Judylou in 2016

Realised that I should start a new thread for the year so here it is . . .

I'll start with my sewing space. I was at the dining table, but after clearing the study desk I thought the outlook was much brighter!



And this is my embarrassing mess of a craft (?) room. It is a spare bedroom and my husband's "storage" room for stuff. Since I've been sick it has actually been the room where things are put when the rest of the house is tidied up. One day soon I will do something about it!

And this is my current cross stitch project. About one third done.

Love the kitties!

Seems like everyone has "that one room", doesn't it?

>1 judylou: I love your sewing space, Judy. The view is terrific (mine faces out into the trees as well). And surely we all have rooms where we shove "all that other stuff?" Mine is the guest room.

That is a beautiful, complex cross stitch! How do you and Amanda have the patience to do those?! (which reminds me that I should lure Amanda back to the group, she's more settled now and out & about).

I'm jealous as my sewing area is in the basement with no windows. But I did hang up a picture of a little patio area of chairs and plants in front of my machine are so I can pretend.

Love, love that window. Thanks for posting the pics. There's no need to be embarrassed about the room. The better my crafts are going (and other things in my life), the more my housework tends to spin out of control. My family knows that when the house is super-neat--watch out--because that means I'm having "a day." Ha.

I'm enjoying working at this desk. I'm starting to talk myself into attacking the other room. But I might have to talk to myself about it for quite some time :O)

Lois, it would be good to have Amanda back. Then I wouldn't feel so much like the only "foreigner"!

BTW I have forgotten how to tag a post. Can someone please remind me.

Primlil/Alex used to also pop in here. I think she's in Cairns now. I met her during the Boston leg of her 3-city tour of the U.S., which included Paducah, KY for the quilt festival.

>2 judylou: Love the kittens. I saw a pattern the other day that had books and kittens but it was done over one on 35 count or something like that. It was also huge. I knew it would take me forever and a day to do it so I decided not to purchase it.

>7 judylou: I'm back! Are we foreigners because we cross stitch? I haven't been here for years and came to your thread first because it is currently the shortest.

It's nice that you have a special sewing space. See you soon. XXXX

ETA: Just scrolled through your other thread - what a lot of activity! Your work is lovely. Are you still working on the Klimt? I started to cross stitch a Klimt a few years ago and it required c.90 different colours. It was so fiddly I never finished it.

Nice kitten piece! I should really spend some more time on my complex cross-stitch again, but all those colors make me cranky.

I'm in a one-bedroom apartment, so the craft stuff just piles up around my couch! I keep buying rolling plastic drawer sets so I can keep the embroidery supplies within reach (and a bit of the yarn stash) but it always leaks onto the arms and corners of the couch.

Amanda! Good to see you again! Look forward to seeing and hearing what you've been up to.

I did finish that Klimt. I have another one which I haven't started yet. From memory it has about 50 or 60 colours. That is plenty for me.

mabith, I might have a nice space for my sewing machine, but I also use the pool table for cutting out and the ironing board is always set up nearby, the cross stitch box is beside my chair in the lounge, and various books and so on are scattered everywhere. The plan is to have everything in one room. But that's my plan, not my reality!

>12 judylou: The pool table?! That's got to be a first!

Yes, the pool table is perfect. Just the right height for me and plenty big enough to lay out quilt tops, etc. My father built it when I was a teenager (trying to give all his kids a reason to stay home occasionally!) and we inherited it when my parents moved into a smaller home many years ago. It is in really poor condition, so I don't have to be too concerned about accidentally marking the felt.

Oh, a pool table sounds perfect! You can lay out your fabric just so and I bet the felt helps keep it in place! I'm sort of jealous now...

Also, there is a really big light overhead for when the sun isn't shining through the windows.

Yup, totally jealous now...

And here is a block laid out on said pool table. It is for my younger son who wants a green quilt. I convinced him to add the orange which picks up some of the colour in the centre square. But I'm not sure if the greens are too similar, and if I should add a more intense green in one of the small triangles. Does anyone have an opinion?

>18 judylou: I like the way you've repeated the greens around the block. And I love the orange and the center block. I would be tempted to replace the solid green in the block with another print. It's a beautiful start.

Oooh, lovely!

I think I agree with Becky. I think the solid green is too close in tone to the purple. That might be a place to add a little more pop.

>18 judylou: Very nicely done! When I made a quilt for my son, he said he wanted it blue and orange (gasp! It sounded like school colors!) so I used a variety of blues and oranges and pushed it some into the yellows and blue-greens (done with batiks).

Lovely block and what a conundrum. On the one hand, the quiet green highlights the orange contrast and "introduces" the greens that frame it, on the other hand another print gives you more room to play and would thematically link the innermost green prints surrounding the orange (leaves and frower on green background). If it becomes difficult to select a print, you could use that same print.

I have taken your advice and have been playing with another print which is brighter and deeper in colour than the others. I think it works better. I'll post a photo soon.

I don't have any "real life" sewing friends, so it is hard to get real advice or input on my projects. Mostly, I ask my family and after they eye roll (*!*) they always just agree with what I have done! SO I appreciate your thoughts.

>24 judylou: I get what you mean about the eye roll--ha! Mr. lab is retired now, and this is the first time he's paid any attention to my quilting. He had a very demanding job in the computer software business, and he worked pretty much 24x7, whether it was at the office or in his head at home. He hasn't found anything yet that keeps him quite busy enough, so he's "noticing" my quilt-making. "Wow, that really takes a lot of time," was one of his more recent comments. Haha.

I think anyone would tell you that with regards to input from all of us it's a "take what you want and leave the rest" sort of thing.

I think about joining a quilt group from time to time and twice in my life I have actually done so, at least on paper, but never got to the meetings. Sewing and reading are both "restorative" activities for me and I worry about losing that. But I have enjoyed talking to quilters at the museum or casually at quilt shows so ....

I think that's right Lois. I don't like to feel pressured to do or read particular things. That's why I have never joined a bookclub. I like to just plod along and do what interests me at the time.

We went on an unplanned trip up north to stay with my mother for a couple of weeks. So now before anything else, I am trying to catch up on my 365 challenge. Getting there slowly!

>27 judylou: Looking forward to seeing the additions to your 365 challenge.

3/4's of the way there.

I have caught up with the 365 challenge blocks which included the centre panel. Something went a bit skewiff with one part, but I didn’t have the heart to unpick and redo. Oh well, maybe one day I will.

OMG, Judy, that's wonderful!! It's so bold and bright, with a lot of drama. Stunning! I wondered what you were going to do with 365 little blocks! I think this might be your best quilt yet!

>30 judylou: Oh. my. goodness. I LOVE IT. I'm quite a fan of red and I agree with Lois: bold, bright, dramatic. Very nice work.

Oh, gorgeous!!

Wow, this is really something. What a commitment! 365 challenge blocks. I love this idea, and I love your quilt. The colors are beautiful.

That's quite an accomplishment even now. I like the chicken wire fabric a lot.

>30 judylou: Lovely!

Thank you everyone! And apologies for the size of the photo, but I did it on my tablet and was unable to edit and when I look for it on my laptop it hasn't appeared. I'll fix it one day!

I believe that until the end of March we will continue with the "inner border" of 3inch dark squares. Then for a few months it will be all light squares. There is also an outer border of dark squares. I buy a new piece of fabric every time I go to the shops, but I think I have underestimated the amount I will need.

I know the colour appears to be red, but it is actually all oranges. Some of the oranges are more reddish and some more brownish. But I haven't been too precious about it all.

I'll be away for about 6 weeks in April and May, so will have a lot of catching up to do after that!

>37 judylou: I see it as oranges, and I like that you have stretched your oranges with different tones, tint and color variety.

Enjoy your trip!

>37 judylou: I buy a new piece of fabric every time I go to the shops, but I think I have underestimated the amount I will need.

This must be a common scrap quilter's lament. I've been doing that for my Double Wedding Ring quilt. I had hoped to use up the stash of 1930s reproduction fabrics for that quilt, and then I realized that a 30-something might not be quite as over the moon about those fabrics as I am. So I completely changed the fabric, and now I find myself "wandering over" to the quilt shop just to see if there might be something else that will fit. So much for using up the stash. (Grin)

I am slowly building up a stash. Piece by piece. Whenever our local Spotlight has a sale I visit - just to have a look, you know - and always end up coming away with something pretty! But I have a feeling that when I actually sort all these pieces out, I will find most of them in the same colours and tones. So I suppose I will have to keep going back, just to make sure my stash is varied enough!

Progress is being made on my cross stitch - perhaps half finished now. I am still plugging away on the 365 challenge. The last lot have all been mitred corners - youch!!!! - but that is the reason for doing this challenge. To learn new skills. I am also still progressing Daniel's green and grey quilt. Just finished all the flying geese. The book I am following has a different method for the geese than the one I have used before. I don't like this method and am glad they are all done now!

I will be holidaying for six weeks or so from 1st April so nothing will be done for some time. Not looking forward to having to catch up on six weeks of challenge blocks either :O)

Well, first, have a good holiday. Depending on whether you make your blocks daily or not, you could make an extra one each time and in six more weeks you'd be caught up. No matter how big a stash one has, you always need more.

I do almost nothing with fabric but still have a fabric statsh! You definitely need a hefty one.

I'm wondering if you have/had any plans of popping into some quilt shops during your extended tour of Texas and other parts of the south. I'm thinking your tour doesn't give you much time to go off on your own?

Lois, I wanted to visit some shops so badly. The price of fabric can be half what it is in Australia, add the exchange rate and it is still so cheap for us. But, I could not find any that were close to where we were when we had time. Kim was uninterested in driving any distance to find one. It is something I am still regretting now!

>44 judylou: Nice to have you back, Judy!

Quite a few years ago now, I met up with primlil (whom I met here on LT) and her sister, both Aussies, on their trip to the US. They came over to the big American Quilt Society quilt show in Kentucky and then visited Philadelphia and Boston. They told me how inexpensive the fabric was, especially with the sales at the show. They bought tons of it (I think Alex had a quilt shop in Western Australia at the time) and shipped it home. When they got to Boston, where I met them, they were very excited about the prices of used books and were buying boxes of them to ship home. I think shipping prices have changed since that time.

Looking forward to seeing your 365 quilt progress!

>45 avaland: I think shipping prices have changed since that time

I don't know about shipping, but I do know American postal rates have gone up dramatically. I think it was around the summer of 2015. I used to buy wool yardage from the US regularly for rug hooking as the prices were so good, but now the postage is almost half the price of the yardage, so I tend to buy a lot less. Then there are odd shipping practises in places, like charging the basic shipping rate for each item, so if shipping is $10 and you order three items, it then becomes $30, even though it may be just paper quilting patterns. Odd.

I know the shipping rate has definitely to increased to the UK. I sent a book to a friend recently -$20!

>46 SassyLassy: I am always wary of shipping costs when I buy anything on line. Funny how this all goes up in every country at a time where the world is becoming more and more global.

I made myself feel better and visited my local quilt shop :0)

I have prepared Daniel's quilt for quilting and will start that today I hope. It is a bit daunting. Still not sure how to go about it. I'll post a photo when it is done.

I am still way behind with the 365 challenge. I managed to do 12 blocks last week, but I still have 44 to catch up on. As soon as I finish quilting the big one, I'll get stuck into them. I will catch up! I will!

>49 judylou: If you are behind, you certainly had a very good excuse. Seems like you had a tons of fun on your trip.

I love the quilt in >30 judylou:. I'm also 100000000% jealous of your pool table for laying out your work. Although, I'm not sure I could give up my Ikea super cheap remainder cutting table with adjustable legs. I actually wish I'd managed to find two tables; but I wouldn't have the space for them now.

Just dropping by to let you know what I have been up to.

Here is the latest bunch of blocks for the 365 challenge. I am still one month behind, but slowly catching up. These ones are for the light band and they are all 6inch blocks (makes it so much easier than those pesky 3inch ones!) So the layout so far will be 1) central motif and border 2) dark 3inch blocks 3) light 6inch blocks.



I made this Baby quilt for a friend who has just had a new grandson. This photo showcases the state of the aforementioned pool table - it needs a lot of work before it can be used to play again, but meanwhile, I'm getting a lot of use out of it. My Dad would be happy!



I finally finished Daniel's quilt! Yay! It was supposed to be for his birthday, but it was exactly one month late. Oh well. He watched me make it and appreciated it more for that I think. Please admire the many beautiful points; but please ignore the many not so beautiful ones!!



I'm still plodding along with the ginormous (well, it feels ginormous anyway) cross stitch. I feel like I'm never going to finish that, even though I work on it every day. And today I went and printed out all my photos for scrapbooking our last trip. So I will need to find time for that now :O)

Beautiful work, Judy! Thanks for the catch-up.

Oh, lovely stuff you've got going on!

Great looking quilts. Just curious - can you cut out the fabric for more than one block of 365 quilt at a time? or do they only tell you each day how much you'll need to quilt that day's block? I find I'm intrigued by this.

Thank you.

The 365 challenge sends one email every day. There is a website where they store all the directions for (I think) 3 months before they are archived. So you can choose to do one every day, or like me, save up a few and work on them together which I think makes more sense. At the moment while trying to catch up I do 12 at a time; usually I will do 5 or 6.

Great job on the new squares, Judy! I love Daniel's quilt. I'm intrigued by your color and fabric choices—I really like them, the mix of print & solids really works.

The 365 day challenge seems like a great idea. I doubt I'd be disciplined enough to stay with it for a year, though.

Lois, we are heading up north for a couple of weeks to see my Mum, so I will get even further behind. I am having trouble catching up. But I keep telling myself there is no deadline for me. No-one is going to assess the finished object, so I'll just continue as I am, and keep on enjoying the process.

Now for some advice. I have a number of batik sarongs, bought in Malaysia mostly. They are typically quite thin fabric. I have been thinking of making them into a quilt for my sister. Does anyone here have any experience with using this kind of fabric? And if so, any suggestions as to the pattern I might use?

Exactly, no deadline!

re: suggestions. I just did an image search for Malaysian batik sarongs and wow! Seems you might want to use larger pieces to show off the print (if they indeed look like what came up in my image search). It's a very lightweight cotton, yes? I have sometimes backed very lightweight fabric with another cotton, but I've only done that with relatively small pieces.

I've never used lightweight fabrics, but recently saw this pattern in a magazine, which looks beautiful in batiks (the pattern, not the magazine).

It takes 9 patch blocks, then slices then up and reconstructs them. The picture doesn't do the pattern justice as you can't see the construction.



Here is a pattern I have seen made up to great effect in batiks, but it might not work with a lightweight fabric because of the diagonals:



____________

Edited to attribute the nine patch to the magazine A Needle Pulling Thread

Just sets of two half square triangle blocks...great look!

That is a great look. And something I could manage I think. I have also googled nine patch variations and will think about some of those as well. Thanks for pointing me in the right direction!

>62 judylou: btw, I think one of tiffin's quilts was a nine-patch.

So what have I been up to this past month? Still going on the cross stitch *sigh* Progressing on the 365 challenge. I'm still about a month behind, but that’s ok. I've finished the next border - light 6 inch blocks and now starting the next border of 3 inch dark blocks. It feels like it is going to be massive!

I've also done two cushion covers for Megan - photos will follow. I'm working on a queensize quilt for my Mum and have started another one for my sister in law.

I think that covers it. The weather is staring to improve here at last. Hoping to try to do some stuff in the garden soon.

The 365 challenge quilt is going to be gorgeous!!! Looking forward to all photos of your new quilt projects.

Photos of the two cushions I made for Megan. Can you see a theme here?

Those are lovely, and I need kitty fabric! ...I dunno what I'd do with it, but clearly I need it! xD

>66 judylou: I do love the kitties!

I love those!

Love the fabrics, and such sharp corners!

Thank you for your comments. I wish I had bought more of that cat fabric now. It was fun to work with.

Meanwhile I have been busy again. Kim's relatives are coming to visit from Malaysia and I made this for his elderly sister in law. I wondered whether I should, seeing as how they are from Malaysia where quilts are not exactly needed! But decided that since she is getting on in years and their house now has AC, it might get used. Anyway,, I had fun making it. I just chose a number of 12 inch squares that looked interesting and joined them up with the 16 patch squares. I think it might be a bit "busy"; so next time I will make sure there are more calm areas. Also, the colours are a bit washed out in the sun.

>71 judylou: I love it! I always love combined patch quilts. I never do one; but they are always so full of life when I see them!

It looks wonderful! I love the impact of it.

I love the combination of peach and green and I think there's enough white/cream so it's not too busy. I saw a pineapple block quilt in a magazine once that was peach and green and ripped it out to make some day. AAgh! Someday!

>66 judylou: Very nice! very modern! Very kitty!

>71 judylou: What a wonderful quilt! You are drawn to oranges, aren't you? I don't think it's too busy at all, but then you know I lean. LOL. I hope she'll love it.

>74 dudes22: I bought a pineapple book not too many years ago....

Thanks for your compliments!

>75 avaland: It is strange, but if you asked me prior to this what colours I would favour in a quilt, orange and green would not have been mentioned.

Now I am struggling with my next quilt. I started it quite a while ago and am now up to the quilting stage. At approx. $250 I can't really justify sending it to a professional quilter, so I am struggling to manage the king size quilt on my Brother machine. My neck and shoulders ache and now my arthritis has flared up in my fingers. Arrrggghhh! Also, I get frustrated because I am not very good at it and can only stitch in the ditch. But I am almost done, so I will post a photo of the final result when I can.

>76 judylou: Wow, you are brave! I have done a full size quilt on a regular machine and swore I would not do it again. I will do smaller quilts from time to time.

I find even lap-size quilts a struggle on my regular machine. I have done one or two slightly larger, but only doing grid lines. I can't imagine doing a king size. Good luck to you.

I persevered and have almost finished the quilting. A tube of dencorub and a handful of anti-inflammatories helped!

>79 judylou: You deserve a gold star for that!!

>80 lesmel: A god star, some alcohol and some chocolate too!

>79 judylou: Ooooooohhhh, you were medicated....that explains it :-)

I finally remembered to post this photo of the quilt I have made for my mother. I will give it to her as a Christmas present when we go up north to visit her next month. The colours in the prints haven't really shown up very well here. They are quite rich colours - a bit like a blinged up peacock, if you get my drift . . .

I have many triangles from trimming the covered corners on this one, and have started to put some together into pinwheels. I'm thinking of making some pillow covers to match.

That's very pretty. I'm sure your mom will like it. After all - you made it for her.

Oh, that's gorgeous!

Love the colors and absolutely ADORE that block design.

Ooh, very pretty!

>83 judylou: Oh, wonderful quilt, Judy! "...a bit like a blinged up peacock...." too funny!

Well, Mum loved the quilt, so that made s both happy. I am finishing a baby quilt for my nephew's baby, due in a few weeks. I finished the marathon cross stitch. My Aunty was over the moon. That made it all worth while. But stupid me. I forgot to take a photo of the finished product!!!! Already starting my next cross stitch project, which is a Chinese dragon; an "ironical" choice by my son ;o) But it is on black cloth, so should be another challenge.

Bummer you forgot to take a photo (and bummer for us!). I'm glad your mom liked the quilt. You have been busy!

Congrats on finishing the big stitchery! Stitching on black always looks so awesome, though I admit I often temporarily regret starting those projects. Putting white paper or cloth behind the piece (on your lap or desk, depending on where/how you work) always helps me quite a bit.

I will try that. I usually stitch in front of the tv, and find myself holding it up against the tv to see!