The never ending list of WIP's

I wonder how many quilters do not have a list of Works in Progress (WIP) or unfinished quilts. If you don't have a long WIP list, you have my utmost respect. How do you do it? My list is so long it reaches, hypothetically, from the sky to the ground...at least that's what if feels like most of the time.

The other thing that I do, is collect fabric for "future quilts". I have piles and piles of fabric that belongs to quilts that I need to make in the future. Will I ever get to make them? Who knows?

I had to move house 2 years ago and decided that I was not going to pack fabric (and books) that I had not used or looked at in 2 years. That cut down my stash substantially. Needless to say, it is slowly building up again. There is a very good series of articles by Dena Crain on Time Saving for Quilters. One of her articles is on stash management both as a time saving tool and a financial management tool - very wise words from her. I would do well to pay attention.

Of course, there is a small caveat here. My business partner and I own a small hand-dyed fabric start-up called TwigaDudu. We often dye fabric both for sale and, just because we can... we both love playing with colour. I'll leave it up to you to consider how much fabric is lying at home (excluding the fabric for sale). A hint.... my kids often used to use the word "over-countable" when they were younger. Is my fabric stash headed that way? Who knows? I'm too busy working out when to finish my current WIPs to even start quantifying my stash.

Now for the photo of the day....below is a photo taken the day we went Sani Pass to play in the snow. I live in Africa - what's snow? This photo was taken by Adrian, my business partner's young son. I love the placement of the 2 rocks with piles of snow on top of them. Notice how the water is moving round the rocks. This photo was taken of the main road up Sani Pass at the South African border post, between South Africa and Lesotho. About 10 centimetres of snow had fallen the day before, covering the road. Mmmm - I wonder how many of the browns (and greens) in the photo, I can match to fabric in my stash?

National Quilt Festival - July 2015 - Take 2

The South African National Quilt Festival for 2015 has come and gone. It flew by and was a kaleidoscope of colours, almost an assault on my senses, but what a positive experience. Incidentally, it was the first national quilt festival I have attended.

The festival was held at Kearsney College, a private boys high school in Kwa-Zulu Natal (KZN). What a beautiful setting - crisp cool mornings warming up to warm sunny days typical of the KZN winter. There were loads of vendors, almost "over countable" as my children would say. Amafu, Dana Biddle, Bernina, Pfaff, Brother, Arthur Bales and Wool n Weave are some of the vendors that exhibited their wares at the festival. All the stalls were bright and sunny. There were so many different colours. Almost everyone was selling bright happy fabrics, threads and yarns.

On a slightly different note, another hat I wear is that of co-owner and mad scientist of my own fabric hand-dyeing business. The company is called "TwigaDudu" and we use very different base fabric to most of the other commercial hand-dyers. We use loom state fabric and it's slightly rougher and earthier than most base fabric. The advantage is that it seems to absorb more dye than other fabrics so our colours tend to be more intense than what is currently available on the market. The point of this shameless "plug" is that we were too small to exhibit our fabric at this year's festival, but we will definitely be at the next one. In the meantime, why don't you pop over to our site and browse around.

Back to the Festival, on the Saturday morning  I did half a fabric dyeing course by Helga Beaumont, attended the Kaffe Fasset lecture on the Saturday afternoon and walked round the quilt exhibition on the Sunday afternoon. Unfortunately the photo below is the only photo I have with the quilt makers name. There was just too much going on to write it all down or even to remember to photograph the descriptions next to each photo. Next time......



This photo is of an award winning quilt by my very good friend Susan Wessels. It's stunning. I love the colours and the balance.














There was also one quilt that was attributed to Dena Crain's Quilt University "Darned Quilts" class. As many of you know that Online University in it's original format has closed because of the sad passing of the dean of the university, Carol Miller. Dena Crain has started her own online quilting faculty - QuiltEdOnline. I would encourage anyone looking for online courses that are clear, concise and loaded with information, to visit her website and try out one of her offerings.

In the meantime, I will continue to look through my photos, and maybe, who knows, I will find some descriptions of the quilts in the photographs.

Finished quilts, photos and bad designs

Finally I've managed to finish some quilts - some with a help of a friend but at least they are getting done.  We made about 7 cot quilts using TwigaDudu's pastel and grey range of fabrics. The fabrics were hand-dyed especially for these quilts. This photo is of the blue and grey quilt we made. According to some people the pattern looks like the Nazi symbol. However, it was never our intention to create such a quilt. It's a simple rail fence pattern and I really apologise if I have offended anyone.

Many of you now know that, in another "life", I am the co-owner of TwigaDudu, a new startup in the Valley of a Thousand Hills, KZN, South Africa. My business partner and I hand-dye 100% cotton fabric suitable for patchwork quilting. Our fabric is different and interesting in that we buy loomstate fabric i.e. fabric directly off the weaving looms. The fabric has not been through the chemical scouring processes which makes it slightly rougher and thicker than what I would call "processed" fabric. It also absorbs up the dye like a very dry sponge in water. The hot African sun acts as a catalyst between the fabric and the dye. Wow - what interesting results... Intense, vibrant colours that are amazing. The photo below is one of our browns and yellows and greens batching. The batch of dye and fabric 2nd from the left right at the back of the photo was the binding for the double bed quilt that I made - the one Sir Sprocket approves of.

I also made my first attempt at sewing a double bed quilt in blocks and then using the "sew as you go" method to put the blocks together. This is the worst quilt I have ever designed. The blocks aren't fitting together like they should and, I'm still manhandling big sections of quilts under my machine. Needless to say, I'll never design a quilt like this again.... There is nothing wrong with the sew as you go method - I just designed my quilt badly using this method.

The photo below is of the quilt on my bed and Sir Sprocket, the red Burmese boy approves of my handiwork - he noted that he would actually like the quilt but understood when I told him it's a gift.  He did however try and persuade me to make him one.

Meet a great Quilting Friend

I've decided to showcase some of my quilting friends and their work. They are all truly inspirational.

First up is Kathy Stadler, a very good friend who lives in Germany.  She summarizes her passion in this quote: "Quilting is a passion that has brought me great comfort and many, many friendships along the way. I wouldn't trade this way of life for anything!!!"

Enjoy reading about herself and her quilting journey... 

"My passion with sewing and quilting started when I was in Junior High. My mother taught me clothing construction after taking the required Home Economics class. I started out as most girls do, making my own clothes. It wasn't until my Senior year in High School that I discovered quilting. I wanted  to make a quilt for my bed in college. I started out with a “bang” and made a King-sized quilt. That passion stayed with me during college. After college and newly married, I began my true journey into quilting. I have celebrated many of my cherished occasions by making quilts. I made sure that all three of my newborn sons came home to quilts made by me. As my sons reached important milestones in their lives (graduations, marriages and new homes), they are always gifted with a “Mom quilt”. That way, I am part of their new lives even though I am not geographically near them.

Quilting is a source of comfort during those times when I need to go 'inside” for a while. It gives me the solace and a place to heal. Quilting also gives me the opportunity to create and enjoy the times where I expand as a person and creator.

After many years of sewing and quilting, I had relocated to a place where fabrics were not as available and affordable. I had been looking into fabric dyeing and finally joined an online education group and took a class in order to learn how to dye. I was hooked from the very first piece of fabric that came out of the bucket! I had discovered the fun of dyeing one's own fabric and getting the feeling of accomplishment and artisty. This was simply meant to be!!!

Out of this new passion, my business was formed. I am now a supplier of affordable dyes, PFD (Prepared for Dyeing) fabrics, dye accessories, dye chemicals, patchwork accessories and all sizes of rotary cutter blades. I also sell hand-dyed Jelly Rolls and other hand dyed items.  I have a computerized Long Arm machine and quilt for myself and others. I also have a professional Embroidery machine and again, do work for myself and others. I combine the embroidery work with the quilting.  One of my options for service is making embroidered quilt labels for the quilts I have quilted or for someone who just wants a label. 

You can check out my website at:  www.Patchwork-pro.de" 

What a wonderful story Kathy. I hope you have enjoyed reading it as much I have. 

Inspirations

As some of you know, in another life I train a Search and Rescue (SAR) dog, well, she trains me but that's a story for another day. You can read more about our adventures here. One of the advantages of SAR training is that I get to travel far more than I used to - my kids are also 18 years old now so it's easier to pack my gear into my little car and head out for the weekend.

Last weekend we visited a very good friend who lives on a farm outside Standerton - a large town in Mpumalanga. We had a wonderful time. It was good to catch up with my friend because I hadn't seen her since August 2014. Electra (aka The Munchkin) and I walked all over the farm and also visited some of the neighbouring farms. Our first stop on the Sunday morning was a beautiful dam across the road from the farm I was staying on. This photo shows the view over the big farm dam. It was a perfect morning - blue skies, warm autumn weather etc.

I sat on a dead tree branch (after checking very carefully for Ring Necked Cobras) overlooking the dam and watched while the Munchkin had great fun playing in the water. She is a true water baby. It was so calm, peaceful and soothing. Just looking at the photos reminds me of the peace and tranquility I experienced that day.

Eventually it was time to go back for breakfast. We walked back through the grasslands flushing quail and various other birds that I haven't seen for more than 20 years. To the Munchkin's credit, she didn't chase anything. She just meandered along checking out all the exciting new smells she came across. She did insist in sticking her head into all the holes in the ground we passed. Fortunately no cobras or porcupines came storming out of any of the holes. Both are endemic to the area.

The main farmhouse is a beautiful old Sandstone building with big shady trees round the house. 

Walking round the farm I found a shed built out of sandstone, a wall with the most amazing textures and a dead tree with a mushroom type fungus growing out if it. All of them inspiration for quilts and quilting. 

The main house built from sandstone

                                      The shed also built using sandstone bricks

This dead tree had fungus growing out of it. The red around the fungus is the remains of a termite nest. What interesting colours - the sun bleached wood, the red sand and the greens and beiges of the fungus. I wonder how easy it would be to dye fabric these colours. 

This textured brick wall reminds me of a jersey pattern in one of Kaffe Fasset's books - if I could just remember which one. 

Wonky Log Cabin Blocks

I am passionate about log cabin blocks and log cabin quilts. At the beginning of 2015 I decided it was time to learn to sew straight seams so... the ideal place to start would be to sew traditional log cabin blocks, or so I thought. Indirectly, I was trying to create order out of chaos...

Anyway... I made a start using Amafu's Maluti Moments and Brazillia fat quarter packs. The following photo is of one of my first blocks.


Sewing square blocks, how boring my creative brain screamed. The rational brain argued back... you need to finish what you start and, it's good to create order out of chaos.. Ha!!!!! 32 or so squares later, I was very proud of myself... It's time to play with the blocks to see how they best fit together....Then I realised that somehow, predictably not all of the blocks are the same size and so their seams don't fit together in a line. Now what... Yippee shouted the creative brain - you see, you shouldn't try and create square log cabin blocks. Let's take what's left over of the same fabric and make wonky log cabin blocks.....

In the meantime, I started making a blue and brown Shweshwe quilt for a very good friend of mine - in the square log cabin phase - I have to continue because I can't make wonky log cabin blocks with this fabric. What happens if I make a lone star as a centre  panel and add log cabin blocks around the centre panel? No, no no, not more structured shapes shouts the creative brain....... But what to do? This quilt needs to be finished. To be absolutely honest with myself, the creative brain is still working on ways to make wonky log cabins out if this fabric.






I also took some of the square log cabin blocks that didn't fit and played with them. I added black crosses to the blocks - along the lines of what Nancy Crow taught me years ago. What people don't know is that sometimes creative brain gets very angry with the world. The block below is the start of a series which expresses the feelings of "I'm done" - not sure what I'm done with but here is the start......

As for the wonky log cabins... that's a post for another time. Let's just say it's interesting working on 3 different quilts at once :)

2015 and Funky Fabric Dyeing

2015 has arrived - wow, what happened to 2014? Guess it's time to move on and embrace 2015 with both arms. I can't wait......

Summer is here in the Southern Hemisphere and we are having a hot dry summer - not so good for the farmers as Africa has a perennial water shortage under normal circumstances. It is however great news for those of us who use the hot African sun as a catalyst to create the most beautiful hand dyed fabric. A friend and I hand dyed about 20 metres of fabrics in the last couple of weeks. Now it's time to cut fabric, pack it and send it on it's way. Watch this space for our new venture and the destination of the fabric.

Some photos below of the fabric that being dyed, cut and sewed into a beautiful quilt top.

2014 - looking ahead, new promises, new beginnings

Wow - the first day of January 2014 has arrived - I can hardly believe it. It's a beautiful day. I am sitting at my desk, working on my laptop with the sounds of birds calling, dogs barking, cars driving by and bees buzzing in the trees. The sounds of life in Africa. It's a very special day when the fish eagles call as they fly overhead. What a beautiful sound. It reminds me of the essence of Africa and a promising start to a good year.

What have I been up to since I last posted as posts have been very scarce in 2013?

I spent the second half of 2013 catching my breath and recuperating from the curve balls that life had thrown a couple of years ago. It has been a difficult road to walk but rewarding to see the progress my family and I have made.  I worked on a couple of UFOs, both quilting and needlepoint work, and started exercising seriously again - swimming and mountain biking. On a sunny day about 8 weeks ago, out at Sani Spoors I "invited the ground to rise to meet me" while on my mountain bike. I discovered that the ground is very hard and the older you get the harder you fall. That put paid to any needlework, and exercise for a while.... oh well, I shall

Once I have recovered from my injuries and completed the rehab, I plan to go back to finishing off the UFOs and looking forward to creating new quilts and generally being creative again by taking photos, learning to draw etc.

I haven't made any new year's resolutions this year  - am rather setting goals and breaking them down into achievable bits. The first goal is to get 2014's goals set and broken down by the end of January 2014.

On the whole I am excited about and am looking forward to 2014. As the old cliche says: "Watch this space".

Quilting progress.....

I am busy quilting a memory quilt for a friend as a gift so I can't post any photos yet .... the first foray back into quilting for a long time....... I am using my walking foot and trying to sew straight lines with even stitches :) What a challenge - am discovering the hard way that it's all about the speed at which I move the quilt in relation to the speed of the machine stitching. However, I am determined to succeed. It's the old adage of "Practise makes perfect". Just think how awesome it will be when I manage to sew straight even stitches with a sewing machine.

Return to quilting and life in general

We're back......Woohoo!!!!

As many of you know, life threw some fairly rough curved balls at my family and I've spent the last 2 years picking up the pieces. The absolutely fantastic news is that we are almost back on track. The last step is to find a house to stay and to move into it. It means moving my studio and all my fabric as well as the rest of general household goods, 2 legged children and 4 legged children. It shouldn't be too much of a problem as we are in the process of clearing out stuff that we haven't used or looked at in the last year. Teaching children the value of donating unused goods to various organisations that support underprivileged people and animals is so important.

All I can say is... "watch this space" for regular posts and updates from the quilting front.

Autumn in South Africa

Africa is never without vibrant colour contrasts, no matter what the season. The photo below is of yet another fabric landscape I made, my first with a fabric border. Note to self.... learn how to make decent mitred corners on the binding. Practise makes perfect they say....

Fabric Postcards and Landscapes

After a long break I signed up for another postcard exchange. They are fun to make and even more fun to receive. This postcard came from Ireland.

I also made an autumn landscape yesterday.

Hot Sunny Day

It's a hot sunny day today - a perfect time for a bit of fabric dyeing fun. The self imposed brief was to dye fun funky colours.....as you can see it didn't quite work out but I'm happy I still have 8 new pieces of fabric to play with.

The first 2 photos are of the fabrica incubating in the dye in the sun.

The end result:

Very Long Time no post......

It's amazing how life always throws us curved balls to deal with. The latest curved ball in my family's life is taking a while to sort out. We are taking things one day at a time. Needless to say, I have been totally swamped and overwhelmed and haven't had the mental energy to be creative.

We went to the Game Farm last sunday and I managed to take some photos of a group of Aloes. It was a beautiful sunny, albeit cold day.

Preview

On the way up to the Game Farm we saw lots of snow on the Drakensberg Mountains. This photo was taken just outside a town called Escort. The snow is on the mountains in the background.

Creativity and huge learning curves

As you might have noticed, I haven't spent much time being creative this month - big mistake.....Being creative feeds my soul and helps me face the challenges of the real world.

On a lighter note....

I have completed 3 more exercises for my quilting course. The first photo is of my 2nd attempt at bias binding applique. The first one had too many pointy bits so was correctly deemed substandard. The second photo is my Curved Piecing exercise. This is always fun.

The following photo is of my Drunkard's Path exercise. This has been the most difficult exercise to date. I cut out the template without adding in seam allowances - not a good idea for me.  Guessing the seam allowance afterwards was not successful at all. I am going to have another shot at making a template but this time I'll add in the seam allowance to the template

Playing with lines

Playing with Bias binding or bias strip is fun. The task is to take an image or a line drawing and create a linear design using thin strips of bias binding. I LOVE stain glass windows so.....off to Google Images and the following image caught my eye.

 

This is the result...It is almost complete - I need to stitch the strips to the backing fabric either by hand or using the blind hem stitch on my machine (Help?). Would you believe it? I don't have any black thread.

Landscape Series

 These fabric landscapes were made as a wedding gift and the theme was burnt orange. It was my first commission (embarrassed blush). I think I am still rather overwhelmed by the fact that people like and want my work hanging on their walls.

The bridal couple own a lodge on the northern coast of Mozambique (I think) and are passionate about the Mozambique coast hence the inspiration was the Mozambique coast. Fortunately I have been to Mozambique twice on holiday now so had many photos to work from.

All the fabric in this photo were hand dyed by me - my first forays into the wonderful world of dyeing my own fabric

In the third photo I used a combination of my own dyed fabric with some Shweshwe (the bright orange) and some other hand dyed fabric I have.

Red and Indigo Shweshwe Rag Quilt

Rag quilts are fast becoming one of my favorite quilt designs. I love their soft and cuddly look..... I had some log cabin blocks left over from from a log cabin quilt that I am trying to finish. This is the result... I love it....

Fabric Dyeing again

As I have mentioned before, fabric dyeing is a wonderful excursion into the world of semi-unpredictable creativity. Well, maybe it shouldn't be so unpredictable but it is such fun. I needed some backing fabric to finish off a couple of quilts. Mmmm, when do I find the time to rush off to the shop to buy some backing fabric...wait a moment, I can dye some fabric. Here are the results...

Dark plum fabric for the back of a purple Trip Round the World quilt was first up on the to do list. I had a sample of premixed purple dye. So.... on with the dyeing process.....One thing I learnt is that if you don't mix dye powder properly you get spots of the primary colours that are used to make up the secondary colour - not necessarily a bad thing. The results are a bit like snow dyeing- I love the results.

 

The next photo shows the blue fabric I dyed. I needed backing for one of my stash busting cot quilts so.. I started with a medium blue and then decided that it was too light so I over-dyed it with a navy blue. This piece of fabric will now serve 2 purposes....backing for the cot quilt as well as a stormy sky for a fabric landscape that was commissioned - that is another story for another day

The last photo is an attempt at dyeing a piece of burnt orange fabric  - not a success. It came out too brown. I used 4 parts yellow dye, 4 parts red dye and 1 part black dye powder. Any ideas on how to improve the colour?

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Stash Busting

It's stash busting time!!! I had some fabric left over from when I made a blue cot quilt for a friend... So.. I have put together 2 cot quilt tops from this fabric. The question now is... do I hand dye some backing fabric using Low Immersion Water Dyeing and hope I match the colours or do I go and buy some commercially printed fabric for the backing fabric? Any ideas?