When Pigs Fly

A wee while ago I thought it would be a fun idea to sign up with Joan's When Pigs Fly bloghop challenge. I say 'challenge' because it's always a challenge for me to sign up for something and see it through.

When it's months away we have heaps of time to prepare but of course we know, that like Pigs, Time sure does Fly (and I had some last minute sewing to do)!

Many will realise that a PIG, in the quilt world, stands for Project In Grocery Sack. Here in New Zealand we don't call them Grocery sacks. Project in Supermarket Bag (PISB) doesn't have much of a ring to it, and neither does Project in Cardboard Box (PICB) ...... and that is what my chosen UFO is; a project in a cardboard box.

As the box was getting quite battered, a result of being pulled out and put away numerous times, not to mention a perfect cat sleeping spot (which is why the lid is bent and no longer functional), it was a logical project to pull out, try to finish, and re-pack in a new container.

The project being Foxley Village by Natalie Bird, which was a 2016 BOM through the Australian Homespun magazine. I think I started mine in 2017 so it's bordering on a long-term UFO.

I thought it was going to be a quick finish and that I just had some columns to join, then decide on borders and it would be progressed to the needs quilting pile.

Oh yes, here's part of it-

But my memory had failed me - this block is definitely not a column!

And it doesn't fit - yet!

Some Flying Geese were made - 

Plus a 'Hovering Hawkks Variation block' - 

A little more sewing and this section is assembled - 

and finally I have complete columns which are joined -

Part of me wants to call it a day here. The pattern has an outer border that I'd rather not do. It's just not my favourite.

Jenny changed her border and I admire it every time I see it behind her when we're on zoom (Chookshed Chatterers).

(Most of the fabrics used are from various Tilda ranges.)

So while I decide what to do with my borders, this will be put back into a (new) box or bag. Thank you Joan of MooseStash Quilting for encouraging me to pull it out to work on.

Apologies for being slow to post today, I wasn't happy with my initial photos of the top so had to wait for daylight to take some more. Other bloggers who are also posting about their Flying Pigs today (and possibly have made more progress than I have!) are - 

Tuesday June 20

Quilted Delights

Ms P Designs USA

Selena Quilts

Just Because Quilts

Stitching Farm Girl (That's me)

Bumbleberry Stitches

There is a full list of the whole bloghop on Joan's blog.

'til next time,

happy stitches,

This and that~

My crochet afghan is growing deliciously. Each evening I decide I should put it aside and catch up with some other handwork but I think I have become addicted to it!! Maybe it's just an easy pick up put down project which suits well just now! 

Here it was a few days ago when I thought I was going to write a blogpost - 

First thing this morning while it was still dark and chilly I settled myself down by the fire and made it to another colour change-

I was able to get a good amount of crocheting done on our road trip up into the Far North last week. It only takes a few hours to get up there but I managed to crochet for most of our travelling. We spent our winter holiday on the Karikari Peninsular. That's the jutting out bit of land east of the North Island heading up to the tip of the country.

We enjoyed the three days off the farm, resting, eating and a bit of tripping about. We visited some beaches but, being winter, we didn't dip our toes in the ocean!

This the view from our room-

Ahipara on the West Coast-

Maitai Bay on the East Coast-

We ate well, in lovely surroundings-

And enjoyed the expanses of sky - 

Odie enjoyed feeding/shifting the cows while we were away-

Naturally our holiday was over far too quickly!

It was a lovely morning on Saturday  - perfect for watching the kids play their sport.

The three littlies and Rippa Rugby down one end of Kensington Park — 

And at the other end of the park, a 5 minute walk away, the bigger girls playing soccer. No good action shots to brag with I'm afraid but they all enjoyed their games. 

Once I got home, I devoted time to some clothes sewing for myself. I came across this fabric during some recent rummaging in my big cupboard and felt the urge to sew it up (it's more burgundy than pink) —

Buttons, buttonholes and hemming are still needed but am pleased to have got this far! The pattern is Geneva by Liesl + Co. It's pretty cool how the 3/4 length sleeves are made. I may share a decent photo when it's properly done!

I was contacted recently by Anuj of Feedspot telling me that my blog is on their list of Top Kiwi quilting blogs, and asked me to spread the word, which I said I would do.  Feedspot seems to be a big database of all sorts of blogs - however it does appear to operate as a paid subscription site, so I wasn't able to search for new blogs very successfully!

'til next time,

happy stitches,

June already!

And the start of the month means a Friday Night with Friends, hosted by the lovely Cheryll over at Gone Stitchin'.

I haven't joined in for a little while but was feeling organised this month so signed up :-)

The MOML and I have a few days away next week so I wanted to organise a crochet project to work on while we are away. I've been dreaming about making another afghan for a while; I love seeing the two I made years ago (Ripple afghan and Wavy afghan) being used and figure there's always room for another one or two around the place. Better still someone might claim and adopt one. 

The design I've had my eye on is the Snowflake version of the 6-day blanket by Betsy McKnit. There are various versions of this design and you get a different effect depending on where you change colours.

I have this yarn waiting for a project - originally purchased for a project I later ditched - and in typical Raewyn fashion the afghan will likely turn out reasonably uncontrolled looking colourwise.

So after that big introduction, this is where I got to last night. 

Hmm doesn't look very exciting just yet but I'm sure it will one day!

The pattern strongly advises doing a swatch but I didn't - I don't mind the size it turns out and felt confident enough of the pattern to not need to do it for practice!

(Although it's called a 6 Day blanket, I think know this will take me a lot longer. I understand the earlier versions in chunky yarn were very quick to make!)

Thank you Cheryll for hosting us :-)

In between cows and children I haven't done a lot of sewing since my last post. The only achievements are these two blocks....

Another one for the 20-year challenge for The Country Yard. The theme this time was The Rustic Barn. If you look at their website you will notice that I have stitched the logo. And the shop is in a barn-style building. (Also YD designed the logo for the shop so how could I not include it?!) I added the wee quilt to give the block a little more colour.

The second block made recently is another test block for Juliet of Tartankiwi. This is the third in her Grumpy series and is possibly the easiest of the three blocks so far. This pattern hasn't been released yet but Juliet has shared her own sewn block on instagram so I am sure she will be ok with me posting my picture!

He definitely lives up to his Grumpy Pup name!

'til next time,

happy stitches,