Gum Valley Patchwork

A new arrival

I have taken a little break from my quilting journey as many other things have taken priority over the past few days – with the main thing being the BAS / IAS paperwork for the tax office. I’m half way there. I’ve done ours for the farm and now I just have to get the Landcare Network’s finished.

As we head on the downhill run towards Spring the daylight hours are starting to gradually get a little longer, and it is oh so nice to get a sunny day like today. I love Spring and all that it brings – especially in the garden. I have had a few daffodils starting to open their petals and I even have a new addition on the farm…….. a lamb.

Isn’t he just the cutest lamb you’ve seen. He has lovely black spots, and a nice black face just like mum.

I have had just a few sheep for about 14 years. They help to keep the grass down in our calf paddocks and reduce the fire risk (and the need to mow) over the Summer time.

Well I'd better get back to the bookwork.

Linda   :)

A Special Day

Today is a special day because it is my mother's birthday.

I wanted to write this post to share with everyone why my Mum means so much to me, but I have typed, deleted, and retyped so many times I fear that I will never get this finished. It is often difficult to find the right words to express your feelings, but I will do my best. I feel so lucky that I share so much with Mum. We both love patchwork and quilting, and have attended quite a few classes together. My love of gardening has also been 'inherited' from both her and my grandmother. She has a great sense of humour and loves to tell jokes - a bit of a tease (the grand kids can vouch for this) which has carried on though our family.

Mum was always there for us when we were growing up. Dad worked long hours so it was Mum who was cook, nurse, housekeeper, taxi and the rest...

Even after leaving home the support and love has continued.

Happy Birthday Mum.

Love Linda     :)

A round robin quilt of sorts

I can’t remember when I made the quilt featured in today’s post but it was quite a few years ago. I attended a class along with my Mum at Fragrant Cottage in Camperdown.

The class was structured so that we spent our time planning and drafting our design for the month and then the homework was to do the sewing. It was based on a round robin style quilt but with all of the sewing done by us. We first had to design, draft and work out our cutting measurements for our centre block. There were no restrictions just something we liked. My centre was based on a quilt I saw called the "Magic Carpet" (sorry I can’t remember who made it). From then on we had ‘rules’. The next border had to be made from squares &/or rectangles; the next was appliqué; followed by triangles; then something from the centre block; and finally anything goes.

After the top was completed I wasn’t quite sure how to quilt it. I didn’t want to wreck it by trying to machine quilt it so I asked my mother whether she would hand quilt it for me. Mum wasn’t working on anything at that stage so she said yes.

It took Mum about 160 hours to hand quilt. It was on my bed for many years and was only replaced by the quilt that Mum made me for my 40^th birthday ('Poppies for Linda') in 2002. The quilt was great fun to make and I still love it. If you haven’t seen it but would like to – it now hangs upstairs in the Classroom at the Shop.

Linda   :)

Lots of news

I have lots of news to share today ……

I regularly pop over to Gail Pan’s blog and catch up on her news. The other day she posted about a new website called Quilters Show’n’Tell. It’s a great site that allows quilters to ‘show and tell’ their quilts. I decided to submit my story and photos about my first quilt and I received a lovely email back from Hermione to say that it would feature on 18^th July. Check it out at http://www.quiltersshowandtell.com/linda-white/index.html 

New arrivals in the shop include the final 5 bolts from the Peace on Earth range by Moda & 3 Sisters - the blue paisley, green floral, brown floral, blue stripe, and the large red floral. I was also lucky enough to secure more of the tone on tone in the sand, red & green. The extra wide backing from the same range is on back order but I will post when it comes in. For everyone who has been waiting for the new rotary cutter blades – they’ve arrived. Also a new assortment of quilt hangers ranging in size from 6 inches up to 26 inches - some with dowell rods and others just plain. I also sell the miniature pegs to suit them.

I have also finalised an advertisement for the October edition of Homespun. It was done in a bit of a rush but I’m hoping that it will let other quilters know that I exist. My advertisement in the ‘In the Market’ section will feature Lenora’s beautiful ‘Send a Christmas Wish’ Quilt.

The pattern is available now for just $15.00 or in kit form (Peace on Earth fabric) for $108.50.

The Material Girls Club meet for the final time on Monday so I have been putting together their last project. It's a little hard to describe but I've called it a Notepad Quiltet.

It is used with a magnetic notepad which the girls will receive as part of their parcel.

I'll continue on with my quilting journey in the next post......my round robin quilt with a difference.

Linda    :-}

Time off

What an absolutely wonderful day it was today. The rain has gone away, the wind ceased to blow and the sun shone. A great day for gardening…..not today. The morning was spent trying to yard a cow that had calved at our outpaddock. I have told dh that if he ever buys anymore land it must be flat – those hills certainly proved that I am not fit (or as young as I used to be)! Then we decided to take the bike for a spin, motorbike that is, not pushbike. So it was on with the leathers, then a quick trip to Timboon to do some banking and bill paying and then it was off to Port Campbell for lunch. We sat in the café opposite the foreshore and had lunch – the view was lovely.

It wasn’t this nice a week ago when they experienced a king tide and wild winds which made the sea come up over the pier and the wall at the beach.

We were back on the bike, off past the 12 Apostles, and then called in to Apostle Whey Cheese. Julian & Dianne have a great sculpture on their water tank near their tasting area. Nessie of Cooriemungle...

 

Russell bought some cheese but I opted for some of the yummy G.O.R.G.E chocolates.

That's me on the bike.

Then it was back home (only 5 minutes), quick change and back out to cows, calves and herd testing. I did feel a little guilty not spending the day working in the garden or catching up on other chores, but sometimes it’s just nice to switch off, sit back and do 100km/hr on 2 wheels. I’ll garden tomorrow.

Linda   :)

The journey continues.....

This wintery weather has really slowed down my efforts to get back in the garden. The roses are looking quite ratty and are in need of pruning. With over 100 to do I’m going to try and make a start on Monday. Most of them are hedging and landscaping roses so I’m will try out the hedge trimmers that dh bought me earlier in the year. They are petrol driven and should make mean work of it. I’ll also have to prune the catmint, lavenders, box hedges and the daisies.

Now back to my life as a quilter……. It really wasn’t until 1993 that my journey as a quilter took hold. I enrolled in a class with Pauline Boyd (thru Fragrant Cottage in Camperdown) – a Beginners Hand pieced Sampler Quilt. This class taught me how to draft patterns (onto graph pads), make templates and hand piece. I attended the class with my Mum and 4 other local ladies. While all of my 12 blocks were sewn by hand, I chose to machine sew my sashings and borders on. My Mum however hand stitched her entire quilt – all 20 blocks – even the bindings – not a single machine stitch.

Isn’t it funny how your taste in colours change over the years (plus there are sooo many nicer fabrics available today)!

 

On the back I decided to piece a special strip using all of the colours that I used in the front of the quilt. It worked out really nice, but was a bit of a challenge hand quilting through it.

 

I still use the skills that I learnt in this class today when I design and draft patterns.

Linda     :)

The return to patchwork

We had lots of rain last night – 28mm. I know this will sound ungrateful to some but we have really had quite enough rain for the time being. I hope it moves onto other areas which need it more. Now to continue on with my quilting journey……..

After my hexagon quilt I dabbled a little in quilting, but on leaving school I headed to Melbourne for work and left the patchwork behind. From my teenage years I was always a keen knitter, so while travelling to & from work, at the football and every spare moment I would knit. It wasn’t until 1991 that I started up patchwork again. Classes were being run at the local school, so I enrolled in a bag class first. I made a lovely bag with 3 log cabin pockets and used it as a nappy bag – I still have some of the nappies (they make excellent cleaning cloths) but the bag is long gone. But I wanted to make another quilt, so when in July 1992 (when my youngest was 18 months old) a nine patch colourwash quilt class was advertised I was in.

I remember Mum offering to cut the fabric out with her new rotary cutter – they were only 1½ inch wide strips. We graduated the strips from lights through to darks and then selected 2 strips and made nine patches from them. The nine patches were then sewn to form a graduated colourwash pattern.

Simple hand quilting finished it off and it hung on the dining room wall for many years – but now spends most of it's time in the quilt cupboard. The finished size 82 cm x 90cm.

Linda    :)

My first quilt

As I promised yesterday, I’m about to take you on a journey through my quilting years. I made my first quilt almost 30 years ago when I was about 16 years old (1978/9). I cannot remember what triggered me to make a quilt but I think it must have been in my blood. My maternal grandmother, whom we called Mammar, lost her mother when she was only five years old in 1915. She, along with 2 of her 3 brothers, were brought up by her two maiden aunts. Auntie Sis and Auntie Jeanie were dressmakers and Mammar learnt to sew through them. She gave me lots of fabric scraps from her own dress and apron making projects and these along with scraps from my mother’s collection formed the basis of the quilt. From them I made hexagons – hundreds of them. And the hexagons were made into ‘flowers’. The entire quilt was hand pieced. Every school holidays and every spare moment, I would sit crossed legged on my bed stitching the hexagons by hand. Once the top was completed Mum and I had no idea what to do next. We sought advice from a lady in Warrnambool, whom we were told did patchwork. Armed with the information we set about and stretched it on the lounge room floor using a bright green sheet for the backing. I hand quilted around only some of the flowers – not nearly enough but I didn’t know any better.

I used it for many years on my bed and it still holds a very special place in my heart. A lot of the fabrics are unknown fabrics, but many others I can remember. Fabrics from dresses, skirts and shirts my sisters and I wore as children and teenagers, and even fabric left over from the bow on Mum’s kitchen tea dress which is now over 50 years old (it’s the mauve/purple with white spots).

The quilt measures 195cm x 265cm.

Linda     :)

It's the silly season

My apologies for not blogging since Monday - I just don’t now where the last week has gone. It is probably because we are now into the silly season on the farm – calving. Little else seems to get done at this time of the year except the basics. We have had a pretty good run of heifer calves, but as that was all determined at conception we just have to take what comes! We have a mixed herd of dairy cows comprising of Jerseys – the brown ones; Holsteins – the black & white ones; and Brown Swiss – which can be anything from cream to dark grey.

Each breed have their pros and cons and they all have their own personalities. I like them all (most of the time) and I always tell people we’re not raciest.

Stitching will also take a bit of a back seat for a while, but I will try and sneak a bit in where I can. So to compensate over the coming posts I’m going to take you through my own personal quilting journey. Starting with my first ever quilt that I made when I was 16 (almost 30 years ago) and progressing through to current time. I’ll start tomorrow – promise.

Linda     :)