Carol Le Maitre

The Rice Pickers

I have finally started to upload some of Carol's blocks. She has finished all of Collection 2 but has decided not to join them together at this stage, after I suggested she wait and then join them in a way that suited both her own fabrics and the designs. Racontuer is perfect for making many quilts and all of them may be different.

These three blocks were originally made while we were travelling.

The Rice Pickers represents those people in Asian countries who spend their days toiling the fields, bending and straightening, what a painful back they must have.

I Love Lucy

I love Lucy was a rerun on a French TV channel when we were visiting, even the continentals have the old black and white reruns.... although my knowledge of French was minimal it was enough to reignite the memories

Creme de Chantilly

Creme de Chantilly was made on the night of my husband's 54th birthday as we celebrated eating the most divine cake our son had ordered from a local patisserie in Paris.  I could live on those cakes but alas I am positive it wouldn't be too healthy.  Why are all delightful things bad for us?

Raconteur Extended

 Well as it is already mid January and I have to have my entry for the Sydney show finished this year I figured I would make some more hexagon blocks. 

This time however I intend to only make enough for the miniature category..who ever heard of a miniature category having a total overall quilt size limit?  Yes I know it's there on all of the entry forms but I hadn't read those before Raconteur was too big.  

And so once bitten as they say... this time around my quilt will be big small enough. 

This is the first block and I have called it A Day at the Zoo, since it reminds me very much of the black and white face of a panda bear. In case you haven't seen Raconteur the blocks have a side length of 2.25in including the border.  This block has 69 pieces.  Well one down and only six more to go!

One Down - Twelve to go

This has been a top weekend/week. I finished quilting Whirling Stars, designed, drew and cut  the foundation papers for my Sydney quilt show entry for this year and also cut the strips for my next 1600 quilt. 

At this rate I may even finish thirteen projects in 2013.  

Last time I entered this challenge was 2010. Not surprisingly I didn't finish ten quilts that year.  This year I am being more practical and am hoping to finish thirteen projects, so quilting, crotchet and knitting are all possibilities.... although I am hoping to clear out some UFOs.

Found

Cafe Creme

 Well I have been having fun with Photoshop and while searching around found Carol's lost files.  I would tell you where they had been hidden but I have no idea.  I really am not a PC person, give me a Mac any day.

My Hero

Cafe Creme was named because my husband and I had been to a delightful French cafe that day and had this totally nonfattening slice which I am positive was nothing but cream.

While this one looked just like Mickey Mouse who was everyone's hero in our youth as we tuned in every week to the Mousketeers.

More colour

Behind the Walls

 Carol's latest block, Behind the Walls, is just radiating and it has nothing to do with the lime green background.

Carol was very busy when she recently visited her friend and managed to finish seven blocks in just a few weeks.  At this rate she will definitely finish her quilt a lot quicker than I finished mine.

With Care

Doesn't the red background really focus your attention on the excellent matching of the design in With Care. I always like to see the fabrics that people pick in a block that allows reflection.  Excellent choice isn't it?

I still have another two blocks to upload but have lost these somewhere on my computer :(

Carol has been busy

Green with Envy

 Well Carol has been very busy.  Here we have another three of her blocks from Collection 4.

Doesn't she use such a wonderful array of fabrics. 

I was 'talking', well emailing with one of her friends a few days ago and mentioned about her colour selection.

Rainbow Semaphore

 I am sure Carol won't object to my publishing her friend's comments "Carol’s colour scheme?  Is there ever such a thing in her vocabulary?  She uses whatever she has and everything is as Joseph’s Coat."

Isn't it great when one's friends see our strengths and still love us with them!

Your Decision

Green With Envy was named after looking at my husband's garden and all of the wonderful produce he reaps from his efforts.  I love the flowers, vegetables and fruit but unfortunately am too lazy to contribute more than the worm wee (?) and bokashi compost. 
Rainbow Sempahore was named because it resembles what I thought would be semaphore 

flags.  I don't know if it is accurate though as I have never seen the flags.

Carol's skills with applique, in Your Decision, are definitely better than mine, which is why I pieced this block rather than attempt the applique as she did. This block evolved from an old maths graph, the sine/cosine curve. These graphs are identical but placed differently on the number plane, hence the title.

Scatterday R

Ok you can now check out to see what others have done with W and after you have done that the fun begins for week 2 with the letter being R and the categories being
mammal
technology
transport
and finally something red from your quilting room

Remember you have two weeks to gather your pictures of things that start with the letter R and upload them.  Publication date is Saturday 19th January. You don't have to write a blurb but many people do enjoy reading why you chose something.

Scatterdays - how often

I have had a query about the possibility of changing how often Scatterday posts are posted. I have written a survey so I can gauge the general feeling as to how often is preferred, weekly, fortnightly or monthly.

If you write, or intend to write, a blog post for Scatterdays please respond to this survey Click here to take survey

If you simply enjoy reading the Scatterday posts please respond to this survey Click here to take survey

Scatterday W - 2012 In Review

Wow I can't believe how quick today has come around. Funny I was thinking of many wonderful W words which would fit into this...such as watches, the Bridge Walk and wedding for expensive, wooble board or "Walking in Sunshine" for music, and for WIP hey I have more than 20 of those.  Wedding seemed to dominate my thinking once it turned up and as a niece and nephew had been married this year I actually have photos of the events so it was an easy one.... just needed to find the photos.

What could be more exciting than a wedding.

Rebekah and Nick planned to marry in the Rose Gardens in Canberra on what was forecast to be a beautiful warm Autumn day for "Walking in Sunshine", but alas the temperature drop and wind chill factor change this to "Blowing in the Wind". 

 Frocks had been chosen, I am sure the men chose their outfits with the usual care of "it's ironed, it fits, it's perfect".  Rebekah had found her wedding dress in the UK and flew it in for the occasion .... isn't it exquisite?

Several months later James and Sarah also married. It has been an expensive year in that family as Rebekah and James are siblings, but hey these are once in a lifetime events. 

 

James and his groomsmen presented a wonderful wedding song to his beautiful bride. Although it wasn't Walking in Sunshine nor Blowing in the the Wind, it is well worth watching here.

WIP now here was to be the beginning of the baby quilt which I am making for the real WIP...Rebekah and Nick are expecting their first baby about May.  YIKES.. all I have done is choosen the box from which I will choose the fabric. Time is running out. There is always a cable baby blanket. It is actually in progress, well the pink one is, as opposed to the quilt which is more in hope of progress.

Thanks go to Ron and Wendy without whom none of the above could have been possible.

It has been a great year catching up with family living far and wide... weddings are a great day for everyone.

NYE Project - Amish Puzzle Ball

To celebrate the new year I thought that I would clear out one of my UFOs.  It was going to be my photograph for the WIP for next Saturday's Scatterday but it didn't really qualify as a WIP as there has been almost no progress on it for a few year. I have included here step by step photos for anyone wanting to make their own.   It is a lovely take anywhere hand project.

	The first picture shows you how to make your own templates. 1. Draw two circles the desired size. For a pincushion I would suggest 4in circles , 2in radius, as a starting point and for a child's playball 6in or 8in if you wish to put a bell inside. 2. Draw two lines cutting each circle into four equal sections.  3. Overlap the two circles so that the quarter marking points meet and draw in the arcs along the edge of the circle. 4. These are your templates - the circle is your base, while the little arc is the leaves.

You will need six circles and twelve leaves. Trace around the templates and then add seam allowance before cutting out the fabric. You will need to make six of the following sets.

1. Fold the circles into quarters and mark the quarter points on the circle edge. 2. Match the end points of the leaves to the points as shown and stitch in place, reinforcing at all of the corners. Take care - do not start at the end points as this will make it a weak point.  Start a short way from the corner, stitch out to the corner, turn around stitch to next corner, reverse for short distance and then finish with a double stitch.

Now this part looks easy and it is easy by the time you get to your third or fourth set so hang in there when you first start. If you look back at the photo above you will see that each leaf has one 'free' side and also that half of the circle is unattached...so guess what.  For this step all you need to do is sew those sides together.  When you work out how to lie it flat like I have done here you will find it's not too bad.  So go for it. After you have finished sewing it together clip a small hole along the middle edge. This hole is used to first turn the whole thing inside out and secondly to stuff the section. After stuffing sew the hole closed.

	I forgot to take a photo of the next stage but the missing photo simply shows you what one section looks like. Once you have turned it inside out , stuffed it and closed the hole you then need to stitch alone the centre seam to define the two quarter sections.
	In the photos beside there are two sections which I have sewn together along the adjoining seam.  If you look at the lower photo you  see the front on view of this part of the ball.  Make one of these by sewing together two leaf/circle sections, this seam is the horizontal one which is slightly more defined.

You will need to make two of these sections. Take two of the circle/leaf sections and sew them together along that central seam which you stitched earlier to separate the original piece into two parts. You need a longer needle for this as the puffy leaf sections keep getting in the way.

In this photo you can see all three parts which need to be made. The top circle is what you made in the step above. The two bottom sections show the top and bottom view of the same thing. Note you need strong seams to hold all of the pieces together, quilting or furniture thread would be perfect for this. If you don't mind the colour dental floss is also a good alternative.

Now comes the real fun, you will definitely need a strong needle, thread and thimble for the following sections. Using the top ring section and one of the four leaf clover sections line them up as shown opposite. You now need to sew together the two parts at the four matching end points.  Make sure this is done securely as these stitches will be the only thing holding the two parts together. Although the average quilter/sewer isn't going to be rough with her new toy if you have made a child's ball then it will probably take quite a pounding.

	You have the choice here.  When I first started to make these balls I would sew two sections together firstly and then add the third section.  Later though I started to sew all three sections together at the one time.  The choice is your own.

Viola here is your finished pin cushion. Don't forget to send me a picture as I love to see various colour choices. Also if you work out how to add a bell let me know how.  Is it easy to secure the centre hole so that it doesn't escape into the hands of littlies.                    Happy New Year.

Scatterday W

Let the fun begin. 

The letter for this round is W and the categories are 
# Expensive 
# Music 
# Exciting 
# WIP 

So now you need to venture out and find a photo for each of those categories that begins with W. As I said in the previous announcement for this round you will have two weeks in which to organise yourself, so publication date is 5th January. 

Can't wait to check out the blogs.

What is Scatterdays?

Scatterdays is a bit like categories.  Every Saturday a letter and four different categories will be listed.  Scatterers have one week in which to find one thing for each category, photograph it and upload it to their blog.  The following Saturday surfers often cruise around to check out what you found.  After you have checked out other scattering blogs you can then start on next week's list.. and so it goes around.

If you would like to join in simply email me your name and blog....then get ready to photograph.

Scatterdays Announcement 1

Scatterdays starts this Saturday.  For the first round you will have two weeks to find and upload your pictures but after that it will be one week between my announcement and your blog display.  I have allowed two weeks for the first round as this is a busy time and as I thought it would be good for the displays to start with the new year.

If anyone misses the announcement of the letter and categories this will always be updated at the top of the side column on my blog.  Also just to the right here is a full list of participants with direct links to their blogs. Could everyone please check that the link works and get back to me if it is either not working or incorrect?

If you would like to add all/some of the links to your own blog it is very easy >>>> go to settings >>>>> layout >>>> add a gadget >>>> select the gadget blog list and add them in the box that turns up.  If this isn't clear and you would like more info plz get back to me.

As I am also running this through SCQ there will be four categories with the fourth being a quilt related one everytime... some will be easy and some perhaps not so, while the other three will be random. There are many new categories from last time as I will be using my category source from a game I devised for school and it has some very different categories to the original game.

Looking forward to seeing all of the new entries.  Come and join us.  If your name isn't listed then contact me with details of your blog and I will add it to the list

More Blocks from Carol

Flamboyance

 Well Carol has been busy. Two more blocks from Collection 2.  The beautiful floral and pink I called Flamboyance, while the sparkling one below was originally called Not Here Thanks. 

Raconteur was such a great quilt for allowing an unbelievable array of fabric designs and colours to be used.  While these two may look world's apart I used equally as diverse fabrics.  Some even made it into the quilt while others made it into the not this time pile. 

It may surprise people to realise that there were about thrity blocks left over when I completed Raconteur.... You would think that as I am an ex-maths teacher I would have been able to count how many blocks were needed.  But then which quilter doesn't have left over blocks... the beginnings of another quilt?

Not Here Thanks

Not Here Thanks was named as my family drove through one of those nuclear free suburbs which have the signs declaring as you drive into it. 

We were on the way to visit a friend in the hospital and we wondered if people living in that area would also reject nuclear medicine in their treatments. 

In this day and age nuclear medicine gives quick, accurate diagnosis of conditions such as cancer, heart disease and numerous others. In some cases, radiation is used to treat the condition. Just a wonder?

First Entry

Yesterday I received the first entry int a competition I am running and it came from Carol Le Maitre. Carol has finished the block I called 'Merry Xmas'. Don't you just love her colours they are so vibrant.. they were even more vibarant before I converted her jpeg for uploading to the web too.  I can't wait to see more. 

She is now working on one of the hand pieced blocks and hopefully we will see it soon.

In an effort to get as many people as possible to send in a photo of their finished block/s I decided that I would do a draw periodically from everyone who sends in a photo of their finished projects.  The prize... why more patterns of course.

Photoshop Skills Improving

Well this has been a productive few weeks.  I have finally managed to write up some of the patterns for Raconteur and boy have my Photoshop and CAD skills improved.  I know that self praise is no  praise as they say but this isn't meant as a skite.. just a comment on how practice does improve one's skills. Now if I could work out how to add a border to this jpeg that would be something else.

This is the wallhanging which I photoshopped out of Raconteur..wouldn't it be grand if we could make quilts as quickly as this took. Yes I realise that you don't know it took me the better part of two days to make this picture but trust me that is a lot quicker than what it took me to make the blocks for this quilt.  Going by my average from the original quilt it would take me about 200 hours and by anyone's calculation that is a lot more than two days.  Mind you there is no softness or comfort gained from snuggling up to a computer screen jpeg:(  

I suppose I shall have to continue with the quilting as nothing beats that tactile sensation.

Pattern Sale

To celebrate the recent success of Raconteur at the South Australian Festival of Quilts and also the fact that it appeared on the cover of the latest issue of Australian Patchwork and Quilting I am having a sale on the pdf patterns check out the sale prices here.

Competition Winners

Well I have been away for the past two weeks and so am running behind in selecting the winners for the two recent competitions which ran through this blog.  

I just did a random spin the wheel and see where it stops to find that Linda Hubbard from Canada  was the winner of Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks but as she had already won a copy of the magazine she kindly said to redraw it and so Trish from Tennessee is the second lucky winner.

After clearing that draw up I then did the next draw and Fran C from Aussie is the winner of one of the collections from my Raconteur patterns.

Fran has chosen Collection 8 and I can't wait to see what her collection looks like when she finishes.

Quiltaway Weekend

A few weekends ago I went to the NSW Quilt Guild's retreat at Jamberoo. This is usually held in September but, luckily for me, this year they had to run it later as the usual place had already been booked for that weekend.  It was a perfect weekend.  Company was lots of fun.  Food was great and many things were completed..or at least there was great progress.  

Three quilts which I just adored were Chris Jurd's New York Beauty which was being made by .. the person who sat beside me all weekend and whose name I can't remember right now for the life of me :( but it is still a beautiful quilt.

 Another beautiful quilt was this one, which if I remember correctly is an Anne Summerland reproduction pattern.  It has also been a while in the making but will definitely be worth the wait when it is finished. 

The final quilt which I would love to have a go at some time was being made by Judith D.  It came from a magazine and looks similar to the Milliefirore Quilts designed by Willnye Hammerstein.

Perfect weekend for everyone.

 

Oslo

 A couple of weeks ago we visited our youngest son who now lives in Oslo.  What an amazing place.  This photo shows you what it is like 5pm on a Friday just ten km's from the centre of Oslo. Notice the lack of pollution and traffic. 

Here you can see his block of units on the RHS of the road and his office on the LHS. This photo was taken just to show how far it is he has to travel.  If you look in the distance you can see a red roofed building.  There are traffic lights there and if he wants to go to work during rush hour, say between 8.30am and 9.00am then he has to walk all the way up to the lights and then back down to his building.  Needless to say he doesn't go to work until 10 so as to avoid the traffic!

While we were visiting it was Paul's birthday and so Richard proudly gave him a true Norwegian souvenier...  a HUGE ceramic moose head.  Just what one needs when flying..huge and breakable.  He suggested we could take it in our hand luggage but I thought it might be considered a weapon die to the weight and size.  Luckily Wilbur survived the flight home and now has pride of place in the pool room (refer "The Castle").

And last but not least this waterfall is just behind Richard's place.  This river runs through the centre of Oslo, providing one of the most idyllic walks I have encountered in a built up area.  There are no free standing houses in this area.  All are medium or high rise but there are many beautiful parks and walks.  Just a merely 4km from the city centre there are three wonderful lakes and all are accessible by regular public transport.  Definitely a place worth visiting. 

If you like cold, snow and lack of sunshine then it would also be a great place to live.

Great Sign

 While wandering around London recently we came across this sign.  

Funny now when one reads it but wouldn't it have been terrible to have lived in times when people were actually drawn and quartered?

Oxford

 We have been very lucky lately and managed to visit both of our boys who live overseas.  PJ lives in Oxford and works at one of the oldest colleges at Oxford Uni.  He has a research fellowship with All Souls College and is having the time of his life there. While wandering around we saw lots of wonderful old buildings, is there anything else there? 

The photo above is of his office.  His room is just to the left and one floor above the entrance.  Fantastic view of some of the best buildings in Oxford. 

While we were there he took us to see Pitt-Rivers Museum.  The artifacts in this library were donated by Pitt-Rivers onthe condition that they be displayed in the same manner he had displayed them.  Consequently there are thousands of things  all crammed together with his original tiny hand written labels.

In this cabinet you can see some shrunken heads and the labels.  Did you realise that it was only the heads of important people that were shrunk?  They scalped the head off the skull and then filled it with hot sand(?) or something until it shrank and then filled it to regain the correct form.

Loved wandering around the place, especially as it was term break and there were very few people around. Mind you the old cobblestone paths get sore on the feet after a while.

Woo hoo! Another Surprise.

I have just heard that I won two prizes at the South Australian Festival of Quilts with my quilt Raconteur - the Storyteller's Collection. It won second prize in the Open Traditional and also the Retaining the Tradition Award..... Really brightens up the day.

I know this isn't a great photo... actually in truth it is a great photo but the problem is that this is a king size quilt of miniatures and so is very very hard to photograph.  You can see several photos of the individual blocks if you look through the blog.  

To celebrate winning the awards I am giving away the pdf pattern to make one of the collections (that's one of the large hexagons which contains seven little miniature hexagons).  To be in the running to win a collection simply leave you name and the collection number that you would like to win.  You can see all of the individual collections here.. or just pick a random number if you prefer:)
I will select the winner on the 23rd November.

Xmas Runner

Well here it is a Xmas runner.. oh if only it was as easy to make as it is to draw and colour.  Such is life but here is one colour version for a Xmas runner.  I realise that many people like other colours these days for Xmas but it is impossible to present every version.

  

Xmas in Australia happens in Summer and that is also when much of our fruit rippen.  Unfortunately we live in a fruit fly area and these 'darling' little fellows decimate just about every piece of fruit that hasn't been sprayed, even if the fruit is picked while still green. This year my husband decided however that he wasn't going to spray the fruit fly every two weeks.  After some web surfing he discovered that many home gardeners now bag the fruit to keep off the fruit fly. Yesterday his parcel arrived from China, amazing how much cheaper it is than buying locally, only $16/100 including postage.  In the $2 shop they are usually 2 for $3.  

So here is a photo of my husband 'bagging' his peaches.  And here is a close up of two of his apricots inside the bag.  He has bagged our apricot tree, peach tree and also the maqui berry bush, lucky he keeps all trees trimmed to under 2m :)  The berries have been bagged in a hope of preventing the parrots from feasting on them.  Our garden is a veritable paradise for animals.  

We used to have a blue tongue lizard until last year and he was wonderful for keeping out slugs and snails out of his strawberry plot.  Unfortunately for some reason last year he disappeared and so it seems as though this year we will have to look into something... anyone have a blue tongue they want relocated?

Everyone has their favourite animals and he works hard to preserve his fruit and vegetables...except from Thumper... an escapee from the local caravan park. Amazing isn't it considering Thumper only eats the youngest and best shoots.... I would include a photo but he hops away at the slightest sound..... the guilty always run away:)