SEW, THIS IS CHRISTMAS!

Ho ho ho, stitch stitch stitch. Christmas has arrived and I still haven't completed everything I had planned to do.  How about you? I did finish the little pillows that were free designs from Red Brolly ( see my side bar), They are pictured above but I also have a closer look for you.

So, what about my progress with the Wish Quilt? I have completed another block but still need to hand applique the stars . I had trouble with the patchwork piecing of the 2 small stitcheries. The first attempt ended up too big so I tried again and it was too small!! However, being "patchwork" this posed no problem because I just added a strip . ( See the red and white stripe fabric?, That's it. Hehehehe.)

AND, I have completed the Christmas Wreath stitchery. I decided to put a border on it and bind it. It is just waiting for a sleeve now. Hmmm, maybe next Christmas? 

SEW, for those of you who celebrate Christmas I wish you a very happy and healthy one with an abundance of all good things to you and your families.

Many angel blessings to you all and thanyou for visiting my blog.

MERRILY STITCHING

My how time passes when having fun! I hope you have all been enjoying making some lovely things for family and friends like I have. Stitching is always such a relaxing thing for me to do and I get a bit anxious when I don't have time to do it.  My " In Full Bloom" stitcheries were left after the retreat but I have since got back into them and have done 3 more and am currently stitching another. So, I have completed 5.

I have also completed the Rosalie Quinlan Christmas wreath and just need to sew some red borders onto it and them frame it.

Then there are the little free Christmas stitcheries from Red Brolly that I am also stitching. ( See Red Brolly's link on my side bar).

The other day I took my girlfiend out for a birthday lunch at a lovely little cafe which happens to be almost next door to one of my favourite patchwork shops. Did we venture in? OFCOURSE!!!! Some lovely new 1800's repro fabrics had just arrived the day before so I couldn't resist. I also bought some fat 1/8ths.

AND we looked in a bric a brac/antique store and I found 2 1/2 meters of this fabric for $8-00!!!!!

Meanwhile I am still trying to get back to the Wish Quilt and have also stitched a couple of pressies that I cannot show on here because the recipients will see them.

I haven't read a lot this past month but here are the books that I did read.

Angel Blessings until next time.

RETREAT FABRIC FONDLING

Whew! What a fabulous weekend I have just had! It was my patchwork group's annual retreat, this time at Ballarat. I love Ballarat but didn't really have time to play tourist as it was mainly devoted to stitching, ofcourse.  We had so much fun and on the way up there we stopped at 3 patchwork shops, then on the return trip we visited  Mill Rose Quilting and Gallery which is absolute fabric heaven.

These were my purchases over the weekend. Lots of red and white fabrics to go in my Wish Quilt.

I also bought these 3. The spotty turquoise and brown one is to go in the Cataliscious quilt with my turquoise and brown stitcheries of Brutus, for those of you who remember them, The cat one, well I simply couldn't resist . And the other blue and brown paisley one is to go into my more traditional style quilts. 

Just as the bus was leaving to head off on our trek a little parcel was handed down the line to me from  one of our lovely ladies, Lyn.  She has recently returned from a cruise and she remembered that I collect thimbles. Isn't she an absolute angel? Aren't I spoilt? Thankyou so very very much Lyn.

So, what did I get stitched while I was away? 2 small stitcheries for  Lynette Anderson 's " In Full Bloom" quilt. I thought I would start it at the retreat for something new.

Now that I am home again I  am back to stitching the Rosie Quinlan  Christmas Garland. Look! It is nearly finished!!!!!!

Well, I am off to wash all those yummy fabrics now while the sun is still shining. Thankyou for visiting again. Angel Blessings.

MY MOJO'S BACK

Whew! I am finally getting somewhere with my sewing room. The new shelves are full of all the things I wanted to store on them but I have also stashed many other things there that are awaiting a proper home. I am halfway through cleaning up the room and at least I have some working space now .

Now that I have a good working space I decided to spend a few hours stitching together 3 blocks of the Wish Quilt seeing as I have completed most of the appliques and all of the stitcheries.

Sorry, you have to scroll down a fair way to see the other 2 photos as I am having difficulty placing them. Blogger is not cooperating with me.

 

I also managed to finish the crocheted knee rug for charity.

While tidying up the sewing room I found the hexies made by my forum friends for me  from the hexie swaps I joined for a couple of years. I decided I must get them sewn together and arranged them  ready to stitch.

I have started stitching them together now but I had a few left over.

I think I need to make one more to fll that gap then I shall have a nice hexie table centre piece.

 I shall have a few more things to show you soon . Hopefully, I can work out these dreaded gremlins again.

Many angel blessings. 

GETTING THERE

I haven't been able to stitch for a couple of days but I am hoping to get a few things done this week. I have completed the Santa's sleigh stitchery for the Wish Quilt and think I have mastered Bronwyn's technique of framing the stitcheries. Well, I hope I have because I need to frame Brutus. I can then start piecing some of the blocks togther.

I am really loving the red and whites. I know why Barb loves them so much now.

Yesterday I was invited to lunch at a friend's place and I made her a little pressie. It is one of the free designs from Cheryl Goss's "A Little Bit French ".  

 You can click on the button in the side bar of this page at the top right hand side if you would like to visit Cheryl's blog.

Today I am going to start tracing the stitcheries for Lynette Anderson's "In Full Bloom" quilt which I am planning to take to my patchwork group's retreat next month. So , it is off to the sewing room for me now, as messy as it is. I still haven't put those sheves up yet. You will be the first to see them when they are up.

What have I been reading the past few weeks?

   

Marie Bostwick's series consists of 4 books which are light and entertaining for those who love reading about quilters. I have read all 4. Joy Dettman is good Aussie author and "Thorn on the Rose" is the sequel to" Pearl in a Cage" As for Philippa Gregory, well I love her books, especially the historical novels. I still need to read "The River Queen" and I believe she now has new release which I shall eagerly await to be sold in paperback.

Happy stitching and happy reading.

Angel Blessings..

PRODUCTIVE WEEKEND

My sewing room is an absolute disaster!  There was a time when it was clean and organised  but that was long ago. A bit of a mess never worried me with that room because I made the excuse of it being a creative space. I still knew where things were and could put my hand on anything I needed despite the mess.  Well, those days have gone to the point of being a work place hazard for my health, tripping over things on the floor, sliding on the cutting mat and generally snuffling and sneezing every time I ventured into the danger zone.

These photos were taken after I moved everything from the desk area and under the window. The reason? So I have room to put up my new shelving. I have cleaned and dusted the walls, floors etc ready for the storage shelves I' m planning to put up tomorrow. I finally made up my mind what shelves I wanted so we went shopping yesterday and the flat packs are still in the car. Why are they in the car still? Because I can't lift them ! So, the plan is to have the area ready to start bringing in the shelves piece by piece. Sounds a,little silly but it is the only solution if I want the shelves out of the car and in the room any time soon. The shelves are a 16 cube unit so hopefully I will be able store magazines, books, boxes of projects etc on them . That is the plan , anyway.  So bit by bit I will  sort through everything and put things on the shelves as I go. Besides patchwork things I also have heaps of scrapbooking things so it will be quite a challenge.

Meanwhile, I also managed to get more of the Wish Quilt done. 

I was so happy to see Brutus included in the quilt and had him stitched in a flash.

I have one reindeer left to applique, the one on the right. All the hearts are appliqued and the double heart one is ready to be appliqued. I have traced the 2 little stitcheries (up the top) , cut out fabric pieces for some of the blocks to stitch onto the stitcheries, and also framed the bear block ( upper left). This is a challenge to do as I have to slip stitch the stitchery to the frame then peel off the frame from behind. I am really not sure if this is going to work. I hope it does work so I can reuse the frame for another 2 stitcheries.

All this while also watching and listening to Bathurst!!!!  Doing the happy dance.

Angel Blessings. 

SEWING DAZE

As you know I have been working on Red Brolly's Christmas Wish quilt. I am so addicted to the stitcheries  that I am going cross eyed  after stitching for a couple of hours. Despite new glasses I am still having problems. Ce la vie! It will not prevent me from getting the quilt done , I just need to do other things instead of going flat out with the stitcheries. SO today I decided to attempt making the circular frame for the bear stitchery  which I have been putting off thinking that it may be a bit fiddly. Well, everything went smoothly except for the fact that I have no spray starch, never have, and looks like I will soon get some.  I also need some light fusble interfacing for some of the quilt which  I also do not possess. Guess where I am headed tomorrow?

I cut out some fabric pieces required and fused appliqued hearts and cute reindeeers onto them . I am getting quite excited now.

I decided this project needs it's own container . Just as well I had a spare one that I bought a couple of weeks ago. I shall also be shopping for more red and white fabrics.

Angel Blessings.

LUCKY ME

The past few weeks I have been quite blessed receiving some lovely things from some thoughtful and generous people. One of the ladies at my patchwork and quilting group knows that I love wooden cotton reels and said she had a couple she'd like to give me. Well, does this like a "couple" to you?

It is a shoe box full!

And look what else came with them.

2 vintage needle books and a gorgeous little cardboard box with more needles in them!

Here is a pic of the needle books opened. 

Aren't they great?

Here is another one .

I haven't done much patchwork , stitching, knitting or crocheting lately but I have managed to complete 2 more "Wish Quilt " stitcheries from Red Brolly.

That's all I have to show you for now but I shall have some more pics soon.

Thanks so much for visiting. Angel blessings.

GREMLINS BE GONE!





Woohooo!!! I think I have found a way to banish those  nasty gremlins.  Fingers crossed now.

Where were we before I was rudely interupted?

I think I was going to show you  the gorgeous thimbles my darling daughter bought for me when she was in California.

See the Mickey mouse one? It is made of glass.

AND

A lovely neighbour of my mum's bought me a Delph thimble from Holland.

 Now, what else? I  knitted a cute little owl from a knitting book my eldest daughter gave to me. It has several different animlas in it but I just had to make the owl seeing as I collect them.

I think I shall call him Barney.

Want to see my other owls?

I have been following Red Brolly's free BOM "The Wish Quilt". Here are the pics of the stitcheries I have completed.

I also completed the Sashiko top of a tablerunner. I haven't stitched it together yet.

I am sure I had heaps more things to show you but they will have to wait. I am still having some wee gremlins hanging around but I shall try to banish them too.

Thankyou for being so patient. Angel blessings.

JUST WORDS

Hi everyone. I am still having heaps of problems trying to work out how to upload photos on here so I have decided to keep blogging without the photos until I can solve the dilemma.

The past month I have been so blessed by a few people giving me some beautiful things.   On Saturday I attended my regular Sit 'n" Sew day with my quilting group and one of my lovely friends presented me with a shoe box full of wooden cotton reels, some vintage needle packets and other precious things. I was so touched because I really love sewing  notions from the past. Wooden cotton reels were discontinued in the 1970's. There are so many shapes , sizes and different timbers.  They are proudly displayed on my thimble rack. Which reminds me--- when my daughter returned from a holiday in California she presented me with some thimbles. A lovely glass one with Mickey Mouse on the top from Disneyland, one from Madame Tousseau's , a couple from San Francisco, another from Hollywood and a gorgeous one with a panda on the top from the zoo.  I was also given a thimble from my mum's neighbour- a beautiful blue and white Delph one from Holland. Spoilt huh?

I was also lucky to receive a patchwork book from Cheryl who is a lovely lady I have known  from a craft forum ( which most of you also belong to).  Then, today I returned home to find a parcel awaiting me from Barb.  What did I find? A yummy cat fabric and some purple toned DMC threads along with a cute owl pad.  She knows I love purple, cats and owls. What better surprise than that!

What have I been stitching? Currently I am stitching "The Wish Quilt", a freebie from Red Brolly. I have completed 3 of the stitcheries and am about to start another this evening. Well, that is the plan. Meanwhile I have made a couple more blocks for The Farmer's Wife quilt, and have been frantically basting more hexies to put the first 2 borders on the Insanity Quilt .

I just peeked inside my box of completed stitcheries awaiting piecing. There lays Brutus , A Gardener's Journal, 2 pin cushions , some cat stitcheries and "Breast of Friends" applique blocks. All these just need piecing, apart from the BOF  which needs more blocks made. I did find 2 fabrics today for Brutus, so maybe I shall get that one completed soon. I still have a bit more applique to do on Henrietta Whiskers.

Sorry for not having photos for you to see. I am still hoping to solve the problem.

Meanwhile, many angel blessings.

GREMLINS

 I have been trying to update my posts for a while but can't seem  to upload photos for some reason. I shall keep trying and seek some help from someone who is more computer savvy than I.  Until then, angel blessings to you all.

FAIR TO MUDDLING

I have been busy trying to get Henrietta Whiskers finished and have finally put the borders, cornerstones and border appliques on ready for hand stitching. Here she is...

Meanwhile I also completed knitting 4 jumpers for penguins which are now packaged up ready to post to Cowes.

And I am about 1/3rd way through crocheting another rug for charity.

Yesterday I had a wonderful time at the Melbourne craft fair at Jeff's Shed with my patchwork group. I bought some more 1800's repro fabrics to add to my growing collection. They are only fat 1/8ths and 30cm lengths but I don't need much for the small blocks I am making.

I also bought some more preprinted Sashiko things. I couldn't resist the owls and I love the lighter coloured fabric to make a table runner with. The small Christmas kit is one of Marg Low's .

Recently I purchased some more books. I couldn't resist another Civil War quilting book.

A while ago I bought and read the first of Marie Bostwicks Cobblestone Court series which is a series of novels about women and quitling. I loved this book so I bought the other 3 in the series which are now on my bookshelf waiting for me to read.  I also bought another Jennifer Chiaverinni book "The Union Quilters" but forgot to take a photo of it.

 Do you like reading novels about patchwork and quilting?  Another series I like is by Debbie Macomber about a group of women who knit.   I find all these books to be good light reads and very inspiratonal.

Angel blessings to you all.