New Beginnings - New Opportunities

My contract with a corporate company came to an end at the end of March and due to personal circumstances, I decided not to renew the contract. The last couple of days were very stressful but today...... I am feeling as free as a bird, ready for new challenges and new opportunities....time to quilt... Watch this space - I have been saying that for a long time. While change is often very difficult and painful, it is sometimes necessary to move on with one's life....

Block for Friendship quilt

I finally quilted again yesterday - yay - something simple. A friend of my sister's asked her to make a block for her friendship quilt so I did a string pieced block. I LOVE string piecing... See photo below..

Pink is out

Pink is out... it is too garish. Normal is back... Yippee. I have not blogged for ages or quilted for that matter. Been busy with kids and kids' issues...and job changes......The rest is better left unsaid. However, my fingers are itching to quilt.... am hoping to get back into quilting soon. This weekend is another UFO day. What a wonderful opportunity to get quilting again.

The new camera is AWESOME. Iam really looking forward to taking some photos of landscapes and posting them here.

Camera and Pink Blogs

My new baby Nikon SLR camera arrived home yesterday afternoon. I am so excited. Hopefully I'll get a chance before the weekend to take some photos. We had to charge the battery for a long time last night - the first charge :-). If I have to be honest, I don't have a clue how to use a SLR camera but will go for lessons..... I am so excited about being able to take some really cool pictures. Yes, I know you can take cool pictures with a compact digital camera but still.......

Now I just need to build a design wall and then I'll be able to take awesome photos of my quilts - quilts you say, at the moment, more like quilt pieces......Am hoping to rectify that next weekend :D

I don't know why I changed the colour scheme of my blog to pink yesterday - maybe I was in a pink mood :LOL. It won't last long - will change it to something else soon.

Time flies when you are having fun

Wow, it's 10 Feb already. Life is rushing by at a very fast pace. The feeling of "Slow down World. I want to catch up" comes to mind :LOL. Isn't there a popular song with this theme?

Life is passing by in a blur of computer programming, guitar lessons, Orthodontist appointments, training dogs in the rain, kids etc. Hey, Quilting was not mentioned in the above blur...... Sad - I will really have to do something about the lack of quilting......It is soul destroying. I am, however, progressing on my Needlepoint work. Sitting in the Orthodontist's rooms waiting provides the perfect opportunity to do handwork.

The wonderful news is that I am considering a new camera - a Nikon D60 SLR camera. I have never had my own camera in my life so am very excited.. so look forward to some fantastic photos on the blog. I just have to remember to take it with me everywhere I go :LOL

Oh yes....my other Burmese is due to give birth to her kittens from about 22 Feb. That's in less than 2 weeks time. She is starting to get quite fat and move slowly. She can no longer jump onto the kitchen counter to get to her food.

Teeth Extractions, Orange Challenges, UFO days etc

Thankfully, the last parent evening at my kids' schools is over - 3 kids in 3 different schools makes for interesting times - now life can take on a resemblance of normalcy (:LOL - what's normal?) The next big challenge is to get my one son through his teeth extractions on Saturday - he needs 4 out - the baby molars and the adult teeth underneath them. He is having it done under General Anaesthetic. He will be off school for about 3 to 4 days. I'm told there is going to be a LOT of swelling afterwards.

Then..... it's time to get back to the quilting again. On Sunday there is special UFO sewing day. Yay - I can't wait. Being "forced" to quilt is such fun. I have also joined the Orange Project Challenge - need to photograph a pile of Orange fabrics and post them. I LOVE orange and all the values and hues around orange.

Added to all of the above fun, I am started to teach guitar lessons in the afternoons to kids. Life works in circles. It is amazing. I started my post school career as a music student, worked as a professional musician in a military band for a number of years, moved away from music, had kids, became a computer programmer both through necessity and interest in the subject. Now I seem to be moving back to music again. Need to prepare some guitar lessons for next week :LOL

UFO Day and Memory Quilts

Today is the first UFO day and I am finishing the memory quilt for a friend who teaches David (my Aspergers lad) dog training. It started out as being a wall hanging but there are too many photos - I am just making up all the photos into blocks - log cabin blocks with a twist. and then the blocks into strips. Who knows how big it will end up :-) Having great fun and that's what counts.

The first 3 photos are the strips and blocks that I completed before today.

The next 2 photos are what I did today. It's slow but rewarding work. Because I am designing the quilt as I go, I need to make one block at a time and join it to the next block. Each strip has to be sewn, trimmed and ironed flat before I can move onto the next strip.

Note the cat on the last photo. This is my pregnant Lilac Burmese cat. She has taken to sleeping on our bed all the time. She might even choose to give birth to her kittens on our bed - could be interesting :LOL

I am having such fun I think I will sew some more :LOL

I REALLY need to build a design wall - taking photos flat on the bed standing on a chair does not make good photos......

Saluki Platform

My DB Saluki loves standing on high furniture and sleeping on the back of the couch. My husband caught her on the table with all the computers on. :LOL It's not a brilliant photo - was taken with a cell phone camera.

UFO days, Start of School, Empty Nests and things....

The first UFO day is this coming saturday. I am so looking forward to it. I wonder what I should work on.......where to start. Lots of photos are forthcoming - the blog will no longer look so plain :LOL. I miss the bright photos on my blog.

The eldest son was dropped off at his boarding school yesterday afternoon to start the school year today. The house is so quiet. I miss his singing and cheerful "noise". The other 2 kids start school tomorrow and wednesday respectively. They are in day school so need to be dropped off every morning and collected every afternoon. The daughter will be playing sport most afternoons of the week all afternoon so life will soon be back to it's usual hectic self. Life with triplets is certainly interesting. It is actually awesome watching each child grow and develop into the best he/she can be. I love watching it. Maybe there is a series of quilts in that :LOL

All the baby kittens are sold. The last 2 are being collected this weekend. The house will really be empty then, until the next litter of kittens is born - should be last week in Feb - can't wait.

Hectic, Hectic, Hectic

The summer holidays are over and the new school year starts next week. Each child is in a different school so I have 3 starting dates..... Life is rather busy at the moment - buying school requirements, working etc. I haven't posted any photos of quilts for a long time........ sad but true. Oh well.....will get back to it as soon as kids have settled down in their new classes. This time of the year is particularly difficult for my Asperger's lad - new class, new teacher, new everything. The school has even changed the uniform :LOL

As an aside, I am finding Dena Crain's Ladders and Crystals course very challenging but very stimulating and rewarding. Maybe that's why there are no quilts to be photographed :LOL

Have a wonderful day

Crystals and Ladders

I have started a design course through Quilt University with Dena Crain called Crystals and Ladders. Wow, it is really challenging me. I have to draw designs with a pencil and paper - Everytime I am called upon to draw, I have a panic attack and run away. This time I am determined to overcome this fear and master the challenge. It is really scary......

World Visitors

I add the NeoCounter and am totally stunned and amazed by the visitors to my blog from around the world. This is one of the awesome things about blogging - you get visitors from all around the world. Just think - I live on the Southern tip of Africa (well, more South East coast) and I have friends from all over the world. Mind blowing........ I can't wait to visit my blog every morning to see how many new countries have been added to my blog.

Late New Year's Resolution...

Oh yes... the bit I forgot was that I need to finish all the UFO's that have been accumulating over the last 2 years.....Wonder if I'll ever get there. I also have a couple of needlepoints to finish as well. It is going to be a wonderfully hectic year.

New Year's Resolution

Happy New Year to everyone who follows this blog. May it be a creative, fun filled, loving and sucessful year for all of us.

I have been thinking about where my quilting is going (or rather not going)..... and have decided that this is the year for learning as much as I can about quilt design and techniques from as many teachers as possible. Some of the best ways to learn is to take courses through the Online Quilt University and Ruth Blanchet's Academy of Quilting. I have just started Dena Crain's "Ladders and Crystals" course and then onto a "Getting Started with Quilt Art" course with Ruth Blanchet's Academy of Quilting.

The best news of all is that Nancy Crow is coming to South Africa in August - am busy collecting the stash now so I have enough fabric to take with to the course. Valerie Hearder is also coming to Durban in May so... there are awesome opportunities to learn so much this year. I am so excited I can't wait....... To use the old cliche...."Watch this space"

David's Completed Needlepoint

I am so proud of my lad David's latest creation. He made this as a gift for his school teacher. When he completed it, we had it framed and here it is.......

Game Farm

We went to visit friends who stay on a Game Farm a couple of sundays ago and went for a game drive. We saw a 5 metre long African Rock Python. It was gliding across the road. What an amazing sight.

Notice how thick the python's body is.....

Apart from all the usual game, we saw a 1 week old giraffe calf. What a beautiful sight. The mother hides to give birth to her calf and then about 1 week later brings her calf out and introduces it to the rest of the herd. We watched the introductions yesterday afternoon - a sight to behold. David took all the photos.

Storm

We had a tornado like storm last friday afternoon. We are very fortunate. A big tree on our verge fell onto our perimeter fence, destroying the gate in the process. It fell at 45 degrees to our house otherwise we would have lost part of our house. The dogs didn't even go out through the broken gate. It was too fast for me. I was at the shops, knew that a storm was on the way. By the time I realised that there might be a problem, the storm was almost over. Some people in our district lost their houses. They were flattened totally by the wind etc. Sad too lose everything.

These are some of the photos......

African Elephant

It's been a long time since I have quilted and written about my quilts. I have just started working on a new wall hanging - an African Elephant in Silhoutte on top of a crazy patch/log cabin backround standing under a Baobab tree. The backround will represent the green bush/grass, blue sky and yellow sun. I'll post photos as I go. Am looking forward to seeing how it turns out......

Vaulting - Balance in motion

My youngest son has taken up vaulting - gymnastics on horseback - more photo opportunities....... The children first practice the routine on a barrel before they move onto the back of the horse.There is a quilt in here somewhere.... :D

Salukis, Salukis and more Salukis

I have finally got round to make a photo quilt for a friend of mine..... She breeds Salukis and is passionate about them. I am going to "immortilize" them in fabric for her. Below is a sneak preview of the photos I'll be using. As always, I am going to use fabrics from the Amafu range. I just love the colour range that Amafu produces. The fabric that I am going to print the photos on is already on the line drip drying. Tomorrow I will attempt to print the photos onto the fabric....

And this is what the photos look like transfered onto fabric:

There is a trick to getting photos printed onto fabric......It takes about 30 hours and if the backing paper is longer than the fabric or vise versa, then the fabric folds and gets stuck in the printer..... but I am learning.....I think this quilt is going to look awesome but then I am biased..... :D. I can't wait to cut the photos out and add fabric to them - Crazy Patch here I come........

At long last, I have started putting the quilt together..... These are photos of the fabric blocks.....