Collection 57 - Where did that name come from?

C57 Quiet Reflections	Quiet Reflections was named because they were soft colours that I always associate with reflective times.	C57 Carefree Bubbles
Dappled Light slipping through the curtain or blind cracks. Spots of brightness against the pale drabness of a colour neutral wall.	C57 Dappled Light	Carefree Bubbles don't the fabrics appear to be like bubbles from your childhood. Remember those plates of soap mix your mum made which kept you amused for ages...dipping the bent wire clothes hangers, blowing the bubbles and chasing them. Childhood is a wonderful time.

C57 Pink Tutu	Pink Tutu -  I never learnt ballet as a child, very few children did in my neighbourhood but you still dreamed of a pink tutu in which you could twirl and dance.	C57 From All sides
Oh Where? Look carefully at the central fussy cut circle and you will see where the name came from...Little Bo Peep of course. The circle was pieced into the centre but if you like you can always applique it.... your bock ...your choice.	C57 Oh Where?	From All Sides - this was one of the first 'intricate' blocks. It looked great on paper, and also when finished but when I started to make it I was surprised at the patience it took to fit all of those tiny pieces together. Only 61 pieces though.

C57 Box Pleats & Windos Ties

Box Pleats and Windsor Ties - The kites reminded me of the ties we all wore to school...back when the ark landed and of course our uniforms had those horrid box pleats that created such a pain when the hem would come undone... oh for the simplicity of today's modern high school repair job... staplers do a great job don't they and you don't even have to worry about the staples snagging your stockings and causing a run...the stockings have also gone:)

I hope you are all enjoying the first of the Surprise Day Collections. Looking forward to seeing some photos.

Surprise Day Collection 57

For the first Surprise Day there is a one day sale on Collection 57. For just today, with a few hours either side to allow for different time zones, Collection 57 is able to be purchased for the sale price of $8. To pick up your collection click on this link and purchase Collection 57 in the same manner as you usually purchase your BOMs or Featured Collections each month. At the check out add the coupon code SDC  and the price will then be reduced to $8.
Collection 57  has one of the harder hand pieced blocks in Raconteur, From All Sides, but it is a beautiful one.

If you want to know where the names came from for this collection check back tomorrow when the post will be uploaded. Happy sewing.

Surprise Day Collection 57

For the first Surprise Day there is a one day sale on Collection 57. For just today, with a few hours either side to allow for different time zones, Collection 57 is able to be purchased for the sale price of $8. To pick up your collection click on this link and purchase Collection 57 in the same manner as you usually purchase your BOMs or Featured Collections each month. At the check out add the coupon code SDC  and the price will then be reduced to $8.
Collection 57  has one of the harder hand pieced blocks in Raconteur, From All Sides, but it is a beautiful one.

If you want to know where the names came from for this collection check back tomorrow when the post will be uploaded. Happy sewing.

Practising ZentNgles

While my photography skills may leave a lot to be desired I think you can still see my latest zentangle clearly. I have been drawing zentangles off and on, more off than on, for just over a year.

Have you tried it yet?

Check out this website http:// www.zentanglepatterns.com for lots of ideas and how to instructions

Sue Daley's Youtube videos for EPP

Sue Daley

Sue Daley is the queen of English paper piecing and she has now released a set of videos to show you how to get everything just right.

http://www.suedaleydesigns.com/my-new-youtube-channel/

On her website you will find not only all the bibs and bobs that you need for regular paper piecing but lots of inspiration and new ides as well as a new video tutorial series that may teach you everything you need to know about EPP.
Episode 1 was all about using hexagons while episode 2 goes onto using six pointed stars. Each video is just 15mins so brew up a coffee and settle down to check them out..one for today, one for tomorrow and while you are there if you subscribe you will receive an email each week as Sue uploads the latest video... well worth the coffee break

Scatterday Z

Artwork by Karen Anne Brady
You just have to love this zentangle of the letter Z. If you haven't heard of zentangles before do a google and you will be amazed. There is even a blog which does a daily update of a new zentangle. It is really a very relaxing art form, even if you're not stressed.
Anyway the categories for this week are
# Notorious
# Edible
# Family
# ZZZZZZ
You might even want to try drawing a zentangle for each category.

posting date 20th July

(k)Nees rule the Scatterday

Well this is an easy Scatterday post. During the past fortnight I have been to my knee specialist, had an MRI.. not a happy way to spend an hour or so... Torn cartilage it seems is the cause of my pain and swelling. Day surgery will be needed but as I am off to NZ for the quilt symposium in a couple of weeks and then the surgeon is off the NZ for skiing with the mates, then Paul is in for a new knee the following week (and we couldn't get a job lot discount either) looks like mine won't be done until probably September.

For celebration I think I can submit Paul's new knee as that will be a cause for definite celebration.. so we are having a new (k)nee celebration. I have even decided to make a cake to celebrate... in truth I have decided to make a cake as Paul won't be home to prevent such event happening... I need to lose a few kilos and he is helping as best he can by keeping my nose out of the pantry and fridge. He is also refusing to cook any nasties (interpret that to mean sweets) until I reach whatever stage I want that he doesn't have to feel guilty for feeding me all of the sweets I love. You have to love old google I did a search for "cake decorating knees images" and this is it..even I could manage this decoration as it is simply a picture that you stick onto the top of the cake.... so cooking a cake is the only hurdle.

Here you can see a photo of the nasty ocean between North Beach and New Zealand.  this nasty New Zealand section, of the Not North Pacific Ocean, is known to many people as the South Pacific Ocean. This photos was actually taken in NZ and again found using google so we have here

Notions ..my sewing room is the home to just about any notion that was ever invented I was going to photograph my favourite, well present favourite anyway, but it can't be found so of course google again to the rescue. So what is this well it is a left handed ergonomic rotary cutter and it is great. I bought it earlier in the year when I had horrid RSI. Now that I only have moderate to severe RSI I can't find it but am not as stressed either about it:) Here is the right handed version. It's a great little cutter and a=was very easy to learn to use with my left hand.

Margaret's Collection 8 Progress

It has been just over a month since I took these photos and my apologies to Margaret for taking so long to upload them but as you know I have been a bit laid low, plus busy as can be, the rest of the time. I am glad that I am on leave at present or nothing would be being uploaded.. and I am still behind in everything that I planned to do.

Anyway I have finally uploaded some great photos...Ok so the photos are only great because the blocks are so gorgeous but it is good to finally show everyone.
Margaret loves Civil War Reproductions and has decided to make all of the blocks in this collection pink and cream. Her thoughts at this stage are that her next collection will be browns and for that reason I chose brown as the background colour for each block. I have never been good at mixing my colours in Civil War fabrics and for that reason have only ever made two quilts in those colours. I wish I could match them as well as Margaret does.

C8 City Living	City Living was the first block Margaret made. When I made it I was reminded of the crapped living in major cities and with open spaces often being so far that people forgot they were there.	C8 Banana Custard
Although not using bright spring colours Margaret's choice of a totally different pink to her others does give this block a surprise factor in Spring Surprise.	C8 Spring Surprise	Now admittedly Margaret's colour choices makes Banana Custard a totally inappropriate name for this block. I love her fussy cut flowers, don't you? The busyness of her Summer Picnic suggests a great day for everyone also.
C8 Rising Mist	What a difference fabric and colour choice makes. I had trouble picking Rising Mist as the block name and if I hadn't known that Margaret was only making Collection 8 I would still be searching for its name. Great colours aren't they.	C8 Summer Picnic

BOM 5, Baby Blue & Photos for Uploading to Blog

Hi everyone,

C5 Baby Blue

Just had a thought when you send me a photo of your block please leave it at a high resolution as that allows me to crop it, watermark it and upload it at a large enough size for everyone to see your lovely fabrics and so appreciate your block.

Anyway the latest block in the  BOM series is now available on the website so go and pick it up. I look forward to seeing your photo.

Baby Blue was named because of the fabric colours. Did you realise that until recently blue wasn't always for boys and pink wasn't always for girls?

The evolution of our preference for these colours for the particular sex has come about just since the first world war. Prior to that time both boys and girls wore the same crisp white dresses as girls until they were 6 or 7 years old. These colours were chosen for practicality since it was easiest to bleach everything. The bleaching rendered everything both clean and hygienic. Then pastel colours were introduced and babies were generally dressed in either. However around the time of World War I, there developed the fear that a child would grow up perverted if s/he were dressed in the 'wrong' coloured clothes and so the clothes became gender specific and with time these colours became set in stone. Research shows it could have quite easily gone the other way with pink being for boys and blue for girls.

Men are gradually changing and wearing pink, particularly in Australia following the strong support from various male sporting teams for Breast Cancer Awareness, whose official colour is pink. However this has not been extended into baby's clothes.
I was intending to explain the origin of all of the block names but as this has been a long post will do it another day.

Surprise Day Collection

Last month I had an idea that each month I would, on a random day, offer another collection at the sale price for people who were wanting to make more than one collection that month. The random collection will not be featured in the BOM section rather it will be found in the regular collection section, don't you love rhyme?

I will be including a link on this blog directly to the Surprise Day Collection (SDC). The link will appear on the day of the Surprise Day. The date for the SDC will be announced on this blog and also in the yahoo group on the first day of the month and there will be a post on the Surprise Day. There won't be any other notices about it.

July's SDC will be uploaded on 17th July. There is no corresponding BOM being released at the same time. check back here on the 17th for the direct link, coupon code and info about the collection. It is a beautiful collection...but then aren't they all?

Next BOM will be uploaded tomorrow

BOM2 - The Rice Pickers	BOM3 - Burning Bright
BOM4 - Blackberry Freedom	BOM5 - Baby Blue

Well the free Block of the Month Series is now into month 4 and BOM5, and it has been interesting to see the interest in the blocks each month. New people sign up every month and a few drop off but basically the same number of people continue each month to download the free BOM.

 I have seen a few photos but would love to see more when you have the time to send them over. Although I fully understand people just not getting around to it. Hey I made another 23 blocks for my new quilt Nursery Rhymes before I managed to photograph them and then another week or so passed before I uploaded this photos. 24 hours a day are not enough.

This month we are now up to BOM 5, which is one of the easy blocks. I have found the less pieces in a block the easier the block is. Hope it is the same for others.

For those wondering about the numbering for the different blocks, they are numbered to correspond to the collection from which the block is taken. In Raconteur some collections are not made of hexagons. These are the corner and side collections. These use extended hexagons and are only needed in bed quilts (called layouts). As the BOM will result in a wallhanging, all of the needed blocks will be hexagons and so no blocks will be taken from some collections, such as C1, C7, C13, C20 and I can't remember the rest.

As July has arrived a new block will be uploaded tomorrow. Check it out...print it..sew it and send me a photo. 

Back Again

C24 Ouch	Just a few or Carol's  latest gems	C24 Bali Jungle
C24 Planes of Paper	C25 Windmills	C25 Kanuka
C25 Sparrow's Flight	C25 Kimberly Gem	C24 Too Tight

Well now that I have decided to resume this blog I will also have to upskill my Photoshop skills. Since I last used Photoshop I have upgraded my version and the latest version, in my opinion at least, is not as easy as what I have been using since the ark landed as they say.

I have been trying to get some more photos of blocks and Carol thankfully sent some photos which she has previously uploaded to the yahoo group.

I really appreciate the time she took to do this as she is in the midst of preparing for a six week stint in Brisbane, where her darling husband Bob is to start chemo. It really is unfair that just as one has time to do things the old body decides to develop aches, pains, bumps and other bits.

Fingers crossed for Bob that news improves over the next few months.

Nursery Rhymes begins

Well after a long delay I have decided to restart this blog. I had thought that it would be too busy for me to upload all of the photos from blocks that people are making, or hope to make. However it appears as though most people don't like to upload their photos and so I have decided to resume this blog to hopefully show some blocks made by others. 
I have photographed a few myself and am hoping to take some more photos in the next few weeks.

The above photo is of a new design layout that I am trialling with the Raconteur 141 blocks. I love the appearance but if you look carefully you will see that the top of the blocks slopes slightly. When I put the layout into my CAD it is very obvious that because of how the coloured borders meet each block is slightly lower than its neighbour.
The second photo shows the spacing needed for the blocks to line up straight but it doesn't seem as WOW as the first. Oh well I still have another 19 blocks to make and will worry about it when I finish.

Scatterday N

Time is flying by so quickly. This week's letter is N and the categories are
 * medical
* celebration
* ocean
* notion from the sewing room

Oh for those who are interested this is the 13th Scatterday so we are now onto the final stretch

posting date 6th July

Scatterday B was just that bountiful bodges

Well it has been an eventful fortnight.  For a start I actually did some cooking and that is a rare event in this household. I attempted to make some rissoles, as hamburgers are my most favourite food. Unfortunately there weren't many leftovers in the fridge and so I substituted with fresh food. My hamburgers have always been made with whatever is leftover in the fridge, and so a 1kg packet of mince often ends up being at least a 2kg if not even 3kg hamburger mixture. Always tasty and a handy staple for the freezer.
Well after four eggs I had run out of eggs, and with the mixture still falling apart thought it may as well become a bolognese (always thought it was spelt bologonaise - but online dictionary and wikipedia both state that I am wrong!!). Added the obligatory tomatoes, tomato paste and italian herbs.  Now had a bolognese reject and decided to go for chilli con carne.... not bad when you consider what happened in the process.  So for smell it has to be bolognese reject.


Library well it really has to be book or book based doesn't it. However I live in a trendy town with lots of modern yuppies who refuse to have anything which is considered dull and boring and so when our library was recently refurbished, in truth demolished and rebuilt, they installed a bench for people who want to loiter around the door way.  I had meant to go into Kiama to photograph it, but haven't managed it. This bench is the closest that I could find on the net, except our bench is double sided and the slats go horizontally rather than vertically. If the image isn't there check this link where you can see it.


Equipment...will have to think on that a bit more...ok after much thought and surfing I have found a Hogarth Book Press. This wonderful machine was owned by Virginia Woolf and her husband and was used to print books. The use of this machine by the Woolf's lead to major changes to the printing industry in terms of the books which they published at times challenging censorship of the times. They were also innovative in cover art, different aspects of printing and book marketing. Not only did they publish works by provincial authors but also those in the colonies and they published quite a range of genres.

I know it is a brag but I still like my second blog which relates to my Raconteur quilt. I stopped writing on it a few months ago when I started a yahoo group and have decided to restart it again.... as I have just so much time on my hands.

Stop press... just thought of another piece of equipment Bernina 750QE .. my new toy... yet to be delivered but I can't wait for it.... also can't find an image for it so good thing I found the book press a few days ago.

Happy surfing everyone. Look forward to catching up with all of the scatterday posts

Who is Cinzia on Scatterday?

Can't always rely on scheduling...this should have been uploaded early in the morning but I found on checking my settings that it is set to upload early next Saturday...Can't win them all.

So what are some of the things that make me what I am

C for cooking. When Paul and I were married he was used to having a fully English cooked breakfast every day. I tried and lasted two days. At which point he was told that either he cooked it or he didn't get it. I have never been a morning person.

I for intuitive or an idealist. In 1985 Paul and I were married. Two days before the wedding his parents flew into Sydney airport. As Paul was ill I had to drive and collect them.  I was, and still am, a country kid. I hated street directories, or was it just that I was too lazy to use one. Either way you can picture the situation. I am driving the parents back to Wollongong, hoping that a sign turns up soon telling me where to turn. Paul's father not too keen on my occasional, 'I think I should have gone down there' comments, asks if I know where I'm going. My response of 'It's somewhere down on the left' didn't inspire any confidence and he started to search for the Gregory's. Fortunately the Wollongong sign turned up shortly after.

N for totally non neat freak. I used to be very tidy and orderly but as I have aged my neatness has reached a sensible phase and my places now look lived in.

Z for zombie which is the best description I can give for how I am after I find a great book. Unfortunately I am not one who can put a book down and so will read until 3a.m. or even 4a.m. You can imagine how I was going to work that day. That is why I stopped reading during term time, either the book had to be boring so I could put it down. In this case it wasn't worth picking up. Or alternately I didn't sleep. Great book I read earlier this year is January First, it's about a child's development of early onset schizophrenia.

I for immature However immature I may be at times I don't believe that this is a real elephant

A for algebra. This was one of the parts of maths I loved best when at school and still enjoy teaching it to kids. I love it when they finally understand how to use it and they see that once you have algebra the rest is easy peasey.

Scatterday B

 Quick update for next Scatterday. The letter is B and the categories are
# Library
# Smell
# Equipment
# Blog

posting date 22nd June

Time is speeding along

Far out. It is already Wednesday night and I am yet to start my Scatterday post. I wish whoever it was that put a bomb under the world time keeper had put it under me instead.

Scatterday X

This week was going to be the letter X but that is such a hard one I will give you a choice.
Now the categories are # hidden #famous # alive and # crosses in quilts.

So what is the choice you say?  Well if you don't like X you can find a photo for each letter of your name (similar to an acrostic), for example my name is Cinzia so I could find a photo of
Cat
Insect
Nose
Zoo
Ice cream
Apple 

your choice either X or an acrostic on your name
Posting date 8th June

Scatterday - M is for memories

WOW I can't believe that it has been two weeks since I listed the Scatterday M categories. I know I have been busy but I am sure that there hasn't been thirteen days since I posted that info. Note today is Friday which is why I said thirteen days.
So what will M bring you from my busy life?

M for sport -  well I have a bunged up knee and sore hip due to the healthy lifestyle of my teenage years. I was a hockey goalkeeper for many years and though I knew that sliding into the opposition wasn't really a 'nice' thing to do, it was just so cool and I could take out the player and the ball with one foul clean sweep. We all remember those first few training sessions when every muscle ached and we wondered why we were there. For those whose eyesight isn't the sharpest that is a hand holding a calf muscle not anything rude!!

M for foreign - a few years ago Paul and I did a cruise around the Mediterranean and while that starts with an M it was not what I was thinking of. No the M word has to be monstrosity. We started our cruise in Barcelona which is where the architect Gaudi comes from. If you check this link here you will see some of the buildings he designed. The word gaudy comes from his name and you can fully understand its origins if you look at any of his buildings. Architecturally I think his buildings are amazing but too way out in many aspects. Just like this monstrosity, Sagrada Familia which on the inside is magnificent but the outside does nothing for me. it is a church by the way.

M for animal - when my children were young for several years we bought a yearly pass to the almost local zoo, Symbio. Apart from an angry pig all of the animals were friendly and you could hand feed them and pat them. This includes a wooly mammoth impersonator. Now I realise that many of you believe all wooly mammoths died quite a while ago but when you have a young child asking you what's this and what's that and you are stressed to the hilt anything this big and wooly has to be a wooly mammoth. In truth this is a wooly buffalo(late edit...this is a highland cow?) I think but it didn't matter at the time..... how many kids got the chance to tell about the wooly mammoth they saw on the weekend during their school news session. Fortunately my children survived and moved on to another font of wisdom.

Modern Quilt - this is not my kind of category. I am seldom into the sew a few big squares together and kill it with quilting style of quilting, even my first quilt which was sew a few big squares together wasn't killed with quilting... it was too big and too bulky and I had no idea what quilting was at that time so for modern quilt I have had to steal from our dear friend google.
 Actually the google image search came up with some nice quilt but not nice enough for me to try this style.

Success another Scatterday survived and two weeks to go before the next one is due.

Terrifying Turn Tumbles V Scatterday

Alzough unpuntual end vizout ze pictures ze post iz finally here

Ze veather last Vednesday voz vet end violent ven ze village vagabonds ventured forth vid out ze necessary Romanian violet garlic vase necessary to vord off ze voracious vampires.

Wrapped within ze vibrant veil zay vandered verily until zey veered into ze vehicle verging on ze village velodrome. Vair voz he now?

Vy vaulting ze vertex of ze village venue of vership ov course!

Zair vould uv been zay pictures if zee iPad vould ave vorked!!!

Scatterday M

Well I hope that everyone hasn't been drowning like the letter M. If you found any of the recent letters a challenge this should be an easier week as the categories suggest many everyday things..well most of the categories do.

@ Sport        @ Foreign (perhaps not so everyday in most houses - but my kids live overseas)      @ Animal     @  and a modern quilt - ouch this one is hard if we only follow the criteria that appears to be the 'Modern' quilt online.  You may select what you see as modern. It doesn't have to be just unpatterned fabrics which are quilted to death. Mind you if you are skillful enough to do that plz show us... I know Linda in Florida does beautiful work in this regard.

Posting date  is 25th May