First week of March

Well, that first week of March went past very quickly!!!  Thank goodness temperatures are lower but I still wouldn't say its cool or Autumnal yet....

I got a new clock, a birthday gift..... it is so quirky and fun... The scissors hanging down act as a pendulum and move side to side on the seconds.... It doesn't tick tock but is nice and quiet and lives in my sewing room (of course).  I do love it...

I got sewing the blocks for a community quilt.... made great progress until my iron started sparking and swearing at me.... thus the pressing hasn't been completed till I make a trip into town tomorrow to purchase a new one!

Field Journal has come to the light again and I have self framed a few more.....

.. and the little hearts are all finished.  That large one in the middle had bullions all around the edge which I am very slow at.  Another rose had cast-on stitch which needs a lot more practice!  I also need to treat myself to a selection of good milliners needles....

The designer (crabapple hill) had them all stitched around the edge and cut out them put on some pretty background.  I thought I would leave mine as they are and perhaps turn it into a cushion or mini hanging...

Last month was my DIL's 40th birthday and of course I sent her a quilt....

The trees are pieced using Liberty Lawn and the stems appliqued - low volume background.  The pattern is The Avenue.

Quilting was reasonably simple to keep it soft and snug..... ribbon in the background and large tear shapes in the trees...

I kept the little border free and leaves in the final border

One of my favourite backings (actually a sheet from the swedish store which is a favourite spot of mine to find cotton backings)  The botanical theme is perfect.

It has arrived safe and sound in the UK and she is thrilled to have her very own quilt!

Righto, Gotto Go.... a friend is coming over so we can pin her quilt...  I better clear the table...

Have a lovely rest of the week....xx

Middle of February....

Over the weekend I quilted The Avenue, ribbons in the background and large tear shapes in the trees, leaves around the border - and stitched a label on Tuesday...

I will get the binding hand-stitched down soon....

Special friends came for a visit ..

I have a birthday later this month and Shez made me this lovely bag... I love the look of Hexagons but they are not my favourite to sew... this is so pretty and a good size - even has hexagons on the ties!!!!

... and how adorable are these ladybug ornaments..... totally love them....

Thank you so much Shez.....

Michelle bought a bundle too.....  there is 3 fabrics there to match my others for Caswell, a lovely bag pattern from favourite designer Anni Downs, my Christmas ornie, and .....

a hand drawn card of Mrs Superb Fairy Wren......  I love Fairy Wrens and I will be finding a frame for this....

... and a special tin decorated with her Slow Stitching..... I have to show several pictures to this one 

The tin is little (3,5" by2,5") This is the top folded out.....

.... and she has made it into a needlecase (knowing I love something practical)

Both special friends - spoilt me very much ... we then went to a nearby country town for the day... for some lunch at the local pub ..... after supporting local businesses and op shops

and a look at the Art Gallery.... Shez and I are thinking deeply

... and Michelle and I are posing with the art ....

We had a lovely day which went by too fast....

I have continued with sewing the little hearts, I still have to finish off yesterdays and do todays....

I sewed up a couple of new Bondi tops ..... this one I was wearing on our day out....

.... and this one in Tilda fabric is for my day at the Tilda Jubilee tomorrow.... (I was very spoilt and gifted a ticket to this event)

So that has been my busy week ...... it is so lovely and cool today and we've had some gentle rain.... I hope you have a lovely weekend.... xx

Righto, Gotto Go...... time for a cuppa.....

2nd week of November.....

The Avenues is now a quilt top..... I do like that thin scrappy border made from the left over Liberty fabrics

I love love it.....  but now it has to wait for a while before it gets any more attention....

  I would like to hand quilt it... not sure if I am brave enough....

Another 4 Sashiko blocks have been sewn.....  all variations of the same basic crosses ...

At machine sewing with friends this week I worked on the final 6 blocks of K Drama Drama...

(I did the green one the wrong way around but I will live with that at this stage - if it really gets in the way of my final setting I will make a new one....... 

The quilting for Gossip is done - but put away now till I can work on the binding.... and some crochet has been done but not much.  The nearby fires are out - we have had a bit of rain... the weeds are growing....

We have blocked this down pipe which takes rain water to the tank.... if you look just at the roof above the pipe you can see a brick ....

A closer look and in the catching box there is a dove nesting!!! She has 2 eggs... we have done what we could to stop them being flooded out when the rain comes.... silly bird!

Hard to get a good picture - I didn't want to go too close and upset her....

Righto, Gotto Go..... a few things to tidy up then we are going to night time Rugby 7 to watch Widget (who is no widget) play - so no stitching will be done tonight!

Hope all is well with you..... x

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

Last week of October....

A quick note to Kathleen who kindly leaves regular comments..... I don't have your email and no details on your profile so I can't answer you - I do really appreciate your kind words though..... 

Officially October is still Spring here in Australia, but this week has definitely been Summer and so I have stayed indoors with the aircon on and done lots of sewing.... (been up to 34 and tomorrow is predicted to be 19!)

I finished off putting the oriental blocks together so now it is a quilt top.... this is one for Community Quilting so I took it in on Tuesday together with the ready made binding.... 

Quite an effective way to use 10" squares and I will do it again sometime.....

I also took in my version of Convergence for Show and Tell.  I did the quilting and binding on Monday....

I used a thread which has just a subtle bit of sparkle, can't see it in the photograph but it does twinkle...

On Tuesday at Quilt Group I started the applique of tree trunks.... 

I picked up a couple of quilts to do all over quilting on as well as a small bit of needleturn that needs doing - (donated blocks that were unfinished)

On Wednesday I went to meet up with a friend and pick up an order..... look at this gorgeous baby Joey which is a gift for a special little man.... so well made .... he is made with fabric that has lots of different Ausi animals/birds.

Over the week I finished off all these bowl cosy gifts... that's 13 altogether..... I am bowled out now!

This all makes for quite a busy week in the sewing room.... 

I hope you have all had a lovely week....