finish yet!

I found fabric for the border of Wish You Well.... I'm very happy with that blue, it is not as strong as it shows in the picture but picks up some of the blue's I have used in the piecing.  I found a nice mustardy brown for the binding

The Quilters Angel had a pop up shop where we had our retreat which was very convenient

Then I sewed about 200 dresden plate blades..... good to have company in jobs like that which is lots and lots of repetition...

Last night I turned them inside out and they will be pressed today and put aside to await the next step.... I need to make a bunch of circles for the middles next...

I don't get as much done as some people but I did finish off the things that I had specially wanted to achieve.  

Righto, Gotto go ..... a busy week ahead...

Take care, keep safe.... hoping for some rain here...

African Silhouttes

I managed to bag this kit at a much reduced price off a destasher.  I had admired them before and did fancy doing one for my Hubz's office

The batik backgrounds are just stunning....

tracing out the shapes on sticky paper and then ironing to the black ....

some of the cutting out was challenging....

I haven't done any sewing yet.....

I think the silhouettes are really effective....

Yesterday I joined them together and made up the borders.....

the pattern was for 2 across and 3 down but I wanted a longer picture....

Finished size is 63" x 40" so it's not small.

I will stitch down the applique raw edge and quilt at the same time.   Binding is made and I just need to sort out wadding, backing and time....

Righto, Gotto Go..... have a lovely week......

Safari time......

I started off ChooseDay by laying out my safari photograph blocks....

I was lucky enough to inherit this fabric from someone cleaning out some 'samples' some years ago

 It didn't take too long to sew up the rows and then the rows all together...

I'm really happy with that 'grassy savanna' look background fabric

(It's leftover backing from another quilt)

It's roughly 54" square 

… now it's gone to sit with the other "When I grow up I want to be a quilt" pile that I have....

There were a few blocks left over so I sewed them together too...

Then I started on another quilt made with an indigo jelly roll... the photograph doesn't show up well but I got these two strips done... 

Groups of 4 strips are sewn together then cut into triangles then sewn together at an angle to get the up/down look

I did have to fiddle around a little and do a bit of unpicking.... there is two more strips like this to do then joining up with background...

The backing is pieced with the left over strips from the Jelly Roll

Today I have young Widget but in between baking and football (me and balls are NOT a good mix!) I quilted the little mat - a stipple always gives a nice bit of texture....

…. now he has his own mat he can use here....

He decided he likes T bone steak so we have got some of that to go with chips and veges so his new mat can be used tonight.... 

Hubz bought me a new laptop thing and I am trying to move things over etc etc …. I seem to have messed up moving Feedly and lost a bunch of posts I haven't read and commented..... first world problem but it makes me realise how little I like changing my habits....  I hope I don't lose touch with the blogs I love to read....

Righto, Gotto Go... Time for a cuppa before a rousing game of UNO.....

Coming together.....

With the stitcheries done and all the blocks cut I am managing to get through a few more of my Gardeners Journal blocks....

The apple trees in the orchard look like they have a decent crop...

Clearly I was exhausted from not supervising Hubz properly so I sat and watched the birds....

The birds do love the bird bath... and the sprinkler on a hot day....

The blocks are not sewn together but this is how they will sit... there is two more to go on the right - then the borders. 

I used fabric with a kit... looking at it I don't like the bright blue very much.... I think I might be painting with tea to mute it a bit??? ... I'm not unpicking...

I got a few more circles done in the evening .....

... as well as these 3 Dutch Treats .....

In between quilt jobs I try and do a bit of sorting..... I had some African animal fabric in swatches 

I've cut them into squares and slashed across to add the green stripes (I am following a Kiwi pattern which is also a bit African in design)

There was also a few pieces with these smaller pictures.... I am going to make these into polaroid pictures - it will make a nice childs quilt....

Now that I have plans for them I have them boxed, bagged and ready to sew when I can.... there is also a nice bag of scraps.....

I find if I don't do this I forget what I wanted to do with the fabric and then it gets put away in a box again.

I have seen Africa themed fabrics with these before...

... hmmmmm....

I left them out

Righto, Gotto Go... it's showday holiday here today so nice and quiet outside - I'll still be working though