It has been a week of glorious warm autumn days. The everlasting daisies continue their daily opening and closing while the ferns which grow like weeds in shady spots around our garden are enjoying respite from summer's heat. Our new Paradise Vanessa camellias are beginning to show their true form with a beautiful flurry of ruffles and many buds holding promises for the weeks ahead.
Yesterday some of our younger local homeschool students enjoyed a morning of leaf identification and rubbings at a favourite park while the older children participated in a chemistry workshop. Miss E found the ducks even more interesting than the leaves - especially the brightly coloured ones. This is the same park we visited last week and I was pleased to find the Orange Marmalade grevillea buds now in full bloom - such an unusual native, with a delicious name too!
On the sewing front, I have been revisiting Peaceful Night, a long term, hand pieced quilt which I hand quilted in silk threads, finally finishing in October 2014. I have since discovered that the polyester batting I used beards badly (fibres work their way through the fabric and pill on the quilt surfaces). As this quilt had only been washed once and barely used, it was still looking excellent and I had pondered leaving it as it, keeping it as a wall quilt - but I have no suitable wall space to enjoy it on. The same batting was used in my Musical Stairs quilt which is in daily use and has bearded badly. With so many dark and rich tones in Peaceful Night the pilling would become vey noticeable and spoil the quilt, so with a long term view in mind, early last week I took the plunge began deconstructing the quilt. This time I have chosen my favourite Hobbs organic cotton batting and a beautiful fresh length of organic fabric for the backing - from Nancy Mims' Pick a Bunch collection bought in 2011. I am almost half through hand quilting, again using the same lustrous thick silk threads. Times like this I am very pleased to have bought extra supplies of favourite fabrics and threads while they were available.
Your photography eye continues to amaze me! Looking at the shot of the children with the leaf rubbings and the ducks, they look even better through then lens than through the natural eye when there!
ReplyDeleteJust love your photos so light and colourful. Sounds like a lot of work to revamp the quilt.
ReplyDeleteNot only are your beautiful photographs inspiring, but so is your hand quilting and your attitude to the task! I'm sure you will not regret unpicking and starting over! The quilt will long be used and loved!
ReplyDeleteThank you Suz. I am very pleased to have made this decision and have surprised myself at how much I am enjoying the quilting - all over again, especially with the slightly cooler weather. Thankfully it is not a large quilt, making it easy to handle and quicker to finish.
ReplyDeleteYour photography is outstanding. I loved the one of the duck especially and the peony also.
ReplyDeleteThe leaf rubbings look like fun and what a great way to learn about God's beautiful creation.
Another lovely quilt. This one is most definitely a labor of love.
Have a great weekend & Happy Mother's day ~ FlowerLady
great pictures !!
ReplyDeleteOh my goodness, Karen, your patience is truly an inspiration (deconstructing the quilt)!!
ReplyDeleteIt looks like you are having a beautiful autumn. Here in NY, we are still waiting for spring. :-( It's been very chilly with rain almost every day for 2 weeks. Hopefully it will change soon, or we will miss spring altogether!
I wish I would get inspired....your quilts are so so beautiful.
ReplyDeleteKaren you always get the most amazing flower shots with such incredible clarity! Looks as if you are enjoying a beautiful fall! Hope all continues to be well with you!!
ReplyDeleteIt must have been hard to deconstruct all your hard work, but it's better to "rip that Bandaid" rather than have the bearding bother you. Beautiful autumn scenes!
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