Warmest of Christmas Wishes

Graphics courtesy of The Graphics Fairy

St Martin, Caribbean

This has been a year of rather few “releases” from my UFO box.  I am certainly happy though, with some small achievements underway, especially on a floating, tiny home.  Just think, another new quilt started!  I also managed to give away at least 6 of my quilts to good homes, so that’s a bonus too.

Well, we won’t be back in time for me to do my annual new year’s UFO box audit, but the promise of travelling so long this year means that, fingers crossed, we will have a full year at home.  Yippee!!  I’m starting my let’s-get-busy list for my garden shed (my sewing room in the garden) even now.  

Wishing you all a wonderful Christmas and a happy New Year with family and friends.  Remember to take the time to do some quiet stitching or perhaps design just a few more quilts to make…

Missing Quiltmania

I actually finished the quilt project on this cover, Colour Game 
(2009, Issue 72) in 2013. I called mine Spice Market.

Sadly, this year on 24 April 2024, Quiltmania closed.  I loved the high quality, glossy mag and its projects were always a source of inspiration.  I never knew which project I wanted to do first.  The content was interesting too and included a world-wide coverage of people and places of interest and inspiration to quilters.  Each country seemed to have its own style, born no doubt from cultural heritage.

QM closed with minimal notice.  I didn’t realise until some months later when, in need of a good quilt fix, I tried to access my e-mags.  Although I generally paid for a “paper” subscription, sometimes I missed out on copies in between subscriptions or wanted to purchase some of the Simply Modern copies as well.  E-mags are also a bonus when living life afloat in a tiny floating home - they don't take up too much room!  Anyway, I also thought e-mags would be safer held on line rather than downloaded on my ageing hard drive.  Silly me!  

The sudden closure caused a bit of on-line chit-chat, mostly about lost subscriptions and the cost of the magazine.  Anyway, at least I knew and,thanks to a Texasgal had a link to the last ever issue.  Here in Aus, quilting supplies are rather more expensive (and less expansive) than the US, and mail delivery fees are another killer.  Anyway, I felt the price was worthwhile for a quality product, especially a European focused one that opened our eyes to quilty delights from around the world.  My only concern after closure, was lack of access to our paid on-line magazine copies.  Nothing heard yet, or probably ever, at this stage.  

My heart goes out to Carol and the team at QM.  My quilting friend’s sister ran a fabric chain (KnitWit) that ultimately failed too.  She explained to us the risky personal and financial consequences of running any business.  I should add here that several quilt shops have closed doors over the last 2 years in the wider Sydney area.  It was not a great year either for my favourite UK on-line bookstore, Book Depository, a great source of hard-to-find quilting books, which also closed.  Quiltmania’s demise though, is indeed a very sad loss for our world-wide quilting community.

Graphic courtesy of The Graphics Fairy

Scraps 'n Boro

Since making my Hourglass blocks, I’ve decided against trying to find a suitable fabric for sashings.  At least until I get home.  Unless we are hooked up to electricity at a marina dock, solar panels can only produce so much and our fridge & freezer must always come first.  Along with navigation instruments and trusty computers for weather reports.  So, my sewing machine has not seen light of day since we started heading north.  And whilst fabric is nice to have, it adds extra weight to my (one) travel suitcase. I like to travel light.  With all this in mind, it was back to Plan A, which was of course, making bags from leftover scraps.  

Two pieces fairly heavily stitched. Hardly exhibition quality
but it won't matter for an everyday bag or wallet

So now, I’m currently hand stitching scrap pieces – and attempting a bit more boro!  Basically, my process is an assemblage of bits of scraps on a cut-to-size piece of thin cotton batting and a light backing of flour sack cloth.  I think I purchased the flour sack cloths in a pack I found in the cleaning products area of Walmart a few years ago.  They look a bit like a more robust cheese cloth and the whole lot just needles through quite nicely.

The batting size is cut mostly 13 x 8 inches with the cloth backing slightly larger.  Once the scraps are down and held by pins or glue.  I use 1” masking tape as a guide for my stitching lines to keep them straight, then stitch the rest, mostly by eye.  I’m happy doing that (keeping it simple) rather than being too creative with other designs.  Its relaxing and achievable, even on a boat anchored out in the middle of nowhere… 

You can see how I pinned the pieces, then stitched
guiding lines 1" apart, making the final stitching easier

My thread of choice has been Perle #8 in two shades of pink.  A nice big-eyed sashiko needle helps make threading easy too.  

When the pieces are all stitched and any loose threads trimmed, then I’ll decide exactly how best to incorporate these pieces into a project of some sort.  Perhaps a dolls bed quilt for my larger piece?  That might make me rather popular!  Anyway, keeping an open mind for now...

And for the back.  Not sure I want that to be seen!

I'll post a photo of the final product when it is done... could be a while yet!!