Gifts ... and a quilt top

When I was sewing The Schoolgirl Sampler (THIS ONE) I joined in with a few others on Instagram and we sewed together.....

Ingrid was one of the others and a surprise arrived in the post from her....

Ingrid had asked casually which was my favourite block from the sampler and I had said the flying geese.... so she made a mini quilt from it with some of her beautiful fabrics...

she also included an assortment of fabrics (a couple of French Generals in there which have gone towards a future new project) and a gorgeous little pincushion in a glass container..... made with some Tilda fabric ...

Lovely surprise... thank you Ingrid....

A few weeks ago someone had been looking for a pattern which they were having trouble finding and I had it... had made it up a few years ago so I offered to pass it on.....

A parcel arrived as a thank you.....

a big bag of scraps.... (she knew I love making scrap quilts) mostly fairly large pieces

A lot of I Spy type fabrics... so my collection is restored...

I used a lot in this Disappearing 9 patch quilt top....

I kept the I Spy pictures in the corners of the 9 patch so they didn't get chopped up... and then used up various scraps for the other squares and plain blues for the centres to make up the corner stones

Something I noticed on a quilt that was sent to me for quilting which I thought was a good idea was stitching around the complete edge of the quilt to stablise it when there has been a lot of piecing (I don't do this when there is a solid border).

Not only stabilise but also helps stop those little pieces from coming undone, and holds the shape for when it comes to quilting time...

My lovely wounded ducks are happily settled onto their new wild geese mini quilt rug....

The new crochet blanket has started..... It is a wave pattern and I am having to concentrate at the moment (I hope I will get the hang of it and move a bit quicker after a few rows)

Righto, Gotto Go... I think I'll go and play some of those new fabric and scraps....

Scrapping away ......

having made a man quilt with lovely Tim Holst fabrics last year.... (THIS ONE)  I wanted to use the scrap strips I had cut off the sides of the fat quarters..... 

so I sewed up strips and cut them to 31/2 inches then added HST's to the sides... pressed and trimmed them square trying hard to keep the strippy bits central...

.. it's always fun watching them grow....

This was the end result..... I would have liked the balance of squaring it all, but I didn't have enough scraps... as it is this is a quite nice small lap quilt....

I fancy making this same design but smaller blocks for a long thin table runner - I like that loop knot type of look....

The four Field Journal stitcheries for last month are all done.. the last one was the buddlea at the bottom right....

Righto, Gotto Go..... the nights are cooling nicely and I have been in to dig out some yarn to start on a crochet blanket .. 

Month end......

I finished off this piece yesterday.... I had done the stitching some time ago so when I had finished a quilt job I continued with the same thread and quilted this up.... 

Stapled it to a canvas that was languishing in my cupboard.....

... so that is a Christmas finish for this month .... linking up to 1 Christmas Item a Month hosted by Narelle....

I made up this quilt long ago... lots of 4 inch blocks......

They look like circles from a distance....

quilted all over with curved lines linking them all.....

It only needed the binding sewing down which took a couple of evenings.... it's not a very big quilt.... healthy lap quilt size.....

This is a WOOFA project hosted by Cheryll....

... and I have finally finished sewing all the leaves on this block for Civil War Bride....

you can see two of them are not completely attached.... they will be sewn down once it is trimmed and joined to its neighbours....  the next block is big birds... peacocks I think...

I did get some more half hexagons glued and stitched on Tuesday.... the pile is growing... soon I will need to make some colour decisions...

I am not a good OPAMer , hosted by Kris, but I do have a few finishes this month.... the two at the top of here, a sweet bunting, a table runner and the rail tracks quilt....  you can join up anytime and there is no pressure...

Righto, Gotto Go..... I am playing with my Tim Holst scraps today.....

Running smoothly....

I am glad to report that the toilet is working.... I am sad to say it was very messy..... that is all I shall say about it!

Tuesday sewing with friends involved basting and stitching some more half hexagons....  I buy precut hexagons as they are more accurate than my own cut ones... but I do slice them in half... and I have purchased the little glues which are great as the end is fine so easy to just add the small amount needed.  I like fine milliners needles and fine bottomline thread to stitch with....

I have a little suitcase it all comes to sewing group in....

It's pretty as well as useful....

This week I got some strips sewn from my Tim Holst scraps.....  I made a man quilt last year and there were small bits left over from the fat quarters....

The scrap strips are being matched to some dark grey bella solid and they will become blocks like this....

Hand embroidery led to another Field Journal being completed... I must get on and do the next one as the new instalment is due any day now....

A new block for From The Heart was started at Thursday sewing group... As you can see I didn't get very much done!

... and I am slowly stitching at the next block for Civil War Bride.... doing different colour leaves... a few each night....

Righto, Gotto Go.... the weekend to enjoy..... and domestic goddessing to catch up on...

One of those weeks....

Well the plumbing is not actually fixed after our ministrations.... the toilet bubbles when I do laundry and then overflows outside... 

It is a spare toilet so it's easy not to use it for a while .... and you will understand how awful it is not to be able to do laundry!!! it's almost as bad as not being able to have 100 people at the house!

So now waiting for a professional to come in - sadly plumber son lives 1,500km away or he would have come by.....

So whilst I can't spend my time being a domestic goddess doing laundry I did sew instead....

I made up this little banner......

The sweet stitcheries were done quite some time ago....

These are pre-printed designs by Natalie Bird...

I got them from The Quilters Angel

The backings and binding have been done in a Tilda

On Sunday we discovered our internet had gone.... chat's with our supplier it was diagnosed the modem had retired and they would send a new one delivered at no charge within 3 - 5 days..... thank you very much there is not a lot you get for free...

We realised just how dependant we are on our internet... the new one was here yesterday (Tuesday) and so easy to set up.... just plug it in and go..... the only difficulty was Hubz fancy dancy streaming music sound thingies but techie son in UK was able to help with that one....

Putting up with those boys as teenagers is paying off now.....

Well not being able to do my online stuff I did manage to sneak in some extra sewing!!

Amazing how much quicker hand sewing is when you are not trying to watch TV at the same time!

I finished off the binding on the table runner... very happy with those lovely Australian flowers decorating the dining room table

So lovely to have a couple of finishes done....  

I do so love Autumn weather.... the days are just beautiful and the nights are cool

Righto, Gotto Go... I actually have a quilting job I have procrastinated over long enough!!

Sewing with friends......

Regularly once a month is FNSI hosted by Wendy.... and it's fun to link up and see what others are sewing......

I finished off sewing this lovely fat moth from the Field Journal series I am doing....

This quilt has arrived at it's new home now.....

One of the many scrap quilts I love to make.... with an all over wood grain type quilting ....

Since I am celebrating a finish I will link up to Cheryll's TGIFF today..... a fun way to encourage finishes...

It was one of those pick up a piece out the box and sew it....  I had been given a large quantity of ready cut pieces which I used.

Show day here for Friday so Hubz was home, and while he got on with things around the house I quilted up my little runner I had made during the week....

I did wiggly lines up and down the shorter side.....

Today I want to sew the binding on and then I can stitch it down by hand in the evening....  hopefully by the end of the weekend I will have another finish....

Righto, Gotto Go.... I'm off to links HERE and HERE to see what the others got to....

A sewing weekend ... during the week...

Mostly the 'weekends' are busy so I like to have my weekend sewing days with friends during the week..... since I quilt at home I can do that ....

This week I went to Quilt Club on Tuesday where I continued sewing my half hexagons....  They had a lovely morning tea 

They also had a 'destash' day where members can take stuff excess to their needs and set up a table and sell it off.... there is always lots of bargains and I might have helped to alleviate some peoples guilt about having such a big stash...... it's only charitable to do that......

My half hexagon pile is growing.... I am wanting an equal distribution of light, medium and dark so once I have some more I will need to start some proper planning and perhaps add some other fabrics.

Wednesday I had a few friends over at my house and I got on with some machine sewing which has been waiting around a while...

This small lap quilt was made up using blocks that were included in a recent op shop fabric purchase.  I had some pieces in my stash I could use for sashing and borders.

I rather like that look and so will have a dig for a jelly roll and make some of those blocks for a bigger quilt I think....

These pretty Australiana fabrics were purchased a while ago because I loved them..... I found a nice red with a black fleck in them in my stash for sashings and borders and made up this table runner.

Now to book it in for quilting!! 

A bunch of 4 1/2" squares were already cut to sew up into a childrens quilt.....  I recently saw one Susan had made and liked the idea for some of the I Spy fabrics I have....

A bunch of 9 patches were sewn up..... it's so good to have company when doing repetitive work like this....

The I Spy fabrics are in the corners.... and every one has the bright blue centre

This morning I quickly gave them a press and slice.....

Now I have a bunch of blocks ready to sew next time ...

A successful sewing retreat weekend for me..... 

Covid restrictions have eased in Queensland today and we are now allowed to have 100 people in our house ..... such a relief... I really missed that part....  

Righto, Gotto Go... there is quilting to be done....