Catching up

Holidays are lovely but OH THE WASHING!!! I will not tire you with all the things I did yesterday (Saturday) to get the housework done - I did invite four friends to dinner (plus 2 babies which meant space cleared in other rooms for portacots instead of shoving all the mess behind closed doors) specifically so I HAD to clear up. I work better with deadlines - which is why TGIFF is good for me. :)

I picked up loan sewing machine (same model) while mine is being repaired. It jammed on the first stitch and the needle threader is broken - so I can see it's a quality model all round. Grr. But (touch wood) it is working so I got back to FMQing after a break of a couple of weeks. Talk about withdrawral symptoms! Have decided the Black and white quilt needs to be finished for my next TGIFF. While the house is relatively clear, I thought I'd give you a look at my sewing space.

I live alone with the quiltdogs who don't mind mess at all. The kitchen/living room is the hub of the house, so I generally use the kitchen table. The 'dining area' is so tiny that a table with benches was most practical. The bench isn't quite the right height and is a bit hard, so sitting on a cushion helps. There is plenty of light from the big glass sliding door out to the patio on the right.


 Here's a picture from the middle of the kitchen. You can see how small it is! On the plus side, I don't have to get up from sewing to pull a beer bottle of water out of the fridge. I find that loosening up hydrating yourself can help with FMQing.

Bench table, fridge in view on right, black sparkly granite worksurface on left, teracotta tiles, powder blue wall with picture of pink flowers central.

I LOVE my granite bench tops. That one you can see is open to the living room, so I can whack a cutting mat on it and walk around and cut from whichever side without moving the fabric. So great. I have no idea why more kitchens aren't designed with quiliting in mind.

Next shot, a little from the side so you can see where my living room is. I still haven't worked out quite where that picture is going.  Oops I left the drawer open. That's where I keep the camera lead which I'm using now, so it's open to remind me to put it away again. (I can hear the neat-freaks swooning! I am very messy. I blame the quilt dogs for not nagging me about it).

Side view - sewing machine far right, small dividing wall to lounge, TV cabinet and Cav bed

Picture of finished applique'd poppy with tendril FMQing

Finally, here's  a little close up of how the poppy that covered THAT HOLE turned out. My FMQ is very messy, chaotic and random interpretive, free-flowing and creative. I've done tendrils that mimic the pattern on some of the fabric. The great thing about this fabric is that my random quilting is mostly hidden. Doesn't matter, this quilt is for me (will be great to have a wool lap quilt finished for an Australian summer ) and this year was all about improving my FMQing skills.

One problem I have is that I get so excited to be at the quilting stage, I always forget to mark my quilts before sandwiching them, then I have a sandwiched quilt and I think "Oh bugger, how am I going to quilt this?".  Does anyone else have this problem?
It was a revalation when I discovered "McTavishing" - have a look at this link if you aren't sure what I'm talking about, and prepare to have your MIND BLOWN!

:)
Laura