Friday Night Sewing

Somehow my brain was thinking "Friday Night Sewing" is on . . . .FNSI was last week and FNWF is next week....so....apart from my usual night time sewing - it was nothing special.

My brain is a bit splattered at the moment . . lots of stuff happening and I am probably more stressed than I realise....or care to admit.

I took the dog for a walk tonight - something my husband usually does - and instead of dropping the "doggy poo" bag in the bin - I threw in my keys.....Not a pleasant experience to retrieve them - but fortunately, there was a stick nearby with a handy dandy little bit sticking out at the end.  I retrieved them and picked them up in a clean doggy bag and sterilised them when I got back home.

But onto more pleasant things.

To cut a long story short we went to DD2's place for a pizza dinner & the AFL.
DH's team were playing DD2's team.
I am not into watching sport..especially football, so I sat in the corner with my light and my glue stick.   I had cut the hexies to make 11  half inch hexie flowers.....for a project that I just had to get into because everyone else was . . .apparently.  It's a BOM - Letters to My Daughter (though it may be Letters to my Granddaughter - due in July) - designed by Natalie Bird and made available through Homespun. 
In total there are 13 hexie flowers needed - though only a couple for this month, but I thought I may as well go ahead and prep them all...well almost all . . .LOL...so this where I got to tonight.

BY the way in case you care - DH's team narrowly beat DD2's team...it was an interesting game ...if you like that kind of thing - better than a walkover!...Obviously a lot of wrong calls by the referree.

So, even if it wasn't a formal Friday Night for Sewing - I did and I hope you got to do something you enjoy doing.

YAY - it's the weekend and next week is a short week.  Boy - do I have a lot of sewing planned for Easter . . . shame its only 4 days...I could do with 4 weeks!

March Projects

March is drawing to a close and it's unlikely there will be any other finishes this month.

Completed 6 crochet blocks for K4BN

Finished the last 4 pineapple coasters for DD2

completed a baby quilt - and the baby isn't due til the end of April

and made a heart block for Michelle who is going through a tough time

That will have to do - lots happening but it's all WIP

FNSI - March

Friday Night again - and time to join Wendy and many more crafty souls from all over the world in FNSI.

First up I did a bit of experimenting with some of the decorative stitches on my machine - I know it's not the same as handwork - but I think sometimes we should give our machines a go at creating stuff.  I have a fairly up market machine (the intention being that I could use the embroidery unit to quilt my quilts...I haven't really got to that point yet due to lack of time ...and maybe enthusiasm...)...and it has LOTS of stitches.
I have a project that I let myself get caught up in (= sucked in)  and I wanted to get some fancy edges to some small blocks.

So I tried a few here:

Then it was dinner time & TV watching time so I sewed some of the binding for this baby quilt.

Then the footy came on so I exited the TV area and moved back to my sewing room - I stitched several of the little blocks.  It's under wraps for now ,  . . .but in my experimentation, I found this heavy blanket stitch.  I think it mimics hand stitching very well  . . I may use it again...

Finally, I spent some time clipping some straggly threads from a quilt top ready to go the quilting fairy....(So much for purchasing that up-market machine . . LOL.)

If you'd like to join in FNSI - keep an eye out for posts on Wendy's blog - it's the third Friday of the month  . .  .and she has a prize each month!!!   (and real people win - see my previous post!)

I hope to get to a lot more sewing this weekend - today a friend of my daughter's is coming over - she intends making a quilt from her old lacrosse T shirts etc.....she is not a sewer so we will need to start with a few basics . . . 
And tomorrow is Sunday Stitchers and we are going to spend the day making blocks for some charity quilts....Guess I will squeeze in some sewing tonight too...
Monday comes all too quickly.

Hope everyone is well...and getting jabs when possible.

FNSI - February - I was the Winner!!!

Wendy - who runs FNSI - recently secured a sponsor for monthly prizes for FNSI....and...guess who won the first month's giveaway?????

Yes - lucky me.

My prize from Kitty Rose Cottage arrived late last week - 

a lovely collection of Tilda fabrics, ribbon, EPP papers and washi tape.

So, remember to sign up for FNSI this Friday and the third Friday of most months on Wendy's blog here.
I'm sure the Sign up page will be there soon . . .

AND go & visit Kitty at Kitty Rose Cottage and support her business.

FNWF - March

My word - time flies.

I was determined to get in a blog post (or two??) between FNSI for February and FNWF for March....Did it happen???

NO

so here I am again visiting with cyber friends and sewing along...

Some nights I just don't feel like cutting & prep . . .so I chose an easy "go to" project that has been hanging around for years . . . 

This is the second last "sheet" of these and it's almost done - I still have all the words to do on all the sheets, but that's OK...It's a No Rush project!

and once the words are done I need to assemble it . . looking like a maybe 2022/2023 project!!!!   LOL


I hope you have all had a great night/weekend sewing or crafting.

I'll do my best to come & visit you . . . .

February Progress

It's 10th March and I am only now posting what I managed for February - not really a lot to show - most things are "working on"....

I did finish 13 crochet blocks to hand over to Maria at Sunday Stitchers

I put together a baby quilt top which is now pinned and just waiting for some "free time" to quilt it.

and I made progress on My Small World which was my SS UFO February Challenge.
Sections 1 and 2 done.

Not much - but February is a short month!

FNSI - February

I was able to get an early start on my FNSI projects - the advantage of working from home!!!

I started with cutting some pastel balis

Then it was time for dinner and Better Homes & Gardens - followed by the Grand Finale of Great British Bake Off that we had recorded...(seen it before but can't always remember who wins...LOL) so I stitched this:

The stitching is now finished.  I am not sure when I started this - I can find a post from June 2020 - so perhaps then.  I bought it in May 2018.  (Not too bad going).

I will add it to some other fabric - possibly a teal coloured linen type...who knows?

Then I moved onto a cross-stitch project - picked a bit that requires very little concentration!

and finally back at the machine and managed to get all these little bits together that I cut earlier in the night (mostly 1.5" cut squares).

I am loving the dual facebook/blog idea.  Facebook is a lot more interactive and we can comment as people post pictures...but I like my blog for long-time reminders of what I did when, so not giving that up.

BIG thanks to Wendy for organising us...and a bonus from now on - she has a sponsor so there is a "lucky door prize" each month.  Go Wendy!!!!!!!
(Not that we do this for the prizes, we do it because its our passion - sanity saver - keep out of jail project...etc)

Pop over here to see who else signed up - and visit their pages for some inspiring stuff.

Take Care everyone

Stay Safe

FNWF - February

A new month - time to gather with cyber friends - and sew!!!

Tonight was a bit of this & that....

One of the things I hope to finish this year is this sashiko project.....I have about 6" of the 40" left to sew...such an easy relaxing thing to do . . .

And another "plan" for the year is to progress my version of "My Small World"...I made a start quite a while back . . .  here where I started it...grand plans back then!!! LOL  and some more here (that was February 2020...{interesting coincidence}).

So this year I added it to my Sunday Stitchers UFO list - not to finish it but to "make progress on". The bit you see is near the top of Section 2....small steps - I have made Section 1 up to the top of the buildings, but you can't build a world overnight!

Saturday is the first meeting for the year for my Loose Threads Group - we had to cancel January due to some bug that is floating around the world...so I may make more progress on that sashiko project.

Thanks Cheryll who continues to give us the opportunity to congregate in cyberspace - and "encourages" us to blog at the same time.

I also worked on another project - but I'm sticking to the "no social media until reveal day" - May is the next time.  so you will have to stay curious.

Cheers - Happy Sewing - Stay Safe

Two more Pineapple Coasters

One of my friends & Blog reader commented (when she saw the original four pineapple coasters - that she has friends with whom she & her husband swap "pineapple-themed gifts".  

So I offered to make her a couple.

(They will be in the mail shortly)

I plan on another 4 for DD2.

Mug & Bag & Mug Bag & Mug Rug & Coaster & Pincushion & Zippy Pouch - January Finishes

When I was at Warwick last November for a retreat - we all visited Warwick Garden Centre - we go for the food and the gift shop. (the plants are lovely...but not on my shopping list.)

I spied a really lovely mug.  No idea why I thought I needed a new mug - maybe because Glenrose no long supplies "pretty mugs" and I felt deprived . . .???

Anyway I bought it - with plans for it to be my mug that I take to Sunday Stitchers Meetings .......so then I thought I better have a new bag for SS meetings, and a mug rug and a coaster and a mug bag and I may as well add a thread catcher and a small pin cushion . . . (yes, Miss Matchy Matchy).

UPDATE:  I made a zippy pouch too - couldn't resist!!!...I've still got a bit of fabric to go . . 

For the Sunday Stitchers UFO Challenge this year - I am doing it a bit differently... I have some things that I need to finish by certain dates - so rather than give them numbers (and change them around when the wrong number is drawn...), I am listing my projects by months.

This is my January UFO.