Time With Mrs Williams

 Today it was time for some stitching for me and I'm working on the Square in a Square blocks for this quilt. I need to prep more applique blocks for this quilt for times when I am able to do some hand stitching. So far I'm happy with the mix of fabrics with a Civil War flavour.

 Yesterday we took a day trip off to the High Country to try out the camper and 4WD before we leave on our trip. We had planned to stay overnight but my face was aching again after all the rough tracks so I was happy to be home in my own bed again.
  Tomorrow is my day to take my Dad to the Doctor, do his grocery shopping and have a coffee before I work nights again so there may not be much stitching done but time will tell.
Hugs, Jan Mac

Three For The Boys

 I have purposefully been working on some male focused quilts as it's often hard to get enough for the boys or men. I don't think they would be too turned off by a more feminine quilt as long as it's not shocking pink. However I have been sorting through my scraps for those which are more suitable for boys. The first quilt was a top I'd started using the Disappearing Nine Patch pattern. I ran out of car fabric so I substituted two squares in black to make the top. It's been languishing in the pile of UFOs until today when i found some red and more check fabric to make suitable borders to make it large enough. I'm happy with it now and I've also finished quilting the String X top and put another QAYG quilt together.
 I was going to work on my Square in a square blocks for my Mrs Williams quilt but just can't stop piecing more scraps together for another String X top. It's a great way to use up those short and thin scraps that have been sitting here for far too long.
  It's lovely to have time to get some of my UFOs finished and ready to donate. I only have two more quilts to finish and I will have enough for the kid's camp so I plan to have them done by the end of the week.
 I hope you are all enjoying some stitching time too.
Hugs, Jan Mac

Feeling Scrappy

 I'm slowly recovering and battling an infection but wanted to play with some scraps so I've been taking it easy and sorting through my scrap bins. I found this set of 12 snail's trail blocks which had been donated along with a lot more triangles to make more blocks. I decided to sew these blocks together and I'll add a border and donate it a smaller size for the kid's camp. The other pieces will be added to my scrap bins and made into other tops.
 The second top was a good way to use up some scraps that have been sitting here for too long. The nine patches were not very interesting and have been waiting for their turn to become a quilt. I almost tossed them out as they aren't very pretty colours. That would be a waste of the time I put into them as well as the fabric so I decided to make them into 9" blocks by using up some of the 6" squares I have sitting in boxes. I used to cut all donated fabric into 6" squares and firstly my lovely Mum and Dad used to make the squares into tops that I donated. Then when Mum was unable to sew any more, a lady I worked with took over making the tops. She has now moved interstate and I still have lots of boxes of 6" squares so I thought I could use the brighter ones to make the nine patches look a bit more interesting. I am determined to use up all of these scraps that are filling boxes and bins and now I'm not taking any more donations I am making time to go through all my scraps.
  The last top was made using Bonnie Hunter's Quiltville Sting X pattern and I have made enough for a quilt of 48 blocks. It's a quick pattern and a great way to use up smaller scraps that are too short for QAYG blocks.
 I have 5 more quilts to make before we leave so I plan to quilt some tops tomorrow. At least taking it easy has given me some time to think about how I want to use up some of these older scraps and projects.
 Thanks for your kind words.
Hugs, Jan Mac

Fragile State.

No sewing yesterday or today either yet as I'm feeling a bit fragile still. I had a dental check-up yesterday at 8.45am as I'd had an occasional dull ache in my jaw. My dentist found that he needed to do a filling then instead of just a check-up, and he wasn't sure how long the tooth would last as it was in a tricky spot between two teeth. It was painful afterwards but OK and then the local anaesthetic wore off. For the next 6 hours the pain was increasing and my strongest analgesic wasn't helping with the pain spreading to my ear and eye on the affected side, as well as some fever. Finally I rang my dentist and he said to come back in later in the day. He saw me in between patients and said that the tooth would have to come out. Not an easy extraction and after two more local injections and the assistant holding my head to give him some traction, he finally managed to pull it out. He knew it wasn't sufficiently numbed but said he had to continue. Wow I'm pretty stoic when dealing with pain but this was the worst. On the other hand at least the tooth extraction relieved the pain I'd been feeling and now I just have the pain from having 3 injections in the same area of my jaw and the aching face.
Oh and I bled and the assistant had to clean the blood off my face before I left and scared any patients. Haha! My dentist is a lovely guy and must have been worried as he gave me his personal phone number and told me to call him if I needed him overnight. Ice cream helped a bit last night but I can't eat solids yet and still feel fragile.
 What a nuisance, as I had things I wanted to do. So I'm lying down or sitting quietly, tracing more pieces for my china plate blocks for my Mrs William's quilt. I need to make 12 and I have 2 completed and 4 more ready to stitch the halves together. Hopefully I'll feel more like sewing tomorrow when the antibiotics kick in.
 Sorry for the tale of woe and I hope you all have a great weekend as I plan to sew!
Hugs, Jan Mac

Working in Reverse

 I had a lovely afternoon today puddling along with a quilt I have been wanting to make for ages. It was designed by Corliss of Threadbear and is a replica of a mid 1800s quilt. Corliss ran it as a block of the month in 2006. I've been so busy with donation quilts that I just haven't made time to work on this quilt, and as they say "It takes ages to finish a quilt you're not working on!"
 I have been working in reverse as the time allows and made the outer half square triangles first and now have started on the second last round of Square in a Square blocks. The instructions are easy to follow so I made a list of all the different blocks I need to make and I'm crossing them off as they are done. I need to prep the hand applique now and make more Ohio Star blocks when I finish the Sq in a Sq blocks. Having sorted my civil war repro fabric has made it easier to make decisions about fabric choices and it won;t take me long to actually put this quilt together once I have all the blocks done. I'm really pleased with my progress and hope to get some more done tomorrow but it's a big day of dealing with family commitments so time will tell.
   Before I started work on my Mrs William's blocks I finished off two more donation quilts. The first one was a top made by Marijke of Holland and the second one is a simple top of squares of kid's prints. I had a lady (non-quilter) who was happy to help me by sewing up tops from 6" square blocks. Unfortunately she moved interstate about 5 years ago and this is one of the last tops left to be quilted. I'm determined to get the owing quilts finished by the end of next week so I can focus on packing for our trip. I also want to get more of my Mrs Williams quilt made before we leave so I'd better get off the computer.
Hugs, Jan Mac

Two More Down

 I have a final number of 9 more quilts to make for the kid's camp for abused kids so I've been working hard as I really want to have them finished before we take our trip. I put together 2 more QAYG quilts today. The last quilt used 12 " blocks which Lesley L brought over yesterday. So there's two done today and 7 more to go. It looks like tomorrow will be another day of donation quilting.
  I did take some time late this afternoon to pin one of the quilts I want to finish for me. It t will be quilted simply as it is from the 1930s to 1940s and I don't want to out too much stress on the fabric. I bought it as a cutter quilt and took it apart, then I trimmed the blocks down to a smaller size so I could remove the tattered pieces and also a large black ink mark on one of the sashing pieces. The embroidery is in good condition and I added a new border to make it a bit larger. I think it will be quilted using the hanging diamonds design and I have used new batting as the old batting was very thin. It was originally quilted with Baptist Fans but I think that will stress the fabric too much. I also found another top I had put away as well as a set of blocks which are an old UFO and they are all being washed now and will make some more nice quilts to donate as well as clearing my shelves.
    Back to the machine now to see if I can get another one finished.
Hugs, Jan Mac

Just in Time

I'm still recovering from working night shift but manded to stay awake long enough today to put together another QAYG quilt. Lesley Lowe from Rochester met with me today and is transporting more quilts to Needy Stitches for me. I sent off 8 today and I think I need to make another 7 or 8 before we head off on our travels again so I want to get them done by the end of next week.
    Lesley also handed over a huge number of QAYG blocks made by the KyValley and Rochie quilters so I'll be  making them up as quickly as possible.
Now it's off to bed for me as I need more sleep before I'm back to normal.
Hugs, Jan Mac