friday night with friends ~ may 2014

We had a lovely night last night for FNWF at Marg's house, although being the goose I am, I forgot to take my camera.  Photos however are on Sue's blog here.  Sue had a bit of frustrating night with her sewing, otherwise a good night was had by all.  Sadly Tracee could not sew with us last night, but visited for awhile and kept us fortified with supplies to keep our sewing strength up!

During the week I finished my 'homework' block, Carpenters Wheel ~

and we made the Bears Paw block last night ~

I am really happy with how these colours are working, and apart from the occasional frustration following the instructions in the book, am enjoying making these blocks.

Onto block 6 next, a basket block.....

xx

getting organised.....

To my friends that know me well, and even those that don't, sadly it is no secret that for whatever reason, I have really struggled to be organised over the last couple of years.  I could say there are lots of reasons as to why this was, but at the end of the day, I just allowed myself to get very disorganised.

Finally though, I have started to get myself organised once again, slowly cleaning out, tidying and organising as I go.  And it's such a good feeling.

The thing that had become the most disorganised was my sewing and craft stuff, which had all pretty much ended up in rather a jumble in my spare bedroom/sewing room.  Finally I couldn't stand it anymore, and have started working through it all, bit by bit.

Although I still have a ways to go, for the first time in a long time - and being greatly encouraged by joining OPAM this year - I have got all my UFOs together, as well as some projects which I have 'kitted up' with patterns and fabrics, ready to be cut and sewn.

And here it all is, in bags and boxes and ready for me to get stuck in - sewing, crochet, knitting, the whole kit and kaboodle!

Some of them are small projects which will not take much to get them finished, while others are big, long term projects.   There are a couple of 'leaders and enders' projects, and some scrap projects where I have just made a block here and there.

There are also some new projects for swaps and secret sewing for birthdays and Christmas that I need to do (a couple of which have been started), but at least I am becoming so much more organised and it doesn't feel so overwhelming, as it did for such a long time.  In fact, I had got to the point really where it felt like an overwhelming burden and a huge weight on my shoulders, and I wasn't enjoying it.

Which is of course the point, isn't it - to actually
enjoy it and to get a great deal of pleasure and relaxation from doing it.

 
One of the larger projects is a quilt I started in Machine Applique classes I did about two years ago, and I have finally re-enrolled in that class to work on it and get it finished.  I decided to go back to class to do it as I really enjoyed it and the teacher is excellent, I learn so much from her.  The pattern for the quilt is one of her own designs, with both machine applique and machine quilting using a quilt-as-you-go method.

All in all, it feels so good to start having some organisation happening, and feeling like I can just pick up things and start working on them.  It's a feeling I haven't had for awhile.....

friday night with friends 04/10/13.....

Well, I'm a goose.....

We had a lovely Friday Night with Friends get together. Sue and I went to Marg's gorgeous home, but I forgot to take my camera..... 

I worked on the hand quilting of my Halloween project which I am making for a friend in New Zealand, Sue played with her hexies (I think she was just having lots of fun, having finally finished the HUGE quilt repair job she has been doing for an acquaintance which has taken a very, very long time), and Marg worked on her lovely Christmas stitchery project.

It was a lovely evening, and some photos can be found on Sue's blog, here.....

I hope the other participants in FNWF had a lovely night, and everyone else had a great Friday night too.

a perfect sunday morning.....

.... a perfect LAZY Sunday morning ~

tea in my favourite mug

a couple of favourite magazines

some sewing

the sun shining through the curtains

... and Ollie snoozing by my side

perfect.....

how did you spend your Sunday morning ?

Ollie and T xxx

m.i.a.

Yep, I seem to have been missing in action. Not really sure why, only that sometimes life kind of just.... happens. A few things have been worked on -

the cushion for my niece now finished (and she loved it) -

a few more of the windmill blocks -

a new scrap quilt in pinks and greens, just cut into simple squares -

the centre medallion block for the Round Robin challenge -

and some more of my crochet blanket -

I have also been working on an Irish Chain style of quilt, done in mostly William Morris fabrics.  Looking forward to posting piccies of that soon.

'working on' wednesday{5}.....wordless

a farmer's wife, sort of..... and other sewing projects

Finally, I have got back to some sewing. As I am determined to get quite a lot done this year with my quilting, I am trying to 'start as I mean to go on' - to make the time and just do it!

This year's sewing journey has begun by revisiting my French Braid quilt. I had four braids completed, and another two partly done. Turns out I had cut enough pieces to do almost 9 braids, so I got stuck in, cut a few extra, and finished all nine of them.


These will get temporarily put aside now, as I am in a quandary as to what I am going to use for the sashing. I think I'll need to take it to the quilt shop and try a few things out.

I also started a gift for a friend. So far I have this -


These blocks are from a fabric panel from the 'Full Circle' range by Kathy Schmitz. It was quite difficult trying to get it to square up as the printing of each square was quite uneven. Anyway, it's on the list to finish in the next week.

Although the plan for this year is to work on my "12 in '12" list i.e. not start anything new that isn't already ON the list, I have for quite a while wanted to do the Farmer's Wife quilt which has of course been so popular in the blogosphere, so in January I started the blocks for that - although I am sort of doing my own version of it. So, a farmer's wife, sort of. For quick and easy cutting, I have matched up many of the blocks in 'A Farmer's Wife' to blocks in '501 Rotary Cut Quilt Blocks' by Judy Hopkins. For those that are not an exact match, I have found blocks that are very similar, often almost the same.

My progress so far -


Most of the fabrics are 'Maison de Garance' by French General, with a couple of other coordinating fabrics added in. I must admit I am really loving how the blocks are turning out. I want it to be a quilt for the cold weather, and the warm reds and browns are perfect. I am thinking that I may sash it in dark brown, particularly so that the blocks really stand out, but I will see when the time comes.

Another quick project was these placemats for one of my family, made particularly to coordinate with some new furniture they have bought. The fabric is 'Metro Goes Au Naturale' by, I think, Benartex, and the brown colour is from the 'Morris Workshop' range from a couple of years ago. The colours matched perfectly, and they were much appreciated by the recipient. (The colour of the photo looks a bit odd, but was taken at night.)


This weekend I am planning to start a quilt for my niece's birthday in March. A bit of a challenge, as she has drawn me a rough sketch and it has lots of borders to try and fit.... It is going to be in red, white and blue and she described it to me as an 'American style quilt', so the obvious choice is stars and stripes. Hopefully there will be photos to come soon!

'working on' wednesday {4}.....aka 'sunday mini-challenge' {1}

On Sundays at the quilt shop, I work with the lovely Ms Kylie who (along with the lovely Miss Amanda on Saturdays), makes this job so much fun. While Kylie and I were chatting last weekend about sewing in general and fabric we liked for bags in particular, she mentioned a cute and easy bag pattern that she had, and asked if I would like to make one too. As I said I would love to, she came up with the idea of us both making one by the next Sunday; and thus, our 'Sunday Mini-Challenge' was created!

So, here is our bag pattern ::



In this instance we are both using the same fabric, as with the size of material we needed, it was more economical to buy one piece each of the outside and the lining, and cut them in half. We both love this material, so we don't mind it being the same. This is from the gorgeous 'Etchings' range by 3 Sisters for Moda, which we have all been in raptures about in the shop.



The blue print, which is a map of Paris, is for the outside, and the cream cursive script material is the lining.

As this week has all of a sudden become much busier than expected, I had better get my skates on and start making it - it would be rather embarassing to fail on our very first challenge!!

And now it is my turn to pick next week's challenge. Perhaps a cute little pincushion? Or a gorgeous little brooch? Maybe even a little Christmassy something?? We shall see next Sunday!

In the meantime, some progress has been made on my previous 'working on' Wednesday projects - a few more rows of my crocheted blankie done, and another block finished for my applique project.





My little knitted bag is now sewn up and ready to be lined. Kylie asked me what book this pattern came from, so I have included a photo, and the photos in the book of this little bag.



Hopefully there will be some more ta-dahs to show you next week - including my 'Sunday Mini-Challenge' bag!

'working on' wednesday {3}

Today, a little project which has actually been a UFO for some time - five years in fact. FIVE years!!! Which is a little embarassing, as there is not much I need to do to finish it. Truth is, I had forgotten all about until recently!

So, I have moved it on to my list of WIPs and plan to finish it very shortly.

This is (or will be) a little knitted bag, and the pattern is from Emma King's book 'Fun and Funky Knitting'. I love this book; the patterns in it are really cute and most of them are quite easy.



My little bag is the 'Floral' pattern. SUPER easy and quick - so no excuse for it not being finished!



The beautiful floral material is for the lining and I absolutely ADORE this fabric - it was called 'Petals from the Past' by Hoffman, and was out around 5-6 years ago. I only came across it towards the end of it's run, and so only have two small pieces with this green background, and a few small pieces with the white background. It's kind of become one of those fabrics that people refer to as their 'holy' or 'sacred' fabrics - the ones that are soooooo beautiful that you are almost too afraid to cut into them, especially when you can't get any more!



Here's a few more photos of its utterly exquisite gorgeousness ::







On Wednesday nights I go to a sewing group with a few like-minded crafty friends. We get together for a social sit-and-sew, and have been meeting for two years now. It is such a pleasant little interlude during the week - lots of laughs, something yummy to eat and a bit more progress on a project - a perfect night!! It's always a good time to get some hand sewn projects done.

Unfortunately I have not made it to many Wednesday nights lately due to some health problems, but as we now only have about 4 more evenings until we break for Christmas, I am planning to get my little bag sewn up ready to be lined, and make some more progress on my crocheted blankie.

So, photos of my finished bag to come VERY SOON!!

'working on' wednesday {2}

Hello, and welcome to my second 'working on' wednesday post! Today, a little bit of applique.

I saw this pattern in the shop where I work and loved it.



As you can see below, I have been blanket stitching my applique. I would so love to be good at needleturn applique, and always say I will practice on the next block, but then I worry that if I try to needleturn it all, it will never get finished! So, blanket stitch it is, at least for this project.

I have had four blocks that have been finished for a little while now, and I am hoping to start a fifth one this week - maybe the one with the cute little house.


So, with any luck there will be another block to show you before too long!


These blocks are only 7" to start with, and so don't take too long to get through, although the one with all the leaves did take a little longer.


The great thing with small applique projects like this is that you can use up lots of little scraps that might otherwise get thrown away, and I HATE throwing fabric away unless it's so small it isn't useful for anything.


I do love a lot of the Lori Smith patterns. I have one pattern pack which is for nine small quilts all done in pink, cream and brown - 'Cherries, Chocolate and Cream' - and now that I have a nice little collection of pink and brown fabrics, some of these little quilts may be 'on the menu' before too long too.

'working on' wednesday {1}

... in other words, my works in progress that are currently on the go.

I have a few WIPs at the moment, and the progress part seems to be going very slowly! I do find though that my creativity, or at least the actual doing part of my creativity, seems to come in cycles. I find that for a period of time, two or three months usually, that I get really into my craft work (whether or not this means much actually gets finished could be an entirely different matter!) and then I find I do very little for a few weeks. Am I the only one who finds creativity runs like this, or do you find that it happens to you too?

Anyway, here is my first 'working on' wednesday project, a granny-stripe blanket, inspired by the wonderfully talented Lucy at Attic 24. In fact, I had never really learned how to crochet before, but once I started reading Lucy's blog I was inspired to learn and taught myself. This blanket was an early attempt to practice my crochet and I started it in acrylic wool. I wish now I had used pure wool, but I'm sure there is another granny-stripe blanket somewhere in my future which will be wool - and probably in different colours. I do love the colours in this one though for autumn or winter. This one is 3/4 finished, and hopefully will actually be finished in time to be able to use it for next autumn!