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. 

BABIES, CATS AND SQUIRRELS

A warm hello to you all. It is certainly a real winter here at the moment. Just perfect for stitching , knitting and crocheting. I have managed to complete a few things since my last post. Last week I was asked to make some more bibs for one of my great nieces as they are the only ones that seem to fit her properly.  So, I got to work as soon as I could find all the bits and pieces I needed amongst all the chaos in my sewing room. I made 4.

Then, onto completing my cat's quilt. I just need to design and stitch a label to the back. Before you go oo and ahhh, NO, it is not my quilting expertise. I have none! One of the girls from my patchwork group did it for me. She does a fantastic job.

Henrietta Whiskers is on her way to completion!!! Yey!!!! I have pieced all the blocks together and am rather pleased with how it is looking so far. I just need to decide what fabrics to use for the inner and outer borders then I can applique the rest of the crows and stars onto the border. Ofcourse, once it is basted and quilted it still needs buttons sewn on various places before it is finished properly.

I have also finished the crocheted knee rug for charity.

 Yesterday I received the next blocks and fabrics from Sue Daley's Block to Block. Guess what I am washing today?

Well, that's all for now folks. Thanks for taking the time to visit . I am off to wash fabrics, knit for penguins and finish another quilt top. Maybe the next post will be flowers and penguins hehehehe.

Angel blessings to you all.  

ALL SHOOK UP

Did the earth move for you last night?  It is only a year since we last had a couple of earth tremors but they weren't as high on the scale as this one. I was sitting stitching when this one happened.  A shake up to get things done and I did!
Last night I finished putting the binding on my mother's bedrunner and also finished the last Henrietta Whiskers applique block.  I am looking forward to piecing all the Henrietta Whiskers blocks together ready for the borders and more appliques around those borders. Maybe I'll complete another quilt this year. Hmmmmm.

The colour isn't really right on this but it gives you an idea. Here is a close up of the quilting I had done.

Here is Henrietta with her friend.

I have also completed a few more Farmer's Wife blocks.

In between all this I have been crocheting a lap rug for charity.

I have managed to read a few books during the past couple of months. The non fiction ones were really interesting.

Yesterday I went to Spotlight and look what I found! I looove chookies and so does my stitching girlfirend  so I bought some for her too.

Well, I have cut and ironed the binding for my cat's quilt ready to pin on and  machine stitch..  Hopefully I shall get it done this afternoon so I can handstitch the binding to the back tonight.  Maybe, just maybe, I will have a pic for you next time. Until then, many angel hugs and blessings to you all.

THE JOY OF COMPLETION

The past week or so I have been finishing a few things. Remember Sue Daley's" Block to Block" monthly subscription I joined? Well, I have finished 2 of the blocks. They are 8" square.

I only have one Farmer's Wife block to show you but I have another almost completed and have prepared 2 more blocks ready to stitch.. These are only 6" square.

I haven't done a lot of patchwork, quilting or stitching lately because I have been focusing on  finishing the crocheted rug for my hubby which I now have achieved. It takes pride of place on the back of his chair.

I also wanted to crochet a scarf for a dear friend .

As well as these I finally finished the knitted knee rug for charity which I crocheted around the edge.

Now I have this bunde of knitted blocks from mum to stitch together for charity. Yes, probably with a crocheted edge!

I haven't got around to doing the bindings on the 2 quilts I mentioned in my last post. Hmmm must get a "Round Tuit" and then I will get much more done! It seems I need some elves to keep stitching through the night. Can anyone spare theirs? Meanwhile, I have started another crocheted  rug for charity.

Until my next post may the time between bring you all  much love, joy and good health. Angel Blessings.