August Wrap ~ September Challenge

 One leaf and one row was all it took to wrap up for August. First is my Temperature Tree up to date ... time to get that September branch finished and ready for some leaves.

Second finish was my "Granny Ripple" Crochet Rug. I mentioned last post that I ran out of white for the last row ... my friends white was stark against mine so I ended up finishing with my off white ... Shhh! No one will notice.  This rug was also #5 for the Chookshed Challenge so I can tick that one off. I was using leftover wool from a previous rug and only purchased the pinky colour.

Now onto September's Challenge #3 ... I have a confession to make on my "Happy Houses" blocks ... I still haven't found them. This might have to be the month I turn my sewing stashes upside down and inside out and if the blocks don't turn up, I'll have to write them off!

For now I'll keep working on #9 "Strips and Curves" and hopefully get it into a completed top ... I made some progress yesterday on piecing the blocks ... using lots of pins and sewing slowly on those curved seams.

One more crochet rug to finish and then that will be that for working with wool ... I just can't manage it once the weather warms up so I'll be back to stitching Sashiko blocks in the evenings.

Pop over to Deana's and you can follow what fellow Chookshed Stitchers have been working on.

Um ... Slow March, FNWF and April Challenge

 After riding the mojo wave in January/February, March went flat! ...

 I couldn't find the Sashiko panel that I had only just photographed for Chookshed Challenge ... got a sinus infection that hung on for over 2 weeks ... 

Bought a Sashiko Panel at the Childers Quilt Show so I eventually put needle and thread to work ...

I'll continue on this at night and will be my FNWF project this Friday.

Couple of items I did manage to finish were the Feb and Mar blocks for the Murder Mystery Quilt. Soooo many pieces of FPP in the Lama but I'm happy with how it turned out and the sun block also used FPP.

Did a catchup of some leaves on the March branch of Temperature Tree.

End of March saw a lot of visitors and trips into town for one thing and another including special "0" birthday lunches. I can't complain about all this wet weather even though it creates headaches for us here on our property ... nothing compared to the devastation unfolding out in Central and Western Queensland.

Ooops ... before heading off I just remembers it's a new month and a new Chookshed Challenge Number ... #4 is completing the top for 2023 Temperature Quilt

So I need to go make a cuppa and then hit the bookwork first, so I can spend some time today playing with my new sewing machine that I picked up last Friday for my birthday.

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.

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.