Into the last week of August

This week almost got away from me!

I got my Wensleydale quilt top put together.....  a few hours of taking out the papers whilst listening to an audio book.....

I've done some more of the Christmas stitcheries......

... and this week got back to do a bit more hardanger....

... which included filling in the heart with 'dove's eye'

We were invited by friends who had been given tickets to a Footy Game (Dolphins vs Eels) which included great seats and a special pass....

... so we went down on to the field for 15 minutes whilst the home team (Dolphin) warmed up....

Really was a bit of fun ...... and we had a good win .....

The next day we visited a Botanical Gardens.....  This vine in the 'hot house' was flowering....  just huge and such a vibrant blue colour...

the gardens are beautiful and full of lovely areas ....

... and interesting plants....

The Baobab tree was full of pods.  We remembered as children sucking on the pips which are Cream of Tartar....

So many different shapes and sizes of cacti....

We spotted a couple of curlew in this area... they stand completely still and are well camouflaged.... can you spot them????

We also walked up to the Japanese Garden and Bonsai area... there were lots of lovely bonsai but I did like this Azalea in flower.....

and amongst the bushes this lizard basking on a lizard amused me....

After a picnic lunch in the shade we headed off home.....  A lovely time in the city...

Righto, Gotto Go, I want to sort out what I am going to sew - I still have loads of half done things ....

Have a good week ....x

.... and August begins

It's been a busy week with one thing and another...... and now we enter August....

The last 2 Tuesleydale / Wensleydale blocks have been done.... 1 have 60 and soon I'll plan how they go together... when my design wall is free.....

At the moment it has a Parliament of Owls all over it.... I made the 10 small owls earlier this week... I have included a large one so you can see the size difference....

Earlier this year I was given a roll of braid quilt Foundation Paper Piecing, so I have started that.  I cut up a partial Jelly Roll into the required size and will just continue until such time as I run out of pieces then decide on the sizes.  It is cumbersome and not the easiest way to do braids but of course it ends up straight and accurate and a good one for my social sewing days....

I wonder if you have seen Marina's snow globes.....  well I fell immediately in love with them and I happened to have the same preprinted panel as she is using so I asked if I could copy her idea.....  and so I have started stitching them (replacing the evening table runner stitching)  I am using a variegated Cottage Garden thread (which I had already) which makes it easy for me not to have to decide what colours go where....

Trail Mix is a big quilt and the largest I can fit on my frame .... I am slowly doing an all over design on it..... just love the scrappiness of this one....

This weekend I want to spend a couple of days quietly at home.....

Righto Gotto Go... that quilting is not going to do itself!!!

3rd week of July

I do hope you have all had a good week......

I don't have any progress on the Hardanger, I did spend a few hours on it at Guild but had to undo it all as that part was all completely wrong..... I hope to spend a bit of time this weekend playing catch up!

Lots of quilting and binding was done though.... to be honest a loose overall design on a smallish piece does not take long and the binding is all being done by machine so that is quick too...

I added to the sides of the next two to increase the width

these would all be a comfortable cot size....

This one makes me smile... they all look so goofy....

This is the selection of backings I used.  some are left over from larger quilts and the green was a length of fabric I had in the box....

Tuesleydale got 5 blocks done..... I have only 2 more to do and then need to put the blocks together....

The friend I am sewing with is doing a lot more blocks to make a bigger quilt but I have braid foundation paper and a jelly roll to play with.....

Some progress has been made on the pieces for my owls, and also the stitching on the table runner.

Daughter has been back in hospital to get stents between kidneys and bladder and the rest of the week has been uncomfortable for her.   One step forward, two steps back it feels like.

New down lights put throughout the house - it needed doing and in my sewing room I got them set to the brightest.... just lovely having good light in there.  Next we need to get new smoke alarms to meet regulations.  

Righto, Gotto Go..... the weekend is here... xx

2nd week of July

I do hope you are having a good week..... mine has gone by quick ....

I am doing my embroidered table runner in the evenings still..... only this for the time being as I want it done..... 

Day time quilting has been pumping out panel quilts.... these two are completed....

This panel would make a nice play mat....

The characters are quite fun.... you can see the kind of quilting I am doing on these.. all over repetitive meander... doesn't take long at all on these small ones.... takes about the same time as preparing and pinning....

Another cheerful panel is this Circus one....

The last couple of weeks at Embroidery guild I have been working on the centre of this section of Hardanger which I finished today..... These are Spider Webs..... I can see mistakes but am happy with it.... it's not being entered in a competition....

This is where I am at with the whole piece... still a fair bit to do in the sampler piece... it is certainly challenging me

Sewing with friends got these next 4 Wensleydale blocks done.....I think I've got about 3 more sessions to get the blocks done then I can play with layout....

So that's my sewing week...... 

Righto, Gotto Go, need to do the boring groceries and go to a birthday supper this evening... love it when I don't need to worry about food!  Have a good weekend...xx

July starts.....

Blooms has been quilted and the binding added (still to hand sew down)  I did custom quilt it as you can see.....

I do think it is pretty and fresh looking quilt..... sitting in the binding pile now.... top made in 2020

I started quilting this childrens one at the weekend...... going around the edges and lines on the borders so I got it done within the week....

I found some suitable fabric for binding in my stash so have added that....

It's now sitting in the binding queue too.....

Cherish 72 x 60- Top made July 2024

Finally finished off this section of the table-runner embroidery.....  only one section left and it is my goal to get it done this month......

Got back to the neglected 'Tuesleydale' sewing with Tracy this week..... we had to relearn how to do it so were pleased to get 4 done each.....

Tracy and I are already planning what next - we are both enjoying foundation piecing....

I saw Janice had done a panel quilt.... and remembered I had a bunch of panels so decided that will be my next quilting focus..... I found fabric for backings and some wadding left overs that are the right size and I now have a pile....  There are a couple of panels which are long and thin so I will piece some plains to go on the sides to make them a more useful shape.....

That road will be the first... I think it would be a fun floor mat for playtime.....

Righto, Gotto Go..... have a lovely weekend....xx