WOOFA and other things......

Cheryll hosts WOOFA to motivate working on projects....

my list of UFO's is certainly getting less, (not to say I haven't started things so that I can have a decent list next year!!!)

This month the main WOOFA project was my pineapple quilt.... this is all finished now

.. the other one I worked on was putting the blocks together for this quilt.... but it won't be quilted for a while I think....

Did you know Facebook now has a 'Rooms' function?  I learnt of it when a room was sorted to celebrate MIL's 90th birthday.... so a few of us had a go this week.... and it works very well....

Sue in Victoria, (hope you don't mind me stealing your picture) Maria from WA and Michelle and I in Queensland....

took a bit of getting used to as we all want to talk at the same time (wierd hey?)

I did a few more borders on my crochet blocks while we chatted.....

 My most favourite LQS closed it's bricks and mortar store this week.  Thank goodness it will still operate but in different ways and we can still keep in contact.  Of course with changes there is sales.... I did limit what I got but I popped in yesterday for my last visit at that spot and got hold of this piece of fabric....

I have absolutely no idea what to do with it... but look... glow in the dark!!!  If nothing else it will make me smile!

This week I worked on my needleturn centre for a quilt.....

I need to add on some borders and then there is some more needleturn to go in the corners...

So pretty.... Pattern book is "Blue" by Natalie Bird and I am using Tilda fabrics.....

Righto, weekend is here, the floors have been mopped and I can go and play with my quilting machine... after my cuppa that is!

Have a lovely weekend.....

Busy, busy .....

Sunday Stitchers UFO challenge number was #11 and that is now completed...

A boro piece I had stitched up some time ago to make into a snappy purse....

no pattern... and it shows... I have no idea what I was supposed to do with that snappy thing but it certainly doesn't look right...

My purse is ugly... but it works and now it holds my rotary cutters....  I will one day learn how to properly include those snap frames....

A lovely surprise in the post for me this week.... Karen saw I was using old lace in my Wish You Well BOM and has sent me some pieces to choose from.....  there are some lovely different ones there and I'm looking forward to playing with them... thanks so much Karen....xxx

Isn't it so fun when something unexpected arrives?

I gave myself a morning of my own machine sewing this week and did some more blocks of Jane's sampler sewalong....

different variations of a 9 patch....

sometimes just the arrangement of colours...

and other times an unusual manipulation of the blocks giving a 3D look...

the blocks are 14"....

now I have all 12 blocks done..... Jane has a lovely setting on point but I think I will just add sashing and a border which will keep the size down a bit....

Another sweet stitchery for Wish You Well - that ribbon filling in took me a few evenings!!

Righto, Gotto Go.... need to chuck a log on the fire and go check on that chicken I have in the oven....

Have a lovely rest of the week....

Hand- stitching.....

I haven't really done any machine stitching of my own this week.... been happily quilting though ....

In the meantime I am still doing some hand stitching ....

this sunflower is done for Field Journal ,,,,,,

... and all the May stitcheries for Wish You Well are done....

..and I am slowly working through my crochet blocks adding dark borders....

(these are not true colours at all... that is a dark mustard with navy blue)

I was gifted this gorgeous new mug this week.....

Righto, Gotto Go.....  the sun is shining, the lawn is being mown, there is coffee to be had in a pretty new mug!

Scrap Happy

My scrappy pineapple quilt is all done.....

I used up almost all of my purple, pink and teal scraps.  The white is some plain sheeting I had in my stash....

I purchased a special ruler which helped a lot with trimming to keep the shape...

Mostly in the ditch quilting so as not to detract from the piecing....  I even had some pink binding in my 'scrap binding' box.....

I had to do a bit of piecing for the backing.. that was also made from leftovers from a previous quilt...

Now I'm keen to get into my red and cream scraps for another one.....

I finished off my Bondi top... they don't take too long at all really ....

.. there is a small pleat at the back which helps with the fit... I was pleased with myself for getting it meeting so well!!!

The weather has cooled and my new tops are not being worn... this one fits much better round the neck so I have made pattern adjustments to do some more later

Another embroidery for Wish You Well is done... lovely sayings in each block...

We do need more kindness in our world I think... I try... but I admit I do struggle sometimes...  

I hope you have a lovely day and that someone is kind to you .....

Chop, chop, chop.....

My scrappy batik strippy blocks are all trimmed and laid out ready to sew together.... there are 25 x 12 1/2" blocks so it will make a useful size quilt....

I did use foundation for these... chopped up an old sheet... that gorgeous old real cotton but it was pretty thin in a lot of places.... I did want those central pieces to be as exact as possible so thought foundations would be easier....

The batik scrap basket has less in it,  but there is still quite a lot to be used up... (since I did buy some to add to the colour mix)  mostly short strips of different widths now 

Been trying to clean up my 'storage' boxes and found these vintage gingham curtains.... lovely quality cotton, almost linen thickness..... 

chop, chop, chop, out with the overlocker and I have a dozen new kitchen towels...  nothing fancy, I just left the edges overlocked but they work like a charm and my old holey ones have been binned....

One of my storage boxes has a variety of dressmaking scraps passed on to me, this pretty blue is like a very light cotton blend... I am not knowledgeable but it irons well like cotton but it is much softer and loose weave....

I have lost a bit of weight, not lots but enough to warrant a smaller size bondi top so I cut out new patterns and used this donated piece of fabric for my practice one....

... the neck is too wide so I have added a little pleat to the front and it is a better fit..... next time I will add to the pattern at the shoulders...

This old cotton tablecloth will be used for the next top...... 

Once I get a good fit I will make some out of lovely pretty fabric that jumped into my bag when I was at The Quilters Angel ....

Meanwhile we watched a couple of movies last night and another Field Journal embroidery got finished... the thread in this one is called Aster...  pretty.... 

There is rain around, I even hear some thunder...... at the moment it's dripping gently which I am not complaining about at all.... so today will be indoors... 

Righto, Gotto Go..... a mountain of ironing so the audio book will be listened to (What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty) and then I can go and chop up that tablecloth....

Have a lovely day.....xx

Stitching away.....

During our shutdown Cheryll has been hosting FNWF twice a month... it will go back to one a month from next month... but it's been fun to virtually join in....

For a lot of us the internet has been great during shutdown.  I have had no luck with zoom but others have been getting together, facebook has a group setting but limits to 8 people and of course one to one video calling has been around for some time and I have to admit the one I mostly use.

Slowly here we are able to meet in smaller groups as long as we be sensible and keep safe... I am all for limiting myself a bit longer.

Hand stitching continues every night and last night while joining in with FNWF I finished another little stitchery...  the new stitch for me was the one on the top of the flowers... like little triangles ... flystitch and the new thread colour is called Muscat which has quite bold contrasts.

Lavender was finished earlier in the week.... not a lot of stitching required for this one, but it's still pretty....

This was a BOM that I joined last year by Cottage Garden Threads...  I still have quite a few more to do to catch up.  

I did find time to get onto the sewing machine and put together my blocks that I had sewn earlier in the week...

Here is January to April of the Block of the Month I am doing....  

Wish You Well is by Gail Pan and details can be found on her website....

Meanwhile there is a bit of a mess on my table....

I am cutting blocks and tracing for the next two months of  Wish You Well...  every month there is a bonus pattern too and I trace those although so far I have not made any further progress.... guess I will pile up for next years UFO challenges???? (nothing like being well prepared!)

Righto, Gotto Go and work on making more mess... then clearing it up!  I do hope you have a lovely weekend... we are supposed to get some rain.... that would be wonderful...