Things....

Another week has spun past.....  

I discovered 3 spikes on a little orchid... really little orchid.....

I zoomed in close ... so delicate and perfect... about 1cm in size.... adorable... I do love tiny!

I realised I haven't shown my finished Naive Melody quilt top.  This was a Stitchalong hosted by Lucy Engels .....  a designer in the UK.  I had these lovely Australian themed fabrics and felt they would do just fine for a modern quilt....

I had a lot of fun making it... bold shapes and not too much thought into placement.... I basically copied her original design and placements

It's put aside now with the binding made.... I am hoping to try and be modern with the quilting too.....

However, there was still lots left of the fat quarter bundle of these fabrics...

And I spotted another modern SAL ... this time it is being hosted by The National Quilt Museum and will be 12 blocks all 12" finished and Quilt as You Go

This months block is done.... easily pieced and quilted in a day....

It has some scrumptious backing.....

I found a bundle of these swatch fabrics which are only just the right size.... love them and they will make an effective backing for the quilt...

The next block of Civil War Bride is in progress... there are a LOT of leaves....

I had hoped to get more blocks for Schoolgirl Sampler done over the weekend.... that was a fail but I did finish the centre medallion which was done in needleturn...

I will have to catch up next time I get a me machine sewing day

A very pretty butterfly came and spent time in our fernery this week.....

Both sides are different ... and so pretty.... it was about 10cm across.. so quite big

Lots going on it seems... no wonder the time is going by so fast

Hope you have a lovely rest of the week..... 

Righto, Gotto Go... time to get some sleep.....

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....

Since last time.....

Another 6 blocks to the Schoolgirl Sampler have been done......

These blocks are 4" (finished) so pretty sweet and not too demanding (usually)

I'm not very happy with the centre top row... my lighter fabric is a bit too busy.... 

and my evening hand sewing has meant this little picture is completed....

It has been put away for now for a machine sewing day to make some stars and borders for it....

I added some borders around these 4 little baby quilts.... they still need some blocks to grow them a bit... I am deciding.... so they are put away for a machine sewing day too ....

And a new project is started..... I had a hand sewing day with friends and got a nice bit of it done...

Lots of detail for this needleturn project .....

Civil War Bride and it has 20 blocks and a detailed border... I am already in love with it and finding it hard to put down.....

Righto, Gotta Go...  keep safe, keep smiling and keep doing something to make you happy.....

New Beginnings.....

I wonder what the year has in store for us... I feel I need to be braced for it!

I have started a new project....

The Schoolgirl Sampler is a book by Kathleen Tracy (A Sentimental Quilter) and she is hosting a Sewalong on a F/B page.  I am sewing along with Sue (Kiwikid)  and a couple of other people and we are sharing our pictures and encouraging one another on Instagram.  

There are so many forums these days to join in with things and get encouragement....

I have large pieces of Tilda fabrics left from a couple of other quilts so I am going to use them in a scrappy style for mine... with a fair bit of white added too.  Aiming for 6 blocks a week... maybe more... maybe less...

I got my book as an e-book and printed it out as there were none in stock when I wanted to start.... (of course they came in stock the day after I got mine!!! haha)  Again, we are lucky to have options...

Naive Melody is the Modern Quilt Sewalong (via Instagram) hosted by Lucy Engels, the designer.

These are the last 20 blocks.... I have done the applique in needleturn and had a lot of fun with this one.... so enjoyed the large bold shapes.....

My quilting machine was cleaned and oiled, new needle etc and we had some play time together.....

The red and cream pineapple quilt was already pinned and I did a fairly close all over design with swirls and sort of flower shapes....

Its hard to show what was done.... I didn't want it to stand out but just give texture...so that worked but it doesn't help trying to show the quilting on it......

This Friday night was the first FNWF, hosted by Cheryll (Gone Stitching) where we get together cyberly once a month .......

... and I sewed the binding down in the afternoon .....

so now it is a finish for OPAM, hosted by Kris (Tag Along Teddies)

It is also a UFO finish - WOOFA is hosted by Cheryll.  This year we are including P for projects we have wanted to do... and I will slowly update my sidebar lists as I sort things.

This quilt measures 50" square and was made using my red and cream scraps (and some extra scraps from friend Maureen as I ran out for the last couple of blocks)

This year I am also joining Narelle in working on a Christmas Item each month.....  I have done this for a few years now with different success rates.....

I bought this kit some years ago and had started it... so it is both a UFO and a Christmas Item....

Blanket stitching around the applique.....

Hubz has still been on holidays this week so we have enjoyed chilling and getting a few things done at the house and garden..... we have had some lovely rain (I can still hear gentle showers on the roof as I type)  The last of the Christmas decorations have been packed away and some clearing and sorting done of stuff that gathers....  We went to see "The Dry" (it is years since we went off on a movie date) .... a movie set in Australia with Eric Bana.  I had not read the book so didn't know what to expect.... it was well done and a great story.....

Righto, Gotto Go..... another cup of tea and some fiddling in the sewing room...

Keep safe

... and the year begins....

So many are happy to see 2020 gone... personally I feel we are still waiting for the worst and I am gearing myself up for more worrying than before.  Keep safe everyone.... the battle is on....

My pretty overnight bag had an outing at the end of the year....

We joined up with friends to go and watch a Big Bash cricket game.... we had seats a good distance from everyone else so felt quite safe....

Came home for New Year, with the same friends to find my Wisteria is on another round of flowering.....

A jigsaw was finished.... 

... and last night I finished off my first UFO of the year... this cream wool crochet blanket....

Taking a picture I notice it has a few kinks where I have doubled up the stitches....

It will stay that way... this one is for me and I don't mind kinks....

My car crochet for our trip to the big city is smaller blocks... which I will try and sew together as I go along....  the trip there and back was 5 blocks long....

... some local trips have only been 1 block long.....

Our council provides free mulch once a month so we did 3 big loads yesterday.... they drop it into the trailer but of course we have to offload it....  the picture doesn't look impressive but there was quite a bit done... a start on a new section for Hubz....  The mulch is pretty good and weed free, there are some bits of plastic from the ferals who chuck plastic in their green waste!!   but easy enough to remove...

 

So not much going on the sewing front.... I haven't done any sorting of projects yet, I have determined in myself to loose some weight and list a less demanding quilting jobs queue..... otherwise I will just play along with the year... joining SAL's, sewing with friends and generally drift through the year....

Wishing you all the best for 2021... who knows what will happen but I hope we can keep in touch and support each other from all over the world....

Righto, Gotto Go... weight loss starts with a healthy grocery shop.... off to do that boring chore...