Friday Night

Last night we sewed together for FNWF hosted by Cheryll...... it was a hot night here and I was happy to sit and sew some backstitch animals...

My little duck is done.....

During the week I had a day of machine sewing to myself....

I worked on catching up with the blocks for Wish You Well.... all the stitcheries and the applique circles had been done....

so it was a matter of playing with my box of fabrics to place all the pieces....

I kind of find it easier doing a bunch of blocks at the same time... then I just need to clear up one time

All the main blocks are together now..... I will be shopping for something suitable for a border

Wish You Well has been a BOM hosted by designer Gail Pan for her I  Stitch Club... it has been such a lot of fun to do with stitcheries, applique, piecing and the use of lovely lace and doilies.

This weekend is retreat time.... I come home in the evenings but daytime is spent with friends sewing.....

I have taken my heavier sewing machine and doing some free motion quilting/raw edge applique on my animal silhouettes....

Righto, Gotto Go..... time for a coffee then get myself ready to go and sew!

Have a lovely weekend... it's a scorcher here so plenty of water will be consumed!

Hello December

I didn't get any finishes this month..... but I did get heaps of blocks done or partly done and I worked full time for 2 1/2 weeks.....

So I have nothing to show for  WOOFA or OPAM this month....

However..... a few plants are being lovely

This Hydrangea is full of these lovely bright pink blossoms...

this is another hydrangea.... so delicate... I just love it....

The new Hoya buds started bursting .... (Sue sent me this plant through the post from Victoria earlier this year)  Thanks so much Sue.. its a real beauty....

... and now it is this lovely ball of flower heads.....  and there are two more sets of buds growing

And Mrs Magpie introduced her twins to us at the weekend....

I just love that splayed out feet stance

Not a new idea but I found these plastic trays and bought a bunch.  I make up salads and cold meats for Hubz and my lunches on a Sunday..... so that it's nice and easy for us to have a healthy lunch during the week

I think it looks like patchwork blocks.....

Some hand sewing has been done and these are the final stitcheries for Wish You Well.....

My plan is this week to make up the last 4 months of blocks ... then I will need to do a bit of shopping for a border....

December means Summer here down under.... and we have been blessed (????) with a heatwave.... It is 6.30 in the evening and the temperature is 34' C..... and we are not as hot as some places.

 I have just given the magpies some watermelon which they enjoy as a cool snack....

Righto, Gotto Go... time for a cold Gin I think....

Naive Melody

Naive Melody is designed by Lucy Engels and is, I think my first real modern style quilt.

However I am using an old traditional method of needleturn applique to do the shapes.....

The light background fabrics are from my leftovers drawer ..... (as opposed to scraps which are smaller pieces!)

I am using a lovely range called Terra Australia by Emma Jean ....

These are the 20 blocks I did for November ....

 ... and up on the wall are the 60 blocks done so far all together.....

I love the kangaroo's, lizards, botanical inspired designs, dots and stripes...

A sewalong (on instagram) that I'm glad I joined... so different for me and great fun

Righto, Gotto Go,  long day voting yesterday but my work is done..... relax day today.....

African Silhouttes

I managed to bag this kit at a much reduced price off a destasher.  I had admired them before and did fancy doing one for my Hubz's office

The batik backgrounds are just stunning....

tracing out the shapes on sticky paper and then ironing to the black ....

some of the cutting out was challenging....

I haven't done any sewing yet.....

I think the silhouettes are really effective....

Yesterday I joined them together and made up the borders.....

the pattern was for 2 across and 3 down but I wanted a longer picture....

Finished size is 63" x 40" so it's not small.

I will stitch down the applique raw edge and quilt at the same time.   Binding is made and I just need to sort out wadding, backing and time....

Righto, Gotto Go..... have a lovely week......

More hand stitching......

    

We have Bi-elections in our area at the moment and I am assisting the pre-poll..... working full time again is a shock to my senses!  I do enjoy the process of democracy we have here and lovely co-workers to chat to during down times.

I still have time to do some of my hand stitching at night and on a day off I put together some blocks

These are the final blocks for the latest border of my 'Love' quilt

two of these flower blocks were needed.....

I love this cute little mouse....

and a dragonfly....

One thin border is written incorrectly in the book and I hadn't looked at the picture where it was correct so that blue border is a ring in, having removed the one I had initially put there...

It is brighter than I had wanted but I think it works... and I have enough of it that I can use it for the binding which will tie it in better.....

I think it may be a while before I can get to working on the final border of half dresdens... they are pointy dresdens so I will do it by machine rather than EPP.  I will need to do a bit of working out to make the adaption work for me.

After joining up the blocks on my day off I sat and binge watched the Second season of Big Little Lies whilst catching up on my Wish You Well embroideries for November

I was quite simply too tired to do anything else ........

Righto, home things to get done and I can hear magpie calling for her snacks....  she is back to jumping on my lap to get them which is sweet.  I want to give her a stroke but I think that might give her a fright....

Have a lovely week

Hand stitching

This week I have been focussing on getting some blocks finished for a couple of projects...

These are Field Journal blocks....

All the blocks are done now for the first year...

It will start again next year....

There are a couple of additional projects which also have embroidered blocks but I have not got those done

These needleturn blocks are for my Love quilt....

there are 4 more blocks and then this border is completed....

This is where I am at with this quilt ... there will be another border with half dresdens

This is our Illawarra Flame tree which has not looked this good for a number of years.... the flowers are just beginning to drop and it has been such a pleasure to enjoy

Righto, Gotto Go..... the weekend is upon us and there is always lots to be enjoyed .... have a good one yourself