August Challenge Piece

          I have started my August Challenge piece and I decided to try and crochet a panel in Freeform Style. I bought this kit at the Craft fair in Hobart in June and thought that because I can't knit well. Problems with tension and me being a control freak I just can't stop unravelling and redoing it.  But with this it doesn't matter, its all part of the design. And also I hate doing repetitive items -  2 sleeves really painfully. I was told once to knit two sleeves at the same time but one would be fine and the other not. Gave it up as a bad joke.
        Any way back to why I'm posting, I intend for this to be A4 in size and I began this in August so enough said, here are a couple of photos of it so far

So far its about half way done. I will post it again when finished.

Have a great week and enjoy your craft :-)

Family Year Challenge

        Well so far I am up to June and totally forgot about April.... Not good and I can't for the life of me remember much about April except going to Agfest so it might just have to be about that.
The next photo is my May challenge piece. I did this while on retreat with Tangled Web Quilters. I was luckily to go for two days and two nights, some of the other girls went for five days they certainly accomplished heaps and had a great time.  This was shown to me by Sherry and Suzanne who I think saw it on craftsy. It is stitch and slash - brilliant idea... but I think I need to select more fabrics that are a little less bright. This might not come over in the photo but it could glow in the dark...Hehehe....not really but for me this is bright.

           You start by having 4 fabrics all face up on the back of the fourth fabric draw a design, leaving about 1 inch on either side of this line. You then stitch in a small stitch this design. Sewing finished. Next you slash the top fabric, leaving a 1/4 in on either side on stitching line. The same again leaving a 1/4 in of the second fabric and so on until you reach the fourth fabric do not cut this.  Depending on what you like I left a few solid number 2 fabrics and number 3 fabrics for a bit of contrast. But that is entirely up to you . (Maybe take a class on Craftsy, it has some great classes and tutors and better instructions on how I did this).
         My first Fabric was Dark purple and black batik, Next was a chrysanthemum in pinks and pale orange, then a mid range pink and then a pink, purple and maroon large floral pattern on the bottom. To try and tone it down I placed 3  random black pieces here and there, so as to flatten the brightness abit.
I decided that I am going to use this as the backing as well as the front for May to remember a great weekend with some lovely ladies.
Now for next month......I hope this will get easier....:-)

Have a great month

Alison

March Challenge

Well here is March Challenge piece, a little Easter egg. I have hand buttonholed seven sections of the egg on to calico and then continuous picture quilted rabbits, grass and the sky in a variegated thread. Quite a simple design but I enjoyed doing it.

 

It needs to be cropped but I am hoping it will look good when I bind it.

February Challenge

   Well it's been an eventful month but nothing more than Richard breaking his collar bone in 2 places OUCH!!!. Apart from the collarbone he was fine so I made him some colourful slings to wear so he could heal properly. I think he enjoyed wearing them, I know he got a few questions about them LOL.
The first one was just plain blue, the next was Dr Seuss and finally the last one was Black with silver skeletons that look like they are falling to pieces. So for my February challenge, I only had a small amount of fabric so I stripped what was left and sewed them together. The blue cross on top was what I used to bind and use for straps, this was an old ratchet strap, very handy and strong. I will end up quilting it but unsure what just as yet.

Not very  exciting but it was something that happened in February............

  

Monthly Challenge

Mum, Suzanne( sister ), Kate( niece ) and myself  have a year long family challenge that will produce some interesting pieces ... we hope. The challenge is to create an A4 size piece of art work using anything and any technique you like to depict what has been memorable for that month, it can be something that happened briefly or over the entire month ie what the cat did was extremely funny or maybe a holiday/family event etc. It is only limited by any happenings in that particular month. So in February you create one for January and so on. So in January next year you will have completed 12 blocks of your year, that could become a book or a quilt as you go quilt.

Well here is my January challenge piece. I have used trapunto, free motion quilting, applique and added a small amount of angelena for smoke effect. This was to depict what Richard made for Mona Foma in January ( see previous posts ).

I haven't blogged for a little while as life as been a bit hectic.

I have started a new job, Bookkeeping, which now takes me up to full time employment ( 2 Jobs).

So I really have to manage my time well to give me any time to sew, as I don't  think I told you out there in blog world I am also Southern Rep for the Tasmanian Quilting Guild for this year.

 So this year is going to be busy, and just cap things off my dear Husband broke his collar bone in two places.  Squashed between 2 vehicles but he's fine except for the breaks.This all coincides with our busiest time of the year with all the festivals all at full steam (as my husband works for a sound company ).

I have also been learning to do trapunto from a very skilled quilter, and learning all that I know re Fabric and thread has changed so much I have to be a little rebel and try to break all those rules that were drummed into one so long ago. I'm also a bit of a control freak.....I hear laughing.......so it's going to take a while but I'm told it could be fun.....So what the heck.....   I haven't any photos as yet to post but I will very shortly of our Family challenge, which is a Monthly Highlight Challenge. We have to depict something that happened say in January and create a A4 quilt block or page in February. So I have done one for what My hubby did for Mona Foma in January ( see last blog). When I'm finished I will show you the results.



Have a lovely week and enjoy your time with family.



Alison

The Performance....

               Here are some final photos of Tunni's & Cliffe's Art Exhibit for  Mona Foma at PW1. All the guys did a brilliant job to get it ready in time....So here they are..

After the sun set

Part 2

                    Well here are some more pictures of the finished car. They have installed lights and speakers in the engine bay and boot. There are a few buttons and a joystick to play with and different sounds blast out and the lights respond to the beat of the music etc.

              Cute little car isn't it...... Mona Foma starts tomorrow so we will try and get photos tomorrow night of it in full colour, pity I can't do sound here, so you will have to imagine that..............

My VERY Talented Husband

                Well my husband Richard has found his artistic streak finally. I am so proud of his work I thought I would share it with you all. He was asked by a visiting artist to cut shapes out of a 1953, 2 Door  Ford Anglia bonnet.  Apparently it is going to have lights in the engine bay to highlight the cut outs. I will post photos of the finished exhibition later but  I thought I would show some now...............

Richard hard at work with a Plasma Cutter

               Looking forward to seeing the finished exhibit :-)

Have a good week
Alison

Pretty Flowers all in a row

              I have just finished the borders on my Pretty flowers all in a row quilt finally.  I have previously posted this quilt with just the centre finished, I decided on a another two borders to gain extra width and to frame the centre better. What do you think......

Note the mitred corners...

                         This was very difficult to photo so when its quilted, some time in the distant future, I will get some-one to hold it up so I can photograph it a bit better. This quilt is actually for ME, as I bought the fabric while I was at home recovering from giving blood and they split the nerve in my forearm resulting in over 3 years of pain and no recovery as yet if ever......... So it is a milestone for me to have finished this top at all as my sewing these days is so slow, bits and pieces only. But I won't give it away it's my stress relief cure, I'm sure you all know what I mean.

Anyway have a lovely week and enjoy it.

Alison