Material Obsession

Seeking Order

Ok.  So the secret is out that I don't have nimble fingers! And while I am revealing...creative minds (if I may be so bold as to say I have one) are often not heavy on order which can be a worry.  In addition to applique this year I have started a bit of hand piecing.  In a very tidy fashion I cut out and identified all of the tiny pieces for the Pickle Dish block above and proceeded to happily sew them all together... in the wrong order. 
It was frustrating to say the least as I like things fast and I hate wasting time.  But then, in a Working Woman moment, the incorrectly patched pieces and the contact paper were sitting in the same spot and Kaboom!  Order was found. 
Since everyone has been so appreciative and nice about the applique circle tips from yesterday here's another one.  (sorry, I only have two!)
Cut out all the pieces for the block and lay them on the sticky side of the contact paper face up.

When the main pieces are all down it's easy to audition the alternating fabric and if you get some lucky advice from quilting friends like I did yesterday at quilt group, you can change the fabric options until they are right.

When the pieces are all together just slide the non sticky paper back on top and you have a handy little portable project!  (Great for cricket or swimming lessons or quilt group.)
To sew, simply lift the pieces off in order and sew them together.  It's still possible to sew them back to front or upside down but I am working on that with a bit of concentration!
Possible hazards...elbows, bits of thread and scraps can also stick to the contact paper!
And for balance, here are a couple of photos I found on my camera this morning...

Sam, the one that fancies himself a professional bmx rider...

and Noah wearing his special black jeans to skate down the road.  Moral of the story...when we were kids we tried all kinds of stuff that looked challenging.  Now off you go to find the trickiest most challenging block, one you thought you could never make with either applique circles or small hand piecing and have a go!  Let us know how you go!  kathy

Holiday Mornings

Those of you that know me know that I am not a quilter that started sewing early at my mom's knee but rather as someone who came to quilting a bit later in life. As a result, I struggle a bit with my thumbs while doing the fiddly bits.  This er, problem, meant I watched admiringly while Sarah did gorgeous applique projects and thought they would never be my thing.  However, the foil method described on Anna Maria's blog today fixed all that.  Sharing these little tricks is what makes the world go round (no pun intended!!!) and I learned it from the gorgeous Needle Woman, Karen Cunningham, who probably did learn it from her grandmother). 
Holiday Morning is the result of learning this technique and applying it to leaves and the little birdie shapes.  It's so easy to needle turn once the edges are creased.   The  pattern for Holiday Morning is nearly finished and includes the foil method if any of  you  want to  step into the amazing world of applique with an easy project that will needle turn your world.
Thanks to Anna Maria for going to the trouble to step it out for us with the delicious Chocolate Lollipops.  That fabric screams "Cut me in CIRCLES, please!"  pass it on...kathy

The Weirdness is Out There

YES that's right,the weirdness of our quilting buddies continues...rooruu has posted her weirdness if you want to check it out, as has Erica, and Sheena's is below. And nowfor the lovely Libby, who is one of our precious Cut Loose Quilters that we love so much. Libby began her return email by saying that she was a little offended that Kath and I thought there might be anything weird about her at all.... I just want to say, Lib, it was you or Lindsay and she is too easy a target!! (Love ya guts Lindsay xxx)

So here we go, the Weirdness of Libby, for Libby and by Libby. And you know what? I tried to find a piccy of Libby to insert here, and all I could come up with was this one of her bottom, and the one down below of one of her smashing works in progress at the MO retreat.

1. I ring bells. Not dinky little hand bells but great big heavy-as-a-car bells. I love the sound, I love ringing for weddings and
even the muffled bells of funerals, I love the company of other bellringers (a truly weird and wonderful group of people, as kind
and generous as quilt makers and much better drinkers) and I love the history and tradition. The Quasimodo joke was funny the first
time I heard it.

2. The jewellery gene skipped straight from my mother to my daughter and younger grand-daughter. Likewise the glamour gene.

3.  My hands are different. My left hand is like my father's, my right is like my mother's. They're both hard workers, my hands, but
if their fingernails get beyond a certain length they drive me mad. Nail polish is excruciating (see 2. above)

4. If I accidentally get a knock on either shin I will immediately get a huge egg-shaped lump and bruise courtesy of playing hockey
in my youth. This still happens after     34 years. And it still hurts.

5. I am a frustrated librarian. I can remember book titles, authors, in which book a certain quilt pattern can be found, which
magazine has which article etc but I can still walk into a room and immediately have no idea why I went  there in the first place.
(This one may be cheating a bit: we probably all get that)

6. I love my car and know it loves me. If I had a dog, I would probably love it more than my car, but I'm allergic to dogs so the
car will have to do.

So I'm fairly easy to recognize: lumpy, slightly deaf, entirely lacking in glamour, driving along chatting happily to my car with
the back seat covered in books!

OK, you are weird Libby, but we love you anyway,and we'll see you on Wednesday for Cut Loose Returns! I'll use this opportunity to let you Cut Loosers know that on Wednesday you need to bring at least 10" of "string"(read, strips of varying sizes and various fabrics) presewn together. And your holiday challenges! Looking forward to seeing you all.

One last thing before I go... just a little reminder for those who do know, and a sort of heads up for those who perhaps don't realise.

When we blog a project, particularly a new project that's not yet published, we do it in good faith that you all realise it's a sneak preview. I know that other bloggers feel the same way... reading someone's blog is like getting a little window into their life/studio and getting the inside scoop. Please understand that having been given this opportunity, copying, printing out or reproducing our projects before we get a chance to publish and promote them is not very cool. It would be a real shame if we had to not show things until they were finished, because we love giving you a peek and hearing what you all think as things develop.

That's it for today, have a great weekend and enjoy the sunshine :) Sarah

Stripping for Fun

I am a scavenger at heart.  Although my new Here and Now book says I must shed what I don't need I can't see how that can happen in the fabric department as I NEED every single scrap of fabric I ever had.  Just can't "scrap" it.  So, in hopes of actualizing the need to touch base with the stitching sisters of the past, I cut all my scraps into strips, hang them nearby and hope to have an opportunity to recycle  them into something gorgeous. 
This grouping has gone toward a few things but most recently I had Sam, my 11 year old son, sew them together in strips. He was hoping to get $5 pm but only made it to 50cm of sewn strips.  The only rule is warm cool.  This little exercise was fun for him. I gave him a color wheel and off he went. 
Using the Marti Michelle Kaleidoscope ruler again I tried another style of block with this result:

I am loving this myself and can't help but wonder if it has enough polka dots for JuJu?!  We use spots all the time in the shop as a graphic blender and have nearly every color possible.
Another great use of strips is for borders.  If they are pre-cut and handy it isn't all that hard to find an exciting pattern that gives a quilt a great finish.  Like this:
Electra wasn't finished in this photo but it is now and will be appearing as a project in the next issue of Homespun Magazine.  The stripped border really makes the quilt and gives it that surprising/contemporary element of difference for a traditional block setting.
Have a look through the Material Obsession gallery as there are a few other quilts using strip fabrics and rulers like Pressed Roses and Ginger Snap.  Both Sarah and I have more strip quilts in the works this year (including some antiques) so start saving your scraps or at least thinking about using them!  More later, Kathy

It's on again

SWAP DAY

Material Obsession’s annual Swap Day Sale is on again!
Sunday, December 3 from
10am – 4pm

Swap Day includes:
Browse through Material Obsession’s sale fabrics. Spot the dots on fabric bolts for 10%, 15% or 25% discount per metre. 10% off selected books and all haberdashery. Loads of fabric for $10 per metre.
Swap fabric from your stash to jazz up your colour choices at home! Bring a piece of fabric and swap it for a same sized piece of fabric from the bins. Ie. Swap a FQ for FQ etc. All fabric left over is donated to the Hunters Hill Quilters for community quilts. Fabric donations gratefully accepted. PLEASE only 100% cotton patchwork fabrics.

Special guests Sue Cody with her collection of medallion fabric  for sale, and Sheena from Ric-Rac selling vintage quilt tops, blocks and gifts.
Sit and have cappuccino and cake in the car park and have a look at the "airing of the quilts! "

Most of all, take the opportunity to bring in projects you’ve worked on this year to show the girls, have a chat, and have fun! Looking forward to seeing you all. PS Especially for all you bloggers who can't make it in to the shop for Swap Day, place an order for a kit or book on December 1, 2 or 3 by email or phone and receive 10% off. Offer excludes Kaffe Fassetts new book. Sorry!