Wednesday, April 29, 2015
Saturday, April 25, 2015
Anzac Day 2015
Some images of 2015 Anzac commemorations at Pukeahu National War Memorial Park in Wellington ...
More information and links here.
Wednesday, April 22, 2015
Monday, April 20, 2015
Ruler Work
Back here I posted about using the Westalee foot and rulers for freemotion quilting on a domestic sewing machine.
I've been trying the Westalee 'Circles on quilts - wreath 16' ruler. At the narrow end of the ruler there is a pin hole, a drawing pin is inserted from the back of the quilt and the ruler is placed on the pin. One segment/shape is stitched then the ruler pivoted so the next segment can be sewn. Finally joining up in a wreath shape.
What I learnt:
* stabilise the area to be quilted first by stitching in the ditch. Basting with safety pins isn't a good idea as the pins get in the way and the ruler doesn't cope with them nearby or underneath.
* extra flat space is required so either use the sewing machine in a table such as a Sewezi or an extension table for the machine. Having a reasonable amount of flat space is needed.
* use the Supreme Freemotion slider as the under side of the drawing pin will get caught between the machine and the insert thingy.
* the screw on the foot does need to be tight - interesting things happen if it comes undone.
* if there are any whoopsies stop and unpick. If you keep going it probably won't meet up at the end leaving the wrong sized space for the final segment.
* check that there is enough space on the quilt for the completed pattern before starting to stitch. I didn't do this and was stitching across the batting.
This did have a happy ending as I realised that the pattern was quite interesting so stitched over the unpicked shapes but within the star.
I then needed to repeat this on the other star and realised that I could stitch until I reached the outline stitching of the star, backtrack, turn the ruler stitch the next segment.
Now to fill in the rest of the space and work on getting the stitch length even ...
See here for Westalee's video for using this foot.
I've been trying the Westalee 'Circles on quilts - wreath 16' ruler. At the narrow end of the ruler there is a pin hole, a drawing pin is inserted from the back of the quilt and the ruler is placed on the pin. One segment/shape is stitched then the ruler pivoted so the next segment can be sewn. Finally joining up in a wreath shape.
 |
| ruler, centre pin |
 |
| stitching |
What I learnt:
* stabilise the area to be quilted first by stitching in the ditch. Basting with safety pins isn't a good idea as the pins get in the way and the ruler doesn't cope with them nearby or underneath.
 |
| stabilising in the ditch |
* extra flat space is required so either use the sewing machine in a table such as a Sewezi or an extension table for the machine. Having a reasonable amount of flat space is needed.
* use the Supreme Freemotion slider as the under side of the drawing pin will get caught between the machine and the insert thingy.
 |
| slider on my sew ezi table |
* the screw on the foot does need to be tight - interesting things happen if it comes undone.
* if there are any whoopsies stop and unpick. If you keep going it probably won't meet up at the end leaving the wrong sized space for the final segment.
* check that there is enough space on the quilt for the completed pattern before starting to stitch. I didn't do this and was stitching across the batting.
 |
| oops |
This did have a happy ending as I realised that the pattern was quite interesting so stitched over the unpicked shapes but within the star.
 |
| partial stitching |
I then needed to repeat this on the other star and realised that I could stitch until I reached the outline stitching of the star, backtrack, turn the ruler stitch the next segment.
Now to fill in the rest of the space and work on getting the stitch length even ...
See here for Westalee's video for using this foot.
Wednesday, April 15, 2015
Monday, April 13, 2015
Visitors
While the Kereru (wood pigeon) is common in our area, we can go for weeks and not have any in our garden. At the moment they are frequent visitors with their two favourite food items being the dry seed pods on the Kowhai and Tree Lucerne flowers.
The Tree lucerne in our garden is a splindly bush and hardly a tree. The Kereru manage a range of gravity defying moves to get to the flowers. These city Kereru are also rather chubby!
The Tree lucerne in our garden is a splindly bush and hardly a tree. The Kereru manage a range of gravity defying moves to get to the flowers. These city Kereru are also rather chubby!
Friday, April 10, 2015
Out and About - Pukeahu National War Memorial Park
During the Easter break we checked out Wellington's newest park - Pukeahu National War Memorial Park. It officially opens later in the month.
The park creates more space around the National War Memorial including the Carillon, the Hall of Memories, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and The Man with the Donkey. With room for memorials from other countries such as Australia.
The extra space came from lowering the road and building the Arras tunnel.
The Australian memorial features 15 red sandstone columns symbolising Australia's 'Red Centre'. Behind are eucalypt trees (still quite small) that represent the Australian landscape. See here for a more detailed description.
To gain an understanding of the significance of the various items in the gardens, including the 'Hinerangi' sculpture, see here.
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| National War Memorial |
The park creates more space around the National War Memorial including the Carillon, the Hall of Memories, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and The Man with the Donkey. With room for memorials from other countries such as Australia.
The extra space came from lowering the road and building the Arras tunnel.
 |
| view into Arras Tunnel |
 |
| new open space |
 |
| Tomb of the Unknown Warrior |
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| 'The Man with the Donkey' sculpture by Paul Walshe |
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| view into the Hall of Memories |
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| looking up to Hall of Memories ceiling |
The Australian memorial features 15 red sandstone columns symbolising Australia's 'Red Centre'. Behind are eucalypt trees (still quite small) that represent the Australian landscape. See here for a more detailed description.
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| new plantings |
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| Australian memorial |
 | ||
| 'Hinerangi' sculpture by Darcy Nicholas' with cloak detail |
Wednesday, April 8, 2015
Saturday, April 4, 2015
Places of Anzac
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| Places of Anzac |
The 100 or so quilts will then travel to the other Craft & Quilt fairs in Australia and also Hamilton and Christchurch in September.
The quilt measures 25cm by 25cm.
The fabric is rust dyed and the letters are stencilled with paintsticks. As the letters are quite small I've only used trapunto on the large letters - the ones that spell 'Anzac'.
The five places are locations on the Gallipoli Peninsula that bear some meaning to the Anzac campaign.
Wednesday, April 1, 2015
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