First week of December

I am so not ready for December.... 

I needed another lesson on looped picots for my Hardanger - so nothing more to show there.  I received a couple of learner books from Jennifer and they are helping me learn... thanks so much

Over the year Susan and I have been sewing Be My Neighbour blocks each month..... I got my binding hand sewn down this week so I have a finish... it's being called Debs' Village.

I did in the ditch quilting around the buildings and windows... some lines in the borders but it has kept it nice and soft.  As you can see in the next picture the backgrounds are different colours.  Quite a cheerful village I think, it's had a wash and ready for the right time to gift...

I did start on another Caswell block.... poor quilt has been severely neglected.  I do love doing the needleturn so not sure why it seems to take a back seat so often....

I had a single ball of this lovely soft thick yarn and made up this beanie.... well I had to do a few attempts so that I could get it all out of the one ball.... done now and this will go into the KOGO pile for next year.  Another square was done too.

Blue stripey crochet blanket has come to a halt as I did not estimate the yarn well enough and didn't have anything here that would suit so have ordered on line and waiting for delivery so I can finish it off.

Not been a good week for estimating yarn amounts!!!

Righto, Gotto Go - we went into Brisbane yesterday to watch a day of The Ashes, a rivalry cricket game between Australia and England.... had such a fun day.  The Gabba is going to be torn down - another place built for the Olympics, so this will be the last of the Ashes Tests here..... evening break as the sun goes down.

Have a lovely week.....xx

Last week of November

A stormy week we have had....  not much rain in it but amazing light shows, for us no damage (a power out one evening) but many people and places have.

I am keeping myself busy with one thing or another...

I had a home day so got out the magnifying light and worked on my blackwork ......

It's easier for me to have several to do at a time so these are catch up ones.... 4 more to go but I will wait till they are all released and finish them.  Still not sure what I will do with it!

While the light was on I worked on the next bit of Hardanger... cutting threads!!!  and of course I cut one that I shouldn't have ..... 

online lesson on how to fix it.... the tension is not great but I felt I did a good job and it will be stitched over...

Then I finished all the little eyelets in this block.....  again there is a mistake but I'm not undoing it... can you find it????

I loaded up my Sylvia's Bridal Sampler quilt this week and will slowly do a few blocks when I can....  (top was made in 2019) 

Doing a bit of hand sewing my binding down on Be My Neighbour... which I am now calling Deb's Village

I like this little gadget when I am binding.... I can thread 10 threads at a time and hold them here where they don't get all knotted up..... and then just stitch away.....

Thursday Hardanger's lesson is these tormenting looped picots!  That whole block needs to be filled with them!  I am struggling I have to admit, at the same time it completely takes over when I am doing it and I lose track of time....

I helped a friend out with a tiny thing and she gave me this sweet needleholder as a thank you.... it is nice and lightweight so a perfect addition to my Hardanger WIP kit....

Some lovely gentle rain this morning and a Christmas party to attend today.....

Righto, Gotto Go put on my glad-rags....

Have a lovely weekend....xx

Second week of November

This week has gone in a bit of a daze and I have kept busy..

On Sunday I attended my last clothes making session of the year and I made up a baby romper for a friends baby girl...

I have forgotten how fiddly it is to make little clothes!!!

On Wednesday with the girls I continued making up some scrappy blocks for Trail Mix...

There is a bunch more to be made up...

I have taken to doing some stitching in the evenings and got out my table runner that has been neglected for some time...

Added a few more rows onto the crochet stripey blanket aswell....

This little village is on the quilting rack..... doing a little bit each day - mostly in the ditch around the blocks.... I feel that is all it needs...

Summer storms and some fierce winds have visited us, lovely to have water in the tanks and some green lawn to enjoy...

Have a lovely crafty weekend.... xx

Righto, Gotto Go..... time for a cuppa

My place....

Michelle and I also visited Laurel Bank park which is full of beautiful annual flowers

Our garden is looking lovely too.  These plants have never flowered as heavily as this year so I think we had just the right amount of rains... plus my gardener works hard at it!

Clivia (I thought I had lost all the pale ones so happy to see this one in there)

Lime and pink.... great combo (not sure of plant names)

The May bush is looking gorgeous

The wisteria is just gorgeous..... so is the jasmine....

I was given an orchid a few years ago... it has done nothing since but look at what she is doing now.... I am so delighted with it.... 7 blooms and another 3 buds

The azaleas are doing their thing too

As I said never so full of flowers...

The week before I had managed to finish my Floral Fun top.  37" square and it is presently being quilted.  This is a SewAlong with Sunday Stitchers - great working to a timetable

Sewing with the girls on the previous Wednesday resulted in a couple more blocks of houses

and most of the top was put together.  I managed to sew the borders on yesterday so another quilt top done.  84.5 x 68" so a good size quilt.

Susan and I sewed along this one, she makes a great timetable to guide us... 

Righto, Gotto Go,  pleased to have a couple of tops made .....  I'm a bit occupied for a few weeks so not sure how much blogging I'll do..... but I'll be working on my crochet blanket

Have a lovely rest of the weekend...

Third week of August

My second Be My Neighbour block for August has been finished.  I needed to applique on the bird and flower.  It's a bit busy on it's own but I think that will calm once it is with the others.

Only 2 blocks to go now .... I will miss doing these each month with Susan

3 more Sashiko blocks have been done..... that's 149 done - I need to draw out more grids.... 

I finished the Fishing quilt this week.....  I bought some green for the side borders and binding....

This shows some of the lovely fishy fabrics....

and the panel I found for the centre....

I bought a doona cover for the backing... it's just like a flannal a fisherman would use.... you can see my 'watery' quilting

My garment making/recycling (I'm not sure it counts as UPcycling - not that glamorous) this week involved chopping up a vintage blanket (which already had big pieces cut from it) and using my Laura Jacket pattern made up a cardigan type garment.

I'm not lining it and have done an organic style crochet edging.  There are quite a few holes in the blanket (pure wool) so I will add a bit of stuff to cover them - not going to do too much as I think this will just be a casual cosy experiment.  I do like the idea so if I find a good quality vintage blanket I will make one properly.

A bit of crochet and a bit of knitting, some sorting and tidying done and the week has disappeared....

Righto, Gotto Go, I still have the sleeves to crochet on the recycle cardigan jacket .....

Have a lovely weekend...xx