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Current Projects / Renita's Millefiori Sampler Meditation Cushion
« on: January 03, 2019, 08:13:00 AM »
I've had a copy of Millefiori 2 for several months now, thinking that one day maybe I'd be crazy brave enough to have a go.  With the current home-decorating and stash-busting competitions underway, I've decided that there's no time like the present and while I'm not yet insane courageous enough to tackle the full thing, maybe I could handle a cushion.  Maybe.  I've wanted a meditation cushion for a while, so this could be a way of mindfully hand-sewing my own.

So, I headed into the stash-room on New Year's Day and dug out my small pile of quilting fabrics.  They may not be the colours I'd choose for a cushion if I was purchasing fabrics today, but I'm seeing this as a test run, no need to be precious about anything.

I'm planning to do a couple of rosettes from two different quilts (that conveniently have pieces in common, just pieced together into different patterned rosettes).  That should give me a top and bottom for the cushion.  Then, if I can wangle it, I'll use another block/quilt to make the side of the cushion.  This is still a work in progress, so may not eventuate.

I'm largely going to be winging it.  This is my first go at hand-piecing.  I've usually hand-quilted in the past, but machine pieced.  Was totally put off by having to glue or baste all the bits around paper first, but learned that I could totally skip that part - super happy.  I'm sure I'm making about a gazillion-times more progress than I'd be making otherwise.

New Years Day evening progress - blurry(?) image of a little test piece (centre of rosette), sitting between my Millefiori 2 book for the patterns and my stash of quilting fabrics



Progress as at earlier this afternoon - can you tell I haven't been doing anything other than hand-sewing dozens of bitty-little fabric pieces together since lunch-time New Year's Day?  Totally addicted.  But then, I can never walk away from a jigsaw puzzle until it's finished either...



The stars around the outside aren't attached in that second image, just sitting in position to give me an idea of how big it's going to be. 

Comments so far:

*Did I mention how super-happy I am that I don't have to pre-baste all these bits to paper?? Piecing with running stitch rocks.

*I can't cut out shapes accurately, at all.  6mm seam allowances?  They are probably 6mm, if you take the average over a large enough sampling...

*I can, however, put dots with a marker in each corner where I'm supposed to sew from and to, and I can sew reasonably straight for the 3 cm required to get from one dot to the next. Happy enough with that.

*I'm as blind as a bat these days.  Never knew how valuable a needle-threader was, until I was trying to thread my needle with mono-filament nylon.  I'm guarding my needle-threader with my life now.

*Fussy cutting could be the end of me.  Managed it using the stripey fabric at the centre of the rosette.  Failed with the outer stripes to get them properly circular.  Haven't been bothered with the rest.  Will try again on the rosette for the other side.


That will do for today's report.  Back to it, still an hour of daylight left here ...

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Hi, I'm new... / Hi I'm Renita
« on: July 21, 2018, 23:01:07 PM »
Hello, my name is Renita.  I'm from Woolgoolga - a town on the east coast of Australia that has way too many 'o's, 'l's and 'g's for it's own good, but makes up for it by being a glorious place to live.

I'm a long time sewer (and anything else related to fibre - spinner, weaver, dyer, knitter, etc) but have never had the courage to participate in a forum before.  I've lurked, particularly around SWAP discussions, and always dreamed of having the time (and being brave enough) to take part.

I 'retired' at the start of the year - I use that term loosely, as I still have three volunteer jobs that keep me quite busy each week.  But I've now cleared some of the backlog that built up from trying to juggle too many responsibilities for way too long and the sewing machine has been dusted off, ready for some serious sewing.  Actually, then I put the old one back in the cupboard and went to the store and bought a new one  - after 25 years with my little Elnita, she now has a big Brother for company.

So here I am, ready for some sewing fun and looking forward to being part of the community here.  I'm heading off to the SWAKOP thread to sign up and will probably be hanging around in other parts too - hope to see you there.

Renita


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