In Lockdown .... out of Lockdown ...

hopefully we won't get put back in lockdown again before Christmas.

However, I will be carrying a mask with me whenever I go out ...... just incase I feel uncomfortable about social distancing being a bit difficult to achieve.

Made another one - this time reversible :)

EDITED:   I did try a few patterns out, but settled on the one from Treasurie as it was nice and easy and didn't need any overlocking!  The FREE pattern can be found HERE

Thank you for visiting my blog today - I hope you have a good day - any day doing something you love makes it a good day ;-)

September catch-up

Well, September has been a bit of a 'downer' month for me :(  

not really motivated to anything creative ........

I did finally finish my August blocks for Cherish Do. Good Stitches

It's now in the hands of Australia Post.

Linking up with my WOOFA friends - I may not have done much this month, but they all have :)

Thanks to Cheryll for giving us all a gentle 'nudge' :)

Thank you for visiting my blog today - I hope you have a good day - any day doing something you love makes it a good day ;-)

Catching up with UFO's

Well, well, where is the time going - it's all merging into one continuous Covid-19 blur.

Not too much happening in the sewing room, but I have been working on one project:

Working on my Cross-Stitch - now doing the outlining/backstitch details - it is slow going, but quite satisfying with each section I finish.

I also completed some blocks for Cherish Do.Good Stitches - easy strip sewing LOL 

Well that's it for my WOOFA update :)  see you all next month!

Working on a bit of decluttering, but not ready to share photos yet LOL

Thank you for visiting my blog today - I hope you have a good day - any day doing something you love makes it a good day ;-)

May WOOFA

Well that month disappeared into the blink of an eye!  I did manage to work on a few different things over the month:

Continued with the backstitching on my Cross-Stitch

  

as it stood in 2010

Made another block for the SAQG Mystery Box Quilt

not happy with 2nd block - will reposition colours

Finished another stitchery for the "Love & Hugs from Australia"

I must confess, I am not happy with the marker I have used, it has not washed out as much as I thought it would, so I will experiment with a Frixion Pen for my next one 😙

Hope you are all safe and Covid-19 free 💕

Thank you for visiting my blog today - I hope you have a good day - any day doing something you love makes it a good day ;-)

FNwF & FNSI - May

Well, where did that two weeks go?

The days are just blending into each other and becoming a blur ......

Last Friday I started working on a new project for FNwF -  the SA Quilt Guild introduced a Mystery Quilt Along - I know, I shouldn't start anything new, but I couldn't resist!

I must confess to waiting to see a few photos of the second stage, before I committed - yes, I know what you are thinking, but I was cutting into a Moda layer cake I have had for years, and wanted to be certain LOL

First stage of prep! 

Then we had to pick a box (Letter of alphabet) - I chose C

this is the first set of blocks using the C1 quilt layout 

I have gone scrappy layout, with no two of the same fabrics in each block - with 4 blocks making up a set ...... I think I like it!

So this my belated FNwF report and the current FNSI report. 
Hope you are all well and happy and keeping safe

Thank you for visiting my blog today - I hope you have a good day - any day doing something you love makes it a good day ;-)

April WOOFA

Well, another month of lock-down, with only 1 trip out of the house each week for grocery shopping :)

Working on finishing a cross-stitch started in 199-something - that long ago, I can't remember.  There is only the back-stitching to do, so it is nearly there :)

The fingers got a bit crampy working with the hoop, so I switched to another UFO of hand stitching :)  Working on a Gail Pan design - Little Bird Sewing Set

Finishing off another UFO

Then .......... thanks to my lovely Bloggy/Facebook quilty friends, I discovered a group of Aussie designers have shared some beautiful designs for a stitch-a-long in a Facebook group :)
yeah, I know, I shouldn't really be starting anything new, but I was so inspired by what I saw on my quilty friends' blogs :)

I grabbed the first threads I could lay my hands on - red variegated - and started stitching.  In the end, I had about 4inches of thread left, so I just made it! 

I ransacked my sewing room and found a box containing threads that were received as part of the swap group I used to run called 'Fat Quarter Swap Australia'.  Each month a group of us would swap 2 Fat Quarters and sometimes there were some extra embroidery threads in the pack :)  I didn't do stitcheries back then, but I kept them thinking they might be useful one day LOL.

I have been well and truly bitten by the stitching bug - here is the next stitchery I have started :)

I am not that good a stitcher, but I have enjoyed the slow steady pace of stitching, and as I need to sit at the desk with a magnifier, that means I am not spending time on the computer, which for me, I feel is a much better distraction than reading news stories and facts & figures on Covid-19 :)

you can find the group on Facebook  Love & Hugs from Australia Stitch-A-Long

So all in all, a satisfactory amount of progress on some of my UFOs/PHDs (UnFinished Objects/Projects Half Done) for the month of April.

Thank you Cheryll for WOOFA, and many thanks to the 'Love & Hugs' designers for providing such wonderful designs :)

Thank you for visiting my blog today - I hope you have a good day - any day doing something you love makes it a good day ;-)

FNSI - Friday, 17th April 2020

We are slowly adjusting to this 'stay at home, stay safe' thinking ...😷

So far, I have only been out once this week to do the grocery shopping.  We still hadn't been able to get toilet paper and things would have been quite desperate at the end of this week, but a friend was able to get some and made a quick 'pit stop/drive-by' to drop some on the front door step 😌

I have spent a bit of time in the sewing room, finishing off some 'rainbow stripes' for CHERISH do Good Stitches charity bee - this will have to wait till the next time I am out of the house to be posted.

FNSI (well in the afternoon) was quite enjoyable working on a UFO

... a bit of Port, chocolate and something to keep the hands busy ... what more does a girl need 😉

This cross stitch will count towards my April Woofa Challenge.

I was quite relieved to read that South Australia is doing particularly well with 'flattening the curve' and I do hope that some restrictions can start to be lifted some time during May 💕

Thank you for visiting my blog today - I hope you have a good day - any day doing something you love makes it a good day ;-)

FNwF - April

I spent my Friday Night with Friends in my Sewing Room - well part of the afternoon if I am honest :)

Doing some much needed sorting of scraps - preparing for the next Cherish Do Good Stitches block

I have been sorting scraps, smaller than a Fat Quarter, into baskets.

Thank you for visiting my blog today - I hope you have a good day - any day doing something you love makes it a good day ;-)

March WOOFA ....

.... I have a finish!!!   yay!!!!

I finished my Farmers Wife Quilt - finished at approx 60" square, 61 blocks

I am very pleased with the way it turned out :)  I used a mixed selection of fabrics in tonings & colours that I like :)  Mostly Fat Quarters and most collected over a 12 month period.  The backing heart fabric was a great find at a Market  :)

Quilting was done on a vintage domestic Janome - but there was a casualty :(

Partway through adding the binding, there was a metalic sound, then a sort of a clicking that didn't sound good :(  I opened the bobbin drawer and that little curved piece of metal was lying on the bottom - I don't know where it came from :(  (thanks to the internet, I was able to determine that little sliver of metal has come off the bobbin case - not sure it can be 'fixed' but I have another bobbin case, so I can continue using the Janome :) )

I love the binding, Kansas Troubles by Moda.

Many thanks to the lovely Cheryll for hosting

WOOFA :)
I am newly motivated to get onto the next UFO!

Thank you for visiting my blog today - I hope you have a good day - any day doing something you love makes it a good day ;-)

FNwF yay!!!!

I finally got my act together and did some Friday Night with Friends Sewing :)

I have given up on making my Farmer's Wife quilt a King size quilt - we haven't even bought the new king size bed yet, and it may be a while until that happens.  So ....... I need a new quilt to snuggle under while watching TV, so this is going to be it!

... and because it is a long weekend here in Adelaide, I spent Friday Night doing a bit of 'un-sewing' so that the quilt will now be a 6 x 6 layout, on Saturday I rearranged the setting triangles, then Sunday I added another row ....  wooo hooo !!  progress at last.

Many thanks to Cheryll for the FNwF sign-ups and for the WOOFA challenge - that's one project on my WOOFA list closer to being finished!

And because I was on a roll, I did some 'mindless' piecing and made up a scrappy block

Thank you for visiting my blog today - I hope you have a good day - any day doing something you love makes it a good day ;-)

February WOOFA ........

... is a fail :(

What with various camera club things, 60th birthdays, weddings, family get togethers and my cousin visiting from UK, my time in the sewing room this month was non-existent, other than to iron some clothes LOL

Here is Sue feeding a kangaroo at Cleland Wildlife Park

Here we are, we hadn't seen each other since about 1985 - it was such a short visit and was over before we knew it :(

Thank you for visiting my blog today - I hope you have a good day - any day doing something you love makes it a good day ;-)

January WOOFA ......

Working On Or Finishing A ........  UFO (UnFinished Object)

Here is a summary of what I have been working on this month for WOOFA

Finishing off Quilt tops for Cherish Do. Good Stitches

  

working on making some more churn dash blocks

Cutting preparations ......  for Traffic Jam block for Cynthia's Project Uninterrupted Facebook Group

I am intending to get some more sewing done today, but I guess those finishes will count for February :)

Thank you for visiting my blog today - I hope you have a good day - any day doing something you love makes it a good day ;-)

FNSI ....not going according to plan

I was all set for FNSI, with Wendy , especially being on a roll from my previous sewing session for CHERISH do Good Stitches.

Back in January 2017, I was quilter for the month and my chosen block was a Churn Dash in Black & White.  I was inspired by this photo I saw online

I love the secondary pattern formed when the blocks are joined together without sashing :)

So, on Friday afternoon I prepared for my FNSI session and got out all the Churn Dash blocks received from the 'Cherish circle', pressed them and laid them out.  I noticed that a few of the blocks were a bit undersized (only measuring 12" instead of 12.5") and that stopped me in my tracks :( 

The 4 smaller blocks are on the bottom row, but if I include them, it will be very obvious ...... so ...... I left it on the design wall for the weekend pondering what to do.

One of the Cherish Quilters suggested using sashing, but staggering them so the difference is not quite so obvious and I am toying with that idea, but not completely sold.

I could make it more of a lap quilt with 3x4 layout and use the smaller blocks as part of the backing ....

Will keep you all posted ;)

Thank you for visiting my blog today - I hope you have a good day - any day doing something you love makes it a good day ;-)

Time in the Sewing Room ...

.... equals pure enjoyment

Here is a collection of UFOs for my CHERISH quilting bee.  I have had the blocks for some of these for quite some time.

As part of my WOOFA challenge from the lovely Cheryll of Gone Stitchin' I finally finished the flimsies and got them to a stage ready to baste & quilt.

I only have a domestic sewing machine and I have been putting off quilting these as I knew it would be a difficult task.  However, the lovely most generous members of my quilting circle have offered to finish them off for me. 

4 flimsies - freshly ironed ready for basting & quilting

So these 4 are heading off to be quilted and donated to a deserving charity!

Thank you for visiting my blog today - I hope you have a good day - any day doing something you love makes it a good day ;-)