Travel Bug

This is where my "I've Got the Quilting Bug" travel bug is at the moment. It seems to be on an island in Canada. Does anyone know this place? It seems to be very close to Oregon as the crow flies, but I wonder how it gets to the mainland from here?

Poor Holly's bug made it to Hawaii, but then was taken back to the US!! It was getting closer to Australia, but you have to wonder how long it will take to get back out there in the rest of the world. Why would someone take it back to the US when it clearly says on its tag that it wants to go to Australia? Not the full packet of biscuits, that's for sure.

No sewing really - well that's not true. I have added some extra quilting to the couch quilt, and I've done some more work on the hexagons, but that's it. I should be making CWDQ blocks, but I'm not. I'm going to be out on Friday and Saturday, so it isn't looking good. Maybe on Sunday.

I've just washed 3 of the quilts today, as we have seen the sun for the first time in about a week. I also washed the sheets and clothes, but now the clouds are back and it's spitting again - I'll never get them dry now, and the house feels like it needs a hot breeze to blow through it to get rid of the damp feeling.

There has been a breakthrough in beagle relations this week though. Since Chloe came to live here, she and Simon have been friends, but not as much as they could be. They've been getting closer together, but this week I took this photo of the pair of them in the crate together.

I think Simon must have been in there, and then Chloe went in too. Perhaps once it gets colder there will be more snuggling.

I've been thinking about knitting lately too, and think that I might finish the socks I started so long ago! Hope I can remember what to do, and where I'm up to. I think I'm up to picking up stitches for the second heel - the least fun part IMO.

Tagged

I've been tagged by Andrea. I'm not one to do these things normally, mainly because they make me sound weird. It's ok to be weird when you live alone, as nobody knows, but to put it out there or say it out loud is a different story.

Here are the rules of this tag----
1. Once you are tagged, link back to the person who tagged you.
2. Post THE RULES on your blog.
3. Post 7 weird or random facts about yourself on your blog.
4. Tag 7 people and link to them.
5. Comment on their blog to let them know they have been tagged.

1. Every time I see the word 'accommodation' I have to check that the spelling is correct. You'd be amazed at how many motels and hotels have it on their signs with only 1 c or 1 m.

2. I prefer the night time to the day time.

3. Every time I come home, when I get the first view of the house, I expect to see it collapsed like a pack of cards. It's a pole house of sorts, and it just doesn't seem possible that it stays up.

4. I prefer dogs to humans a lot of the time.

5. I love the wind, the stronger the better. I love standing down on the point with the wind coming off the sea straight into my face. I like the wind, but not when it's strong enough to take the roof off, of course.

6. I need 10 hours sleep every day.

7. I often look at the bright blue sky and the bright green of the grass and trees, and wonder why they're blue and green. They're such bright colours, and isn't it true that we don't really like to combine blue and green? Blue and green should never be seen, without a colour in between...

I don't think I'll tag anyone, as I have to say it would take a long time to check through all the blogs and see who hasn't been tagged. Lazy aren't I?

Civil War Diary Quilt (CWDQ)

I've finally started on the CWDQ blocks. The last two nights I've had a look through the book before going to sleep, and today I've made the 3 easiest blocks that I haven't already made.

I think the main reason I stalled on this quilt is the need for fiddly paper/foundation piecing. I had a go at foundation piecing a block, but it was a bit of a disaster, so that put me off. It was probably a silly one to start with as it had points meeting in the middle.

I've also looked into the freezer-paper template idea, so I might try that. I have a CDRom for this quilt that enables you to print out the outlines of each block through EQ, so that might work. I have to say that being a new-ish quilter, I've never made a quilt with templates - hooray for the rotary cutter! Tazzie was telling me some time back that she used freezer paper templates for her Dear Jane, so that is an option.

I think the best part about making these blocks is the opportunity to go through your repro fabric stash to find the exact fabric for each one. It's great too when you actually have the fabric that is used in the book. As no doubt you can see I've made this last block twice, as my yellow points were cut off. They still are cut off, but not as badly as before.

Dash

I'm not usually into these things, but I was taken by the fact that I could be a colon like Tanya, whose blog I stole this off. I immediately thought I would be some part of the gastrointestinal tract, only realising that it was a punctuation thingy when I saw that the colon would get along best with a semicolon. Dissapointing. Is it obvious that I worked in Endoscopy for years?

I'm not sure that I'm a dash though.

You Are a Dash

Your life is fast paced and varied. You are realistic, down to earth, and very honest. You're often busy doing something interesting, and what you do changes quickly. You have many facets to your personality, and you connect them together well. You have a ton of interests. While some of them are a bit offbeat, they all tie together well. You friends rely on you to bring novelty and excitement to their lives. (And while you're the most interesting person they know, they can't help feeling like they don't know you well.) You excel in: Anything to do with money You get along best with: the Exclamation Point

What Punctuation Mark Are You?

The couch quilt is done, well almost. It needs a little bit of extra quilting I think as there are some unquiltied areas that are a bit big.

I've been thinking about which UFO I will work on next, but really thinking I'd like to start something new. But there is a group building to work on the Civil War Diary quilt, so I'll join in there as I started it ages ago, but it stalled as I'm not too keen on the paper/foundation piecing. It will be good to see how others tackle it, which hopefully will inspire me.

The cricket is on today, so I'll get out the hexagons now and do a bit or work on them. We had a 4 hour blackout last night between 8.30pm and 12.30. What to do? No TV, computer, sewing machine or lights, and no-one to talk to. I sat at the table with the candle on thinking about women who sewed quilts by candle light years ago, and thought 'maybe I'll do a bit of Little House on the Prairie, and keep going on the binding". Hopeless. I did 3 stitches and gave up. How did they do it? So I went to bed with a book and a big torch.

Couch Quilt

Here is the Couch Quilt 'nearly' finished. Birgit did have to sleep under it with the binding flapping, but she managed ok. I still have to finish it, but I will do that today hopefully - I was hoping for some cricket on the TV , but not today. I also need to do a little bit more quilting on it before it gets washed.

We have beagles in the quilt photo in honour of Uno the Beagle's win at the Westminster Dog Show. What a little character, arooooo-ing all the way!

It's an overcast day today, so the photo without the flash is a bit dark, but it shows the colours a little more naturally. This is it on my bed which is queen size, so you can see how big it is.

My mind is already casting forward to what to work on next. I probably should get back onto the Zig Zag quilt, which didn't get too far. Or the hexagons. Maybe both at once?

I had a busy weekend geocaching. I organised a geocaching Event, which is basically a gathering of geocachers. I put out some new caches on the Islands here, and provided a lunch venue (at a picnic ground/beach area) on Karragarra Island. Quite a few people came (maybe 30 odd), and it turned out to be a fun day. It's nice to meet other cachers who you read about online, but rarely meet. The photo is of only part of the group, as people came at different times, then left to find more caches. Birgit stayed here on Saturday night as she lives in Toowoomba (about 2 1/2 hours drive away).

I've been reading a few blogs, but not my usual number. There are some lovely quilts being made. I am always amazed how quickly some people sew - I need a deadline to make that sort of pace. Better get off the computer and go and do that handsewing.

The Pressure's On

OK the pressure's on. I have a friend staying the night on Saturday, so I thought I'll use it as motivation to finish the quilt so she can have it on her bed. As there is no quilt or blanket in the house that isn't covered in dog hair (I think there is a dog hair dispenser in the washing machine), I thought this would be the way to go. Thanks for the comments on my binding post. Normally I just slap the binding on too, but I do it in the knowledge that my borders have taken out any extra fullness from the sides of the actual quilt.

I did a bit of a measure, and yes the sides of my top are a bit longer than the centre measurement, but at this stage I can't worry too much, so I did as suggested and pulled the binding taught as I sewed it on. That will have to do.

For the back I used a large piece of brown quilt fabric that I've had for ages, bought very cheaply off ebay for just this purpose. It is Thimbleberries, which isn't really something I ever buy, but it is non-descript and I have heaps left over, so I used it for the binding as well. The photo is a bit dark as I didn't use the flash, but you may be able to see it where I turned it up at the bottom. All the threads were sewn in last night, so all I have to do now is hand sew the binding down. I cut my binding 2 1/2 inches too Lily - don't ask why - "I've always done it that way".

As for the Polydown, I found it easy to work with as it is so light. I've not used it before, and I believe it is very popular for handquilting. Normally I use cotton or wool batting, but I do use poly for kids quilts that I think will get washed to death, but I've always used a denser more needled poly bat. This stuff I used has a little bit of loft which is nice, and it is light. It should dry quickly too.

Anyway, onto other things. I found a geocache today that has the most fantastic container that I had to take a photo. It is an Australian geocache, which just means that it is listed on the Aussie site, not the American site. On our caches we have some different categories, one of them being movable caches.

This one is called Trail of Death, and it is a movable cache that has to be moved from cemetery to cemetery, and placed near an interesting/famous gravesite. You then give a bit of a blurb on your log entry, so it ends up as a bit of a history lesson.

I went to look for it today, and as you can imagine the container has a sort of theme to it, so I knew I'd be looking for something that didn't look out of place. I thought maybe a fake flower, but after looking and looking, I saw a piece of stone that looked like it had fallen off a headstone, and I turned it over and 'voila!' How cool is that? I just wish I had my camera when I found it, as it looked just like it had been there for years. So I picked up this big piece of stone and I have brought it home. The other cool thing is that the log book isn't paper, it is a flash drive that you add your log to. What a great idea.

When I hide it tomorrow I'll take a photo to show it in its natural environment. Don't some people have great ideas?

The travel bugs are moving too. Mine is getting closer to Holly, and hers is on its way to Hawaii. Not far now.

Best dash off and do a bit of last minute cleaning and hang out the washing. Then I'll watch some TV and sew down the binding. I suppose Birgit wouldn't mind sleeping under it with a bit of the binding flapping, do you think?

Advice Please

Just a quick post to ask about binding a quilt without a border. It occured to me in the small hours of this morning that I have never made a quilt without borders, until now. When you put a border on it sorts out the edges of the quilt if one is a bit longer than the other, so the finished quilt isn't wavy. How do you do that without a border? Do you measure the centre of the quilt and then pin the binding on as you would a border, or do you just put the binding on and hope for the best?

Curious Downunder

Something to Show at Last

I've finally started the quilting on the Couch Quilt. I vowed I would not post again until I had started it. It's 3.30am, and I have been at it for 2 hours. Off to bed for me.

A quick beagle photo for you - this is Simon fast asleep on my bed. Or his bed I think he would say. A little bit of my string quilt may be visible in the background, but it's so hot and humid it's quilt over the feet only at the moment. It's much nicer to sew at 3am, but then you wake up in a sweat at 10am. Not very pleasant.

Oh and I used the Polydown.

Procrastinate? Who Me?

Kim left a comment on my last post asking "what's new on the quilt scene?", and the answer is not much at all. I'm stuck in that No Man's Land between finishing the Couch Quilt top, and layering and pinning it, as I don't want to do it. Then the rule is of course that I can't sew something else as I should be pinning the quilt, so I do nothing.

I think a great deal about which batting I'm going to use, as I have 3 possible options. I have a piece of Hobbs Polydown, but really that's something that I think is better for hand quilting than machine. I have a piece of batting that I think could be mainly wool, which would be better for machine quilting, but then it will get washed a fair bit so I should probably use polyester, right? Then I have a piece of black ?cotton that I have been saving for the Japanese quilt top, which could be used as well. All this thinking leads to no quilting, as there are far too many options to consider.

So after I go through the options again, I try to put it out of my mind as I don't want to face it, but I can't afford to send it out at the moment. I even had a fantasy about using the Polydown and hand quilting it, but that was indeed a fantasy, as (a) I've never hand quilted anything, and (b) it's so humid here that there is no way I'll be sitting under a quilt hand quilting it!

So that's what's new on the scene I'm afraid. I will admit however, to a small amount of hand sewing on the dreaded hexagons while watching the cricket. I can only do this work during the day though, as the eyes aren't the best, and I'm up to the dark section. I took a few photos of it the other day. It's hard to spread out as about half the papers are still in. The central part is done except for a few hexagons that need to be added along one side. The borders are mainly done, but I'll have to add a few hexagons here and there to join the sections up. It's a funny size though - it's the size it is because one day I just decided I'd had enough, so I just stopped then started to do the borders.

Lots of people are working on their hexagons at the moment, and I think I will be joining Libby in the Old Folks Home with hexagons still not finished...