The start of February

Gossip in the Garden is a finish

(designed by Anni Downs)

All I had to do was the binding which I machined down and then took to sewing with friends and hand sewed the back.

I mostly used Tilda scraps - and I love the result

Had fun with the quilting especially in the white spaces

outlining the applique so it shows up nicely....

At Group on Tuesday I sewed down the self binding hexagons for some of my Field Journal blocks

Some of the Tuesday girls and I are challenging ourselves to work on our UFO's - at least one a month

I sewed this blackwork with some of the Brisbane bloggers a few years ago and it has been sitting around....

Two canvases were purchased and I covered the larger one in some plain teal fabric and laced the blackwork (my first attempt at lacing) on a thin canvas and then glued the two together

Happy with the result and it is now hanging in the hallway.  The teal matches the little bit of teal blue metallic in the blocks....

Most of my day time hours this week has been spent on this wedge sampler....

Each of the light grey blocks is a different design, all the dark grey are the same....

Just a few of my favourites

I prefer doing the more organic designs

some ruler work

I was a bit stiff at times and wobbly but the overall result is fine ..... a lovely way to get back into hand-guided quilting (course by Rachelle Denneny) great instructions and videos.

Righto, Gotto Go,  I have had my arm twisted to join in February stitching hosted by Meg Hawkey at  Crabapple Hill - sweet little hearts to sew each day.  Tracing is done, thread needs choosing and stabiliser ironed on....

Have a lovely rest of the week xx

First Week of November ...

Oh my gosh, we are seriously on the countdown to Christmas now!!!  This year has gone so fast...

The air is very smokey where I live, no fires threatening near our home but there are lots around.... I think they said 84 fires in Queensland this week.... our firemen and women are doing such good work and a lot of people have lost homes and had to evacuate...  hoping for some rain this weekend...

As per usual a few different things being sewn here.....

Some unfinished blocks were handed in to Community Quilting - needleturn applique.  I was asked if I could make another the same as one triangle block - no pattern so I had to trace off and there was lots of available fabrics...

The top one was what I was given and the bottom is what I managed to make.... reasonably similar... Now the next person is adding stem stitch to highlight bits... and hopefully sometime soon we will see what they make with it all

I also brought a couple of community quilts to quilt - only took a picture of one but I did big loose designs on them - next person is doing the binding....

One of my own quilts is on the frame now - Gossip in the Garden and I am doing quite heavy quilting on it so it's taking a while - but it's great fun....

I always love the look of those bubbles so I gave it a try.... 

Slowly adding a few stitches on my table- runner.... 

here is the progress this week!

The Sashiko style blocks are a bit quicker ......

not much crochet was done this week but I did sew ends in so these 7 have been added to the KOGO pile.....

I did work a bit on The Avenue... finished sewing down the trunks and started putting them in lines.... then I noticed one was being obstructive so I had to do a bit of unsewing and resewing!   I still looooooove it though!

That's about if for my crafting this week.... a rugby game was watched, hunting and gathering done and a couple of social outings .... 

Righto, Gotto Go - I'm out all day and need to get ready.... coffee first...

Have a lovely weekend.....xx

First week of October.....

Already October - goodness, September seemed to roll by extra fast....

I am pleased to say I have finished the top for Gossip in the Garden... such a fun quilt which I have been sewing along with Michelle.....

I used fabrics from my Tilda scrap box and mainly only needed to add background fabrics.   There is so much to each little block, some applique, some embroidery, some piecing..... it has it all!

Cutting and sorting for the border took a fair bit of manipulating... and mitred corners!!! (easier than I thought)

I also finished this panel of Sashiko.  It is hard to see but I have used two different (but coordinating) variegated threads

Now I have two... and not sure what to do with them ..... but they were fun to sew!

Some more crochet squares have been hooked....

and some pinning and sewing done.... (these are what I was sewing at the sewing retreat day)

I need 72 of these little 3 1/2" squares..... the coloured parts of liberty lawn and really quite fine to sew 

They will be very pretty once all done....

So that is the sewing for the week recorded...... 

I hope you have a lovely weekend....

End of September

As always September is a full month and it has gone so quickly.....

However..... I am thrilled to have finally finished the top to Civil War Bride!

It is about 70" square and of course still needs quilting and binding.....  I would like to hand quilt but am unsure whether it will ever get done if I do that!!  I need backing first before I have to decide!

I looked back at my blog and saw I had started it in January 2021.

My embroidery sampler has grown a bit this week and I have finished the first 'page'.  There are a few stitches I haven't done before as well as different uses - like the running stitch as a filler for the heart and those wheels needed a youtube viewing to learn.

Today is a quiet day at home and I want to play with the border for Gossip in the Garden....

That's it for this week.... I have a sewing retreat day on Saturday so I hope some progress will be made on my Avenue's quilt....

Have a lovely weekend...... xx

Third week of August

Another lovely busy sewing week for me....

First I sewed up the little bee  block for Gossip in the Garden.... silly bee had a swim in the tea!

Some more of the Field Journal blocks were sewn into hexagons.....

Another little critter in a tea cup (by Days with Joy stitchalong) as there is a new one due.  I still have the blocks to sew around a couple of these.

Since I had all my blocks for the main part of Gossip done I decided to sew them together......

It's so fun.. there is lots of different things to look at in it...

I still have borders to do... the main border is pieced so I have cut all those wedges out....

Any yay, yay, yay... this Pies and Tarts top is done...

I added the little border and wider border and since I had a few tarts extra decided to include them on the border (thanks for that idea Michelle)

As a non-EPP lover (forgive me) I am very pleased to have done this.  I won all of the fabrics for the pies and tarts, all of the precut card templates, plastic cutting templates.  I only needed to add some background fabrics and the borders.  Glenis at Glenrose Patchwork had a giveaway for the starter kit once she had completed hers.

Evening TV watching our Matilda's in the Womens World Cup Soccer has meant extra sewing time so I did another 6 self bound hexagons from my Field Journal stitcheries...

A miscalculation means I have double the binding I need for Pies and Tarts!  

So many lovely projects to play with and so many more that I want to get out... however I am going to concentrate on Civil War Bride this next week..... of course other things may distract me along the way!

Righto, Gotto Go.... CWB has some prep work to do...

Have a lovely weekend....

 

Second week of August

Last month my friend Michelle had a birthday - (I forgot to take pictures in my haste to get a parcel to the PO in time - so I have pinched from Michelle)

This sweet sewing bag and needlecase is an Anni Downs design, both Michelle and I are big fans of AD and often sew something of hers together (we are both doing Gossip in the Garden presently)

I also found her a new spool made by a local woodworker - M loves making beautiful scrolls full of stitching ...

She also loves books and carnations and I found this sweet bookmark in a copy of Inspirations.  I am a learner cross stitcher but she understands any errors in there because of my L plates....

There was also an assortment of charms and bits to play with on slow stitching....

Happy Happy Birthday special friend.....

Wattle season has begun in earnest - my nasal passage has confirmed it... and our little tree is looking splendid.....

Any travelling around is gorgeous too with bursts of different tones of yellow dotted around the bush.

On Tuesday with the girls I had a lesson in broomstick crochet...  you can see there are two different sizes as I was experimenting ....  it will be easier to do with a non pointy 'broomstick' so a friends husband is going to craft some in different sizes to try out.....

A bit of fun .....

The broomstick crochet was a distraction from what I had meant to sew, but now I have done this next block for Gossip....

Machine sewing with friends on Wednesday got me working on the strip blocks I had started..... I got them all sewn but now I need to make a big mess trimming all the sides....

I have finally completed my little whitework project.  I had to sew the little bridges for the cord and make the cord... there is supposed to be lovely little tassles on the cord but it's staying like this....

It will be included in the Embroidery Exhibition next month - as a sample for learners/new members.  Not all of us are as skilled or experienced as some of the members so hopefully it will help encourage others to join and see what we can learn.

They only have an exhibition every second year and the quality of work is amazing.... it is my favourite exhibition.  This will be my first year of including anything.

I am also displaying 3 quilts which are predominantly embroidered blocks....

Righto, Gotto Go..... those blocks aren't going to trim themselves....

Have a lovely weekend...