Scrappy Trips, Spiderwebs and Swoon

Another month has come and gone, and for a change there has been some action in the sewing department.  I finally attached the red spotty binding to my Scrappy Trip quilt that Linda quilted for me when I won a very generous giveaway on her blog.... the hand stitching is about halfway done now......  

Last weekend I attended a fabulous retreat with the quilting group I joined last year, so much sewing time, lovely ladies, fabulous food  and lots of laughs..... before I went I started a new scrappy project to work on at retreat.  I've been fascinated with spiderweb blocks for a long time, but all the foundation paper pieced patterns I'd seen had scared me off.... until I found this wonderful tutorial where your plain fabric is used as the foundation.  The blocks are a great way to use scraps, they are slow to piece but I am so pleased I persevered as I love the overall effect.

My finished spiderweb top.....

Once my spiderweb was finished it was time to start a Swoon at retreat, I've been planning this for a while to use a lovely bundle of Hope Valley fabrics I'd been saving for just the right quilt.  These blocks are massive - 24" square, but fun to put together!

Other than retreat there has been lots of these to work with..........

 ..... and a few of these..... the two calves our girls hand-reared two years ago, Ash & Donny......

I hope to catch up on some blog reading in the next few days, I managed to get myself very behind while I was away at retreat and since then....... catch you soon....... Nicky x

The longer you leave it, the harder it gets

Oh dear, it seems to be the same old tune here.... far too long between posts.... but hello anyway and a happy New Year to you!   I haven't even managed to get a post done in January, now we're in February and I am woefully late in sharing some beautiful Christmas swap gifts made for me by my lovely friend Leanne.  We did three swaps last year, Easter, our birthdays and Christmas, and it seems Leanne knows me so well, even though we've never met!!

Leanne made me this beautiful Christmas wallhanging with a redwork stitchery, it is gorgeous, and was admired by everyone who visited us at Christmas, truth be told I have now moved it to hang in my sewing room, it's far too pretty to only have on display at Christmas time!  And of course it's in one of my fave fabrics 'Scrumptious'.

She also made me this sweet little pin pillow... isn't it cute with the little orange flower..... and a cute pattern and magnetic closure to make a little hexagon purse.  Thank you so much Leanne for another great swap.....  xx

   

This is what I sent to Leanne, a Thimble Blossoms mini Spools quilt and a journal, both in Scrumptious fabric(both of us using the same fabric was not planned, but great minds think alike!!)

And now tilt your head to the left, this is the journal, a Melly and Me kit, and some Tilda braid I sent.  For the life of me I can not get this photo to stay turned around the right way in Blogger!

I have done almost no sewing in January, and February hasn't started much better, I am heading to the sewing room this afternoon to make the binding for my Scrappy Trip quilt, I really want to get that baby finished, and soon!  As usual January has been crazy busy on the farm, so much stock work to be done, and I am only now catching up on the several hundred blog posts I was behind on reading.  I have missed the signup deadline for OPAM for 2014, but I'm still going to try and get something done each month anyway..... last year was my best year for finishes in a long time, I think the Stitch-Along projects being small each month helped my cause.  So here's hoping 2014 will be a good stitching year for me..... hope you're finding some 'you' time too..... Nicky x

Hello November

Oh dear, yet again it's been a while since I posted, but here are a few things I worked on in October.  Firstly my Fresh quilt, from Camille Roskelley's book Simply Retro.  It's made from five different Bonnie and Camille fabric collections, I love how their fabrics all work together so well.  

This is my Sugar Dish top completed for a friends gorgeous little girl.  A design my Cluck Cluck Sew, I made this top using Posy by Aneela Hoey, and I discovered that I love dresdens!!  They are so cute!  Now to decide on backing fabric and how to quilt this......

Last month I was also lucky enough to win a giveaway from Leeanne at Quilt Me.  Isn't the quilty wrapping paper and card adorable!  A full set of Lynette Andersons H&F Wagtime patterns and a lovely Cottage Garden Thread.... thank you so much Leeanne, these musical cats and dogs are adorable....

There has been some building happening in the vege garden, my hubby has built some new garden beds and planter boxes, it is a work in progress but I have some planted and things are growing quickly now.  This is the before shot, the old glasshouse will eventually be replaced with a poly tunnel when the big trees in the back have been cut down.  My little mini greenhouse was well pinned down with stakes, as a few days before this it blew over the fence and right across the paddock!

I've been waterblasting the outside wooden fence in preparation for painting.  There are two more boxes to be built yet beside the first two.....and decisions to be made about what material to use for pathways..... any suggestions....? 

                            

I had to keep a big secret recently, and it was not easy!  My big brother planned a surprise trip out to visit from the UK, to spend some time with Dad who's been having a very rough year healthwise.  I had to tell a few fibs about plans and sneak off to the airport to collect him a couple of weeks ago.  The look on Dad's face was worth it though!  So we have been having a lovely time together, I miss my brothers lots as one lives in Perth, Australia and this one in London, I wish they were both closer to home..... 

During the last week or two I've been working away on my SSCS gift, it will be time to mail it off in a couple of weeks so I need to get a wriggle on...... I'm off now to finish waterblasting my fence....... fun times.....hope you have a lovely weekend planned.....

A Fresh quilt and kind friends

I have been busy with some machine sewing in the last couple of weeks any chance I've had.  I bought Camille Roskelley's Simply Retro book a while back and her 'Fresh' quilt is the one I kept going back to look longingly at.  So I gave in to temptation and decided on a kind of controlled colour palette using all my Bonnie and Camille scraps and a new charm pack of their beautiful Scrumptious range.  This is going to be a big quilt, it was meant to be a 4x4 block layout which finishes at 96" x 96", but I've decided to trim one row off and will end up at 72 x 96, plenty big enough for a single bed.  I have never trimmed Half Square Triangles down to size before, and it is rather tedious, but boy does it make a big difference when sewing them together and matching seams etc, love this technique now!  So this picture is half the quilt top, I have one more row complete and I hope to finish the last three blocks tonight when I join in with lots of friends around the globe for Friday Night with Friends.... maybe you'd like to join in too and sign up over at Cherylls blog here.....

Earlier this week I got a lovely surprise in the mail from dear Deb, who after I mentioned in my last post my lack of hand stitching due to the state of my hands, went to the trouble of doing some research and found this wonderful Aromatherapy Co Hand Cream and sent it to me...... it smells divine, such a sweet citrus scent and it feels amazing, won't be long now and I'll be back with needle and thread in my hand, maybe over the weekend if I'm lucky...... thank you so much Deb, your kindness is so sweet and I have been smiling all week thinking about you and your lovely gift.

Finally I had just the one little OPAM finish for September which was this little mini quilt for friends who have recently built their first home.  They have little twin boys and so this was my loose interpretation of them with their little guys..... my first attempt at the sketchy raw edge applique, and as my friends favourite colour is pink, that's what I chose for the binding....(taken on my own ugly wallpaper, not their beautiful new wall colours...lol) I kind of wish I had done some quilting in the background but didn't know where to start!

Right, had better get myself organised for a quick and easy dinner tonight so I can get sewing like a madwoman once the dishes are done....... have a lovely weekend....... Nicky x 

September FNSI

Last night I joined in Friday Night Sew In along with many other ladies around the land of blog.  It was a night for machine stitching only as after several weeks of lambing, and feeding pet lambs, the constant wet/dirty hands and the ensuing washing of those same hands, they are in no state for hand stitching.  Isn't that a great reason to continue with a new project I started a couple of weeks ago...LOL... the plan had been to complete a block every day on the Flower Girl quilt kit I purchased some months ago. This quilt is designed by Camille Roskelley of Thimble Blossoms, and uses her Bonnie and Camille fabric range called Marmalade.  Like all good plans, it had to be subject to change, and I only got two blocks finished then, but managed another three last night for FNSI.   If you joined in with FNSI, I hope you too had a great night, the family gave me the evening off feeding lambs last night so that also contributed to me getting something done... thanks team.....

Here are the five so far, another 15 to go...... 

If you joined in with FNSI, I hope you too had a great night, the family gave me the evening off feeding lambs last night so that also contributed to me getting something done... thanks team.....

My focus for the rest of the month will be to get the final hand stitching done on my Sugar Dish dresden blocks(when my hands improve) and to finish the bag for my July Stitchalong project.  I have had to abandon my August and September efforts for the Stitchalong, I am sorry not to have been able to get the last two projects done, but there have been some unplanned interruptions to the last month or two. There are some wonderful needlecases popping up over at the SAL blog, why don't you head on over and have a look....? 

I have signed up for the 4th year to Chookyblue's fantastic Secret Santa Christmas Swap(SSCS), I've been doing some sly 'research' on my mystery partners blog so I can learn a little about her.  I have always enjoyed this swap and this is one that I just couldn't miss! 

It's a gorgeous spring day today, might have to get into the garden this afternoon.... have a great day..... 

 Nicky x 

Spring is here....

Tomorrow is the first day of Spring in Southern parts, and we have enjoyed a mild winter, particularly August has been warm and great weather for lambing, which got underway for us during the last week.  A tiny vase of pretty little flowers is just the thing to say 'Spring'.......

In my last post I mentioned a retreat I had been on recently, and here are a couple of things I worked on while enjoying uninterrupted sewing time, what a treat that was.... two and a half days of it!!  This is a little Dresden pillow that I finished at retreat, and was part of the birthday swap gifts I sent to Leanne recently.  Without even discussing it, we ended up both making each other gifts from Bonnie and Camille fabrics, great minds think alike right?!

I also made Leanne a table runner in a kind of sampler format using half square triangles.  This was so fun to make, I used some of the bonus HST's left over from my 2012 FQS Block of the Month quilt, and added some more from the Vintage Modern range for variety. I did include some little extras but forgot to take a photo of them.

One of the main things I worked on while I was away was to finish up the Designer Mystery BOM, I have now made it up to this red border, I am unsure about the next white border with the pinwheel corners, I may try something different, or even leave it as is, it's already plenty big enough for me. This means that now I can start the 2013 BOM.  I have three blocks sitting waiting for me already!

 

A better pic of the colours - hanging on the clothesline late this afternoon.....

There were a couple of other projects I worked on, but one of them is still a little surprise so I will share it when it is done.  Since I've returned from retreat, I haven't really achieved much crafty-wise, but I will try and get a few stitches done some evenings during lambing(if I can stay awake that late!)

I am going to use my 'free pass' this month for the Stitch Along blog, I am still working on July's bag, so I don't think I'm going to get the August one done in the next few hours.....   

Thanks for visiting with me today... hope you're getting some stitching time in your day..... Nicky x