The loungeroom roman blind is finished!!

I can't believe that I have finished the biggest of the roman blinds for Andrew's house. It looks fairly good although I can see the slightly crooked stitching lines, little pins marks and of course all the creased from being folded up after a little delay with my hand and foot.

The blind measures 314cm wide and 133 cm long. I had to put five pulleys along the top for the cords and as you can't buy doweling that long I had to join pieces into the pockets.  

I am so pleased that the blind is fairly easy to put up and down. I was worried that the width would cause a problem but I guess with t only being 133cm long there is not to much curtain weight going through each pulley.

I have three more roman blinds to make. After this one they have been a breeze to sew. The blinds are all sewn and the pockets for the rods are ironed and ready to sew... my planned job for today.

  

this is the old yellow curtain that I'm replacing with the roman blind.





Starting the mammoth technical operation to get the blind up



..almost there





..being swallowed by the blind



It's finally up.. a little creased but hopefully they'll drop out



one very happy man



Spring has sprung

I love Spring and getting out into the garden. This year my Weeping Cherry looks the best it's ever looked. My weeping peach doesn't have as many flowers but the color is so vibrant.

  

 

I planted 3 camellias along my back fence - an Emperor of Russia, Carolyn Tuttle and Jennifer Susanne. They look great have already have lots of new buds.

I love gardening and had fund planting my new trees. Unfortunately my great gardening effort wasn't without incident - I had another fall which left me rather battered and bruised. I had a wonderful black eye that gave great color to my right eye and the side of my face. I have a suspected small crack in the scaphoid of my wrist and also have a another broken bone in my foot. This fracture in my 4th metatarsal (the last was in my 5th metatarsal) happened before the fall but wasn't diagnosed until I had a bone scan to see what was causing the pain in my foot.

My hand is doing well and the black eye has cleared up. My right foot however, has been reacquainted with the CAM boot. Cam boot and I are working on improving our friendship. Its definitely a dislike/tolerate relationship which needs lots of work.

Just for fun: I had a sit on Andrew's new John Deere tractor (yep with my broken hand and foot!)

Postcards from Paris - Vase of Roses

A Vase of Roses - another block for my Postcards from Paris Quilt

Some friends have asked how I get the time to sew with my life so busy lately but it's because it's so busy that I've needed to take time out and do some sewing and knitting to relax.

I really enjoyed making this block and love how it has turned out. As I was cutting the materials I wasn't sure about the fabrics given in the pack as they seemed to be all to much the same but looking at it finished I really like the way it looks.

I'm working on another block which just needs some leaves and the edging sewn on and then have two more blocks to go. I might even get the quilt finished by Christmas if I keep sewing at this pace!

Quilting lessons - Two more blocks finished

I've now finished blocks 5 and 6 from my quilting lessons.

Block 5. Honey Bee

This block is machine pieced and needle turn-appliqued by hand, using the freezer paper method.

Block 6. Dresden Plate

This traditional block is paper-pieced and appliqued

I loved making this block as it was what I know and is the method I use to make most of my quilts.

I have never tried sewing curves using paper piecing before so that was fun to try and not as scary as I'd thought.

One Roman Blind finished and hanging on the door

I've finished my first ever Roman Blind and think it's turned out rather well... a bit proud of it I am! We hung it on the door on the weekend and it's amazing the difference it makes to the room. I'm now working on the biggest blind for the lounge room.

My dinning room looks like a sewing room with the table covered with 3 big dressmaking cutting boards. I've had to use ironing boards and whatever else I have around the house to help prop the boards up. On Saturday I borrowed my neighbours ironing board and Andrew brought his down for me to use as well. A bit of improvisation to make a cutting surface big enough for a 3 and a bit meter wide blind but it works.

I thought finding patterns for Roman Blinds would be easy but it wasn't. There are a lot of patterns on the Internet and some videos but I couldn't find anything that told me exactly what material I needed and how to cut and sew the material. I brought a simplicity pattern but that just made me more confused! After a bit of sewing and unpicking making the first blind I have been able to work out ways that have made the cutting and sewing much easier.

One really simple change was with the pockets for the rods. Rather than sewing the material right side facing and then turning the sleeve inside out, I now cut the material into strips adding a bit extra to fold the raw edges on both ends over then iron the whole strip in half. Once in half I then iron a small fold on each side of the strip and press it towards the centre. With the sides folded into the centre fold and pin the whole strip in half and then stitch as close to the edge as possible. Voila!! You now have a pocket for your rods without having to turn them inside out. The pockets are then sewn onto the back of the blind in the same way.

I used pulleys instead of eyelets on the mounting board for the cords to pass through. The cords seem to move more smoothly when putting the blinds up and down.

The other thing I'm doing on my blinds which none of the patterns I found suggested is to sew around the edges of the blinds on the right side. To me it gives the blind a more 'finished' look.
Well.... enough of this and back to sewing ....

Knitting a jumper and making roman blinds

I know, I know, I know!!! I have more than enough projects on the go but I guess there's always a little time do do a few more.

A while ago Andrew had asked me to knit him a jumper and we'd seen some wool and pattern that we both liked but it was going to be quiet expensive and as I already have enough projects on the go we decided to leave it for now. Well.... on one of my regular shopping trips to Spotlight I saw that wool was on special so I decided to have a look. At 40% off I couldn't resist that kind of sale and brought the wool and pattern. I haven't knitted for a while and am enjoying picking up the needles again. So far I've knitted the back and part of the front. I'm hoping to get it finished by the end of winter but that is going to be a big ask even for me!

My other new project is making Roman blinds for Andrew's house. I've never made them before so this will be a big challenge and hopefully one I wont mess up!
Somehow this pile of material is going to turn into 5 Roman Blinds!

A catchup on my life so far this year

More than half of 2011 year has gone already and as usual life has been busy with day to day things, special events and for me there is now a new man in my life.
March
My fourth beautiful great niece was born on the 12th February 2011 to my niece Ruth and her husband Josh.

I went to Canberra Jessica's dedication in March. It was lovely staying with Ruth, Josh, Sarah, Hannah, Olivia and Jessica. While there I also spent some time with my nephew Jonathon and his family, Melanie, Lachlan and Lucas.
April

I finished Jake's quilt just in time for his birthday on the 7th April. A few late nights getting it finished but it was worth it.

Easter 2011 is one I will never forget. On Friday (Good Friday) 22nd April at 3.25pm I received an email from a man. That email was the first of a few which were followed by phone calls and then meeting and having the most wonderful days together firstly at Healesville Sanctuary then Marysville. Lunch at Mary's cafe was followed by wonderful lunch at CloudeHill on the Friday.

I never thought than an email would have led to this wonderful man becoming part of my life..... life's so good.

June

Well... June 12th I turned 50! I decided that I wanted to celebrate my birthday this year as I had so much to be thankful for - being alive when really I should not have survived after my asthma attacks and the subarchnoid hemorrhage. I'd completed my Advanced Diploma after over 10 years of study, I have a wonderful circle of family and friends, a wonderful church & craft group and more recently I met my wonderful man.

My niece made me the most beautiful cake with a patchwork design which everyone loved and people are still talking about!
I had a party with 40 friends in the coffee shop at TLC.

It is a beautiful rustic place built of mud brick with wonderful hand made wooden tables and chairs. It was lovely being able to celebrate my birthday and my life with my family and friends together and seeing everyone chat and enjoying each other was really nice.

Butterflies

With friends having babies I decided to make them a butterfly each.

I used a pattern called 'Blossom' by Melly & Me. I love their bright and colorful patterns and most are very easy to sew.
The hardest part of making the butterflies was turning the antennas inside out and then stuffing them.
These are my very bright colorful creatures.

The best part of making gifts like this is seeing them with the baby.

Here's baby Imogen with her butterfly.

Quilting lessons

This year I have started quilting lessons for the first time since I was 16 years old. Through a 'Bear & Craft' Sewing group that I go to I've had the opportunity to have lessons which I attend once a month on a Saturday.
We are making a quilt simply called a 'Sample Quilt'. Each time we make a block using different methods. I am enjoying the classes and have learnt so much. Even sewing quilts on a machine doesn't scare me as much as it used to.

Block 1. Pinwheel Block.
This is a four-patch block that introduces the use of templates and accurate hand piecing.

Block 2. Double Monkey Wrench

This block included half square triangles and machine piecing (scary as!!)

Block 3. Attic Windows

This is a hand-pieced block teaching mitred corners and raw edge applique

Block 4. Log Cabin Block

This block showed us a classic and versatile machine pieced block.

Charlie thought it was time to give his approval of my block.

More Post Cards from Paris blocks

Over the past few months I have been remiss in updating my blog but I have been working away on my Postcards from Paris blocks.
Here are the latest three blocks that I have completed.