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Monthly Archives: October 2012

My Aurifil 12wt cotton has arrived

25 Thursday Oct 2012

Posted by sewjournal in Sew journal

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Aurifil 12 wt, hand quilting, quilt, quilting, quilting blog, sewing, sewing blog, sewjournal blog, thread

As you know, I’m really keen on big stitch quilting and so I recently bought 26 large spools of this lovely Aurifil 12wt cotton thread. I bought as many of the variegated ones as I could afford. Aren’t they lovely?




I can’t wait to use them.

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Progress and supplies for the GAZ Blanket

24 Wednesday Oct 2012

Posted by sewjournal in Sew journal

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Tags

fabric, fabrics, GAZ Blanket, machine piecing, patchwork, quilt, quilting blog, sewing, sewing blog, sewjournal blog

My fabric for the GAZ Blanket arrived this week and I made a start on the top two blocks. here are the fabrics I’m planning to use:







And here’s the minky that I’m planning to use on the back.

And here are some progress photos of the top two blocks under construction.

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The GWS MQG quilt block

18 Thursday Oct 2012

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applique, Greater Western Sydney Modern Quilt Guil, knitting blog, quilting blog, sewing, sewing blog, sewjournal blog

At the Greater Western Sydney Modern Quilt Guild (GWS MQG) we’re making a membership quilt top as a record of all the members. We are to use the three colours of the guild’s logo plus white plus one other fabric of our choice. You can see the details here.

At last week’s sit and sew some of us set ourselves the target of finishing our block by next Monday’s meeting. I managed to get mine completed today and here it is. Nothing particularly earth shattering but it is a record of when we started. I’m afraid it’s not my best work. I’m a little rusty on the applique as I haven’t done any for a while and Kona cotton really isn’t the best applique fabric as it’s not fine enough and tends to fray.

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The GAZ Blanket

17 Wednesday Oct 2012

Posted by sewjournal in Sew journal

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Tags

GAZ Blanket, knitting blog, machine piecing, patchwork, quilting blog, sewing, sewing blog, sewjournal blog

My soon-to-be son-in-law Gary likes to watch movies on the TV. So I’m making him a blanket with a movie theme. I had to break my fabric fast as I didn’t have any movie themed fabric so I’m waiting for this to arrive but in the interim I’ve pieced the name GAZ using Elizabeth Hartman’s Fridge Magnets Alphabet pattern and embroidered a shirt pocket with a Hollywood star. The pocket will hold the remote. I’ve bought some lovely soft, warm, white spotted red minky for the back which I’ll show you when I get all the fabrics.

In the meantime here’s what I’ve done so far.


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Machine quilters look away!

16 Tuesday Oct 2012

Posted by sewjournal in Sew journal

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Tags

Greater Western Sydney Modern Quilt Guil, hand quilting, machine quilting, patchwork, quilt, quilting, quilting blog, sewing, sewing blog, sewjournal blog, The Modern Quilt Guild, unpicking

I gave machine quilting a try on my “manly” quilt but I just didn’t like it so I unpicked it and re-quilted with 12wt cotton big stitch hand quilting. It’s going to take longer but I think I’ll be happier with it and it will look much better.

I took the quilt to the Greater Western Sydney Quilt Guild where Amy of Badskirt re-named it the Chevron Explosion which I think is a much more dynamic name and I intend to use it. She also took a photo of the progress so far.

 

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A new baby quilt

14 Sunday Oct 2012

Posted by sewjournal in Sew journal

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Tags

hand quilting, Jelly Roll Baby Quilt, machine piecing, patchwork, quilt, quilting, quilting blog, sewing, sewing blog, sewjournal blog

I have friends in DC who recently had a baby boy and so I made this little floor/wall quilt for him. I used a mixture of Kaffe Fassett and It’s a Hoot Jelly rolls and some animal fabric that I got in the Travelling Stash. For the backing I used a Dick Jane print.

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The In a Spin Quilt is finished

12 Friday Oct 2012

Posted by sewjournal in Sew journal

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Tags

hand quilting, hand-piecing, In a Spin, patchwork, quilt, quilting, quilting blog, sewing, sewing blog, sewjournal blog

Finally, it’s finished. Around 300 hours of work! So without further ado here are the photos.


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Flourless Honey & Saffron Cake – Free Recipe

12 Friday Oct 2012

Posted by sewjournal in Sew journal

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Tags

cake, cooking, recipe

This was a bit of an experiment but I’d thought I’d share it with you anyway. If I were to make it again I would use 3 eggs instead of 4 and 1/2 a cup of sugar in addition to the honey. Anyhow this is what I did this time:

Ingredients

Cake:

4 eggs (it is preferable for these to be at room temperature. However, if you’re like me you want to make a cake on a whim and all your eggs are in the fridge. No problem, just separate your eggs – whites in one bowl and yolks in another and leave them on the bench while you assemble all the other ingredients. We’re going to whip them before we do anything else so they’ll warm up any way.)

1/2 cup of fragrant honey. ( What I mean is a honey with a characteristic smell and flavour not your common or garden, in-house-label el-cheapo honey. I used Tasmanian Leatherwood honey which has a unique flavour.)

1/2 teaspoon Bicarb soda (baking soda)

1 3/4 cups of almond meal

1/2 to 1 tsp saffron fronds

1/2 tbsp milk

1/2tsp salt

1/2 tsp vanilla paste

Syrup:

1/3 cup of water

1/4 cup of the same honey

1/4 to 1/2 tsp saffron

1 tsp rose water

Method

Cake

Separate the eggs. Beat your egg whites until frothy but not completely stiff. Add the saffron to the milk and warm in the microwave for 20 sec. Beat the yolks and then add the honey and beat until well mixed. Then add the saffron/milk mixture and beat some more. Add the baking soda and the salt and mix in well. Then add your almond meal and beat until thoroughly mixed. Then, with a plastic spatula, fold in the egg whites until well mixed and no lumps of white froth are visible.

Pour the mixture into a greased spring-form cake tin that has the base lined with baking paper. Bake on 150C 300F for 35 minutes or until the centre springs back or a skewer comes out clean. I have found the cooking time of this sort of cake a bit hit and miss. My  fan-forced oven tends to brown the outside very dark and the inside isn’t cooked with these type of cakes so after 30 minutes I lowered my oven 120C for another 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to sit for 10 minutes then run around the edge with a round-bladed knife before removing the ring on the spring-form pan. When it’s cool remove the base and the baking paper and set on a plate ready for the syrup.

Syrup

Add all the ingredient sot a small pan and bring to the boil, while stirring continuously. Once it boils stir for a couple of minutes so that it thickens slightly then take it off the heat and leave to cool.

Prick the surface of the cake with a toothpick or fork and then pour the syrup over the top. Serve with ice cream.

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On a bender – a needle bender that is.

12 Friday Oct 2012

Posted by sewjournal in Sew journal

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

needles, quilting blog, sewing, sewing blog, sewjournal blog

I like to use really fine and long Milliner’s needles but it would appear that I’m not very kind to them. These ones are destined for the bin. Is there a solution to bending needles? I know it’s not thicker or stronger because I’ve had a certain famous brand and the tips snap off which is worse. It must be the way I use them i suppose.

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What is it with cats and quilts?

10 Wednesday Oct 2012

Posted by sewjournal in Sew journal

≈ 10 Comments

Tags

cat, Mr Tiggy, quilt, quilting blog, sewing blog, sewjournal blog


I left the quilt on a chair after sewing in the evening. In the morning I found the cat had already colonised it!

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