You'll love this....

......as I sure do......

I wasn't going to share this just yet but it is too exciting not to!!

Look what my sneaky friends surprised me with at our sewing meet the other night......

Lots of closeups because why not....

 They fashioned it after this Gail Pan cushion I made earlier this year. Clever girls :-)

Naughty girls, I thought I had managed to fend off any thoughts of a special quilt.

Why? I have a special birthday coming up soon... I'm not talking about it.... suffice to say that for now.... I am still the younger side of-









-50
Thank you so much you lovely ladies. Did I say I love it?
I hope you have a lovely weekend,
Happy stitching :-)

Some nearly dones!

One of the things I like about sewing samples for my local and most wonderful (he he, yes, I am biased) quilt shop is the deadlines to get them done! None of this dip in and out of a project like I am good at....yes, I know, all quilts are sewn for different reasons, for me, a finish, is not always the reason!! (I just love DOING them!!) However when you know you need a sample for an approaching class, you know you really need to focus and finish....
This Buggy Barn quilt is one of those - ok, so it's not quite finished but it is nearly presentable for taking in so I am sharing it now :-)

'Big Dipper'

The Buggy Barn quilts are known for the slice-shuffle-sew process and I must say I really enjoyed how beautifully this one came together... and it is always exciting seeing which colour/fabric is next on the pile for sewing.
It was a challenge for me sewing without my customary cream fabrics in the quilt... but that was fun too!
Quilting was fairly basic, straight lines everywhere.

Cindy Needham advises us to ditch-stitch ESS (every single seam aka every sodding seam)... I had good intentions but with the walking foot I got very 'tired' of it so it was NESS (nearly every sodding seam) instead. I know ditch-stitching can be done with a darning foot but there's a thing called a skill level that needs to be a little higher than my current one!! Out of interest, how much stitch-ditching does everyone else do?

 Another nearly done but not really, is my piece for One Christmas Item a month... Narelle, of Pins and Whiskers is hosting this - a great way to encourage us to do a bit Chirstmas sewing throughout the year.  I have stalled on the thread for my ribbon, but I am sure it will be completed for next month's show and tell!!

This is a Nicky Tervo design, it has some cute
buttons to go with it.

Tonight I have a sewing session with some friends. I am taking the opportunity to sew up a couple (hopefully) of hottie covers for the Hottie Project, making hot water bottle covers for chilly children in Christchurch. The deadline to get them posted off is next week, and if there are any other NZers out there who have a spare hour or so, you may be able to help out by making one.  The link for the Hottie Project is here. Contact Lisa via the link to get a copy of the templates used.

Well, that's about it for now, I have a busy day today, so I will see you all later.
Have a great day, and thank you for visiting,

Time

Would someone be able to tell me where the days, weeks, months and this year are going?!! They are all merging into one!! Whew, I cant keep up!

Lately, it's been...

...time to start Chateau Hexagon, Lynette Anderson's latest button mystery.

Cute so far.....

Light wasn't so good - it doesn't look as washed out in real life!!

Aren't the buttons just gorgeous?!

~~//\\~~

...time for more hexie-flowers and One Flower Wednesday

More of my NZ themed flowers

Thank you Karen, for hosting One Flower Wednesday. Please click HERE to visit other OFW stitchers.

~~//\\~~

...time for birthday gifts for friends...

I started these a few posts ago, but have now  finished them :-)

I made the pin cushions using the tutorial found here.

~~//\\~~

...time for a NEW DISCOVERY!!! I was so excited to discover that I can crochet away in the car for hours on end and not get CAR-SICK!!! If I've ever tried stitching etc in the car before I've had to take travel-sickness tablets but not this time :-)
This is a wrap I started quite a few years ago. It was my horse-truck project... when the girls were competing at horse events every weekend, we spent many evenings in the horse truck with limited lighting and amenities. It was a useful way to spend the evening while the girls were busy cleaning horsey gear or learning riding tests.
Anyway, back to the present, the MOML and I had a few days away recently (yes, the best time for dairy farmers to go on holiday is winter when there are no cows to milk) and there were 4 balls of wool left when we set out - 4 days later and 3/4 hour away from home again I had them all used up and the wrap was completed!!
[Time to tidy up the ends :-)]

Straight forward pattern meant I didn't have to look at it
all the time - meaning a happy traveller.

~~//\\~~

...time for photos... this is a cool photo I took recently - have no idea how I got the effect but I quite like it!

Now it's time to get back to some sewing :-)

Wishing you all nice sunshine or cosy fires, where-ever you may be!

Thank you for visiting, see you next time,

A small finish :-)

When I posted this picture a few weeks ago, I was accused of all sorts of madness - I was even asked if I had lost my mind!

Block finishes at 1  1/2"

Always keen to push a few boundaries and verging on Obsessive Compulsive behaviour, I continued sewing......

Woohoo my latest finish.
'Quilt' finishes at 6 3/4" square.

Yes, there are a few 'humble' moments but I'm OK to leave them as is.

As well as the questions regarding my sanity, I was also asked how on earth one goes about sewing such tiny blocks. The pattern I used came from Best of  Fons and Porter Star Quilts. 

For those of you unable to access this book and wanting to have a bit of a play, here are a few details :-)

The centre square and the corner squares were all cut at 1"

All the other pieces were cut slightly larger, sewn and then cut down.......

Cut 2" squares and cut on both diagonals to yield quarter-square triangles.
Once these are sewn together, cut them down to 1".
Trim seams to a generous 1/8th inch. Press seams open to reduce bulk.

The sashing strips were cut at 3/4" wide
and 2" long (the size of the unfinished block).

The 4-patch sashing strips were cut at 1".
Join and cross-cut into 1" segments. Trim seam to a generous 1/8".

Once the 4-patches are sewn together trim down to 3/4" square.
Hehe the trimmimgs are nearly as big as the squares - I didn't throw anything
out till I made sure I had the right pieces!

I cut the outer border at 1 1/4" wide but once it was sewn on, I decided it was
too wide. Remembering the sew then cut down lessons, I marked the
cutting line, sewed on my binding, then trimmed. Too fiddly otherwise.
(The white marker didn't show up so well so I tacked a running stitch.)

Just in case you didn't see it properly first time round...!!

The gorgeous and extremely lovely frame is one I bought at a stall at Paducah. The stall holder (sorry, I cant remember who it was) had these made exclusively for her by Amish craftsmen. There were a few other choices available but I was starting to worry about luggage/airplane weight, so opted for the smallest size!

And of course made from scraps - no yardage needed buying!!!! (Although, my scrap pile hasn't diminshed much, for some strange reason!)
Ok, now that I have got this out of my system, maybe I can go back to the projects I should be working on!
Have a lovely weekend everyone, and thanks for visiting,

PS If anyone wants to try this block and needs more details, don't hesitate to drop me a line.

Just One Flower

Here we are, Wednesday again; after missing last week, I decided I didn't want to miss again. After all, all it takes to participate is one flower.

One little Stitchbird

And here is my New Zealand series so far.

One a Wednesday, it will soon grow.

To join in or visit other hexie-gardens please visit Karen here.

Happy stitching everyone!