Friday 25 June 2010

Quilt Completed

Woohoo - my quilt for the "Images of Sport" competition is finally completed. What an achievement - one does not realise how long it takes to finish off a quilt. There was a little difficulty in the manufacturing process - makes it sound so formal :LOL - the timing on my sewing machine went out so it had to be serviced before I could continue. But it's done - I am dancing the happy dance this morning. Unfortunately I can't post a photo before the exhibition which is on 10 July 2010.

Saturday 19 June 2010

Frustrations and photos

When rushing to meet a deadline for a quilt show, my sewing machine's timing went out today (actually it happened last week when sewing the cat quilt samples but I only realised it was a serious problem this afternoon after I had free motion quilted almost half my quilt)......sigh.... I rushed it to the local Bernina dealer and they were absolutely stunning - they got my machine going again in no time but I spent the rest of the afternoon unpicking the free motion quilting I had done.  I am sooooo frustrated. Do I just give up on it or do I persevere and get it done? It can still be hung at the show if I get it done before 25 June. But it is now eating into my time to meet work deadlines  for the first weekend in July.

On a more positve note, my friend and I are launching a small quilted goods business for cats. We are both AVID Burmese cat lovers and breeders. I made some samples and took them to her last weekend..... For a sneak preview see below... 

I tried making a rag quilt bag as a microwave wheat bag....It worked rather well, the cats love the rag quilt finish as well....so shall be making a few rag quilts in various shapes and sizes.....

















The next photo is of a Crinkly quilt. Cats love cellophane paper so I have stuck crumpled cellophane paper under the top layer in the 4 corner plain blocks and free motion quilted around them.....Still am waiting for feed back from the test cats on this one......


















This is my first attempt at a cat sleeping bag. They are the rage at the moment. The inside is made of fleece so it is warm and cuddly. Mine came out too stiff and not floppy enough so it might be converted into a quilted tunnel for the cats to run through - they love these as well...

And finally, a plain flat quilt......needs some toys to be added. These are meant to be fun quilts.... The first photo is of the top and the second photo is of the back of the quilt. I have used the original  South African  Sheshwe fabric - Three Cats. I love the patterns and designs on the fabric. It comes in 3 colours - indigo, brown and red.
 






Thursday 10 June 2010

Time has flown away

Wow, I can't believe it is almost the middle of June already. I think my brain is still in January.... :LOL. Needless to say there has not been much time for quilting...sigh. The triplets (mine) are now officially 13 years old - wow, 3 teenagers in the home, a bit mind blowing to say the least, albeit a positive experience on the whole.

There are several new projects in the pipeline - one which is quilting based, one computer programming and the others are all guitar teaching based.Oh yes, I am also starting a camera course this weekend - the camera and photography as a whole have sadly been rather neglected. Time, you ask? Where does one find the time to do everything? Simple answer - I don't know.....but I'll find it somewhere, somehow....

As everyone knows, the soccer world cup starts in South Africa this week. As a result our regional quilting guild is putting on a show - "Images of Sport" which we are all entering. This quilt has to be completed by 15 June - next week (help).

So..... all I can say is "watch this space" and that I promise to try and be more diligent in updating my blog