Tuesday

This Tuesday the Chooseday girls weren't able to meet..... so we did BagLady Monday instead....

I have made a Saddlebag before and it is by far my most used bag...... easy and versatile and holds a lot when required!

Last year Michelle gave me this lovely linen bird fabric.  I found some blue linen and a fun mustard contrast at my favourite quilt shop The Quilters Angel .....

As you can see it opens up good and wide and plenty of pockets... I added a doohickey (top of right hand side pocket) so I can link my keys onto it..... (my greatest challenge when shopping is finding my keys!!!) 

One of the bag ladies brought cute little handmade trinkets to add to the bag ...

Here are the three bags we made.... all look so different but the same - done in a day ...

I know I will be using that pattern again and again... I love it....

Over the weekend I got involved in tracing my Angel Story applique pieces...  

.. and therefor lacked in supervisory skills and went I went outside .......

... all those bushes had been dug out and branches chopped...... hmmmmmm

Later that day I could see a plan coming together with new plantings..... 

... we had a bit of fun at the nursery and whilst this space looks a bit bare it will grow..... Hubz is slowly converting the garden to predominantly native plants... tough and not needing constant watering and also bird and bee attracting....

Once I had recovered from the shock of the bare space I finally finished off the borders to the flying geese backing... it is now a good size for the back of Anthology...

All put together in a pile now with the binding fabric cut and ready too....

I've given up counting the quilt tops I have waiting to be finished..... lets just leave it knowing I will always have something to do.....

Righto, Gotto Go.... since I didn't have a work Monday it is today ... off to do jobjob!!!

Life seems busy ......

It's the beginning of April already..... over a quarter of the way through the year and I feel time is going too fast and I seem to be chasing my tail all the time ......

I know lots of us feel like that - never enough time to do all that we want to do...

I wanted to work on this long neglected project whilst sewing with the ChooseDay girls this week.  This is a Bronwyn Hayes pattern and the kit was part of our Stitchers Dream Day Out in 2015 (I think)

It is a sewing case.....  

Inside is a little bag, pockets and a heart pincushion.... I found that fun spotty ribbon in a box here - went perfectly with it....

I love the sewing ladies on the front, and there is another pocket on the back...

These birds and hearts are from fun fabric and I am making them into lavender bags.  Some will have ribbon so they can hang over the coat hangers, others are plain and will sit in drawers....

Stuffing them will need a bit of motivation I think... and a good movie!

Even though I love to use my quilt leftovers to make backings my scraps still seem to grow.  Last year I made baskets and sorted my scraps into colours.

This year I am going to make feathers with them......  some years ago I noticed this feather quilt by Anna Maria Horner .  She has generously shared a free pattern HERE

Since I am using small scraps I am not doing it in strips... it's a bit fiddly but I am joining smaller pieces up in a slant so that I can cut the feather shape out.

I think I will love it......

Another bunch of Dutch Treat blocks have been sewn..... slowly slowly these are increasing in numbers.....

At long last I have started Angel Story (designed by Anni Downs).  Michelle has been sewing hers for some time in needleturn and it is just stunning.  

I have chosen to do blanket stitch using one thread.  Now I need to do a lot of tracing and selecting of fabrics for the other blocks... that is the part that seems to take me the longest.... 

This is Hettie and she is shopping for Hats.....

Righto, Gotto Go..... my gardener is around and I like to keep an eye on what he gets up to!

Hope you have a lovely weekend .... 

The long weekend....

I was given these sweet tarts last week... they are melts and smell as good as they look....  they look pretty on my plate with a little bunny....

On my machine I learnt to quilt roses.   I'm quite pleased with how they worked out...

Another block for Gardeners Journal was put together..... I think the designer was quite complimentary with my back view!!

Here they are all together..... I love seeing how it starts looking like a story... 

At the weekend Hubz and I visited a local Railway museum....

They are fixing up the trains and carriages to run trips... this is the Piano lounge....

This is a separate carriage "Great Gatsby" and decorated to suit

This carriage had actually been burnt by vandals many years ago so all the fittings and decor are newly made for it.... they have done it beautifully

a new bit of line has been added for when they run their trips.... very pretty gardens.  Completely run by volunteers who rely on donations and their own hard work.

another of their lounges with the bar in the background....

Lovely from the outside too...

There was coffee and slices available so we had that whilst listening to a Ukelele group..... 

Another lovely carriage had been painted Dreamtime, the artist called Domi did such a great job.  No photo's were allowed but they did have these beautiful postcards for sale which show some of the pictures...

this one gives an idea of the inside of the carriage... the whole roof was painted and various pictures on the sides....  

Played a little with my circles... these squares are all trimmed back to 4 1/2" but they are not sewn together... still a way to go as this is still small.... 

Righto, Gotto Go......time for some lunch....

March

I did accomplish a couple of finishes for March...

This wallhanging quilt is from a panel .... it had been quilted for a while and just needed a hanging sleeve and binding....  This is a UFO I have had in the cupboard for a while

... and I made a couple of covered clothes hangers for a birthday gift....

Thanks to Kris and Peg for hosting OPAM and encouraging at least one finish a month

Mostly this month I have been working on UFO's....

I got stuck in and finished stitching all the blocks for Living the Dream 

... and sewed the last few strips so now the top is completed......

Thanks to Brisbane Tuesday girls for hosting this lovely NoFuss Stitch-a-long 

... and of course Dutch Treat got some blocks sewn....

Still trying to at least get one a week done....

For machine sewing time I have been working on the Gardeners Journal blocks....

as always the cutting and deciding which colour goes where takes the longest

.. .but I have all the fabrics cut now so hopefully the blocks will come together quite quickly

Also on progress towards finishing off projects I built up a couple of backings for existing quilt tops.

This one uses up Japanese fabrics and will be the backing for Shimacho quilt

... and this one uses up the left over French General fabrics and is to be the backing for my Anthology quilt....

Thanks to Joy who is hosting Finishing stitches to encourage us to work on UFO's - even if it's not a finish it's progress

Righto, Gotto Go..... my gardener needs some tea!