Finishes

It's been a while. In fact, so long, I have two quilts finished.

Firstly, the proverbial quilt featuring the lyrics from one of my favourite The [Dixie] Chicks songs. Coincidentally, the words kind of go with the big lockdown of 2020 when I put this one together.

Being shot cotton and hand quilted with a wool batting, it is super soft. While I remember, this quilt contains little bits of 'other' blue gingham, as seen in the G above, given to me by my Gran's cousin. She passed away in March 2020.

Even more recently, like this weekend, I have also finished my other big make started in February last year - the Free Wheeling Single Girl quilt.

It's a big one. About two metres x two metres. Again it is hand quilted with a wool batting. I splashed out on a wide backing for the first time. It weighs a tonne. This one is destined for my cousin. The first on my Mum's side to turn 50. 

I like both of these quilts very much.

Green Baby Quilts

These were also part of the original Modern Building Blocks quilt. Two measure about 1 metre x 1 metre and the smaller third quilt about 70 cm x 70 cm. The selve on the Denyse Schmidt says 2013 - from the days when Spotlight had less dirty and dull looking quilt fabrics!

I have put these ones away in the cupboard for gifting.

Yes my garden shed needs a clean and re-paint. Maybe the Sept school hols we'll be able to use hoses again. Auckland has been in water shortages and restrictions for months now. It also needs new steps. So much dirt was removed during the house fix last year, it's a massive step up into the shed now. I have to stand on an upturned bucket to reach the top lock (-:

10 NICU Quilts

Back in August 2015 I finished the quilt top for the Moda Modern Building Blocks. It was ginormous measuring at least 2.5 on one edge. This August, August 2020 during the Auckland only 19 day Level 3 lockdown I got 10 small NICU quilts quilted and bound. Ta-da! (Nine make a better collage.)

I am no machine quilter - generally I find it very stressful. I found it quite calming on these small quilts that easily fit into and under my little Bernette. Every quilt is cross hatched apart from one. And that one taught me that cross hatching is way more forgiving than straightline quilting! The whole process taught me that hand quilting hides many more sins than machine quilting - where a slight waver to get from one block of the quilt to the next stands out! I did love that machine quilting sped the job up enormously. It probably took about three hours to 505 baste, quilt and then bind each little quilt. I hand sewed the back of the binding down. 

It feels good to have the quilt top off the 'in progress' page and onto the 'quilts' page. I look forward to passing these over at our next in-person gathering of Monday Modern ... whenever that may be.

The Kilim Quilt Finished

This quilt was finished a week or so ago, but it has been raining since then. Apparently. not enough rain to get the Auckland dams to their usual levels so we are still on water restrictions. I am convinced the council needs to a put a dam in my back yard as it rains all the time here! However, I took advantage of a break in the weather this morning a) to put the washing outside to dry and b) to take the finished photos of the Kilim Quilt on the neighbour's wall as per.

The main part of the backing was purchased on Trade Me. It is a textured cotton - maybe a barkcloth. The colours are just right. Most of the rest of the fabrics were left over from my Free Wheeling Single Girl quilt - which is next in the queue for quilting. Others came off the shelf. I was deliberate in using the yellow and orange binding as I didn't want orange binding on the orange backing.

And for a finishing touch, I added some orange stitching to my label. The quilt is quilted with a Sue Spargo variegated Eleganza thread. Her threads are my favourite for their texture.

Now for some inside shots -

Eight Years in the Making

I made this back in the summer of 2012. I pulled it out of the wardrobe during Covid lockdown and finished the quilting earlier this week.

It's made from old wool blankets taken from my Mum's linen cupboard. The blankets may have come from my Gran before that.

It's quilted with Perle thread #8. When I first put it together for quilting, I used wool batting but it was too thick to quilt. So I pulled it apart and used a flannelette backing only. The binding is a nice green floral Tilda. I think if it had been around eight years ago, it would have been a perfect choice to use in the body of this quilt. The curved edges came to me during the quilting process. During the quilting process the quilts tend to lie over the couch or on the floor and that's when the curved edges came to me. It's my first curved edge quilt.

This quilt weighs a tonne. Hence the name, the woolly mammoth.

Day 53 | Lockdown Wrap Up

I am back to work properly tomorrow. I have been back since Level 3, nearly three weeks ago. We started with six learners on the first day (from a possible pool of about 250 U14), then three and then one. It's been one learner and two teachers for the last two weeks. I had time to run before school since we weren't starting until 9am. And we closed up at 1.30pm, so I was home by 2pm. Got all of my jobs done in those four hours every day. I will miss being part-time, being able to do just one job at a time with no interruptions, and the quiet. All staff were back on Friday. I hated the noise! I may have to pretend I am still in google meets and put headphones on or just close my office door more often. I am keen not to return to 10 hour days. During lockdown I have never felt less tired in my life. My Garmin wearable has a body battery measure. During term time, by the time I get home each evening it's in the teens, but over lockdown my average low was around 50%.

In addition to being very grateful for having a flexible job over lockdown, I have been grateful for the people I know maintaining good health and employment. Hot water, the oven, the sewing machine and technology often featured in my grateful list too. I did have a habit of second breakfast for a while at about 10.30am. I made toast and ate it with lashings of butter and bit of peanut butter, a ratio of about 2/3 to 1/3. I ate 1.5kg of butter over lockdown because I was eating more toast than usual. I tried to be mindful of my baking and would only eat a biscuit if I made a cup of tea so I had to slow down and wait and do one thing at a time. I got into the habit of scrambled eggs on oven roasted hashbrowns with sweet chilli sauce for lunch most days.

I think I enjoyed the running too. In total I ran approximately 136.29 km. I enjoyed knowing I had done it. It felt like an achievement each day. I much preferred running in Alert Level 4 than 3 or 2. Those mornings humans out numbered cars and I could run on the road most of the time. Crossing the motorway overbridge, there would be just three vehicles on each side of the road. Got in my first traffic jam Friday afternoon coming home at 3pm. Argh. I also enjoyed my weekend morning walks. I have a 4.3km loop that takes me through the Gardens and past the petrol station for a hot chocolate which I drink on the final stretch home. It the past I never would have walked to get a hot chocolate, I would drive 2 minutes up the road. The direct route is just 3 km, so I want to continue that better habit. I am not sure about continuing the running. I like the idea - but it's hard and I generally don't do hard things. I might do a couple of short ones a week on the days I don't go to the gym. I am heading back to the gym tomorrow afternoon. I am hoping for a burpee, tuck jump, long jump free week. I don't think there's any need for adults to be jumping. It's just too hard and uncomfortable. 

I am always grateful to live in a small country at the bottom of the world with good governance. The 1pm daily updates on National Radio from the PM and Dr Bloomfield also became lunchtime routine. So fingers crossed that we've knocked covid on the head as much as we can in NZ and that lives return to new and better normals.

(The pics below are of the new quilts I made from an old one. I unpicked the Moda Sampler quilt top I made in 2015 and made 10 NICU quilts. So from something unwanted came lots of new that will benefit others. Now for the couriers to deliver the basting spray ...)