This and That

Yes I know it's about time I blogged - should try harder.  Been doing lots of stitching but have had no motivation to get on my computer and post.  This may be a long one - you have been warned......

I won't show you everything I've been doing - will save a bit for again.  But for now here goes

You may remember these

leftovers from a quilt top I made several years ago.

They turned into these

Which eventually ended up as this.

And a close-up.

There is a bit of a funny story about this.  My Mum had asked me to make a quilt for a Christmas gift for my Dad's sister and her husband,  I asked what sort of design and colours etc and Mum left it to me - the only info I got was that her living room ( as this is sofa size ) was quite neutral with creams, tans, browns etc.  So I got making this.  When finished I took it to Mum and she liked it so much she didn't want to give it away so ended up buying it for herself and getting my Auntie something else - lol !  Love it...

It was snowing the day we took it to Mums and I got a very rare snap of  DD Jess ( too cold to take her hat off ).

I have another couple of finishes for last year but have just realised I have no good photos of them yet.  Will do that next time.

Seeing as it is a New Year and all my UFO's are done ( lololol - I wish !!! ) Don't even want to count them.  Anyway when I saw this Quilt-a-long I knew I would have to join in.  I decided to try and tempt Karol-Ann into it and although she put up a token amount of resistence she quickly joined in.  Go see her lovely blocks.

Instead of going with my normal scrappy I decided to have a colour scheme going on with this and was inspired by a small bundle of FQ's I bought last year.  I am picking colours out from this fabric.

I have also had fun going through my stash and seeing what else "goes with "

Here are two

And two more with background fabric added.

I went to Abakhan Fabrics and bought a great piece of pale mustardy yellow to use as background but when it came down to it - it just seemed a bit flat.  I was just sorting through my neutrals to see what else I could use and this pinky/bluey mottled stuff was in the wrong drawer.  I took it out to put back with the pinks and just quickly placed a block next to it and whaddya know - a winner - lol !!

Last night I got a bit more prep done

should be good for the weekend.

I have had a lot of headaches this week so once I come off here I'm going to have a nice cup of tea and do some relaxing hand-sewing.  Should be filing our Tax Returns really but not much fun in that is there ?

Yesterday was so wet and dark that I decided I needed to brighten up my day a little and knocked up a couple of these - rainbow pincushions.

I did the ROYGBIV thing but needed 1 more colour to make up the 8 segments so added the pink.  These are BIG - about 7 inches across as that is just what I wanted.  Later tonight I will probably sort out my pins - flower head - applique - glass head etc and put them all in the different sections - yes I am that sad - haha ! Will be nice to have them all in one place.  I will give one to my friend on Tuesday at our sewing group.


Just one more photo for you cat-lovers.  A rare snap of all three of my babies altogether.  They all get on fine but tend to like their own space so I love this photo.

Have a nice weekend everyone xx

A quilt for Isla

My friend Bren is raffling a beautiful quilt in aid of this young lady.

Please go to quiltforisla.blogspot.com to read all about it and see if you would like to help.

Back soon xxx

SSCS 2011

For whatever reason I have been unable to access my blog for a few days ( I think DH has been fiddling with settings on our server though he is admitting nothing - lol )

So I have been unable to show my bounty from Chookyblues annual swap.  Don't worry though I sent a thankyou email on Boxing Day to my partner Deb for my wonderful goodies.  Here's what I received

All I can say is - how fantastic !!  Such lovely items - gorgeous fabrics and beautifully stitched.  I feel very lucky indeed. 

Close-up of  " Mary " - even down to the little painted shoes.

Was well worth waiting til Christmas Day for... Thanks Deb xxx

And here's what I sent to my partner Tracey

Machine pieced and hand quilted Mini.

Scrappy zipped bag and hand knitted welsh wool hat.

Little felt tree ornament.

What a great swap yet again.  Many thanks to Chooky - she is taking some well-deserved time off to herself just now and who can blame her - can you imagine how many hours she has put into organising this ?

I was going to end the year by listing my UFO's but that was too much like hard work.  For now I am simply saying I will NOT start anything in January and work on some of my many WIP's.  I just could not resist joining in with the quilt-a-long on Jeanne's blog. I do not plan on making one a day though as I know I will never keep that up so will probably just stop when I've had enough.  I am making mine a bit bigger too - 5 inches.  I have re-drafted the block and made plastic templates and have been going through my scraps tracing out the little pieces.  I have quite a few ready to go.  Was a bit naughty and stitched one up just to test it out.  Which was a good thing as I had stitched the door unit and window units together wrongly - silly me.  Have re-done this now...

so technically as this block is done the project is now officially not a January start - haha - have I convinced you ?

Have a very Happy New Year folks and look forward to seeing what crafty goodness 2012 brings !!!

A lovely package

Hurray - my SSCS parcel arrived a few days ago ( been meaning to post but my DH has "man-flu" and we all know how that goes - lol ).

The main present is tucked away safely for Christmas Day but I was allowed to open this

A cute gift in itself.  Inside was this very sweet little bag.

What a beauty - lovely, lovely, lovely !!

I am debating whether to snoop around Chooky's blog to see who my partner is but I think I will wait and see til I am allowed to open the card that came with the gift.

Thanks mystery partner - I look forward to opening my pressie - not long now.....

The best laid plans...

Now my SSCS is off on it's long journey ( 3 days before the deadline I'll have you know - lol ) I cast my eyes around my sewing area in search of something to do. Remember those half square triangles from last but one post ?

I have been working on those and decided to make 35 blocks for a 5 by 7 setting.  I did not have enough little units for these so have spent quite a bit of time making more.  Added some side strips and here are 2 blocks.

Was going great guns when I realised I had mis-calculated and only made 34 blocks.  Decided to call it a day and make the last block the next morning before sewing them altogether. However next morning I was checking my blog list and came across this tutorial....What fun this looked - haha

Casting my mind around I remembered a pile of fabrics I had put together when I was unable to sew due to my back injury.  These were all fabrics that I loved but would they actually go together ?  I think my painkillers were at work when I put these together in a basket as there was quite a lot of clashing - lol !  Oh well - I would either love it or hate it and so off I went.

I have spent a very enjoyable Saturday afternoon making my blocks and have 12 all ready to go.  Funny thing - I showed Jason a few together and his very words were " It's a bit busy love "  haha - great fun this quilting business.

See you soon xx

IF . . .

If I were a more organised person....


If I didn't leave things until last minute...


If I didn't change my mind at the drop of a hat....


...... I would now be busy cutting and sewing quarter square little-bitty blocks for Bonnies new mystery quilt - Orca Bay...


Instead I am stitching my fingers to the bone finishing my SSCS gifts for my partner.  I can hear Chooky cracking her whip.  I have never been late for a swap before and don't intend to start now.  I'm sooo nearly there....just a bit more to go and then - the mystery beckons - lol !!


Hope you all have a nice weekend.  Any more SSCS participants doing the last minute thing ??

A special quilt.

Here is some of my secret sewing which a secret no more.  Let me show you what I used some of my precious stash of Bliss fabric for.

I have been blogging for 6 years or so and in that time have made lots of wonderful friendships - they may be with people I have yet to meet - someday - but are none the less special for that.  One of these has been with Karol-Ann and over the years we have swapped many emails along with fabric, gifts for each other and our children and so on.  We have nearly got to meet several times but not quite managed it - I'm sure we'll get there in the end - lol !  Anyway Karol-Ann was recently very clever and gave birth to a beautiful baby girl ( actually on my birthday ) and so I wanted to make a quilt for her.  Karol-Ann and I both share a love of hexagons ( her rose hexagon quilt is stunning ) and so it was the obvious choice.  Here it is

and a close-up.

Hand and machine pieced and mainly hand quilted - the border was machine quilted though as I ran out of time and we all know babies wait for no-one !! 

I had the most lovely thankyou email which I have saved.  Karol-Ann has posted pictures on her blog of the little lady herself wrapped in my quilt which made it all worthwhile.  What a little beauty she is - bless.

More secret sewing has been going on but this I can't reveal yet as it it for my SSCS - almost done which is a good thing as mailing time is almost here.

My latest project is going to involve a bag of leftover half square triangles which yesterday looked like this

stay tuned for this - I have a plan.

And also today I bumped into my oldest friend ( we met on the first day of school when we were 4 years old )  She had a baby girl last year - also coincidentally born on my birthday - whose name is Charlotte.  She was born when my back pain was really bad and so I never got around to making her anything.  Obviously that will have to be rectified too - best get busy.

Take care xx