What I have been doing lately-the walking foot saga.

In January I saw this disappearing pinwheel churn dash quilt pattern from the Minnesota Quilt company YouTube video. I thought it was an interesting technique when Jenny did it -but it did get complicated when I tried it with a bunch of scraps I had been keeping. Some of them were very stretchy on the bias, and I wished that I had used starch on them before I started.Nevertheless I thought it was worth persevering. By the time I had 15 blocks I had run out of energy and enthusiasm -and  pink toned fabric

I added some lovely pink and purple Japanese fabrics from my stash to make a border and pinned it together. I did one or two lines of stitches with my walking foot -and then it broke! The spring was broken inside -so the fabric was not advancing and I had a messy set of stitches, some of which I took out.

It turned out that a new Bernina walking foot costs between $145-$175 in Australia. I was unwilling to part with that kind of money, so my DH took the foot to my local repair shop. I waited.

Whilst I waited I took scraps from the previous quilt and I made this Jacobs Ladder quilt (sorry -photo is blurry) .  I added scraps of green to it so it is now pink, green and white: Feminist Colours. This is now known around here as the "feminist quilt". It seemed to me that what it needed in the way of quilting would require a walking foot. I still didn't have one. 

I asked at the repair shop on a fortnightly basis for nearly three months. They were waiting for a part. 

Whilst I waited I made these fun lantern blocks using more Japanese fabric from my stash. I plan to sew this in long strips and quilt them before joining them in a QATG fashion.

The thing is, I make QUILTS not quilt tops. I am a finisher! I usually go all the way from cutting the fabric through to the binding in one operation, before starting a new quilt. I now had three unfinished objects- which was getting ridiculous. 

Last Saturday I went back to the repair shop, to ask one last time. If the part could not be fixed, I was buying a new one. The man went out the back to check -said "The repair man fixed it yesterday -that will be $3!"  Yippee! On the strength of that I went to my local quilt shop (LQS) and bought wadding in their "Buy 2 get one free" sale. I came home and started on the churn dash pinwheels again. 

I have spent the weekend happily quilting on the pink churn dash quilt. I made a frame of straight lines with the walking foot, and am now Free Motion Quilting in the white spaces. I really love the way that adding quilting adds so much to the texture and the interest in the quilt.

By next weekend I hope the quilting will be finished and I can be putting the binding on.

Using the good stuff

 I have had this lovely collection of Asian fabrics for too long now. I had an idea for how to use them, but I was putting it off. This weekend, encouraged by the Stashbusters group, I finally gave myself permission to cut them up!

 I made 16 10 inch blocks like this -nothing too complicated because I wanted the pretty fabrics to be appreciated for themselves. I LOVED finally playing with these fabrics-why had I waited so long?

When I put them on the design wall it was OK, but just too predictable.

I cut some 10.5 inch strips and started staggering the layout of the blocks. It is beginning to look better -there is more for the eye to look at, and I have been able to add more of my pretty fabrics.

This morning I played with the layout some more, but I reckon I can still do better.

I started imagining two columns made of Chinese Lantern blocks with a black background. That would make the quilt wider, and allow me even more fabrics to use in the quilt.

I am thinking of this kind of thing:

This quilt is going to be a quilt as you go quilt, so I am keeping in mind the need to create a layout that will accommodate that technique. Adding the lanterns will make it easier to quilt the columns and then join them together. 

So- I am having fun and finally using some of the 'good fabrics"!

The Larder

I have been stockpiling groceries for a few years.

My stockpile consists of those things which are staples in our home, and mean that we always have a spare or three of anything when in the past we were often running out. This gives me time to go to the shop and buy it -hopefully when it is cheaper than normal. In Australia our supermarkets seem to cycle through high prices and then lower prices to entice shoppers back into the store. If I can time it properly, I can, for example, buy 1 kilo bags of our favourite coffee for less than $20 each, rather than the $25 they are at the high end of the price cycle. The way I do this is to buy enough when  it is cheap to last us to the next cheaper offer.

My stockpile includes UHT milk -I use this to make yoghurt and it also saves us from a rush trip to the shop if we run out of fresh milk.

I keep the ingredients for my home made washing powder in the stockpile -borax, washing soda and lux flakes.

I always have tinned fruit and some kind of tinned vegetables, along with tinned tomatoes and tomato concentrate, anchovies and cat food.

I always have shampoo, conditioner and liquid soap in bulk supplies, along with toothpaste,  deodorant and toilet paper.

Recently I cleared several cupboards to create this Larder for the stockpile -it is in the laundry and is extra to the pantry in my kitchen.

In the last 12 months or so I have extended my stockpiling by using the facility provided to me by our RACWA membership, to shop at a bulk grocery store usually selling to catering companies and other shops. This huge warehouse is close to my home so it is easy for me to access it. Once a month I buy cartons of the things I usually use -I don't buy everything every month, but over a period of 12 months I have built quite a nice array of things we use most.

Now, I know that this bulk buying is working for us as a strategy for several reasons, because I have noticed our spending on groceries has dropped by over $50 a week.

The prices are not always as cheap as the cheapest prices in the supermarkets, for any individual item, but I am not one to travel about looking for 50c off this or that. 

The way it works is:

1. Having the basics in the house, we never have to go to the shop for ingredients to make dinner in a hurry. We also don't buy take away food -almost never in the past 12 months!

2. Shopping monthly for the basics means weekly shopping trips are just for milk, meat and fresh fruit and vegetables -this keeps me out of the stores. If I am not shopping, I am not spending-you know how hard it is to go in for 'just one thing" and to actually stick to your resolve!

3. I think the prices of the cartons -which is always cheaper than buying individual items -averages out to make the overall cost cheaper too.

I also use a local supplier of bulk dried goods who deliver by Australia Post, to buy the flour and other needs for baking that I use a lot -I am very happy with the quality and service of this company. With the right ingredients my bread has become a firm favourite at home -we pity those who must eat 'plastic bread' from a plastic wrapper instead of a firm, fresh LSA sourdough or a Russian Black bread loaf or a white rosemary scented, crisp crusted home baked loaf. 

I am really happy with my new larder and the skills I am learning about stockpiling and feeding my family better food for less. 

To read more about Five Star Frugal Living follow the link to my friend's link up party. 

Simple holiday times

I have been  on holiday for weeks now! I am happy for my friends who have spent the same time in Europe, visiting friends. Good luck to them!

My holiday has been spent at home.  I like it here. The accommodation is first rate-exactly my style of thing! We are so close to the beach we can walk every day -down near the water's edge and up to the reef. Me and my DH, just holding hands and walking each morning before it gets too hot.

Then we come home to do holiday things from home.

I have lots of new books to read. One of them is this cook book- and I have been trying out the recipes! The first cake I made was the Madeira cake -and it is a stunner. All I am saying is that if you have only ever known shop bought Madeira cake, you have never actually tasted the buttery, lemony sensation that it really is!

I also am learning to make pastry and pies.

There is a great sewing room here at my holiday location (smile) and I have been sewing -of course! This is a new table runner I made. 

And we have been doing holiday activities -like this wonderful Sunday evening Jazz concert in the park, where we took a picnic and had a fabulous time. 

There is still more holiday left -but the count down has begun. I will be trying to get lots of fun out of the last week and a bit.

Oh, and this week I am linking up with :

http://atrayofbliss.blogspot.com.au/

All the pretty things -a birthday High Tea

It sometimes seems that our community wants to make a big production out of every event. I am constantly amazed at the way that weddings, for example, have become so expensive.  

I like simple celebrations so when considering what we would do for my DD and my own birthday this year, it was obvious to me that we would keep it simple and small.  Even though my birthday was one of those which some people think of as a milestone (it has a zero at the end!) , I would hate to take a parachute jump, and I don't believe that I am entitled to an overseas trip for my birthday either.

I do love to celebrate however, and the picture shows what we were able to do just using what we had.  I suggested "High Tea" but done at home on our patio. My DD and I both have birthdays which fall between Christmas and New Year, so we invited about a dozen people to share afternoon tea with us. 

This is the table grandly laid out for our birthday High Tea last weekend.  

 We were so lucky to have a great summer day -which was not at all too hot. 

We made asparagus rolls, curried egg sandwiches, roast pork rolls, and hummus and crudites. 

There was a cheese platter with olives, and a compote with summer grapes.

There was a coconut oat slice, Nigella's Marmalade Chocolate cake and double choc biscuits which we also made. 

DD made the toblerone chocolate cheesecake.

We served Champagne, and also had Earl Grey and Ceylon tea.

Cold peppermint tea and iced coffee were available, and there was a fruit punch in  a pretty glass jug. 

I am quite a collector of pretty things, and this was a great occasion to show them off. 

I was able to use my 'inheritance' - the Country Roses tea set which was my MIL's, 

as was the silver tea service (not shown). 

The Royal Osborne forget me not tea set is from my elderly aunt.

My own collection of  Queen Anne roses tea set -(close up below)

The Flowers of the Month Royal Albert tea pot and milk jug above were found in an op shop in Fremantle. 

I decorated the patio with roses from the garden in a pewter op shop mug, and had some of my quilted table runners on the table and coffee table.

It was a lovely afternoon  and both birthday girls enjoyed it. 

My bed quilt finished!

TaaDaa!

I have finished the quilt I call "Dark Nightz" -an adaptation of the Jan Mullens classic quirky scrappy quilt. I love this pattern and go back to it often. This one started in February but got put aside for other quilting projects which had priority. I finished it just before Christmas.

I am proud of this because I quilted it on my Domestic Sewing Machine -and this is a BIG queen size quilt. I used a Quilt as You Go method in which I made six panels which stretched across the bed, and quilted them, and then sewed them together. It was just about manageable, although my shoulders hurt on the last day when I was connecting the whole quilt and pushing it through my machine.

I finished it with a scrappy black and white border, and the back is very scrappy panels of whatever I had that was long enough.

I quilted it in straight lines which look like the pattern used in tartan rugs!

A pile of scrappy blocks back in March 2014.

Blocks were sewn in strips and then three of the strips sewn and quilted before joining.

Now I need to make a couple of pillow cases to go with this quilt!

My new Singer -Aunty's hand crank comes home

 We have been cleaning out a relative's house after the death of my cousin.
Aunty is now very elderly and will be living in a supported accommodation unit near us.

In the linen cupboard was a sewing machine which no-one was particularly interested in.  I opened the case with the original key which was still attached, and this is what I found -a 1935 Singer Hand Crank sewing machine in the most perfect condition.  All accessories.

You can imagine my excitement! I love the gold detailing and the shiny steel fittings. I adore the fact that this precision piece of engineering works smoothly and well. I am impressed that it is entirely hand operated so that, like my treadle sewing machine, it can operate entirely on human power.

The box has a shipping label which says that Aunty brought it with her to Australia from the UK in 1967.

I am over the moon with joy.

The only thing is, I now have my lovely Bernina. 

I have a Bernette which is a 'stand by" machine -very simple for others in the house to use. 

I have my lovely Treadle. 

I also have a 1950s electric Singer.  

Lovely machine, but I haven't paid to have it serviced yet and the lock on the case no longer works.

 It is bigger than Aunty's machine -and heavier.

Too many machines for one small house! 

What would you do?