Chookshed Challenge #9 - Fishy Business - Top

My RSC project for 2024 was to make fish blocks with the aim of finishing them for a DV donation quilt.

Wanting it to progress to at least a top stage...I gave it #9 on the Chookshed Challenge list.

The top is finished - I think I have managed to turn some of my fish upside down...so it's a very unregulated school of fish!

It's fate is "under advisement".  My husband thinks it would make a good raffle quilt at his Mens Shed....

Only 3 projects to go - what number will Deanna find for August??

Christmas in July at Queensland Quilters

I go to the nighttime meetings of Queensland Quilters.  This July, the organisers decided to have a Christmas postcard swap.

I made this one:

A machine embroidery design.

and received this one - "Three Wise Cats"

In December, we have decided to do another postcard swap - this time with the theme "Winter in Queensland".
mmm....still thinking about that  . . .we don't get snow - we have had a cooler than normal winter, but still not really cold...a cup of soup?, a scarf?, a thermometer showing the lowest and highest temperatures?  Ideas gratefully accepted.

RSC 2025 July - Purple

Purple!!!    An easy colour for me...
I didn't have too many pre-cut strips, so I tackled the purple drawer.  I cut placemat backings, bindings & strips from some older fabrics that I had collected many years ago as part of a subscription to AP&Q.  Then I cut strips from most of the fabrics in the drawer and did a general tidy up.  For once, the drawer is not chock-a-block!!!

I ended up with 6 placemats

and 28 colourwash blocks

Next month is Aqua (I may include teal).

Montana's Quilt - RSC 2023

In 2023 - for RSC - I chose to make I Spy blocks...I made two of each month's colour with the plan that they would be the quilts for the two younger grandchildren when they turned 2.

It is now Montana's turn to get hers...

I found this fabulous Red Tractor fabric at Shelley's at Warwick.   
As Montana has cows in the yard where she lives, it seemed appropriate!

Milo's quilt (very similar) is posted here.

At the moment there are 4 grandchildren and they each have an I Spy quilt.  It's unlikely there will be more...so I will need to start thinking about other quilts for when they are older.

Cross Stitch Summer & Winter Shops

Starting mid-2023 - Spruce Craft Co presented Little Summer Shops and then followed it up with Little Winter Shops.  Of course I was tempted.  Both were a Block of the Month project and I think mostly I stayed up to date.

I finished them both and put them together in January this year.  So I thought it was time to get  them onto the blog...

Now there is Little Christmas Shops.....so, yep, I had to sign up for that!!!

More Beach Houses

Natalie Bird has produced a stitchery panel - "Sunkissed Sojourn".  It features beach scenes - and the bottom stitchery was 3 Beach Houses....well, of course I HAD to have it....and I re-discovered it recently.

Not sure if I will use the other designs...but the Beach Houses were quick!

DMCs used:
30, 32, 304, 704, 725, 797, 799, 891, 893, 894, 3847, 3851.

 
"

Be My Neighbour - July

I am working on this quilt with the fabulous Fiona - and she is always finished before me . . .but this time I was first cab off the rank.   No, it's not a race...it just suited me to work on this project and get Blocks 11 & 12 done.   (12/16 blocks done = 75%)

Block 11 was 6 separate small houses - so I selected some fabrics that represented things I like.  (Trees, Pansies, Sydney, Sewing Machine, Beach Houses and Family.)

Edited to add - Janet O said they are like windows to my soul.

  

 I will link up with Fiona - when she finally gets to these blocks...LOL.....just kidding Fiona!

RSC 2025 June - Orange

The colour for June was Orange.  There weren't too many "scraps" in the container, but after a bit of cutting to make scraps, I managed to get enough to make 25 Orange Colourwash blocks, which I made on retreat last week.

and 4 placemats.

Ready for RSC - July . . .what will it be???

Oh!!!   I just checked - Purple!!!    my favourite.

Chookshed Challenge #5 - Mini House

Bestie Maureen gifted this to me in 2022 as part of an Advent Swap we did.
So, I thought it was time to get it done - it didn't really take long once I started.

And ready for Christmas!

Glad to have Chookshed Challenge #5 project done & dusted - thanks Deanna for keeping us on track!

Sunday Stitchers - UFO Challenge - #7 - Progress on Willowbrook

My #7 Challenge for Sunday Stitchers was "progress" on my Willowbrook top....

I started it back in September 2019 - here
I worked on it on and off over a period of time - By April 2020 - here - I had them finished.
Then in November 2020 - here - I started putting them together
No idea when I had finished that job.

So, I needed to add the borders and had decided I would applique the hexie edges by hand.  Before that I needed to turn under the 1/4" as these had been hand pieced...not EPP method.
I ironed under the 1/4" and tacked them.  Then I cut 6.5" wide strips and pinned the edges

It didn't take as long as I had thought so have finished the top.

Here are a couple of the stitcheries....gotta love the cows.

I know how I want it quilted....just need to work up the enthusiasm....might be a SS Challenge project for 2026.

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 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....

          

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.