... and so.....

Wishing you all a very very lovely 2020.... I am unable to come up with profound things to say but I do wish you lots of happiness

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I made a start in the sewing room.... (no surprises there) 

I had this plastic box marked 'Baby'... with a mixture of minky, chenille, muslin, flannelette, cotton, cotton bedlinen (new).

Our youngest grandbaby is 4 ... so they have been languishing a while.... mostly leftovers...

first up I chopped the muslin and chenille and got out my overlocker… which I tried to kill a month ago by sewing over a pin, then thinking I could change the blade, and instead I broke a needle, so I sent it for service and paid enough for 5 metres of fabric but it works very nicely thank you Mr Fixit ....

These make just lovely washcloths for bubz, and Mums too.....

Then some good used baby items got the chop... a towel and a muslin wrap.... overlock raw edges...

these are now dishcloths ...

 Then I went to put the dishcloths away in the drawer and took out horrible stained old ones ….

Which I took to put in the laundry to become dusters.... and saw the cupboard was full of all sorts so I started tidying.....

and discovered I had all the things to make up my cleaning stuff.....

.... decided I needed more laundry powder...…

MY LAUNDRY POWDER RECIPE... 

4 cups grated soap..... (this is the only bit of labour intensive - you can use an electronic thing but I have broken 2 with soap so I just use the good old grater)

2 cups washing soda

1 cup bicarb (or borax but all our water is recycled into the garden)

1 cup nappy soaker (optional)

Mix it all together... need 2 Tablespoons for a wash....

I think I have enough for a couple of years now.... this is a 4 litre container....

Then I made up my all purpose cleaner....

ALL PURPOSE CLEANER RECIPE (I do 4 lots at a time and have a heap of bottles ready)

1.5 litres water (1 cup boiled) 

300ml vinegar

60ml dishwashing liquid

25mil eucalyptus oil

3 Dsp washing soda (60ml) (same stuff I use for the laundry powder)

Mix washing soda with boiling water to dissolve.  Add remaining ingredients

I use it almost everywhere, wonderful for sinks, stoves, soaking cooking things (especially oil fried pans), kitchen bench, toilet..... blah blah blah.

Do not use on timber with a varnish... the eucalyptus ruins it.....

I have a few spray bottles in strategic places in the house....

Of course I recycle as much as possible but I do find they need replacing - I think the eucalyptus slowly messes up the plastic....

Then I went on to make my glass cleaner..... (good for windows, mirrors, shower glass)

GLASS CLEANER RECIPE

Equal quantities of: 

alcohol (I use methylated spirits)

water

vinegar

None of these take much time to do at all (just grating the soap does a bit) and they all work fine for me... and have saved me a lot of money over the years.

There are a few stronger cleaners that I do buy and use periodically... so these don't fill all my needs.

Then I went back to the box that started it all....

and made a bunch more washcloths.....

... isn't this the cutest fabric, I think it's vintage and it was passed on to me by someone who had a bunch of lovely old fabrics....  If there had been enough I would have made myself a Bondi top with it....

Righto, Gotto Go..... there is cottons in there that can be made into little quilts.... with some help from other coordinates from my stash.... I would like to empty that box.....

Karen reminded me that bibs can be made... always useful and I do have a bucketload of press-studs!  I can use some of the fabrics and the towelling that is in there..... 

May your 2020 be fun... and happy.... and creative in any way you like

year end.......

Wishing you all a wonderful 2020..... may it be full of stitching..... and other stuff that you like....

Yesterday I went and bought cold meats, cheeses and pickles for us to snack on at NYE....  we seldom sit up till midnight, preferring just to get to sleep when we feel ready..... boring ….

This week I quilted up this little quilt (the top was given to me) …...

… and this Chevron quilt top that I made a few years ago.... I did leaves in all the whites and lines in the colour… fairly heavy quilting but it gives a nice texture and is not too stiff....  will be even nicer after a wash....

My hand quilting is done, this is a smallish lap quilt size and I did make myself do a bit each day so it would get done....  some ovals in the blank squares to copy applique'd stitcheries

.. and some orange peels in the corners and wavy lines in the borders...

 mostly very simple but it holds it all and gives a nice soft feel....

I now have a binding queue starting... the binding has been sewn on by machine and I will hand sew when it is cool enough to be prepared to have a quilt on my lap! (my postcards quilt is also there)

Today I am pinning work quilts in preparation for next year..... well one of them needed to be finished before I could pin it ------ YOU know who you are!!!.... haha.... just a bit of blanket stitching around stars....  I thought it was a bit funny that it got posted to me not quite done....

.. and another United Stitches block done.....  you will still be seeing these around for a while...

I have updated my WOOFA list on the side bar to reflect my long UFO list.  Cheryll is hosting a bit of motivation to work on unfinished projects, and maybe even finish them!!  You can read about it HERE.

Thanks Chez..... great idea....

Righto, Gotto Go..... ALL THE VERY BEST FOR 2020 .....

Phew......

We survived.....

It's been a bit like that this year

Just before Christmas I received lovely post with ornaments

From Susan

From Jeanette ….

and from Karen …. and extra card from Raewyn...

Thank you I just love them

My tree looked lovely with only hand made ornaments on it.... and so many memories and thoughts go with them.... 

I did make some and sent them off... I only took this picture of the backs!

….. but I have 'stolen' this one from Michelle's blog...

I used some glitter cork fabric on some, and some glitter felt on others and some sweet Tilda angels....  some raw edge applique and pinking sheers and finished off with hemp twine.....  a real mix of textures....

WE had a quiet Christmas but I had a good giggle at my mug with mugshots... (Hubz and I got one each.... the motley crew making silly faces)

… and up to date pictures of the grandchildren.....  As most of you know they live far away (bar 1) so having these is very precious to me.....

I have continued with my hand quilting, and the last couple of days done some machine quilting of my own......

Handstitching has continued …. as always.... and this sweet butterfly is done....

… and this one which is very apt for the end of one year and the beginning of the next....

This last couple of days I have been doing some sorting and updated my pages (at the top of my blog page) for UFO's and the Quilting Queue... both very long.  

I always make great progress on my UFO's which usually results in increased quilting queue... and then of course I start a whole lot more to be UFO's for the following year.... that's the way it works in this house....

Wishing you and yours all the best, and may we have a wonderful year full of blogging friendship.....

Les Courtiers

I purchased Les Courtiers off a destash site some years ago because I love the French General fabrics (and it was a bargain price)

Since I had finished all the individual blocks I started putting them together...

Rows 1 and 2 …..

Rows 4 and 5….. (it seems I didn't take a picture of Row 3!!)

Joining them together..... only fitted sideways on my design wall.....

then I added 10" wide borders all round..... (I  made them wider than the pattern said as there was enough fabric and also I wanted it a bit bigger)

Love the colours…. it is 98 x 86" and will be a challenge to quilt...… one fine day....

I have the pattern set available should anyone like to have it (Aus only for postage I'm afraid)  however there is NO fabric requirements (it came as a kit with fabric included) and I did find I needed to make a couple of changes to blocks but that could well have been maker error during the different stages....

 It's now sitting in the quilting queue with the binding ready cut to sew.....

Another sweet United Stitches stitchery was completed.....

 … and I am slowly getting the hang of working my thimble to do hand quilting....

Trying to do at least 6 threaded needles a day.....  so I have it at the table and when I get a chance I go and sit and do a bit..... 

… am finding the hoop helps a lot for the middle bits... on the edges I just grip with my left hand....

This quilt is "In My Garden" by Natalie Bird... such a gorgeous design with stitchery, applique, piecing, EPP and the most gorgeous sayings and pictures....

Righto, Gotto Go... last quilt job for the year is waiting for some attention.....

Hope you have a lovely weekend wherever you are...… xx

Sampler done...

I have completed my Sampler Quilt done with Jane at Loopy's place

I did my blocks half the size of the patterns so my quilt measures 22 x 19".... doll quilt size

I had a bit of fun with the quilting....

… each block is different....

fabrics were scraps from another quilt where I used a fat quarter pack.....

I love these colours together.....

Jane is going to do another sampler next year... I can't wait to see what we do....

I have been working on my Les Courtiers (a bit neglected for a while)

This is the pattern for the blocks down the side..... 44 needed...… hmmmm

done by hand and appliqued and I just knew I wouldn't get that done

so I made 9 patches instead (thanks Michelle for the idea)….

My math is not good and I made them all 1/2" too big so trimming around each edge was needed....

It was good to have them nice and square for the next bit though.... which also needed trimming....

I have all the blocks constructed for the quilt now and hopefully I can start putting them together....  lots of different ones ....

Hand stitching has resulted in another sweet United Stitches block

Righto, Gotto Go... I want to start putting all the different blocks for Les Courtiers together...... quite a bit of work to do on that