Glenrose Retreat with Sunday Stitchers

I was invited along to this retreat - as Helen couldn't go.  "Taking one for the Team"  LOL.

So, this means 3 retreats in 3 months (June, July & August)...a bit of overkill??? - Not at all . . .LOL
At least once I have prepped stuff - the leftovers can go on the list for the next retreat!

After a day at Sunday Stitchers, we started the road trip out to Warwick (About 2 hours) - arriving as the sun was going down.

My plans were:

• 17 yellow/gold placemats (for Meals on Wheels)
• 2 blue/green placemats (for Meals on Wheels)
• 42 x 10" red, black & white strippy blocks (for a DV quilt)
• 3 Sparrow blocks
• 2 My Kinda Town blocks 
  

And in reserve . . .

• Green Coin Quilt (for a DV quilt)
• Crochet
• Sashiko tree

Well, that was very optimistic!

I did 4 placemats - but decided they are much easier to make at home on the bigger machine.

14 red, black & white strippy blocks (one got left on the cutting table..LOL)

3 Sparrow blocks

2 My Kinda Town blocks

On Thursday morning we need to leave by 9.30 - so the plan each year is to have brunch at Gardens Galore - the food is always beautifully presented and delicious.
As I was the substitute for Helen - I decided to order what she would have selected;  French Toast - it didn't disappoint!

Then there was a bit of shopping at Shelley's and the drive home.

I had a great time - stayed up late - ate "some" bad food, chatted, and laughed.
Thanks for inviting me along girls!

And I still have plenty of projects for the next retreat on July 21st!

FNSI - June

Time for Friday Night Sew-In for June hosted by the lovely Wendy.
Occasionally, I am envious of Wendy living in tropical Queensland - only very occasionally - but as Brisbane is having a "cool" spell at the moment, this could be one of those times....lol

FriDAY saw me at a lesson on using my embroidery machine to quilt quilts.  When I bought this rather pricey big machine - a lot of the "justification" was that I could use it to quilt and save money by not getting my quilts done . . . Well, it is possible... and like lots of other things - it gets better with practice...but nothing really overcomes the issue of the bulk of even a smallish quilt.

But I did the lesson - picked up a few tips (I have had lessons before) and by the end of Friday Night I have quilted almost half of the quilt.
I need to work on the spacing of each row, but otherwise, it isn't too bad... certainly not perfect now , , but it's progress.

I will keep going on other quilts and may consider the quilt design before I make the quilt so that the sizes gel better . . . .A Voyage of Discovery.

In the early part of the evening, I decided to make Musk Fudge that I had seen on Facebook.

The recipe says 2 packets of white choc and 2 packets of musk sticks, plus a tin condensed milk, butter & vanilla essence.  It is cooked in a slow cooker.

Today (Saturday) I've tried it.  If iI were to make it again, I'd do 3 packets of musk sticks as the musk flavour is very slight.  Worth a try I suppose...I will take it to retreat.
Update:  it seems not all bags of musk sticks are the same size.  The Coles ones are 160g - the Woollies ones are 320g...Two of the bigger ones would work much better.

And I did a bit of crochet...not much.

Thanks Wendy - its always fun to gather in cyberspace. (and it makes me do a blog post.)

Today - Saturday I am packing for a retreat - this time I had to take one for the team as one of the regulars couldn't go.  Well, that is how I explained it to DH.
It will be fun - and productive - projects listed and packed . .  .BUT it is going to be cold - especially overnight.  Predicted minimum temperatures started at -1 and rose to 1.  This will mean a brisk walk between the sleeping rooms and sewing rooms...brrrrr

FNWF - June

What ????
June already???  The year will be half over soon.

But the First Friday of the month sees us gathered for some sewing fun with Cheryll and friends.

Recently I had finished prepping the pages for the next ABC book, so I decided to work on them.  (The alternative involved measuring & cutting etc...so I gave it a miss)

I had a medium grey in the bobbin, so worked on the grey pieces (not a lot of them and not a lot of bobbin thread.)
Then I switched to a light grey bobbin and did all the white pieces, before calling it quits for the night.  In retrospect, I should try to do the white & cream in daylight  .  but . . )

And of course - a bit of crochet while watching BH&G!!!

Thanks, Cheryll - pop over here to find out what the others got up to!

The Strippy/String Quilt

Recently in a Zoom meeting with Chooky and many others, Jude asked me about this quilt that I started at Scrub Stitchin' in April.
I had bought a little kit from Jude, complete with a very light vilene and it was packed in a gorgeous case.  The suitcase was part of the reason I bought it!

I completed 16 blocks at Scrub Stitchin',   Here are a few of them.

but as I had plenty of strips at home and they are so quick, I made another 28 blocks at home to make a top - 6 x 7 blocks (57" x 66.5).

While I was laying it out I was surprised at how much orange was in it....Orange is not a colour I use a lot...

As I was making the blocks at home and pulling bits of put the shoe boxes where I keep the strips, I thought it would be easier for the next one/s to have the strips sorted into lengths...so after making a huge mess:

I now have

I can see a lot more strippy quilts that need to happen.

This quilt will be donated to the DV organization that my Sunday Stitchers group support.

Home Sweet Home Cross Stitch

In November 2021 - as part of a "0" birthday celebration, I was gifted the pattern fabric and threads for Home Sweet Home from ItsSewEmma by Helen, Sandi, Norreen, De & Lynda.

The plan was that Helen, Sandi, Norreen and I all sew it and have it finished by . . .some date that is now part of history.  So we made a new date of May 2023.

And it's done!

Crochet Blocks - April & May

I am still crocheting blocks when I can - not nearly as many as I used to do....but  I often do them at night if I am watching telly.

At the May SS meeting, I was able to hand over this collection of 20 blocks to Maria.  As the weather has cooled down quite a bit lately - there is plenty of call for warm blankets.

It's a bit like the Leaning Tower of Pisa!

Cross Stitch Tree - Homespun Pattern (A Hearty Harvest)

It was well and truly time to finish this one...long overdue!!!!

To do this post, I checked the date of the magazine - March 2016.   I couldn't find any posts using labels, so started by scrolling backward from December 2016.  By the time I got to April, I decided I must have started it in 2017 . . .but no...going back just a tiny bit further - I had made good progress in March 2016

and a bit more in April 2016.

I have no idea when it was all finished, but I recall I washed it - ready to press and frame in a round hoop - and the red ran!!!!!!!!   Disaster.... So I unpicked the bit where it showed . . and then it sat . .  .27 stitches was all it needed.

Finally, it's done.  Simply framed in a round hoop - 

exactly the way it was presented in Homespun!

Love ticking things off the UFO list!

FNSI - May

Another day/night of sewing fun... thanks to Wendy for encouraging us to sew and share our progress with friends.

My main job of the night was to join these 42 blocks into rows...I didn't get to making the top...but it will happen soon.
I started these blocks from a case of strips purchased from Jude - which she delivered to Baradine...(that was in April - so a pretty quick turn around!)

There are 6 blocks in each row...but they are off the sides.

I told my husband I needed a bigger cutting table . . .he grunted. Oh well.

Wendy's linkup is here if you want to see some of the others who sewed along . . .

Milo Tag - Give Thanks Hanging

Many years ago I made the Give Thanks hanging designed by Jenny of Elefantz) and gifted it to DD1.

It was posted here.  OMGosh - it was January 2011!!!!!

I did the second one in February - here 

and so far I have found one more post about it - in 2016 - here.

But I know I have made many more, so I asked DD1 for a picture of all of them.

The special ones I have made have been for her boys - Luka

and now one for Milo.

SIMS Birthdays 2023

Our little SIMS group (Susan Inca Maureen & Sue) meets monthly and do Birthdays by going out for lunch and giving a small gift.

This year we decided we would each make a postcard using "Nature" as the theme.

Inca originally comes from Holland - so I decided to stick with the Dutch theme and use Tulips on my postcard to her.

The tulips are a machine embroidery applique design and I found a postcard machine embroidery design.  I was hoping for a lovely edge to finish off my postcard, so was a bit disappointed that it's a blanket stitch...but I wanted to try it anyway.  I was not overly impressed with the design file, nor with the instructions...but I learnt stuff and overall I'm happy with it.

 Giving Inca her gift was delayed somewhat - but it has now been safely delivered.