Stringalong 2019 (March)

Time to show our progress on our Stringalong blocks - not a lot of progress for me - but I did whip up 7 more . . .

 and the backs:

I am joining in with Lori over here:

Saturday Sewing

I love all my sewing groups - Loose Threads, KQ Girls, Sunday Stitchers, SIMS...but it does mean I am out at least one day of each weekend - UNLESS there are 5 weekends in the month - like this one!!!!
I am off to Bardine on 10th April...and I have some things I need to / want to finish, so I made a very determined effort today and sewed most of the day (and night).  I am at the "hand sew the binding" stage for 2 things...I will show them as finishes...after Baradine....but for now:

and . . . I still have Sunday!

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!

Friday Night Sewing

YAY - the AFL season has started!!!!

I'm excited - not because I love AFL - or am keen to watch it - BUT it does mean DH doesn't want to go out to eat - wants a quick easy meal...and ...a long story ...although we have two TVs - the "other" one is in a room with no lounge chairs - and really - he does look pretty silly sitting in an empty room on a straight backed chair....so I have relinquished watching TV for the comfort of my Sewing Space.
One good thing about football season is that it means the weather should be cooling down - but alas Mother Nature has forgotten to look at the calendar and is about to spring a 34C day on us.

I put my time to good use - added the borders to a baby quilt for a friend's daughter, ready to pin on Sunday,

and made the first block for my "Road Trip" quilt:

I think I need a better photo - maybe in the daytime!
I am dragging the chain a bit on this project - what with the finger op and making baby quilts and "other important stuff"  whatever that was, it has been hard to focus on this one...but hopefully if I can find some time to trace a few blocks (a job I HATE) I can get into gear.

PS:  Thankfully  - the right team won!

and a bonus:  DH is off the the Brisbane Lions game at the Gabba tomorrow night - so more sewing time....yay again!!!

FNSI - March

Time for another FNSI with cyber friends.

I made progress on the quilt for my new grand baby - we have a grandson - Luka - born 1st March.  Suddenly he is 2 weeks old:

We visited him (and the parents) just after he was born (they live in Townsville - a long way away) and since I missed that deadline of having this ready- I now have until just before Easter so DD2 can take it with her when she & her partner visit.

The inside bit is quilted.  There will be some simple stitching in the border and then the binding - so not too much left to do.  
Oh - better a dd a label too.

Hope everyone had a fun productive night and are able to get some sewing time in over the weekend.

Thanks to Wendy!

Stringalong 2019 (February)

Ooops - its time to show our progress on out Stringalong blocks -  
Confession time - I hadn't actually done any since last month - but when I saw the post for the link up, I thought I better pull my finger out and get sewing....In my defense I do still have a very important baby quilt to finish and I've been away for work for almost a week,,,, and came home sick!!!   So, today I am on "Personal Leave"...and really I am not well enough to work a whole day ...but can sew for a bit...so I used the opportunity to play catch up.

I decided 9 was a good target for today...after all they are pretty quick and I have boxes of strips ready to go  . . .

So here is the front of the 9 I have just done.

and the back - I am using up left overs from a quilt I finished in 2013 - called Flower Box - it's here if you are interested . . .- and I I hope to be able to organise these into some sort of a pattern  . . 

Of course you can see my ever present companion curled up and fast asleep.while I "work"!!! LOL


The Month 2 Link up is here: if you'd like to look at what the others are doing...some really interesting patterns happening.

Thanks Lori - for the motivation to keep this project going.

FNSI - February

DH went off to a Country Music gig...so I took advantage of it - stayed in the city a bit longer than usual (got my nails done) ...a quick dinner and into the sewing!

I have done all the piecing for the hexie section of Winnie the Pooh...It now needs a serious ironing session.  I think the little Clover iron will be the trick for this.
I sewed this all by machine - and for those interested - it went quite well - Once I set the machine to do a lock stitch at the beginning and end - and set the auto cut off threads - it was probably only a bit faster - but a lot easier,,,as I didn't need to think as much!! 
I had marked the back of each block, so I pinned (mostly), sewed from the beginning of the seam line  - and  stopped at the end of the seam line.

This is an earlier picture....

On Saturday I had planned to iron it...and maybe start the borders....but...decided to do some cutting for another baby quilt I am making.

Thanks again Wendy - I really enjoyed the cyber party.

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!

FNWF - February

February already???

I couldn't do any actual sewing on Friday night - I was busy organising and cooking for a visit from my Saturday group (Loose Threads), but I participated in my head!!!

Saturday I made up for it....I still can't do any hand sewing - so I spent some time marking the 1/4" on these hexagon blocks that I hope to sew by machine - they are for a baby quilt for grandbaby due at the end of the month - I better get a move on!!! 
(I hope doing them by machine will be successful.)

I also spent some time cutting and matching 2.5" squares - boring - but much better with company.

For our afternoon tea I made Peach, Raspberry and White Chocolate Muffins - they were pretty yummy...Here is the recipe - in case!!!

I didn't do them as Gluten Free...

I hope everyone was productive - good to see you all again!!
Thanks Cheryll - you do a great job of hosting us!!!

Stringalong 2019 (January)

Hello to the Stringalong quilters that are participating along with Lori.

It is time for me to post my Month 1 blocks - pop over here for the link up to see a wide variety of stringalong blocks.

These are the blocks I have done so far - the plan is to make a reversible table cloth.  I will need 88 blocks in all.   I will be sashing them top and bottom with black.  I have sewn these onto a fabric foundation - no batting in between.   (and no paper to remove!!!! YAY!!!).  Next time I will show the backs as well.

I expect I will lay them out in this pattern - though for now this is just random placement.