an inspiring post - the slow stitching movement.....

I just read this post, found via Pam Buda's 'Heartspun Quilts' blog, and found it really inspiring.

Here is the link if you would like to read it too.....

xx

a lovely weekend.....

A lovely weekend was had here with good friends and some sewing just for fun.

On Saturday, Patch and Quilt here in Gisborne held a book launch for Irene Blanck and her new book 'Focus on Applique', published by Quiltmania.

Last year Irene had an exhibition of her quilts here at Mary's shop, and they are truly exquisite.  You can see some photos here.

Irene's new book is beautiful, with many gorgeous projects within its pages.

Tracee, Marg and I meet up with some of our 'City Girl' friends, Elyte, Marina and Anne, and as always, it was a fun day filled with much laughter.

Elyte, Marg, Irene and Tracee

Tracee, Anne and Marg in deep quilty discussion.....

Hmmmm, is this fabric going to work.....

Three lovely ladies... Elyte, Marina and Irene

Irene ready to sign her books, with Mary and Ashleigh working hard behind.....

We ended up making a day of it, meeting at 10.30 for coffee, then

off to the book signing, then out for lunch.  I really had the most enjoyable and fun day, it was wonderful.

Elyte, Anne, Marina and myself have signed up for a 'Clamshells' class in August with Irene, and I am really looking forward to it.

Some sewing just for fun was also done.  I have been wanting to make some small fabric baskets for awhile now to hold the million and one scraps accumulating around the house, with each basket colour matching the scraps it will hold.  During the week I searched out some patterns, and decided to give this one a go, by Rachel Griffiths of PS I Quilt.  This was obviously quite a small basket, but I made it in its original size to practice the construction, and then played with the size to make a bigger basket. 

Two baskets later.....

I was really happy with these, and they are really quick and easy to make - the qulting of the fabric takes the most time.  You can see that the first one is quite small compared with my rotary cutter. I was really happy with the second one, but I think some more pattern tweaking is in order, to end up with a size about half way between the two.

I really enjoyed making these, and the pattern also has an option for handles, so they also make a cute little gift bag.  More of these little baskets are now definitely on the to do list.

Hope your weekend was as much fun as mine! xx

ouch.....

I love to watch my nephew play basketball, and try to go each week.  Yesterday his Mum had something else on and couldn't take him (for the first time!), so I took him down.  15 minutes into the game, my nephew pulled up in a lot of pain, having rolled his ankle.  All the local doctors had closed by that time, so with lots of icing it overnight, my sister took him to the doctor this morning.

Possibly broken, or severely damaged ligaments.....

Ouch.... x-rays tomorrow, and crutches for the next few days at least.....

Hope you're not in too much pain sweetie.....

two small finishes.....

I finished this mini quilt last weekend ~ it was my second attempt at hand quilting something, and I was happy with how it turned out. This pattern is from 'Prairie Children and Their Quilts' by Kathleen Tracy.  Thank you Tracee for the gorgeous hanger!

Back in May, I joined in with Chookyblue for her 3rd birthday Chookshed party - apologies for being a little late in posting about it (I was internet-less and camera-less for a little while there!).  I spent the birthday weekend working on a birthday gift for my lovely friend Marg - this cushion, a Gail Pan pattern, but with a different stitchery, also a Gail Pan design, appliqued on the front.  The front of this cushion is also hand quilted, but with big stitches.  I did forget to take a photo, so have borrowed this one from Sue.....  I must admit, I was very happy with this bit of sewing!

The cushion and the stitchery are from Gail's book, Patchwork loves Embroidery', which I love.  I have stitched a few designs out of it, all waiting to be made into something soon....

Back in March I went with a few lovely friends to a sewing day with Gail Pan and Ramona Hermann, which was a fantastic day out.  Sue has a great post about it on her blog here.

Back soon!

xx

fnsi results....

I had a lovely night, making some progress on my hexie quilt - another three blocks done, with the hexie flowers sewn onto their backgrounds.

Apologies for the not so great photo ~

My little floral dish did have some chocolates in it....... temporarily lol.....

I hope you had a great night too

xx

fnsi....

It's that lovely time again......

FNSI is on again this Friday evening, where you can join in with lots of other likeminded craftaholics for a fun evening of dedicated sewing/crafting, and perhaps something yummy to eat and drink too.

Hosted by Wendy, head on over here to sign up, and to see what lovely projects your fellow FNSIers are working on.

Thank you once again to the lovely Wendy for hosting this fun night.

Hope to see you there!

xx