Friday Night Sew In...

I've missed a few of these virtual get togethers in recent months, but I was ready for this one!

It's a secret project and one that I have had traced out ready to sew for a good few weeks now, but just hadn't felt like picking up the needle and thread and actually sewing. But there is a deadline looming and we all know how that can get us moving! 😉

A bit of masking there to disguise the project...

But there is no disguising the lovely Cottage Garden threads that I'm using. It's #603 and is Pansy. I haven't used it before, but I love it!!

Thank you to Wendy for organising Friday Night Sew In. There were 26 of us signed up on Wendy's blog...so all that creative 'stuff' going on sounds exciting!

It's beginning to look a lot like Easter...

Not much time for blogging lately, but this morning I'm not starting work until 10 am (instead of the more usual 8 or 8.30 am). This change of starting time is so I can work much later than I normally would. 

 Today is the last day of pre poll voting at the office ( the election is tomorrow) and we are open for an extra hour of voting. And just like those in retail find, people will arrive with '5 minutes to spare', just getting in the door before we close. But I digress...starting later means I have time for a short blog post. 

One night last week, I brought out my box of Easter 'stuff'...

And I started to put out some knicknacks...

Some of the old egg cups from the 1950s, who share space with some that are much newer...

My Easter Mini made for me by Anorina in a swap a few years ago and my lovely Easter mug rug which was in a big bundle of goodies ( donated by Helen McCulloch) which I won in a Sunday Stitchers raffle last year...and the little bunny also was a gift one year! 

 

Again most of these are gifts in blog swaps. The little bunny in the white mug was a gift from my roommate Judy at last year's Let's Get Stitched retreat...the bunny is exquisite! 

I haven't decided where my new Easter banner will hang yet, and it's still too hot here, to fill the white China bunny with little Easter eggs...by the time friends and neighbours were offered a chocolate egg, they would have melted somewhat! 

The first Secret Santa gift for 2015...

Today was the Sunday Stitchers Christmas get together and of course this included the handing over of the gifts we had been making for the Secret Santa partners that each of us were allocated.

As we arrived we put all these gifts on one of the tables...

This was exciting!

My Secret Santa was Maureen...I loved my gifts!

When I opened the parcel, the beautiful table centre was wrapped up in that cute 'reindeer' towel...

A closer look at the lovely stitching...

Now I was Secret Santa for Inca. Way back in early October, I started her gift. It was the first knitting project that I started this year...

I took some photos last week after I had finally neatened all the 'ends', but the colours are more vibrant in real life.

As I usually do with a throw I've made to give away,I folded it up and used some of the pretty ribbon that I buy from Fantazia in South Tweed...

So that's the first Secret Santa exchange for this year!

There's a rumour...

Must be that time of year...I've been busy stitching...

On looking at our dining room table DH just had to remark, 'There's a rumour that there is a table under there'...

This comment made me think of a cartoon I remember having seen once but had had no luck finding it again. This time I thought I'd try Pinterest, and I found that cartoon straight away. 

I still love it! Lol

Our dining room table is only used for eating at, in the coldest weather. The table is very handy for cutting out and stitching is easier there as a power point  is close by to the table, so my Daylight lamp complete with magnifier can be close too. And in the day time the window lets in lots of natural light. 

Unlike the family in the cartoon, our 'alternative' table is quite a big one!!!

So why was DH 'having a dig at me'???? Lol

That dining table is nearly cleared now and craft items have been returned to where they are kept ready for next time. The large boxes underneath the window are DH's btw! 

I cleared it this morning as I want to spread out my latest knitted finish so I can weave in ends and check it all over using the Daylight. That project will be unveiled in a few days after it has been given away.

Friday Night Sew In...

Last night I joined in the November FNSI, hosted by Wendy over at Sugarlane Quilts.

I worked on secret sewing again...

I finally finished 'Stage 1' of this project; a strip of fabric made of hexagons...

This will form part of a drawstring bag...for a fellow knitter perhaps??

The pattern is by Judy Newman and I enthusiastically follow her instructions for joining all those hexies...no papers, no tiny over stitches...just running stitch. It's quicker than the normal EPP.

A little peep at the back...

Also last night I worked on my stitching project which will be incorporated into this drawstring bag...and now I only have one tiny section to stitch and I'm finished that 'Stage 1'...yay!!!

I'm on target to have these items completed and in the mail early this coming week; all ready to head off to my swap buddy.
Here is the link to Wendy's post where FNSI ers signed up to join in...you will be able to see what other bloggers achieved by using the links in the sign up widget. I can guarantee you will see some amazing projects.

FNSI...

It was the third Friday night of the month here last night, and that means Friday Night Sew In.

I worked on a secret Easter project...

I used some of these lovely charm squares...

Some of this yardage...

I used some of this 'grass' fabric...

There was some hand stitching involved...

I may have used this template a week ago...

All will be revealed just before Easter.

A lot of the scraps from this project are triangular shaped, so I'm saving all those for Miss Lucy as I'm sure she will have ideas of what to make with the shapes.

Also last night,I did some simple crocheting.

My knitting group often gets bags of crocheted squares donation...many of these are quite small...

So I crochet more rows to make them 10" or 25cm size, so that 30 or 36 squares make a decent size blanket. So it was enlarging some of these squares that I worked on for a while last night.

Thank you to Wendy over at Sugarlane Quilts for organising FNSI once again...why not follow the link to Wendy's sign up page and check out some of the other FNSI ers' blogs?

Christmas all packed away...

Over the last week I have been steadily packing away the Christmas decorations. Some friends of ours from Banora Point were planning to visit us when they came to Brisbane this week, so that was a good incentive to get everything packed away. 

Since I've been blogging, I've been inspired by others who arrange displays on shelves, mantelpieces or hutches, so I started to do that too :-)

My hutch 'dressed up' for Christmas...

 

And since yesterday, a new display...favourite china with its pinks, mauves and blues...

A closer look at the mini quilt on the stand. Lyn (no blog ) made that for me last year...it's beautiful!

And a closer look at the vintage doily/tray cloth...

A few years ago, I saw this lovely stitchery on Ebay...I rather liked it :-). I got into a bit of a 'bidding war' with other Ebayers and ended up paying a bit more than I anticipated...but it was worth it! :-) It is in excellent condition, the colours and the stitching are beautiful and it gets used quite a lot. 

Now I thought that I had packed everything Christmassy away...then I noticed the tinsel and stars wrapped around the railings near the veranda door...oops! Lol

Friday Night Sew In...

Yes last night was FNSI here. I signed up but left a comment saying that as it would be a lot of 'secret sewing' as I continue to finish off projects for the various Christmas swaps...there would be not much I can show...:-)

So...

There's a clue in that photo...I'm using a little adhesive thimble pad which suggests stitching...could be EPP? or some hand quilting? Or even some embroidery? 

It could have been all three...or even something else? 

Unveiling of the projects is still a while away I'm afraid! Lol.

Best of all though, last night I got a lot done...great progress...that adrenalin is kicking in as deadlines get closer? 

Why not use the links on Wendy's blog post to see what others worked on on Friday night? There were 47 of us according to the Linky widget.

Check it out here...http://sugarlanequilts.blogspot.com.au/2014/11/fnsi-sign-ups.html

FNwF...

It's the first Friday of the month, so that means Friday Night with Friends! So as Friday night rolls around to all the Time Zones, bloggers from all around the globe join in to work on their individual projects. The Sign-up is over on Cheryll's blog and I'm sure it's not too late to sign up for this month's FNwF. http://stitchingcubbyhole.blogspot.com.au/

Tonight I did some more work on the knitting project that I wrote about in FNSI last month...remember it's a secret project so you don't really want to see another blurry photo of the back of the project...but I will say that the project is nearing completion with just 2 more horizontal blocks of colour to go...

The other project that I worked on tonight was that I finally made a start on another dog quilt for DD2...well not for her exactly...for her partner's dog, Missy. Apparently Missy was a bit jealous of the quilt I made for Jimmy, DD2's dog, and tries to take Jimmy's quilt. So I offered to make Missy one of her own...as you do! Lol. 

The block I made tonight is a free pattern on Craftsy, called the Bow Wow Kennel Quilt, except I made it smaller, as I want to add other blocks...the Craftsy pattern block makes up as a 24" square quilt. 

As you can see in the photo, I also have some 'puppy' fabric to 'play around with' too. The ideas for how I'm going to continue with this project, are swirling around in my brain at present. But I'm sure Missy will be happy with how it all turns out! :-)

Use the link in the first paragraph to visit Cheryll's blog and then use the Sign up Widget there to visit other FNwFers...

The May Meet of The Sunday Stitchers' Group...

Last Sunday this group of crafters met at Ormeau, south of Brisbane, for a day of stitching, knitting, crocheting, talking, laughing, sharing ideas and of course, eating! This was a special day for us as we were also having a Baby Shower for one of our members, Tatyana! 

We had a 'cake'...which had been 'made' by a member's son.

A basket of goodies organised by Maree...

A number of the members had worked on a special gift for Tatyana...a baby quilt! Fabrics had been auditioned months before; the cutting, sewing, assembly had been done in strictest secrecy with Cheryl quilting and binding the quilt ready to present to the mother to be...

To say that Tatyana was surprised and then delighted, would be an understatement...

The day included some Show and Tell of members's projects...here are just a few...

And the group also celebrates members birthdays with everyone buying a fat quarter for those celebrating a birthday in that month. There were 3 of us May 'birthday girls'. 

There I am holding up my basket of fat quarters...absolutely gorgeous fabrics...and quite a few purples....

We use a lovely room in this Community centre...as you can see in the photo below, there is a wall of fold back glass doors which open out onto a lovely open space, with a grassed area beyond...great surroundings ! 

So what did I work on that day?

I started with some stitching but found that a bit of a struggle without my magnifier, so I only did that for a while. I then moved on to some EPP and in the last part of the day I moved on to some knitting. All in all...a perfect day, especially as DH was cooking dinner that night! Lol. ( well he was using some pasta sauce from the freezer that I had prepared earlier in the week!) 

FNSI...

So what did I do for Friday Night Sew In?
I did some tracing...

I looked through my stash for 3 different yellow fabrics...

I did some fusing with Applifix ...

From the 3 yellow fabrics, I had to fuse and cut out 5 larger circles and 3 smaller ones...

I did some other fusing with some pellon...and finally my new project had had all that preparation done...I just have to sort out the embroidery threads I will use...

The design comes from Jenny Elefantz online magazine Issue 4

And yes, I also did some knitting...boring knitting I have to say, but important to say the least, for the completion of a project that was at a stand still (PASS) from 2011!!!...Val Laird used this term in her blog recently :-) I'm working on some border strips at the moment...in double moss stitch (known as seed stitch in some countries).

The project is a throw knitted in strips out of oddments/scraps of mohair yarns. The strips have been tacked at the 'intersections' and just needs the borders to stop the stocking stitch 'parts' from rolling up...but a border is great for framing something made with oddments. I've discovered that an old friend has been doing things tough in the last few years and has a health crisis at present...so suddenly this UFO needed to be finished.
Here are a few glimpses of some of the 'squares' in the strips...these are all slipstitch designs...

The 'square' below is one I tried for the first time. it is a type of slipstitch but the yarn is carried horizontally...it was fun and I will certainly use this one again.

Hopefully at the end of this coming week, I will be able to post a photo of a throw with all seams sewn up the borders finished and sewn on and then everything blocked. And then it will be off to its new home.

Many thanks to Wendy for once again organising FNSI. Why not visit her blog here, and use the links there to visit other blogs to see what wonderfully creative things were done last night. :-) There were 59 FNSI ers last night!