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.

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.

Sunday Stitchers - UFO Challenge - #1 - Token Quilt

My project for the month of April was "Token Quilt - Progress", and that is what I started with at the beginning of my Claytons Scrub Stitchin' retreat....Over the days I worked on it, I realised it was going to be difficult to take a pile of pieced or stitched blocks and show "progress', so I aimed to finish the top.

It looks a bit wishy-washy here -
it is more colourful in real life.
The fabrics are Spring Fever & Spring Fling
by Me & My Sister with a few extras thrown in.

Why is it my "token" quilt???
Well, it is predominantly made up of various bits that I have made as a token to my enabling friends when they though I needed to make something they were making . . . .I am not one to not join in . . but there is a limit as to how much I can do and what I do with it when done.

Back in the Covid days - a group of designers gave out some designs for a project called "Love & Hugs Australia".  I stitched a number of them to coordinate with some fabrics I had - but had no real plan.
Then Scrub Stitchin' 2023 happened and Chooky proposed a pattern from Moda (Moda-Love-Layer-Cake-Quilt") - so I used those fabrics.
In March 2023, my "enabling" friends decided I should make a Sparrow quilt....I conceded and made 3 blocks - using the fabrics.   These "enabling" friends also thought I should make Antique Sampler...no thanks, not at all interested. . . .but I did take two of the EPP shapes and stitched a circle around them instead of the background being a fabric piece with the circle cut out.

I was getting close to having enough pieces to make a top . . .I drafted a design...mmm...not really working...I re-drafted it ...ugh...still not happy . . .I needed 2 more 6" pieces on all four sides...plain fabric didn't appeal . . .then - as my self imposed deadline was approaching....(pressure pressure) I figured I could add some 3 and 2 inch strips . . .

The trees are there because I like trees and had the pattern . . .

Notes:
Threads used - Solids
DMC Blanc, 03,155,317,451,518,603,647,720,798,822,838,840,988,3860,3861
Variegated
DMC 4050,4126,4502,4508.  Cosmo 8008,8055,8056 Anchor 1304,1305,1345.
Cascade House 7355,9325.  Jennifer Gail Lavendar.  Colour Streams Water Nymphs.

Clayton's Scrub Stitchin' - Day 5 (Saturday)

Over the last few days, I decided that my planned "Token Quilt - Progress" should be "Token Quilt - Finished Top".

And it is:

It needs a good iron but that will have to wait...I will get a better photo in daytime and I will do a separate post about its history.

I also cyberally joined with the Scrub Stitchin' girls for the gala dinner...although I didn't dress to match the theme...

I am out tomorrow at Sunday Stitchers as everyone starts to pack up and head home. 
I will be sewing, but not too much will be achieved...

Clayton's Scrub Stitchin' - Day 4 (Friday)

Very few distractions today... I have drafted and re-drafted the plan for my Token quilt several times....and I still wasn't convinced it was right...I had another go this morning and have come up with the final plan.

So, today I could concentrate on cutting and sewing...These are the borders that will go around the central panel ...all will be revealed...LOL

I still need to appliqué the EPP shapes to the circle backgrounds. 
I really hope I can get that done Saturday,
so it's ready for Sunday Stitchers Challenge reveal on Sunday.

I hope now the weekend is approaching, more Claytons retreaters can get some sewing done!

Clayton's Scrub Stitchin' - Day 3 (Thursday)

Well, it wasn't a very productive day. In the morning, I met up with a group of machine embroidery enthusiasts and then went shopping.

I have stitched another 6 circles, all part of the Sunday Stitchers Challenge project for April.

They look a bit boring at the moment...what will happen with them???

too boring . . .this is what they will look like

Clayton's Scrub Stitchin' - Day 2 (Wednesday)

The Scrub Stitchers will be arriving at Baradine as I start this post - lunchtime ish.
...maybe already gathering somewhere for lunch - or shopping at  The Crafters Cottage ???

The other day I made two scrappy bunnies for my Brisbane granddaughters - so today I made two blue ones for the grandsons up north.  I also decided to make one for my hairdresser's daughter - she is 4, so I am sure she will love it.

Today's lot are here:

all of them:
  

I also worked on my Token Quilt.   I spent some time (too much) working out where blocks could go and what else I needed to make it all go together.
This is my Sunday Stitchers Challenge Project for April - so I am aiming to have as much as possible done by Saturday night.

I needed to make a few adjustments to the green sparrow block before joining them all and I ironed stabiliser to 8 blocks and traced circles.  I have sewn 2 of them...

It seems everything is taking longer than I want it to...and Wednesday night I was out at Qld Quilters meeting...so just a small amount of sewing done.

Hopefully, the Scrub Stitchers are all settled now and will be ready and raring to sew up a storm on Thursday.

And hopefully the Claytons Stitchers are also sewing away...I am looking forward to posts on Mr Linky!!!

Clayton's Scrub Stitchin' - Day 1 (Tuesday)

I know, Scrub Stitichin' doesnt start til Wednesday ..late in the day I think....but I am counting my travel days as sewing days.

I couldn't spend all day sewing  - but I have finished the 2 Goat blocks that I volunteered to make (why do I do this to myself????)
They were a tad fiddly and I had several sessions with Jack the Ripper....
You know, read the directions, twice, lay out the pieces and pick them up and match the correct sides before sewing....

I also did some cross stitching whilst watching a bit of TV - 
including the Albanese/Dutton debate.  

Hope I am more productive for the other days!!!

Wednesday morning will be a tidy-up and vacuuming of the floor.
Threads are everywhere!

Claytons Scrub Stitchin' - Plans

My plan for my Claytons Scrub Stitchin'

2 x Goat Blocks

Token Quilt Progress

Drawstring bags

Sewing machine cover

Be My Neighbour - Blocks 5 and 6

RSC - Red placemat/s ~ 20 Colourwash blocks

Fish blocks - eyes, cut additional square blocks & arrange

We all know plans can be changed....

If I had been travelling to Baradine - I would have left home on Tuesday, and arrived home Sunday night or maybe late Monday, so I will count anything I work on in that period.

I do have a few things to do in that period, but will try to focus on these projects when I can.

Of course, I will need to be a little domestic and cook meals etc . . .but they will be kept simple. I better stock up on some bubbly drinks!

Boonah Outlook Retreat

Yes, you read that right—another retreat!!!!! I came home on Sunday, the 23rd March, and I went on another retreat from Friday, the 28th! I had just enough time to unpack clothes, wash them, and repack them.
Sewing projects were pretty much organised before the first retreat, so a bit of fine tuning on the supplies list...and off I went.

We met for morning tea at a local Bakery/Cafe, then shopped at the local drapery store (Maynards).  It is full of "stuff" - clothing, shoes etc - and - patchwork fabrics.   I resisted a lot of it and settled on a 30cm cut of fabric - just because.

After unloading the car, setting up tables and chairs, etc., I was looking for a simple sewing exercise, so I spent a couple of hours making pieces for Crumb Blocks for De, who will complete them in due course. I sorted her "Crumb Bag," removing all the odds and ends.

Then I thought I better get stuck into the sewing...

Firstly, I made a couple of blocks for Raewyn to make into a quilt at the upcoming Scrub Stitchin' retreat. The quilt will be donated to Macquarie Home Stay for the room that Chooky and her family raised funds for.

Then I worked on making some kid's quilt tops for our DV Charity.

These are all similar - Two with orange stitching and fabric and one with green.  Again, I have used the decorative stitches on the machine to add a touch of interest.  Theu finish at about 40" so only one width of normal fabric is needed to back them.

There wasn't much stripey fabric left by the time I got to this one.

Then I made up another tree skirt - this time in red & green and a lot larger.

I also joined my FPP Nature blocks - I don't think I posted all the blocks when I did them - I started them in April 2024 - when Scrub Stitchin' 2024 was on.

There were 9 in the pattern from Quiet Play - then I added more to make 20.  This will be the centre of a Kids Quilt for DV.

I also snuck in a bit of sashiko stitching and some crochet.

Overall, I was happy with what I got done - I had one more project that I could have worked on, but (1) I had neglected to cut enough fabric - and - (2) I spent time with De preparing some rose blocks for her to make another quilt similar to this.

 We had a lot of fun...we were all reasonably productive.  We had "group lunches" of ham cheese & tomatoes toasted sandwiches and Take-Away Chinese one night.  There were loads of sweets & treats, plenty of tea & coffee and a comfy bed.  What more could we ask for???
(well, maybe a cute porter to unload and load up our cars...LOL)

Next retreat???  Not til June . . .

Chookshed Challenge #2 - Placemats for Meals on Wheels

My #2 for the Chookshed Challenge was to make placemats to donate to Meals on Wheels.  I didn't specify a number, but wanted to use a pile of fabrics that had been lingering . . .

I made 6 of these:

and 7 of these

Thanks Deanna for hosting our challenge...it is really motivating!

Retreat at Glenrose (in the House)

Last year I went to Glenrose (House) with a group of people - some of whom I had sewed with before, some not.
The booking for 2025 had been retained but none of the other ladies were able to go this year, so I took it over and roped in the usual sewing buddies.

The booking is from Thursday at 4PM to Sunday at 2PM, so it's shorter than a "week" booking, but we're always up for a retreat.

I was able to finish the I Spy top for Montana's 2nd Birthday coming up in July.

I joined the wedges for a Christmas tree skirt.  I have a red & green one cut ready to go too - but realise I will need to make the hole in the centre bigger...so can fix that before I sew the other one.

For DV projects, I put this Coin Quilt together (the strips of "coins" had been made & hanging around for a long while).

And I put the borders on this top - which had also been hanging around for a while.

 I had been saving this for a retreat with Helen as she had a nifty way of making the mitered corners....it was quite easy!

Some of the other things that the girls worked on
Maureen made several Crowns for the border of her Chuck Nohara quilt...these are just a few..

Maureen also put together this quilt top for the DV project

Helen made a bag - the fabric is so lovely

and added the borders to this DV quilt top

Sandi made and bound 22 strip-pieced placemats, which I will give to the local Meals on Wheels group. She also experimented with finishing the binding by machine—we decided that using the Ditch foot was the most successful method.

De made another giraffe quilt top - so cute!!!

Lynda put a quilt top together - but I missed getting a photo! 

Both Helen & De made up this Quilters Retreat Panel - all the Needle Girls have one to make up by November.

Here is Helens - no picture of De's 😖

The girls are well-trained and know to save the Teabags so I can collect the strings for Jo.

No retreat would be complete without some retail therapy and there is a new shop in Warwick - so off we went.   I found a new "must have" project, as did most of us....and we spied this cute wall hanging - well, we all like the machine part...maybe not the dingle dangles.
It's a machine embroidery design so I have - of course - purchased it...(Designs by Juju..)

The booking is in place for next year.   But I have a few more retreats this year - one next weekend!!!!!, then June, August & November...I am quite the expert in planning & prepping!

Be My Neighbour - March

Continuing on with Be My Neighbour - these are the March blocks.

Fiona has posted hers here - and joined February and March to make a street...She is a funny lady!

DV Quilts

I haven't contributed much to our DV quilting efforts recently - Christmas may have interrupted it a bit and then there were a few distractions with projects that I was tempted with . . .

But here are two that I have finished off recently - both made by splitting a panel, adding fabric and an embroidered strip in the middle.   My machine has a good variety of decorative stitches, so I might as well use them!
Both tops were made at retreat last November

Here is a close up of the stitched middle panel:

Sunday Stitchers - UFO Challenge 2025 - #9 - Three vases Cross Stitch

I got very flexible with my UFO Challenge list for March....Originally #9 was "Token Quilt - Progress"...but I decided that was a big ask . . . .so I swapped it to My Small World - Finish"
- which meant pinning and then quilting it.... should be OK I thought.....
There were a few distractions .. . and I had a string of meetings and such out of the house . ..still plenty of time I thought....THEN it was predicted that we could get Tropical Cyclone Alfred landing on us . . . .so some preparation was needed . . . I put it aside....

On the 9th of March I decided, it wasn't going to happen so I swapped my #9 again . . progress on the 3 Vases Cross Stitch would have to do...

Here is where I got to last time - & funnily enough it was project #9 last year - it was meant to be!!!

and now it's looking like this:

It's a bit like "Spot the Difference"!!!   LOL

Stitching the pink flower is tedious as the pattern is only in black and white and it is hard to discern the backstitch lines from the chart and symbols.....the stitching in the background is far more pleasurable...Anyway some progress was made , . . . on it goes...
More may happen later this year...

Tropical Cyclone Alfred

Fortunately, Tropical Cyclone Alfred turned into a Tropical Low before it really hit our area, though a lot of SE Qld has had damage, power loss, etc. At one point, over 300,000 customers were without power, some for days. Luckily, our power loss was short-lived—only 12 hours—so there was no food loss and no major inconvenience.
We had put bags of water in place along the doors leading to our pergola area in the hope of preventing any buildup of water seeping under the doors....

For those overseas...this cyclone could have been named Anthony - but Alfred was chosen instead.
We are due for Federal Elections very soon - our current Prime Minister is Anthony Albanese....it was decided to use Alfred for this one instead...to "avoid confusion". 
I suspect it was more like - so that the combination "Anthony &/or Cyclone" couldn't be used together....LOL
Whichever party wins, we won't end up in the mess that another country has...not mentioning any names.
 

Floral Fun - March

The March deadline was to make 2 more Unit 1 pieces. 

RSC 2025 March - Yellow

Yellow is a hard one for me - I do not have a lot of yellow (or red or orange).  But I raided the strip collection and made two placemats - luckily someone had recently gifted me some fabrics they no longer wanted and there were a few larger yellow pieces so that helped with the backings and bindings of these.

Then I used the left over strips to start on the colourwash blocks.  I had to cut some pieces from my very limited stash of yellow.  I ended up with 24, so it will do for now.

NOTE - UPDATE
The problem I was having where I wasn't getting emails when you comment. seems to have been resolved.,...I am blaming the cyclone!

Be My Neighbour - February

A while back...in 2024....I saw a quilt called Be My Neighbour - a freebie from Moda  . . .and I no longer remember how it came to be that both Fiona and I decided to make it.

I drew up a plan for us to follow - to keep it simple, I spread it over a year or so - we both have numerous other projects to work on.  So, basically, it is 2 blocks a month - 16 in all.  And we gave January a miss!

At some stage I found this picture of it:

And I've decided to follow the general colour scheme....not my normal way to go...but it will save a lot of "umming and aahing" over fabric selection.

They are big blocks - Block 1 is 18" x 18" and #2 is 15" x 18".
I can already anticipate that Fiona will do a great job of quilting hers...mine??   - we will we'll see...

February blocks are done:  (They were finished before the end of February - the post is a bit late.)

Fiona is working with Tilda fabrics and hers are here.

Luka's Birthday Presents

DD1 suggested a new book pillow for Luka for his birthday - and a new hooded towel.  His current love is Spiderman (aka Spidey).

I got some Spiderman fabric from Spotlight - and some plain red & a blue blender and made this:

Then I needed to tackle the hooded towel.  I don't have one here to work from, so found a You Tube and some written instructions, combined the two and made this:

The You Tube I watched included some fabric binding which would have made it very "Spiderman-ish", but I was concerned that over time the fabric would wear away, so I decided on appliquing some of the images and Luka's name.

We watched Luka opening his presents...after checking out the towel he placed in on the table and rested his head on it "very soft" he said.

Seems he was happy with his pillow, towel, book and light we sent him.
Happy Birthday Luka!