WOOFA and Sunday Stitchers

This month has been a big fail as far as finishing off or working on UFO's..... 

(Thanks to Cheryll and the Sunday Stitchers for the nudging and support this year)

not to worry.... other life happened.....

December is frazzling so surviving is a victory!

I have made all my half Dresdens.... 

and now they are being joined to the borders..... they do look pretty....

some more lovely ornies arrived in the post this week...

an angel from Susan

and a caravan (look at all that detail) from Karen....

Of course they have been added to my chimney pole

I go to a couple of sewing groups during weekdays and this year I experimented with some mini Christmas cakes.  This was the second batch I made and they were gratefully eaten....

they have been a success... I will do it again

Hubz got a nice box with snacks and whisky 

to be honest I thought the box was the most exciting part.....

I have refilled it.....

This is one of my projects for next year.... it will be a big challenge and I will take it slow....but I'm very excited

Righto, Gotto Go.....

I saw this poem the other day.....

xxx

,

Decorating

We had a very tatty tree which had served us well.... it got retired after our last use.

We went to town to buy a new one

they were sold out

we went to about 6 stores

so I gave up

When we came home I looked at our wood fire

and dusted it off

Hubz and I wound tinsel and lights and fetched out a couple of Christmas quilts

and now it has a whole lot of my extra special decorations, all hand made... by friends, family and a few of mine

I love it

and it takes up no extra space

Beautiful hand made decorations have been arriving at my home this month

Maria sent this gorgeous coaster... but it is being a decoration since I don't want to spill my wine gin martini coffee on it.....

Shez sent this cute stitched circular one....

Michelle sent a lovely stitched dove on felt

the quilt group had a decoration swap at our lunch..... Heather made mine out of ribbon on a polystyrene ball....

I think we might have a workshop on these next year.... so I will attend 

I have a couple of finishes.... my Melbourne son needed 2 new cushion mattress covers.  Made out of upholstery corderoy  about 2m x 1m... and have a long zip each.

I didn't really know what I was doing so I hope they work ok....

December has Christmas parties.... sadly I can't get to them all but I did make some yummy for the Tuesday girls group....

Melt 2 bars white chocolate, add 1 cup each of tiny marshmallows, pistachio nuts and dried cranberries.... mix well, put in pan in fridge till set... chop up.... eat.....

easy peasy yummy scrummy and looks pretty too ... thanks to friend Rachel for teaching me this one....

Righto, Gotto Go... sorting, baking, tidying to be done.... perhaps I should start with a  wine gin martini coffee

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...

Friday Night

Last night we sewed together for FNWF hosted by Cheryll...... it was a hot night here and I was happy to sit and sew some backstitch animals...

My little duck is done.....

During the week I had a day of machine sewing to myself....

I worked on catching up with the blocks for Wish You Well.... all the stitcheries and the applique circles had been done....

so it was a matter of playing with my box of fabrics to place all the pieces....

I kind of find it easier doing a bunch of blocks at the same time... then I just need to clear up one time

All the main blocks are together now..... I will be shopping for something suitable for a border

Wish You Well has been a BOM hosted by designer Gail Pan for her I  Stitch Club... it has been such a lot of fun to do with stitcheries, applique, piecing and the use of lovely lace and doilies.

This weekend is retreat time.... I come home in the evenings but daytime is spent with friends sewing.....

I have taken my heavier sewing machine and doing some free motion quilting/raw edge applique on my animal silhouettes....

Righto, Gotto Go..... time for a coffee then get myself ready to go and sew!

Have a lovely weekend... it's a scorcher here so plenty of water will be consumed!

Hello December

I didn't get any finishes this month..... but I did get heaps of blocks done or partly done and I worked full time for 2 1/2 weeks.....

So I have nothing to show for  WOOFA or OPAM this month....

However..... a few plants are being lovely

This Hydrangea is full of these lovely bright pink blossoms...

this is another hydrangea.... so delicate... I just love it....

The new Hoya buds started bursting .... (Sue sent me this plant through the post from Victoria earlier this year)  Thanks so much Sue.. its a real beauty....

... and now it is this lovely ball of flower heads.....  and there are two more sets of buds growing

And Mrs Magpie introduced her twins to us at the weekend....

I just love that splayed out feet stance

Not a new idea but I found these plastic trays and bought a bunch.  I make up salads and cold meats for Hubz and my lunches on a Sunday..... so that it's nice and easy for us to have a healthy lunch during the week

I think it looks like patchwork blocks.....

Some hand sewing has been done and these are the final stitcheries for Wish You Well.....

My plan is this week to make up the last 4 months of blocks ... then I will need to do a bit of shopping for a border....

December means Summer here down under.... and we have been blessed (????) with a heatwave.... It is 6.30 in the evening and the temperature is 34' C..... and we are not as hot as some places.

 I have just given the magpies some watermelon which they enjoy as a cool snack....

Righto, Gotto Go... time for a cold Gin I think....