The week that was.....

Tuesday sewing group I continued putting half hexagons together (EPP)  - it's a big folded up mess in the big bag at the moment....  I think I am about half way through now...

A fair bit of my own sewing and quilting was done...

I finished off the quilting on Dutch Treat.... straight lines between the blocks and a few ruler work curves on the border...

I have added a peeper on the binding edge and the binding is sewn down... just the hand work to do now...

I love the backing... it is a 100% cotton sheet (or doona cover) from the big swedish store.... (I love their sheets for backings)

This quilt top has been in the making for a while - I started it at retreat in August and then have continued on my sew days with the girls.... this weekend I put the final two borders on... (I thought I had finished it before but forgot about the borders... which do make a difference ....

and made the binding .... so now it has gone to the quilting queue....

I pieced the left over bits from the jelly roll together..... I will incorporate these into the backing....

 

Gotta love no left overs....

This quilt went on the frame for some quilting.... repeat feather pods over each block....

I will make and add the binding later today....

... and I pieced the sashing on these blocks.....  a fat quarter quilt but I changed it a bit to add the grey peepers and the sashing - 

Hubz has done this jigsaw..... so many similar pieces but he persevered....

Van Gogh Alive is on in the city so we took a day trip to see the exhibition...

I didn't take a heap of pictures as it is one of those experience things

The outside all changed... I think it was an old warehouse they used ...

He was a prolific letter writer, as well as artist and I enjoyed many of his quotes shown...

In the starry night room.... very cleverly done with painting, mirrors and strings of lights...

In the sunflower field at the end.....

I stood by the picture like Hubz jigsaw.. they made a life size one at the show.... 

Had a beer in the cafe made up like one of his paintings.... was a fun day out......

Righto, Gotto Go..... supposed to be a wet week coming up

Gone week......

Yup... gone week..... just gone....

Been a happy social week really but far too fast...

We've had some lovely rain, missed the crazy storms, I can no longer boast that Covid has not got my family with two grandigirls testing positive and now isolating... grrr.  They are absolutely fine, minor symptoms but of course there is concern always about infecting others ... the isolation blah blah blah...

Today I am home alone..... deep breaths and some yummy quilting work to do....  Kris came to play on Wednesday afternoon and dropped THIS cutie off...

Peacelily was my (not) blackwork project stitching this week.... I am now out of this thread and will have to wait till a new order comes in ....

But Field Journal is well behind so I was able to take it so some of my sewing sessions....

Two were done this week....

I joined up a few more half hexagons at Quilt group... and then spent a couple of evenings here joining those ones onto the others....

This has now given me an idea on where I will go next... I want to do about 4 of this size ... and add a border for my quilt.... so I will need to do some sums, some cutting, more gluing and lots more stitching and contorting of my arms to get this together... (and trying not to regret starting it!)

I pulled out some long past Tilda fabrics..... and found some metreage in my box of 'incase' fabrics

 and put them together to make up a sew day kit....

This is the pattern I will use for these........

Free pattern from Fat Quarter Shop found HERE ... thank you so much FQS.

Anybody else want to do one.... we could sew-a-long - maybe a block a week...... or two blocks a week? I'm always better sewing with others for encouragement and a goal?

Otherwise I'm not sure when I will get to it (no hurry) ... but sew day with friends this week I worked on a number of blocks for two quilts...

I started these blocks at retreat in August.... and they have been neglected since.... All the blocks are made now.  It is a jelly roll quilt....

This quilt is 12 fat quarters... I had all the blocks cut and ready for stitching... I am going to add a peeper and sashing as my cutting was out and the blocks are a bit smaller than they should have been

This is the pattern which is from HERE...... (my favourite quilts shop in case you don't know!)

Righto, Gotto Go..... emails to answer, coffee to drink, quilting to do ....

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

Retreat sewing....

A lovely weekend was spent with the wonderful Sunday Stitchers from Brisbane...  I was very blessed to be able to go along and spend my weekend days with them....

Thanks Sunday Stitchers.....

The main thing I had wanted to get done was this Fat Quarter Quilt.

The pieces were all cut so it was a matter of choosing which fabric and doing lots of stitching

16 fat quarters and it makes 16 nice bold blocks... a lovely easy quilt for using fabulous fabrics you don't want cut into small pieces.

Tim Holst fabric pack and pattern from The Quilters Angel who have an online store

Thanks The Quilters Angel ....

Of course being away from home I had to make sure Hubz had something to do.... We have this large brick facing wall with no windows (it's behind my oven and fridge and pantry cupboard in the kitchen)

Hubz drilled in the concrete and attached a tight wire for me.... 

... so now I have a lovely place to hang my finished tops and quilts for photograph taking!  

Thanks Hubz.....

This morning I found some backing to use... and I had already bought some of the same fabrics to use for binding....

I want to get this one quilted soonish as it is a gift....

Then I got onto sewing up smaller pieces I had pre-cut...

... and made them into two sweet baby quilts

... and this morning I cut some strips and made up the binding so it is ready when I get to them....

Pre retreat we had been given instructions for cutting a couple of pieces of fabric and we were helped making up lovely little snap bags using cut up tape measure... some Hubby is now missing his tape out the workshop!!!

Thanks Alison and Maureen ...

... then I started on my next big scrappy project.... the red and cream pineapple blocks.

I got quite far but still have a few more rounds to do till they are big enough.

I am doing 25 x 10" blocks

The Sunday Stitchers had Show and Tell for the last UFO which was #5 and for me that was finishing a pair of socks

These socks were done but had been given away to my daughter... made from lovely  Bendigo wool

I have enjoyed making the socks, and I enjoy wearing mine so I will do more... one day.  I have always loved the idea of hand made socks and wanted to learn to make them.  Jane, my friend in UK

has video workshops and so I joined in a couple of years ago and that really helped my confidence.  Access to the video's is ongoing so if I forget what I learnt I can go back.... 

Thanks Jane....

The next UFO challenge is #10... which is my Mouse Quilt......  

Quite a lot of work needs to be done for this.... which includes finding where I put the instructions...

Stitcheries were done quite a long time ago and I am going to be using my Tilda left over from other projects pieces as it is not a big quilt/wallhanging....

Righto, Gotto Go.... after a relaxing weekend which finished with a shopping trip to a local quilt shop and some yummy lunch yesterday I have work to do....

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...