Scrappy Saturday and Snowman Sunday

With a bit of wintery weather (wet but warm) I was happy to bunker down in The Palace and spend the weekend stitching.
On Saturday I did some Scrap Busting —

A few more cats

My little pile is growing. It will be a small quilt but I haven't yet decided
exactly what size I want it.

A few more 9-patches for my Omigosh quilt.
These are my Leader and Ender project, another pile is growing

And another star block

Over at Angela's soscrappy blog this month the scrap colour was teal/blues with a touch of green so I have a few less scraps in this colour now :-)

Sunday, being a new day, was time to focus on my OMG project - my One Monthly Goal for June was to complete a second block in my Quiltmania Snowflake Lane hanging.

Out came my #40 weight Aurifil for the applique.

Block Two completed!!!

Isn't he a sweetie?

Block 1 and 2 side by side. Hopefully next month block 3 will be with them!

It's great to be moving on this project again - thanks to Heidi and the little push of making that One Monthly Goal :-). *Here* is the latest linkup to see who else met their goal!. Wonder what I will work on next month...?

I've started the new week feeling content and, with winter still going on outside, I'm hoping to squeeze a few more sewing sessions in ♥

Have a good week - happy stitching,

A few gifts...

A couple of my friends have had birthdays recently ..what does a crafter do, but get out some fabric and sew up a storm!
Sharon introduced me to this pattern when I was at her place; at the time I thought it might make a useful gift. It's the Goody Goody Binding Kit. The idea is that it has everything in it that you need when binding a quilt...you just grab it and sit and stitch that binding down!

Barb likes French General fabrics so what else would I use?

It gets it's name from the Goody Goody yum yums that are tucked into the
spare pocket - sustenance is always a good idea when sewing down binding! 

The pattern is found *here* on Lella Boutique.  I added a small piece of elastic and button to trap the scissors in their little strawberry.

And I made this kitchen set for another friend, Leeanne —

Handtowel, pot stand/oven mitt and a fabric microwave bowl.

After yelping and nearly burning my hands with a bowl of soup in the microwave recently I decided I needed one of these fabric bowls.... so now I've made one for Leeanne but I'm still waiting for mine!! Typical, huh?! There are various tutorials around; I used *this* one from Tamarack Shack.

(Note that if you want to make one of these you do need to use 100% cotton materials - including the thread. And we're advised no longer than 3 minutes in the microwave, too.)

The pot stand was a clever little design with a smaller sqaure also
quilted and them sliced on the diagonal and the centre edges bound.
 It has created a handy mitt to make it mult-purpose.

A decorated hand-towel completes the set.

My stitching group had our monthly get-together last night; I made some progress on the latest Anderson's Farm block.

Block 5. I decided to applique the dog rather than stitch him. And I quite like how
 he turned out - although the collar was a bit of a challenge!

And because Barb had a special '0' birthday we'd made her a friendship quilt which we gave to her last night. We each made a 'special' block and then 2-3 extra blocks. And, as her contribution, it was lovingly quilted by another member of our group, Leeanne.

Barb and her quilt. I think we managed to surprise her!

These are the blocks that I had made -

The fabric (carefully joined) in the centre of the stars is the one used in the
border.

This is my 'special' block. A fun one to make.
I think I'd quite like to make some more of these :-)

It looks like it's going to be another soggy day today..... guess I might be hibernating with a pile of fabric....

'till next time,

happy creating,

A Night In....

Yaay for some peaceful Friday Night Sewing Stitching Crocheting!! Last night I joined in with Wendy from Sugarlane Quilts and 31 other crafters for Friday Night Sew In.
I had a nice long evening in my cozy chair with the TV on and the MOML and a cat snoring breathing gently on the sofa.
I was determined to finish Part 5 of my Mandala Madness and here it is —

Part 5 completed, the pinky/red work.
This is now 20" across.

The rounds are getting a little longer to go around and I think my grand plan of catching up to the rest of the crocheters by the time the last clues are given out are pretty slim. At one stage I worked out I'd have to do 3 Parts a week to catch up but I think it would be even more than that now - oh well, I'll just have to relax and enjoy the journey (even more!).

Am loving this soooo much!

And because this is a quilty blog I'd best show a quilty picture! This morning I sewed up the last block of my scrappy-brown Fabulous Friday mystery project. This block as named by EQ7 is called Picnic Bouquet and is 18" square - a far cry from the tiny blocks from my last post - gosh the seams seemed so long!

Picnic Bouquet in scrappy browns.

A nice straight forward one to finish on. Below is my non-scrappy version of the same block. Next up is to sew them all together ready for the grand reveal in two weeks time. Aren't mysteries fun?!

If you'd like to see what others got up to on their Friday night, just click *here*. Thank you Wendy for hosting us all :-)

Thanks for visiting, 

have a happy weekend ♥

 

Chickens and 9-patches

It feels like I have little to show for a week of crafting...I have finished two more blocks from the Button Club by Lynette Anderson, Anderson's Farm (aka Barge's Farm)

Meet Sydney -

-and his girls - 

The complete blocks - 

Block 2

A more glare-y photo which shows the (appropriately named) Hens and
Chicks block in the corner better.

Block 4

As you can see I'm using, mostly, fabrics from Lynette Anderson's ranges. Block 5 is now out so I've got more stitching to do :-)

Last week as I swooped and gathered some sad and abandoned scraps which had been unceremoniously dumped in a rubbish bin I was challenged - 

"What are you actually going to do with those, Raewyn?"

"Sew my 9-patches! What else?"

Right, GAME ON!

So I sewed up those scraps into my 3 ½" 9-patches....

And started playing with how they will go. The pattern I am using is Ring Cycles by Leesa Seigeles.

This is just a bit of a play...once I have more 9-patches made I'll be able to mix up the colours a lot more. There are triangles sewn between the 9-patches too so there will be lots of set in seams and fun and games getting it right but I am sure I am going to enjoy it a lot. You know me, I like a good challenge. (Yet) Another one of these long term projects!!!!

A closer look. I'm planning on using reproduction-style scraps for this project.

Who knows I may end up just making a runner. We'll see :-)

While I was scrapping, I leader-ended these smaller 9-patches (for another project). I do get asked about my sanity working with strips that are 1" wide but as you can see from the photo below I often work with wider strips and then cut them down when necessary. Just gives a little more wiggle room which I find makes the block more accurate..

Untrimmed...

...and trimmed.

Hopefully I'll squeeze a little more sewing into the day but the sun is shining and it's not too cold right now. I'd best get a few outside chores done first!

'till next time,

Happy creating,

Party time and I was late!

Chookyblue invited us all to her place over the weekend for her annual Chookshed birthday; a weekend to sew and craft with friends from around the world.

I was late to the party as we had a surprise visit (well 24 hours notice) from YD and her hubby. So lovely to see and spend time with them. As they both work on Sundays it was a short overnight visit but that meant I was able to spend most of Sunday at Chooky's do :-)

I made some progress on my Fabulous Friday blocks --

Whirly-gigs,; these need sewing together and a stem and leaves added.

This is a mystery project we are doing at The Country Yard, where I work. This is my scrappy brown version used for testing blocks, sizes, instructions, etc. I had some catching up to do —

Butterfly blocks

"Filler blocks' - Snowballs and uneven 9-patches.

And upstairs, where it was slightly warmer, was a good place to spend the evening crocheting. I completed Part 3 of my Mandala Madness - yaay - still very behind - I know it's not a race but it is so addictive!! I've had the odd bout of undoing, changing colours, etc; that is my biggest problem, trying to decide what colour to use next. I've learnt to look at the whole section I'm working on rather than just the next round (each Part/section is at least four rounds worth).

The start of the next Part, one row of lemon crocheted so far,

This weekend in New Zealand is a long weekend as we celebrate the Queen's Birthday (a little late!) so maybe today I'll continue partying and get a little more done.....I have another batch of soup humming away in the crockpot so I'm sorted... :-) As well as a bit more Fabulous Friday sewing I need to prep the next stage of Month Four of Anderson's Farm. I've done the needleturn for it so far—

Yes, I know, my chickens are facing the wrong way......

Thank you Chooky for having us over, I know you had a wonderful weekend! Go *here* if you want to see what the other party gals got up to.

'till next time,

be creative,