LOTZA FUN AND STITCHING

Woohooo!!! I had a fantastic time at Leanne Beasley's and Gail Pan's Christmas Gathering last Saturday. I caught up with some friends and met some more wonderful creative people. Gail and Leanne spent a lot of time showing us their quilting and applique techniques and it was an absolute delight to meet them both after loving their work for the past few years. Unfortunately, I seem to be having great difficulty in uploading my pics so I do apologise and hope to get back here soon. Angel Blessings.

FINISHES AND MORE

I have been stitching up a storm the past few weeks , finishing some projects and starting some new ones. First I would like to show you a stunning pincushion that was made for me by one of my friends in my patchwork groups. She makes them to order and I chose purple, ofcourse!

Yes. a hat!! I thought it was too good to stick pins in so I asked my mum if she had any old hat pins. She did, so now they are proudly displayed in my hat. Now my hat sits with the collection of pin cushions that I have made.

I was hand quilting the other Civil War doll quilt on my last post. It is now finished. Da da!!! Here it is.

I have been doing a few stitcheries, some for pressies and one for me. Here is mine but I am not sure whether to just frame it or make it into something. Any ideas?

This stitchery is for a pressie and shall be made into something useful and cute.

Meanwhile I have been doing some Christmas stitcheries  and have just washed some new Civil War and 1800s reproduction fabrics for my next hand pieced project which I am starting at a patchwork retreat next month. I have 2 labels ready to make for the 2 doll quilts and really must get on to quilting the " T for Temperance" doll quilt.

Thanks for stopping by and I send you all angel blessings.

FINISHES AND MORE

A FEW LITTLE THINGS

 I have been having great difficulty trying to update my blog so I apologise for the delay. For some reason the gremlins had returned but I hope they have gone on a long holiday now. So what have I been up to? Stitching ofcourse! Take a look at my first completed hand pieced and hand quilted Civil War doll's quilt. I am so pleased with it.

Now I am in the process of hand quilting the Shoo Fly doll's quilt that I showed you.

I also completed the top of the " T for Temperance" doll's quilt which will be much quicker to hand quilt than the other 2.

I have really enjoyed making these completely by hand. Small quilts seem to be far less daunting than larger ones and they have helped me master some skills. I am already planning my next one which is slightly larger than the others. I guess I willl have to go and find some more Civil War repro fabrics now. Hehehehehe.

Meanwhile ,I have been thinking about Christmas projects and gifts. I managed to make this little mat from Gail Pan's Christmas book.

What happened to my Crazy Cats?  I have been appliquing them and only have 3 left to make with only one awaiting preparation. Woohooo, nearly there!

Here are the cats who have their whiskers and faces on. Although, I may need to sew buttons on for their eyes . I can't really see some of there eyes that I have stitched. What do you think?

I have nearly finished these turtle fabric hexie coasters for my sister in law who requested some quite a while ago. The reason for the delay is that I had so much trouble locating suitable turtle fabric. Since I took this photo I have hand quilted them and shall just machine ( yes, machine!!) the edges on rather than hand stitching them.

Just for a break from stitching I have started knitting myself a top from some lovely 100% cotton yarn. Mine shall be a bit longer than on the pattern and this colour is rather different for me than usual. 

Thanks so much for taking the time to visit me again. Angel Blessings to you all.

BEEN BUSY

I know it is a while since I last posted but I have been stitching. Really and truly! Do you want to see what I have done? You know I love the Civil War repro fabrics and quilts so here is the result of handpiecing  2 dolls quilts. The first one is the Shoo Fly dolls quilt, the 2nd one is the Civil War Stars dolls quilt.

Then there is the English Paper Pieced bedside topper I have almost completed.

Remember the In Full Bloom stitchetries I did a while ago? Well ,they have all been pieced together as the photo shows. Since I took that pic I have sewn the inner borders on and stitched the outer border fabrics together ready to put on soon.

I have finished the cute little Gail Pan wallhanging from one of the Vignette magazines. Hers was all in browns but I chose to do blues and browns, It is needleturn applique and  embroidery. I machine pieced it but hand quilted it.

This is the current Celtic Knot I am stitching.

Meet Clay again. Since I tidied my sewing area he has decided that it is his! As cats do!

Hmmmm not much room for me to lay out my quilt blocks but as long as he is comfortable. *rolling my eyes*

I think that is enough for today. Next time I hope to have the completed Henrietta Whiskers quilt to show you. It is back from the quilter's just waiting for the binding and a few little buttons to be stitched on.

Meanwhile ,happy stitching, blog hopping and many angel blessings to you all.  

SEW MANY PROJECTS

As usual I currently have many projects on the go and I am sure most of you can identify with that First I want to show you the little doily I made for Vicki.as her birthday pressie. A while back I showed you a glimpse of 2 pressies I had made . This was one of them and the other one was for Barb. I stitched Barb's all in red because she is a red and white fan. but Vicki's is in more muted colours. It is a Leanne Beasley pattern that was in one of the Vignette mags.

I have been hand piecing a Shoo Fly dolls quilt from one of my Civil War books. I am stitching the last block and just need to cut and stitch the sashings ,corner stones and borders. I have used Civil War repro fabrics and you know how much I love them. They are 4 1/2 " blocks.

In my last post I showed you some funky fabrics I bought on my travels for my Crazy Cats quilt which was a free BOM on Syverstan Quilting . I have been happily appliquing 7 of the blocks . This one is almost complete except for his eyes and nose.

Here are 4 more. I am currently appliquing the one with the fish in his tummy.

I have also been knitting another scarf. I couldn't resist this yarn from Spotty. I am going to stitch the 2 ends together forming a loop so I can hang it around my neck and just loop it once around . Easy to pull off when I have a momentary personal summer!

And here is a pic of the EPP bedside table runner I have almost completed. I am just stitching the edges now.

I forgot to take a pic of the 3rd Celtic Knot block I made but shall show it to you next time. Thanks for visiting . Many angel blessings to you all.

WHERE O WHERE HAVE I BEEN?

 Ooops!!! It has been a while since my last blog entry but I have been busy. Where have I been? I have been on a retreat at Rawson Village with one of my patchwork groups back in April and we made a few stops at patchwork shops along the way and on our return trip. I also went to the AQC with another group where I managed to buy more things. Then I went to a Vic Quilters gathering in Stawell and stayed overnight in Ballarat. Ofcourse, there was more shopping on this trip too. On the way back we called into Mill Rose Cottage where Barb joined us for lunch and afternoon tea. Yes, I did buy more things there too!!!

So, here are some pics of some yummy fabrics and patterns, These are for 4 separate projects.

(The fur in the foreground is my cat!) The next is a pic of some yummy delph fabrics that have been on my list for a while. 

 I couldn't resist more Sashiko , Gail Pan's new Christams book, Rosie Quinlan's hexie stitcheries , a cute little project from Marg Low AND a gorgeous pattern for a child's quilt called "Once Upon a Time".

I couldn't resist this Japanese bag pattern to make with the Japanese charm squares I have had for a couple of years. I love these detachable bag handles too.

These kitty cats were mewing at me from a shelf at the patchwork shop in Warragul. They just leapt out at me . Really! 

These funky fabrics are for my Crazy Cats quilt with the 2 light fabrics as the backgrounds. I found them at Eureka Patchwork in Ballarat. 

Found more Delph!!!

Remember that child's quilt pattern I mentioned earlier? Well, I found some wonderful Kaffe Fasset fabrics for it. Now I can start doing the stitcheries . Yey!

The joke is that I have no grandchildren yet and the  grandma hormones have kicked in really badly.So, I have decided to start making quilts and putting them away . They will then magically appear when the time comes. Hehehehe.

The Cosmo threads are for another project.

Last but not least , a cute little tin I bought as well.

Oops. A bit blurry.

Next time I promise I will have some pics of some finished projects and some new ones started. Thanks for visiting again. Angel Blessings.