FNSI .... and more.....

Friday morning saw me all packed up and ready to go off to retreat..... I recently joined a group at The Quilters Angel who meet fortnightly on a Friday night and they have regular retreats.  Kris was there too for a couple of days so we managed some chat time - just a little!

My first ever retreat (I came home at night so just needed the sewing stuff)

How wonderful it is to be away and have nothing else to worry about .... no fussing with those little jobs that make me procrastinate at home -  just sew sew sew and I got heaps done....

these are my scrappy square in a square supposed to have been scrappy star blocks.....

by the end of the first day I had these all sewn together ..... 8 x 9 12" blocks sewn together....

I LOOOOOOOVVVVVEEE it... and keep seeing new shapes ....

I wanted another row to fit my bed and I had pieces ready in the box so I added another row the next day....  so it's now a 108" square (2.7m square) and 2,349 pieces - the biggest quilt I have ever made....

It is quite heavy and I am going to have a challenge quilting it I think ....

Cyclone Marcia did not visit our way... we did have quite a nice rain fall from a previous weather system and on the evening drive I was spoilt with this lovely sunset complete with evening star and new moon....

the next day saw me making some nice little knick knack bags .... as you can see I used some pretty little lacy zips...... I think I'll be doing more of these for the giftie box.....

I didn't slack off in the evenings... and for FNSI... I finished off the letter M.....

(I have done A and B but now I felt like M.....) Michelle's bear alphabet designs

Thank you Wendy for having us..... see you again next month

... all in all a very happy weekend and I'm already looking forward to the next one in June....

Righto, Gotto Go.... I want to check that my resident gardener has been working and not just getting into the home brew!!

Blocks... sewn and stitched.....

These are my February blocks for Chookyblue's SAL this year.... (Nature's Journey by Anni Downs)

The blocks are fun to do... the borders are done in a blanket stitch and I have been doing the applique in needleturn.... which takes me quite a while...

The blocks have been trimmed to size now and are safely in their little plastic container waiting for the March ones............  I personally like having goals to meet and find this an excellent way to make a quilt...

Another alphabet bear (Michelle's design) is done.... I am going to do these differently now and work on all my bears.... then move to another part.... 

Pretty cute aren't they?

Sign ups for 

are open HERE ..... Wendy has a yummy recipe too...

I am lucky as I will be sewing with others on a retreat.... lots of stitching to be done

Righto, Gotto Go.... I'm on the machine today...

.. that's the sewing machine... not the treadmill.... (I broke that!)

I love weekends.....

Hello, hello...... I do love weekends.... they just always seem relaxed and fun ....

Ok.... so this week saw me tracing 26 little designs.... 

(these are from Michelles' bear alphabet series - they are very awfully sweet... Michelle has done a few in the series of alphabets.... you can see them HERE)

.. and cutting up 2 1/2" squares... and choosing threads.... and stitching ....

 these are going to be the centres of my snowballs in the sew-along hosted by Terry

More details about this Sew-Along can be found HERE.... just incase you are tempted!!!

I am going to do this variation... and rather than scraps I have used a coordinating set of fat 1/8ths that I had....

This week also I had a surprise thank you gift from Christine.... very unexpected and very sweet....

when I opened the parcel there was a wonderful scent of lavender... Christine makes lovely bags from her own lavender... I have split them up and put them in strategic places... like fabric drawers, and undies drawers, .... just lovely.  I am thrilled to have another of Marilyn's patterns... I made her sewing bag up last year and this is another useful and pretty compendium.... I love the pretty Mill Rose thread and cute craft keeper....

.... who is already bundled up in some variegated threadworx thread..... (I had a part skein left and need some 'favourite variegated thread' for "Let's Get Stitched" day in Brisbane next month.... I'm so excited to meet some lovely bloggers (including the designers and hosts) I have corresponded with for ages...

(it doesn't look very variegated.... it's very subtle but it is there!!)

Thanks Christine, for your lovely gift..... so thoughtful....  

Today The Quilters Angel hosted a Tilda Tea Party... I got overexcited to be in a room full of crafty people and beautiful things that I didn't take many pics... there was lots of yummy food (I have witnesses to this) and sooooooo much yummy fabrics and things to make (same witnesses)

Here is one of the tables set with things to make out of the Tilda fabrics.... that's Kris's bag there in the front 

... and here are some of the deliciously pretty fabrics .....

I was useless and totally overwhelmedith the bustle and fun and ended up only buying a couple of little things....

... at least the shop is nearby and I can go anytime I like......

Last night I finished the first alphabet stitchery... 

A is for Angel....

Righto, Gotto Go..... B is for b...    ????

B is also for beer and Hubz' latest brew needs taste testing (the things we do for love!!!)

February's Quilting Challenge.....

Typo's can make me laugh... my first heading was "February's Quitting Challenge".... no I am not going to quit my quilting practice!!!

I am doing the quilting challenges (when ever I can) with QuiltShopGal and her wonderful team of tutors..... February's tutor is Leah Day and you can read all about it HERE

The first option was the one I chose to do which was working Leah's double- stippling design (tutorial found HERE) also known as Leah's Railroad Track design to make a cushion.

Well... I like the idea of a railroad and I needed a 'little boy cushion' so I went with a train idea....

firstly I found a colouring book picture on the internet of a train and appliqued this on my grey blue small patterned background....

.. then I shaded areas of the train I wanted to outline and chose a grey Aurifil thread to do the raw edge applique and free motion quilting....

I like the subtle outlines on the applique which I went over a couple of times....

...toot... toot.. goes the train..... this one had a wild journey!!!

I rather like the look on the back too !!!!  train through the flowery field!!!

Now I have made up a simple cushion cover 18" x 18" ....

I used some jeans poppers to secure the back ....

I purchased Leah's From Daisy to Paisley a couple of years ago and go back to it often looking at ideas....it was lovely to do one of her quilting designs for this challenge... I really need to use it more!

This double stippling is a great filler and I will be using it often I think.... the extra stipple helps to fill in spaces and create interest...

Thanks to Darlene at QuiltShopGal... to Leah and to the sponsors for the inspiration to use my imagination and get some great quilting practice too....

These are not big challenges or overwhelming and if you are wanting to do a bit more of Free Motion Quilting it would be great to join in too...

Righto, Gotto Go... I have some sexy hexies wanting attention!!!

FNWF....

So last Friday was stitching with friends...

.. lots of cyber friends and quite a lot of real friends...

.. I forgot photo's so you will have to take my word for it...... 

(I have witnesses!!!)

Thanks Cheryll..... I had some amazing pavlova...

.. you have to take my word for it ..

... but I have witnesses ....

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the morning I basted hexagons...

I do them the old way of sewing them in all the way through the cardboard - 

I can see why people get hooked on these... very calming and peaceful.... 

... and in the evening I sewed some together - I'm trying to make a piece of fabric to cut up and sew!!! .....

See my sweet little hexie box.... I got these gorgeous melt in my mouth chocs for Christmas.... Champagne truffles

... who would have thought.... 

they were wonderful... and the little box is perfect 

Mr Postie dropped by with a Valentines postcard from Dawn (no blog) in Canada..

... isn't it sweet with the little bits of bling on the sides of the hearts....

(I forgot to take pics of what I sent... sigh)

over the weekend I have been working on another cushion for a quilting challenge..... started off with a bit of applique....

 

Righto, Gotto Go..... there's a train to play with....

Times Gone By ...

I'm so pleased with how this sampler is coming together

My next section has been the embroidery (cross stitch, satin stitch and double detached chain) and foundation pieced baskets....

...it's getting more and more difficult to photograph this nicely as it is quite long now....

I am on the last section now... (I know I am going to miss doing this)... it is more 1/2" hexagons and some embroidered daisies around the edge....

This is a pattern by Helen from Hugs 'n Kisses and was passed on to me by Marina .... I wonder if she knew just how many hours of happy entertainment she was giving me...

My sewing machine has not been idle.... we have been doing some secret stuff quilting....

Righto, Gotto Go..... I have a full sewing day with friends ahead.... wonderful.....

Cheryll is hosting FNWF ... sign ups HERE

stitch the night away with cyber friends ... and real flesh ones too

... been quilting....

This quilt top has been waiting around for a while to be finished....

Most of the fabrics were from mens shirts (the black and white was a matching piece of fabric) ... all from the op shops....

I teamed it up with some proper purchased maroon fabric and made up the top... very simple blocks - just a rectangle with sides added on to make it square and placed next to each other facing different directions - effective and easy to do...

finished off with a plain black binding

For the quilting I stitched in the ditch around all the blocks and sashing and then quilted a free form hooked scroll in the blocks....

.. the backing was from a $6 doona cover (I got 2 quilt backings out of that) - I loved the bold design on it....

When I first started quilting I was really struggling to pay for nice new fabrics but I knew I wanted to sew and experiment particularly with quilting so I bought quite a few bits from op shops... its a great way to make up reasonably cheap quilts for practice ....

This week I have made a start with the handwork for the Stitch-A-Long ..... 

the blanket stitch borders are quite fun to do and then I am going to needleturn the little appliques in the middle...

Righto, Gotto Go..... I am really looking forward to a cup of tea and a good sleep