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.

Routine Out The Window

So much for keeping a routine with storms in the last few days turning my week upside down. Flooded creeks meant I couldn't get to work and had to change work days around ... hubby also had to change plans.

Still managing a little stitching and sewing and I've finished my second block for Tis The Season. Check out my TTS page for block photos.

After watching all the completed quilts being shared on the Stitch-A-Long blog I decided to make this quilt for myself through 2012. Luckily I came across Susan at Thimble Stitch who along with Anne-Marie and Sam are also stitching TTS during 2012 so I asked if I could tag along. It's always so much nicer to stitch along with friends.

The binding is almost finished on the 'ocean' quilt ... I've made a start on my Xmas item for February ... hoping to have a third TTS block completed or atleast started ... one can only try :)

Don't forget this Friday Night is Sew-In time! Sign up with Heidi and settle in for a sewing good time.

Some Sewing Progress

As I try to get into a new routine the desire to sew has been somewhat lacking and the heat doesn't help!

Finally I turned the machine on and joined the last 2 blocks of the 'Because I Said So' BOM. I'm guessing that this month being the last will contain the border fabrics and I can start joining all the blocks together. It was easier to leave them as blocks for storage.

Tuesday evening I dug out the pieces of my 'Calendar Quilt' which was sewn through 2009...my designated UFO to make progress on this month. The last 4 months needed the name embroidered and the last 3 months required joining. I have the sashing fabric reading for cutting ... just deciding which width to go with. The strips are 10" wide and 92" long so it's already very long and narrow. I thought maybe 6" sashing between the strips and a 3" border all the way round would give the quilt a finish of 64" x 98"? Your ideas on strip width would be most appreciated. I'm sure there's some rule of ratio out there that would help.

I've also started the embroidery on my next TTS block and the quilting on my brother's quilt is done! Just need to sew the binding on except the power went off this morning and has not long come back on so that's next on my agenda today.

We've also been receiving lots of rain .. the gardens and lawn have gone crazy and wouldn't you know the mower broke down. Lucky I took this photo before a recent storm because the heavy rain has knocked most of the blossoms off since.

Binding time ... Happy Sewing

A New Month Already?

Not much spare time at the moment now that I'm back to work so I'm thinking my list of goals will shorten and maybe I'll achieve some extras now and then. I almost tackled January's list so here's a wrap up.

Month 10 ~ BISS BOM

Complete ‘Stitching Around the Block'

Work on Queen Bed Quilt ~ UFO

Quilt and bind Brothers’ Quilt – (quilting half done)

Prepare next Red Delicious block - (need to purchase more backing fabric)

1 Xmas Item – 3 Plum Puddings

Find fabric for ‘Calendar Quilt’ sashings

Here's a couple of extras I managed while the tennis was on.

First block for 'Tis The Season'

Finished stitching month 11 of BISS BOM

Completed BAS (Tax)

and now onto ........

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

Now I'm off to put the next load of washing in and do my floors so that I can squeeze in some sewing this afternoon ... also need to trace another embroidery ready for some night time stitching.

Happy February

Sewing In The Rain

I can't remember the last time the sun was out ... meanwhile the whistler ducks are having an absolute ball.

I've been making good use of time spent indoors and watching the tennis by ... sewing of course. Wednesday and Thursday I worked on these completing my first block for 'Tis The Season'.

Friday was a trip to town so yesterday I finally bit the bullet, pulled out the stapler and finished of my 'Stitching Round the Block'. I've gently stretched it over an artist's canvas after adding the pink border.

When Helen of Hugs 'n Kisses introduced this project, 4 gals in our patchwork group decided we'd join in and swap once a month at our patchwork day.  December 2010 was our first swap and we all received our original piece back about the middle of 2011 after some time restraints cropped up.

Back in early January I was a lucky Daisy Button Winner thanks to lovely Fiona of BubzRugz. As soon as my kit arrived in the mail I got to tracing and stitching and made this sweet daisy which now adorns my hat that I wear on playground duty at school.

The purple ribbon was wrapped around my prize gift from December OPAM. There'sjust time to sign up for OPAM 2012 if you're still considering it. Pop over to Kris at Tag Along Teddies or Peg at Happy In Quilting for sign-ups but be quick.

Now I need to stop putting it off and start the quilting on my next quilt before it becomes a UFO.

One Xmas Item for January

A very wet good morning from my corner of the world. The rain is pouring down and causing havoc in many areas. Today is our group's first patchwork day for the year BUT .... I can't get out .... major disappointment! I'll just have to console myself with sewing and perhaps some chocolate will help.

Today is also the 25th so it's time to share those Christmas Items before they go into safe storage ready for Decemember 2012. I had these little sweeties on my 'to do' list last year but they didn't happen so I knew exactly what I wanted to make for January. More will be added through the year.

"Get Red Red Ready for Christmas" by Natalie Ross

So come on elves ... share your goodies on your blog and I'll add photos to the Xmas Page here on my blog. And remember if time was against you this month (I only finished my last one last night) there's no pressure, perhaps you'll find time for February.

Happy Sewing

No Sew Zone

I'm afraid that FNSI just didn't happen for me and I so wanted to start on my next stitchery. After 2 days of refresher courses for work, my brain was exhausted and my eyes ached so thought it best to rest up. Yesterday wasn't much better with a nagging headache behind my eyes all day but I did manage to cut some 2" squares ready for the Postage Stamp Charm Swap.  Now today I've somehow managed to pull a muscle in my right shoulder which is restricting movement ... me thinks my body could be asking for a day of rest.

sleep4health.com.au

Has everyone found some time to work on their first 1 Xmas Item? ... the 25th isn't very far away now. I have 1 small project done and another 2 half made so hopefully I can manage to finish them off ready to share. Looking forward to some blog hopping to see what goodies have been created this month. Remember there's no stess here ... if you didn't have time this month then there's always the next.

Happy Sewing

A Happening Place

There is so much happening in blogland at the moment, my mind is spinning and I would so love to say YES to everything.
Here are just a couple of Happenings you might like to check out.

Enjoy browsing.