Chookshed Challenge - #8 - February - Trains Trucks & Tractors - Progress

My eldest daughter has two boys (just 7 and 3.5).  They are typical boys - love trucks, construction vehicles, garbage trucks and any sort of vehicle really.

She saw this quilt pattern and thought I could make it for the boys....I am not getting into the "one quilt for two boys" scenario...I've discussed it with her - it will be her issue...LOL).  They don't use quilts on their beds as they live in Townsville.

And in case you want to be enabled....its available here.
Or in your Local Quilt Shop - an Australian Designer (Chris Hill).

Last October, when she was here, she did a quick raid on my fabrics and selected some that she thought would be good.  A starting point at least.

I put this one on my Chookshed Challenge so that I would make a start - probably good it came up early in the year...there is a lot of tracing and cutting before the applique starts..

Like her mother, "Patterns are just a guide" - she wants it narrower - and she doesn't want blocks - she wants rows!  I will make the train the full width of the finished top and put two vehicles on each row for the rest of the top.  We already have a panel to put on the back, so that is my guide for width.

This is my small amount of progress - creating the excavator and train.   I may make all the vehicles before I start putting them on strips for the backgrounds.  Mostly it will be sky and road or grass (for the tractor), or train tracks (thinking black & white stripes).

I plan to add "Townsville branded" garbage and recycling trucks. When I get some photos.

As a side note, I have long thought that it would be handy to have a light box that I could iron on....Sometimes when I move my carefully placed pieces to the ironing board/mat, they move, even if I use one of those silicone mats.
I recently purchased a cheap A4 sized light box as the A3 one is sometimes too big for the space I am working in (and I can take it to retreats without too much hassle)....and recently Aldi had a pack of 2 glass cutting boards.
I have been able to construct these pieces using the cutting board over the light box and feel happy to leave the iron there long enough to fix the bits in place....I wouldn't leave it too long, but it's enough so that the pieces don't move.   The packaging does say not to use it on a direct heat source...so I best be a bit careful!

Thanks Deana for continuing the Chookshed Challenge for 2026.  It really helps me make sure I do what ever it is that I should be doing, and it binds the whole Chooky tribe together.

Still not getting my comments to emails, so I can't reply to everyone, though I am trying!!!   (Yes, my husband will say very trying.)

Birthday Flowers - January

During December, I worked on a Cross Stitch SAL - the design was a mystery, and there were 80 stitches to do each day....Easy Peasy ...kind of...in December?? When life is already busy enough??

I didn't get around to finishing it off for Christmas 2025 -
The last pattern arrived on Christmas Day or Christmas Eve,..LOL

BUT to continue the saga

A few of us (De & Helen) were doing the same project...you know...."enablers" both of them!
AND the designer (Anna) offers a yearly membership which includes free patterns and also three of her "for sale" patterns for free.  So, I signed up for a year.

In 2026, the monthly project is Birthday Flowers.  I have finished January - a bit late....of course....

Helen purchased some stretchy frames from that place overseas ...and kindly gave De & me one each - and then kindly framed mine - just to show how easy it was...LOL   (not really).


Anna's designs can be found here.

or her facebook group is  Artmishka Cross Stitch. Designer Anna Gutova.
Just in case you are tempted....(don't blame me though)

Sunday Stitchers - Challenge #5 - Temperature Tree

Early January 2025, I decided to make a Temperature Tree in Cross Stitch after seeing this pattern.

Designed by Sarah Huges for Stitchin' Mommy.
Available on Etsy.

Friend De also wanted to do it  . . . and after my blog post, a number of people hopped on board the Temperature Tree bus.
I created a Facebook Messenger group so we could all share our progress, ask questions etc...and complain about temperatures....LOL
We had members in Far North Queensland, Western Australia, Victoria, New Zealand and also Denice in Michigan, USA.  (Of course, hers was so different !)

De found a blank calendar that I used to record the temperatures and generally I tried to work on it for FNwF and FNSI....(well, I tried...)

I planned around our maximums going from 15 to 34.

AI tells me:

Brisbane experiences a warm subtropical climate with average 

annual daily maximum temperatures generally 

ranging between 21C in July to 30C in January & February.

Just goes to show you cannot always believe AI!!!

2025 gave us a COLD (for Brisbane) maximum of 17 in June and a VERY HIGH maximum of 39 in October.....I had to find more colours for 35, 36 and I had to group 37 and above.

Most people added a legend to show what colour represented what temperature, so  I did that too.

I decided to add fabric borders 

Strictly speaking, this was meant to be the January project for Sunday Stitchers....but.... "extenuating circumstances" prevented that happening. . . . .

NOTE: Comments are not coming to my email at the moment, so my replies may be delayed or they may look a bit weird compared to normal....

Sunday Stitchers - Project Challenge - #7 - Blue & Silver Tree Skirt

The February Challenge Number for Sunday Stitchers was #7 - to finish one of the tree skirts I made here. (March 2025...not too long ago!)

This is for a small white tree, so I made it about 22" in diameter.

I have a red & green one to finish too....that is in my Chookshed Challenge List...LOL

Chookshed Challenge - # 3 -January

Running very late.   Without going into detail, life here has been a bit chaotic - since late December - and I am claiming "extenuating circumstances" for the delay.

Last December at our SHLIMS Christmas meeting - Sue gave us each a mug with our initial on it.  Someone suggested we bring the mugs each month and that it would be good to have a mug bag to put it in.

The mug:

So, of course, mine needed to be matchy-matchy and the mug bag was created.
I had a friend digitise an "S" to match the logo on the mug.   And of course, a coaster was needed.

 

I keep a separate bag for each of the groups I go to - it's a handy place to put things I need to remember to take....and I didn't have a SHLIMS bag.
Now I do:

A while back, I thought it would be fun to add a tag to each bag. The bags are all different, and I don't really need an identifier on each one, but I made these for the other bags.

Too many groups??? Yes, you are right - in fact, there is one more, so I will make a tag for that the next time I am in machine embroidery mode.

Now I'd best get on with my February challenge project...trying to catch up!