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Thursday, May 31, 2012

Morning Tea, Mystery Quilt and other stuff...

Last Monday at group we had a morning tea to collect money for the Cancer Council.  We only had a small group as a few ladies were away on holidays so we were happy to be able to collect $110 to send away.  Look at all the lovely food- sausage rolls, ribbon sandwiches, quiche, chocolate cakes, scones with jam and cream and lots more.  It didn't take too long to make most of this disappear. Yummy........



My Mystery Quilt is starting to progress with more pieces coming together.  I have finished instalment 5 and am pleased to say that I have now have some completed blocks (last photo).  Instalment  6 here I come.




Below is the May Block of the Month I am working on with my quilt group.  Missed making it at group this month so am playing catch-up.  Just need to trim the half square triangles to size and join the block pieces together.  Can choose either block configuration but think I  like the one on the left the best so will use that.


Grid ready for stitching. I have never done my half square triangles this way before but it is such a quick way to do them.
And last but not least, this arrived on Monday.  Some beautiful new fabric called Lucy's Crab Shack.  I am going to make two quilts out of it for my grandsons.  It is a new line from Sweetwater, just so cute and the colours of blue and green are my grandsons favourites.  The blue fabric has popular names of boys and girls on it, can you find Thomas and Jake?  Hope my boys like it.  I'm sure they will love the bicycle fabric in green, navy blue and orange.


Hope this post hasn't been photo overload and you have enjoyed reading about what I have been up to. Till next time.........Happy Stitching

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

2 OPAM finishes

Thanks to the Friday Night Sew In last week, I have two more finishes to add to my May list. Below is my new hand towel for the kitchen.  I think it looks good hanging from my oven rail.  Need to make a few more of these.

Above is my grab bag with plaited handles attached.  Finished the bag off yesterday. Well just a quick post tonight.  Till next time.........  

Saturday, May 19, 2012

Friday Night Sew In

Last night I joined stitcher's from Australia and overseas for a Friday Night Sew In.  Thank you to Heidi and Bobbi from the USA for organising it. This is the first time I have participated and I must say I had a great time out in my quilting room working on installment 4 of my Mystery Quilt which needs to be completed by September , decorating a new hand towel for the kitchen and making a start on my Grab Bag, a kit I purchased from Sweetwater.  I finished my hand towel, got a good bit done towards my quilt and almost finished my grab bag, just need to add the handle and top facing and it will be finished.  


Pocket on Bag, handle strips ready to plait.  Fabric - Reunion by Sweetwater. 


Still have a few installments to complete before I will know how all the above pieces fit together. Will be very exciting to see it finished.
If you want to join in the next FNSI, go to the button on my side bar and check out Heidi's and Bobbi's blogs.  FNSI is usually held on the 3rd Friday of the month with sign up just before that. Even though you are working on your own, it is nice to know that other quilters are working at the same time and you can check out their blogs the next day to see what they got up to.  Till next time Happy Stitching.....

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

FNSI this week

After thinking about joining the Friday Night Sew In with Heidi ( Handmade by Heidi) and Bobbi (Crafty Vegas Mum) for the last couple of months, I have finally decided to sign up and do it this month.  It is on this Friday so I will have to get a wriggle on and decide what I am going to work on.  I have several things on the go so will probably see if I can finish one or two of them off.
If you want to check out how you can join in, just click on the FNSI button on my side bar.

Sunday, May 13, 2012

Mothers Day, OPAM Finishes, Mystery Quilt

This morning I was surprised by these beautiful flowers and card.  I just had to show you the card as it gave me a good laugh.  My hubby Chris is a wonderful man and I am so pleased that we met when we did,  but his skills in the kitchen are very basic so this card was so appropriate for him to buy.  Love you Chris.



My kids & some of the grand-kids came for a family lunch today.  I didn't take any photos of the wonderful food we ate or the trifle we had for dessert but I did manage to get photos of my boys and two of my grand-sons.  My daughter and daughter-in-law don't like photos so couldn't coerce them into getting into the shots.

My eldest son, Scott, his son Jake who played footy this morning & me.

Todd, his son Josh, me, Jake & Cain, our staffy.  
Below is one of the gifts I received from Josh and my grand-daughter Kiah, who was working today.  Love this and it is already hanging near my front door.  I feel so lucky to have a wonderful family to share this day with. I hope all Mothers and Grand-mothers had as great a day as I did.

Here are my first finishes for May.  The pattern for this bag and block keeper is by Leanne Beasley. It came together quite quickly and I am so pleased with how it looks.  I used batting in the block keeper to hold the blocks in place and purchased some foam core board to put in the pockets on either side to make the outer pieces stiff.   The top photo shows the construction of the pocket which is divided in two and goes on the outside of the bag. The pocket size is quite generous and has some hand quilting on it.  I am going to make a folder to put my threads, needles and scissors in to put in the smaller of the two pockets.  I do lots of embroidery so this will be put to good use. 



Block Keeper Bag and  Block Holder



















I have been working on a Mystery Quilt with my friends Liz and Chris from NSW.  We are going to have a reveal of the quilt top or finished quilt  in September at the Lismore Quilters Camp at Evans Head.  I have been working on the installments and am up to Number 4.  Below is the fabric I have used.  When the fabric pieces are cut or joined together, bags are used to keep track of all the pieces.  Long way to go so will show a few more photos next time.

Sorry this has been such a long post but glad you made it to the end.  Well better go and spend some time with Hubby before he goes to bed.  Till next time Happy stitching.........  


Friday, May 4, 2012

Mystery Sampler Block, Update to Stitchery

On Monday, at group, we did our April block for our mystery sampler.  Here is my block. My colours are quite subdued to everyone else but I am quite happy with how they are coming together.  I bought these fabrics by Blackbird designs when I first started quilting a number of years ago, so it is nice to be able to use some fabric from my stash.  



Yesterday was my friend Nancy's birthday.  I gave her the little stitchery I showed you on my last post.  I added a hanger but couldn't get one small enough so enlarged the stitchery by adding some cotton lace around the outside so above is the new improved version.  I think the lace sets it off nicely.
Well that's about it for today      Happy Stitching everyone...............