Deadlines met ....

Last day of July and I just managed to meet two main deadlines for this month....

One is the Natures Journey SAL....  hosted by Chookyblue and Susan 

When Chookyblue visited she commented on the flowers so I did change the shape of them to fussy cut the fabric (I had already sewn one but I decided to unpick and redo it) I'd forgotten the ladybug's head so I had to quickly do that last night.

It's lovely seeing the different variations... you can see them HERE at the SAL blog if you are interested

What a lot of work in this block... but it will be a lovely centre for the quilt

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For July's FMQ challenge hosted by Darlene at QuiltShopGal, I chose Option 1, a tutorial by Paula Reid using a  stencil design. We were lucky that we could download and trace the design, which is what I did.

this fitted just right in the centre of my block which I had bordered with a light sage green fabric

keeping the tracing theme I found a border in my patterns so traced that out too

I then 'matchsticked' around the edge and centre of the medallion and echo quilted the border

those tiny lines took ages....

I have joined the front and back with a darker binding ....  

(I think it could have done with a peeper of the same as the centre is a bit washed out....

.. my favourite envelope back

... and here it is stuffed and ready for use....

Darlene hosts the FMQ challenges and I am learning lots and trying out some different techniques... great tutorials and ideas.  Thank you Darlene, and thank you Paula for your time and great tutorial.

Righto, now I have caught up on those deadlines I have another... I managed to overdo it on the washing and now there is a pile of folding ironing to be sorted...

Have a lovely day...

Sampler blocks and a Foxy Bag .....

We worked on some more of Sylvia's Bridal Sampler yesterday...

The colours are just not true .. they look far more washed out than they really are

Anvil (14 pieces)

Friendship Star (13 pieces)

Diamond Friendship (5 pieces)

Puss in the Corner (19 pieces)

Wedding Ring 2 (19 pieces)

instead of making templates (when these are needed) I traced onto freezer paper and then iron that on the fabric and cut around it... stops any slipping

Yankee Puzzle (16 pieces)

These are my blocks together - total piece counts so far is 253 in 16 x 6"  blocks

86 pieces today - 6 blocks

Meanwhile I have finished the project with the foxes... a couple of people picked up I was making a bag....

... lots of treasure can fit in here....

This pattern is the Stable Bag by The Village Quilt Shop....

had to do piping, turning tubes and filling them with piping cord... and even cut my own dowelling and screwed in the eye screws (Hubz was out of town and I needed it straight away!)... lots of new techniques for me in this one.

Righto, Gotto Go... July deadlines to meet..... 

Flimsy done...

Quite a long time ago I made most of this quilt top... it was actually 'scrap' strips that were given to me and I added some plain white fabric...

Border fabric was purchased ...

... these were added on at the retreat....

it's a good single bed size and I think will be fun to quilt....

I also fixed up the one block from Sylvia's sampler to fit in with my other colours...

.. and I started playing with these fun fabrics my DD (UK) gave to me at Christmas....

... lots of fiddly little bits to put together....

Righto, Gotto Go... foxes to play with....

Photo Heavy week.....

Instead of doing our Sylvia's Bridal Sampler this week we went off to Warwick, a country town about an hour's drive for us to the Jumpers and Jazz festival

The trees are decorated amazingly... we just didn't get to see them all

I felt much safer when I saw this sign outside a cafe ...

...another favourite tree art ...

.. and another done in wool felting... just amazing

...even a wallaby...

.... the first premier of Queensland dressed for the occasion too in a beany and scarf...

This lovely lady showed us her amazing Hardanger work and gave us a quick lesson too

... those centre knots are quite easy (so I am told by her!!)

... this lovely lady was making lace.. those hands move so fast I felt giddy!!!

.. this is the lace piece she was making...

... and there was vintage dresses with lace on display....

... just lovely....

... these were at the museum and we found the pub...

... apparently my family was quite important and I'm pleased to say Hubz carries on the beer tradition

(apparently Hore is a herb)

... and we found sewing machines... these are the other ladies  gals I am sewing Sylvia's sampler with

... this machine was just like the hand one I learnt to sew on (I wanted to hide it in my handbag and take it home!)

... after all that we got afraid of being kidnapped....

... we even got our picture taken by a reporter for the Queensland Country Life....

... then on Thursday a message to say "We are coming to Toowoomba" from Chookyblue, so quick messages to Kris and dinner was planned at a local pub.... We also got cajolled into a game of Trivia which we won... girls vs boys and we were the only table of people there!!

Widget came to stay overnight this weekend and thought a walk up to the lookout behind our house was a good idea....

.. that hills is steep (my calves today attest to that!!)

... a real wallaby seen on the way up ...

.. and beautiful view to enjoy.  It was fun showing Widget the landmarks and we could see our house from there too...

Righto, Gotto Go.... do you notice I didn't get much sewing done????