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.