No Fuss Swap

I rarely go in swaps - I diddle daddle over what to make,  I am short of time and I am a bit put off by the tradition of  putting in "extras"....how much ???...what???

So, when the No Fuss Swap was born I decided to give it a try.  It is a NO FUSS swap - no extras - any extras and you are kicked out...so they say...

The first No Fuss Swap was an Easter themed mug rug, a fat quarter and a small treat...But I still deliberated a long time before deciding on this one.

I made this for Jan (aka Little Red Hen) and she probably has so many variations of little red hens...but I made it anyway.
All reports indicate that she really does love it - thanks Jan.

I received this lovely egg shaped mug rug from Rell, a lovely purple fat quarter and some Quality Street chocolates - I haven't had one of those for ages!!...I may have eaten one before the picture was taken...only one.

I wasn't supposed to open the present yet - but some others have and I will be down in Nundle on Friday - the official opening day - so I've given in.
So, if you are interested in a NO Fuss Swap - they seem to come along quite quickly...pop over here and see whats going on.  (Sorry - only in Australia...postage is a killer!)
You do need to be a blogger so we can get an idea of what to make or gift.

Thanks to Sandi, Helen, Teresa & Noreen for getting this idea off the ground.

FNWF - March

Always lovely to be sewing with cyber friends - great way to finish the week.

I am still working on secret stuff so here is a small glimpse...

Wonder what it will become??

Thanks to our lovely hostess - Cheryll -  it's always a fun party!!  Pop over here to visit the other party goers.

February Finishes

Well, it's the last day of the month - and I should be clocking up some finishes - for OPAM, Sew Its Finished and Aunt Marti's UFO Parade.

I did finish the little mini hanging earlier (here), and I have two more finishes....but one is the GDITC Sewing day project and one is my Nature's Journey quilt and I want to keep them under wraps.

But the good news is that I already have 2 finishes that I will be able to show in March and I will have the GDITC blog swap item done too.

In the meantime I am doing The Splendid Sampler along with 7000+ patchworkers from all over the world....I am not up to date - but as Pat Sloan keeps reminding us - IT'S NOT A RACE!!!  (Just as well - otherwise I'd drop out right now!)

Happy Sewing everyone - to all the GDITC girls - can't wait to meet up again.

FNSI - February

To top off a full on sewing week - I enjoyed the company of many cyber friends for FNSI - hosted by Wendy.

I relaxed on the recliner, put the TV on and stitched.

These pre printed stitcheries from Best Friends Forever are so handy when you want to just get on with it - all I need is parlan, needle, thread and scissors.

Glenrose Retreat 2016

I have had 3 wonderful sewing days with the Tuesday Girls and friends - De, Noela & Jenny.
We started with a delightful morning tea.

Not my photo - I didn't have any cream.

Then unpacked and sorted ourselves.
I had done a lot of preparation and I had a "Plan".

#1 - The borders for 3 blocks of Bluebird Lane - I still have the appliqueing to do - and the third block is missing a bit (since I mis-cut and didn't bring the fabrics) but done as per the Plan!

#2 - Splendid Sampler block - mine is in the middle of the photo.

       All of us ended up making a block.

Sandi made one but loved Teresa's so much she made

       a second one in similar fabrics.
And it's good she made two since we could then form a 3 x 3 square.

#3 - "My Town" - this was a BOM in Homespun  in 2011. I had chosen to do only 4 blocks and found this great house fabric that I wanted to use as the border. The blocks have been "almost finished" for quite some time but needed putting together.  I decided on an attic window pattern.

There are a lot of decorations to be added (felt flowers, buttons etc)

especially to the "Florist" block.

#4 - Quilt my Christmas Quilty Fun quilt.  I did some of the vertical lines and then started on the tree - but really I don't like quilting much - and there wasn't a lot of space so I stopped & packed it away.

#5 - The Bridesmaids Quilts. I sewed the borders onto each block that I took.   Still a long way to go on this ...but getting there slowly...

#6 - Christmas Runner.  Maureen had gifted me some lovely gold Christmas fabric which I decided to turn into a simple runner - I was able to get some more coordinating fabric from the shop so I made the runner.   I was going to start quilting it (it's only small) but couldn't find my masking tape and it was late so I just made the runner.

#7 - The Anni stitchery for my GDITC swap.  I worked on that - almost done.  Here's a bit of it...

My almost 'done' plan:

It was a wonderful time - everyone got a lot done despite time out for a trip to Warwick Garden Centre for lunch .....

and a trip into town to shop at Canning Town Patchwork and morning tea at Brysons.

Thanks to those from whom I pinched photos.
I do feel lucky to be able to join in with this group in February - though we could wish for cooler weather.

How many sleeps until Glenrose 2017???

A Little Project

In 2011 Jenny Elefantz gave a free pattern for "Give Thanks" wall hanging and minis to hang on it.  I made the wall hanging and several of the minis and gifted it to DD1.
She asked me for one for Easter - and gave me a drawing and words.  Arty friend Maureen made a few changes and I sewed.

The original wall hanging is here.

My oldest UFO

Back in 1988, I went to the first NSW Quilt Guild's Quilt Symposium held in Armidale NSW. It was the first of its kind and a group of us spent four days(??) doing various classes from a wide range of tutors.
One of the classes I did was machine quilting - using a walking foot - we had to pre-prepare a panel and in the class we quilted.  This was all before fabric markers that vanished, so it seems we marked in pencil.  I finished the panel at the time and it has been sitting / hiding ever since.(One interstate move and one house move)

In 2011 I joined up with Sew Its Finished and Marti's Challenge of 12 projects in a year and it was to be one of the projects that I completed that year.  When the time came I couldn't find that dratted piece anywhere...(must have had a "tidy up" binge!!)...So I found another project.

Finally, it's a cushion

FNSI - January

Reporting in for FNSI  - I did some tracing and some cutting...not much to show - but here is some of it.

And I played around with the bits I cut - but keeping it under wraps for now.

I hope everyone else had a fun time - and got lots done.
Thanks to Wendy for hosting !!

FNWF - January

Friday Night Sewing with Friends - 
Not just Friday Night - Saturday and Sunday as well.....two of my groups met this weekend - what a way to finish off my Annual Leave!
Friday Night saw me preparing for Saturday sewing.
So I traced onto vliesofix and ironed so I could cut on Saturday...here is part of it

and then I decided to start some hexies for the same project:

By Sunday Night I had sewn all but one of the hexies together.

(If you recognise what this is for - don't panic - I am not nearly as far ahead as it looks!!!)

It's wonderful to be back to FNWF - thanks Cheryll for continuing this for another year!

Mrs Beasley's Sampler

I've finished Block #3

So, OK Leanne (Beasley...) it would be OK to publish Block 4 anytime soon. . . thanks!!!

One more off the Holiday To Do List.