Bits and pieces

This could be called a bit of a mop-up post as I found a couple of photos that I haven't yet shared :-)
I started Life Is Beautiful a little while ago. It is what I work on at nights when I am between projects.

'That it will never come again is what makes life so sweet'.
[Needs a good press sorry.]

And I think the below will be my one and only complete finish for the month.

{OPAM sign up is this Friday 25th)

Bon-Bon by Anni Downs (Hatched and Patched).
Yes I probably need to replace the ribbon, it was all I could find at home.

[BONUS~This was a UFO from two Christmases ago!!]

I'm down at my Mum and Dad's at the moment as my dad isn't so well. Yesterday I attacked Mum's pile of mending.... she wanted her pot mitt patched....NO, not thrown out and replaced, but mended, as she loves this one so much (size, thickness, bendability)

Before photo.....

...after photo

As you can see I couldn't help myself and she has ended up with a Raewyn-style patched patchwork job!!
I felt quite the pioneer... I had one of my rulers but I had to use a pen to mark the squares and cut it out with the scissors too!! Obviously I am suffering from being away from my own sewing cave!!

Mum has a little tin of these suspender  hooks which are
perfect for this job!

I just love her old tin. It's been around forever!

 So now I'm all mopped up! Thank you for visiting; I hope you find (or found as the case may be) a bit of creative time today (even if it is just mending pot mitts!),

Leaders and Enders, old and new-

What happens when you see a project you want to do but you know you really shouldn't start it?

If you are Raewyn you tell yourself it is ok to start it by turning it into a Leader and Ender project :-)
This is what happened when I saw the little Mountain Trail quiltalong by Lori of Humble Quilts.
I resisted and resisted but when I started seeing every-one's finished quilts I gave in, and my latest Leader and Ender project was born!

A few months later, here it is!

Mountain trail mini quilt. Approx 18" x 25"

Don't you just love it? The strips are cut at 1 1/4" so it was fabulous for using up the smallest scraps (double yaay!!)

(Would you believe this is the 3rd project to go on my quilting pile this year!)

So that left me with a quandary - what would I use for my next Leader and Ender project?
Luckily, I discovered another gorgeous sewalong recently and decided, it too, would make a perfect leader and Ender project.
(Any project that I can cut ahead of time and is relatively simple to put together is fair game for my L/E projects).
I started preparing by cutting the pieces for the blocks....however I got really excited and before I knew it, I had sewn up both the blocks without even stopping to breathe!
This is a week-by-week sewalong (for 5 weeks, I think) by Pam Burda by Heartspun Quilts. Pam encourages us to find our orphan blocks and to incorporate them into this project. I had fun rummaging through my scraps and found a few orphans I could use. Once again the pieces are so small, it is perfect for the smallest scraps.

Here are week one and two blocks.....looking good so far.

Week one.

 The size of these blocks is 4 1/2 inches...... so pretty tiny, huh?

Week two.... yes, this is just one block and is 4 1/2 inches square!
This block used a really exciting technique to form each small segment -
I'm not going to share - you'll have to go to
Pams blog to discover how they were made!!

Hopefully when the next few weeks' instructions come out I can be really disciplined and keep to the L/E idea!

Thanks for reading along everyone. My computer time is limited right now so apologies for not visiting you all as often as usual. I'll be back soon.  In the meantime, I hope you are all finding some stitching time.

It cant be...?!!

Yessiree - another flimsy finish for 2013!!

6 am this morning.....

Timmie and I were on a mission

[... a bit of background info....]

My first hexie - June 2010

Papers no longer needed!

Straightening up the edges - sewing on
a border

.... 2 pm this afternoon - battling the glaring sun and the breezy wind, to try and do a photo shoot!

Lie it on the ground, run upstairs to the deck to take the photo
and hope that the wind doesn't blow it away in the meantime!

Bit of a glare, sorry.

Obligatory Stained Glass Window shot from the back.
Can you see the paper I missed taking out?! I can - now!

Playing with settings on my camera - this
was 'High sensitivity"; may be handy to use in the
future to help with colour placement...?

Cool huh? I'm so pleased to have moved this off the UFO pile to the Flimsy pile. Yes I will machine quilt it, but I'm not sure when........

[I've linked up to One Flower Wednesday (after a long absence) today so all the hexie makers can see my hexie quilt!] 

So, after two flimsy finishes and only 9 days into the New Year, I'm going to allow myself to think about what my goals are for 2013.

One very important one has to be to decrease the UFO pile to increase the Flimsy pile AND then decrease the same Flimsy pile!

I'm going to continue on with my 'Just Takes Two', my 'Farmers Wife' and my 'Scrappy Houses' quilts.

I want to decrease my piles of scraps too and in order to do that I will have to start new projects (he he).... but as I had such a great time last year doing the SALs for small quilts (eg Temecula, and Threadhead projects) I think I will focus on those rather than start big scrap quilt projects.

I aim to carry on with my fmq-learning and Practising (yes, that was a capital 'P').

I have two new projects I am starting SOON, too. I've been planning these and looking forward to these for a while. I'll share more of those in another post.

I'd like to upskill myself in EQ7... I can do basics but I know there is so much more to learn about this programme.

I'd like to do some swaps, and take part in 'bloggy sew-ins' to build up a little pile of Christmas gifts.

My ED sent me a link for a cushion she wants this morning, so I guess projects like that will crop up too!

I also sew for my favourite Quilt Shop so that will continue..

!!!!!!!!

What an exciting list - I'm exhausted and exhilarated just thinking about it!!

(As you can tell, I've set very few rules, but I will try to be controlled about what I start and work on!)

(famous last words - watch this space!)

 I started this post with an animal picture, so why not finish it with one?

Here are the happy horses after I shifted them this morning - I thought it was quite a nice view.

Christmas Rain has kept us nice and green.
Click on the photo to see it more clearly.

I hope your week is going well - and hoping that you are able to keep yourselves warm - or cool - or dry - wherever in the world you may be...... I'm thinking of those who are being adversely affected by weather conditions and/or fires...
To those of you who are able, happy stitching,

Footnote - I've just realised this is my 200th post!! I'm sure I see a giveaway in my future somewhere!!

My First Flimsy for 2013!!

It's very exciting to have my first flimsy of the year to share! Yes, I have got the last blocks of Hannah and Harrington finished and joined...!!!
I'm very much in love with this project and I'm hoping it won't be long until it's quilted and turned into a real quilt!

The outer border is more of the same Blueberry Crumb Cake range which I used for all the 2 1/2" squares. 

This photo shows the last few blocks I haven't yet shown.

Huge thanks to Michelle of The Raspberry Rabbits for sharing this BOM with us. It's been a fun and interesting project.

~~~~~~~~~

While I'm here, it's time I showed the neat tissue box cover a lovely friend, Leeanne, made me for Christmas.

In the background is some cool appliqué done by another friend on a cheery Christmas apron.

Isn't it fun?!

 And below is another handcrafted gift I received.....

I'm sure you can see what the bracelet is made out of...

~~~~~~~~~
One of the gifts I made this year was an 'Art Binder' for my nephew. It was exciting to receive this photo of him with it... it has gone all the way to Belgium.

And what was also exciting was to see the little wall hanging on the wall behind him... I made that for him 3 (?) years ago (it is a Bronwyn Hayes stitchery) and it was nice to see that it made the list of things that was taken with them when they moved over there!
~~~~~~~~~

Last year Leeanne showed us her new calendar picture for each new month... I thought it was a great idea so decided I would like to do the same. My calendar for this year is the Kim Diehl one called Simply Beautiful Quilts....

And here we have January.... how tempting is this staring at me
all month - I wonder how long it will be until I succumb to making
one of her quilts this year!! 

I hope 2013 has got off to a great start for you all. I am still pondering my list of resolutions - or goals- I'm trying to be realistic and not give in to (too many) temptation(s), maybe next post I'll be able to share them!!
Thank you for visiting, happy creating!