WOW or WIP’s with Esther comes around to fast LOL
Hello every one hope its been a great week for you all Mine has been a great one family wise. When I typed 21st of Nov it pulled me up short that means 5 weeks till Christmas!!!! How did that happen? This year has flown for me, I’ve been teaching my self to machine applqiue the last two years and this Feb I started to actually make quilts just in machine applqiue and I became so engrossed with machine appliqueing, every day, every week, and month has flown by and now its nearly December?
1st memory block completed now.
This last week has been mostly spent with families with graduations, school formals, birthdays, last week of school. school leavers off to Bali for a week, so very very little sewing done.
Frangipani are now in full bloom and the fragrance is heavenly.
I worked on my Memory blocks and appliquéd down a few leaves on my last border only a few!!!
One more border to make managed to appliqué down the autumn colours this week and started some greens today
A couple of you asked me about colour and shapes of the leaves
I just cut the shape of the leaves as I feel like it, it’s random and randomly placed.
Thread colour, I like to add a sulky gold to one side of my veins when I use a vein like this I feel it adds a little light behind the leaves, then on the opposite side I used a cyclamen colour for depth!
I now have 3 more memory blocks on the go at different stages this week!
Block 2 and How I build up my blocks
First I choose the main piece I want to use then start to add and add till I like the look of it all. Take a photo then remove it all but the bottom layer of pieces.
First I machine sew down the green 1/2 inch wide flange which ends up only showing 1/8th of the green flange Then I hand sew and quilt these pieces down, remember I have the wadding and some muslin as a backing on these blocks, the background Im working on is heavily woven silk from a obi belt from Japan. Yes it is difficult to work with; I have to push the needle through and then push it back up as it is so tightly woven using thick silk and silver threads.
Add some more background pieces and appilque all these pieces down. .
Now Add my main piece and many hrs later
Have added beads, embroidery, Sequins and scraps of lace .
Finally I add the backing and fold it on to the front as a final border and hand sew down. This backing is a heavy silk also, its like a crepe brocade???? I hope I have enough fabric for all 12 blocks LOL No I don’t cut out all my pieces I will need for the blocks first, I’m to excited to see my first blocks made LOL
Block 3
This was a finished block around 10 years ago!!!! I unpicked the basket and washed and bleached it a little to remove the stains.
First I added a peace pink circle of silk and iron-fussed it down. Have started to add the first pieces of appilque to be?
Now I’m adding and adding to these blocks with tiny treasures of mine, my mums, my great grandmothers and friends bits and pieces
Block 4
This was a very small silk pillow? Sadly the back ground silk had spots of mould over it, it was kill or cure, so unpicked the pillow and soaked the material in a solution of exit mould for 12 hrs watching it closely, success all the mould spots are gone and colour has not faded at all.
Two lovely to discard so I cut a heart shape out, ironed on some irononfussing on the back around the outer edge of the heart.
Ironed down Heart now to play, cut out some crochet from a damaged table cloth, sewed down the flange ?
Trimmed the crochet carefully and Yes I do like how it’s looking? More next week LOL
In the garden just a quick peak it’s to hot out there?
My flower ball sent up another flower
Love this flower it’s so perfectly round?
Hubby brought me home a button crispy two nights ago, I will repot it in to this blue pot so it’s roots can spread out.
Not real cherry blossoms, it’s to hot to have cut flowers now so some little silk flowers for a few months plus tiny deep lilac birds!
This avernoon I did not latch one of the gates, the tree ants had been using it to bridge their path from the ground to their nest, it did not stop them they made a ANT bridge!!! Nature is amazing!
An ant bridge?
Thanks so much for dropping by. Its very hot 32C going out to have a swim to cool down, it’s still as still !!!
Bonjour Glenda,
Toujours de si beaux travaux qui font rêver,votre idée du quilt en dentelles me plaît
et je pense faire la collection de dentelles anciennes et mouchoirs dans les mois a venir
et peut être qu’un jour je vais réaliser un quilt semblable!
Votre jardin ressemble a un havre de paix,ici en France il commence a geler et les premier flocons de neige on fait leurs apparition.
Je vous souhaite bon quilting
Amicalement a vous
Hi Marie sending you some sunshine from my place to warm you up??? Be nice if we could do that? Today was very hot and so still, we normally get a breeze coming off the river but today it was so still. I was so glad of our beautiful swimming pool. I did very little sewing just appliquéd down some lace for two hrs. I just uploaded a photo of some ants that built an ant bridge on a gate I did not latch this after noon, they are amazing creatures. I’m having a lovely time making mums memorial blocks its so lovely to sit and just think about her and so many lovely memories are returning. Cheers Glenda from Way down Under where it is very hot.
Hello Glenda,
wonderful memory Blocks!!!!
Greetings from Germany, Marita
Dear Marita thank you so much for visiting, hope you enjoyed all the sunshine in the photo’s its very hot here right now. We are having to water the garden every day again to keep the plants alive. Keep warm and drive safe on the icy roads now Cheers Glenda
Oh Glenda,
When I see your blog, my heart skips a beat!
These memory blocks that you are working on are just such a great way to
preserve the beautiful needlework of your family. I love the crochet work that you have saved & will be seen by future members of your family. So much of this work is going unappreciated at the moment, but by using it in this way it has a future, when hand work once again will be valued!
And then there is your garden! I fell, in love with the Frangipani on my first trip to Hawaii in the mid 1970’s. Such fragrance & beautiful shading in the petals & in a tree of all things!! It was only 1 of the many species of the exotic trees that I felt so privileged to have seen on my trip to Australia & New Zealand in 1979-80.
One thing that I do not envy is the problems that you have with the humidity where you are & coping with the mould & mildew. There are always good things & bad things where ever we are. At least you do not have to prepare for the next 4-5 months of snowy weather that we are getting ready for here in British Columbia!!
All the best Glenda!
Hello way up there in Beautiful British Columbia, thanks for dropping by, I could have done with some of your cold to day, it was 32C and no breeze and very tiring day to try and do any thing too physical, now a pleasant 27C at 8pm. I’m sitting inside but all the windows and doors are wide open they will stay like that till May or June next year now. We do have mosquito netting over all the windows and doors though. Helps keep the crawly creatures out as well as mosquitos LOL Our humidity dose not start till the rains come then it sure is a problem and I’m constantly cleaning every day over and over. But like you said you have the good and bad where ever you live. I think I will stick with my problems rather than have your cold LOL I think where you live is one of the most incredible places in the world Ohhh those lakes and mountains, come Autumn there is no more beautiful sights than those changing trees miles after miles. Then the magical moment of waking to see them all covered in snow, its fairyland well and truly. Just think of all the sewing you get done come the real cold????? I envy you that time. Cheers Glenda
Wow, Glenda! Gorgeous projects. I can feel the love and feeling that goes into your work!
Hi Sue So lovely to see you here, was thinking about you the other day? I keep seeing those lovely circle tiny swap quilts you made and the ink quilts, I was tempted to give it a try as I have silk paints and Helen Godden paints but I’d just started to add to mums Memory blocks and had to be very firm with my self and say NO finish some of mums blocks first LOL But I keep think of them LOL Today rinsed I some of my old lace that had been soaking in a mild bleach solution, some of the lace that had lost its whiteness or had old storage marks all of it came up like new so I was very happy. Keep warm Sue and happy Quilting Cheers Glenda
Dear Glenda
Those fire ants brought back memories of our life in Africa. As long as they do not bite one, they are amazing to watch. We once put our picnic blanket down and it was on top of a nest of fire ants. Could not get them off the blanket. It went through the wash and they gripped the fabric. Afterwards a pair of tweezers was necessary to remove quite a few from the fibres of the blanket. Your applique is inspiring. Love how you add the different colours of threads to each leaf. Thank you for the warm and beauty of the flowers. We have snow our side, with ice pellets here. So definitely a day to hibernate.
I love that first flower you show what I lovely blossom. One of the other flowers you show looks like one we called a “spider lily” – looks like you are well into summer
Hi Karen, this week has been a week of internet connection problems, hubby having a fall and hurting his knee badly and extreme heat!!! Far North QLD broke all temperature records by 4C. 1970 they broke the records with 37C and this week it was 43C !!!! So not a lot got done sewing wise! Then yesterday afternoon a might electrical storm came through and took out our internet LOL But it did wipe out our heat wave as well LOL Not Looking forward to the wet season thats just around the corner but I get to sew more then. Hugs glenda
Your machine applique is terrific and all that practicing has made for beautiful results. The memory blocks are wonderful. You’re doing such unique work with all the different pieces. I always enjoy seeing the unusual plants in your garden. Not sure I’d want tree ants, but they are definitely very industrious and ingenious.
Dear Kyle, This week I had plans to do so much, first to finish my leaf border, I did manage to do 1/2 of it then all sewing came all most to a stop. We have had a massive heat wave with temps in the 40’sC over 5 days. I felt so sorry for the elderly and the sick. Then we had a huge electrical storm come through, which wiped out the heat wave but our internet as well LOL Now I see December is only 2 days away and I’m NOT ready for Christmas but my young grandchildren will be LOL !!!!! Ive been working on mums memeory blocks and this keeps me calm and happy. Hugs Glenda
Your memory blocks are gorgeous!
Thank you Angela, I don’t think I’ve ever had so much fun sewing as I’m having right now making these blocks, they are only 11inchs square so grow quickly when adding bits and pieces but take hrs to sew down. I have so so much of mums treasures it just so much fun to see them been saved for another generation. Most of these pieces are no longer used by my children or their children but may be one of my great great grandchildren may love this quilt top to be???? Cheers Glenda
Your memory blocks are so pretty! Thanks for showing your process.
Hi Pamela, Hope you are keeping warm way up there. We sure are keeping warm down here, we’ve just had a heat wave with temps in the 40’sC for 5 days and broke the temperature records. Finally late yesterday after-noon we had a huge electrical storm and temps are now back to normal around 32C So I did not get much done sewing wise in that heat this week. Cheers Glenda