First week of January 2026

Getting a quick win with finishing off the binding on this small quilt.

I was lucky enough to be invited to join the Brisbane girls in a sewalong for this quilt called Floral Fun.  (Pattern in Quilters Companion #127) Susan drew up a helpful schedule which was not too much each month.

The original pattern is this and was done in raw edge machine applique...

I chose to do mine mainly using my Tilda scraps (I did need to buy some plain for the flowers) and to needleturn the flowers....

Civil War Bride is finally being quilted.  I finished this top in September 2023 (started January 2021)  I am probably going to stick to outlining the applique and some small detail like leaf veins etc.  Slow and steady.

I finished off my 'looped picots' hardanger square..... I will need to wait for the next class for guidance to a new stitch in a couple of weeks....

A new crochet blanket has started using these colours......

This one was finished last year but I forgot to post about it.

Roughly 1.2m by 1.6m

I do like the look of the shell stitches

Here are a pair of Sulphur Crested Cockatoo's waiting for some seed to be put out.  I do love their cheeky characters and they are beautiful, but destructive and naughty too!  For those not in Australia they are a big bird (about 1/2m in length) and make the most dreadful scary squawk!  

Righto, Gotto Go.... today I plan to get a bit of that quilting done.....

Have a good week everyone....xx

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...

2nd week of August .....

As always bits and pieces being done at my house......

A few more Sashiko blocks stitched.....

And I finished off my latest crochet blanket for KOGO

The yarn has a bit of glitter in it (which you can't see)  but there is glitter in all sorts of places round the house now!!!

Progress on the fishing quilt...... today I bought some coordinating green to add borders to the sides and do the binding.....

Floral fun has had more applique added.... I am enjoying sewing the big bold pieces .....  there is more smaller flowers to add...

So hard to photograph but our wattle out the front is the best I've ever seen it.....

This is a closer representation of the colour....

Loads of lovely little balls of yellow and I love the soft scent of them.... reminds me of my childhood driving through plantations of wattle

Wednesday sewing at my house was more work on my Neighbourhood..... for some reason someone owns a yacht in the middle of the houses.... 

There is another block mostly done but it needs a bit of hand applique ....

Apollo the cat has left the house and gone to his real home... of course it feels a bit strange but we did go on the search for new lounge chairs (now grumpy scratcher who ruined these ones is gone)  Although we have always loved having pets we just want to be able to up and go these days.... 

He seems to have settled well and he does love our daughter more than anyone else....

Righto, Gotto Go.... time to get the fish and chips ready... have a lovely weekend.....

First week of August

Hello, how is everyone... we had such a cold cold weekend ....  friends to stay and outings, wood fire, food, wine and plenty of laughs.

I have done a few blocks of the Scrappy Trip around the World.  I have been trying to keep the strongest colour (of 6) central to make a sort of pattern..... these 4 blocks are not sewn together but just an indication of how they could come together.

This Moda Love quilt top is together (free pattern HERE) - its very bright.  

We have a couple of aloes growing in the garden and they are looking splendid at the moment....

this one is harder to photograph but lovely red candlesticks!  After they have finished flowering we will see how much we can divide them up then add more to the garden.

Joy finished the sweet Christmas in July design and I made mine up into a little mug rug ....  thanks Joy for a little bit of mid year fun....

This weeks hand work is this applique on my Floral Fun wallhanging.  I am doing mine in needleturn and am happy with how it is looking.  Still quite a lot more applique to do so Caswell is going to be neglected for a while....

Otherwise, a bit of crochet, a bit of knitting, etc ... Makes a huge difference having some just gorgeous days where sitting on the veranda is a pleasure....

Righto, Gotto Go.... I am working on Jacks fishing quilt ..... I have to admit I'd much rather work to a pattern than make it up as I go.....  I haven't found a backing I like to I have ordered a flannelette doona cover to improvise....  

Take care, have a lovely weekend.....xx

Second week of July

We had such a great week with young Jack.  His flight back home left at 6am so we were out the house at 2.30am and it ended up being such a rush as it is FIFO flight time (Fly In Fly Out) workers  but he made it and was back in Melbourne before we were back home!

I sewed up my Floral Fun background on Tuesday ...... now it needs some applique flowers which I will be doing in plain colours over the next couple of months....

On Wednesday I sewed my 2 Be My Neighbour blocks.....

Joined them up and added them to the others.... Susan and I are now 3/4 of the way through these blocks and I love both our versions....

Jack requested mittens so I have been hunting patterns, yarn and needles this week.  They are sewn on the round and going to be a bit fiddly - it would be good if he, and his younger brother, got them before the end of winter.

Disaster struck this morning when the coffee machine (we have drip one) just died.  A trip to town has sorted that.  Probably something like an element which doesn't get fixed these days.  I have to say it has worked hard the last few years we have had it.

Phew, tomorrow morning coffee will happen!

I hope you have a lovely rest of the week and fun weekend....xx

Second Week of June

Well, the daughter etc are in their new home... still unpacking to do of course especially as she is away with the Widget at a sporting carnival......   I did have a laugh at her expense.  She has changed from 1 child to a partner and 4 children ----- went off to work very pleased with having organised everyone for school/work etc (3 different schools now instead of 1).... went off to the loo at midday to discover no make up and not even brushed her hair!

I worked on getting this UFO done..... A stitch along by Joy in 2023.  I used fabrics from my scrap linens.  The grey/beige was actually linen napkins from the OpShop.  

The stitcheries don't show up very well in the picture

... but you can see them close up....

On Wednesday machine sewing with friends I got my Floral Fun block done.  Sewing along with Brisbane Sunday Stitchers ....

... and then I did my 2 Neighbourhood blocks, sewing along with Susan....

Little bird applique done in the evening....

This new neighbourhood development is coming along nicely.....

Hand sewing this week has been continuing with Sashiko 365 ....  I'm up to 125 done now

Hope you have a good weekend, we were to have friends for a visit but Covid has visited them..... so I will keep  warm with the wood fire and get some sewing done..... proper winter weather finally.

Righto, Gotto Go.....  time for some hot chocolate!