FNSI - November

In all the hurly-burly at this time of the year - FNSI was delayed by a week - but nevermind - we sewers can cope with trivial inconveniences.

But - given that hurly-burly season - what I sewed on was a mystery (in some ways even to me...LOL)  so I can only provide a snippet...

I am very busy with Christmas things as I am sure many of us are....and once again I am promising myself to start earlier in the year...Who am I kidding???   

Thanks Wendy for gathering us all - and making me do a blog post!!

Happy preparation time to all.

My Birthday @ Sunday Stitchers

At Sunday Stitchers - for 2020 - we drew a name out and gave to that person.
The present was:

• Drawstring bag - approx 12" x 14" 
• A treat
• Something that starts with the first letter of the person's first name
• Something round
• Something touchy, feely
• Something funny

We have tried to make it as challenging as possible so that one present could fit more than one item....
Here are my presents - from De.

 

I will use the bag for my "on the go" crochet project.

A treat - Snickers - or could be the lovely smelling soap
Something that starts with S - Soap - or could be Snickers- or could be Spud Dude
Something round - Anni Downs Mirror
Something touchy, feely - Pink Pen
Something funny - Spud Dude - a vegetable peeler

Thanks De - great fun gifts.

Thanks Helen - for suggesting that we think of things that are NOT Boring!!!

It's my turn next month to gift to someone.

October Finish

 My Sunday Stitchers UFO #6 was my Gain Pan quilt from 2018.  I kept pretty much up to date with the stitcheries and put the top together last November (gosh a year goes so quickly....).

The lovely quilting fairy Fiona quilted it - a clever pattern so as not to encroach on the stitcheries.

I showed it at the last Sunday Stitchers meeting - and realised I had not added the buttons, so in case you are checking up on me Mdm Quilt Police - they are now done.

One more off the list!!!!   YAY!!!

FNSI - October

I was so glad to read that Mr B was recovering after last month's scare - I imagine Wendy is doing a lot of "nursemaid" duty at the moment - but she still managed to group us together for a virtual sew-in.

A week ago I made a taggie for DD2 to gift to a work colleague for her baby shower.

The friend was SO impressed (??? pretty simple in my eyes) that she has asked me to make another one for a friend of hers (getting paid this time...LOL)

Whilst I was at it I made a second one for one DD1's friends.  This one is a bit smaller as my supply of minky is limited so I'm trying to use what I have.

I also spent some time hand sewing the binding on my UFO #8 ready for Sunday Stitchers. That's a bit of a boring thing - so you will have to wait til I've finished it all.

Tonight,(Saturday night)  I will be joining another cyber sewing night - via Zoom, Sunday is a day out sewing.  After a very torrid time at work lately - I am going to relax and enjoy it all.

Please hop over to Wendy's blog and then follow the links to catch what other sewers got up to.

Thanks for your company everyone - see you next time!!!

FNWF - October

And another month rolls on by...

Tonight - as DH was off to the AFL match at 6.30 (fortunately the right team won) - I had a quick meal  - Better Homes & Gardens on TV and then watching the final of the Great Australian Bake Off that we recorded last night (??)...

This is some of the evidence of tonight's work . . .but there is a media ban on this project - so you will just have to wonder . .  .I will be posting it around the middle of December . . . 
I was quite productive so I'm happy about that.

I hope everyone else has more interesting pictures to show....and as it's a long weekend, I hope to find time to go & visit you all.

  My blog visiting has been a bit slack lately.   

A long work day in front of a screen doesn't make it easy to spend more hours in front of a screen...oh well...work pays for my hobby so I am not complaining ...well trying not to.

Thanks Cheryll for grouping us together!
Happy Daylight Saving for the lucky ones.

An old UFO - SS UFO #10

In about 2006/2007, my Loose Threads group talked about making a postcard using colours that started with the same letters as our intials (SEW for me).

I no longer recall why we didn't do it, but every so often as I tidied/reorganised I discovered the started project.  Last year (2019) another group I belong to decided to make postcards as birthday gifts and I thought that I should finally finish off the UFO, which I did early this year.

I decided to add it to my Sunday Stitchers UFO list and finally this month it got its "reveal".

I went with Scarlett, Emerald and Wisteria.  I had the words machine embroidered way back (2006/07), as I didn't have an embroidery machine then.

I was lucky to have an Emerald green heart button, I painted the cotton reel buttons to match the colours and added the other doo-dads, including a very appropriate pin - "Last MInute Maker".

This is my #10 for my UFO list.

Three more UFOS to go for 2020.

FNSI - September

Wendy has very graciously organised for us to gather to sew and share our fun with all, whilst she is focused on her husband who is in hospital and hopefully doing well.

I got a FriDaySewIn- I am on retreat - yes - again!!!   This is my third retreat in about a month - that is very greedy -isn't it??? - considering many of you are in isolation or are subject to some serious restrictions.

We have a few restrictions - no shared food, everyone has their own shower & toilet - although in a shared bathroom, tables separated a bit more than normal....but that is not holding us back.

I'm only here sewing for 3 days and took a limited amount of projects to do.

Tonight I worked on this. - My Stringalong blocks which will become a colourful table cloth.

I've  decided to leave it like this for now and will do the horizontal strips at home.

I hope you are all doing OK in this strange world.  Sewing does keep us sane and - for me - is a great escape from "all that other stuff".

Thanks Wendy - I do hope Mr B is progressing well.  Sending you many hugs & lots of strength.

Loose Threads - September Birthday gifts

We have two birthdays in September.  Louise and Maureen

Lousie

Louise requested "Mint" coloured presents for her birthday.
She also likes sloths and brings her stuffed sloth along to retreat each year.

mmmm....what to make????   - all of a sudden sloths starting appearing everywhere - well in the crafty world . . . 

First I found a great stitchery pattern (Penguin & Fish) and decided to make it as a small wall hanger....

It has sloth fabric on the back too...

THEN I saw a picture on Red Boots Gang facebook page of a sloth....great I thought - so I asked Toni Alexander if it was a pattern. . . . .Well, turns out it wasn't yet a pattern.    

So I waited...and waited a bit more . . .to cut a long story short - Toni agreed to give me her "in progress, not quite finalised" pattern  . . .and the bag was born!

So, all you Red Boots gang fans - please don't harass Toni - I'm sure the pattern will be released in due course, or as we might say at work - "when capacity allows".

And following the "mint" theme, I included a bag of (Spear)mint Leaves.   (I stuck stars over the "Spear" part!!!)

Maureen

Maureen requested Pink...that is no surprise if you know her.

Getting the right thing for Maureen is more difficult - she has a lot fo the things she likes already and I wanted to stay off the "sewing" theme...besides  there isn't much to be gained by sewing something as she can sew faster and better than me . . .
Then I saw a post on Kiwikids  page....ah ha!!! perfect idea as Maureen is also very happy pottering around her garden . . .BUT could I find pink gumboots???
Aldi to the rescue - children's gum boots were available a while back - so I grabbed a pair of size 3 - the largest.....found the right sized pot and added some Petunias.

It was a hit!

I also want to share these "ugly dolls" that Lousie makes...

along with some cats that she has also made.

They are kinda fun.

I put in a "Special Order" for this one:

I gave it to DH for Fathers' Day.

September FNWF

Time to gather (in cyber space) with Cheryll.

It's been a full-on week at work and its a full-on weekend (sewing one day & Fathers Day on Sunday) and I need to squeeze some work time in too....but tonight - half an hour of Better Homes & Gardens and all of a sudden the AFL was on . . DH was out collecting dinner...so I decided a quick meal and then into my Sewing Space to de-stress from the day.

I did a bit of secret sewing - although it is getting towards the pointy end of the year . . it's not Christmas sewing - but something that is "under wraps" for now.....I did get a bit of crocheting done...

and a small amount of my current sashiko project.

I do hope you were all productive in your own way and perhaps I will find some time to go visiting the linkup here.

Thanks, Cheryll

 

August Projects

One would think that after two retreats - I would have a pile of Finished Projects . . well...not really - I did make a lot of progress . . .but limited finishes.

So, a bit of record keeping:

I made these two Snappy Pouches.  These are the "cheat" kind where you use metal tape measure for the closure...very effective and certainly cheaper than the gadgets you can buy.

I haven't made many crochet blocks either  (no travel to and from work),  I do have 6 finished.

My #5 Project for Sunday Stitchers UFO Challenge was to finish off these placemats.  The two separate sides had been made pre-retreat, so it was not too much work to join them with the brown bias strip and quilt them.   I hummed and haa'd about binding them as per the pattern but decided against it.  So did the pillowcase finish at the first retreat (and that took longer than it should have as I forgot to reverse them when cutting the backing . . drr)  and then finished them off with a quilting stitch 1/4" from the edge at home.
I am certainly happy that I went without the binding.

This is a Judy Niemeyer (Quiltworx) pattern - Tea Time Placemats - Foundation pieced.
I started them in a class in July 2018 - a relatively new project!!!

And before Retreat #1, I made 45 flowers on my embroidery machine - to use on the Challenge Project.

can I count that as 45 finished Kris???