Gum Valley Patchwork

Oops he did it again........

Is this an annual thing? Or just a guy thing? About a year ago Russell had a little episode that involved a junk fax, a fax machine and a wrong number. I was hoping to never have to do this again but here goes. Let me set the scene. Lately I have been getting a lot of spam comments on my blog. I usually swear about them, report them as spam and then delete them.......end of story......well not quite. The other day while I was deleting a spam comment, which was interestingly enough written in turkish, I came across another comment. 

Me: Russell look at this comment. It even comes up under my name and picture.......It's telling people to freck* off! What the hell!

Russell:  Oh I wrote that. I was sick of all of those spam comments and emailed them back. 

Me: Umm when you click reply, the comment goes public for everyone to see! 

Russell: Sorry I didn't realise.

Me (at the same time as I was deleting his lovely descriptive comment): Please please please don't do it again.........

Linda  :)

*freck has been substituted for another word.

Opened for inspection

I wonder what the Quarantine Officers thought when they opened my box from the US

and found it full of thousands of hexagons papers of various sizes! I could only imagine what they said.......

Linda    :)

Weekend Stitching

Unfortunately I can't show you what I spent most of the weekend stitching. Actually I spent most of the four days at the shop making the goody bags for the up coming Stitch in Spring in Simpson. This year's day is fully booked with 70 ladies attending so I need to make 70 bags to pop some lovely bits and pieces in. I am on  the downhill run with them and should have them all done by next weekend.

So instead I will show you what I stitched a couple of weekends ago. I will back peddle a little bit ...... back to May and Kansas City. I was fortunate to meet Helen Stubbings from Hugs 'n Kisses  who had her booth next to Gail's at Quilt Market. I gave Helen a hand at one of her School House sessions and also helped her with setting up her booth.........just a lacky up and down the ladder! Helen and I got talking about hexagons........surprise surprise.......and she told me of an idea she had....another option for stitching them. I was excited and offered to trial them. Fast forward to three weeks ago when a parcel arrived with 3 packs of different sized hexagons inside. Although I had all of these goody bags to make I was eager to give them a go. I picked out the biggest size and grabbed a Layer Cake of the 'Double Chocolat' by 3 Sisters (due in the shop October 2012). Now the hexagons are not cut from card, or paper or acrylic or template plastic or any other product on the market. Helen has had them cut from her special appliqué paper. I selected the fabrics that I wanted to use and fused the hexagons to the wrong side of the fabric. I then cut them out with about a 1/4" seam allowance all of the way around. I used a glue stick to hold the seam allowance over to the back.

 
Stitching them together was very easy and much quicker than stitching 1/4" hexagons! In under an hour I had these hexagons together. 

Unlike most hexagon piecing methods, these special applique papers stay in place and are not removed. This proved very handy as I decided to make this piece into a feature for a bag.

The 'papers' provided stability to my piece while I was cutting it down and making it into a bag flap. I also had these great twist latches that I wanted to have a play with. The result is a new Ipad bag....

Now I just have to get myself an Ipad to pop in it!

So do I like this new method?.....yes I do. Would I make a big quilt using it?.......no. Would I use them again?.........most definitely.

You can check out more about this method here on Helen's blog.

Linda     :)

Applecore Quilt Class

I am very excited to let you all know that Wendy Gleeson will be teaching this class at the Shop in October. Wendy is an experienced teacher who is also part owner of Clever Ducks Quilting in Colac. During the class you will learn how to use the Applecore template to machine piece this great design.

A fabulous way to use up some of those scraps from your stash or you could use some of the beautiful new ranges available in the shop. If you don't want to make a full size quilt how about a table cloth or even a table runner.

The first class is fully booked but Wendy has kindly offered to take a second class on Friday 26th October. It will run from 11am - 3.30pm and will cost $25. The template pack (set of 4) is available for the special class price of $15 (normally $22) to participants. Places are limited so please contact me if you would like to book in. 

Linda  :)

Lister

Many many moons ago I bought personalised number plates for our car......White3. The White bit is obvious but I often have people ask me about the 3. I tell them that it was because we have 3 children..........2 girls and a dog! Over the years we have had a few different dogs.........first there was Buster, then Spike (who was a very special dog as he 'saved' Emma from drowning when she was 3), next came Rocky, then Nitro, Horse (we didn't name him but adopted him), and now we have Lister. A common thread is that they are all Staffordshire Terriers.......we wouldn't have it any other way. Lister is 5 and now that we are empty nesters he is my companion when Russell is away, and Russell's constant companion in the ute!

Sunday morning Lister was not his usual self and on closer inspection his back left leg was almost completely paralysed. We thought that it would come good but by Monday morning we took him off to the vets. He has somehow damaged his back........all we can assume is that he did it Saturday evening when he was thumping and banging around under the house. When Dr Bill rang us on Monday afternoon the news wasn't good.......we had 3 options. The first was to send him to Melbourne for MRI's, surgery and ongoing treatment; the second was to try a conservative treatment of drugs, rest and confinement at home for 4 - 5 weeks; and the third option ..... well I think you might all guess what that is. The first option would cost $3,500 plus and there was only, at best, a 50% chance of some improvement. The fact that the injury was 48 hours old reduced the odds too. We do love him dearly but I'm afraid we just couldn't do it. So option 2 it is. Lister had a sleepover for two nights and Dr Bill told us we could bring him home today.......actually it was more like he was pleading with us to pick him up........and why?........they didn't appreciate his 'opera singing' while he was in his cage. Staffys are big sooks and love people........he just didn't like being on his own :( . He was very pleased to see us and even happier when he got in the ute.

We had built a nice enclosure in the corner of the garage.......carpet, two cushions, water, a big bone......very comfy. He lasted 10 minutes before he bulldozed his way out and we saw him out the window! Plan B ........ a heavier weight behind the wall. Well that worked well......not! Plan C ........out came a the fully enclosed wire cage (2ft x 4ft), the carpet went in, his bed went in and so did the bone and water.....and then in went Lister. He cried a little bit but soon worked out that he couldn't get out and he settled down. I think the biggest problem with the first area was that he couldn't see out....the walls were old timber doors.....he couldn't see anything.

It is hard .....especially when he looks at you with those sad eyes..........but we must be strong! We want option 2 to work because we don't want to have to move on to option 3.

Linda   :)

Oh and where does Lister get his name from.........he is named after Dave Lister from Red Dwarf.

Being realistic

If you are a regular follower of my blog you will know all about my 'Dear Prudence' quilt and how she has lead me to make a second hexagon quilt. Although I started my new quilt last November it has been difficult to keep to the strict work schedule that I had when I made Prudence. My goal was to finish it in time for the 2013 Victorian Quilters Quilt Showcase next July. You see I do work better when I have a deadline to meet and what better deadline than a Quilt Show. This morning I decided to do some maths to see how I was tracking. My sums showed me that I need to stitch approximately 8,000 hexagons to complete the next (but not the final) section of the quilt. So a rough estimation for the final border of about 9,000 hexagons (plus the other 8,000) does not divide into the 8 months very well.  I don't want to end up hating the quilt because I have to stitch 70 hexagons every single day. I really love stitching them but don't want to feel guilty when I want to do the other things that I also enjoy.......like.......

 The Shop........... requires much of my time and I love making things for displays and classes, and of course playing with fabric. The AQC will make sure that I will be kept busy but I am so excited about it.

 

The Stitch in Spring in Simpson.........I need to spend time making sure everything is just right for the ladies.

My Garden (s).........I love my garden and need to get it back in tip top condition for Emma & Ryan's wedding next March.....and I am eager to get my vegie garden looking like this again instead of the weedy mess full of bush rats and snails that it is at the moment.

The farm............. needs me in so many different ways.

And of course there is my family.

So with all of this in mind, as well as several other committments.......some very exciting (and will be revealed soon).......I have decided to make my deadline for my new hexagon quilt the 1st May 2014 (for the 2014 Quilt Showcase). I think in the end I will be a much happier person to live with......and Russell agrees!

Linda    :)

PS. Apologies if I have disappointed anyone. 

It's beginning to look

a little like Spring.

I love the bright yellow of the King Alfred daffodils

and also of the tiny Tete a Tete daffodils

The Snow Drops always make me smile as they remind me of my Grandmother. She had them in her garden.

The days are gradually getting longer and a few more finer days seem to be sprinkled amongst the rainy cold days. Spring can't arrive quick enough for this garden lover!

Linda    :)

Tell me the truth........please.

I am struggling at the moment with designing the next part of my hexagon quilt. I am happy with how the piece looks on it's own, but when it put beside the rest of the quilt it just doesn't look right. I know something is wrong but what? I needed a second opinion.......so I asked Russell. Dangerous?.....sometimes! I know that he will always tell me what he honestly thinks and whether it looks okay. I must admit that on previous occasions I haven't always taken his advice but this time I really needed a new set of eyes.......and a pair that wasn't going to tell me how wonderful it was and that it looked fantastic. I told Russell what I was trying to achieve and yes he told me that it looked wrong. Ideas were discussed and fabric was laid down. Starting all over was NOT an option so we have decided to add extra 'flowers' onto each end to move the design further out. That is what I will be working on tonight and I think that will make the design work. I wonder whether everyone has a 'Russell' in their lives........ I hope so.

Linda    :)  

Sitting on my bottom but not really.

Although I haven't posted for a few days I can assure you all that I haven't been sitting around on my derriere. Russell headed off on Friday morning to travel to Morwell to be Chief Steward at a 2 day race meeting for the Gippsland Kart Club. So that means one thing at our place......... Moi was the lonesome cow girl running the farm (as well as the shop). Surprisingly everything went along smoothly, which usually doesn't happen......something always goes wrong or breaks down when Russell is away. My great fears at this time of the year are 1. Getting the motorbikebike bogged, and 2. Cows having trouble calving. Luckily neither of these things happened. I did have trouble on the Sunday night with the feed system in the dairy but I managed to work around it.......it just meant that it took me an hour longer to milk the cows. The down side of the longer days meant that I had less time in the evenings to spend stitching my hexagons.......so yesterday I decided to take some me time in the afternoon (and sit on my bottom) and stitch. I have been working on the next border of my hexagon quilt, not a straight forward border but one comprised of 2 different sections. I have to make six of each of the 2 sections and a rough tally of the hexagons is about 9,000........so it will be some time until I show the next completed stage of the quilt. In the meantime......just to keep you interested.......here is one of the sections.

A little hard to photograph due to it's shape but I hope you get the idea. These pieces are stretching my maths skills to the limit and my fingers are crossed that it will look okay when it's finished. I will make sure that I show you the other section that fits with this one when I get it finished.

Linda    :)

Three little words

Everytime I say it to Russell  he gets a very worried look on his face.  No it's not "I love you"..........it's "I've been thinking"! He always thinks that it will be some hairbrain scheme that involves work for him. And it's even worse when I say "Lenora and I have been talking".......lol! I called in yesterday and spent a couple of hours chatting with Lenora. It was lovely to catch up...........why is it that time goes so fast when you are having fun! Lots of ideas and new directions........including one big step.........Lenora and I will be sharing a stand at the 2013 AQC in Melbourne next April. Stay tuned for more exciting news!

Linda    :)