Mending, Making, Baking and More Scrap Play

 Mending (Ugh)  -  well, not mending as such but along those lines. Hubby needed new shorts but can never find short legged shorts to buy so ... measure ... cut ... hem!

Making - with those out of the way, or maybe in between shorts (there were 5 pairs), I cut out fabric for 2 more Bondi tops.  I had purchased the blue specifically to make into a top and found the cat fabric in my stash ... fairly quick to make up and very comfy.

Baking - I've gone back to baking my own sourdough bread ... trial and error for the first 2 loaves (I'm a bit rusty) but they've been edible. My starter was in the fridge for a few days, out now and 'fed' so I'll see tomorrow how it goes for the next loaf.

Scrap Play -  it's so satisfying watching my containers of small strips diminish as my stack of 6.5" blocks grows.  First some green log cabins ...

Then out came the blue candy ... just playing around with scrap sizes and layouts and making them up to 6.5" blocks ... might try some half square triangles next, maybe some 9 patch ... I'll see. 

It's just nice to fiddle about with no expectation.

Now I've run out of days for February Chookshed Challenge ... today's the day my cards come out to play.

Whatever the Weather

Plugging away each month to keep my Temperature Quilt up to date. January to June 2023

Now I have July, August, September completed.

This next quilt top was a "spur of the moment" so to speak. I lovely gentleman gifted a few boxes of his wife's quilting "stuff" to our little group, as she was no longer able to be sewing. After sorting all the fabrics, my best friend and I decided to make 'Scrappy' Quilts using the smaller scraps. Now there are 5 of us making 'Scrappy'. I just need to put a white 2" border and my top is complete.

Maybe I'll go and make a start on the month of October for the Temperature Quilt.

 

Up, Down and Round About

Hubby and I enjoyed a lovely visit with DS, DIL and GS last Sunday. He's blossoming after his early arrival and they make such a gorgeous little family.  Lots of cuddle time too!

Monday was Patchwork day for our little group so I finally packed the sewing machine up and took it in with me to continue with the border blocks on the scrappy quilt from the workshop. Usually I do handwork because it's less to pack and unpack.

Yesterday I made the trip into town, picked up Mum and went to view all the stunning quilts at the Bundaberg Quilters Biannual Quilt Exhibition. A lovely morning out ... caught up with some of the other girls from our Patchwork group ... yummy lunch and of course a purchase or two from the great stalls.

Found the perfect fabric for the backing of Little Maccas Farm quilt for bubby and a couple of reels of thread. This little light will clip nicely onto my embroidery hoop and the sweet tins are just because.

During the week I'm driving over rough dirt roads to and from town work or helping hubby on the property. We're back feeding cows again as the little bit of grass quickly disappears. Poor things ... when they hear the tractor at the shed, they start making their way across the paddock and up the lane to meet it. You can hear them calling to each other ... "he's coming, he's coming".  Then this morning I didn't even finish filling the kitchen sink to do the breakfast dishes when the water stopped flowing ... empty rainwater tank! Lucky we have another tank on the car shed with some water but how long will it last?

To top it off I had to walk 2 km home this afternoon ... hubby's vehicle wouldn't start when we were working up the paddock so I needed to take my car back up to jump start it. Just glad we weren't right over in the back corner and kept thinking of the positive side ... all the calories I was burning.

Well it's time for some dinner followed by some more blanket stitching and then time for some zzzzzzzz's ready for whatever the new week will bring.

Keep the needle threaded and keep smiling.     >^..^<

Polishing the Sled

Oh what a month! Here it is the 25th already and I haven't posted since the 1st ... have managed to visit a couple of blogs but my unread counter is through the roof.

A little knitting or embroidery at night is all I've had time for this month and luckily I got in early with my 1 Xmas Item.  After knitting both 'Love' and 'Joy' washcloths I thought I could draft one with DD's name and I'm pretty happy with the result. Another for August is also drafted ready and waiting :)

Time once more to visit all my fellow elves' workshops and share their Christmas delights on our 1 Xmas Item page. Hope your stash of goodies is growing and you're looking forward to displaying or giftwrapping when December arrives. Thankyou for joining me in this merry little venture.

It's never too late to make a start so if you haven't had the time yet then perhaps August will be your month.

My other finish early this month was .... another scarf. This particular ball of yarn was purchased last year so does this make it a UFO finish?

I've had a couple of goes trying to get some 2" postage charm squares cut for the next swap ... this is just over half.

Last Wednesday I spent a beautiful day out with 2 lovely friends at a quilt show and these 3 fat 1/4's begged me to buy them.

May the sun shine for you today.

Final May Finishes

Rainy day plus sewing machine makes a perfect match ... not so great for taking photos indoors. I completed the stitching on the 'Seasons Of' block last night and this morning was able to add the borders to finish off. Thanks Wendy and Dawn ... they're such sweet little blocks.

Next I worked on the 2nd bundle of 100 x 2" charms from the first Postage Stamp Charm Swap. As I sew each set together I have another bundle of squares on hand to act as leaders and enders so that I can chain sew and not mess up my layout. Not only did I get the 100 block finished, I also managed to join the next bundle into pairs. I love how all those random fabrics come together in the end.

I seem to be in a knitting mood at the moment and finally made a start on a sock!  Photos when I have a little more progress to share but I will say that after the 3rd start (pulled it out twice) I am learning heaps.

Here is how my list of May goals went.

BISS BOM ~ I'll get there eventually :)

TTS ~ Chilly Penguin

1 Xmas Item ~ Knitted Wash Cloth

Work on a UFO

Cut Fabric ready for workshop

(I have sorted the fabric into main, contrast & background)

Label my hexie Table Topper

Finish current UFO Scarf

Happy Sewing, Knitting, Creating

1 Xmas Item and Scraps

Phew!  Just squeezing in between getting home from work and having dinner which is in the oven as I type. Hot off the knitting needles (finished last night while watching "Grays Anatomy") is my first knitted dishcloth ... 'Love'.

My first non-scarf finish and I had to learn how to un-knit and un-pearl when I skipped a row as it would have thrown the pattern out.  In the beginning I was doing something wrong and pulled the first 1/3 out because it just wasn't looking right. So out came my handcraft encyclopedia for a quick refresher on the purl stitch ... much happier with the second try.

Tomorrow I'll pop round and visit all the happy little elves to see what you've been creating this month. Remember your Christmas Items can be for yourself to use or a gift to be given and if you ran out of time this month ... there's always next month ... no stress here :)

Yesterday I even managed to turn the sewing machine on and do some sewing ... 100 little charm squares all into a block. These were the first set I received in the first swap (February?) and I have one more set before I can start on the 3 sets I received in this month's swap. Amazing how they all come together.

The rain has been falling softly all day so looks like it could be perfect for staying indoors over the weekend and sewing till my hearts content. Hope everyone can squeeze in a little or a lot of sewing too!