Scatterday V

So what do you think of our snazzy letter this time around?  
And the categories to birghten your week are
# colour
# pointy
# weather
# and of course it has to be a vibrant quilt

Posting date is the 11th May

Late, late and late. Logging my progress for Scatterday L

Well I suppose it just had to be L stands for LATE. It is now 8:09am, well it was when I first opened the page, Saturday 27th April and I am just starting my L post.
How fast can I make it? As you will all no doubt guess there is no way that I will be able to actually take any of the photographs for this post so it will again be a steal from the internet. Where would one be without old Google and its images?

So here goes the morning's post.

8:12 managed to log on
8:13 fixed up spelling and typo errors from above piece
8:14 L is for sky . Lofty clouds in images got no hits
8:17 couldn't decide between a decent looking Lear jet and some lofty clouds... so here you have both.

8:18 boy I will be more than lucky if these things actually format correctly but one can only hope when one is desperate and LATE

8:19 Purple - this was always going to be lavendar as my neighbour grows lots of it. I haven't checked if any is in flower but again Goole images to the rescue

8:22 well three minutes wasted as the post images moved all over the place while I tried to add an 'l' to the words lots above... why do I make so many typos when rushing?



8:23 City - London. I know you probably won't believe this but I do have a photo of this same spot...somewhere on my camera.. somewhere being the most important word in that sentence.

8:25  Lap Quilt - now this is actually one of my own. I made Green Scrap several years ago and will today add a label to it and give it to a fantastic guy who lives down the road.
Viv is 92 years old and was to be the first person I had ever known who actually hit the 100 mark. I had joked with him last year about looking forward to his 100th birthday party because I have never known anyone who was 100. We had talked about what gifts to give to people who are so young and he said no gift was the best gift as they invariably have everything.

Unfortunately two weeks ago Viv was diagnosed with a brain tumor and has been given only three months to live. He has opted for no treatment as he feels he has had a full life and has never recovered from the loss of his wife a couple of years ago. It will be a great loss felt by our whole community as he, and his wife Gwen, have always been real tireless in their efforts to make this a better world for everyone.
I will miss him.

8:36 upload

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Scatterday L

The categories for this fortnight are interesting to say the least

# sky

# purple

# city

# and a lap quilt

I think those are sweat drops falling off our letter.. showing what it thinks about the challenge.

Posting date is 27th April

Scatterday A - Where are we now?

Boy has this been a rush. It is now Friday and tomorrow is just one day away.
So for today's categories I have home, bird, junk and art
OK I know I have never seen a real life attic but I do have a space above our bedroom which could be classed as an attic..if one didn't have to get a ladder out to climb into it. But such is life. Here you have a photo of our attic door.


Now in here as may be seen from my photo is attic junk. If you look closely you will also see ancient boxes, aged toys and antiquated stuff. While I am certain that there is something valuable in there, if my husband cleans it out before I do, I know most of it will hit the tip.
There is probably also some ancient bird in there too but I think I am really pushing the boundary of what you, my reader will accept from slack me and so have found this on the web.  Pity it wasn't plant as I have a friend who actually paints the old fashioned watercolour style of botanical plants..but now I am really wandering... must say on task.

Last but not least for art from my sewing room I have a quilt I made years ago which is based on Australia's history.

 If you look from the left to the right the fabrics and images reflect the important things in our society over the times. Starting with the indigenous people, plants and animals, going through the English and merino sheep with mining, and other primary industries, the war, death, Bradman (could you have an Australian quilt without Bradman?) the immigrants and their quarter acre blocks to modern times of multiculturalism and the environment. Funny I made this quilt about 15 years ago and today's concerns/focus are still the same although focused in a different direction.

Books for Sale

1.       $1 Patchwork Playthings with full-size templates by Margaret Hutchings 48pg paperback http://tinyurl.com/bumtl8u

2.       $5 Textured Embroidery by Jenny Bradford Milner Craft Series 93page paperback http://tinyurl.com/c9wvnpj

3.       $10 Sew Necessary by Nancy Halvorsen published by Art To Heart 36pg paperback http://tinyurl.com/cvp8b5r

4.       $15 A Christmas Story by Anni Downs of Hatched and Patched includes quilts and 11 other projects 39pgs paperback http://tinyurl.com/cyff3va

5.       $10 Persian Designs and Motifs for Artists and Craftsmen by Ali Dowlatshahi with 400 motifs and 8 full colour plates 109pg paperback http://tinyurl.com/bmqdxrk

6.       $10 Quilted Bags and Purses by Mary Jo Hiney hardcover 144pg http://tinyurl.com/d8rvwqe

7.       $40 Japanese Imagery in One Hundred Quilts 124pg softcover http://tinyurl.com/d8okoo6

8.       $15 Focus on Features – Life-like portrayals in Applique by Charlotte Warr Anderson C&T Publishing 96pg paperback http://tinyurl.com/clou63n

9.       $15 Faces & Places Images in Applique by Charlotte Warr Anderson C&T Publishing 128pg paperback http://tinyurl.com/cy2hun2

10.    $15 Curves in motion – Quilt Designs and Techniques by Judy B. Dales C&T Publishing 160pg paperback http://tinyurl.com/dxmald8

11.     $1 Inspirations Vol 4 1994

12.    $15 Pieced Curves So Simple – The 6 minute circle and other time-saving techniques by Dale Fleming C&T Publishing 80pg paperback http://tinyurl.com/bm9eneq

13.    $15 Dear Jane by Brenda Manges Papadakis EZ Quilting by Wrights 160 pg paperback http://tinyurl.com/bw2235w

14.    $8 Ribbon Embroidery 29 Inspirational projects with pattern sheet included Country Craft Series by Craft World Books 176 pg hardback http://tinyurl.com/chuor72

15.    $20 Introduction to Bobbin Lacemaking by Rosemary Shepherd 112 pg paperback http://tinyurl.com/cpcl3yd

16.    $5 Colours of Australia – Directions in Quiltmaking by The Quilters’ Guild 96pg paperback http://tinyurl.com/cpcl3yd

17.    $5 Sampler Supreme Showcase quilt for the 6in pieced block by Catherine H Anthony. 80pg paperback

18.    $1 Hooked on Hemp jewelry by Suzanne McNeill 24 fun jewelry items to make and wear 20pg paperback http://tinyurl.com/d3kk58z

19.    $5 Celebrating the Traditions Quiltmakers of Australia by Karen Fail 96pg paperback http://tinyurl.com/cu8rlyk

20.    $5 Workshops from Quilt Skills by The Quilters’ Guild 96pg paperback http://tinyurl.com/cllzs7c

21.    $5 Between Friends. Quilt to Share by Karen Fail 104pg paperback

22.    Celebrating the Traditions AND Workshops from Quilt Skills AND Between Friends $10 for all three

23.    $5 Quilts to Come Home To by Joy Hoffman and Darlene Zimmerman 17 New Designs featuring Tri-Recs and Tri-Mate tools 80 pg paperback

24.    $5 Machine Embroidery by Gail Harker. Merehurst Embroidery Skills 127 pg hardback http://tinyurl.com/bolstt9

25.    $3 Super Quilter II Challenging Projects for the Advanced Quilter by Carla J.Hassel 196pg paperback http://tinyurl.com/cmjx7bg

26.    $1 Basic Embroidery by Creative Handicraft Books 32pg paperback

27.    $1 Quilt Art 2004 engagement calendar by Klaudeen Hansen & Annette Baker American Quilter’s Society fantastic collection of quilt photos

28.    $1 2003 Masterpieces Sprit and strength. Husqvarna Viking Gallery of Quilt Art catalogue from the International Touring Exhibition

29.    $1 2005 Masterpieces Art Takes Shape. Husqvarna Viking Gallery of Quilt Art catalogue from the International Touring Exhibition

30.    $15 historical book English Quilting – Old and New By Elizabeth Hake unnumbered paperback http://tinyurl.com/c59lu5t

31.    $15 historical book Forget Me Not – A gallery of Friendship and Album Quilts by Jane Bentley Kolter 128 pg paperback http://tinyurl.com/cv3bqyr

32.    $15 historical book Red and Green. An Applique Tradition By Jeana Kimball Patchwork Place 160 pg paperback http://tinyurl.com/bmbbky3

 Note I am in Australia  and will only post to Australia

Scatterday S - almost cheating

While I realise that without even trying my sister Charmaine would easily fill all of the required categories this week I think that people would think I had staged the whole category selection thing if I merely posted a photo of her with strawberry ice cream around her mouth and an empty spoon in her hand and as she never sews any empty box would depict her empty stash.

However in the true spirit of this week's letter I have instead included photos and story from a recent retreat I attended.

Last Saturday and Sunday I arrived early at Cobargo for a sewing extravaganza

But alas when I peered into the shed that was to be our studio it was empty.

I worried that I was in the wrong location. With many a fine stitcher soon to descend where were we to stitch. Luckily it turned out that I was looking in the wrong shed but I need an empty so the photo has remained. 

Snippets - Enter With Care - Joy Holmes

Day 1 was a relaxing day of hand stitching while day 2 was machine work. I had actually taken a fantastic photo to use here but am unable to find it so have had to resort to this harried stitcher. Unfortunately one student had trouble with her machine and did indeed resemble this lady fair.

Many colours were used even strawberry, both light and dark for Joy's block. And after a fine desert of strawberries and ice cream everyone agreed that this project would not make a dint on anyone's stash.

Scatterday A

hmmm I wonder what they meant by this week's categories
# house
# bird
# junk
# art from/for/in your sewing room

One's mind can really do a lot with those words and you have until 13th April to find your photos and words..see you then.

New BOM

C30 - I Remember

Well starting on Tuesday I am starting a new BOM series based on blocks from my Raconteur - The Storyteller's Collection Quilt. I don't know how well it will go but am hoping that enough people show an interest in it that I can get more photos of completed blocks and collections. I just love to see what people can do with my blocks and how different they all turn out when made in other colours or fabric ranges.

Carol Le Maitre is a person of my thinking and has made her blocks in such a variety of colours. Margaret McC has just started this weekend and I can't wait to see what it looks like in civil war fabrics as that is her present love, while Rhonda usually picks such soft and elegant fabrics (Shabby Chic I think is what it is called - but don't hold me to it) so they again will be totally different. 

I meet up with Margaret and Rhonda about once every two or three months and can't wait for the next meeting. If we all m

anage to get there, not as easy as one thinks, then in three weeks I should have some photos of their blocks.

Almost Caught Up

C13 Log Cabin Baskets

C12 Turnaround

C12 Hidden Extras

I would love to say that I have caught up with posting all of the blocks that Carol has emailed me but alas she sews quicker than I edit and upload.

Mind you everyone is fortunate that she is so far ahead as she also edits my patterns for errors. We assume I had been getting stuck into the wine when I wrote the numbers for Log Cabin Baskets as they were all over the place. Thankfully now that has been corrected.

This is also Carol's second attempt at Hidden Extras. Rather than wasting time, like I did, using the same fabric for both the little and the long star points she used two colours so that they could actually be seen.

Doesn't Turnaround  look great with her fabric choice.

Youthful Fun

C10 Fiesta

C12 Relay for Life

C11 Winter Sun

These three blocks were named for events around my youngest son. 

He loves parties and the Winter Sun, particularly now as he lives in Norway and sees so little of it.

He has also always been a willing participant of many fundraisers. While at uni he joined with a group of friends in the Relay for Life. This was his first fundraiser where he discovered that there could be fun in the event rather than just slogging it out to get money for whatever charity.

He related with pride how one night he and nine of his friends managed to come second last in a trivia night...because they had bought nine of the last ten answers. He loved the Fiesta afterwards.

Childhood Memories

C15 Bond Street

C13 Spinning Spokes

C15 Goldilocks

 There are many of my memories within the blocks of Raconteur, the nights of Monopoly and cheers when I held the  Bond Street card in my hand - it was my good luck charm. As a child I fought to win like every other child. Now I dislike the game and that same aspect. For every winner there are more losers and I won't play. Thankfully our children have discovered many other games which aren't quite as cut throatgh cut throat is still their favourites.
Do you remember....
.... the Xmas you received yoru first bike and the Spinning Spokes and those plastic ribbons attached to the handlebars?
..... the story books and characters like Goldilocks and the moral of all of those stories. I am sure they were written with the sole purpose of drumming values into children.
.... the games of hide and seek..Searching for that last kid who always had the perfect spot?
.... and best of all that great big tractor tube, the Childish Tube, which was always found beside every swimming hole? Wouldn't be allowed these days ..OH&S or some other government regulation.

C9 Childish Tube

C9 Rabbits in the Light

C15 Searching

Another memory which would be common to many country kids would be the rabbit hunting and those poor Rabbits in the Lights. A revolting sport according to one of my city friends when told of it later. As a child I simply considered it to be food. Different times. Different circumstances.

Nature Rules

C10 Salmon Run

Salmon Run was made when Paul and I were on a cruise through Alaska. One of Paul's hobbies is researching holidays which are good value and one year he managed to pick up an amazing special on a land and boat package through Alaska. It was the most breathtaking place I have ever been. 

We saw brown bears, close enough to touch had we been stupid/game enough, squirrels, otters, puffins and many others including salmon. Although most of the animals were in the wild the salmon weren't as we went there in April/May but we did walk beside one of the rivers where they 'run' in the springtime.

C12 Sparrow's Flight

Our son's live overseas and we are very lucky to be able to have free accomodation whenever we can stand to make the 20-30 hour flight.

One year we went to England where one son was living and it was there that I finally understood the concept I had always grown up believing..'birds fly south for the winter'. Isn't it terrible of our education that we grew up with all of these 'facts' which weren't changed to suit our location. As so many of our books were published, or at least written in the northern hemisphere we simply learnt and believed these facts. There I saw many sparrows and stopped to think that yes the English birds would fly south, to warmth for the winter. I never understood why our birds would fly to Antartica for winter... a child's thoughts and memories.

C4 Summer's Day

We can all guess when I made Summer's Day. Although Carol had prewashed her fabrics the red still ran here. I had the same problem with a number of my blocks, but it was my fault for being lazy and not prewashing..why does one only learn after the fact...and then repeat the error at a later date.

Mistakes Corrected

C10 Sweet September

Carol has finished another two blocks...I have found a soul mate...someone who must never stop for food or to do horrid chores... how else could she finish so many blocks so quickly. 

In truth once the fabric is cut Raconteur is a lovely project which can be used to fill in a few minutes here and there. 

There are quick and easy blocks such as Hidden Extras as well as other more time intensive ones like Sweet September.

Sweet September is a simplified version of Rhonda Loves Spots in Collection 22. I liked the idea of the star in the middle floating here and tried to develop it further in Rhonda Loves Spots. Failed miserably in that aspect but it is still a pretty block.

C12 Hidden Extra

Hidden Extras gets its name from the fact that in the original quilt the six star arms are made of two pieces each. I had chosen the wrong fabric for some of the pieces but wasn't home at the time so couldn't recut the fabric. As I had run out of other sewing I figured I may as well make it up anyhow.

Raconteur took me an average of 30 hours per collection...error like this one contributed to that time:) I am sure Carol will finish her quilt a lot quicker than I did.

Funny Coincidence

C10 Rainbow Writing

What a difference fabric design makes. In the original quilt this block was made with a rainbow coloured stripe. 

In my day job I teach hearing impaired children who are placed in a regular school.  Most of my time teaching has been with older children, upper primary through to year 12 but  this child was only 5 and so I was spending some time in the kinder working out how things ran and what the child was like.

Well one of the activities that the children did was Rainbow Writing. In this activity the children traced their names first in one colour and then over the top of that in another colour and then a third colour and so on. 

Being a secondary teacher I thought this was a real time waster and of little benefit, but it looked pretty. BTW I have since learnt that it is a great activity to help the littlies improve their pencil skills besides looking pretty and most chldren don't find it as boring as colouring in...we can all learn something.

An amazing co-incidence is that Carol's fabrics look just like one of the buildings at the school.

Fear of Curves

Cool Cat in the Outback

C13 Maypole

Carol this week started out thinking that this was not a week for curves. She looked at Maypole and decided that it was not the time to try  those corner circles and so she made Cool Cat in the Outback. If you look closely at these two blocks you will see a lot of similarity. Cool Cat is simply missing three circles. After a bit of deliberation she decided that no circle was going to beat her and so she EPP'd the background, foundation pieced the circles, cut them out and then gathered them over 200gsm paper, ironed them and then appliqued them on top...not scarey at all she said.....apart from the EPP it was similar to how I made them. I still can't understand why people enjoy EPP rather than regualr piecing but Carol appears to be having great fun with this method. Patchwork is such a wonderufl hobby where everyone can indulge their delight.

C9 Portrait Pain

Another block which originally caused Carol some pain was Portrait Pain but as may be seen from her block it oculdn't have been all that painful. Carol tried foundation piecing this one but found the curves just didn't suit it so she then returned to her favourite method of EPP again:)

Midnight Escapades

C11 Mandola at Midnight

So what do you do at midnight? No I'm not obsessed with quilting and designing quilts and yes I do read widely... it's just that one day a few years ago I had received the latest copy of QNM and in it was an article explaining the process for designing mandolas. Well of course I couldn't resist and so I jumped out of bed and went to the computer and set to immediately designing my own mandola. And in a totally impartial manner I was able to go to bed assured that my design would be perfect for sewing the next day.

Well next day brought a few challenges as I discovered that what looked perfect and easy when magnified to 800% was perhaps not so perfect nor easy at 100%. Those little triangles in the middle were added at the last minute to assist in flattening the centre. Not a bad block for someone having lots of tiny scraps. This block only has 142 pieces. From memory there is one block which has more pieces. Oh in case you didn't know the side length of the hexagon is 2in.

Any idea what time I was designing?

The Impact of Films

Captain Africa - the Mightly Jungle Avenger

Do you remember all of those movies you saw as a child? I assume like me the answer is no. However there are some that we do remember. Did you ever see Captain Africa? A bit like the Phantom, the ghost who walks in the night. He was also a cartoon character of my childhood.

The Phantom

Captain Africa was a weekly movie shown at the local theatre and every week he would die in those final seconds. You know the scenes .. he has saved the poor defenceless female, definitely a movie full of stereotypes, and is off fighting a new bad guy but just before the curtain falls he does something heroic which of course results in imminent death. Like he is in a car which is hurtling over a cliff. You see the car plunge over the edge and the camera pans away to show you rapids at the bottom of the distant canyon floor...

Life was so hectic and fast paced in those days that my friends and I would discuss through the week the adventure of the previous weekend and wonder what would next week be replacing Captain Africa as he had died AGAIN...bit like the afternoon soaps.

Next week we returned to be shown those last few minutes again and oh we hadn't seen it before but Captain Africa had jumped clear of the car just before it plummeted over the edge..and so this week's adventure could continue.

And yes we did believe it every time. That a rather overweight male with a too big stomach wearing long lights, a skivvy and mask could be the 'Mighty Jungle Avenger' ..definitely naive.

C12 No Roses for Michael

Another movie which I remember, and with about as much clarity, was called 'No Roses for Michael'. I have no idea where the title came from nor do I remember much apart from the final scene where Michael is lying in a grotty alley dying from a drug overdose. This movie was one of the first in drug education. Very frightening to a naive country girl. I prefer the modern way of educating people as to why they should avoid drugs rather than simply trying to scare them. Education has changed a lot...mind you 'No Roses for Michael' was frightening enough for me that I avoided drugs..but didn't work as well with several peole I knew.

Carol decided that Michael should have some roses and what a delightful block it is.

Scatterday S

 I know  everyone is going to love this week's star, the letter S with supporting roles held by a female devouring ice cream due to her empty stash ( that's two categories empty and stash),
Publication date is 30th March

Scatterday D - What makes a real man?

What makes a real man? I know that you will find this a strange question but before you check out my link I want you to stop for a minute and seriously think about this.You may even wish to google it and you will find many links. Did they line up with your opinion of a real man? Not mine.

As I thought of the real man I found that the categories for this week's letter were perfectly suited to depict different people's opinions of a real man.

1. here a real man was someone who worshipped the ground upon which a woman walked.  Hey I am just so amazed that any woman can walk on such dangerous shoes. I suppose a real man's mind would be locked on them just to make certain his feet weren't impaled by them.

2. Dick Dastardly has to be man's hero.. forever scheming to do the right wrong thing and forever beaten. Possibly a real man..probably not.

3. So what do you think of this desk/table? Now is the time to find out what makes a real man.This clip was made by a real Aussie and I am sure it rings true for many men that we know. Well worth the effort of checking it out..trust me.

4. So what makes a real man? Well a man who appreciates quilts of course and if you want a copy of this calendar display of men, quilts and buritos it is available here.

Stolen Time

Collection 17

Phew where did the time go.  It is now Thursday and I have only now just managed to delete the old linkies for last fortnight's Scatterday. I couldn't delete them earlier because I haven't had a  chance to check them all out until just now. 

Truth also to be told I didn't realise a fortnight had almost gone. I thought I had another week to go. Will have to get stuck into my post for the letter D tomorrow.

By the way I have included the photo here as one of the blocks in my Raconteur quilt was called the Thief of Time. This block was named after a clock of the same name in Paris. I was trying to add a photo of the clock but couldn't find it. The Thief of Time is the burnt orange block on the left hand side