Keeping positive....

Avoiding the death glare after an allergy sneeze seems to be the daily challenge...

I do hope you all are keeping okay, I do realise most of us will get through this but it is a scary and challenging time for us all, and self isolation can be very hard for some.... take care, wash hands well and avoid close contact as much as possible....

This week I have been focussing on my scraps....

Now I have moved on from sewing tumblers together (I gave a big box to a friend - not sure it was being generous or offloading a problem!!)

For ages I have wanted to do a pineapple quilt and a couple of years ago I ordered a book and speciality ruler....

This will be my new leaders and enders project but I made up one block for a trial. 

For the moment I am going to limit to using my teal, purple and pink strips scraps for these.... 

I also hand sewed down the binding on a couple of little quilts made from tumblers...

I am getting a nice little pile of these to be sent away.... 

Another long awaited one is my black and white scraps, I sewed lots and lots of strips together and then knew I wanted to add curved stitching with this piece of green meterage I had.... I just wasn't sure how I was going to put it together... 

Well, I have made up my mind.. these blocks are cut at 12 1/2" square and I will have enough for 16 then add borders....  a bit different and I feel a bit challenged to the improvising method of sewing.  I do like a pattern to follow!!! 

A little bit of hand stitching at night …..

I am sure many of you are a bit like me and staying at home more just means more stitching time....  I am trying to keep positive and also link up with friends in different ways.... luckily for us with technology it is a bit easier these days...

Keep well friends, keep stitching and keep washing hands....

Righto, Gotto Go... I am going to make that stitchery into a little something today....

FNWF

Thank you so much Cheryll for hosting us.... as usual I had a double date sewing with blog friends and then a small group of us at The Quilters Angel...

I did some sewing of tumblers in the day....

These will be little quilts as you can see....

I will square them up after quilting....

Last night with the girls I started sewing down the binding of my flannel postcards quilt.... since there were not many of us I was able to put the heavy quilt on the table and sew away..... almost done so it will be finished by next week....

I have a young man visiting this weekend, footy game this morning then a bit of shopping for essentials like icecream, biscuits and lollies!!!    Toilet paper craziness continues (I have enough for a couple of weeks so not needing but I am just amazed that it is being stockpiled!!  (clearly rumours have scared the #@&* out of people!)  There are reports of brawls in the supermarkets where people are fighting over it!

Righto, Gotto Go..... stitching to do.... movies to watch (Widgets choice is SpongeBob today!  Hope you have a lovely stitchy weekend....

Now it's March!!!!

It is officially Autumn here now... I am looking forward to some cooler temperatures - especially at night time.... this last summer has been particularly brutal....

Australia is out of toilet paper!!! for some reason people are buying it up like mad in fear of coronavirus... doesn't make sense to me at all - we make it here, the virus doesn't give you the squirts ….. oh well.... whatever blows your hair back...

Being March I decided to put some plans in place for my crafting....

I am going to continue with putting tumblers together.....

This is my second top this size... and I am working on some little ones....

There are far more tumblers than I thought I had... I will get 3 of these size and 3 little ones using up the lighter fabric in between... then a couple of any colours together.

Any ideas of where quilt tops can be sent to be made up for some charity.  I'm not sure when I will get to quilting so if someone takes in tops I would be happy to send.... otherwise there might be a wait....  My personal preference is an ongoing need (as opposed to a one off supply)  I have somewhere I send small baby quilts already.

I have joined in with the Sunday Stitchers on their Facebook UFO challenge..... this month is #1 which is my Wings quilt top.

I have all 4 borders of elongated hexagons together....

… and 4 little butterflies for the corners sewn.....

We have until the 15th of March and then a new number will be chosen.....

This months WOOFA project is to be my Black and White scrappy curved blocks....

I'm not really sure how it will come together.... but the scraps are being used and a bigger piece of bright green that I had....

I am going to work steadily on my Field Journal blocks.... and try and do at least one a week... if not more...

Getting some practice with stem stitch....

… and some more... with French knots....

I love these delicate pictures.... and sew once a month with a couple of friends who are doing the same project... we are all at different stages and it keeps us all motivated.

I have had these pretty fabrics in my stash for a while... there were 25 blocks and I cut them all down to 10"...

This month I want to sew them together then cut it all up again.....

Some little finishes.....

A friend of mine is a very skilled crocheter and I just loved her little flowers she made... this week when she came around she brought me a little gift....

Aren't these just gorgeous.... they are made using teeny weeny buttons inside and she leaves a tail to sew through the button for attaching.....

 I wanted a small thread wallet for an up and go bag with my Field Journal stitching....

It will hold 4 Cottage Garden Threads..... perfect

Field Journal is designed by Katie at Cottage Garden Threads and is a club that I joined at the beginning of last year

Each month there is 4 new thread colours, 4 new stitcheries and 4 pieces of Liberty fabric

I fell in love with the botanical designs so this has been my treat for the year (and for future couple of years as it goes on)

Now that United Stitches is all done this is going to be my main embroidery project.... this is the first one I have done

So beautiful....

Last week Jane brought out here newest block... 9 patches and this is the first that has been manipulated a bit.....

I like these.. don't take too long to do.... it is 14" square

I wanted to make a bunch of drawstring bags … so I did....

There are 8 altogether.... strangely enough that's how many grandchildren I have.... I will have fun putting bits in....

Hand sewing at present is focussing on another border for Wings, having glued all the papers they are beginning to be joined.... I find I am very slow and not very patient with these (lucky I love the designer)

One border side is now sewn and appliqued.....  slowly happening during evening TV time.... 

Any machine work I do leaders and enders are worked on for the tumblers.... and I am at the stage of putting some rows together..... for one top.... I think I might get at least 2 more there are so many tumblers (what was I thinking?)

Hubz has spent the whole day in the garden... mowing mowing, weeding weeding..... I kept away from the power tools... hot and humid so indoors with the aircon 

Righto, Gotto Go... back to that EPP elongated hexagons!   hmmmmm

Hope you have a lovely weekend…..

January WOOFA .....

Cheryll is hosting a WOOFA challenge to help us keep on going with UFO's..... no finish needed (but nice) but just progress...

This month I have a few projects I want progress on...

GARDEN SUNSHINE

I am a few months behind this one... which is now finished so I have spent some time cutting and sewing....

These two blocks are finished....

This was a free BOM in 2019 from Quilt Doodle Designs.... very sweet and 12" blocks so manageable and not too challenging.

There are 3 more blocks which are semi prepared... I have done some of the machine piecing but they all need some embroidery to get done.

UNITED STITCHES

This is quite an ongoing project... and quite a few more to be done but if I can finish a few more this month I will be happy...

This sweet block is finished....

… but anymore are going to wait until I have done the Garden Sunshine ones.....

SCRAPPY TUMBLERS

Last year I attacked my scrap baskets and pulled out any scrap that was 6 inches or bigger and cut up tumbler blocks....

This will be my leader/ender project....

I am not usually good about leader enders as I get impatient and just sew them.  I am using multicoloured fabrics and had an almost new cotton sheet (the light fabric with roses) so I am going to space out the blocks with it.....

Another project that will be ongoing but any progress is good.....

Righto, Gotto Go... holiday is over and back to quilting jobs..... 

April FNWF

Thank you to Cheryll for hosting FNWF ….. and thank you to The Quilters Angel for hosting Friday night stitching... also with friends.... 

I am lucky to get double date on the first Friday of the month....  

I worked on Block 7 of Flowerville... I have been stitching away on this in the evening all this week and last night did the chain stitch bits....

This week I decided I needed to do something about my overflowing scrap baskets..... 

I loved Jennifer's  tumbler quilt and so I ordered a template to do one also..... you can see hers HERE

I just adore her little ones but I really need to scrap bust so going bigger... and will sew them by machine.  My template will sort for other sizes so I can see a smaller size one happening in the future

I am slowly sorting out scraps big enough for 6" pieces.  I was amazed that the base of the tumbler is also 6"... it doesn't look it

When I need a stretch from quilting I get up and iron a few scraps and cut them up....  the pile is growing.... the scrap bins still seem to be very full... haha

I did finish off the wheat bag for my daughter this week... it just needed stuffing and sealing off.  Because it is long and thin I put in some wheat then sewed a seam … and again so there are 5 pockets and this will stop them all falling and gathering in one place.  The cover can be taken off for a wash too..... 

Righto, Gotto Go..... I think I will go and cut up some green tumblers from scraps today....

Hope you have a lovely weekend.....