Variety is the spice of life.....

... it certainly seems that way in my sewing world.....

I had a few mesh bags that hadn't been finished off after our mammoth bag making day.... I just needed to hem these and thread the cord through.

The mesh is quite strong so I have just used a 3/4" cut length of mesh to work as the cord with a simple knot at the end..... 

I love the HiVis ones... no-one will be going off with my vegetables!!!

For ChooseDay girls sewing this week I cut and sewed together the Dresden plates for my next block of Flowerville...  A little perspex template was included in the kit which makes it so much easier.

Those blades are about 4 ."long and 1" wide.... a little bit fiddly but oh so pretty....

Such a sense of satisfaction when the blades all come together nice and smoothly...

The next project is the fault of Janice  - we have been emailing backwards and forwards and I loved what she made last year with Moda Blockheads..... she mentioned there is another one this year......  and that was that.....

I am using up pastels from my 'stash' of different fabrics picked up over the years.... subsidised from my scrap baskets!

This first block is 12 1/2" but there is a variety of different sizes which will make it fun I think.  46 blocks altogether and the quilt design is not revealed until the end.  One block a week which is manageable and would be easy enough to catch up if I missed for some reason

My Friday Night with the girls at The Quilters Angel sewing is Flowerville, however, when I am close to the end I do some at home to get the block finished.... This is to be sewn into the centre of the Dresden plate wreath above....

My friend Marina had a birthday earlier this month..... like the white bunny in Alice in Wonderland I was late for the important date but a parcel was sent off and has been received

I stitched up this Kathy Schmitz design from her book "Stitches from the Garden" - I think the end size was 13" x 10" and framed in a small spot binding.

I added a little 'M' from Michelle's 'Stitching Alphabet'... which Marina has to think up a way to use it!!! haha

A little mouse has sneaked into my sewing basket.... a little Natalie Bird design

Maria has been showing her blocks for My Small World.  I have long been a fan of Jen Kingwell but never tried one of her patterns - but Maria has bent my arm and now I will sew this.  I am using my scraps as the pieces are small ....

so... that's the variety that is the spice of my life today....  I blame it on other bloggers that there is so much going on!!

Righto, Gotto Go.... I want to dive into those scrap baskets .....

Winter woolies......

I miss Autumn!!! haha... but in order to have magnificent Autumn we have to go through summer and winter!

But I love wood fires, hot soups, casseroles, early sunsets,  flannel PJs ....

..... and cuddly flannel quilts....

These 3 lap size quilts stay in hiding most of the year here... this weekend they came out as Widget was here and we needed some warmth to watch movies!  (that was after he spent all day outside helping Pops dig holes for our new fernery!)

This one is lovely quality flannel - I had actually made a couple of scarves but found them a bit too thick and bulky for me so I unpicked, added some bits and made a quilt....  I love the addition of stars...

This one was a free design from Michelle May some years ago... I used a vintage tablecloth for the background and the applique is wool with some stitching detail. 

When I first started doing applique I found this freebie from Toni of Red Boots Quilt Company.  I used a vintage chenille cover for the backgrounds and all the applique is using wool from blankets which had been heat washed to felt them ..... this has been washed so many times and held up well...

Strangely enough this was Widgets choice of quilt to use..... 

I started a new washcloth... going with moss stitch this time ....  my car trip project

... but I have also taken out some of my crochet to do.... when my hand are cold I find it easier to crochet or knit instead of stitcheries....

This ripple blanket is being made from the left overs of my single bed size one which has been rehomed....  it will be a nice baby size....

... and this one is my easy peasy no thinking one that I like to pick up and do... a variegated yarn and it will be whatever size it turns out.....  I am just going round and round now....

I finished off another set of circle blocks last week.... trying to remember to do at least a few a month so the project grows....

... I have been working on this Angel Story block for a while but it finally got done at the end of last week..... this is Harriet the Homebody....

... the project by my chair at the moment is finishing off this block for Flowerville....  

... and something new!!! ....

A couple of years ago I took part in a Free programme The Splendid Sampler.... well  #2 is starting this week!  100 blocks from various designers.

20 blocks will be given out free to get us going and then the latest book will be out and we go from there.....  6" blocks which I love and even though I have several (unquilted) sampler quilts I am joining in again.... well I have been coerced by the ChooseDay girls...

A couple of years ago I found this bundle of Downton Abbey fabrics at the Quilt Show in Brisbane going for a bargain price.... I love the colours so this will be what I will be using....

Anybody else doing this... starts this Thursday

this is the one I made last time... soft colours

Righto, Gotto Go.....fabric to stroke.......

This week.....

I'm always happy to see progress on my projects......  you may have noticed I have several going at once!  

Short attention span!

I had a couple of quilts which were made simply but with lovely fabrics ..... too much quilting would have taken away from the lovely fabric so all I added was texture and some playfullness with the borders.....

Loose enough to keep the quilt soft and snuggly but tight enough to give it that crinkly texture - two quite different designs 

Four more Dutch Treat blocks have been completed......  now I am coming to the end I must finally be feeling more confident as I found these ones relatively easy to do!!! haha

.... and my feather blocks are all together .....

I love, love, love them......

It's a lap size quilt 50" square - of course one can go on building as many feathers but this is the size I wanted.  I loved making them and I do have more scraps! hmmmmm

I used my colour co-ordinated scraps.  The pattern is a freebie provided by Anna Marie Horner, a generous and inspiring artist.  It can be found on HERE .  She is in Australia at the moment - wouldn't it be fun to go to one of her workshops.

Because I used scraps (as opposed to longer strips) I took tips from this TUTORIAL here but using small pieces from my scrap baskets.

Righto, Gotta Go... more quilts to add texture to ...... what fun

Weekends go so quick......

This weekend we stayed at home... there was lot of those silly little jobs that needed doing and we both just wanted to chill out quietly....

Of course I can't just do NOTHING.....  

I finished off some feather plumes that I had started on ChooseDay with the girls.....  I now have all I need and tomorrow I will put in the spines and background fabrics ... then I can play with the settings....

I also finished adding the borders to my photographic safari prints - and I also trimmed them all so now I need space on my design board to set them out and start sewing them together.....  there are lots of duplicates but that won't matter.....

Handstitching has finished off this Angel Story block.... the flying school...

... and also some chain stitch handles for ridiculously small baskets......

I was sewing while we watched "Goodbye Christopher Robin" -  I had to keep stopping cos I needed lots of tissues.... 

Some of our chores were outside - and the weather is just perfect for it... raking up leaves, composting, old branches to the tip etc etc.... (I only raked!)

My little variegated bouganvillea is looking pretty at the moment and I just loved the contrast of colours in this picture.... if you look carefully you can spot a kookaburra in the old gum tree - I think it was laughing at me raking!

Well, that was my weekend and happy playtime... now it's Monday and I need to get back to doing some real work!  At least that requires sewing too!

Now my quilt top is finished I have this pattern if anyone would like it....  it ends up about 66 x 80 and required quite a lot of fabric as it is cut on the bias - so lots of leftovers too for mini projects!

It's not a thick pattern so I'm happy to post it off to you.... let me know if you would like it and I'll choose a name if there is more than one person ...

Righto, Gotto Go.... coffee is required before work...  have a lovely week....

May - month end

Thanks to Joy who is hosting Finishing Stitches to encourage finishing those projects languishing in cupboards!  

I didn't do a lot more work on Dutch Treat this month...  this is okay as I had originally said one block a week .....

There are 32 more blocks to go.....

I quilted and bound the top of Holly Cottage this month, a Stitch-A-Long started last year

(I still have stitchalong projects from previous years waiting for quilting!!)

This quilt top had been passed on to me some years ago.... I quilted it last year and all it needed was the binding sewn down.....

Thanks to Kris and Peg host OPAM who count up all our finishes..... the two quilts are included since those projects are now done and dusted....

These others were new projects started and finished this month....

6 Tote bags were made in preparation for banning the plastic bags.... 

... and a knitted wash cloth ... 

I love handsewing in the evenings and with it cooler at night it was great doing those bindings ....

Righto, Gotto Go..... this month I want to work on......

Dutch Treat

Circles

Feathers

Safari

Angel Story

Jelly Roll

Flowerville

Mice

hmmmmmmmm....

Diamonds ......

I have seen many people remarking on the problems with comments being emailed.... I'm just adding my apologies for not sending replies to anyone.  I have commented on my individual page but many of us don't go back to the blogs - changed a setting and now my comments on comments have disappeared too!!! haha.... I shouldn't try and fix things on my own!

On Friday we had a scheduled power outage..... not that I really need an excuse but this is always a great time for me to get out my treadle machine and do some of my own sewing (usually I do work sewing during the day - except for ChooseDays!)

We treadled and hummed together .....

On Friday night at The Quilters Angel sewing we had some lovely treats... we always get delicious desserts but this time it was an assortment of lovely little treats....

Because some pressing needed to be done there was only so much I could do whilst the electricity was shut down so I continued on Saturday. 

The top is all together now.... I do love it.....  the edges will be trimmed straight post quilting....

The thread lasted me out well too!

I finished off my knitted wash cloth.  Jane from Loopy's Place put out a calender with a different craft each month.  I haven't kept up with them all but I do love handmade wash cloths and knitting (or crochet) is something I can do when sitting in the car

This top was made completely on the treadle machine..... finished size is 69" x 83"

Righto, Gotto Go - power is on - there is work to be done!