We have shade.....

The weekend saw me helping Hubz with putting up the shade-cloth over the mighty construction...  Saturday was dusty and windy so not so much fun …. 

But by Sunday afternoon it was all done and trimmed back....

 Really happy with it and looking forward to planting it up to look pretty - not in too much of a hurry - at least the shade is there....

That first window you see is where I do my ironing.... and today that is where I worked on making up some hedgehogs to go in the centre of the daisies.

I thought I would show you how I build my applique before adding it to the fabric.  I have shown it before but in case anyone is new to applique this is how I find it easiest.

All the pieces are already prepared as per applique instructions in the pattern with some sort of double sided bonding material on the backs of them.  There are different ones.

Here I am using a silocone baking sheet but baking paper works just as well...

The pattern is under the baking sheet so I can see where to place the feet - whichever pieces that go on under the other pieces.... in some patterns they are marked with numbers... the feet are ironed on so whatever bonding you are using melts to it.

I like this way so I can build up the picture and if the silicone moves it is easy to see where it is going to go back....  

Then add the next layer, in this case the head and iron that on in place ... 

I chose to draw in the mouth and eyes at this stage with permanent marker... they will be stitched by hand once sewn down....

… then I ironed on the main body....

… and finally the nose....  so you can see I have built it up as per pattern instructions but on the silicone sheet instead of the fabric.....

Once it has cooled the whole hedgehog could be lifted.  The main reason I do this is so that I can then place my hedgehog as an entire hog right in the centre of my daisy....

We have a little line of them going.... I have done one hedgehog going a different way to everyhog else...

This week I will applique them down in their daisies with blanket stitch by machine...

I was tired in the evenings to focus too much on sewing so I knitted with this ultra chunky polyester yarn....  those are size 12 needles and quite clumsy to work with....

Didn't go far and out of my big ball I got these two squares.... now youngest daughter and I each have a new dusting cloth....   they work magnificently and last for ages - quite happy with lots of washes.  But another time I would use thinner yarn... you don't need 1" thick cloths but they were ultra quick to knit....

Righto, Gotto Go....

Month End.....

I have done some work on UFO's this month.....

I have done 4 more blocks for Dutch Treat... there are still 16 to do so  a few more months with this one at the rate I am going.....

My lovely chair kept losing it's gas and I would literally get a 'sinking feeling' which was no good as I was quilting ….

Hubz bought some PVC pipe and clamps and fitted it on the chair.... I don't need it to go up and down so this is perfect..... it was so frustrating having to lift it up so often....

I thought I would show you incase any of you get this problem

Other UFO's I have worked on were these 3 little stitcheries that I had...…

They have all been made into needle cases.  I didn't stitch the little knitting lady - it was in my Moms things many years ago and I have always kept it.... I think it may have been used as a book mark.  

I ordered this set of bits to make snap fasteners for my bibs and it came this week - a lovely assortment of colours and nice easy peasy gadget to stick them down....

… so it means I have finished these little bibs - here I used towelling on the back and a couple of pieces of sweet vintage fabrics (the bottom 3)

these ones are sweet patterns - I saw one and wanted a pattern, the quilt shop was so sweet and spent ages finding it for me - it was a book so I ended up buying a book just for the bib patterns

Thanks again to Joy who hosts Finishing Stitches to encourage finishing and working on UFO's - and thanks to Peg and Kris for hosting OPAM.... it really helps motivate....

The bibs were so fun to do ... I think I will use the middle pattern to make a mug rug for Hubz….  he has been home this week building a humungous fernery out the back... and of course I am here to help and lift timber, and hold nails... and ……. as a result not much quilting has been done.... 

Of course I don't mind really - the fernery will shade the bedrooms and make a huge difference to the heat in the house during summer when we need coolness - I am looking forward to plant shopping time - still a way to go...

This is what we started with... very dry grass and our hardy bottle brushes on the fenceline are dying too from no rain....

Poles have been cemented in and main arches made.... today he is working on cross pieces in between the arches which have needed cutting to size and painting.....

It's going to be such a lovely cool area one day.....

Righto, Gotto Go.... the worker needs me.....

Variety is the spice of life....

This weeks Blockheads block has lots of little pieces.  the finished block is 6 1/2"

Here are all the blocks so far - I don't know what the setting will be like but I am trying to get a mixture of colours in the bigger and smaller blocks....

I am using fabrics from my stash for this with some bits from the scrap baskets ….

ChooseDay sewing I did lots of machine buttonhole stitch.....

… and made 16 blocks with big daisies in them....

I am going to be using this cute hedgehog fabric I got from Michelle and a fat quarter pack of Eureka

with a bit of extra metreage for borders

… it's a cute pattern by Melly and Me....

When I was cleaning up I found a 'mug rug' kit which I think came with a magazine many moons ago.... it didn't take much to make it up and it's one less thing in the cupboard.

Then I got onto making up some needlecases with some arbitrary stitcheries that I had. 

A little page of wool in the centre is nice to needles...

There are a couple more I still have to stitch down

Today a surprise in the post.  Cheryll found a couple of pretty doilies and sent them - I do like a play with the doilies and these are nice and small so will be fun to make up into something.... maybe even more needle-cases, or special coasters/mugrugs?  Thanks Cheryll …...

Righto, Gotto Go ...…  I am going to peruse this lovely book to find a project that I can make with scraps on ChooseDays….. 

Has anybody else used this book to make something?  

Fiddling around.....

After being energised with ChooseDay sewing I continued to piece some blocks for My Small World...

This hill was a bit fiddly, I drew up a foundation pieced pattern but needleturned each curve onto each other.... not sure it gave the best result but it worked for me....

(this block measures 8 1/2" by 4 1/2" …. so lots of small pieces

… and here are all four hills together.... you can see they all are a bit fiddly and different... how clever designers are....

… of course I couldn't stop there……

TaDa… all my pieces are together now....  I didn't count them but you are welcome to....

My Small World is designed by Jen Kingwell ….  so clever and so much fun.... now to get it quilted.... hmmmm

Of course with a finish (sort of finish though not quilted) I needed some more machine sewing for ChooseDay….

playing around with some placement

Righto, Gotto Go.... curtain fell down this morning so Hubz needs some supervision!!!

Back to some piecing.....

I have missed doing my machine piecing lately … and it was great to get back with the ChooseDay Girls for some sewing (for various reasons we have missed quite a few Tuesdays lately)

First up were  the last 2 weeks of blocks for Moda BlockHeads …. I was pleased to use that pretty piece as a focus in the big block....

As it is a mystery I am not sure how my colours will work together with the different blocks.... but people do them all the time and they seem to work....

...next I sewed Sky... lots of 1 1/2" pieces to make sky..... and added the blocks I had done to the city sections..... My Small World is starting to take shape....

This week I want to work on making the rest of the hills then I can put the last panel together and sew the panels all together... fun, fun, fun.... 

Another angel has been sewed for Angel Story....  they are such sweet pictures 

Righto, Gotto Go.... sleep time.... I love sleep time...… zzzz

Getting back into order.....

Mostly I am pretty casual in the home... but I am a bit fussy - well maybe very fussy - about my quilting room....  well, I spend a lot of time in there and get customers in there, and it is 'my' room...…

The new paint has made it so much lighter, also Hubz changed some bulbs to 'daylight' bulbs so the light in there is heaps better now.

I've enjoyed the nice clean walls.… but I do use a design wall a lot... and it's a nice big wall.....

My blue pen came in use for marking the walls for nails....

…. just a spray away for a nice clean wall again.... Hubz found out my magic sewing stuff is multifunctional!

The design boards are made from corflute (old poster signs) some of the paint was deteriorating so I wanted to cover it on the back so it didn't mess my nice clean walls!

… the wadding on the front, not too bad but a good time to tidy it all up....

I love this special gadget for tidying up threads.... I just need to stroke it over the wadding and it picks up loose fluff and threads easy peasy….

… fits on the hand like a half a mitten...

I bought it at a Quilt shop a couple of years ago... but I would think some sort of scrubber would work just the same... it's like a plastic sponge stuff

some old flannel sheets got cut up and taped to cover the back of the board ….

… and now I have my lovely design boards up.....  It's a cheap way to make boards and they are lightweight so easy to take on and off the hooks in the top corners.

… as you can see I have a lovely big table for pinning quilts and cutting …. 

Maybe you noticed another Dutch Treat block on the wall.....  I finished this one last night....

I have 18 left of the 196 blocks..... the end is nigh!

Cool change has come in, I am going to sit and do a few more rows of this little rug I have been crocheting for ever..... 

I love the patterns variegated yarn just makes...

Righto, Gotto Go, coffee, crochet and wood fire …… and my spare rooms still look like a tornado has been through them.....

Hope your week goes well....