Hearts and Scrap Play

 Little 'Cuddle Hearts' have been posted. My dear friend has also been through her stash and has several sets ready to post.

I've had scrap play vibes so my time in the van has been spent colour sorting pre-cut candy strips Along with the 4 purples, I now have 3 each of yellow, cream and browns with 6 blues...green next. No plan yet for the blocks but I've managed to make a good dent in the containers.

Scrolling good old Facebook, I spied a colour wash quilt made from 3.5" blocks sooooo....

 It's called "Colour Wash Quilt Challenge" by Terry Rowland on Youtube. They make great leader/enders while sewing other projects. No time frame on these, I'll just keep making and storing until one day.

2025 Temperature Tree has progressed with some February leaves now.

Last Thursday I had a lovely invite to Grandson J's school for Student Investiture. J is a very proud House Captain and his best mate is School Captain ... last year of Primary School, oh my!

We've been fortunate to enjoy some beautiful rains so far this year and it's so lovely to see all the green ggrassin the paddocks and in the cattle yards ... although mowing around the house is never ending but we won't complain too much about that.

Time to squeeze in some bookwork to keep up to date ... doesn't mean I can't have a second screen open and multi-task with a little blog hopping.

FNWF Wrap, Hearts and Red Play

Fellow Bloggers and Facebook are giving me so many ideas to use my Quilt Candy but not how to fit more hours into the day.

My Friday night began with Hearts...some of you may have seen on FB, Mater Mothers put a call out for volunteers to sew 'Cuddle Hearts' for the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. I found a sweet piece of flannelette, printed the template and just need to tie off some top stitch threads (photo when they're finished).

A little bit of cross stitching to finish off the evening and I have a branch ready for some February leaves.

One of the ideas floating around in my head was 6.5" log cabin blocks using my candy strips ... some sewing yesterday and today ... I have 9 completed red blocks and strips for 4 purple picked out ready to sew.

Sticking to one colour was the tricky party. I have so many strips in various sizes but it wasn't as easy as I thought it would be to find enough of one colour. I foresee some very 'scrappy' blocks in my future.

FNWF and Another UFO

 Tonight's the Night ... joining in with Cheryll and Friends for .... I think I see some cross stitch happening ...

Another UFO becomes a completed top and another container leaves the stash (I've actually repurposed it for one of the Mystery projects)

This one goes back to Feb 2012 ... "Seasons Of BOM" designed by Wendy of 'Sugarlane Quilts' and Dawn of 'Sweet as Cinnamon'. I had completed 6 of the 12 stitcheries and sashed with 2.5" squares so after a dive in the stash I found the blue and hey presto!

The blue is looking darker than it really is.

Another wall hanger top to quilt.

Chookshed Challenge and a UFO

 How lucky am I?  In January I swapped my number #6 for item #10 so that I could have some little embroideries done for when it came time to mark cards.

Hey presto and February's number is #10 so I get to switch back for item #6 and make cards. As well as popping those little cross stitches into cards, I plan to make a few other flowery cards with my Stampin Up bits and pieces.

My sewing 'stuff' is spread between 2 spare bedrooms and the 'craftavan' so I've been busy trying to sort, rearrange, condense etc etc and get down to the van and 1 spare bedroom. Some bits and pieces I'm taking straight to the van to be dealt with ... enter a UFO!

Tucked away in a take-away container were the completed embroidery 4.5" squares, 4 sewn strips and lots of various strips of fabrics. Scrolling back through my blog, I first mention this project in March 2011. It was called "Home Sweet Home BOM" by Paula ... unfortunately when I click on the links they no longer work.

So using the strips in the container along with 1 or 2 strips from stash ... this is what I came up with and now have a completed wall hanger top. I've even managed to remove 1 set of small shelves from one room and open up a little bit more space for when Mum visits ... winning.

Chookshed Challenge and January Wrap

 Last day of January so let's wrap things up.

My Chookshed Challenge #6 I swapped with #10 and grabbed some small kits from a stash draw.  End result was 2 small cross stitches complete and 2 more repurposed ... I added the threads to my thread stash, needle to the needle stash and the 2 small squares of Aida can go in my sewing basket ready for grab and go project.

I'm loving the Temperature Tree Cross Stitch project and only have today's leaf to go for January ... then I'll move on to another branch ready for February.

For the last week of school holidays we entertained our daughter's 2 boys which meant they came to my patchwork day with me. I have squares of calico to put in a hoop, needles and threads and they create their own embroidery. We also walked down to the local shop to grab some chicken and chips for a picnic lunch in the park and luckily there is a great climbing tree close by as well. Perfect for 2 little monkeys to expel some energy ... 

Goodness ... is it really a new month tomorrow? Can't wait to see which number comes up for our challenge and also the 2nd block for the Murder Mystery Quilt.

FNSI January Wrap

 Yesterday I got a bit of a head start on FNSI by completing the first block for MMQ. Then I moved onto cutting some more Quilt Candy from scraps ... I have several containers of candy ranging from 12.5"sq down to 1.5"sq and then 1.5" strips in various lengths.  Here are a few of the smaller containers.

Last night I finally got to sit down with my Temperature Tree and finished the January branch before adding 2 leaves.  Add in that I also hung out washing and a couple other little jobs that needed attention...so this morning I was able to add more leaves up to the 16th.

2nd week saw a few HOT days. I'm going to really enjoy this project!

One more week of school holidays here and I have 2 more grandsons coming for sleepovers so I'm off to the craftavan to make more candy while it's quiet.

FNSI and 2 Mysteries

I will be joining with Wendy and friends for some Friday Night sewing and decided to get a headstart with a little bit of prep and sewing today.

This year I've signed up for another Murder Mystery Quilt and am off to Machu Picchu... thanks to some morning sewing, block #1 is now complete.

Best place on a hot day is in my craftavan with the aircon so I've also been cutting scraps into 1.5" squares for my 2nd Mystery Quilt.  This one is a Scrappy Mystery using 2 colour ways so I've chosen blue and yellow. Instructions so far call for 9 patches and half square triangles.

Now and then I go through my scraps and cut them into varying sizes ready for that "one day" project. I heard the perfect term for these precuts ... Quilt Candy!

So now it's back to making more candy perhaps ... oh and I almost forgot ... tonight for FNSI I'll be working on my Temperature Tree.

Challenge #6 and More

 Working on my Challenge #6 ... I need to make an appointment with my Optometrist.  #6 swapped with #10 and I've finished two small cross stitches, the rose one being on 18 count Aida which really put my eyes to the test.

I decided that 2 Temperature Quilts were enough but I still liked the idea of a Temperature project ... then I saw a post on Susan's blog and ...

While my tree has grown a smidge more to the 1st branch ... I've had a houseful with our son and 2 grandsons to help with cattle work ... sewing etc is on hold.

A new year always brings new ideas and  temptations and I have 2 more projects kicking off. I'll share more on those later.

I'll leave you with a photo of our smallest ringer busy at work ... bed is calling.

New Year ... New Challenge

 

Have you heard the saying "What you do on New Year's Day ... you do all year"?  Well ... I sewed!

I added the last 3 days of December to Row 9 of 2024 Temperature Quilt. Monday I appliqued "2024" to the top left corner and yesterday joined the last couple of horizontal seams. Now the bottom right piece needs location name which I've decided to hand embroider.

Chookshed Challenge #6

My number 6 project is Card Making, however my number 10 is small embroidery kits which I thought I could incorporate into my cards. I have allowed myself to switch #6 and #10 so I'll be working on the embroideries instead and have chosen this little rose.

My last finish for 2024 was a Diamond Dot Art I began when I was resting up with a sprained ankle. It's been finished for a few weeks and was awaiting a frame. Initially I thought this would be my first and last but now that it's done I reckon I could do another.

Tonight I have begun the Temp Quilt embroidery while watching TV and listening to the rain on the roof.

Chookshed Challenge 2025

 

Thank you ladies for once again leading the Challenge for 2025.  I am always so much more motivated to achieve when in a group or challenge. I've been working on my list today and unlike last year ... I should find the projects before adding them to my list ... rooky error!

#1.  Fishpond Quilt  ~  Quilt and Bind

#2.  Sashiko  ~  I have a printed panel and thread purchased from ??? Quilt Show

#3.  Happy Houses or ???  ~  I still haven't found the HH blocks so I will continue to look. If that fails then I will choose another UFO

#4.  Strips n Curves Quilt  ~  (Couldn't find it last year either)  I did find this one by accident only this month.

#5.  2023 Temperature Quilt  ~  Hasn't changed since January this year. I'll decide if it needs a sashing before the Flying Geese Temperature Key.

#6.  Card Making  ~  I have Stampin Up gadgets and materials and need to use it more! These are my Xmas Cards made at the December lesson.

#7.  Iron Bag  ~  I had all the materials ready and just didn't get "around2it".

#8.  King Bed Quilt  ~  One of those projects that just needs to be prodded along!

#9.  Crochet Rugs  ~  I have the 'Granny Ripple' started but the weather just got too hot. Then I also have the pattern for the 'Cat Rug' I'd like to do this Winter.

#10. Embroidery Kits  ~  I have several small kits that can be done and placed into the cards I make. (So I possibly may have to switch #6 and #10 depending on which is drawn first)

Happy Finishes in 2025