Apple Pie.....

Hubz went away for a few days this week for work.... I don't really like it when he is away but I do take advantage of the time alone .....   I make a big bowl of soup and ignore everything but my sewing...

I carried on with my quilting practice following the workshop I did with Joy...

this next one shows that I did quite a bit of marking....

....once sprayed there is a big difference....

.... I also like a little bit of sweet so I made an apple pie...

A sheet of ready made puff pastry ... and 2 apples peeled, quartered and sliced... with a few sultanas, a shake of cinnamon powder and a dribble of honey ....

... fold up the corners and press the edges to seal.... poke a couple of little holes in the pastry so the apples can breathe....

.... then cook for about half and hour till nice and golden brown....

I had a quarter of pie for my dessert with a good blob of home made yoghurt ... and there was enough for breakfast, lunch and tea the next day!!!!

I also had a sewing day with some friends..... 

.... oooops... this is the right picture....

... and I made some birthday bunting as widget turns 5 next week ....

this is a panel I got from The Quilters Angel..... 

Righto, Gotto Go.... I do hope all the mums have a lovely day tomorrow ....

Baby Bibs and Christmas hexagons....

A new baby is a good reason to get on and do those 'one day' projects I have bought fabric for....

... however..... I didn't have everything I needed ....

I wanted some ordinary binding (like the stuff you buy on a card) so I used up a fat quarter from my 'stash' as it had the colours I wanted....

of course the design was going to be lost but that wouldn't matter in this case since it was colour I was after....

As I wanted my binding to be on the bias I looked up a tutorial and found this one nice and easy to follow over HERE and cut into one inch strips to make up my half inch bias binding... out of one fat quarter I ended up with 10 metres of bias binding....

... sewed it all round one side....

... turned over and sewed down the other side....

.... perfect... this is all I had left....

... time to get out the hammer and add those lovely easy to do studs....

... and we have 8 pretty little bibs....

... these bibs were all on a panel... and I used white towelling on the back... I always found towelling a good dribble absorber...

... on the handstitching front I have a couple more Christmas hexagons stitched... soon I will need to back them...

... the bits of silver show much better in real life...

Righto, Gotto Go.... this new baby will need a quilt I think....

Learning new tricks.....

I was lucky enough to be able to attend a workshop by Joy Tibbits called "The Next Step" in free motion quilting on a domestic machine..... A couple of years ago I went to her starter workshop and it set off a new love for me.

(thanks for the picture Christine - fellow quilter)

Joy is my quilting hero... I love her detailed work and she is a real sweetheart too .... this is a quilt that is up in The Quilters Angel that I just love for it's pattern, gorgeous Ausi themed fabrics and also the quilting Joy has done...

I had prepared quilt sandwiches before I went to the workshop and with Joys help and notes these are what I completed.....

I love the effect of the little cathedral windows / mini orange peels in the background....

... this is done simply by doing wriggly lines.....

those little figure 8's are an effective background too.... my first ones are on the bottom rows so I was pleased that by the end of that square they were looking more round and upright....

... here's a picture of me and my hero....

.. and yes, she does do custom quilting for others .....

Mr Postie dropped by here ..... Annette sent me some Thread Heaven following my sadness at working with metalic threads..... I'm looking forward to trying this out... it says it is specially helpful with speciality threads... thank you so much Annette.. so kind of you... 

.. and Cheryll sent me this lovely key ring tag as a thank you for some thimbles I sent her.... another unexpected gift which I love...

It's so important to have a smile each day isn't it?  Not always easy so I find it important in my life to find one thing every day to be happy about.... sometimes it is hearing a story or receiving a kindness from a friend, family member or a fellow blogger.. whether it's a gift, a comment on a blog post, an email or a phone call...  I do so appreciate it all....

Another blog I enjoy..... which is not patchwork/quilting/crafting related is You Got to be Kidding who finds amazing pictures and information... some really are fascinating... others just make me laugh out loud....

Righto, Gotto Go.... I'm still on a baby sewing high.... bias binding for bibs............

Little Necessities.....

I've been making some little things

....cutting out letters...

... and raw edge attaching them.....

..... makes the letters stand out more....

... to make words a baby might need to use....

... and adding some soft muslin on the back....

..... babies need an assortment of these...

YAYAYAYAY

.... a new grandiebaby is expected in November....

little Maddie in UK will be getting a sibling

... we are of course thrilled and excited ...

Righto, Gotto Go.... more little baby things to make....

Friday Night With Friends....

This Friday was Friday Night with Friends and Cheryl had us over... so nice to sit and sew with lots of others cyberly

I made these savoury muffins.... of course, ultra easy to make and ultra yummy to eat...

You need:

1 cup self raising flour

1 cup milk

1 cup grated cheese

1 tsp dried mustard

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup of chopped ham (optional)

sprinkle of cayenne pepper - (optional... I like a little bit of heat)

Mix it all together, put into little cupcake baking tray and cook at 200 C for 10 minutes...

I am still working on my lovely bluebirds designed by Christine...

Mothers Day is in May and this is the May block

machine sewing this week was putting these blocks together and adding a border

these blocks were all done by different people in a block swap

I have made the binding.... need to source some time to do some quilting

Righto, Gotto Go....... cold weather has come..  I think a hot chocolate, a quilt and a movie is required...

Made a quilt.....

Really loving free motion feathers... so decided on a whole quilt

... got hungry... love THIS  food blog.... simple yummy recipes.....

 this is one of her 30 minute recipes... Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup

... it was Damn Delicious...

.. and I did another hexagon from Michelle's patterns....

... and did the whole quilt in free motion feathers... a bit of marking to get the basic shapes

... this stitchery made me think of Hubz and me at Christmas.....

.... and I've played with my Churn Dash blocks (received from swaps)

... thought you might like to see the finished quilted whole cloth ....

... yes, that's 4" square.... cute huh?

Righto, Gotto Go.... I was given some mushrooms today so I need to find a thimble....