Not perfection....

I've had a few blocks for Splendid Sampler I have had to catch up on.....

All sorts of techniques and degrees of difficulty with these blocks....

Not managing perfect edges - my dress is not a good fit and my lemon is lumpy ....  I had to unpick parts of my heart ...grrrrrr.  Quite a few of the blocks have not come out the correct size.

The blocks pile is getting impressive - I think I have about 35 of them done now...

I wanted to show you closer work of Widget's quilt for our dog..... I had a pile of squares already cut up so he just chose the ones he wanted and put them up together.  It was impressive to see how confident he was with the machine... the seams were not straight but they hold together.  

He even did the quilting himself.... used decorative stitches and every single line had to be in a different colour and a different pattern......

He learnt how to choose the patterns but I was doing the threading of the maching...

We ended up doing self binding bringing the extra from the backing over to the front.... again a different pattern and colour chosen to sew them down.

I thought he did a great job with it....and experimented a bit too.  It's lovely to see youngsters so brave and keen to create.

I am enjoying the Dutch Treat blocks and working on some in the evenings ....

The sewn part of the blocks is finishing at 3 1/2" to give you an idea of size

5 of Diamonds

It is hard getting those edges done.... they are small and not perfect... threads show in the corners and some fraying is happening....

90 Degrees

Like widgets quilt and my splendid blocks ... perfection is not there but I am learning lots and having fun. 

Righto, Gotto Go ...... I still have some more Splendid Sampler blocks to catch up on and Dutch Treat blocks to trace out...

Have a lovely stitchy week......x

Better late than never.....

The first person I met in real life after I started blogging was Marina....  I felt very brave getting the train into the centre of Melbourne to meet my 'on-line friend'..... it's been a great friendship ever since.  Marina and I do the 'birthday' thing and always make an effort to send a special handmade item.

I was late for her birthday this year... but this is what I made...

Firstly I did some micro quilting using some embroidered cotton on some linen....

... and made it into this case ... its just the right size for a pair of glasses, a mobile phone, car keys and some money/card for when you pop off to the fabric shop!!!

. I made sure everyone knows who it belongs too with this stem stitched monogram on the other side.  I just love those pretty red tops of the clasp.

It's the first time I have done one of those kiss clips for the purse... luckily I have a friendly neighbour who has done lots of these and she gave me a private lesson!!  A bit fiddly with the thickness of the quilting ... let's hope it stays on...

.. I also included a little bookmark made from Anni Downs design .....

'

Happy belated birthday Marina....

Righto, Gotto Go... my house needs cleaning ... then I want to sit by the fire and sew...

This block for Dutch Treat is done....

... now there is only 195 of them left!

It's a dog's life.....

Tarka (our dog) is very fond of Widget (our local living Grandson) , and Widget is very fond of Tarka....

Tarka is a bit portly in her older ages and Widget asked for a good word for 'fat' so that Tarka's feelings wouldn't get hurt!

We have a small tent which Pops and Widget put up on our front lawn and some 'quality' time was spent together....

Later when it got cold they came inside (nothing to do with getting dark and scary!!) 

... and I finished off stitching this block from The Splendid Sampler....

The next day Pops was away for work and it was a very cold wet day outside so Widget decided Tarka needed her own quilt....

a few hours later and Tarka gets tucked in....

... I have pulled out my Dutch Treat blocks to do some work on them....

Yup... cold weather means indoors activities and keeping snug under quilts....

Righto, Gotto Go.....  I wonder if the sun will shine today?

The week that was......

What a week for all sorts of reasons - Hooray for weekends!!!  Even though I don't go out to a 'paid job' I still looooovvvvvveeee weekends.   Maybe because Hubz is home and I can pretend to be the Boss for a couple of days and supervise activities????

This sweet Christmas stitchery (from Michelles Christmas book) was appliqued on some wool and stuffed to make a sweet door hanger.....

I only started with door hangers a couple of years ago (through blogging) and now I love them and want one for each door in the house!!!

Michelles book has a whole bunch of patterns and I want to make most of them.   Do you find pattern books such great value?
(no I don't get freebies to shout out for her, yes, she is a good friend of mine)

I sewed all my Sylvia sampler blocks together on Tuesday.... tidies it up so much and I love how it is looking.....

you can see the extra seams on the sashing as I went around each block and trimmed back because they were not equal sizes....

It is 70 x 92" at the moment and I want to put borders on the sides to widen it up a bit.  I will do squares with left over fabrics alternating with the sashing fabric and then maybe another inch around the whole quilt .... what do you think???

Us three are going to be working simultaneously on getting these finished, The Splendid Sampler blocks and Dutch Treat now??????? hmmmmm we may all be hauled away in straight jackets soon?

I did a bit of secret micro quilting too over the week..... I really love love love doing it but it takes ages for a small piece really... 

... and I have been busy with a few "job's".... I'm so lucky to get pocket money for something I love doing....

Both of these have quite busy fronts and I have done the quilting so it doesn't take away from the lovely fabric - but then we can see it nicely from the back... this makes it a reversable quilt???

... all over informal flowers on a lap quilt....

a larger quilt with more formal pieced blocks so each block has this design and a feathered border around the whole edge

Really lots of fun and a great way to have my mind focussed on loveliness instead of so much of the ugliness that seems to be happening in our world..... 

Righto, Gotto Go, young widget is coming for the night - he wants to make sausage rolls and watch murder mysteries!!!

Have a lovely, lovely weekend doing something you love

Bitsa this and bitsa that.....

Some more of my Splendid Sampler blocks ......

I haven't got them all in here but this is the first 30 I have done....  I quite like the general look these colours are giving....

I have finished the stitching on this sweet little heart from Michelle's book - this will be made into a door hanger for Christmastime .....

Another OMG (Organic Modern Graphic) piece.....

part of me likes that crazy binding with it... part of me doesn't.... but there it is

If anyone is interested in seeing these quilts and even join in the fun this is the Facebook page.  Helen Godden gives us a picture each month which serves as our inspiration for making up a quilt.

We were given these funny little plants that don't need soil - just air and a spray of water .... I have placed them in the little glass bubbles (my daughter left these behind when she moved out - you snooze you loose I say).  They are rather fun and cheer up a spot in the kitchen (the place I most need cheering up!)

Righto, Gotto Go... those little plants probably want a bit of a spray today...

TA - DA .... sort of....

All my Sylvia's Bridal Sampler blocks are sashed and trimmed

I don't know when I am going to get to sewing them together - I am still wondering where the blocks should go - I put these up randomly

Meantime I found some time to do a bit of catch up with Splendid Sampler blocks

Sewing Machine designed by Pat Sloan

The Constant Needle designed by Laurie Simpson

Simple Surprises designed by Amy Ellis

Dreaming of Dresdens designed by Jane Davidson

I'm still a little way behind - it's no race but I know I loose motivation if I don't keep up ....

Righto, Gotto Go.... Fridays are great days.... weekend to look forward to...

Chookshed Sewing Party....

I started playing at Chookyblue's weekend party on Friday....

(I do like to be early!)

Our Saturday road trip was cancelled due to weather predections of a severe system coming through... Parts of Brisbane are having heaps of rain but over her it's a bit of a non event!

But it is damp and cold enough to HAVE to stay indoors and sew!

I wanted to get more sashing done on Sylvia's Sampler blocks - I think I got through about 40 of them and got them trimmed back...  they are not sewn together but looking promising...

Before

After - all that wall on the left is still to fill - about another 34 blocks to be sashed

I am linked to an OMG (Organic, Modern, Graphic) group on Facebook run by Helen Godden who does a lot of art quilting.  I am trying to do her challenge each month to stretch my imagination and work on shape and colour.  Helen posts up a picture and we make our own quilted piece with it as inspiration.... Just very hard for me but I am having fun so will keep up with it...

This is quilting the one for April...

It is a small piece - 4 1/2" by 6 1/2" and I had it all ready for binding.   I haven't invested in the special binding clips one sees - these $2 ones from the cheap store are way cuter I think!!

The smaller pieces with tiny quilting take a while and I find I bend and the small movement tires my shoulders.... so I need regular breaks.  I borrowed these books from our local library ... fun to look through though the patchwork prisoners is a lot of information as opposed stories of the women involved. Interesting but a bit academic for me!

Here is my finished work.... not sure I really like it but I got some shapes and dimension which I wanted....  The silver tubes are done by 'couching'... putting thicker yarn through a special couching foot on the machine .

I started working on reindeer for a table runner a couple of weeks ago and there is progress.  I was silly and stuck the applique on the right side of the fabric for one and the wrong side for one - you can see the difference in the picture though it doesn't show it as well as it is in real.

Anyway - I didn't want to make a new one and throw the other one out (I had done some stitching!!) so I made two new ones, one right and one wrong and so there is a heaaaaaapppppp of sewing to do now I have two sets!!!  Getting there slowly and last night I satin stitched holly berries

Righto, Gotto Go... fire needs rebuilding (no I won't do that but some people should be supervised), coffee needs to be made and sewing machine turned on....