Scrub Stitching Special Project

Don't be too surprised to see another post today - I'm on a mission!! I hinted in my last post that there was another sewing project I worked on while at Scrub Stitching.

In recent months dear friend Chooky and family ran a big fundraising appeal for the Macquarie Homestay to expand the accommodation available for families of patients staying at Dubbo Hospital.

They had a wonderful response which surpassed their original goal. 

However we all know that quilts give that little bit of extra love so I offered to co-ordinate the making of a community quilt for the room.

A straightforward block was chosen and everyone was asked to make 2 versions of it, light surrounds and dark surrounds.

Here were my two blocks -

Before I'd even arrived, the wall was filling up with everyone's blocks - it was so cool to see how everyone was happy to jump on board with the idea.

The pattern I had chosen was called Fruit Punch out of  'Jelly Roll Quilts In A Weekend' by Pam & Nicky Lintott— 

I figured that if the authors could get one sewn in a weekend, then it might be a straight forward one to make!!

A sheet always makes a good design wall. I arranged blocks and let them sit for a while so that we could move them around as necessary — 

And then joining happened. I was pleased to get that long diagonal row joined! The odd block needed a bit of size fixing, but I found it a good one to use as a community block, where everyone's sewing is a bit different. I found a darkish neutral to use for the setting triangles - it was a bit hard to decide on a colour when the expected blocks were unknown, but I'm pleased with how this one worked.

Woohoo, 'tis together!

Photo without the goof!

Sandy of Shiralee Stitches very kindly offered to take it home to longarm quilt. A little team will bind it and then woohoo, it will be done.

What happened next was very exciting and heart warming. Sharmayne asked how many blocks we had left over; I said I was planning on taking them home and slowly making some more for a second quilt. She, however, wandered around the room collecting scraps and got a bit of a teamwork production line going. Here are Betty and Chooky making sets of blocks, which Christine and Sharmayne sewed together —

Before we knew it, we had enough blocks for a second, slightly smaller quilt. 

This one has the light blocks on the outside and will have coloured setting triangles.

Sharmayne and myself - mission accomplished —

I'll finish it here at home and get it back to Australia, either quilted or unquilted, somehow.

A great effort ♥

Thank you Scrub Stitchers for the generosity of your time and your scraps!!

See you next time,

Raewyn

Scrub Stitching 2025

It's hard to believe that this time last week I was busy sewing away at Scrub Stitching; and spending my time chatting to and enjoying the company of 31 other like minded ladies.

I arrived home late on Thursday night and spent yesterday washing and sorting. Mostly I put my 'sewing' suitcase aside and I thought that today as I unpack it, I would make sure I had photos etc, and write this blogpost at the same time.

But, before I get any further, I'd just like to say I had a FABULOUS time in Australia!!! 

Kiwikid Sue and I were at Baradine for retreat for four nights and spent 4 nights getting there and 4 nights leaving there. Sue is all up to date with her posts but I, of course, am not😔.

I didn't take many photos of the surroundings this time. I guess, as a fourth time attendee, some of the sights are now not quite as novel - I'm one of those old hands!

Scrub Stitching is at Camp Cypress in the Baradine Showgrounds in rural NSW. There are cabins, the large (work) room, kitchen and different amenities and all the sorts of buildings you find in a showground. For example we had the opportunity to book a massage - which was held in the wool sorting building, I understand! (The massage was wonderful!!)

 We didn't spend as much time outside this time as there had been recent rain meaning an abundance of veracious mossies!

The view from the ironing board - not bad —

You'll see in the top photo that we all received goodie bags - a treat we always look forward to.

And here are the contents.

Sharmayne made the lip balm, Brenda made the coconut ice and Jo made the grippy pads. We always look forward to the cup and this year's one was a real beauty.

We weren't allowed to open our paper bag (kit) until Jo arrived.....We each received a charm pack, a FQ, thread and needles. 

A bit puzzling until Jo explained and showed us the bag she had made Kawandi style.

And then she did a demo —

(Kawandi is an African-Indian method of 'quiltmaking' that involves stitching down layers of fabric; working from the outside towards the centre. All the fabric has turned under edges, differing to the Japanese Boro which tends to have the raw edges exposed. And there's obviously more to it than that too!)

By the end of the weekend Kate had completed hers, and was contemplating what to turn it into. I was pleased to see her version as I had been given the same charm pack.

In this photo she has nearly finished —

Anyway, what did I get up to? I took numerous projects and worked a little on them all except for one which didn't even make it out of my suitcase.

In retrospect I feel like I didn't achieve that much but I made sure I took pre-cut projects this year to help me get ahead.

First up, I pulled out my Bears Paw quilt. This has been on my to-do list for such a long time (I was shocked just now to see that I was working on it back in 2016!!!).

All that has needed doing has been the outer border...sounds easy huh? 

Making a start. Sewing the 1 inch squares on —

— and forming a paw —

— forming a strip —

— I made 21 out of the 33 needed for one  side!!!

Even though a lot of the sewing of these blocks is done in long strips and cross-cut to form small units, I decided I could only work on these for a limited period of time so switched projects.

Next up was a project that deserves a full post on its own.

And then I worked on a jellyroll quilt; again pre-cut and prepped —

I seemed to spend a reasonable sized chunk of time on it but still only made a couple of blocks.

One block doesn't look very impressive —

Nor do two!

But I know that as I make more blocks that it will make more sense (see photo of pattern)!! Each block is 22" so I only need 9 for a lap sized quilt.

A big thank you to Chooky for lending me her spare machine for the weekend.

There will be more sharing soon 😊

'til next time,

happy stitches,

Raewyn

Trying again!

There's been a flurry of activity in my world lately...I've been getting ready for my annual pilgrimage to the Scrub Stitching retreat in rural Australia.

Naturally I'm taking more than what I will have time to sew but it's always nice to have choices, isn't it?!

Tomorrow I fly to Melbourne where I meet up with kiwikid Sue and we will start this year's tiki tour heading north.

I haven't done a huge amount of sewing lately so, as well as the seeing the sights, having some fun, and of course catching up with girls at Scrub Stitching,  I'm really looking forward to some concentrated sewing time.

Last year at SS we received a kit for a wee sewing roll. I pulled it out this summer and was super motivated to finish mine before attending again - and here it is - 

(This is a design by Anni Downs of Hatched and Patched.)

Something else I made sure I finished before I left home was a wee Sashiko bear. Sue and I bought one each on our travels last year and challenged ourselves to complete it for this year. 

Another one ticked off my list!

What didn't get ticked off my list was all the quilt finishes I had hoped to take over for Show and Tell! Never mind, there is always next year!

I have to get to the airport quite early tomorrow morning, so will sign off now.

See you next time,

Raewyn

A Fresh Start!

A new year and a fresh start!

Happy 2025 to you all

If everything goes according to plan I am going to have a fun and busy time sewing up a storm this year!!

Last year failed on so many accounts and it can only get better from here on in 😄

And without dwelling on the negatives I'm going to launch in here with all the good stuff.

I've decided to join the Chookshed Chatterers Challenge again this year. This is hosted by Deanna from Dreamworthy Quilts. Each month Deanna randomly selects a number - and we work on that number from our list.

Many of these projects I have talked about at length before....quite a few are from last year's challenge list which barely got dusted off so I will just make a quick list rather than full on explanations for them all.

I want to make PROGRESS on all of these - finished would be great but I'll be happy with progress -

1. International Sisters

2. Antarctica Quilt

3. Wings and Pretty Things

4. On Williams St

5. Hugs and Kisses Christmas Stitchery

6. 2024 Scrub Stitching project

7. Snowflake Lane 

8. Gingerbread Wallhanging

9. Mod Bear's Paw

10. The Great Scrappy Star Adventure

NUMBER 6 has been drawn as the project to work on this month. Yaay, it's the Sewing Case/Roll by Anni Downs we were given as a kit at Scrub Stitching 2024. I've actually been working on this lately so that's perfect!

See you next time,

Raewyn