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

sort of finishes

My farmyard stitcheries are all done now.....

I will add peepers around the edge and there will be pretty 4 patches in between them and finished with a border (or 2)

and my 'love' quilt top is finished.... look at green grass!!!!! woohoo the rain has been wonderful

.. all those half dresdens have been handsewn down.....

needleturn, EPP, embroidery and machine piecing..... and mostly in much loved Tilda fabrics

The pattern is from Natalie Bird's Make it Blue Book.....and it is 65" square

Another for the quilting queue.....

Our frangipani is looking glorious with these big bouquets of flowers all over it....

... and I have been making a mess with preparing the blocks for the Naive Melody quilt (in the background).  That will be my handsewing for a while now....

A couple of lovely quilts were put up on the walls.....

this is Holly Cottage designed by my lovely friend Michelle.... it's just gorgeous....

and last year I made up this one....

I have quite a lot of other lovely hangers but they are not going up this year...

This cute runner is out on the table though....

Wishing you all a very lovely Christmas however you spend it... I have to admit I am sore for my family in UK .... one child family can't go out as they have a young daughter in quarantine (close contact with someone who tested positive) another childs family can't go out as they live in Tier 4 area which is strict lockdown.  There are others who can get together but only for a short time... and outside in the winter cold!  It can't be easy trying to make Christmas magical for their children, and they are still my children to be heartsore about!

Things have changed here very quickly in some places and I know a lot of people have had to suddenly change their plans.... thinking of you all

Righto, Gotto Go..... I want to go shopping for peeper and border fabric!

Farmyard

When I saw last seasons Tilda fabric Tiny Farm I thought of this sweet Ella and Skysie stitcheries and pattern...

I have made it before, many years ago - I don't even remember where it went to live....

The stitcheries are lovely and calming to do... just a little bit of satin stitch on the eyes...

I have been enjoying sewing these in front of the TV at night...

... or during marathon Messenger chats with friends....

I have started putting the blades I sewed at retreat together into half dresdens....

they still need their circles in the middle then will be appliqued to the final border of my love quilt ....

I have started thinking about quilts I want to make next year... and quilts I want to quilt next year....

hmmmmmm

Righto, Gotto Go... might be a good time to open one of those boxes with quilt tops in....  I will be making a list and photographing over the next few weeks...

One of the bundles of fabric I am hankering to use is this ....

It's called Perfect Union and I fell deeply in love with it .... I worked hard at election time and needed a reward!! haha... any excuse.   I don't know what I want to make with it yet....

Retreat Sewing....

A lovely weekend with friends (new and old).... its always lovely to get to know some people over an extended time.....

I took my large machine (Pfaff Grandquilter) as I can change the foot plate and quilt with it easily.  It is heavy and I think I need to treat myself to a trolley bag one day...

I went round all the black edges of the silhouettes in black, around the coloured borders of the blocks in a clear thread then used a lovely lightly metallic thread in the sky (so in real life you can see the odd sparkle)

Up the sashing was some scrolls...

... and leaves around the borders.... black on black the quilting is not obvious but adds texture

I even added the binding but will not sew it down until we have made a decision about how we are going to hang it....  so not quite a finish yet!

I found fabric for the border of Wish You Well.... I'm very happy with that blue, it is not as strong as it shows in the picture but picks up some of the blue's I have used in the piecing.  I found a nice mustardy brown for the binding

The Quilters Angel had a pop up shop where we had our retreat which was very convenient

Then I sewed about 200 dresden plate blades..... good to have company in jobs like that which is lots and lots of repetition...

Last night I turned them inside out and they will be pressed today and put aside to await the next step.... I need to make a bunch of circles for the middles next...

I don't get as much done as some people but I did finish off the things that I had specially wanted to achieve.  

Righto, Gotto go ..... a busy week ahead...

Take care, keep safe.... hoping for some rain here...

More hand stitching......

    

We have Bi-elections in our area at the moment and I am assisting the pre-poll..... working full time again is a shock to my senses!  I do enjoy the process of democracy we have here and lovely co-workers to chat to during down times.

I still have time to do some of my hand stitching at night and on a day off I put together some blocks

These are the final blocks for the latest border of my 'Love' quilt

two of these flower blocks were needed.....

I love this cute little mouse....

and a dragonfly....

One thin border is written incorrectly in the book and I hadn't looked at the picture where it was correct so that blue border is a ring in, having removed the one I had initially put there...

It is brighter than I had wanted but I think it works... and I have enough of it that I can use it for the binding which will tie it in better.....

I think it may be a while before I can get to working on the final border of half dresdens... they are pointy dresdens so I will do it by machine rather than EPP.  I will need to do a bit of working out to make the adaption work for me.

After joining up the blocks on my day off I sat and binge watched the Second season of Big Little Lies whilst catching up on my Wish You Well embroideries for November

I was quite simply too tired to do anything else ........

Righto, home things to get done and I can hear magpie calling for her snacks....  she is back to jumping on my lap to get them which is sweet.  I want to give her a stroke but I think that might give her a fright....

Have a lovely week

Hand stitching

This week I have been focussing on getting some blocks finished for a couple of projects...

These are Field Journal blocks....

All the blocks are done now for the first year...

It will start again next year....

There are a couple of additional projects which also have embroidered blocks but I have not got those done

These needleturn blocks are for my Love quilt....

there are 4 more blocks and then this border is completed....

This is where I am at with this quilt ... there will be another border with half dresdens

This is our Illawarra Flame tree which has not looked this good for a number of years.... the flowers are just beginning to drop and it has been such a pleasure to enjoy

Righto, Gotto Go..... the weekend is upon us and there is always lots to be enjoyed .... have a good one yourself