Catching up in September

I really didn't know where to start when I finally got the chance for some me time and quilty sewing recently.

The Palace had become a bit of a cluttered mess, with bits and pieces everywhere - boxes and piles of projects waiting to be started, continued on with and finished. (I'm sure I'm not the only one with a workspace like this?)

I cleared a corner by doing some clothes ironing (!!) and then mended 3 pairs of the MOML's farm overalls (!!)

Staring at me (or was it Glaring at me) from the design wall was my temperature quilt. There were also bits of it in little containers and partial blocks scattered between my machine and the ironing board.

It seemed to make sense to do some work on it.

You may remember I am using the design by Joanne of Canuck Quilter Designs and I am loving it a lot. Sadly I'd got behind. 

However some concentrated sewing has seen the following happen.

April —

Temperatures ranging between pinky-red (24-25º) and dark-green (8-9º)

May —

Temperatures ranging between bright orange (20-21º) and dark-green (8-9º)

(Oh and one pink at 23º)

June —

Temperatures ranging between bright orange (20-21º) and light blue (6-7º)

July —

Temperatures ranging between light orange (18-19º) and light blue (6-7º)

Here are the first seven months of the year joined together. I'm enjoying seeing the colours progress throughout the quilt. 

You can see some of the shorter months haven't got their coping strips on the end, and also, below, you can see an oopsie I found while pressing - two units are upside down, marked by the pins below.

I've since fixed both things things but not re-photographed it.

Getting to this stage was enough temperature sewing just now. As it's joined I can take it off the design wall and free up the space for something else.

In the meantime I've whipped up some waterproof trousers for the youngest fellow. This is what he gets up to at Playcentre —

I used a 'softshell' fabric which apparently is water resistant. Hopefully it will save his clothes! (But judging by the above photo, I probably need to make a full body suit!)

And I've only guessed the elastic waist/cuffs so I may still need to do some unpicking to change them.

Now to decide what to work on next....!

'til next time,

happy stitches,

Circles and calves

Spring has sprung!

We've had some lovely days lately; it's so nice to work in the sunshine and the dry :-)

I've been working on my Wings and Pretty Things project again. I didn't have much left to do on the centre block but I'd needed to put it away for a bit.

This weekend I opened the box, and out came the circles —

Circles prepped

And basted

Stitched

Centre block completed :-)

Gosh the colour is different in every photo!! The background fabric is probably most like that in the second photo, sort of creamy.
I've made a bit of a faux pas, thinking I'd signed up with Cheryll and the gals for FNwF the other night. When I went over just now to link her blog to my post, I realised it hadn't connected properly and I wasn't on the linky list!! 

Thank you Cheryll for having us all over on Friday night, it was lovely to stitch with everyone, even if you didn't all know I was stitching with you 😕

(Scroll on down if you're not interested in seeing my beautiful calves!)

Some of you may remember during our Level Four lockdown I tried to climb a hill every day. One of my favourite climbs was to the peak across the river. I've never put calves up there before but, because it is nice and dry, and I can get the bike and feeder up there, I've challenged myself to use those paddocks.

(When it's been raining, it's too greasy to tow the feeder up the tracks and not so safe on these hills.)

It's been great fun - a buzz to get up there and then lovely to have the view. One of my bestest things at this time of the year is to take photos of my calves with a nice backdrop. 

Day One, the first hill paddock.

Day Two, next paddock over. Feeding at the peak I used to
climb to. Hmm not a good place to feed as the ground wasn't
level enough for a feeder (uneven milk flow) but we got there!!

A good run down the hill

Hehe I could have fed them down here but it was more fun up the top!

Day Three, next paddock over, on the other side of the peak.

So happy with how well they've grown.

Then a bit of a stroll down the hill for a graze.

The kiddies helped me feed the younger mob this morning (in a paddock at river level).

Three Goofy Grass Angels!

'til next time,

happy stitches,