My Claytons Retreat (aka Sunday Stitchers At Boonah Retreat) Day 5

Last day of retreat...😞

That means a bit of sewing, packing up & travel home.....so I figured that would take me til 5PM...so I just sewed the day away again.....LOL

I decided to work on the current ABC book, so nothing to show for it - just slowly working my way through, finishing off the blanket stitching.
And when I got tired of that - I organised the fabrics for the next two house & tree blocks, ready for the next retreat.

What a life!!!!!!!!!!

My Claytons Retreat (aka Sunday Stitchers At Boonah Retreat) Day 4

Each year at this retreat we have had a Mystery Challenge.  This year we were asked to bring scraps - any shape & size.

The challenge this year was to make crumb blocks.  I have never tried these before, I started, but realised they were looking more like crazy patch blocks - so I did a bit of Googling to get me on the right track.  The secret is to have at least one straight edge on each piece and then sew two pieces together.  Repeat - so make sure the new piece has a straight edge and join to another piece.

It was going well - using the offcuts from my houses and trees - but there was not enough variety - and I had sent all my scraps to the girls at Boonah....I certainly wasn't going to deliberately create new scraps!!!

So, I got to this point.

These crumb blocks will be put together by De as  DV Charity Quilt.

The other thing on my To Do list for the retreat was to make more black red and white blocks to go with the ones I made at the last retreat.

I made 11 - but I have just about run out of black red & white - I have 30 blocks - though I wanted 42. . .so will ponder the next stage in this quilt top.

This will also be a DV Charity Quilt.

Day 5 still to go - might get back to some of my stuff - maybe the ABC Book that is overdue, or the baby quilt for the new grandie - also overdue!!!

My Claytons Retreat (aka Sunday Stitchers At Boonah Retreat) Day 3

I continued working with the construction crew and groundsmen and together we have finished 2 blocks - my goal for this retreat!!

Van Winkle House

and Amelia's Cottage

That is the top row almost done (there are some filler pieces to be added- so I will leave them til the end) of My Kinda Town.
I did the second row in June

Here are all 4 blocks

I need to change the top of the door to the church 

and replace the yellow door with brown.

 

I have another retreat (!!!!!) in 2 weeks so will do another row then and a final retreat for the year in November when I plan to do the last row.
Well, that is the plan!

My Claytons Retreat (aka Sunday Stitchers At Boonah Retreat) Day 2

Well, I am supposed to be in Boonah - on retreat with some of the Sunday Stitchers Group - but a bad cough has kept me at home.  I feel OK - especially during the day - but late nights, early mornings - well a lot of coughing...

Anyway, things happen ....so I am retreating at home.

My plan for this retreat was to make 2 more blocks for "My Kinda Town" and as many string blocks as I could.  There is also a "mystery" project to be done...

Early today I decided I needed something different to do before I began the house blocks.
I have joined a Cross Stitch SAL - here.
So, as I am eager to start - but no pattern is available until August 11 - I decided to get the threads ready.

Then, I could delay no more - time to construct houses.
I worked on this block for most of the day/night.  Although during that time there were numerous chats concerning design, colour choices for a project, extra numerous chats with the retreat girls about any number of things....The "benefit" of social media I guess.

And I had to unpick one section - unpicking stitches sewn at 1.8 is slow...
The building is not complete...tomorrows job....then to add the tree on the side and move onto the second block. 

The wrong one:

All fixed....

The retreat goes til Tuesday afternoon - then add in travel time . . .I should be right to continue sewing til dinner time on Tuesday, and since I don't need to unpack much...I will just keep going til bed time....LOL

FNSI (2) - July

Tonight was our second FNSI for July - a "Christmas in July" Night.

I was meant to be away . . . but  . ..things happen...so I had a FriDay Sew In.   There were a few distractions during the day, but I managed to get three taggies done.

This one is for the new grandie - Montana  (a bit late)...but it has "Wild" on it.

These are for babies due in September (a bit early).

Thanks for the extra FNSI Wendy - not that most of us need an excuse to sew!!!

Crochet Blocks (11)

It seems ages since I had some blocks to post...well it was back at the end of May

Here is the latest very small collection for Maria.  11 blocks - yes it all helps.  😞

Blue and Cream Quilt #3

Many years ago I bought some border prints and matching fabrics.  I have no idea now how much I bought, but I made quilts for two friends and still had left-overs.
I made the first two in 2010 & 2011 and gifted them.

Then in 2020, I made another good sized quilt and in 2021 I used up the rest of the fabrics and made a small one.
But both have been sitting in the pile since then.

The pattern was simple - cut the border fabric into 6.5" squares and cut the other fabrics into various shapes such as 2.5" squares, 3.5" squares, 2.5 x 6.5 rectangles, 3.5 x 6.5 rectangles - any shape that can be matched with something else to make a 6.5" square.
Then put it all together. (easy enough)
Then quilt it (UGH)

I thought it was time to start using the embroidery part of my machine to quilt.  (The reason for buying this machine was that I could quilt some quilts...mmm...)
So, I went to a class and have now machine quilted this one.

This is the pattern I selected

and the finished quilt:

This one will go to the DV Charity Quilt collection.

Just the small one to go now . . .I have bought some fabric for a border, but it needs some additional blocks to make it a good size.

FNSI - July

Well, it is a week early - but Wendy decided to have a FNSI & a Christmas in July FNSI next week (well, I think that is how it's working.....)

So, this Friday, apart from having a very long sleep-in due to a head cold.....I worked on a quilt for Miss Peyton for her second birthday.  It's a bit late as her birthday is today (Friday)...but a 2 yo doesn't know Nana is late and really doesn't understand a birthday anyway.  On top of that - her little sister was born the day before - so Mum is in hospital with a strange-looking thing in her arms.   I am sure she is quite perplexed, but seems to be taking it in her stride.

So, for my sewing . . . .I threaded numerous ends in from the quilting on this, added a few more straight lines of quilting and sewed the binding on.

Hopefully, I will get the hand-sewing part done over the weekend and take some pictures.

Thanks Wendy - always fun to gather for a FNSI and all the other lovely crafters.

FNWF - July

The days seem to slip by....here we are again at Cheryll's (via cyber space) ready for a night...or day...or part thereof...sewing, crafting, blogging or Facebooking.

Now that I am a lady of leisure and had no other commitments today, I decided to get a head start on my RSC blocks - the colour for July is Red - 'that will be easy' I thought - lots of novelty fabrics in red....well, No, Susan, you do not have a lot in red.
I managed to scrape it in - I added spots and circles so I could have enough.

I am going to a new sewing group tomorrow and we can use the machines at the shop which probably means most of us will be machining - most of my groups end up being for hand sewing.
As this is the first meeting, I decided to take the black red & white stripey (string) blocks - seam allowance isn't important, so I can do them on any machine.
That necessitated some cutting of the jelly roll that had been donated. 

I have quite a collection now - roughly sorted into sizes.

Of course - a bit of crochet while watching BH&G...but as sport was on after that I was able to make a quick exit from the TV area to the pleasant haven of my Sewing Space.

Pop over to Cheryll's blog to have a look at the other crafty pursuits.

Thanks Cheryll, I hope everyone got to do some crafting or had an enjoyable night otherwise.