Scrappy Baskets....

I have been making scrappy baskets using this no waste method HERE....  sorting my scraps into colours as I build the little beach houses....

There were 3 colours that I needed to catch up on, yellow, blue and light neutrals so that's what I got up to on Sunday...

Firstly I made all the quilt as you go bases...

I have to admit I do like the look of them as mats... perhaps I will do scrappy mats next year....

After a bit of overlocking and wrestling with those stubby handles they were all done and filled with left over scraps ...

I seem to have lots of blue but hardly any yellows (I even included my oranges in that basket)

... and they have been added to my bookshelf.....

My Japanese blocks quilt is presently under the needle for evening handwork - sewing down the binding.... 

Righto, Gotto Go....  midweek has loomed and I am behind on grown up jobs....

This week's blocks.....

A few weeks ago I sewed my Japanese blocks together with the black sashing.....  these blocks have been on the go for a few years so I decided to use what I have and do something with them....

On Tuesday us girls managed 7 more blocks to our Quilt Anthology quilts.... 

This is where I am up to now....  these are not sewn together yet....

We have one for homework... my first attempt at clamshells - I chose to do it like needleturn and couldn't resist a little bit of fussy cutting!

I had fun with a bit of a different all over design on my quilt.... I used the shape of the cherry blossom as my inspiration....

... choosing a gold coloured thread so the blocks weren't affected and the black just softens slightly....

.. much easier to see the effect on the back...

My Dutch Treat quilt has had a bit of attention this week...

there is this large bird in a small tree....

and a flower of hexagons....

I have been tempted to join in with another SAL hosted by Helen, the Tuesday girls (Brisbane) are doing it as a group and opened it out to others.  A pattern by Leanne Beasley.

Since I love stitcheries, I love LB designs and I had a bunch of these pretty Tilda fabrics in my cupboard it was a no-brainer that I could join... especially with enablement from Helen, Susan and Shez!

Helen has opened up a blog for us to share and others are welcome to join... read HERE for information.

In between quilting I like to stretch so I stand at my work table and have been tracing out the stitcheries.  I wish I had thought to keep the fabric in one piece but hey ho we will manage....

Righto, Gotto Go - I have got behind in my scrappy baskets so I hope to spend a bit of time today catching up on those...

A bit of a challenge...

There is a sweet lady who I have helped out with some sewing over the last few years - she does lots of handsewing but not able to do the machine part - and the quilting....  I have a bit of a soft spot for her but she does give me some challenges to work on...

She started these yo-yo (suffolk puffs) a few years ago to make a single bed topper for a granddaughter... who now has a double bed

a real labour of love... so so much work in them... some of them were coming undone and you can see she has repaired by adding a little daisy over the top.... looks cute with that

I suggested she got a double bed sheet for me to use as a background and I started by making a frame that would fit the yo-yo top....

I covered the wadding with extra fabric cut off the sides of the sheet ....

... and quilted this with a bold design all over the frame...

she hadn't wanted extra weight behind the yo-yo's so that was left just the sheet and I trimmed back the wadding for the frame...

the yo-yo top needed a bit of stretching as two sides had got a bit shorter than their counterparts - luckily with yo-yo's there is quite a bit of give...

I then used my glide foot on the machine and went through every 4 lines of yo-yo's to give some stability and hold them down....

The glide foot is perfect as it floats over any pieces that are sticking up and could get hooked on a regular round foot...

Because of the pull of the yo-yo's, and no wadding the back did wrinkle up quite a bit...

I caught the line between the first and second rows of yo-yo's to just inside the frame...

Besides the tucking at the back I think it has come up well - she just wants it to be a cover over the top of the bed - the border is all the way around but narrow at the top where it will fit under the pillow.

The pink is the binding which I have added and she will do the final handsewing of it....

Have you worked with a yo-yo top like this?  I struggled to find ways to finish them off besides just lying loose as they are like a coverlet ....

Righto Gotta Go..... I need coffee!!!

The weekend that was.....

That weekend went fast fast....

There was Friday night stitching.....

... and on Saturday morning I had a belated birthday/christmas/anniversary/whatever activity and went to learn some cake decorating....

something I have wanted to do forever but don't really like fiddly diddly things....

oh my gosh it was so much fun.....

... now I think I need a new stash of stuff so I can practice practice practice....

I completed a giftie and wrapped it up.... ready for posting this week.....

I finished up my block for the Stitch-a-long.......

... and I put the binding and sewed the bells on my Christmas banner - off into the giftie box it goes....

And best of all we went to the airport in the middle of the night and collected DD and widget who have been on a trip overseas....

... and now we are back to Monday....

PS the cake was provided... chocolate mud cake which is so delicious.... too much for us so most of it has gone off with Hubz to his office..... now I need to learn to bake a nice firm cake that doesn't crumb - any recipes??????

Righto, Gotto Go.. there's jobs to be done......

have a great week everyone.....

This week's blocks.....

This week we sewed 7 of our blocks and then had a couple for home work - the one with curves needed to be done by hand and the flag on the bottom right the others want to make up their own ...

This morning I added the sashing on them...

... and put them together with the others... (the sashing will be narrower as they are not sewn together)

I have also finally completed this little block for my Dutch Treat quilt.... those little grapes and curvy leaves took me simply ages...

.. these little stitcheries go much quicker - I only have one left for this set...

Righto, Gotto Go.... I need to get another block for Gardeners Journal sorted to sew now...

Have a happy Thursday .....

Royal Bulls Head Inn

A couple of weekends ago Hubz and I visited a local historical building ....  long overdue

The Royal Bulls Head Inn - originally built in 1847 which has been an Inn, a family home and a post office over the years.  The National Trust obtained it and have done a huge amount of restoration - at the same time keeping a lot of the originality.

Once a month they open house and for a small fee you can go in and have a look - they are also encouraging locals to showcase some of their handcrafts - you can see some quilts on the veranda.

There were a few chairs that had been recovered, it was fun to see they had used fabric the same as what I used for my stool recently.

 I love these fold up chairs .....

.. there was a small model of the building

It's hard to see in the picture but the walls were cheesecloth overlaid with wall paper....

(no sound privacy between rooms!!!)

pictures from the 30's were pasted on the wall - there is a cut out piece so you can see how the wall was constructed.  No insulation of course.

The outside kitchen - set up but in disrepair so you can't walk inside....  really fun to see and they have some great information about how it all was originally.

.. this is the kitchen view from the outside....

... and the outside laundry ....

love the charm of those wringers....

the outside dunny ...... leaning over precariously now.....

the outside structures were made without using nails.... you can see how the poles are wired together at the top there.

at one time the building was used as the local post office and this is the entrance that was used then... and the lovely old post box.

A fun couple of hours and I bet this building has some great stories.... 

Apparently is was first a meeting place for squatters and the 'rougher sort'....

Righto, Gotto Go... coffee and quilting....