Progress and An Award

Next row of hexigons complete ... now I have 30 to make and attach for the next round which will most likely be the last round.

Last week I was awarded the "Liebster Blog Award" by Bev at Kainga Happenings. I love visiting Bev's blog for her beautiful work and her gorgeous garden. Thanks Bev :)

Liebster is German for 'favourite' and this award is given to blogs with 200 or less followers. My part in this is to pass the award onto 5 blogs and let them know they've been given an award. Here are my five but please don't stop there ... check out all the wonderful '1 Xmas Item' bloggers and my list of blogs I like to follow.

Anne from Snail Patches
Beth from Highland Hen
Bec from Living Simply
Marina from Maisie and the Boys
Carol from The Patch Craft

The other requirement is to tell you 5 things about myself .... hmmmmm?

1.  My cat Jayne is sitting beside as I type and every so often places her paw on my leg with a claw out to say 'hey, I'd like some attention please'.

2.  My other cat Fleur is sunning herself at the other end of the room.

3.  I can't start my day without a coffee.

4.  I have perfected the art of 'procrastination' and 'last minute finishes'.

5.  I am a choco-holic.

I won't be offended if anyone prefers not to pass on this award and perhaps if anyone else would like to join in then please consider yourself awarded :)

April Already?

March has passed in a haze and sadly we have no new news on the whereabouts of our dear friend. We remain positive that he will be back with his loved ones soon.

Progress on my March list was almost nil but I did manage the TTS blocks early and my Candle Mat for Christmas is growing slowly. Most will roll over to April and see how it goes.

Month 12 ~ BISS BOM

(Work on 2" squares border)

1 Xmas Item (started)

Tis The Season

Pin Cushion

Work on UFO ~ Horse Quilt (found)

 

 

BISS BOM ~ work on border

TTS ~ next block

1 Xmas Item ~ finish Candle Mat (March)

1 Xmas Item ~ Felt Bell (April)

Quilt hexagon table topper

Pin Cushion

A new book arrived in the mail last week and I look forward to reading this latest "Elm Creek" novel over the school holidays.

My 'Bird of Paradise' is always flowering but I've never had this many spikes all at once so I thought I'd share some colour from my garden. The blur towards the bottom was a butterfly zooming past the lense.

Enjoy your day :)

 

One Xmas Item A Month

This month my intention was to make a candle mat with matching fabrics from my Tis The Season. I got an early start cutting out diamond templates from feezer paper and ironing them onto the material and cut them out ready to join. When I sat down to stitch this week it just didn't go right. I started by using the English paper pieced method but wasn't happy with my points so I decided to hand piece which I haven't done before and eventually when my seams wouldn't meet I did some un-sewing. Then I had an urge to make hexies ... so as not to waste material I worked out I could make 2 x 1/2" hexies from each diamond and so my candle mat has evolved and has grown thus far ....

I'll be popping by to see what all our clever elves have created for their items this month so leave a comment or an email and your lovely pictures will be added to the page above.

Happy Christmas Sewing and remember no stress. If your item didn't get finished this month it can be an early start for April :)

A Sad Time

Small Finishes

This month I seem to be working on the therory of finish the little things first and then move onto the big ones.

This afternoon I put the finishing stitches in block 2 of  'Seasons Of' designed by Dawn for 'Sew It's Finished'.

Last week I finished the first block which was designed by Wendy.

Also this week I finished stitching 2 blocks for Tis The Season and added the sashings. I had started stitching one of them in February and traced the second one last week. I'm stitching along with Susan, Ann-Marie and Sam and 'Here Comes Santa' was our block for March.

'Tis The Season' could be done whenever.

So far I've used 3 of the 4 fabrics and I can't wait till I get to use the 4th which is my favourite.  I've also cut out templates and fabric for some paper piecing to make a start on my 1 Xmas Item ... I love having some handwork to sit with at night.

Happy Stitching



March Goals

With February already a week behind me I'm only just getting around to checking of my list of goals. Some horrible bug had be me feeling miserable for more than a few days but hopefully it's gone now.

 

Surprisingly I was able to cross off everything on my February list and even made a small start on the RD block and another TTS block.

 

Complete Month 11 ~ BISS BOM

Complete brother's quilt

1 Xmas Item

Work on a UFO ~ Calendar Quilt

Tis The Season Block

Find backing fabric and prepare next Red Delicious block

 

My secret is making short lists of things I am fairly sure of achieving and any extras are a bonus. Helps me to keep focused and not get dis-heartened when time runs short.

 

 

Month 12 ~ BISS BOM

(Work on 2" squares border)

 

1 Xmas Item

 

Tis The Season

 

Pin Cushion

 

Work on UFO ~ Horse Quilt

Last month I placed an order for my 2011 Blog Book and it arrived last week ... full of lovely memories. My kids sat down at Christmas and had fun looking through my previous books.

 

I'm off to work on something from my March list.

 

Happy Sewing

A Quiet Welcome to Autumn

frolic-through-life.com

No housework ... so sewing ... lots of sleeping.  Just catching up on some favourite blogs while my nose is taking a break from dripping ... yuk!

One Xmas Item At Last

Phew!
I finally found a moment to put the finishing touches on my 2 Tiny Token Gift Bags from Natalie Ross's "Get Red Red Ready for Christmas".  I'm planning to fill them with goodies and give as a gift at Christmas.

I just had to pop around a few blogs this morning to see what other busy little elves have been up to this month and I look forward to visiting others soon. Open the 1 Xmas Page at the top to view all the wonderful treats being made in preparation for a relaxing Christmas 2012.

Must dash now if I want to squeeze in some more sewing this weekend. The days are racing by and I have sew many things I would love to finish ... sew many more I would like to start ... and a new ball of wool calling out to a new scarf pattern as well as plans to knit socks this winter ... never a dull moment.

Happy Christmas Sewing

Made It to Patchwork Day

Finally after way back in early December last year, I've made it into our little groups' Patchwork Day.
We meet once a month and when January's date rolled around the sky opened up, creeks flooded and I had to stay home.

Monday afternoon our unstable weather produced yet another storm and once more Patchwork Day was looking grim and Tuesday wasn't looking much better. Being positive I packed my sewing things together and my lovely neighbour and I arranged to meet bright and early Wednesday morning all going well (dry) and give it a go.

Hooray!  We made it there and back and enjoyed a beautiful day of sewing, chatting and beautiful show and tell which you can see over at Mt Perry Quilters. 

First I cut 100 x 2" squares ready for a Postage Stamp Quilt and finished sewing them into pairs last night. The other 2 piles of pairs are from swap friends for the 2012 Charm Swap and Challenge.

Then I started blanket stitching on my next Red Delicious block. I had been trying to buy more backing fabric and couldn't match the material so ..... I bought 2 fat 1/4's of ivory and died them. 1 with tea and the other with coffee and the coffee one came out the closest to the original fabric so I'm using that one.

How are your Christmas Items going for this month? Are you like me and hoping you will have a finish for the 25th? If my post is a little late that day you'll know I am still busy stitching and if you finish your item a few days after the 25th that's ok too. Remember there is no pressure here ... just pleasure at the end of the year.

FNSI and a Finish

An enjoyable Friday Night Sew-In stitching away to my heart's content  ... shouldn't take me long to finish Santa's face. (I seem to be the slow and steady variety) This is for my 1 Xmas Item for February and I better get around to sewing it up quick smart.

Thursday afternoon I put the last stitch in the binding on 'Ocean Blue' and attached a very fishy label. A few threads to tidy and it was finished!

I started this one back in July or August 2011 for my brothers' birthday in September 2011 ... ambitions I know but I was able to show him the finished top. Now I can bundle it up and gift it properly this week. This was my second attempt at machine quilting on my Happy Jack frame and I'm very happy with how it turned out ... no bumps in the track this time and the tension behaved but I still have much to learn and plenty of UFO's to practice on.

Hope you get to enjoy a little sewing this weekend.