Stitching, stitching .....

During this week I finished a couple of small stitcheries for Field Journal...

I have quite a few waiting in line for attention...

Last night was FNWF - hosted by Cheryl... fun to join in with everyone else

I was hand sewing down some binding on the Chandelier quilt....

and I am also trying to do a bit of this needleturn project every day.... I got a few leaves done last night...

Quilting is also happening.... this time a stipple in the background and going around the applique shapes to show them up a bit...

A Christmas party was enjoyed, well the company was - the food was disappointing.  Processed tasteless turkey and tinned peas, soggy roast potatoes and no gravy....  I'm not much of a food snob but I don't expect food worse that what I eat at home when I am out.  Anyway I got a chance to wear my Christmas Grinch shirt.... today I am going to hunt down my Christmas quilts.

Have a lovely weekend...we had some good rain this week and today the sun is shining ....

Righto, Gotto Go.... washing to hang, quilting to do .....

FNSI ..... and the rest of the week

I'm going backwards with my week.....

Thanks Wendy for having us for FNSI ......  always a fun time to sew and then catch up with what others have made...

I did this sweet Field Journal embroidery.....

I then continued with some birdhouses which I had started earlier this week .....

These ones were finished into tags this week....

and the applique block was finished too.....  I now have some machine sewing blocks to do and start putting the main centre together.... still some needleturn on a border...

I spotted a blue banded bee looking for food around the fernery.... hard to get a picture...

... can see it's stripes a bit better here... they are fat little bees - a bit bigger than the usual honey bee

Mr Postie swung by with a lovely gift from Michelle....

It is totally the perfect saying to be hanging in my sewing room!!!

Thank you so much my friend...

Righto, Gotto Go..... we have noticed a decent crop of olives on our tree so are going off to pick some and then next week we will start soaking in brine.  I did a try a few years ago and they tasted really good.  

Hope you all have a lovely weekend......xx

a bit of this and a bit of that

A friend Marina was doing a clean up and mentioned she had some French General fabrics ready to leave her home..... I do love love FG but don't have much so I put my hand up and this beautiful bunch of fabrics came.... I don't think there are any there that I have so it is a wonderful addition to my stash - and I have a project in mind I am longing to start with them.  Thank you so much Marina.

There was also some patterns she was rehoming and I asked for this Christmas one.  I love KS patterns and I remember lusting over this little mini when Marina made it..... so it snuggled in with the fabric... 

I finished off the February stars after doing most of the stitching on Wednesday....

I found there was enough fabric to cut 2 of each colour so I am sewing doppelgangers .....

this picture is the 8 different fabrics sewn into stars so far.... 4 more to go then the borders.  These are not sewn together so no need to be concerned about the one facing the wrong way... 

Sometimes all a busy quilt top needs is some texture and I love this watery ripple effect ....

I have been continuing with the birdhouses.... not getting to one a day but loving them

My cast on stitch flower is a bit mangled.... but I tried!

some of them are simpler (but still sweet) than others...

In the dark colour it's hard to see but this is a bullion rose (also not very good but I tried)

And I made up the first three into the little tags I want them all to become - sewed with some wadding and backing and cut to shape, blanket stitch around the edge and a piece of silk ribbon to tie (I have no idea why I have a selection of silk ribbon but I do) .  I think they will be sweet little Christmas ornaments.

This months scrap colour is teal .... so I have done a couple of teal scrappy fish.  there is not a lot of teal in my scraps so little variety but they are done.  I am not sewing them into blocks until later so I can spread out the colours as in this pattern the blocks cross over - the face of one fish may touch the tail or side  of another fish.

Another parcel arrived in the post from Maureen - she had seen the little snap purse I made with that quilted type fabric and mentioned she had some cream and would I like it....  I haven't found the cream one before so very pleased to have a piece and now she is going to help with some ideas on what to sew on it besides the daisies and french knots.  I'm not very imaginative - probably should get myself an embroidery stitches book.  Any recommendations?

I sewed the tree, grass and horizontal fence post at sewing on Tuesday and now have the other fence posts and other bits ready for sewing up this week.  this is the last block for From the Heart before tackling the border applique.

Righto, Gotto Go.... I have set up my new stitchery for tracing so that is this mornings entertainment sorted....

Hope you have a lovely week... catch up soon...xx

What Was I thinking?

I have done a bit more on some of my projects....

Another column has been joined to 'Inner City' (thanks Jennifer for the name) (last on the right) but I haven't joined it to the main piece.  I think I will make a larger piece then wrangle it all together.....

I also glued a whole lot more half hexagons - very slow going but I am trying to set myself a little goal each week to keep some progress happening...

Still wondering 'What was I thinking?' with this one....

This is progress to date of my little lollies blackwork with a bit of blue sparkle...  I have 4 more to do for this month now and need to catch up a bit on the borders...

I thought this year my Christmas decorations sent to family and friends could be with my newfound skill of blackwork.....

I purchased some 'plastic' canvas to work on and the pattern from Peppermint Purple (where the lollies is a free pattern).....

This took 3 nights and is only a couple of inches high...... 'What was I thinking?'  I will try another shape and see if I have more luck...  I won't be in time for this Christmas at this rate!

The nest of eggs is completed with all the rest of the work in the block....  this is the 9th block for Civil War Bride....

(all those leaves and there are lots more in the other blocks.... what was I thinking?)

As you can tell I have been doing a lot of "What Was I Thinking?" this week....

So to calm down I ordered another pattern... and a template for another quilt.... and now I just want to go and sew......

Righto, Gotto Go.... hopefully I will get in a bit of machine sewing for myself this weekend

Hope you all find something fun to do this weekend

Another week....

I am a bit surprised to find that we are already in the third week of 2021...

I still haven't sorted through my UFO's and planned projects......

But I have been stitching....

These are the next 6 blocks for SchoolGirl sampler....

18 blocks so far.  I need to buy some sashing and cornerstones fabric then I can start joining as I go along....

I did the quilting and binding on two little quilts ....

a sweet backing .. the same on both of them.... 

same but different colours and quilting design....

Folded and put away till I can get them off to their next home....

Hubz made me up a special board at the weekend.....

These are not a new idea, I remembered I had seen someone use one years ago....  a very fine sandpaper and glued onto a thin piece of board....

It holds the fabric so well when I want to trace round templates... I wish I had asked for one of these earlier.....

... put to use right away and I have got the templates ready to needleturn the centre medallion for Schoolgirl Sampler....

A new big project this year is Civil War Bride......  needleturn applique and this is the first of 20 blocks done....

Now I need to prep for the next one .... trace templates and use my new sandpaper  board to trace them all out onto fabric....

Hard to put down ....

Righto, Gotto Go....  time for a cuppa tea ....and listen to the news....