TWO DOWN, HEAPS MORE TO DO

I have been trying to complete all the unfinished projects I have stashed away in a drawer. I am getting there slowly but every time I tidy up my sewing room I find more. My room is a bit like the Magic Pudding!  Today I finished 2 Gail Pan pincushions for my collection.

During the week I sewed borders onto 2 wall hangings and hand quilted them . This is the Christmas one from Fig 'n' Berry Creations. It still needs binding on it but I  AM getting there! I omitted adding a stitchery inner border that was on the pattern.

 

 

The other one is a Gail Pan design but the pic is blurry so I shall show it to you fully completed next time.  I do, however, have a pic of another Gail Pan Christmas stitchery that is going into THAT drawer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have knitted 3 face washers for the Womens Refuge at Christmas and have heaps more to knit. I need to buy soaps and talc to wrap them up with.

 

 

 

 

 

Last week I bought some more 1800s repro fabrics and already have a project in mind. It is not another little Civil War quilt this time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ofcourse, there is lots of secret sewing going on for Christmas pressies too.

 

Thanks for visiting my part of the world again. 

 

Angel Blessings.

 

 

   

I LOVE SWAPS!

The last 12 " Mini Swap was due the end of September and I posted mine off to Shez by Express Post as I was a couple of days late and she was flying  to Thailand. Whew! Thankfully it arrived on time. I was eagerly awaiting a mini for myself and was sooooooo thrilled to receive this gorgeous mini from Lyn earlier this week. Unfortunately, Lyn does not have a blog so we can't see all her work but I am sure it is all as lovely as this mini. Lyn does not know me, yet the mini is so apt as my dear dad is a bee keeper.

                                               And, yes, my cat just had to be in the pic!



On Tuesday I did a workshop with one of my patchwork groups making a Christmas wallhanging. You would not believe how much bias tape this project used or how long I stood ironing it all on but it was well worth the time and energy. I still need to stitch the bias down and then finish the quilt properly.  I may just bag it and quilt it rather than put binding on.

 

 

 

Today I was determined to complete 2 of my stitcheries. Another Rosie Q block of Simple Blessings.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And another Gail Pan hexie pincushion design.

 

 

 

 

 

 I am hoping to get the above RQ stitchery needle turned into a block like the previous one and the pincushion completed by next week. I think I put another pincushion stitchery on here last time and that one needs to be completed too. "Slowly slowly" is my motto. Just trying not to go so slow that I end up going backwards!

 

 

So, next time I WILL have some completed projects to show you.

 

Angel Blessings.

SUNSHINE STITCHING

WE were lucky enough to enjoy a couple of typical Spring days with the sun shining, birds twittering, bees  buzzing and no one burning off!  I had heaps of fabrics to trace and cut but didn't fancy being couped up inside so I took my crafty bits outside on my back verandah.

The other good thing about cutting fabric outside is that I don't need to clean the floor. I just swept these bits away.

 

 

Alas, the sun has vanished and we have had 2 days and nights of heavy rain, so I have been busy finishing these stitcheries. It is a Fig 'n Berry pattern  called "Christmas Wishes" that I bought on the mystery bus trip.  The fabrics for the sashings and borders have been washed and are hanging on the clothes horse. I am itching to finish this project soon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As you know I am in Cheryll's 12 " Mini swap and the final one for the year was due to be posted yesterday!  Life got in the way so I am a wee bit late but shall be posting it off to the recipient tomorrow. The theme is "Summer" and I couldn't find a suitable design that I liked so I decided to draw one up myself.  I hope it is okay. Fingers crossed that ........will like it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was doing the happy dance when a little parcel arrived for me last week. It was from my stepson, the intrepid traveller abroad . He knows I collect thimbles and has contributed a few to my collection .  Now I have more.

 

 

 

 

 

 

They are from Carcassonne, Equisheim, Strasbourg, and Alsace. Wooohoooo!!! 

 

 

I hope you are enjoying some nice weather at the moment. I know it is getting cooler for some of my bloggy friends overseas and I am thinking of you all.

 

Angel Blessings. 

 

 

NOTE TO SELF

Hmmmm, I seem to be doing a lot of stitching then putting them aside to start another project. Does anyone else have this problem?  I really need to give myself a stern talking to and spend some time actually completing things.  Here are some examples.


                   A hopefully- soon- to- be pincushion from Gail's " Patchwork Loves Embroidery" book.

 

 

And a couple of little Christmas stitcheries from Gail's  2014 Christmas book.

 

 

 

 

There are more than these but I won't  make this post too heavy with pics. Today I started stitching the Christmas project I bought on my Mystery Bus Tour the other week. Getting totally carried away I decided I wanted to knit something  I saw on Cheryll's blog.  

 

 

 

 

 I DID manage to finish needle turning this but need to sew the borders on.

 

 

 

 

So, it's back to my little Civil War quilts tonight. I need to trace and cut some of these new 1800's

reproduction fabrics to use in my latest one.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Clay and I wish you a productive stitching weekend with many Angel Blessings.

GORGEOUS GAIL AND OTHER THINGS

Early this week I was lucky to catch up with Gail Pan again. Gail was the guest speaker at one of my patchwork groups so I was eager to see all her wonderful creations again and buy some more of her fabric line.  Take a wander over to Gail's blog to see what she has been up to. She certainly is a very busy gal!  Look at this wonderful array of loveliness.

 

 

Ofcourse, I had to get a pic of us together.

 

 

 ( Ooops! A wee bit small but you can click on them to see them better.)

 

 

The last couple of weeks have been quite exciting stitching- wise. Last week I went on a mystery bus tour with another of my patchwork groups ,( yes, I am in all 3 down here), and came home with some more goodies. We went to Lilly Patches in Boronia, Gail B's in Bayswater, a beautiful Native Nursery in Mt Evelyn for a scrumptious lunch  enhanced by a glass of champers, followed by a stop at Craft Quarters in KooWeeRup  and the final stop at the Sewing Connection in Pakenham. Whew! A very tiring but worthwhile fun day.

 

 

This is a cute little owl I bought at the nursery to add to my collection. He just hooted at me to buy him so what could a girl do?

 

 

I found some more repro fabrics, another hanger for my little quilts, some Lynette Anderson ribbons and a Tilda fat 1/4. 

 

 

 

Oh dear! Another Christmas pattern!. For someone who was never really into Christmas, stitching has certainly changed that. I especially love red and white fabrics and projects.

 

 

 

The Cottage Garden Thread colour is" Hugs and Kisses" and I really like working with it.

 

Even though I am still making the borders of my last little Civil War quilt I decided to start another one. I was itching to cut some more fabrics and then I couldn't resist piecing them so here is the start of my newest one.

 

 

 

 Thanks for stopping by to visit. Angel Blessings. 

 

 

 

 

SENSE OF ACHIEVEMENT

 Preparation for hand piecing is a rather slow process considering I usually need to convert the instructions into determining the correct measurements and making templates. Once the fabric pieces are traced and cut the fun begins. This Civil War quilt is the largest "little" quilt I have made and finally I can see it coming together.

I am about to embark on a needle turning adventure with this stitchery block I completed.

The next stitchery is half done.

Now I am itching to make some projects from Primitive Quilts magazine that I recently subscribed to. I also bought my first crochet magazine which has heaps of lovely projects in it with instructions on various crochet stitches. So, it looks like some more crocheting will be happening soon.

 

 

 

I have read 3 books this month. 2 light reads and one biographical book. I have always had a fascination to learn more about Margaret Brown aka Molly Brown. What an incredible woman!

 

 

 

 

 

Well, I'm off to get some stitching done. Angel Blessings to you all.

DEFYING BLOGGY BLUES

Despite my blogging problems I am finding my way around them until I can resolve the problems when I have the time and energy to see the computer doctor. I hope you don't mind me emailing you blog comments as I still like to participate in blog land when I can. A beautiful person brightened my week when I received all these lovely goodies.

I won all these handmade lovelies from the sweetest person who has been on an awful emotional roller coaster the past few months and endured one of life's most terrible things. I was astounded that Kerrie took the time to send me this most wonderful parcel. Thankyou so much my dear sweet bloggy friend. Angel hugs especially for you. The scarf is so pretty and warm, the brooch is amazing and the fat 1/4s, ric rac and buttons will be put to good use.

NOW FOR SOME FINISHES.......

My little hand pieced and hand quilted Civil War quilt with the label I designed for it.

 

 

 

 The Lynette Anderson cushion. Alas, try as I might, I couldn't cut the stitched blocks so that the running stitch outline would end up straight when pieced. Grrrrrr.

 

 

 

 

 

Now that some things are finished I have started another stitchery. This is the Japanese version of Rosalie Quinlan's Simply Blessed BOM block #2.

 

 

 

 

So, with much frustration about not being a reply blogger or able to leave blog comments I am still plodding along with the eternal hope of being able to rejoin the blogging community properly again soon.

 

Angel Blessings to you all.