Butterflies, Pumpkins and Jelly Rolls

Well, I have done a bit more work on the leaves and the flower. I have added veins to the leaves and the ridges that are on the pumpkin flower. I also change the colour of the top of the bottom leaf as I thought it didn't have enough contrast when compared to the other pieces. I am reasonably happy with how it is turning out.

I am taking your suggestion Ali, and trying the butterfly's outlined wing segments several different ways. I do not want to lose the sense of lightness and delicacy seen with a butterfly by adding too much colour.

I have also been playing with my Jelly Roll - trying to see which sort of pattern looks nice. I have tried several designs either using mixed colourways or in the same. Here is some of my ideas.

Which one do you like?

This is sort of a log cabin plait.




















This one more like a tradition log cabin with a bit of a twist.


















This is like bricks on point


















This - basket paving.




















And this is similar but in one one colour.

Progress - and Suggestions Please

Well, after really studying my designs I decided that I have no chance of needleturning the leaves but that the butterfly was a possibility - so decided to use both techniques.

Here is a shot of the leaves fused into place. It isn't really clear because there is not a great deal of contrast in some of the tones, especially the small leaf on the bottom right hand side, but I wanted the central leaf to stand out and , of course, the flower. It will stand out more once the batting goes in because at the moment I had it over a dark background.

I am please with the overall structure. I think it will look better once I put the veins of the leaves in by satin stitch and then the creases on the flower.

I finally finished the butterfly wing after much cursing - the picture is about life size and some of the pieces were very tiny. The wing has 17 pieces in it and I know that sometimes I almost gave up. The picture looks a bit dirty because you can still see the pencil marks and the shadows but they will be easy to remove.

Then I am going to fuse it in place and stitch around each piece with an iridescent thread to give nore illusion to the wing. I might event put some beads on the body but not too sure yet because it may take away the softness and tone on tone feeling that I want, same with the iridescent thread - that may change to a cream.

So what does everyone think - I am open to suggestions .

Will I leave it as only tone on tone or will I add a little colour?

Will I do the veins in a similar tone or will I use a darker thread?

Went to my local patchwork store when I had my respite time the other day and bought a lovely Moda Jelly roll (Symplicity). I had a voucher for 15% off and as it was $59 with my coucher it was only $48!

Now I have to decide how I am going to put it together. Not sure how big a quilt you can make with one roll but I will have fun trying.

I am very partial to 3 Sisters designs, I loved their Paris Flea Market and made a big sample quilt with it.

Of Butterflies and Babies

Haven't done much in the way of patchworking recently but have managed to finish one project and get started on a second.

One of the lovely ladies who comes in to wash my DH has just become a grandmother for the first time so I thought I would make her a little quilt to celebrate the event. Decide to just make something small (65cm sq) that she could throw on the floor to let the little one roll on.

I remember seeing an episode on Simply Quilts that showed a lovely little quilt by Patrick Lose and decided to make that. Very happy with the way it turned out and she was so excited to receive it which made me all the more pleased.

Then decided to get stuck into my butterfly quilt. Didn't receive any comments when I posted it on the blog so decided to go ahead.

This is now going to be the background. Sorry it is not very clear but basically it is all tone on tones in white. The applique of the butterfly and the pumpkin leaves and flowers will go on the little squares side. Its about 58cm long and 62cm wide.

Now will come the fun part - the applique.

I had booked in to do the applique class with the Thimblelady but unfortunately they did not get enough people to run it here but had enough to fill 3 classes at Figtree so they moved the class. I would have had to down to there. It is about 1 1/2 hrs drive from here and I just couldn't leave DS to look after his Dad all that time.

So now I have to make a big decision - will I do my usually fused applique and go round each raw edge or will I make the attempt to do needle turn? It has a lot of fiddly bits and shapes so I am not sure that my needleturn is up to it. On the other hand it would be a great learning curve!

Attack Dog!

My little baby puppy is fast growing up. She was 4.2kg and 8 weeks old when I bought her and she is now 8.9kgs at 15 weeks old!

The weights for an Australian Bulldog bitch are between 24 and 30 kg and the way she is growing I think she will be around the top end.

She loves to sleep or lie and play like a little frog with her legs out the back, looks so cute.

She is a real torment to poor Fozzie who does try to give as good as he gets but sometimes he would just like to take a break and have a rest but she won't let him.

Here is a great example of how annoying she can be to him.

"Oh look, he's asleep - how nice! This toy is getting boring."

"Now if I just jump on his head, he will have to wake up."

"Great! When I bite him under the chin it makes him angry. Oooh look at those big teeth!"

"Oh, thank goodness! She's found that toy to bite. Mum, you could have saved me, you know, and let me sleep."

"I didn't do anything to him, honest Mum! Look I'm just playing with my toy, really!"

I Have Been Tagged!!

I've been TAGGED by Jane - thanks (I think?)

THE RULES:

1. Once you are tagged, link back to the person who tagged you

.2. Post THE RULES on your blog.

3. Post 7 weird or random facts about yourself on your blog.

4. Tag 7 people and link to them

5. Comment on their blog to let them know they have been tagged.So here are 7 things about me...

My 7 things.

1. I got my first tattoo in my late 40s and when 51 got a 'half sleeve' done (you can see a picture of it on my side bar near the bottom.)

2. I love to read but can become obssessed with some books. I reread them until they fall apart. Just finished reading the Harry Potter series for the 21st time and now have got them as ebooks so I can listen to them as I work! My poor copy of The Lord of The Rings is rather ragged looking as I have dipped into the trilogy over 100 times. Look at my list of favourite authors on my side bar and you know what books I re-read.

3. I positvely hate seafood.

4. I am very happy being by myself - I am happy and comfortable in my own company. I sometimes think I wouldn't be upset if I never left my house and never saw another person.

5. I used to design and make collectable teddy bears and sold them via ebay around the world.

6. Like my obsession with books I get fixed on a new idea (craft). I then have to have all the accrouments that go with it - got hooked on scrapbooking and got everything that opened and shut then lost interest. Fortunately I have not lost my interest for quilting or adding to my stash ....l lol

7. I think/speak in pictures - when I speak, listen, read, etc I see pictures in my head. Every part of my life is accompanied by little pictures in my brain. I don't have the ability to turn this off it just happens continually.

Imagine a story in your head and add lots of pictures to illustrate it; now talk aloud about it and visualise a picture to suit each part of the story as you speak - that's me continually and it happens when I listen and read too.

Not sure if this is normal as I have only met two other people who are like this. Maybe the rest of the world is wrong and we are right!

I tag Stomper Girl, Rainbow-Barbara, Christina, Leah, Susan, Rise out of Me, & DragonLady

The Hailstorm Saga continues

Well we are still living under tarps and hating it all.

Our insurance claim has been approved but we are still waiting for the contract from the building company who will be handling the repairs.

In the meantime we have had a few dozen storms with heavy rain and strong winds. What does that mean? Well we are getting more leaks - now we have a leak in the eaves on the front verandah, the two lights out there have now filled with water and there is water coming in at the cornice in my bedroom plus, at one point, in the ceiling right above the bed.

Yesterday I spent the day re-aaranging the bedroom, emptying the waterbed and moving it because we have pump-in insulation in the ceiling and now that it is obviously getting wet it will be getting heavier and heavier. I don't want to wake up with the ceiling covering my bed instead of my blankets!

Rang the insurance assessor to tell her about the new damage and she told me to just handwrite it onto the contract and the builder can send her a statement of amendments. Told her that would be easy if I had actually got a contract!! Rang the building company and they told me the contract had been posted but they would send another.

Hopefully the errant contract will turn up early next week and things can get started although I imagine it will be a long process because of the thousands of homes in the area still living under tarps.

We are luckier than hundreds of homes in the area - there are hundreds who have walls and ceilings already falling because of the damage and with each storm it just gets worse.

Of Sketches and Bullies

Been trying to work out exactly what design I want to use with all those lovely fabrics I bought while at Wodonga.

I have an idea to piece a background in tone on tone whites and then applique in creams and bones. Been researching and sketching and have come up with a few ideas. Originally I wanted a butterfly perched on a dandelion and some pumpkin leaves and flowers around but found this was very cluttered so I dropped the dandelion.

Now I have come up with the butterfly on a pumpkin flower and a couple of leaves. This shows some of the fabrics I am trialling - thought the flower would need to be darker more orangy tones and the butterfly the softer tones. The leaves and vine would be more mid to dark tones.

Any suggestions would be appreciated. Not sure how big I will make it yet - possibly a little over life size (the sketch is B4 so just a little bigger) - and not sure whether to do needle turn or raw edge. I am leaning toward raw edge because of the amount of little pieces there are going to be. The ol' blanket stitch on the machine is my favourite stitch especially in the same colour as the fabric.

Bella has settled into the household really well. Fozzie is no longer afraid of her and they play together most of the day. Fozz gets a bit aggressive when food is involved but I feed them in separate rooms so as long as I don't give them food together we have eliminated that problem.

Bella is an absolute Diva! She really attacks poor Fozz and he ends up putting his foot on her to settle her down, no sure what he will do when she grows up! She alsodemands attention when she thinks you are ignoring her; and she also likes to sleep under my computer desk. So Fozz is under the workdesk and she is under the computer desk when they both decide they are too exhausted to play anymore.