Spoilt Dog Quilts: October 2012

Saturday, October 6, 2012

Wounded finger and Leafs me happy blog hop schedule

I must apologise to the organiser of this blog hop as I have not been posting the links every day to the Leafs me happy other bloggers. But I do have a good excuse. In June of last year - 15 months ago - I tripped over a dog mat and broke three fingers and more bones in my right hand. Just under 3 weeks ago now I had the third operation on the most badly broken finger (third finger - the one that you use so often) and I am supposed to have that hand up in a sling 99% of the time. This operation was to release the tendons in that finger as they had contracted a lot, keeping the finger bent at a sharp angle and curling under the other fingers. I am technically left-handed but am way way way more right-handed.

It is very difficult to do things one-handed hence my lack of posting the links to the other bloggers taking part in this blog hop.

To put things into perspective though, when I broke my hand so badly, whilst this hand-healing journey has been very difficult, I still have my hand and I don't have a life-threatening illness. I happened to be reading a very interesting book at the time of my accident called "No Time for Fear" by a fellow Australian, Paul de Gelder. Paul was an Australian Navy Clearance diver who was attacked by a shark in Sydney Harbour a couple of years ago, whilst on a training exercise. Some would liken Navy clearance divers to US Seals ... Paul wasn't actually supposed to be in the water at the time he was - he was helping out another diver. The shark attack caused Paul to have one of his arms and legs amputated and dramatically changed his life.

Paul is a very inspirational young man and I would recommend you read his book. It has recently been published in the US and is also available around the world. Here's a link to his website: http://pauldegelder.com/ . Paul is one tough cookie. Plus with my husband being a Vietnam Veteran and ex-service, there is that link to a fellow ex-serviceperson ...

So you see, I have nothing to really complain about (well I do tell my hand and finger that is "stupid" sometimes because it just won't do what I want it to do). Reading Paul's book put the whole accident into perspective for me. One has to be grateful for what one has. Plus I do have a very supportive husband. He doesn't do everything for me (partlly because I don't ask for much help and he is a make and a husband - vbg - and so does not see the help I need sometimes ... ) but he is there.

So here are the links to the other bloggers taking part:

Monday 1

Fuzzy Hat Quilter

The Cuddle Quilter

Quilts My Way

Country Cabin Thoughts and Crafts

Dream quilt create

Why-Knot-Kwilt

Needled Mom
Quilter in Motion

Tuesday 2

A Passion For Applique

Annie Oak Designs

Michelle's Romantic Tangle

CherrysPrairiePrimitives

Krislovesfabric

Scrapbook-ChickADoodle

Wednesday 3

Selina Quilts
The Learning Curve~Quilts and Such

Thursday 4

Debby Kratovil Quilts

Patchouli Moon Studio

Freemotion by the River

Ramblings of a Quilter

Deborah

Gracie Oliver Arts

Friday 5

Insanity Defense

Michelle May and the Bunnies

Sparrow In Flight

Quilted Delights

Quilting With a Marmalade Cat

Traveling Quilter

A Stitch in Time

Cherry Blossoms
Tea Time Creations

Moose Stash Quilting

Stitchin By The Lake

Monday 8

Feathered Nest Studio

Grandmama's Stories

From This to That

Little Mama Hen

Quilt Monster in my Closet

Tuesday 9

Home Designs by Amanda

Quilt n Queen

Polka dot classic

Moonbeams in a Jar

Stitch, stitch, stitch

Sew Me Something Good

quiltingbydawn

My collection of Things
Jessisca

Wednesday 10

Quilter in the Closet

Cindy's Crafty Creations

Hill Valley Quilter

Count it *all* JOY!!!
Rose Creations

Sew We Quilt

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Leafs me happy blog hop

I am a little early in posting my entry quilt for this blog hop but tomorrow, October 4, DH (dear husband) and I have an early trip gathering mushroom compost of all things from the Snshine Coast,, to take to Brisbane for my father's garden!

My entry for this blog hop is a row by row exhange that I took part in with the Southern Cross Quilters Yahoo group back in 1999. I sewed the rows together to make the quilt which I then had quilted back in 2000. But the quilt still wasn't finished until 2005 when I finally finally finished the sewing the binding on! That was in the "old days" when I sewed the binding on all of my quilts by hand. I had the quilt machine-quilted by a long arm quilter and I cannot even remember who did the quilting for me!

Here's my quilt:

Sorry about the photo but the quilt is a large queen size quilt. I always tend to make my bed quilts larger than the measurements for the size bed that I am making it for as I like my quilts to hang over the size of the bed a fair way (but not to the floor either). I've been battling a migraine as well today, hence the photos have not been trimmed soyou get to see my clothesline as well as the quilt!

My row that I made is the row of maple leaf blocks which is the fifth row:

When I sent my row away, I sent it away with the feature fabric which is the fabric on the outside border of the quilt. Here's a close-up of the border fabric which I adore, especially since it has my favourite colour, purple, in it:

When I first received my rows back when everyone had added theirs, I was shocked to see the blue that other quilters had added in to their rows. I so thought then that blue was not an autumn/fall colour and I literally did, shed some tears over what I thought was an addition to my quilt that had wrecked it. However, everyone that saw my rows thought differently and I eventually realised that the blue actually lifted the quilt and made it not quite so dull, as sometimes autumn colours can be. Then, by chance, I came across the flowery fabric in the inside border of the fabric that contained autumn colours and ... blue. And to me, now, this quilt is one of my favourites!

Here's the label on the back of the quilt and the signature squares that everyone sent with their rows:

One last photo of my quilt laying on my lounge:

Here's the list of other bloggers for Thursday 4 October (I did say I was early):