Dressmaking 101.

 I've been an absent blogger as I worked full time night shifts last week.Nothing much happened other than trying to get lots of sleep. Our youngest DD has visited us for the last 2 nights and I've been very busy altering clothing for her. She is a keen ballroom dancer and also at the age where there are lots of 21st birthdays. engagement parties and weddings to attend so she loves having some new clothes at low cost. In 2 days I altered 27 dresses and skirts from Op Shop purchases.
 Lots of them just need to be taken in at the side seams but some are vintage gowns and need more work to update them. I love the blog New Dress A Day and get lots of inspiration for there. Unfortunately time was short so I didn't get an "before" photos.

 I did take a photo when I was half-way through altering this vintage designer dress. The shoulders were too bulky so I removed the shoulder pads and then trimmed them down so the sweet-heart  neckline was more of a feature. I must remember to take a photo now it's finished and shortened. Some of these were marked down to $1 so we could hardly lose on that deal.

 I also found a small amount of time to work on my La Passion and I'm really pleased with the colours I've chosen. I'm working nights again for the next few nights so it will be back to bed for me now.
Hugs, Jan Mac

Experiencing La Passion.

I was working on my La Passion every day while we traveled through Europe. Then we traveled England and arrived home and my Insanity Quilt took first place in the work queue. I didn't take it on our trip to Cape York either as I knew I wouldn't be able to keep it clean under those conditions.
  For the last few days I've been making more hexagons and stitching hexies around the outer border of Part 3. I still have more to go but I do love the design and the blue and white with a touch of aqua. We had a lovely night in Melbourne on the weekend, staying with our youngest DD and now it's back to working nights again so not much else will happen this week but there's always the weekend for more stitching.
 I hope you are all enjoying some time to stitch too.
Hugs, Jan Mac

The Journey to Insanity

 I have been working on my multi-coloured border for my Insanity Quilt. I'm piecing it in sections so I will have an even distribution of the fabrics around the quilt. I'm also piecing the neutrals in the same way as I am using lots of different neutrals as well. I have purchased a Fiskar's half inch punch and it's an easy way to make lots of hexies from all the grocery packages.

 

I still have a long way to go but I am making progress.
Hugs, Jan Mac

Spring Has Arrived.

 The wattle is out and the weather is sunny and mild so it's lovely to know that Spring is here again and warmer weather is on it's way. We'll probably get some spring rain too but that's OK we can always use that here to green up our paddocks. Today was a day to finish off some more donation quilts before I work nights again.

 I always think even a "blah" top looks better quilted. This is the top I put together the other day, from donated 9 patches and the lime green binding gives it a lift too.

 I finished another QAYG quilt from blocks donated by Lesley and Co.

 This top was donated and consists of almost every half square triangle being three dimensional. I knew this would make it difficult to quilt easily so I machine stitched down all the flaps and then machine quilted it. I was going to add borders to make it larger but I had a piece of batting and a backing which fit it exactly so I decided to just "get it done"!

The backing is a cute farmyard scene and the batting was a puffy poly but it will keep someone warm. That lime green has been good for binding two of the quilts and I still have some left. I stitched some more on my Insanity Quilt last night and will show my progress soon. I hope all the Dad's have a Happy Father's Day while I will be sleeping.
Hugs, Jan Mac

Hexagons Again

 I haven't been working on my hexies since we returned home so it was time to get some more stitched together and share my progress. The first hexies are 1" and the pattern is from Di Ford Hall's book, The pattern is Maggie Grace's Garden and I'm using a Robyn Pandolph jelly roll.

The second hexies are half inch in size and this is my version of the Insanity Quilt by Rhonda Pearce. I have started a Facebook page for people making this pattern and we now have over 700 members. A lot report that they are only starting this quilt because of the support of the group so that's a very nice thing to happen- spreading hexie madness. I haven't worked on this one while we were away and I have lots to catch up with now. I have stitched 10.8% of the 10.339 hexagons required so a long way to go yet.
Back to stitching. I should be cleaning too but I'm too tired after working nights and I'm sure it will wait until I feel like it.
Hugs, Jan Mac