Quilting, Quilting, Binding

 I went to my Melbourne quilting group on Monday but my camera battery was flat so I was unable to take any photos. One highlight was meeting one of my lovely blog readers who came and introduced herself. I'm so sorry that "night shift brain" has meant that I'm not sure of her name so please say "hi" again. When you write a blog you are never sure that anyone is interested in reading and seeing what you post on your blog. It always helps to hear that people enjoy what we share with blog readers and I'm sure that other bloggers agree.
   This week has been all about finishing off my Mrs Williams quilt by tomorrow. It has taken a lot of quilting and I made up some freezer paper leaf shapes to reflect the petal shapes in the applique. I could have quilted more densely if time allowed but just finishing the binding, adding a hanging sleeve and sewing in all the threads as well as adding a label will be a very ambitious job for today.

 The quilt measure 83" square so I have lots of hand stitching to do before the binding is finished. I hope to get a good photo of it hanging in the Exhibition, that is if it's finished in time. I'd better get back to stitching.
 Hugs, Jan Mac

Steaming Ahead in Chester County.

 

 Good news I think for my results, although I won't know until the pathology results are back in a few weeks time but at least we are moving forward again. Many heartfelt thanks for your well-wishes. I'm sure it helps to have good wishes and prayers for a good outcome. DD is slowly recovering and my SIL is doing OK at the moment. Life can throw us challenges and we just have to meet them as best we can and move on with positive thoughts. I have been steaming ahead with more hand applique and have now completed 10 of my Chester County blocks. Sharon of Two Bits Patches has released 19 so far and I am quickly getting back on track with them and liking how they are looking.

I repeated this block as I thought they would look sufficiently different in the quilt. I will also make a duplicate of the block with the palm frond as I need to add some to make the quilt large enough. At least I think that was the plan. I may wait and see how many more blocks Sharon has for us before I make more duplicates. As you can see I still have "night shift brain" and not functioning at full capacity today.
 It's DH's birthday today and we are off to Melbourne to visit DD and go to my Melbourne quilt meeting tomorrow so I will probably take some hexagons to work on while we are away. I was wanting to work on more hand applique but I'm running out of time for prep work before we leave.
  I'm hoping to have more blocks to share very soon. Have a pieceful Sunday everyone.
Hugs, Jan Mac

An Anxious Week.

 Our Youngest DD has been in hospital for surgery and it has been an anxious wait to hear if all was well. Today I have my 5 monthly check-up and my SIL also had her's this week. Sadly my SIL's check-up showed that her cancer has spread but it is slow-growing and we're hoping that I will have good news today.
  In the meantime I've been trying to distract myself by machine quilting my Mrs Williams quilt. I used a cardboard cut-out of a leaf shape to stitch around for some of the blocks,  and it was easier than marking the quilt and then removing the stitching guidelines.  I'm getting there and hope to have it finished in time.

 I've also been doing some mindless stitching on my 1.25 inch hexagon project and when I'm tired it is an easy and relaxing project to work on. Yes I do sleep Sharon, especially when I'm working nights. I'm back on nights again tonight so hope to have some more mindless stitching to share soon if I can stay awake long enough before I go to work again.

My Elizabeth's Legacy quilt is still a top and I need/want to have it finished to be shown with the other quilters' interpretation of this quilt at our Melbourne quilt Exhibition the first weekend of April. I have a few more small borders to stitch and then there are larger borders to add. Of course I haven't stitched them yet so they will be on the machine as soon as I finished with Mrs Williams. Wish me luck!
Hugs, Jan Mac

Trying To Beat The Clock

 There's been more paid work than usual so less time for quilting and I'm under time pressure to get the quilts finished for the coming Exhibitions. I have decided that hearts Desire is not going to be quilted in time so I'm working hard on finishing Mrs Williams as I have another one to finish by early April too.
   Some relaxing hand applique has meant that I have another of my Chester County Criswell quilt blocks finished, making 8 so far so I am catching up. I varied this block as I added a piece of fabric in the middle of the block instead of having a cutout of the red fabric. It reminded me of a picture frame so I added a cloth picture.

 I have finally finished out line quilting all the hand applique and just have the pieced blocks to quilt now but still lots to do.

The mindless stitching of more hexagon blocks has taken place when I've been too tired for anything more complex and this top is growing nicely, although there is no time pressure for this one.
Thanks for stopping by and I plan to spend tomorrow quilting again and hope to get most of it done as today's quilting was interrupted by family commitments.
Hugs, Jan Mac

Chester County Progress.

 I've been enjoying re-visiting my Chester County Criswell blocks and have finished another one and half finished one. I am making my blocks to be 10" finished as I didn't want as much blank space around the applique and I'm happy with how they are looking so far.

I'm off to bed again as I have more nights to work so no stitching for a bit. I have enjoyed watching the ice dancing while I stitched and have done some more decluttering with lots more cupboards being emptied.I still have lots of magazines to go through before I donate the ones I no longer need.
Cheers, Jan Mac

The Zen of Hand Stitching

 I have been making the most of any time I have been awake and not working to do some more hand stitching. I finished this block of my Chester County Criswell quilt.

 This brings my total of completed blocks to 6 now, which is one third of the blocks which have been released. I'm preparing another one to stitch tonight so I'm very pleased with my progress.

I have also been stitching more hexagons together and this is an easy project to pick up while I'm feeling sleep-deprived. They go together quickly and I need to make some more hexagons to add more variety to the mix. Today was spent with family commitments and I'm very lucky that I am able to find a bit of peace from some of the stressful events that are occurring at the moment, by enjoying some quiet time stitching. I'd better get busy with my machine quilting tomorrow so I can finish at least one quilt for the nearing Exhibition date.
Hugs, Jan Mac

Wrestling Mrs Williams.

 I finally stopped procrastinating and got back to machine quilting, AKA wrestling, my Tribute to Mrs Williams quilt. I really should have finished it by now but I kept putting it off due to the extreme heat and then I lost confidence.That sounds strange when I have quilted at least a thousand quilts but i usually do a quick meander on my short arm quilting machine. This one is being quilted on my Janome 6600 and I think my expectations were too high which lead to procrastination. Nothing kills productivity like the stress of perfection! I psyched myself up to "Just do It!and I think I'm back on track again.

 Work and a few other things have been stressful of late so rather than face my fears with the machine quilting I've just taken time to relax with some hexagons I'd had sitting waiting for their turn in the rotation process. The hexagons are 1.25" along each side and I think this will most likely be a donation quilt. It's a great way to use up scraps and I love the peace of hand stitching.

Mrs Williams will be left to rest for a few days while I work nights and catch up on sleep. My sister gave me a lovely cup which says, "I wish I was still in bed" for my birthday. She knows me well!  Working nights is harder physically but easier mentally (usually) and it does pay well for me to travel so all for the good.
Back in a few days.
Hugs, Jan Mac