Esk Retreat - Zippy Pouch Swap

At the Esk retreat last year (at Twilight2Twilight) - we decided for 2023 that we would make a swap present - we wrote our name and fabric choices on a piece of paper and we each drew a name.

My giftee was Tracey B (there are two Traceys in a group of 6!!!) and she noted: "Lori Holt, Kaffe, Bright".

I went with Kaffe Fasset.

I added a matching pincushion.

It's a long story - the recipient ended up being Donna 

and she also loves bright & colourful.
She was very happy with her pouch.

My swap partner was Maureen and she made me this lovely pouch.

Plenty of room for a project - it's long but easily folds over - and the pattern can sit in the clear pouch so I know what is inside. . .

And, it just so happens to match a needlebook that she gifted to me in our Christmas Advent Swap . . . funny coincidence......or not.

She also included the left over fabric, so I can make something else that matches!

Thanks to all the girls for making this a fun swap.

I will do a separate post about what I sewed.

Sunday Stitchers - Sisterhood project

A while back, the Sunday Stitchers group (well a number of us...the NON BORING ones...) decided to take part in a group swap project.  We had two groups of friends - and each person had to make 8 identical blocks - one to keep and 7 to give.  We were to then turn it into a finished item of our choice.

The project that we chose was this one:
https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin/309059593185153462/

We set some rules - the backgrounds were to be low volume - white, the dress was something that represented us...and we added our names.

So I made my blocks - we swapped them late last year   (November maybe???) and by the February meeting, we were to have the finished project done.

I've been wanting a larger bag to take to SS for a while, so decided my block should become the new bag.  and I had some "Paris Cats" fabric that was just sitting around...so used it to make the bag.

I added the tag that was attached to my last SS bag - it reads:

Mess with my bag
and I'll
Rip Your Seams Out.

RSC - March

I was able to scrape up enough green I Spy fabrics to make my two blocks.
(Thanks to friend Inca)

Finishing & posting them early as I have a busy month and don't want to get caught out.

FNWF - March

Today I had a FDWF and a FNWF.  Yes, a Day of sewing, crafting, eating, laughing and celebrating De's Birthday followed by Night time sewing with cyber friends.

During the day, I added cording to these drawstring bags which I had made earlier.
.

Helen has them now - ready for filling & dispensing.   a Quick charity project - 18 in all.

Then I did some sashiko on my tree panel 

and after a while - put it aside and did some crochet.

Tonight, the usual Better Homes & Gardens TV show and some more on the tree panel.

A few of us had been wondering what the RSC colour was for March - so I brazenly emailed Angela and received the reply in time for some cutting tonight.

My friend Inca is bringing her I Spy fabrics to our sewing meeting on Saturday (Yes, another one) and hopefully she has some greens I can add to fill in the gaps.

Yes, the colour is Green (For St Patricks's Day???)

During the show/crochet time, there were a lot of messages back and forth about a project that one of the group had decided on and we were all gradually being drawn in (or is that sucked in???)... Wait & see.  . . .I will just review my long list of UFOs & Planned Projects and hopefully talk myself out of it.
In case you are curious the discussions centered around this pattern:
https://penandpaperpatterns.com/en-au/products/pdf-sparrows-quilt-pattern

Thanks Cheryll for hosting - and happy sewing to all who were able to join in.

RSC - February

I may have done my January block early - not so for February though.

While I was thinking about how I plan to use the blocks as an I Spy quilt for grandchild #3 - I realised I may as well make two of each - and be prepared for grandchild #4 who is due mid-year.

So, I made another blue one:

and two pink ones:

Although I am using almost the same fabrics for both blocks, I tried to vary it up a bit in the sizes and locations of each.

Wonder what colour is next??

Some More Placemats

I have finished off the placemats I started at FNSI earlier this month.

6 pretty pink ones to go to Meals on Wheels.

I had fun picking some of the decorative stitches - in particular this one that varies in width and alternates between left & right.   I was concerned about the amount of thread left so didn't do every row using that stitch...but I will remember it for another time.

Crochet Blocks - January & February (13)

My production of crochet blocks seems to have slowed down since I stopped working (ummm....)

But I had this little pile (13) ready for handing over to Maria.  She has a new group that these go to now - KCD (Knit Crochet Donate)

ABC Book ~ Alphabet Book

This is the 7th ABC book I have made.   When I look back at the first one - for Luka - it is quite simple - generally one or two images per letter.

These days they are a lot more interesting (I hope) and full of images.

I do enjoy making them - and I now have a few "buddies" who are making them too.

Here is the latest one for Milo - Luka's brother.

FNSI - February -> Sewing Weekend

As our hostess Wendy was in town, along with Shez, (aka Sheryl Scholte), I organised a morning tea/lunch for those in Brisbane who know them.
Mostly, this was the Sunday Stitchers group - but some other friends of Wendy's were there - Ann & Pami.  And we were very lucky that Marilyn was able to bring Fiona down from the mountain!
So, it was quite a crowd - chatting, laughing & eating!

Friday Night for the official FNSI - I did some crochet and ended up finishing this block.

Then I sewed the binding onto his quilt...more on that in a future post.

Saturday I joined Chooky for a Zoom meeting for a few hours and started the hand-sewing part of the binding.

Sunday was our Sunday Stitchers meeting, so more sewing, chatting, laughing & eating - again with Wendy & Shez.  It's so good that their trip here coincided with Sunday Stitchers.

A busy weekend sewing wise...but a lot of fun to welcome two friends to Brisbane.

FNWF - February

Time to gather with cyber friends for a night/ day/time of sewing / crafting.

Recently a friend gave me several bags of fabrics to donate to SS for our charity efforts - 7 bags in all!
I had sorted through them and was able to pass most of it along to Helen for storage.  I kept some pink fabric - there was some of that pre-quilted with poly wadding (very thin) fabric that I didn't think would be good for a quilt...and some other pink cottons.

Helen suggested placemats...so I cut the quilted fabric and the tone on tone pink to approx 13 x 18, pinned them together and using a pale pink thread, sewed along some of the quilting lines.  (Interestingly the manufactured quilting is not very straight!).  Then I flipped them over and with a reel of variegated pink & green thread left over from an old quilt, I used a few of the decorative stitches on my machine to stitch over the lines I had done.

So far (Saturday night)  I have added binding to two of them (some left over that Helen had) and I still have some more patterned pink to use on the rest of them.

These will be donated to Meals on Wheels when I have them finished.

This shows the pre quilted fabric - quite pretty

and the decorative stitches I used.

Hope everyone was able to be a bit productive - or at least were able to do something they enjoyed.

Thanks Cheryll for hosting...it encourages me to sew & post on my blog.
A goal for 2023 is to improve my blog posts and blog reading.