Gum Valley Patchwork

TBT#18

Where on earth did that week go? I had all good intentions of blogging but at this time of the year it is extra difficult.......it's Heytesbury Show time of the year, so all of my energies are channeled into the preparation for the big day. But I have managed to break away from entries and tickets to bring you another TBT. This week features the whole Goode family. It was taken in 1979 when my older sister Ann was leaving home to start work in Melbourne. I was just 16 years old.....a lifetime ago or at least it feels like it sometimes!

Normal blogging will resume soon and I have had a couple of new fabric deliveries so make sure you check back.

Linda    :)

TBT#17

There are only three and a half hours left but it is still Thursday, and that means TBT once again. Today's photo was taken about 8 years ago when we participated in the annual Farm Day program. This is when city families are paired to farming families for the day. The family who visited our farm were from Melbourne and they brought their 2 young daughters with them for the day. They had never visited a farm before let alone a dairy farm. Govinda and Raja (I think) brought lunch to share and we had a lovely meal of Butter Chicken and Rice.

It was a cold and drizzly day but it didn't dampen their enthusiasm and they certainly asked lots of questions. A great day was had by all.

Linda     :)

Artist Challenge #5

Well I have made it to Day 5 of my Artist Challenge and I hope that you have enjoyed me quilting journey. There are no prizes for guessing which quilts I will be featuring today. The first is of course my 'Dear Prudence' Quilt which was completed in 2011.

and the second is 'Elenor Jean', which I completed in June 2014.

I have struggled with what to show you as the third and final quilt for today, so I decided on another unfinished piece that I am working on. I have been making the centre section of 'Elenor Jean' in left over fabrics from both of my hexagon quilts, but this time using 1/2" hexagons. Here is my progress so far......

After I finish the last of the diamonds I will be stitching the 5 plain rows. I am also thinking about doing the next border of flowers.....but I would like to get it done for AQC so I am not sure just yet.

It's Thursday tomorrow and you know what that means!

Linda    :)

 

 

Artist Challenge #4

I got waylaid yesterday and completely forgot to blog for day 4 of the Artist Challenge. It got to 10pm last night, and I'm sorry to say that I couldn't be bothered turning on the laptop to do it.

But I am here now with 3 more quilts that I have made. They are lovely quilts and they are finished........so that puts them ahead of Day 2 & 3's quilts already!

We start off with this Round Robin style quilt that was done in a class situation at Fragrant Cottage in Camperdown some years ago (another reason why we should all label our quilts.....I didn't on this one!). During the duration of the class we would design each part of the quilt according to the guidelines that we were given. We would then go home and make it up and return for the next installment. We designed the centre; then the next border was to be made from squares and / or rectangles; followed by applique; then triangles; then 'something from the centre block'; and finally anything goes. My Mum spent 110 hours hand quilting it for me and it spent many years on my bed, before being replaced by my 'Poppies for Linda' quilt that Mum made me for my 40th Birthday.

Quilt number 2 today is a Suffolk Puff Quilt that I made about 8 - 9 years ago. A good friend gave me 2 garbage bags of fabrics that she no longer wanted. I decided to pick out all of the beige tones and combined with fabric from my stash, this is what I made. 900 suffolk puffs sewn together, attached to a background fabric, with thin wadding and backing fabric. It is quite heavy and used a lot of fabric. It is probably Russell's least favourite quilt out of all that I have made, but a lot of ladies love it.

The final quilt for today is only a recent finish but I really love this quilt. I have never been good at applique until I started using Helen Stubbing's Fusible Applique Paper......now I wouldn't do it any other way. This is Bluebird Lane, a BOM by Natalie Bird from The Birdhouse. Sometimes I sell quilts after I am finished with them in the shop, but not this one......it's a keeper for sure!

So there you have it......Day 4. Back tomorrow (I hope) with the final day.

Linda    :)

Artist Challenge #3

Every Quilter finishes one project before starting a new one.......said no one ever! I don't know about you but I have quite a few PHD's or UFO's neatly folded up waiting for the day when I have nothing else to do.....pffft, like that is ever going to happen! So today I have decided to share 3 of my WIP. 

The first is another colourwash quilt that I did in a weekend class at Fragrant Cottage quite (and I mean quite) a while ago. This time the quilt is made up of squares as opposed to 9-patch blocks. The quilt top was finished not long after the class but I decided to hand quilt it. I got about a third of the way done, and well, that's where the story ends.

The next is a little more recent....Pies & Tarts Quilt, 2009 / 10. I ran this as a BOM through the shop and really enjoyed the hand piecing. I had done quite a lot, stitching every night on it and then something happened......I started Prudence......the rest as they say is history. I recently pulled it out after seeing Helen Breen's finished P&T quilt at the Southern Right Quilt Show in Warrnambool in January. I would love to make it bigger, but then a part of me just wants to finish it off and move on, as I have so many other quilts that I want to make. I'll think about it.

The final UFO quilt is the newest (2013) of the 3 and the closest to being finished. It's called the Trellis Quilt and I purchased the pattern online from Karen Griska (here). Karen allowed me to teach it in a class last year. The quilt is totally made from my scrap box.....even though I was tempted to cut a little bit off some of the bolts in the shop! I decided to hand quilt it using Cosmo Stitchwork thread and I am about halfway through.......if only I had machine quilted it......it would've been finished!

I have even pieced the backing fabric from my scraps and the binding (when I get it finished) will also be from my scraps.......a totally scrappy quilt!

So that's it for day 3 of the Challenge. Back tomorrow with some more quilts.

Linda     :)

 

PHD = Projects Half Done, UFO = Un Finished Objects, WIP = Works in Progress

Artist Challenge #2

Remember yesterday I said that I was going to show you a warts and all look at my work over the years......well here goes. It's not that I don't like these quilts anymore, and they do hold memories for me.....but they are relegated to the cupboard and rarely see the light of day.....hence the creases!

This first one was probably my first go at designing a quilt. I drafted it up on the imperial graph paper and worked out my cutting measurements. It is machine pieced & quilted and was made in 1994.

The next was a pattern I bought many moons ago from Miss Sampson's Drapery in Swan Hill while we were on a family holiday. It is called Crazy Chooks in Boots, and as a twist I reversed one of the chooks to have it going in the opposite direction. The girls used to like this one as it hung on the wall in the lounge room.

The final quilt for today was the result of an Advanced Hand Piecing Class that I did....again quite a few years ago. We used a border print to create different effects with our blocks. Border prints were fairly limited back then so hence the fabric choice was probably not the best! There were meant to be 12 blocks in the quilt and I only made it to 9 before I lost enthusiasm. It sat unfinished for quite a few years before I hastily put it together and quilted it.

On finishing off the top, I decided to use all of the leftovers in a pieced back as I didn't think I would ever use them for anything else. I quite like the back.

Back tomorrow with 3 more.

Linda   :)

 

Artists Challenge - Day 1

I have been invited to join the Facebook Artist Challenge by Neil Chisholm​. The idea is that I post 3 photos every day for 5 days of my work. I am then meant to nominate one person every day to do the same. I have decided not to nominate anyone else as most of the people I know have already been involved but I am happy to play along and show you some of my work.  I am putting a different slant on things by also blogging about it, as I know a lot of people who follow my blog don't have facebook......and I don't want you to miss out on the 'fun'. I will not only pick out the best things that I have made but will be showing you all that you indeed have to practice if you want to be good at sewing!!!
So lets start with some very early quilts that I made.
My first hexagon quilt which I made when I was about 16 - 17 years old.....way back in 1979. It is made from all scraps and I still love it.

The next quilt was really the first class that I took with a tutor. It was in 1992 with Rosalie Duffield and was held in Timboon. I didn't even know how to cut fabric and Mum cut most of it for me. It is a colourwash that is made from taking 2 different valued fabrics and making little 9 patch blocks from them. The blocks are then arranged in colourwash design. It has been folded up for some time and that is why it doesn't look very flat. 

My third quilt for today is a Beginner Sampler Quilt that I made with Pauline Boyd in 1993. We drafted the blocks onto graph paper and then cut our own templates. The quilt is hand pieced and hand quilted. I did this class with a group of local ladies including my mum. I chose green fabrics because green was (and still is) my favourite colour. I know that tastes have changed as far as fabrics go, but despite being a bit dated I still like it and it currently hangs on my wall.

So there you go......3 of my earliest quilts. See you tomorrow.

Linda    :)

TBT#16

I have left the young teenager photos of Linda behind this week and have chosen a cute baby one instead. Here I am with my Grandad (my mum's father).

I have very fond memories of visiting my Grandad and Mammar most weekends and spending school holidays staying with them in Cobden. They lived in a big old house with high ceilings and old hessian backed wall paper that moved on the walls. There was a big open fire place that we could cook toast by.....Grandad used to have it roaring and we would have to sit around the corner, holding the fork on an angle so our faces wouldn't get hot. Grandad had a house cow, lots of bantams, chooks, ducks, birds and a large orchard which was fun to play in. We loved Mulberry season as we would sit under the Mulberry tree and eat the fruit......the first one for the year was always sour! We were not so fond of the outside toilet and would hear the 'night watchman' make his weekly visit very early in the morning.

I feel very lucky to have have spent so much time with my Grandparents as some children aren't able to do this. I hope that one day we will be able to provide similar happy memories for our grandchildren. Yes, Russell and I will be grandparents in April. I promised Emma that I would not to mention it on my blog but I think the time is right and we are so excited! So ssh.....don't tell her I told you.

Linda   :)

PS. And it would have been Grandad's 107th birthday on the 15th February....and also my Mum & Dad's 57th Wedding Anniversary!

Under the Mistletoe

I just realised that it has been ages since I blogged about anything fabric.....so this morning I decided to take some photos of the Christmas fabric that I ordered last week from Rhys. I had already read and re-read the lovely Moda catalogue which was full of Christmas goodness, so when I saw the fabric samples my decision was easy.........

It has been a couple of years since I have had a  3 Sisters Christmas range in the Shop and this one fits in perfectly for a quilt that I need to make. Greens and creams....

reds.....

and there are also some beautiful pale blues as well. The full range will be in stock but delivery won't be until June. I do have plenty to keep me occupied between now and then!

I also fell in love with these new panels from Sandy Gervais' 'Very Merry' range.

I am a big fan of Sandy's Christmas ranges and have had quite a few over the years. This time around I have ordered 11 of the fabrics to go with the panels. Again delivery isn't until June.

I have lots of fabrics due for delivery over the next 2 - 3 months so I promise to let everyone know when they arrive.

Linda    :)

 

Yum yum.......greengage plums

About nine years ago during the construction phase of the shop I decided to plant an orchard. The plan was that when we eventually got to live here we would have fruit producing trees. Of course we live here now and we are starting to reap the rewards of my forward planning. I know that I have blogged before about having cherries, plums, nectarines, pears and lots of apples, but usually the fruit was 'pinched' by some feathery culprits before I could pick them. My huge apricot tree, which has been threatened with the chainsaw on more than one occasion, produced one.....yes one apricot this year......but OMG what a delicious apricot it was! So it has had a reprieve....but it will get a severe prune to try and knock it back into shape. Another tree that I just had to plant all those years ago was a Greengage Plum. I remember my Grandad having one of these trees in his orchard when I was growing up and the fruit is so sweet and delicious. I am not a great fan of plums but these are just beautiful.

For some reason the birds have left them alone this year and I have been able to eat them straight from the tree. Lister is also quite fond of them.......he picks them off the lower branches of the tree and eats them!

I have picked most of them and have decided to make a small batch of Greengage Plum Jam......something I haven't had for a very long time......since my Mammar used to make it.

Linda    :)