It Started Life as a Skirt

As we literally walked in the door from our week away I received a phone call from Sue H. of Deniliquin (NSW). She was on her way through with more lovely tote bags she'd made as well as some bags of fabric. In one of the bags were 4 old fashioned woolen skirts. The fabric was still in excellent condition but no longer in fashion. I deconstructed them and made one of them into a lap sized quilt. It's thick fabric and very warm so I quilted a backing of fleecy material to the back and it didn't need any batting. It will make a lovely quilt/blanket for a child or an elder at Pine Ridge Reservation.
I love using up what would otherwise be wasted and have already deconstructed the other skirts and washed the fabric. I also saved the zippers and they will go to a Sewing group at Pine Ridge when I've collected enough to fill the box. The yellow/red tartan fabric has some small holes from moths so that will be used for the inner layer of QAYG blocks and as it is woolen fabric it will make them nice and cosy. The large piece of blue tartan will be used for backing and the other lovely fabric would be lovely as a quilt but it bled and bled when I washed it so it will make some lovely bags- it looks like paisley tapestry fabric and will make sturdy and fashionable bags- I hope.
I also put together a smaller QAYG quilt for Pine Ridge as well as finishing off a quilt that Sue donated and I'll show them on my other blog at Oz Comfort Quilts. Back to my machine.
Hugs Jan Mac

A Week Away

We took a week's break on the spur of the moment as I didn't have any work shifts this week. When we hard about Ray's cancer and subsequent surgery, a lovely friend had organized for us to have a week's break at the beach and the cottage was available at the time when I was free from work. We had a lovely week with lots of summery weather and time together. Ray has recovered enough now that he was able to take lots of walks and enjoy the scenery.
Can you see the koala in the tree? We also loved the road sign which reminds tourists that we drive on the left hand side of the road here.
One of the highlights for me was having lunch at The Cattery- the Geelong Football Club bistro. We saw 3 of the premiership players training as well and it was a fun outing. I hope to get down there again to watch them play this year. I did manage to knit 2 hats and crochet 2 scarves but really took a break and enjoyed reading a good book- Exile by Richard North Patterson.
We came home yesterday and now I'm back into some quilting so i'll show more progress tomorrow.
Hugs Jan Mac

Progress Of Sorts

I did get some sewing done yesterday which meant that I'm making progress but working nights has meant that I'm not getting as many quilts finished as usual. I needed sleep more than anything but I did get a fleece top pieced as well as a simple top made from pink fabric squares. I also made two tote bags from furnishings fabric and I lined them both as well as knitting 4 face cloths and another baby jacket. So I guess that's not too bad for this week.
I had forgotten to total my stash usage for Feb and was pleasantly surprised to find that I'd used 148 yards so with January's total I've used 266 .35 yards so far this year.
We had a lovely day when we took 45 more quilts down to Kinglake on Monday, although it was a rushed trip as I had to be back early so I could have a nap before starting work that night. The quilts were all at least DB or QS and we also took down more of the donated goods of books, knitting wool, bags and craft items.
I think that we have probably finished with the donations there now and I'll concentrate on making more quilts for East Timor and Pine Ridge Reservation. The downside is that I need to pay for postage to Pine Ridge and working nights will help to make that possible but I do plan to get more quilts finished soon as well as using up some of my sewing fabric by making more clothes for foster kids.
Bye for now, Jan Mac

Weekend Progress

I didn't get any more quilts finished as we had visitors but I did manage to crochet a string bag which I expected to be bigger and I'm weighing it down with a couple of cans to stretch it. I finished off 2 baby jackets and made a soft fleecy blanket for a child, using scraps of polar fleece so I guess that's some progress.
Tomorrow we're off to Kinglake again to deliver more quilts and craft items which have been donated and then I'm back on night shift again for the week so I won't get much sewing done but I hope to finish off more baby items I'm knitting as I have another box of baby items to post off to Pine Ridge.
I also plan to make more bags from the curtain fabric I've found and these will make ideal shopping or diaper bags. I've been asked about a pattern and I really just make them according to how much fabric I have. If you Google cloth tote bags there are many, many patterns to choose from and most have diagrams and photos. We use Google for any instructions we need and haven't been disappointed yet. DH even Googled for instructions on how to carry out some repairs on the car as well as a recipe for scones. We are having a camp bake-off at Easter when we camp with friends and he thought scones should have salt in them and I didn't. The jury is still out on the final decision and we need more practice with cooking them perfectly in a camp oven on the coals of the fire. We always have fun when camping and last year's bread making competition was hilarious.
Hugs Jan Mac

Quilt Soup

I didn't intend to be absent from blogging this long but my computer failed to load things quickly and DH had to get more memory for this one and I had far too many files saved. He swapped me over to a new hard drive but hasn't been able to transfer all my email addies yet so if you wrote I may have missed it.
I have also been busy working night shift for the last couple of weeks and I have more this coming week. As I'm saving for my trip to Houston this Oct, the money was too good to turn down but I don't get much time for anything other than lots of sleeping while I work nights.
I also met with some lovely ladies from Deniliquin (NSW) and received some lovely cloth tote bags and rice bags they'd made to donate to East Timor. They also gave me some bits and pieces of scraps which I call "Quilt Soup" as they make mine more appealing when I add bits and pieces to them to make a quilt. These strips were in all different sized lengths and I trimmed them to 6" and had enough to make a quilt. I plan to quilt and bind it tomorrow and then it will be going to warm a child on the Pine Ridge Reservation in the US.
We also went camping for a few days with friends and enjoyed a relaxing weekend. While camping, I made more hats and scarves and posted them off with 10 Easter baskets to Pine Ridge as well as knitting more baby clothes. The other quilt top is a beautiful collection of flannel squares which I joined together and quilted up for a child to cuddle. More photos tomorrow.
Hugs Jan Mac