Ta Da Part Two....it's done!!!

Well in just five weeks and two days the bushfire quilt is finally finished!! Several friends have spent time thinking about an appropriate name for the quilt and Tim from Lloyd Curzon Textiles (who came up with the idea of making the quilt in the first place), made the final selection of "Bee Mindful" reflecting the purpose of the quilt to assist with funds for groups involved in conservation of endangered and threatened species along with the all important bees. So congratulations to Chris O'Brien for choosing it.......and Chris is the President of our State Guild too! What a mammoth task it has been especially the final past days where Judy worked her quilting magic to make it come to life......

Judy was up at 6am on both Thursday and Friday morning and she had already spent time preparing it all on Wednesday evening after I arrived. I added up a total of 25 hours where she was either standing or sitting at her long arm machine........

While Judy was stitching I managed to redraw all the blocks for final publication and fixed the "bolt of lightening" tail of the Greater Glider and also adjusted the tail on the Blue Wren..........so when the pattern is finally released in a few weeks the newly made quilts will no longer be the practice piece!........ 

 It was great to see Judy as I hadn't seen her for over two years so the three and half hour drive from home was worth it all as an extra treat was waiting for me! Judy had been hanging on to some gifts for me from her visit to the US on a quilt trip two years ago and I think a few extras were in my enormous package as well as she thought they looked like the quilt! (and some additions to my bird collection too) Thankyou so much Jude xx

 Yesterday and over the previous two nights I completed some embroidery details, a little more quilting and then finally the hanging sleeve and binding....that last stitch was very satisfying! So Larry took me out for a celebratory coffee at the award winning supermarket I've shared on the blog before. It is only 20 minutes from home and is very unique to shop while someone is playing the piano and then stop for a coffee break in the middle of it all. It is most definitely nothing like the "normal" run of the mill supermarket as you can dine and even have high tea all while grocery shopping!........

 I must also record that we have had a very special event during this past week as well......young Beau turned 8! How those years have flown and what a special boy he is too.......

 So I might have a wee rest now and catch up on some sleep and chat again on the other side of that!

Ta Da!!!

So the "Ta Da" moment has almost arrived and the bushfire aid quilt top will be complete.... and it is less than 4 weeks since the idea was discussed! It was on January 15th that I had a chat with Tim from Lloyd Curzon Textiles and just two days later I picked up the palette of fabrics. I spent the next two weeks researching, drawing and prepping the blocks ready for a working bee on Monday February 3rd where a group of generous girls came to help. By this stage I had prepared more than I thought so there were only three blocks to cut out and three blocks to be placed on the background.....I had even started some of the appliqué seen here appropriately with my uniquely Australian kangaroo scissors! Trevor Robertson is a wonderful Australian known to us all as the 'scissor man' and he designed these fabulous Scissoroo scissors...

 Larry helped me set up our family room ready for the next day of work........

 I prepare the blocks by ironing them onto baking paper first hoping things will be where they should be......

The time always goes fast with friends along with the natter and nibbles while we cut and press and occasionally solve each other's problems.........

By late afternoon no-one would have known that anyone had been there........

 We decided it might be best that just two of us do the stitching to help with continuity, so I spent most of Thursday February 6th (can't believe that was only last week!), with Gina Burgess and it was almost all done. (Thanks Gina x). I will confess that I did do a lot the previous two days but we got through a lot of the fiddly bits together. During this period of manic creativity I decided it might be a good idea to rearrange my working space (as you do!!) and why I didn't do this when we moved in six years ago I don't know! I now have a zone for "office" and another for drawing, sewing, pressing and cutting. This is a wide angle image from the doorway of my 3 metre x 3.8 metre space........who needs a studio??!!!.....

 In all new designs there becomes a problem block and this time it was the setting triangles. On our working bee day a few of us decided the waratahs I had drawn were way too detailed so we traced out one flower with a contrasting base and tip. I pressed them all on and even machine appliquéd all eight of them and then decided they looked like cupcakes or victorian raspberry jellies! I was not going to unpick it all so I trialled a few different ideas and ended up appliquéing the background fabric on the top of the 'cupcakes' using a free motion stitch.....I was pretty happy with the result!.........

 So here it is all stitched together and almost ready for quilting...........

 I am sure four weeks has felt like an eternity to Tim and I had to remind him that each flower took me 5 minutes to appliqué multiplied by 20 flowers making that 100 minutes, and that each stem and pair of leaves took me 11 minutes multiplied by 8 sets equals another 88 minutes... and that was just the border! Tonight I have six more bees to finish and then next week I will be driving for 3-4 hours to country Bordertown to stay a couple of nights with Judy Simcock, an award winning long arm quilter who has very generously offered to quilt the quilt. (Thanks Jude xx). I hope I can help in some small way even if I take some meals! 

 Of course there are still the normal daily Hill household activities and this week that included a wonderful afternoon listening to David Suchet live at our Festival Theatre. He is known so well for his portrayal of Agatha's Christies' Hercule Poirot and he did not disappoint........

 We had the usual childcare duties to fit in and even managed a haircut for Wade and a pick up from school of his cousins.......

I even managed a lovely day with a friend doing a terrarium workshop together at Botanista at nearby Pt Noarlunga..........

And of course one always needs to make time for a few moments of contemplation outdoors where one morning I couldn't help but notice how many white flowers I seem to have planted.........

 These lilies were already planted and they have flowered very late this year but we've enjoyed the new reflections in the outdoor mirror.......

 Next news will be at our little quilting bee so until then take good care with love from us x