Almost Month end.....

 Spring is well and truly here with so much growing and looking lovely in our garden and the lovely parks around town....

We went for a walk around one park on Sunday... sadly social distancing seems to be a distant memory... there were hundreds of people all mashed together!!  so we just walked around the edges a bit and I got some lovely pictures of flowers...

Once again our town did the parks beautifully.  This year the garden competition I think was online and there was a new initiative of shop fronts decorating in the CBD (initiated and organised by my daughter).  No parade or food and wine festival but I think we still got many many visitors to the city and the cafe's etc would have done well.  

Hubz went outside and left the door open.... and this magpie just strolled in.... (it is the rather tame one that comes to the back door for a treat most days)

he seemed to know where food is kept in my house....

had a good look around.....

....  " and where is the tea?"......

we persuaded him to leave the room.... his play area is outside!

One of our fuschia's is beginning to flower prettily....

.. and the hoya buds are beginning.... it is fun watching them grow...

The last of the banner stitcheries was completed this week....  I have packed them away as I need to think about whether to add some more or just back and join them up....

... end of month and Cheryll hosts WOOFA to help encourage working on UFO projects...

I was supposed to work on my Mouse quilt ... but it hasn't even got out the drawer!!!

But I did get 4 more stitcheries for Field Journal done....

... and complete all the blocks for the red and cream pineapple quilt....  (a project from the scrap basket)

It has been a busy month really with trips away, the Stitchers Day as well as quilting jobs so I'm pleased with what was done....

I spent most of Saturday prepping more stitcheries and cutting strips.... and joining strips and making 4 patches...

Righto, Gotto Go... I want to press all the rest of the 4 patches down... and I have a bunch of 1 1/2" strips to sew together....

Have a lovely week.....xx

A new flimsy.....

My red and cream scraps are all used up in this pineapple block quilt.....

I am really pleased with how it has worked out....

I did think consider borders but I will go with some red binding and leave it at that ....

I have done the next 10 blocks of Naive Melody quilt....  a SAL hosted by Lucy Engels on Instagram.

these blocks are surprisingly quick to do considering the needleturn applique... I think because they are fairly big shapes with gentle turns (the finished block is 6 1/2").  I am thoroughly enjoying it.

Embroidery in front of TV this week sees another banner block done....

 

There is one last block which is almost complete..... then I need to catch up on my Wish You Well BOM I have got behind on....

Righto, Gotto Go....  I am trying out a new free motion quilting pattern today....  an all over fun design on a kids quilt.....

I hope you have a lovely weekend ......

Bits and bobs....

A fair amount of fiddling around has been happening...

I have finished the stitching on this piece for  Natalie Birds banner.... still have a few more to do

I thought I'd show some quilting I did for an all over request.  I noticed some butterflies in the fabric and so did a meander with butterflies.....

when it was all done I went back over the meander and through the middle of the butterfly to create a ribbon effect....

Looks so much nicer with the ribbon instead of one line.... this is how it looks from the back... gives a lovely texture but still light quilting ...

I am preparing for a retreat with the Sunday Stitchers... my lovely Tim Holt fabrics have been cut for the block shapes.... in the middle are some pretty fabrics I will sew together for a baby quilt and in the big box is my next red and cream pineapple quilt.... I cut up all that was in my scrap baskets for them and will see how far they go....

I then messed around trying to make a template I can use (instead of EPP) some little half dresdens....

The first one is far too big but it has the right amount of blades.... the second one is the right size but only 5 blades... but I feel I can manage that size so will stick with that.... they are for a later border on my Love quilt....

This week I want to start cutting pieces for this round.... elongated hexagons and squares.... they are small and fiddly but I've procrastinated long enough....

Righto, Gotto Go.... we had some lovely rain yesterday and when the fog lifts we will be out and about today.... but in the meantime I smell the fresh coffee and I need some ....

Have a lovely Sunday...

Stitching ......

My little banner is growing... there is two of the bunny stitcheries so I did them in tandem since they were both using the same colour threads....

I rather like the bunny's expression...

The banner is by Natalie Bird and I purchased my pre-printed panel from The Quilters Angel (who have built up their on-line shop with the closing of their bricks and mortar storefront)

Next door building is making progress..... This is our view looking at the bird feeder..... 

there used to be a lovely tree with berries that the wild birds just loved just on the other side of the fence.... but the chainsaw won that round..... and now we have a view of the portaloo! (at least that is not permanent)

In fact every single tree was removed so the whole place could be flattened.... 

Yup... construction takes no sides with the environment.... chop all trees and leave your mess.....

we do have a good hedge between us and them except for this little spot which used to be filled with the lovely tree with the berries the birds like....

Last night I finished up this little stitchery.... it is one for my July instalment of Gail Pan's BOM 

Hair cut day today..... it's been a while and I look a bit like a shaggy dog..... I moved hairdresser about a year ago to a lovely young girl who didn't charge a fortune just for a trim which only lasts a few weeks.... she does a lovely cut, knows I like a short fringe and my ears covered..... but now she is stopping and going on a holiday.....  I'm very pleased for her but not for me!

I was still having problems with comments .... so I have reverted back to old blogger and reset all my settings... see if that works....

Righto, Gotto Go..... I want to quickly sew up a seam for a backing before I go for my beautification....

It's good to be back......

hello there.......

My replacement laptop has arrived... woohoo..... of course this all entails links, and downloads ... blah blah blah so will take a bit of getting used to..... 

really is amazing how efficiently it all was done, I had to post my old one then they post back the replacement... all done within 2 weeks in spite of present postage delays.... 

New phone arrived within days....

So there we are... and of course it meant I had more time to sew!!! especially since we are still not doing too much with regards outings and sew days...

I sewed the blocks together and added borders to this little quilt made from left over HST's I had....

I think it makes a pretty little baby quilt

April blocks have been stitched to my Wish you Well BOM.  There is still a bunch of little circles to applique and then I can put the first few months blocks together.  

I want to do that before I start on May so I can catch up a bit first.

This stitchery is for a banner designed by Natalie Bird.  It comes preprinted so was perfect when I needed some handsewing without the prep work.  There are 6 more stitcheries to do for this set.

... and I have sewn the two little birds onto the centre medallion for this quilt, also designed by Natalie Bird.

I have been lucky with shutdown that there has still been some quilt jobs to be done, and more are coming in now that people can get about a little more.

Have missed blogging and linking to other blogs... .hope you are all keeping well....

Righto, Gotto Go.... need to see if I can link up with my emails now..... sigh