Friendship and.....Cathedral Quilts

Hello lovelies. I hope you are all well and I hope for those of you who have been bombarded by avalanches of snow over the last little while, that Spring has decided to greet you with it's warm smile; bringing with it all the pretty flowers that herald Spring's appearance.

The weather down here at the bottom of the world has been warm, and yes, the garden is still greeting me with flowers of loveliness each morning. Though in saying this, the days are shortening and it won't be long till Autumn is in its full regalia, dressing all the trees with gorgeous frocks of layer upon layer of rustling, taffeta-like leaves of burnished golds, russet reds and burnt siennas.

But, the purpose of this post is not to chat about the weather, nor the flowers (I would've thought I have talked enough about the flower kingdom over the last little while....though I cannot say for certain that a vase or two of flowers will not appear later on....=) ), but to chat about the stitching I have been doing on my Cathedral Window quilt, oh, and about friendships. At the beginning of the year I decided I wanted to finish all those quilts that I had started over the last couple of years. With my unfinished Cathedral Window sitting in my cabinet beside my bed for a while now, I have decided I am going to do my darndest to finish it. Although these pretties, the Cathedral Window and the hexie (another incomplete pretty) look so pretty sitting in my cabinet, I would much rather see them resting atop my bed.

Every fortnight my good husband and I visit friends of ours, and spend the most enjoyable day at their home. Both my husband and I get on famously with our friends. Indeed, it feels as if we have known them forever but really it has only been a little while. My husband helps Gary in his garden, or lends a helping hand in renovating their home, or indeed, at this time of the year goes foraging for wood in the bush. It won't be too long now until both our fires are gobbling up wood faster than those old chainsaws can churn out an acceptable quota of logs. It takes a huge forest to keep my tippy toes warm in winter. =)

As for me, I enjoy the most wonderful day sitting and chatting with Anne, whilst we both stitch and sip cups of tea in pretty teacups; taking a break at lunchtime and walking to a nearby art gallery cafe for lunch. Yes indeedy, Anne is a gal after my own heart. We both share and love many of the pleasantries of life. We both adore stitching, fashioning pretty after pretty and both slip into apoplectic shock when our eyes gaze upon a pretty fabric. Though I seem to need the oxygen tank more than she. =) Indeed, both our heads seem to exist in them-arty-farty, textile clouds. We both love God and have a deep faith, and have both walked many a road with Jesus over the years; alongside Him, and more often than not in those impossible times, carried by Him. We both are of a similar age, surviving our childrens' trudging through that interminably long, foggy tunnel of pubescent insanity, finally arriving at the other end; and having flown the coop, making their way in life, making their own choices. We have both survived the travails of teenage angst......just!

When my good husband and I left the cacophonous, concrete jungle of Sydney to make our new home in a far rural outpost in Tasmania, we left behind dear friends. Dear friends whom we have known most of our adult lives; one "forever friend" I have known since I was five years old. Dear friends where we enjoyed that special friendship of like minds, beliefs and shared interests. These friends I stitched with, enjoyed many an old movie with, belly laughed until it hurt, discovering bric-a-brac shops together, holidayed together, cafe-ing together and many heart to heart conversations about our faith, our children......and a million and one other things. You know the kind of friends, where on a Saturday or Sunday arvo we would pop by each others' homes to enjoy a cuppa and conversation. Though we have kept in touch and many have packed their gear for their survival kit bag and braved the wilds and natives of Tassie to come and stay with us in our humble abode, I do miss the camaraderie of those spur-of-the-moment visits; those quick decisions of visiting each other. I love my life here in Tassie and though I would never live in Sydney again....(one should never say "never", should one) the day-to-day, easy friendships with kindred spirits are deeply missed. These easy friendships based upon much laughter and shared interests, friendships that have taken a lifetime to foster and nurture, are deeply missed. These friends whom know so, so many of my stories because they have lived them with me as they have been written. Happy stories, sad stories, hilarious stories, triumphant stories, touching stories, miraculous stories.......so, so many stories; these are the friendships that are cherished.

Anyway........on the last couple of visits to Anne's home, I have been working on my Cathedral Window quilt and Anne has been working on a lovely applique flower quilt.

Why oh why did I ever start stitching a cathedral window quilt?? Cathedral windows are not for the faint-hearted, indeed, there have been many times I have been faint of heart whilst stitching this pretty. It just seems to take forever.

When stitching a cathedral window quilt one has to spend an inordinate time ironing, in this case 12" squares of fabric into little 4" envelopes.

Then one cuts out little squares of a jumble of pretty fabric and with a backing of batting fits them into the envelope, turns the edges of the envelope over, making a frame and then machine stitch around the frame. Easy enough, but if you are a persnickety gal like me, the imperfections are a tad annoying.

The stitching of each strip seems to take such a protracted amount of time. Each strip is joined to the larger section of the quilt and then after the little windows are inserted, the stitching around each frame is completed.

Hallelujah.....another three strips joined and then stitched to the larger quilt. I can see that finishing line inching.....inching ever so much closer!

Friendships centred around shared interests and passions are a delightful thing. Friendships when one can chat about deep and personal things and know for a surety that what is  spoken of and revealed will go no further, is indeed a most gratifying thing. Indeed, this kind of friendship, this kind of rapport can be a rare and most wonderful thing.

Anne's and my friendship is one one that uplifts and warms the cockles of my li'l ole heart. I find our stitching days to be filled with laughter, tete-a-tete conversation without the need of scuttlebutt; with a  joy of  shared interests and life experiences. We are kindred spirits. It is rather a splendid thing to meet kindred souls as we walk along the yellow brick road of life, don't you think?? It is a wonderful thing to walk along the bendy path of life, to write new and fun stories with kindred friends that one meets along the way, who share the path for a little of the journey.

Already, I am looking forward to  my next stitching day with my friend; looking forward with delight to enjoy a little more stitching of my cathedral window quilt. Perhaps within the next little while, my Cathedral Window will be sitting atop my bed with a jubilant Hallelujah Chorus filtering down from the heavens. Well.......miracles do happen. 

Until the next time........may you enjoy many moments of kindred friendship over the next li'l while, and enjoy a lovely chat with your friend over a cup of tea in a pretty tea cup.

A quiet week

Thank you all you lovelies for your kind wishes and prayers for my husband. It always amazes me how the blogging community from the four corners of the globe, support each other in times of trouble; it is a joy to behold. I feel very thankful and blessed!

We have had a lovely, quiet week with no dramas; almost boring, one could say. =) Believe it or not, my husband has been out tending his garden which Ole Man Winter has decimated. My husband figures that he has four weeks to get the garden in order before his operation, because afterwards there will be another period of time when he will have to lie low. When I look at our garden at this time of the year, I always despair at the bleakness of it. I always wonder if  Spring will truly come again and visit us, bringing with it floralicious delight.

As for me I finished stitching the backing for my scrappy-licious quilt.

Now how to quilt?? I really warmed to the idea of straight stitching lines through the diagonal corners, but as my frozen shoulder isn't up to grappling with all the bulkiness of the quilt  I decided to put the quilt on my quilting frame and stitch meandering stitches all over. The frame I have enables me to sit my machine on rollers, enabling me to stitch whichever direction I choose.

For some reason or other quilting on my frame was fraught with botheration. My frame decided not to play nicely at all! I found it difficult to guide the machine over the quilt as there are so many seams both on the quilt top and quilt backing. The needle kept getting stuck, especially in the corners, resulting in  a not so flowing, meandering stitch pattern in some areas. Also for some reason the quilt wasn't taut in the middle resulting in small puckers......so, so exasperating!

So enough was enough. I took the quilt off the frame and finished quilting on my sewing machine, moving it from side to side, up and down and round and round.....this way, that way....any which way. So much for taking it easy on my shoulder. =)

With the quilting completed I machine stitched the binding on using a pretty floral fabric.

I love this fabric. When I happened upon this pretty fabric I bought metres and metres of it. Alas this is the last of it. Are you like me? Do you get a little sad when a much-loved fabric is no more?

With the quilt finished I am happy with my scrappy quilt. I rather like the meandering effect of the quilting, though I doubt this pretty would win any quilting prizes; no perfect or precision stitching to be seen here. The bright and happy colours and pattern do make me smile. There really is something about a quilt oozing scrappy charm. This pretty does sprinkle a little sunshine and happiness on a rather gloomy, Winter's day.

Miss Maisie has given me her nod of approval.

Finally, after two years, this quilt is done and dusted. One more quilt to be ticked off the 'to do list' .........that I don't keep. =) Now to attend to some other quilts that are waiting to be finished......

My pretty, Cathedral Window.......

and my pretty, scrappy hexie........

I will endeavour to work on these over the next few months; but alas, me wouldn't be me if I didn't start one or two other 'I-just-need-to-make' pretty quilts. After all variety is the spice of life. Me thinks there just might be the beginnings of one or two more scrappy-licious quilts making an appearance sometime soon, down here at the bottom of the world.

Ooooh.....scrappy heaven!

Home is more the sweeter with a few scrappy quilts lying around.....is it not??

Wishing you all a lovely week in your Home Sweet Home.

Until the next time........

It's been a while.....

.....since I last chatted about the cathedral quilt that I have been stitching. Alas, there is no finished quilt, enriched with lovely patterned and coloured window panes resting on our guest bed....BUT.....there has been some progress, albeit only a little.

Another panel of  windows folded and stitched...........

......then pinned and stitched to the completed panel; seen in all it's glory, in my previous post.

 

Scraps of fabric squares added to the windows of the joined folded squares and pinned in readiness for stitching by machine.

I am finding the machine stitching of this cathedral beauty to be a tad laborious as it grows, window by window. It is a tad problematic wrestling with the bulkiness of the quilt, whilst carefully stitching the curve of each window and getting those darn corners to look perfect heavenly!!

 

 

 

There we go......two panels finished. Only four or five.....or perhaps six to go!! I am still having issues regarding the uniformed look of the corners, but I must admit that I am loving the overall look of this quilt. I love all the colourful, gazillion of patterns  which give a wonderful scrappy look, culminating in a very pretty and adventitious kinda quilt. I love, love, lurve pretty!!

 

A scrappy quilt with not too much thought and worriment of the exact placement of every fabric which can result in a constant furrowed brow; is my very favourite type of quilt.....as I am a 'go with the flow' kinda gal.

I hope you have a lovely week filled with sunshine and stitching. I am off to stitch some more wonderful, heavenly cathedral windows......onward and upward !!

 

 

Origami....'tis easy.... isn't it?

I've been told it is......but I have always found it a tad puzzling. It seems that whenever I have attempted origami, there has always been a blockage from the picture of the origami piece before me, to the transmission of the electrochemical message to my brainpan!! Indeed, there is something amiss with my electrical wiring!! It was always embarrassing, when I worked in a before and after school workplace, that the kiddos 'got' it before me!!

So, one would think that, at all costs, I would avoid making a quilt which involves the skill of origami. But no, not me......I am going to stitch not one, but two quilts which to some degree, both, involve the  skill of origami.

The next two quilts that I am going to stitch are a cathedral window quilt and a quilt using Japanese silks which will have beautiful origami fabric flowers scattered upon it.

Crazy!! I know!! But I am going to conquer my inadequacies and give it a burl. After all we learn from our mistakes....don't we?

For a long time now I have wanted to make a cathedral window quilt. I have been traversing through cyberspace and found a wonderful tutorial over at Hyena in Petticoats which perhaps even I will be able to master.

Although technically not really origami, a cathedral window quilt does resemble origami in that each square is folded separately to give the appearance of a cathedral window. I have gathered oodles of scrap fabrics and cut squares in readiness for my quilt.

The folded plain fabric that makes the envelope-like frames for the patterned fabric scraps, is a white cotton with a paisley-like pattern printed thereon.

If nothing else, I will become quite proficient at the skill of envelope making upon the completion of this quilt, as there are hundreds to be prepared!!  What was I thinking when I came up with the brilliant idea of making a queen size quilt for our guest bedroom??

Here is the progress that I have made thus far. The windows are 4 inch squares.

 

I love the fact that this is a 'quilt as you go' quilt...sewing and quilting at the same time!

 

As my quilt has batting in it, it can be a little tricky to get the corners perfect......and those of you who read my blog from time to time, know that sometimes (oh all right...most of the time) I can be quite persnickety. I am not quite sure how one accomplishes every corner to be the same. I have found that sometimes they are pleasing to my eye and sometimes they definitely are not!! I have no idea why this is so, as the process is the same for each window.

 

Me thinks that this quilt will be one where I will have to adopt the attitude of satisfactionism and not perfectionism. It will be difficult for me, but I'm guessing that, by the time that I have stitched a couple of hundred or so of the blasted li'l windows, I really won't care. When I have stitched the last stitch, my brain will transmit the message that every corner is just fine! Besides, I will convince myself that most of our guests won't even notice......as they are destitute of vision anyway and depend on glasses for seeing their world!

 

When I started this quilt I hand sewed tiny invisible stitches around the edge of the window. Then I machine stitched around the window as well to give a quilting effect on the back. As this took oodles of time, I thought there had to be a better way to do this. I skedaddled down to my local fabric store ('tis only one and a half hours away) and bought some 'no more pins' glue. This enabled me to glue under the fabric at each corner and then I could 'quickly' machine stitch around the window, thus eliminating the need to hand sew. Excellento!! Now each window is less laborious and much, much quicker to finish; making me a very, very happy gal!

 

 I have looked at quite a few cathedral window quilts on pinterest, and to my untrained eye there are some that seem to have the same 'corner' issues as mine. There are quite a few quilts that have buttons on every corner.....mmm....I wonder if these are hiding little foibles or if they are there purely for decorative effect. Oh.....there are those, that as far as my eyes can see are beyond perfect....but I won't dwell on them as I am trying to remain upbeat....("remember...satisfactionism, satisfactionism....Kim"). I am thinking that if I didn't include the batting, the corners would be easier to make the same.....but I am only supposing.

  

Now........ for the second quilt on my 'to do list'. Have a bo peep at these lovely Japanese silks from vintage kimonos that I have been collecting for a couple of years.

Aren't they just too, too gorgeous?? Panel after panel of the most exquisite silk fabric overflowing with innate and intuitive Japanese style and design. Mmm.....did you spy with your li'l eye, the hexagon pattern?? You didn't think I was going to make a Japanese style quilt and not include a hexie or two...did you??

 

Now for the stitching of my Japanese masterpiece. I am referring to these books for the 'how to' of the origami fabric flowers that I want to add.

 

I happened upon some gorgeous books written by Kumiko Sudo a couple of years ago and had to, had to buy them. Every page is filled with wonderful Japanese narratives (the stories are as beautifully evocative as the quilts) and sumptuous photos of fabric origami flowers and beautiful quilts. Every page is a visual feast of inspiration to be enjoyed. These books inform me......and I quote "Even if you have never folded paper origami before, do not worry. With Kumiko as your guide, you will find the techniques easy to learn." I am further told....."this book contains designs that magically transform simple shapes cut from fabric into beautiful, decorative flowers."

 

So......there you have it....no worries! I will magically turn little scraps of gorgeous Japanese silks into beautiful origami-like flowers.....it says so in the books. It is written in black and white. The authors wouldn't lead me astray...would they?? The very word 'magic' did compel me to look to see, if perchance, there was a magic wand included within the covers of the books; thus helping my origami flower dreams come true....but alas....no!!

 

Anyway, perhaps fabric will be a little more forgiving for the molding of origami-like flowers than paper. Perhaps I will even become quite savvy at the art of fabric origami, to the point, that I will be able to make gorgeous fabric flowers almost without thinking. Well, I can only try!

 

So....I'm off to retrain my rather inadequate brainpan.....I will get back to you....shall I??