Third week of November ALREADY!

A hot humid week with some wonderful rain.  Storms and hail nearby but those miss us, sadly quite often the rain does too but our grass has greened up - always looks better with green grass.

I sewed up a Pinafore apron.  It's a panel by Robert Kaufman with printed shapes and instructions (additional instructions on line) 

Easy - made it up in a couple of hours...

This panel came from The Quilters Angel, there was also a cream background but since I am so messy in the kitchen I thought the grey was better.... 

I finally put the sashing and borders on this braid quilt.  I have started sewing braids for the other matching one.

Hand sewing this week was making up this little needlecase....

I used an alphabet stitchery from a pattern my Michelle purchased a few years ago.... it has been a useful one to have...

It has a pocket and small piece of felt.  I was annoyed that in spite of being very careful I still did not sew the patch in the middle!!!  It will stay like that though.

Righto, Gotto Go - I want to fix up a pattern to make a wrap around dress for myself... FNSI tonight hosted by Wendy

Have a lovely weekend.....xx

Second week of November

Hello..... suddenly all my comments are coming to me No Reply...... anybody have any idea how to fix this???

Apologies if I don't answer, sometimes I can't find your address - I had several come back to me as I must have used an old one or something....

We have had a hot week here .... with odd storms coming through but not yielding much rain, nor cooling down..... .

This week I finished off the linen shirt I started at my last sewing class...

I learnt how to do buttonholes - years ago we had to draw lines, measure, turn sew, turn , widen etc... now I just press a button and it's done! magic....

I gave our tutor a shirt I loved wearing but it was a tad too tight and she made up a pattern for me to us... This one fits well.

A new brewery/restaurant has opened nearby so we dropped in ..... 

on the walls were a bunch of the old hand mixers...

The building used to be full of German style clocks, it was a fabulous place to visit and they have kept the german clock theme...

... and there are cuckoo clocks for sale....

I made up another shirt from the pattern, it helps reinforce anything I learnt, this time in cotton floral.

Squares have been knitted and more scraps cut and tidied up .... 

Righto, Gotto Go... need to get my glad-rags on.....

Today our Quilt club is celebrating 40 years with a lunch..... should be a fun occasion....

Have a lovely weekend .....xx

Beginning of November

This week I have a quilt on the frame.......

Lots of smaller detail quilting and colour changes .... going slow

There is a deadline so I have been focussing most of my time on it....

I went in to the city and had an extra 15 minutes to spare so dropped in to an op shop..... I found this bag for $4 - I really got it for the fun factor!

There are a couple of places repairs need to be made.....

Each evening I am working on my KOGO knitting and this week this is my little pile

I have pulled out the plain framed hexagons to make up for Field Journal - the pile to be stitched is slowly diminishing....  I did a couple for FNWF - always fun sewing with company (even cyber company)

.... and that is my week - gone already!  I hope you have had a good one!

Righto, Gotto Go.... coffee is ready....

End of October

 I'm doing a bit of catch up today...... have had a busy couple of weeks...

I have been continuing to join my field journal hexagons..... happy with how they are looking

I am at the half way point now, except I will make half hexagons to go on the top row to straighten it out.... (the same on the bottom)

I finally bound this panel I quilted ages ago when I was trying some new to me quilting.... 

Not very big and has a sleeve to hang

Scraps continue to be chopped, I have a small pile still waiting to be pressed and chopped but my little scrap baskets all got a wash and air dry....

Cleaning up I found these little quilts which I finished some time ago and don't think I posted about them....

I started them when little ones were needed for a charity,  they will do for little pictures or table mats - I will see if they are needed somewhere....

A week away - moonlight over the ocean .....

We stayed on the South Coast and had a couple of ferry trips to Coochiemudlo Island (at the moment public transport is 50c) so it's a bit of a novelty for us.

Saw the Curlews (last year I made a postcard to send off to help preserve their habitat)

Fun yarn bombing on the island - it is an easy walk around the whole island.... you can see boats in the background... there were so many boats and yachts there

The main reason for the trip was to watch the giant Widget in National Touch Rugby games. 9 games altogether and 2 evening training sessions - so a big week.

Nail-biting last game which Queensland won...... a bit exciting

In between games we went to see the lighthouse and wanted lunch at Queenslands oldest licenced pub (built in 1851)  but it is closed for renovations....

Also had an afternoon catch up with Susan and Michelle which was lovely  and sped by too fast. 

... and of course had an evening walk ending with fish and chips....

I took my knitting and got 10 squares done over the week......

So there we have it, fun fun fun...

Righto, Gotto Go, quick trip to town to buy some dressmaking fabric....

Have a lovely week....xx

Second Week of October

We had a lovely long weekend with friends ..... here in Queensland we celebrate The Kings Birthday with a public holiday.  Evening picnic in parks, brewery visits and chocolate and gin in between chats.

Then Tuesday saw me go for the next leg of my garment making course.....

I made these Capri pants....

I never wear white having inherited my fathers ability to mess on everything!!  But my plan is to make a few coordinated clothes and white would go nicely with my blouse....

I don't know how well you can see on this next picture but this stain on the 'bum' was there by the time I got home - sitting in my basket!  I think my mug spilt a bit of tea on it.... a soak and it's sorted thus the crinkly look picture above.

April, my tutor also showed me how to alter the pattern to make shorts, longs and widen or narrow the legs so I will make a change for my next navy blue ones.

Wednesday saw me on the bus to the Quilt and Craft Show in Brisbane where I met up with Michelle.  We also had lunch with a few other friends including blogger Susan but forgot a photo!

Here we are in front of the singer Kate Sabrano's quilts.... they are huge and hand needleturned and quilted... just gorgeous

Bad me took only a few pictures and none of the name tags,..... my deepest apologies to the makers...

I have a denim challenge for Embroidery guild next year working on denim so I took a picture of this one for inspiration....

Lovely quilt using lacy doilies...

I wanted to see the quilting mostly ...

This edging was a chenille look...

I do love the African Wild Dog so this took my eye....

... and the quilting was magnificent... perfect for texture but not distracting from the lovely design

This one fascinated me..... from close I didn't see this glow at all...

The quilting again was magnificent.... a little picture in every piece.... so much to look at ...

This one was fun too... two colours only

the maker reversed the colours for the quilting.... and it was stunning too

My hand sewing has included these Sashiko style blocks - not so complicated and they didn't take long...

... and a bit more progress on my embroidery when I went to Guild on Thursday...

I have managed a few more knitted blocks, 2 of these were done on the bus on the way to Brisbane.  I think I was the only nutter doing something but I struggle to sit still and this is my chosen fiddle...

An update of my scrap busting.... lots more 2 1/2" and 3 1/2" blocks have been cut - still a goodly amount in the colour buckets to get through, but that area is looking a lot tidier!

Righto, Gotto go..... so much gadding about has meant other domestic things have not been done - and I need an extra nap after so much going on and waking up with nightmares!  Tsssk..... I scream in fear, wake myself and Hubz up (well he wakes up while he levitates from shock!)

Have a lovely weekend....xx