Sunday Sewing.

In 2012 my friend Lynda gave 6 of us, herself included, 4 pieces of fabric & a challenge. We had a year to make something using the 4 fabrics. The challenge included at least 1 basket, a bird & a "surprise" Well i failed on 2 counts. I didn't make it until this year & i couldn't figure what to add as the "surprise". As far as i'm aware only 2 others have finished & that was this year as well. They were Lynda herself & Sheila.

Here is what i made. I have 4 baskets & 2 birds so i fulfilled that part of the challenge. :)

Happy Stitching,

Saturday Sewing........

......saw me squeezing in 2 more finishes for September. 1st was the little banner i made my GS.

Bias binding added & it was done. Next to finish it this months Xmas project

Such a cute hanging. Next up was the 4th block from the 6" sampler quilt.

Lastly i decided i would tackle that block again from Moda Modern Building Blocks.

It's huge at 36". There is another 36" block to make yet. Then another 2 fairly large blocks followed by many smaller blocks. Luckily i don't have to make them in any particular order. Though i'm trying to decide whether to get the other 36" out of the way or leave it a bit longer. But that is a decision for next weekend. I'm off to quilt a long overdue challenge project.

Happy Stitching,

Born in '64

This year i'm turning 50 & i'm borrowing an idea off a fellow blogger who is also turning 50. I'm thinking it would be lovely if any of my fellow bloggers who read this would be willing to send me signature blocks, 6-1/2" in size, any colour, pieced, EPP or applique. Use you favourite colour & no novelty prints please. All i ask is they have a plain piece that you can write your name & where you are from on it with either pigma pen or embroidered. Hopefully i can get enough to make a quilt but if not a wallhanging will be just as lovely. I'll email you my snail mail if you comment saying you are willing to make me a block. Thanks,

Happy Stitching,

Finally.....

....i have a donut. Started this several months back & it was a struggle then to make it up so i put it aside. Once i got going yesterday i wondered why i left it as it wasn't that hard to sew the tubes together. The hard part had already been done. :) I must say that this donut take one hell of a lot of stuffing. Just hope it's got enough in it. Hard to stuff to. :)

Now all i need is the GS to give it a tryout.  Since that didn't take as long to sew as i thought it would, i left the stuffing until last night, i decided I'd get a start on the Moda Building Blocks pattern. As you can see not much in the way of instructions.

But i forged ahead measuring & cutting carefully. Or so i thought. I had a little trouble with the centre but got it all together,

made the next part & trouble struck

Oh these went together fine it was just when i went to add them to the centre block. The points don't meet so i though must need to trim centre block back. I did & guess what wrong. I now have a nice block for a cushion. Oh & you eyes don't deceive you those borders are huge. When finished this block is 36". I did a little bit of checking on some friends who are also making this quilt & discovered that the seam does indeed sit way out from those points on the centre block when adding those borders. Now to make a new centre block. Oh well live & learn. That was my Sunday.

Happy Stitching,

Friday Night Sew In.

Taking advantage of a day to myself i started reasonably early.

I started by making this simple block. It's for a fellow blogger celebrating her 50th this year & asked for blocks to make a quilt. Great idea, i may borrow it as it also my 50th this year. :) Next thing to make is the 3rd block in the 6" sampler sew along.

That done it was time to work on THAT QUILT.

TA DA. Gossip In The Garden is officially a flimsy. What did i learn in the making? Never to make it at all. Joking aside i really did enjoy making the quilt & love it. Only hassle i really encountered was doing the mitres on the outside border. Not perfect but i don't care as the quilt is for me. After that marathon of doing the borders with the quick unpick & i becoming very good friends indeed i decided enough for the day(once the flimsy was photographed) & off to read a book. Last night i did pick up my needle & worked on the last snowman. I didn't do a lot as i was so tired.

Only a little bit to go.

Thankyou Wendy for hosting us again. Pop over to Wendys to see what the other ladies got up to last night.

Happy Stitching,

Saturday Sewing.

I didn't start early like i planned. You know how it is. Get on the internet start looking at thing, blogs ect & time flies. I spent an hour tracing out 2 templates onto fabric for Gossip In The Garden. Then it was time to take a daughter summer PJ shopping. Arrived back home in time for morning tea but it was only a cup of tea as i've no time for baking anymore. :(  That done with  it was time to be back into the sewing room for more tracing & then cutting. By lunchtime i had this,

About 130 pieces for the 2nd border of Gossips. The long strips are the first border.  Lunch over, after sharing some banana with the dog, It's back to sewing. The dog has to have her daily banana or whatever fruit i'm eating. Spoilt animal. The next few hours resulted in this,

All 4 borders done minus the end pieces. They are done a little differently than the pieces i cut earlier. By this time though my body was protesting about all the sitting. Time for a cuppa & to read a book. Then early bed after dinner, again cooked by my daughter, as i had a random migraine form.

Happy Stitching,

My Friday.....

..... started after school drop off. Off to the fabric shop i went to get the extra fabric i needed for my border. Arrived back home, took an iced coffee break & to read my new garden magazine. That done it was time to sew. The border fabric cut & sewn on, time for a photo of the now officially complete flimsy.

 Ta Da. Now it is ready to quilt. :) Hmm what to do next ? UFO"s or blocks for a sew along or the bee swap. Ahh block for the sew along it is. Fabrics chosen i was ready to start. But wait having troubles reading that saved document on the tablet so print it is. Oh whilst i'm here i'll print out that bag pattern too. Ok pattern sorted back to cutting out. Got a bit carried away & ended up with more black strips than needed. The block is called Golden Gate.

Block 2 of the 6" sampler sew along. By now it was lunch time & it was my lucky day. My daughter made me lunch. So with lunch sorted & a cup of tea i relaxed with my book. Refreshed back to the sewing room i trotted to work on my bee blocks for the Bonnie & Camille Sampler swap. First block i misread the sewing instructions. Remedied that by cutting more fabric & now i have a block to send along with pinwheels from the cut off triangles.

Darn i was on a roll ready to get the 2nd block started when it was school pick up time. That out of the way & same daughter, who made lunch, was cooking tea, i went back to the sewing room. I chose fabrics & block pattern & off i went.

Yep i got a little carried away with how many squares to cut for the half square triangles. I had enough to make a larger pinwheel. :) No harm done though as it will be used somewhere in the Bonnie & Camille sampler. Either in my quilt or one of my fellow bees. Ahh now my day is done. Tea is over so i can sit, relax & work on my embroidery.

Now i'm off to see what storm i can sew up today.

Happy Stitching,

Blog Hop With A Difference

Have you noticed a few bloggers participating in A Blog Hop With A Difference? I was nominated by Fee to take part. I'm running a bit late as i was supposed to post on Monday.

 About myself:
                        I'm a Sagittarius. I often have a laugh about that as i'm not at all like a Sagittarius is supposed to be. :) I am associated with fire which is true of me as i don't mind giving fire-twirling a go & like fire i do flit from one thing to another hence having so many UFO's.

 My favourite colour?
                                 Purple of course.

 What else before i go on?
                                         I love my family, cats & birds, reading & gardening. I've dabbled in many crafts over the years but the one i love best is embroidery. Closely followed by EPP.

 What am i working on?
                                     A Christmas stitchery by Natalie Bird.

Also at my table side is another Xmas stitchery. These are my night time projects. Weekends i try to get UFO's worked on plus the blocks for sew alongs i've recently joined.

Why Do I Create What I do?
                                            A genuine love of crafting things. I don't like to have idle hands. I love the process of taking a pattern be it embroidery or patchwork & turning it into a thing of beauty. Sitting embroidery or sewing gives me the time out to relax & forget things for a while.

What Do I Love To Create With?
                                                     I love to work with threads. My favourites being DMC,Cottage Garden Threads & Valdani.

How Do I Become Inspired?
                                              By my fellow bloggers. Seeing ideas online. Pinterest is a great source. My friends i sew with once a month.

Favourite Time Of Day?
                                        When i can sit down with a cup of tea, relax & either read or work on a project, so i guess it would be night time after tea & everything is done for the day.

So now it's time to nominate 3 ladies who i hope won't mind joining in. Thanks for taking the time to read my ramblings. I nominate Peg , Shez & Fiona to post on the 15th September. No pressure to do so. The choice is yours.

Happy Stitching,

Seeing stars & Sunday Sewing

 I mostly did what i set out to do. Working on the Xmas top took a bit longer than i'd hoped. A little problem of seams going the same way so therefore not butting up nicely when attached to another block. Also it's not quite finished as i do my borders different to Gail so i didn't have enough fabric. Maybe i should've done it her way. :)

Just the bottom border to go. After working on the Xmas bom it was then onto my stars. A bit of cutting out required before i could begin. That was time consuming but i did get my 4 stars done.

I chose to use Miss Kate charm packs & Moda 97. I usually throw out the little triangles that are cut off  but i'm following Terry's lead & making mini pinwheels with them.

I can use them as filler blocks in a Bonnie & Camille sampler bee swap i'm in or just make a table runner with them.  Only thing i didn't get to was the blocks for the B & C sampler swap. They are first on the list for next sewing day.

Happy Stitching,

Saturday Sewing

Yesterday i spent most of the day working on Gossips I managed to get the top together minus the borders.

Firstly i finished of the little block by piecing the remaining ones. Here they are with the needle turned ones from the previous post.

The completed block. Next up was the fun of putting the top together. Certain way of doing it but in the end it was all done despite my frustration with it.

Ta Da. the top is now ready for the borders. If it wasn't for the ladies i was sewing along with i don't think i'd ever have started let alone kept going. Thankyou, thankyou for you company & encouragement. Lastly i made a 6" block for an online sampler i joined. All the blocks will be 6".

I needed a rest by them. Back at it today to put together the Xmas bom & hopefully some blocks for a Bonnie & Camille sampler swap & blocks for another sew along i joined. Like i need new projects. lol. :)

Happy Stitching,

FNwF

I did have plans to start early but i had to have my eyes retested because my new glasses didn't seem right. Before i went out though i did get some prep work done. Glad i did because i spent a few hours at the shops then had my GS for a visit for a couple of hours.

I appliqued these down last night. 4 little blocks that are part of the last section of Gossips.

Happy Stitching,

Swap Parcel.

Recently i was reading on a friends blog that a swap parcel was sent off & i was hoping that it would be mine as i knew the sender was in the same swap as me. Little did i know until yesterday that it was to be mine & i was so excited when i brought the parcel inside & saw the senders name.

This is what i had seen & hoped was mine gorgeous fabric & lace to begin with. With careful eagerness i removed the wrapping & was stunned. I even had tears in my eyes.

Peg had made me not 1 but 3 bags for our Pamper swap. They are just so beautiful. Inside i found these goodies.

Yummy chocolates, notepad with pen & soap with handcream. Made my day to be so spoilt. Thankyou ever so much Peg.

& here is my parcel in the pamper swap off on it's merry way to........? Well that reveal is for another day.

Happy Stitching,

A Merry Christmas Garden Bom

Finally have caught myself up with BOM. I've had part 6 for ages but it kept getting pushed aside. Then when i finally had it cut out & ready to sew it still got pushed aside. Hopefully it will be put together this weekend.

Happy Stitching,