I'd love your thoughts......

Some time ago Helen put out a call for stitchers to participate in a lovely quilt project..... lots of people recieved predrawn blocks and thread to make up the stitcheries....

The blocks need to be sewn into a quilt so I have been receiving lots of lovely parcels in the post....

have a look:

They are beautifully stitched using Helen's special Hugs n Kisses hand dyed thread.

I have several ideas on putting these together..... whilst wanting to do something pretty special I also would like to make the stitcheries the focal points in the quilt.....

Most of the stitcheries arrived with red fabrics to be used to finish the quilt:

A) a disappearing 9 patch.....

You need to pretend these blues are a range of dark and medium reds.....

with the stitcheries I have received plus some sashing around the edge

approx - 40" x 57"

or

B) add some pinwheels 

and get a bigger quilt 57" square

or

C)  with a few more pinwheels in there

maybe 57" x 75"

OR

D) blocks

(there would be a wider range of reds used)

please use your imagination to correct the double up in the centre

this would make up to be a 45" square (including a sashing edge)

borders are also great

alternating dark with medium reds

to make a 50" square quilt

E) single borders

or

F) double borders

I would really love your thoughts on this..... I am nervous about working with other peoples beautiful stitcheries..... personally I think any of these would work but I'd love to hear your honest opinions....

THANKS

Lizards and Gecko's

I have small collection of lizards.... these are a few of my 'treasures' for this week....

This handsome fellow has appeared on my blog before... my SIL made it by wool felting.... beautifully done and clever beads etc added to finish it off .....

This is the largest of my lizards.. I left the light switch in the picture to indicate his size

Quite a handsome wooden fella given to me by my daughter

These are two beautiful ceramic gecko's who were given to me by a friend 

I found this stocky chap at a craft fair.... he sits at my kitchen counter

this rusty old character came with me from Zimbabwe - a friend of mine ran a little business making these

This is a Tuatara from New Zealand (a reptile but not considered a lizard)

Made of metal... good and solid

MIL brought me this handsome lizard from Zimbabwe

beautifully made with wire and beads

Melody is hosting Tuesday's Treasures

and I'm off  HERE to see what others have picked out today

she has gone a bit Gothic today and found some gargoyles

.... whiltst widget is having his snooze

I'm doing a bit of experimenting today with this....

any guesses

here's a clue

Wishing you all a Treasureful Tuesday

Creating Friendships and Pincushions

I have spotted the development of some of the crazy pincushions.......

Dianne's base

  has had some work by Roslyn

Jacquelines has been worked on by Marina

Laura's began it's transformation

with Dianne 

Marina's base went to Sue's for some embellishment

Melody added some pretties to Roslyn's base

and Sheila's base

 has spent some time with DeeDee

and I made some additions to Val's base

Such fun seeing their transformations happening

Wonderful work and so many different ideas

Well done everyone

 

Blogger Friend Birthdays...

One thing I like about Facebook is it automatically keeps a little reminder of 'friends' birthdays.... for someone like me who usually doesn't know the date today it is great

Donna at Brynwood Needleworks has let me know it is Shell's (of Raspberry Rabbits) birthday today (25th)

... if you don't know Shell she is a bunny lover of note.... and also does lovely stitchery patterns and has a fun blog to read....  she is one of those people I feel I would quite happily spend an afternoon with and have a lot of fun......

Donna is hosting a link-up HERE so this is especially for you Shell......

This is a little stitchery I have recently done inspired by the green fabric next to it

"Happy Birthday Shell"

When do Red and Green and Copper mix together?

When Robyn's Colourful Friday, Allie's Christmas Through the Year and Narelles One Christmas Item a month combine....

(I am trying to get 2 christmas goodies done each month so I joined both Christmas challenges!!)

Robyn chose Copper for this Friday...... I did battle to find much but I have come up with this small collage...

These gift tags are made from the fabric I won last year from Cheryl 

I added iron on pellon and a plain backing

~ recyclable gift tags ~

The other Christmas Item is a tote bag which I posted about earlier this week HERE

all this Christmas talk has made me think of glazed ham and trifle

~ but I don't have any ~

Best wishes for a lovely weekend whatever you do

This is what I am playing with

Finishes

On Tuesdays is our small craft group which meets in the local church..... great venue - I am often child-minding grandie#4 (22 months) and he has a wonderful time kicking the ball and driving cars through the pews whilst we stitch and chat.

We are often looking for things to learn and make and this year I suggested a stitchery quilt which could then be made into a wall-hanging for the church

an appropriate BOM from last year HERE was used

(Paula has a lovely Home Sweet Home stitchery this year)

There was an existing box of scraps and we were determined to use them up

Different people made up the patches and I sewed it together - using entirely what they had available except for the wadding

A group effort is rather fun

This is a finished Christmas Item - which is a UFO from 2 years ago

I made the holly block when I was practicing machine applique using 'invisible thread'

and had the fabric ready cut

a bit of piecing and quilting

The finches seem happy to see in the Autumn

there are 29 in these branchs over the bird-feeder

 there were lots more in the bath and at the seeds on the ground

I never get tired of watching them

Hope you can watch some happiness this week