Christmas ??? Already???

A group of sewing friends planned a lunch for Sunday 30th October - then someone said "Is it a Christmas Get-together?" 
Well, it wasn't likely we would find another date, so we decided yes it was a "Christmas" meeting.

We decided to have a quick swap - a tea towel, a treat & a decoration - bought or handmade.

I gave these (plus a Lindt Koala) 

and I received these - the crochet work on the tea towel is lovely 

- with a silvery thread through it.

Some gave presents

I received these - coincidentally two of the group bought similar coasters!  A lovely gold sparkly tree and a set of Santa lights.  Very nice.

I gave everyone an angel (as I always do), but I don't want to show it yet . . . sorry, you will have to wait.

I don't think I have any more Christmas events til December ... probably a good thing!

KQ - Christmas 2020

Time for the second sewing Christmas gettogether....I haven't posted about #1 yet as there "might" be stuff that I want to keep hidden for now . . LOL

The KQ group celebrated the end of year / Christmas with lunch at the Tingalpa Hotel.

We had decided (mid-October so not much time to do anything special) for a gift that we would use a gift bag and put the following in it;  a treat, 1 metre of lace, braid, or ribbon, a fat quarter, a reel of thread and a Christmas decoration.   

I gave these:

We did a random draw - and I was so lucky to get my gift from Pat.

She gave me these;

• An angel decoration
• Blue/green/purple fabric
• Purple thread
• Colourful butterfly braid
• and my treat - a hand made rope bowl

I suspect that if Pat had known who her gift would go to - she wouldn't have changed anything....I'm very happy with my loot!
(And lunch was excellent too.)

Happy sewing/preparing to everyone.
I'm still in "stress" mode....my To Do list is sorted by Date Required.

Back to it!

Final April Finishes (24)

I have a bumper crop of crochet squares this month.  Normally I hand them over to Maria at Sunday Stitchers and use that as my "End of Month" marker - but Maria wasn't there last time, so I've kept them and added a few more since last weekend.

And I have made another two sets of pedal mat, scrap bucket and coaster for more birthday gifts at KQ.  They were gifted last Sunday so I can show them now.

Happy Sewing everyone

Some Finishes in April (7)

I join in with Kris who has continued running OPAM, so am claiming these as April finishes.  I had kept some of them under wrap as they were gifts or were waiting for the "right" time to show them.

Firstly two sets of foot pedal mat, scrap bucket & coaster - for Birthday gifts for members of KQ Girls.

Last year at Baradine - I received a bundle of flannel scraps as a mystery gift.  Never one to shy away from a challenge...LOL....I decided they had to become some sort of a quilt.  The sizes of the bits were quite random, so I cut 2.5" and 4.5" squares and made 4.5" blocks from the 2.5" ones and then set about trying to organise them,...It is probably not as symmetrical as I would like - but I ended up with only one 4.5" square left over.  I found the brown check flannel at a cheap price and - again - probably not my first choice - but it went well enough with the other fabrics.
Voila - a quilt!

 and I also bought this flannel for the back - really love this one!

DD2 loves monkeys so I might keep this one

...in case...one day...maybe...(no pressure Bec!)

Also last year at Baradine we received a kit to make a tote bag - a lovely stitchery of the logo was included and a charm pack...as well as some EPP shapes.   I started off with gluing the EPP shapes at retreat....but upon consideration,decided a tote bag was not really my thing - so I made a zippy pouch, a scrap bucket, a coaster and a pin cushion.   I used some of the fabrics on the back of the zippy pouch.   I still have a number of covered EPP pieces.....they may be sitting around for a while....maybe a needle book????

At Baradine this year - one of my projects was to make a Jelly Roll race quilt.  This jelly roll was gifted to me by a friend, so I thought it was only fair to "pay it forward" and this top will go off to a group who make quilts for charity groups - so a finish in my eyes!

My swap present for this year was a scrap bucket, pin cushion, coaster and a machine foot pedal mat...I do like to repeat myself....LOL

I have also finished a baby quilt for the daughter of a friend.  This pattern is so quick and easy - I can see a few more in my future.....

So, I will count that as 7 finishes so far...

not too bad I think and there will also be a pile of crochet blocks to add after Sunday
HOWEVER, 

none of these are on my SS UFO list...for that I am woefully behind . . .

Heart Blocks

We are all very aware of the the terror attack that happened in Christchurch recently.
And most of you would know that a group have organised themselves to gather blocks from people (from around the world) to make into quilts for the victims' families, the survivors and the first responders.
You can read about it here.

I suggested to my fellow KQ sewers, that we could make some blocks to add to the collection.  It was a very hot day and a few people already had other commitments, so we only had a few people - but we manged to make 27 applique heart blocks and 4 pieced blocks - I still have one to finish off.  I will trim the applique blocks, which I will do over the weekend.

and - luckily enough -
one of the Baradine gang is from NZ and is happy to take them back - no postage!

A Good Day's Work

Today was a KQ Girls sewing day - we have switched to one Saturday and one Sunday a month.
I needed a machine sewing project and decided to take along the 21/2" scrappy squares that I plan to make into a male charity quilt.  I made one (finished off a long term project) back in September 2016 - here - and sometime after that I decided I should make a male one, as most charities get a lot of girly stuff. 
So I have been sewing leaders and enders with that in mind.   I had about 18 strips already made that were 32 squares long and another pile that were 20 - and more that I had made into sets of 4....so today I got all the smaller bits and joined and added  . .  .I now have 46 strips of 32 squares.  I haven't decide how many rows I will put into each quilt - but I'm sure I have enough for two quilts now.. 

I do this as my leaders and enders because I use different machines and the seam allowance is not always the same and on top of that, it is fast because I don't need to worry about matching all the seams - I don't want them to become another UFO.

In an earlier post I mentioned how this group had done some mini tutorials and we made numerous blocks with the idea of making a few quilts for charity.

One quilt had been put together but we were missing the side borders..and we had almost the right number of blocks to make up another quilt.  I bought some bright pink on a recent shopping expedition and finished the borders on #1 , made two more big hearts and put #2 together.  I to\k them along today to show the gang and they are off to someone else for quilting and gifting.

Tonight I thought I better make a start on joining the Winnie the Pooh hexies - I'm sure this baby won't be waiting for me to finish the quilt...but I don't want the child to be 6 months old when I'm finished....I've been putting these together by machine...it is fiddly - it is not quick...but it seems to be working...and - for me - with a finger still recovering - it is much much quicker...   (tedious...but music is going in he background).

So, not bad for a day's work.
And I still have Sunday to go!

FNSI - January

Thanks Wendy - and hi everyone whos is visiting via FNSI !!!

I had plans to get more done - but DD2 dropped in for a visit, so dinner was late and sewing was late!!

I'm a bit restricted in what I can do, due to my operation on my right index finger....but I'm doing hat I can.
I've drawn diagonal on these fabric squares ready to strip piece - I'm joining in with a String Quiltalong so trying to get prepared.

You really have to look - but there is a line across that block.

I put side borders on a quilt that my KQ Girls group have put together to give to a charity, (no picture yet - it needs an iron) and I joined sets of two of these hexie flowers ready to be made into 12" blocks.  

These will be teamed with some foundation paper hearts and 4 12" crazy patch hearts.
During 2018, we had a series of mini-tutorials - where whoever had done a technique shared their skills with anyone else who was interested.  We used pink and white fabrics - with some green.
Some more photos later on.

So, not so much done...but any progress is good.

Many thanks to Wendy for continuing FNSI into 2019.  I've said it many times before - but it's great motivation to sew and also to post on my blog - which in turn becomes a great reference point for when I wonder..."when did I start this???"

Go here to find links to the other 28 FNSIers!!!

KQ Christmas Meeting

This year we decided to celebrate Christmas at a local hotel - we were able to hire a room and eat meals from the dining room.

Margaret and HIlda did a great job decorating the table and organising some games.

We also had a coupe of craft projects - we made a tree from ribbon and beads

and we made lolly trees.

Each year we have a themed swap - this year the theme was "Door" - so it had to be anything related to a door - a door decoration, a door stopper, one present was a wall hanging with  a door image.  I was a very slack photographer and didn't take nay pictures...even forgot to take a picture of the one I made....but we did all have a lot of fun - and it was very easy and comfortable being in the hotel.

I gave everyone an angel and also gave Pat a special gift - she is our chief coordinator - keeper of the key to the room we go to and I thought she would like this:

I also made these two trees for the children of one of our group

Another fun year wrapped up!

KQ Girls Wrap Up

Another Christmas Party!!

This is a smaller group I go to in the Wynnum area.  We decided this year we would each make a bon-bon and fill it with 5 sewing related things.

Here is the collection:

This is the one I received:

I love it - I use blue & silver in one area of my house 

for Christmas decorations - it is made from organza.

and here is the one I made:

A few of the girls make a small present for everyone:

A lovely handmade card with a quilted fabric tree, and a hexie decoration
A hand towel for the kitchen.
And a bookmark:

For most of the day we wore those as decorations...(not a mad bunch at all!)

I have planned a "veg out and read" day during my Christmas break - so this will be very handy.

We had a lovely time - plenty of chicken, salads and pudding to eat.  We even played games and we each received a surprise present - a handy storage box.
So that is the end of another fun year...

Weekend Sewing

Well, firstly there was Friday night (with Friends) for Sewing...
Then there was the first Saturday of the month for my #1 Patchwork Group where 6 of us sewed chatted & laughed our way through the day.
I worked on the stitchery I got ready the night before:

Then there was the second Sunday of the month - #2 Patchwork Group.  Because it is a long weekend we decided to have an extended day, so we  sewed, chatted & laughed our way through the day from 9.30am to 9.00 pm.. One of the hubbys cooked dinner for us and brought it down to where we were sewing - beautiful lamb and beef dishes with rice, followed by a chocolate & strawberry cake from the Cheesecake shop...yummo...I don't think I need to eat for a week...

Every year we make something to decorate one of the local libraries (Carina)  - last year we did decorated bras..this year we have made bunting - a few were hanging up today so I decided to snap a picture or two.

This one shows the crochet triangles - we all think they look like a 1960's bikini!
Margaret sewing away, HIlda and Anne trying to un-tangle a ball of wool

Two strips here - top one will probably go in the Childrens Corner at the library
And the bottom one will be used at Christmas time ...duh!...and will probably get some gold stars added

During the day I helped with another strip of bunting- which will show the name of our group. 
I also put together 4 blocks for the June BOM for Aussie Hero Quilts and did some more work on my North Pole blocks.

These blocks are sent to the coordinator
who then re sorts them all into collections
and volunteers make them into quilts for the service men and women.

Sunday night - time for a machine clean and new needle - but a great weekend all round - and bonus - no work Monday!   Might be able to squeeze in a bit more sewing...?????