It’s been a long pull. Hundreds of fiddly little pieces to fit together neatly. But it’s done now.
There’s a big bite out of one side where Wheel XII fits between it and the previous completed Wheel VIII. It’s 69cm (about 27 inches) across and contains 253 pieces. Far too many of them are little triangles 4cm high by 2.5 wide…
Wheel XII will be next, so I can start fitting the shapes together. The colours for this next one will be warm: coppers, reds, a bit of black with a lot of gold printing, perhaps a bit of ochre or amber. I want to make a clear contrast between the wheels.
I’m going to be doing a spot of embroidery in the evenings for the next week or so, rather than stitching Steampunk together. I have a SAL date to meet next Sunday, and a bit of progress is required!
And there’s going to be a slight lull in my usual frenetic sewing activity. We are buying a house, a beautiful old Queenslander, and it’s in a bit of a state. Lots of renovation needed, and I am the on-the-spot foreman, scraper, sander, painter, tool hander, flatpack kitchen assembler, tea-maker and phoner of missing tradesmen. It’s nothing I haven’t done before, so I’m not unduly nervous, just eager to get started. There’s beautiful silky oak skirtings, fretwork and door frames to be exposed, sanded and varnished, old windows with stained glass panels to be stripped and repainted, original brass door furniture to be scrubbed and polished, and a whole dreadful, beetle-infested 1940s kitchen to be ripped out and replaced with something a little less hazardous to health – but I’m saving the handles, which are great, still in good shape and rather interesting in design.
I’ll probably be posting on progress on Waking the Sleeping Beauty in due course, but it’s too early still, we don’t own her yet.
I haven’t forgotten my quilts, but they may be going into suspended animation for a while. I have a lot of quotes to organise….
talltalesfromchiconia 
Wow thats just stunning. Its nice to have a change and not a lot of difference to sanding, painting and such to quilting when you think about it 🙂
It’s going to be a lot more strenuous, that’s for sure! But you’re right that it produces a result that’s beautiful to look at in the end.
I love old homes, but my husband is not as much of a fan. I am looking forward to vicariously enjoying your renos.
I am still amazed by your EPP speed. I haven’t even basted that many hexies.
You should send them over here and I’ll crank them out while I’m watching TV! I think one of the fun things about this house will be extensively documenting the state it’s in now (scruffy but surprisingly undamaged) versus what we end up doing with it. Photos soon.
Scruffy but undamaged is the best way to be. You can make it beautiful without having to worry about serious structural problems.
I’m just drooling over the original window catches, silky oak skirtings and over-door fretwork, the 12ft ceilings and almost immaculate tight-fitting floorboards…
Could come over and help with the DIY, ha ha!
Esther
I think you would very, very quickly become tired of stripping crazed paint off skirting boards and door frames, sanding tongue-and-groove wooden walls and scraping ancient paint off door and window hinges. But if you think otherwise, book your ticket! Summer’s coming, it’s going to be lovely and hot, and the beach isn’t far away!
This looks like one of those lovely mosaic designs you see in the middle of posh floors in certain places.
Exciting you have an old house to renovate. Ours is very old and is always ‘a work in progress’ but luckily the previous owners did most of the donkey work and we just have to tickle it now and again or ignore some of the signs of age and hope they don’t get any worse (as I often do with myself!). If there is as much work as you say I don’t know how you will have the time to do any sewing but I’m sure you’ll squeeze a bit in now and again.
I think it will be a question of suspending most sewing action except the hand stuff I can do in the evenings – if I can stay awake. I think this is going to be a project that satisfies my creative urges and will be a good substitute for sewing.
I like how you changed the stars into darts on the edge. Steampunk is going to be fantastic!
You noticed! It’s probably going to become my only sewing project for a while, but that’s OK, it’s a job you can pick up and put down without a problem.
Great news about the house – would love to see before and afters, because I’m sure you going to turn it into magic 🙂
Oh, there’ll be plenty of photos! She’s a beauty and has plenty of original features, without being a show pony, as they say here. One of the first things we have to do is loads of measuring so we can produce an accurate plan of dimensions, location of services, notes about types of window, etc. I think the local architectural salvage yard is going to see quite a lot of us, poking around for windows, doors, handles, etc!
Is it the one near the airport?
Nope, this one’s well away from the flight path! The airport one was already gone by the time I phoned.
Ooh… looking forward to hearing all about it. Fingers crossed it all goes through without a hitch.
Should be OK, we don’t have to sell anything first, which is a bonus, and there are no other buyers in the wings to add pressure. We still have the building and pest inspection reports to come, and they’re the only potential stumbling blocks.
Sounds like a wonderful renovation project 🙂
It’s going to be hard work, but a lot of fun to see Sleeping Beauty woken up!
What a phenomenal quilting project: a long-term commitment, like the house! We’ve done what you’re about to do several times in the past, and now we’re just relaxing in a compact and comfortable modern rental house, which suits are age and decrepitude!
I’m not quite ready to settle for comfort over elegant proportions, fabulous woodwork and high ceilings! Give me 10 or 15 years and it may be a different story! One of the great things about this house is that there’s a beautiful sun room running all down one side, which is MINE for my sewing room. So you see, I have motivation….
our!
Steampunk is looking great – still impressed with your patience with the piecing! The house sounds so lovely – I hope the sale goes through without hitches. I have to live in a modern house, after always being in Victorian ones and I miss the proportions, the details, the character of them (though not the cold! But I’m in UK so it’s a different deal). And it may sound perverse but I enjoy stripping and sanding – watching something transform under your hands.
The cold will probably not be our greatest issue in this new house, but the heat. For such an old house, it’s amazing how little work is needed; the bathroom has to be enlarged a little, the kitchen is feral and will be replaced, and after that, there’s a lot of cosmetic work and about a million power points to be added. The great advantage of the house is that it’s raised, so you can get underneath to do all the wiring and plumbing work without having to carve up the walls. I’ll be posting photos soon!
Exciting to buy a new house! We’re currently looking around as well but will probably end up buying something relatively new.
New houses are very nice and easy to look after, but I love the character and size of this one, and the potential it offered.
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