The T shirt quilt is done .....

It is the end of February already and since it is a leap year we got an extra day.... thank goodness!!  I am always happy to be given an extra day

I worked out that if I can do 2 of my UFO's a month I will get through them this year - I wonder if I will keep up... anyway.. this is my second UFO for February and I can include it in my Sew It's Finished list

I finished putting all the blocks together a while ago and last week I did the quilting (takes me a few days as I only do a bit at a time) and the binding was stitched down this weekend whilst I watched some cricket....

An all over meander.... .the T shirt fabric isn't the best to practice FMQ - but it will hold together...

I can't pass by spots or stripes on binding.. and this one had all the right colours....

I know youngersonthirdborninthefamily will love it....

it is soft and cuddly .....

I used one of the T shirt printed pieces off the back for my label... rather amused me....

It will be off to it's new home soon....

Thanks to Dawn and Wendy and all the members there at Sew It's Finished for the motivation to finish off our UFO's 

Dawn sent me these lovely stitcher toys  (since I finished lots of UFO's last year she thought I might like to start something new!!) - lovely - I have lots and lots to play with now... thanks Dawn - these are perfect and so sweet of you ....

Righto... Gotta Go... March prep work to be done....

Tuesday Treasure - our pet

Melody has suggested we share a bit about our pets for Tuesday Treasures....

if you like you can join us - just link up HERE or just go and read stories of other people's treasures

Hubz and I found Tarka at the pound... so we don't actually know how old she is but we have had her for 8 years .....

Like me she is a reluctant model....

"you know these colours don't suit me"

"no treat... no pictures"

"BORING" 

"did you know dogs have menopause symptoms too?"

Tarka is not overindulged.. she just needed her own place mat (mug rug??)....

Like me her waist is thickening.....

I think she is a bit of terrier (she is a natural hunter - which is not good for the lizards I love, but she has caught mice and even killed a snake), looks like a bit of corgi in there - an incredibly sweet tempered girl who I think may have been abused before we got her - she has a 'thing' about banging doors and won't go through one if you are still holding it .....

and while we are on the subject of Melody (the TT hostess) I am doing her free BOM and this is February's section done .....

... and how the two months go together .... taking shape nicely 

Righto.... Gotto Go.... 270 of these little half square triangles for squaring up....

Have a great week.. full of treasures....

Stitching ALong ....

I have done the February blocks for the Some Kind of Wonderful StitchALong - this is such a lovely quilt designed by Anni Downs and it is such fun making it with lots of other poeple and seeing it in different colours ... you can see them HERE

we have ......

and .....

and......

I have added them onto the other blocks I have done....

and made the border that will fit along the bottom of the quilt...

Righto... gotta go.... March blocks to prepare.....

Loving this quilt

True Blue.....

This year I joined up with a merry gang of birthday fat quarter swappers.... so of course... it being my turn last week I received my squishies in the mail box.....

I had said I would like to build up a collection of blue of white fabrics 

~ oooops, there are a few extra's in there when I put my blue's together ~

Thank-you so much birthday swapping ladies - perfect picks

It's very exciting - I now own a 'blue stash'

My daughter made a lovely cake but I needed help with the candle

Dinner was excellent (even if I say so myself!):

Pan fried fresh Tasmanian salmon on a bed of rocket with turkish bread and wilted courgette

I am in a French inspired swap group hosted by Cheryl and she sent this cutest fob this week

There is a lovely Lavender sachet pattern HERE - I might do one of those for the swap?

I did finish this cute Rosalie Quinlan design ornament 

for my 1 Christmas Item a Month

It's not too late to join Narelle's challenge - no pressure, make one if you can and showcase it 

or pop along HERE for some great ideas

Righto, gotta go.... cheese to make, scones to bake ....

There are No Secrets .......

I usually hope that if I ignore 'the day' I will not get any older... it hasn't worked so far but I continue to resolutely keep trying.... you never know I might be successful one day....

BUT

.... some people shout it out from their blogs!!

..... and others remember the date

..... facebook has a reminder for your list of friends

.... precious childrens phone/skype

.... grandies sing birthday songs

..... Mr Postie arrives with lots of squishy envelopes

.... invitations for chocolate cake and tea

..... a son that finds a video clip

The fun started on Wednesday when Michelle and Maree visited the area so Kris and I met up with them....

we had some tea and then went shopping... then we were exhausted and hungry so had to sit for a while and have some snacks.....

Michelle, Me, Maree, Kris

I hadn't met Michelle and Maree before and it was so fun meeting fellow bloggers - we could have been the rainbow lorikeets there was such a lot of chattering happening..... they are just like I had imagined....  AWESOME

..... they came bearing lots of lovely gifts.... thank you so much ....

fabric, fudge, patterns, notelets, strawberry bag, cards

I felt I was among amazing company - they are all designers - and great ones too so I have to tell you a little about them and I hope you can visit to say G'day....

Maree has recently been published for the first time in a magazine (see HERE) I saw that bag in real life and it is AWESOME.... I will be looking out for that issue

Michelle is the drawer of stitcheries and has recently printed a new set that can be made into a number of different small gifts (see HERE) I have one of those - lucky me.... and they are AWESOME too

Kris has a new bag with a Paris theme (see HERE) which uses up some charm squares - it is AWESOME and I will need one I think!

I have used this pattern before and I loved it and feel it is perfect for those large prints that you want to keep as a lovely picture so I made these up as gifts....

the hand stitching is effective for a border ......

The pattern is from a Handmade magazine and is by Meredith Harmer.

I have a pile of pretty blue fabrics to show you next time from birthday fat quarter swappers - a lovely way to grow a 'stash'

Commenting ..........

I do love that blogger is free for us to use ... aren't we so lucky?

I have seen several blog posts about the double word verification..... it is a bit tricky sometimes - I can do it ...... eventually... but it has doubled my time at the computer... which means halved my time at stitching!!!!  I don't mind if it eats into my housework time.... but not the STITCHING!!!!

Anyways I thought I would let you know that I have had my Word Verification off for some time - no problems... I promise..... 

I love it when a rainbow is in the perfect place.... those bushes in the front are just a few metres from my front door - the little yellow lantern flowers are just loved by little birds - the bush vibrates with them

So the pot of gold at the rainbow is that Blogger does have a spam filter - Allie tells you about it in THIS POST (she explains much better than I do) but because of that we can turn off the word verification and then go to the Comments and delete spam before it comes to the email....

How to do it....

Just pop by at Robyn's place HERE.... her instructions are so clear....

Done... easy at that....

Don't forget to empty out your Spam box every now and then .... I forgot for a while and there were 42 in there this morning.... so it does work as these didn't appear on my blog or come to my mailbox - but they do need deleting!  

Just thought I would let you know... in case you want to make it easier for us old biddies!!

I really love the interactive side of blogging so I hope I can keep up

It is wonderful to have blog friends from all over the world and lucky me was sent a lovely parcel from Sammie from Bears at Home - over in Alabama - I have been reading Sammie's blog for some time and I love her stories and journal entries.... it is quite special when we have that insight into people's lives - and she has the cutest bear family

It was such a box full of pretty allsorts... can you see the scarf... it just drapes so beautifully.. and there is pretty paper plates with matching napkins, Christmas socks (I have NEVER had special Christmas socks! - oh what fun!!), scented candles, home made washcloths in such fun variegated yarn - I love them - and a book to make great cards ... and lollies (but shhhh... I didn't share with Hubz)

Thanks Sami..... such fun

Righto... Gotta Go..... Blogs to read....

Tuesday Treasure

I have sort of shown you this treasure before....

My Temporary Design Wall

and I used to hang it up on the cupboard doors.... but it has been modified by my tall and handsome treasure and now I think it is deserving of a place in my Tuesday Treasures 

So we have an ordinary cupboard set in the wall..... (my office/sewing room is a small bedroom)

These are the large hooks we brought and put them at the top of the cupboard... they are the temporary stick ones so if you can't use nails these are perfect......  they need to be big enough to hold whatever dowling you use...

 on my $2 cheap fuzzy lined plastic tablecloth I made a small envelope hem for the dowel to fit through...

so the hooks need to be far enough apart to accommodate the width of the tablecloth.....

hang it up and there is your design wall..... I just hand press (gently) the pieces on... when it is large heavier pieces I may need pins but I have had a whole (lap) quilt on there no problem.... you are only restricted by the size of your wall......

I roll it up and keep it in a corner when I am finished.... I didn't consider the bulk when it is rolled up but if you  want you can have more sticky out hooks and it could stay up there rolled up like a roman blind....

This is a very cheap DIY temporary design wall.... 

~ I like cheap because it means I can buy more fabric

~ I like DIY because it means I can give tall and handsome instructions 

~I like temporary because I usually need to get something out that cupboard and I don't have a spare wall

It really has made sorting blocks and thinking about them a lot easier

Tuesday Treasures  is hosted by the gorgeous Melody.... speaking of whom.... have a look what she sent me the other day

a lavender bag with this amazing felt flower on top..... - with some pretty charm squares

 I just love, love, love it..... thanks Melody....

Righto Gotta Go... BOM's to sew