Pumpkin Time....

This months FMQ challenge hosted by Darlene at QuiltShopGal with guest tutor Lori Kennedy from The Inbox Jaunt  features Pumpkins...

I have followed Lori for some time and had great tips and ideas from her so this was fun for me to do...

My printer (supposedly wireless) has decided to resign duties so I drew out the provided pumpkin pattern freehand (luckily it is fairly easy shapes!)

... firstly I went over my pumpkin with a darker thread just to highlight it....

... then with a lighter thread I simply had fun using a number of Lori's filler ideas....

Even though I am scared of spiders I added one - he looks a friendly spider!!! the spider is another of Lori's quilting ideas...

I also sandwiched the pieces for the back of the cushion....

here it is finished and bound....

.. with the back done in my favourite envelope style (not too straight lines!!)

QuiltShopGal hosts heaps of things you can join in and Lori has heaps of free tutorials on her blog ... worth popping around to both of them ....

They really are worth doing... I am learning heaps each month and trying out things I would probably never do...

This week the Sampler girls and I finished a few more blocks....  fiddly blocks...

Night and Moon (29 pieces)

Road to Oklahoma (20 pieces)

we also caught up with this foundation pieced block

Crown of Thorns (41 pieces)

for homework we had to finish another which was a combination of foundation piecing and lots of Y seams.... not easy to do those on tiny pieces....

.. these corner tulip blocks are 2 1/2".....

.. there are a few wobbly bits a but it is such a sweet block - but I will only be doing one of them!!

Here is a picture of all of our blocks together this week

such different colours and the blocks end up looking quite different... and yet they go together rather prettily - we are having such fun

.. this is a new bird visitor ... a pair have started coming regularly for breakfast..... 

'Little Corella' ... they are quite shy so a bit of a blurry shot....

I also had a lovely surprise dropped off by the postie this week

Dear Cheryll from Gone Stichin' had a birthday and gives out a gift!! and I won!!

Look at all this loveliness... buttons, fabric, pins, thread, notebook, purse and pin helper (just perfect for me as I pin my quilts for quilting)

This week Cheryll has not Gone Stitchin' but Gone Cruising! happy holiday my friend and thank you so much for a lovely present

Righto, Gotto Go... new toys to play with ......

Lots Going On ......

We spent a couple of days and a night at the coast.  Great friends from the old country were visiting and we went to meet up with them on the Sunday . Hubz had some business on Monday so he left me in the unit for some peace and quiet with this view.....

... of course I found something to do.....

... and watched a cargo ship go sailing past.....

Then sewing with the Tuesday Sampler girls we got these blocks done....

Swamp Patch  (25 pieces)

Steps to the Altar (24 pieces)

Sarah's Favourite (32 pieces)

Windblown Square (32 pieces)

I've missed out some pics from other weeks but we are now up to 59 (out of 140) blocks and a total count of 1227 incy wincy pieces put together....

Then I worked with corflute, cotton wadding and duct tape......

... to make my nice new big design board - it's in 4 pieces so I can take down and add to it as I please....

... this is the row by row quilt I was doing the last bit of applique on.... that's a top finished now.  Thanks to Kris who passed on the rows to me - I love it

... I also spent some time getting to know my new sweetie pie....

... and ended off  the week with a wonderful workshop at The Quilters Angel making this tuffet....

... half way through I got hopefull about nice big cups being needed for a new bra....

I used fabrics from a William Morris range... classic and timeless I think.  Lovely day and so nice coming home with a beautiful finished item...

In the meantime I managed to wipe out my 'Feedly' list, which is what I rely on for my reading of all my favourite blogs so I am slowly rebuilding that.  Grrrrrr, I prefer spending time reading, commenting and sewing!

This weekend so far I have helped Hubz empty and clean out the very humungous slimey mosquito wriggly filled fish pond we inherited.  You don't need a slimey picture ....... but one day I'll show you it all fixed up with sweet little fishies in it... actually I think we could probably raise a barramundi or two in it!

Righto, Gotta Go..... I would like a quiet restful day - and I hope you have one too....xx

FNSI and a chance to meet Shrek.....

Thanks again dear Wendy for hosting FNSI.....

I pretended everything was in it's rightful place and spent the day sewing ...

It's hard to see the lines but I stencilled out a whole lot of mini clams to quilt the background on this block

I also watched a DVD and learnt to do this free motion technique of 'couching' ... soooo fun although I need a lot more practice as there are lots of places I missed the yarn.




Not being a knitter I am going to have to stock up on yarn now!!

In the evening I went off and met with Kris and others at The Quilters Angel where I carried on with the applique of these angels and stars - not too much more to do now

of course there were treats to eat but I didn't take pics so you will just have to imagine apple, currants, cake, sticky sauce, caramel icecream, pretty plate, pretty fork, silence in the room

One thing that was on my 'must have' list for our new home was a larger area to do quilting.... this house has a 'formal lounge' as well as the open plan living area and the room is perfectly placed and nice and big for my playroom....

Hubz prioritized sorting a pinning table for me (for some reason he feels I shouldn't always be taking over the dining table!!) and I wanted it to have storage too...

After looking at a few places we found 4 of the same sets of drawers - so they would all be at the same height (I would have liked to have had a combination of drawers and shelves but that was going to be heaps more $)

we also purchased and had a melamine board cut to size (1.2 x 2m)

Saturday we put the flat packs together over rather a lot of laughing and silliness

(flat packs work as a couple if the apprentice (hubz) listens to the boss who reads instructions!)

.... we went to bed tired but happy ....

...the next day the frames were all placed upside down and attached to a base to provide stability (I was also going to put wheels on and this was going to help in attaching them)

.. however, I realised I had misjudged the height and decided against the wheels... a bit of heave ho and a few bruises later we turned it right side up and put the drawers in....

Shrek is a lovely beast and that is how this table got its name (and the fact he lives with Princess Fiona) ....2 sets of drawers on both sides and a gap in the middle for storing those odd shape things.  I already have a big scrap bin on one side.  It's very heavy so it's not going to shift anywhere either.

I have some trim to put on the raw chip board sides which that will stop it catching on precious fabric.

Its a perfect size and height for both pinning and cutting... this table is going to be so very useful....

Blog friend Helen is having a significant birthday later this year and has been collecting tea pots for a special quilt and I was happy to be able to make one for her

(my picture is very murky - the actual item is a bit brighter!)

It's going to be fun seeing her quilt come together with all different shapes and styles of teapots

Righto, Gotto Go.... I need to find a place I can create a yarn stash!

Woolen things.....

As you know the gig in swaps is you get a present and you give a present.... I showed my gorgeous gifts from gorgeous Peg yesterday ....

Peg was holding on to opening her gifts until my parcel had arrived so now I can show what I made for her....

This is a Scandanavian style bag which I made with felted wool blanketing

there is applique and stitching on the front as you can see

I wanted the felt firmer than it was so I quilted it with wadding and backing so it's quite thick

.... I had fun with the feather quilting on the back....

I have never quilted on wool like this (I have always gone around any applique) and I was very pleased with the effect it made...

... the hardest part was stitching the two sides together... basically two wools, two waddings and two linings so I used one of those heavy duty curved needles.

.. with persuasion it can stand on its own to be used for whatever Peg fancies.

I added a few useful sewing things as well as a small supply of my upcycled blanket felt... it's thicker than what you purchase in the shops but just as nice to work with if you don't mind the extra texture....

Today I am working on something that Kris passed on to me ... a project she fell out of love with and she know I can't resist

Most of the rows are done and so I am going to applique another row with angels and stars and then sew the rows together....

.. then I think it will be the perfect quilt for in the car for those occasions you just need something soft and warm to snuggle under on a journey.

Righto, Gotto Go... before I play I make myself unpack a box ...