Life on this side of the world has been plagued with load shedding. Sadly it is NOT the losing of weight kind!. On a daily basis we have no electricity for between 2 to 4 hours and this has been causing havoc on my sewing machine time. So if you have been following me for a while you must have noticed I have been knitting a lot, well now you know why.
During the time that I have had electricity, I sewed up a simple quilt using mainly Kaffe Fasset-, one or two Amy Butler- and Brandon Mably fabrics.
I must admit I’m a bit of a Kaffe Fasset “groupie”. Looking at my book collection I have about 10 of his books and of these 2 are signed copies. I had the privilege of meeting him at the Birmingham Quilt festival in England on two occasions.
Needless to say I have a good collection of his fabric. I pulled out 21 fat quarters, not using any of his patterns but using my throw pattern from this blog, I managed to make a 1.8m x 2.10m (70½” x 82½”) I found a 5m (4.5yards) piece in my stash and used it as the backing fabric. I quilted it with straight diagonal lines and sewed the binding on using my sewing machine.
Well I’m off to go exercise, hopefully I can “load shed” some of the fat kind. 😉
Love
NikkiM
Buzy Day 
Time to get a treadle machine … your legs will get exercise, quilts will get made all without power.
Love this idea!
The biggest problem with that 6-8:30 evening load shedding is getting enough light to see what you’re doing.
Yes that one gets me as well!
In the United States, they call the load shedding BROWN OUTS. Our utility company tell us to conserve during PEAK times. I tend to be cooking supper at that time, so try not to use other appliances like the oven or the cooktop; both electric. That is when it is time to fire up the BBQ grill and cook outside. I agree that the treadle is the way to go so you can continue to stitch and work out! I saw a post recently that you can purchase a new SINGER treadle in Mexico; so they are still making them. I have 2 vintage ones in my dining room. I really must try to use them. They are great pieces of art in my life. I love your quilt and the way you quilted it. It is “different” from the typical cross hatching that I tend to do. It has a modern flair the way you have alternated the double lines of stitching. Very nice. Of course, you can’t go wrong with Kaffee Fasset
We seem to go back to our grandmothers time. The treble sewing machine is something I’m keen to investigate. Thanks for your comment I loved reading it.
Love
Nikki
My sister’s husband converted her electric machine to a treadle. It can be done, as long as the machine is mechanical, not electronic. A clever electrical engineer can do this and will probably take payment in quilts. Win win for everyone..
Love your quilts and I too love Kaffe – I am told Brandon Mably is a very distant cousin of mine we spelled it Mabberly. Laughed when I was tod as I had a few of his books on the shelves!
Thanks for visiting. We have a quilt festival in July and Brandon is one of the teachers and I’m doing one of his classes.
this is so vibrant – I love it ^^
I instantly spotted the Kaffe prints, as a few of them are in my collection too. Lovely quilt, you’ve made good use of your time! We have solar panels on the roof, sufficient to power everything we use in the daytime, so I tend to do all my ‘powered’ sewing then, and save hand stitching for the evening, under a bright work lamp. Of course, if you lose power in the evening, that doesn’t help!
you have given me a few things to think about.
What a pain. Yes I think a treadle machine would work well 🙂
It’s a pain. I’m on the look out for a treadle machine.
From a fellow South African, don’t we just know it. I do miss the proper light to be able to craft in the evenings. The lights from lamps, candles, and a small generator is just not sufficient for good work. 🙂
Sorry, no idea what this load shedding is Nikki?
We have a great power shortage so every day our electricity get switch off for a period.
Why? What’s caused this?
Bad planning and maintenance.