calm before the storm

I think and hope everything is almost done for summer school, somehow it seems to get done. Quite unexpectedly I am ready a few days early with my sewing, thanks to the wonders of glue. The Dancing Dollies quilt has been a huge undertaking! It is probably the most beautiful thing I am ever to make I think, and I cant wait to get stuck into the applique. I worked it out I should have it finished by about August, so I will keep you updated with my progress. Meanwhile, it is all glued ( although I discovered when I went to photograph it, it is missing a few pieces here and there, so some more gluing tomorrow).
The other quilts are appliqued quilted and bound, just in need of photos, and patterns to be packed.
Tomorrow while I pack patterns I thought I might put on the dvd that came with my new sewing machine I bought in April. I have barely sewn one bobbin's worth on it! A whole new world is awaiting!
I cant wait to sew some quilts on a machine, though I seem to have more time for applique these days.
Christine and are not quite sure if we ever recovered from last year's summer school!
The heat is arriving just in time for summer school, and we have already have fires nearby. Our friend's farm was burnt, leaving them with no pasture for their cattle, but they saved their house. We went over to the farm on saturday night for dinner and it was quite devastating to see, everything still covered in a layer of ash.
I am sure we wont get time to post during summer school but we will take lots of photos.
S x

corps de ballet

I feel as if I have been let out of jail tonight. After a week of shutdown glueing and cutting out little dancers, I finally have the borders of my "Dancing Dollies " quilt ready for a centre and a year or so of applique,  My husband asked me if it needed to be appliqued, and I said glue is good but I dont think it lasts a lifetime.

Not very often am I overwhelmed by something I am making, but this quilt is unbelievable. I have such admiration for the woman who made the original, and now I am planning my pilgrimage to Ayers House. When I saw clips of it over the years I just adored it and I think I have bought every pattern that has a dancing dollies border associated with it, so when Annette Gero published her book "The Fabric of Society"I was so excited to see it included. ( I was actually just so excited to have the book, it is stunning and so many beautiful quilts I want to make). However the pattern for this quilt included in the book is quite different to the original, so I have drafted my own borders and will make my own centre.  I am not a fan of broderie perse, so I will do something different. That is for tomorrow to think about!

Douglas, our no1 dog, isnt happy at all the quilt doesnt have a centre as that is where he likes to position himself, so you can see him sulking on the tv guide. He was having a bad day all round really, as the other two dogs went to work with me this morning and then to have their vaccinations and he was left home alone.
Christine and Bob said farewell to Charlotte, Isabella and Cameron this morning and made a quick dash back from Melbourne to Wodonga. Christine thinks she will have some free time this week now they have returned to Dubai. I said I will ask her at the end of the week if she was right.
I have to clean up from all my mess of getting this quilt together. Our daughter is coming home in a few days and I have jobs for her, so I want a clean floor and table.

Dancing Dollies

I have been having a bad day today, I made morning tea for my husband's office staff and went to put the little tea cakes in the oven and discovered the element or something has died as the oven was stone cold. Fortunately I have two ovens, so I quickly had to turn the second oven on and proceeded to burn my finger on the element of that oven. I hope the repair man can come before Christmas!

But I have finished the glueing of border 1 of my dancing dollies quilt for summer school. It has been a relief to know my maths worked out and all the pieces fitted where I thought they should. I love this quilt and I am loving enjoying the journey of the woman who made it.  Three borders and the center to go!

I decided tonight when I have finished appliqueing all of the 1200+ pieces of this quilt I am taking a trip to Ayers House in SA. In fact I think it should be a Dancing Dollies Tour.

hexagons, circles and quilts

I do not have time to leave the house until summer school, but I guess here and there I will have to make a few trips to the shop, do some shopping and one trip to Melbourne. I have still not done one of the quilts for summer school! My friend Joy suggested to me on Thursday that it might be a good idea to start, just so that I might have a few pieces done to give the girls a hint of what they were making. With that in mind, I have been busy cutting out last night and I will do some glueing this afternoon.
I have made the hexagons.

Earlier in the year we had visitors staying from France, so while I was sitting and talking ( in a very limited way as Monique's English was as good as my French), I made hexagons. I found them very therapeutic and addictive. When I make hexagons I like a little larger seam allowance than the standard 1/4". It is much easier to turn over and hold, and helps eliminate sore wrists and thumb joints. I was making 3/4" hexagons and searched for a "fussy cutting " template. After buying a few here and there , none were really what I wanted so last week finally we received stock of a custom made template. I love it!

Although I have not made the last quilt I have been busy sewing and during the week I finished our little summer school quilt "Little Miss Cupcake". Christine became addicted to appliqueing circles after last year's summer school quilt, so she can graduate to this quilt. Bridgette, one of our gorgeous Monday night girls, has the job of packing the patterns and all will be ready with that little task.

The other job I finished yesterday was the applique on the quilt "the Five Sister's quilt". I love the colours of this quilt, they are the colours of my kitchen/family room and this is where this quilt will live. I cut one the blocks wrong so it is a bit off centre, but I decided not to change them and leave it like a "real" antique quilt. I had the quilt with me in Qld in August and my mother was horrified I could leave it. But no doubt the quilt will get rough wear, the dogs will be on it, the sun will fade it and one crooked block will make no difference to its longevity.

small pleasures

Today we have had our last Friday Ann Daggs class for the year. Glue is a wonderful thing and the last three months , I have not sewn a stitch on my quilt and everything is glued on. I have been very impressed with the "Best Press" as my bias has not unravelled one little bit in the humid weather, so hopefully it will hold down until after summer school. I am quite amazed as to how much of this quilt I have achieved over the first twelve months.
Next year we fill in with all the sprays of flowers and birds.
I am very excited today as a range of fabrics I just love has come in to the shop, "Hope Valley". It takes a lot to get me excited over fabric, one of the problems with having a shop and having a huge fabric collection. But I could not wait for this to arrive, it is sort of funky vintage. They are modern and fun but quite subtle in colour. I would love to start a quilt tonight, but I havent got time , so they will just have to keep me company until after summer school. But I will go and read my favorite cooking magazine "Dish" which arrived in the mail.
Michael will be happy as a pile of Geelong Football club mail has arrived for him. All in all a great day at the mailbox, no bills and Christmas catalogues.

Anna's Sampler

I am running behind with my work this week. I have the Ann Dagg's class tomorrow and I have not cut out a piece or done the notes. Actually not quite true, I cut out half the pieces and they are too large for the quilt, so I have to start again. And it is our last class for the year, so I need to cook lunch for tomorrow and Saturday's class. At least the sewing, notes and lunch will be fresh!
The picture is of the original embroidered sampler of Anna Browne. This embroidery is what I am basing our new quilt upon. I hope you enjoy making it.

getting ready for summer school

My lack of writing on this blog has not been due to lack of news, quite the contrary. I have been really busy, organising the last of things for summer school as a priority. This year we have been entirely booked out with 20 extra girls attending on last years booking. On top of that we do not have Joy for the first week to do our lunches and morning teas, so I have been organising everything for that, and we have just had three weeks of weather over 35, way too hot for November. Somewhere amongst all that, I have been to Sydney with my husband for four days and Christine has arrived home from New York, and I have been to Melbourne to Quilt market, and had some minor surgery and had complications. But all is under way now and I can start my final quilt for summer school.

I am not too worried about this as I have done everything in my head and just need to put it to fabric. The hexagons have all been made, and the borders drafted. I am telling myself I will be fine. I am actually ahead of schedule and I have done the Christmas shopping!

This weekend Christine has her daughter Charlotte and family arriving from Dubai. We are hoping for cool weather for them.

I have miserably failed in getting my twelve quilts finished for the year. I was hoping to bind, quilt or whatever 12 quilts not started this year. I think I got three done. Oh well.

On the weekend I finished the newsletter so it will be in your letterbox in the next few days. We have done something different this time, so I hope you enjoy it. You will be receiving the first part of the quilt "The Browne Sisters' sampler". I did the first block to take to Fragrant Cottage but came back and decided to work my quilt on a little cream check background. I like it so much more as it has more of a touch of whimsy about it. I will post a few pictures tomorrow, but tonight I have a class to teach.

I was trying to get a quilt done yesterday but Douglas, the no 1 dog in our house was busy rearranging the blocks, Here he is at work.