SS Glenrose Retreat

I have just returned from a chilly retreat at Glenrose Cottages in Warwick.  Overnight temperatures were quite low (1 - 6 celsius or so) - and it was nice to have an electric blanket to warm the bed!

A bit of a recap on what the others did...

Alison was working on a quilt for her caravan - It will be made up of squares with caravans and surfboards and coordinating filler blocks.   I love these colours.

Sue made 4 of these coverlets (I missed one) for the hospital where she works.   A simple but effective pattern.

       

Lynda made a table runner, a shopping tote and a clam bag.

                                   

Sandi made 42 strippy squares for a DV quilt and a very cute doll.

            

Helen sewed the binding on a Double Wedding Ring Quilt for a granddaughter who is getting married in early July, partially made a doll (it is not fully birthed yet), and took up a dress for a daughter to wear to the wedding....only the dress to show....

Chris made 4 placemats, several QLD & NSW "flags" to attach to dog collars, a few peg bags

    

Chris also worked on some plane blocks.  One had a bit of an oopsie - the tail section was not quite right...
Chris was a newbie to this retreat...and you know that means some sort of initiation must happen.  Chris also goes to bed early...that is a mistake!!!!!....a BIG mistake!!!!!

"We" (no single person to blame) decided to arrange the planes flying across the sky (design wall) and ending with a crash landing...

   

She took it all in good fun!

And me???

I made up 25 Orange Colourwash blocks

a baby quilt
(so hard to see the border against the design wall)

a panel for a DV quilt, 

Blocks 9 and 10 for Be My Neighbour.

I had taken them all to retreat, thinking I might join them into rows.  I didn't end up doing that, but I took advantage of the design wall to see how they look together.

I also made some crumb block sections that can be finished off later.

and sewed quite a number of 2.5" squares into pairs.

We had a lot of fun, solved a lot of the world's problems, and will return next year to repeat it all again.

Floral Fun - June

Section 2 Completed

Chookshed Challenge #8 - Progress on Chapel Street

In 2023 (I think), Chooky tempted me to join her making Chapel Street.
Over time and particularly in November at our retreat at Glenrose, Chooky and I cut some fabrics that we were sharing.

I have worked on it here and there since then, cutting the black pieces and joining to the odd shape. I have not blogged about it at all.

I decided to add this project to my Chookshed Challenge List - as "Progress on Chapel Street", knowing it was unlikely that I would finish a top within the month.  Just as well as this month we took a bit of a trip away from home and no Chapel Street sewing happened for a week.

After a bit of a chat with Chooky, I decided to arrange the pieces in a colourwash fashion.  She is also taking the same approach - go here for a look.

I started by separating the blocks into colours...counting them and making up a graph of how it could work....(gotta love a spreadsheet...LOL)

Always good to have a plan...right??  Remembering it is a plan and plans can change . . .

Then I sorted the yellows into pairs and laid them out, then the reds...and so on...

Then started sewing the rows.
I was quite pleased I got to this stage by late Saturday afternoon...As my eldest daughter is in town, I couldn't sew into the night...

It is now too big for my Design Wall (??)   so two pictures will have to do...

The top section

and the lower bit....missing the top 6 rows.

As you can see I am a bit short of blocks...I knew I would need a few extra and had planned around that ....but as I matched pairs I found a few duplicate fabrics that I didn't want to include...mmm...I will need to find some more green I think...but as the Design Wall is sliding doors to a wardrobe where my fabric lives....I can't look yet!.  I guess I will need to continue on in June and then add borders.

So, not a finish - but I met the goal of "Progress on Chapel Street"

Thanks Deana for pushing us along.

RSC 2025 May - Green

Green is a much easier colour!!!

I found plenty of strips and some wadding - already about 13" wide and it had a green fabric with it - must have been an offcut of a quilt...so I cut that into 4 x 19" long pieces and sewed the strips.  I still have green strips - but a lot less.

While I was sorting the strips,
I was also able to organise the green pieces for the colourwash blocks.

During the "sorting" stage...I found some blue squares and was able to whip up another placemat.  I know it's not green but it can stay in this post.

Be My Neighbour - May

Blocks 7 and 8 means we are halfway through!

Fiona has hers completed too - and she has joined the top two rows - look here!

Sunday Stitchers - UFO Challenge - #4 - My Small World

For the April MOJO List Challenge - I switched projects. I had planned to finish My Kinda Town, but couldn't find a suitable border fabric, so I decided to do My Small World instead.

I finished the top last year - in June as my Sunday Stitchers - June - UFO Challenge #10 
and I am very happy to now have it quilted (lightly) and bound.

I started this in November 2019 and joined an Instagram group where I found some FPP patterns for the blocks....and the hot air balloon. Five and a half years...not so bad.

and I had found this fabric for the backing...it was a perfect choice I thought.

Floral Fun - May

Progressing well and staying on track

2 x Section 1

Some DV Quilt Finishes

I had a big pinning day with Helen a few weeks back to help get some of the DV quilts moving along.  Pinning is much more fun with company ...and of course quicker. 
On the day we pinned 6 quilts - none of them were really big...so that of course gave me the incentive made me feel a little obliged to get on with the quilting.
It only took a few days to finish them - it is all walking foot quilting using a decorative stitch or two and straight stitch.   And then a bit more time to bind them.
An added incentive is to have them finished for the next Sunday Stitchers meeting, so I can hand them back to Helen to pass to the DV (Domestic Violence) organisation.

such a neat little pile

Be My Neighbour - April

I am a little late - these are the April blocks.

Fiona finished hers quite early as she had a busy family month.  Hers are here.

They are so different to mine...

Chookshed Challenge #4 - Lanarte - 3 vases cross stitch

This has been a very very long term project.  
(And as it's already the 29th - I'm just scraping in)

Back in 1985, I finished one of a set of 3 vases of flowers - designed by Lanarte.

It appears I finished the second one a fair while after that - I'm guessing 2018.

For the last couple of years, I have added this project to challenge lists and made some progress on it each time.

Finally, it's done:

and the other two:

  

I will need to add initials & year to the second one and stitch the frame.

I really think I may need to get these framed...

RSC 2025 April - Red

Red is another colour that I do not have a lot of . . .but I found enough to make 3 placemats

and 20 Colourwash blocks

That will do for now.

Something a bit different

My blog is mainly for me sewing/crafty pursuits, but I do occasionally do a few other things . . .

Before Easter a few of my enabling friends found these Kit Kat house kits.

As we were visiting the grand girls and extended family on Easter Sunday, I decided to make an Easter Egg Hunt scene.  The family live on a few acres and have a couple of cows.  The egg hunt is fun for children and grown ups alike.

A bit of frivolous fun.

Sewing Machine Hanger

When I was at Warwick recently, we visited a new patchwork shop - Sew Pretty - and amongst the treasures, we saw a Sewing Machine hanging....It was a machine embroidery design...

I googled it when I got home  . ..and . . .it was on special...so of course I bought it...and decided to "whip one up". . .LOL. . .If you know anything about machine embroidery projects...you don't whip them up...maybe if you have been doing it for years . . but that is not me
When you load the design - it says 103 minutes. . . well, that doesn't take into account trimming fabrics, changing threads etc. . . .lets say it took 5 - 6 hours...

And, also - don't believe the story that you can do either things while its stitching away - firstly - each bit only takes a few minutes, then you need to trim or change the thread....and secondly, the minute you leave the machine the thread will break or something else will go wrong...well strictly speaking that is not true . . . .but you get the idea.
It is possible to listen to books though.

The design comes complete with some dingle dangles underneath -
scissors, thimble and a reel of thread, but I didn't want them.
its from Designs by JuJu in case you are tempted.