I'll check back in ...

This has been a busy week, and right now I'm babysitting sweet little Mary. I haven't had a chance to look over what I've been working on to share with you, but I took a quick snap of a couple of things on my sewing table:

I've prepped almost all the shapes I need for the last two borders of Lily Rosenberry. I'll make up the corner swag pieces tomorrow, and see if I need any more of the red flowers. I know I have all the yellow centres that I need - and I possibly still need some more little red berries. Those berries are relentless!

Also pictured, I'm trying out one of the felt ornaments from the Twelve Days of Christmas series by mmmCrafts. They looked like so much fun that I just couldn't resist. My embroidery skills aren't great, so I feel like these will give me some much needed practice.

That's all I have for you at this moment, but I'm going to leave you with a promise that I'll check back in before this weekend is over. Chatter soon! xox

Helllooo!

Well hello there my friends, it's Friday! I'm not sure where the week went, but here we are. It's been a good one for sure, and I hope you had a good week too.

I've been busy prepping more applique shapes:

Earlier I said that I'd like to have the Lily Rosenberry quilt top finished by the end of the year. But I've upped the ante and declared that I'd like to have it finished by the end of November. I've checked in with my loveliest of lovely friends Lizzy that she'll be able to longarm baste it for me, and now I'm determined that I'll have it done by then. Fingers and toes crossed for a stress free month!

And to spend a little time with Bernie, I decided to catch up on a few of my sadly neglected Moda Blockheads 4 blocks:

Block 27 - Threaded

Bonus block 8 - Sweet Treats (one of the bonus blocks)

Block 21 - Shiny Bauble

For those of you that are familiar with the Blockheads 4 project, you may notice that my block 21 doesn't look like the original. I altered the part of the block where my red fabrics are - my OCD self didn't like the different angles in the original block - I had to redraft mine so that my eyes weren't immediately drawn to that block. It's a thing with me.

And I must have had a few spare moments, because I added some more mmmCrafts wooden heads to my Etsy store:

I genuinely had no clue how popular these heads would be when I started out working on them (and I'm sure I've said it before) but they have been so much fun to work on, and it makes me so happy to help people out with their crafting projects.

After I've hit the post button here, I'm going to try and catch up on a few blogs, I've fallen terribly behind - I'm so sorry for not catching up with my sweet blogging friends - I'll try and do better! So, on that note, thank you for stopping by, and I'll catch up with you all again next week!

Hmmmm ... what to share?

Obviously it's Friday, my scheduled posting day ... and to be honest I really don't have anything new to share with you all. I've had a busy week, but not really in a quilty sense. I've organised for our shower screens in both bathrooms to be replaced here at home, I've chosen and organised for installation of new carpets in our lounge and dining room, and other various things along those lines ... but none of that makes for interesting photographs.

So, instead I'll just share my little Halloween setup on my dining table:

I've never decorated for Halloween before, it's still a fairly new thing here, and we rarely get any trick or treaters, but should it happen this year, I'll be ready! If you haven't seen the little table topper before, the pattern is in my Etsy store.

And for a little something else to look at, I've taken a couple of snaps of Lily Rosenberry blocks so you can see the variety of fabrics they have going on:

Using lots of different scraps of fabric in my quilts is a favourite thing I like to do, I guess most of my projects end up being controlled scrappy.

It thrills me that I was able to finally find some more of the wide script fabric so that I can use it on the back of my quilt too. The store I located wasn't able to ship internationally, but I was able to send it to my beautiful friend Donna in the USA and she has redirected to me here. I appreciate it so much, thank you Donna! Aren't quilting friends the best?

Well, I'm going to sign off here, I'd like to try and get some more applique done tonight - it's still my plan to try and have the Lily Rosenberry top completed by the end of the year. Let's see if I can still make that happen? Chatter soon! xox

Happy Friday!

It really is a happy Friday! I'm so pleased with what I was able to achieve this week, it feels like I should give myself a pat on the back!

The little Winnie the Pooh quilt from the Churn Dash sew-along is complete but for the binding being stitched down on the reverse side:

The binding definitely won't take long to stitch down as the whole quilt only measures 40in square, so I'll probably make a start on that once I'm off the laptop. A movie and a mug of coffee and I'll settle in for some stitching :-)

Next on the list was to get the Lily Rosenberry border fabric stitched in place:

I'm happy with how much of that is completed too. The applique shapes in the top border are yet to be stitched down, but they're positioned, and that makes me happy. I have many of the shapes prepped for the side borders too, but I need to trace the placement lines on to the top with washout marker before I can start glueing them in place. It feels like the finish line for this top is in sight!

There is one shape in the main body of the quilt that I'm going to change though:

That green leaf is just too bright for my liking, so I'm going to take it off and replace it with another that fits in better with the colour scheme. I had entertained leaving it for now and then later on shading it with a fabric marker to tone it down, but I've changed my mind on that front. It won't be a big job, but I was looking for lazy solutions. Why on earth would I do that when I have put so much work into this quilt so far?

Last of all (and actually the first thing I tackled on the list) was that I managed to complete the Dresden Christmas Tree Skirt and listed it in my Etsy Store:

I'm looking forward to getting closer to Christmas so I can take pictures of my new tree skirts under the tree. I don't think I have the energy to take the tree down and decorate it for a short visit, but it's only about four weeks until the Christmas Pageant here, and that is my signal to start decorating for the season. Christmas decorations are already front and centre in stores, and I'm being tempted by new Nutcrackers all over the place!

And just a quick public service announcement for any of my readers that are on Instagram, I'm slowly getting the hang of things over there and have posted a video or two as I'm inspired, so do head on over if you're interested. I have no plans to drop my personal commitment to blogging each Friday - but as I said, if you're interested, it's there.

Tennis and quilting resumes this coming week, so I may have a little less free time going forward, but I hope to be able to keep the quilting momentum up! Chatter soon lovely friends! xox

Dresden Plates

Hi there friends! This week I've had a fixation with Dresden Plate blocks, so I ran with it and got a couple of projects started:

The first one that I managed to get finished (and a pattern written) is for my Etsy store - a little pattern for Halloween decorating. It's the first Halloween project I've ever made, and I love it! And they're my first decorations I've ever purchased for the holiday too - if we should get any trick-or-treaters, I'll be ready for them!

And the second Dresden Plate themed item I'm working on is a tree skirt. The other tree skirt pattern I have in my Etsy store goes crazy in the second half of the year, so I thought it might be nice to give people another option. I didn't get as far as I'd like, but here's where I'm up to:

It's about 42" across, but for some reason it seems much larger. I really like it, and I'll look forward to using it at Christmas time. Hopefully I'll have it in my Etsy store in the next week or so,

One of the reasons that I haven't had much stitching time lately is because I've been super busy painting the little wooden heads for mmmCrafts ornaments. When I made a couple or ornaments a little while back I received so many compliments on the little painted faces, so for fun I listed a few painted beads in my shop too. I had absolutely no clue how popular they would be, and as we get closer and closer to Christmas people are buying more and more of them! It thrills me that people are so pleased with the work I'm doing for them - nothing makes me happier.

So over the next week I plan to finish up the tree skirt, quilt the little Churn Dash top I shared last week, and get a good start on the second border for Lily Rosenberry. It seems like a lot of work, but I feel confident that I can do it!

Thank you so much for all the comments on my recent posts, I love reading them - and a big thank you to Elsie Montgomery - you always leave the sweetest messages, but your email address doesn't come to me so that I'm able to reply. That's all from me for now, I hope you've all had a great week, and chatter soon! xox

And more stitching ...

This week I have been enjoying the lillies that are blooming in our garden. Most of the time I leave these in the garden, but I was told (and I don't know if it's true or not) that cutting the blooms encourages them to flower even more. I'm happy to put this theory to the test:

The runner on the dining table is one of my absolute favourites. It was quilted by my dear friend Lizzy and is always much admired. I do have a new runner made from red and cream French General fabrics in progress - I think I've been working on it for at least seven years, but we all know you just can't rush art. I may have to change it from a hand piecing project to a machine project just to make some headway!

In other news, I was super happy to get the little Winnie the Pooh top together. These are my final blocks for the Churn Dash Sewalong - this has been a fun project to be part of, I'll be sad when it's all finished and done.

I'm going to have fun quilting it over the upcoming school holiday break. Not that I have any small people in school of course, but tennis and my quilting ladies are on hiatus during the holidays, so I have a little more time on my hands. Whether I use this free time for the good remains to be seen! :-)

And last of all, I almost finished stitching down the applique pieces on the first border of Lily Rosenberry, just a little more and I'll pop the next border on:

That is a wrinkly old picture isn't it? But I thought you might like to see the back of Lily warts and all. it's not often you see the messy side of an applique project. I have one stem, nine berries and some yellow flower parts to stitch down, and also a bunch of thread tails to trim. Lily Rosenberry has been such a lovely project to work on, and I cannot wait to get to the quilting stage.

Last of all, I wanted to talk about threads for a moment. I bought some new coloured spools today to fill in some gaps in my thread rainbow, and also some cones of neutral colours as they're what I generally always piece with. Then I removed some cones of variegated thread from my thread-stand, as I've started using these variegated threads for piecing scrap quilts - I just don't seem to reach for them for machine quilting my projects anymore. I feel like I got swept up by the fancy colour combinations, and for whatever reason now I always just go for a single colour thread. Is anyone else finding they don't reach for variegated threads anymore? 

Well, that's it from me for this week, hope everyone is safe and well, chatter soon xox

Stitching along ...

I have two pictures to share with you this week. It seems like I should have more as I've been super busy, but sometimes lots of tiny stitches don't appear immediately newsworthy.

I've almost finished stitching down the first of the borders on Lily Rosenberry. Honestly, I thought it would take a lot longer, but the borders are so much less busy than the blocks.

All the swags on this border are stitched down, all the vines too. Just two of the flowers and half of the berries to go. So, I have to share - I was considering working on Sue Garman's Grape Quilt next - but I sincerely don't think I have it in me to stitch down a bazillion little circles again in a hurry. A little distance is required, yes? That can be a project for the future :-)

And though I wanted to have the Churn Dash top finished tonight, I stopped stitching about ten minutes ago at 10.00pm without having sewn the rows together. I just ran out of steam!

It's looking cute though, and I'll be able to finish off the top tomorrow. It took me a while to decide on what fabric I wanted to use for the cornerstones, and I'm still not certain that I've chosen the right one, but these will be just fine, and I'm happy to get as far as I did. Apologies for the terrible quality picture, it's late here and the light in my sewing could be a bit better (and if I were a better photographer that would help too!).

Tomorrow I'll finish off quilting a project for a sweet friend of mine, then I'll get all the the churn dash rows together, and once that is all done, I can settle in for some applique. I can't wait! xox

A super productive week!

This week I'm so pleased with what I've been able to achieve, it's such a great feeling to know you're getting things done!

While I had Lucky the Featherweight out, I was able to put together all the Churn Dash blocks I need for Chookyblue's sewalong:

Even though you can't see them all in the picture, I made sixteen blocks. Lucky is so great to sew on, incredibly easy to work with, and makes such a perfect stitch.

I've started sashing a few of the blocks together, but I'll share that progress next week. I'd like to have the top complete by Friday next week. That Winnie the Pooh fabric is so sweet, Jean was so kind to share it. Back to the sewalong - if you'd like to see what all the other ladies are working on, click on the button in my sidebar - it links back to Chookyblue's blog with a listing of all the participants.

On Tuesday I was able to pick my quilt up after the show was finished, so Phebe has come home and been put away for now, and I could see my ribbons up close and personal:

A big thank you to Helen and her team for putting on such a great show. It was such a pleasure to visit with my quilt, and see all the other prize winners and quilts on display. And while I was heading home from picking up my quilt, I got the news that Bernie was all fixed and ready to be collected, hooray!

So because I had my favoured sewing machine back, and I had finished all the applique on the Lily Rosenberry blocks ... I trimmed up all the blocks and sewed them all together to complete the centre of the quilt.

Ohhh my, I am so pleased with how this is all coming along!

And joy of joys, I'm now working on the borders of the quilt, this is so exciting!

It won't take long to get all the applique placed, but it will take longer to get everything stitched down. I'm having so many ideas about how I'd like to hand quilt this project, I just can't wait until I'm at that stage! Yay!

Well, that's it from me, it's late on Friday evening (almost 11pm) but I'm buzzing so much about the applique border right now that I'm going to work on it for a while yet. So, I'll chatter soon! xox