Chookshed Challenge

This month's Chookshed Challenge is #8.

My task is to complete the Christmas Gingerbread stitchery I started back in 2023.

The stitching is complete; I need to pop a border on it, quilt and bind it and gift it to wee Odie (in time for Christmas 2025!).

The trouble is, when I made this year's list, I was completely surprised that I hadn't finished it. PLUS I hadn't seen the stitchery floating around at all for a very long time.

My plan for this month is to find the stitchery and complete it.

If I can't find it, I will substitute another Christmas themed project that needs completing. Watch this space!!

This will be the first time I've linked up to Deana's Chookshed Challenge this year. Last year's participation in it was a write-off so I'm trying really hard to do better! 

The number drawn out of the January's Challenge was #6 which was to complete the 2024 Scrub Stitching project/kit.

✔ Done and blogged about *here*

Here is a group of the finished sewing cases at this year's retreat —

February's challenge was #10; to work some more on my Great Scrappy Star Adventure. I located the box and that was about it!!

My Antarctica quilt was March's challenge (#2). This one needs creative time and headspace so also remained untouched.

April's challenge was #4; On Williams Street. A free motion quilting sewalong from 2023. You make the blocks and practice different quilting designs in each one, Quilt As You Go style.

A great idea, but I never got all the blocks made.

But CELEBRATION - one more was made in April so I am counting that as success :-)

This is the block - each block is the same and they will all be quilted differently. (Luckily the instructions are all still up on their blog!)

I found a bunch of Kansas Trouble style fabrics which I am using —

The group so far, I have another seven to go!

So that gets me up-to-date. 

Hopefully I will find May's challenge stitchery soon and report back at the end of the month :-)

Linking up with the Chookshed Challenge on Deanna's Dreamworthy quilts blog *here*

Happy stitches,

Raewyn

Now what?

In spite of my flurry of my first (little) 2024 finish, I've still taken me a while to get myself sorted in The Palace. I've done some tidying, some sorting and some thinking.

How to decide where, what, how to start?!

I've decided to start with the decisions I have made already, and hopefully anything else will fall into place as time goes by ~

Firstly, my Chookshed Chatterers 2024 Challenge. Item #6 for this month.  Done and Dusted :-) (Featured in  *this post*.)

Deana has put a linky page up for a mid-month check in. Many of us were working on our Scrub Stitching Retreat bag but not everyone, so click *here* to have a peek at what everyone is doing.

However, I do have a couple of other Scrub Stitching projects that I'd like to do. So in the evenings I have been stitching this —

It is an older pattern but one I acquired last year when I was there. Pretty cute.

So that's one thing. The next thing is a young child's quilt I am making for the shop. I've made a bit of a start this week.

Although I may swap the colours so that one has a blue centre and the other has the yellow centre?

And I've decided on my (two) Leader-Ender projects for however long I need them.

First is the Churndash (or is it Churn dash?) quilt I started in 2022.

I think most of the group who started a Churndash quilt at the same time have finished theirs. Quilted and Bound. But of course I chose a slightly more detailed design (Barn Dance by Denise Russek) which has been abandoned for a while.

I need to lay it all out on the spare bed and see where I'm at. I also have scraps from my 2023 projects which I'm happy to put into this quilt so that will be a win-win situation.

My second Leader-Ender project will be making the blocks for the QAL I sort of started last year through On Williams Street. Each month we were to make an identical block, then a FMQ design was offered for it. By the end of the year there would be 12 uniquely quilted blocks which could be joined to make a quilt.

I got this far — 

(Not even quilted!)

I'm slowly working away at updating my blog. I've changed my profile picture, swapping a February 2013 photo for a July 2023 one - keeping it real! And I've added another challenge to my sidebar.

I think I've said recently that I have started my hill climbs on the farm again. It is a great way to get fit. Anyway, I've decided to see if I can walk 732kms this year. That only averages out at 2kms a day, but I know I won't walk every day this year. It will be interesting to see if I can reach that goal!

At the moment I can't get the image where I want it; blogger won't let me put it further down on the sidebar. Maybe I'll wake up tomorrow morning and it will be where I want it!!

And one more thing before I sign off. I've started doing my photo-a-day blog again. *Here* is the link if you are interesting in having a look.

Ok, that will do,

'til next time,

happy stitches,

Raewyn

Tidying up at the end of April

Since I came out of isolation and resumed a normal life, I haven't had much chance to sew, or blog. However today it is wet so I am going to attempt to have a tidy up post before the month ends.

I took a photo of the Moda Love quilt top I made at Scrub stitching. I didn't have a complete photo to share when I showed the Moda Love quilts everyone had made, back in *this* post. I made this from a charm pack, In The Meadow by Riley Blake designs. Because I didn't plan my colours before sewing my HSTs mine went down a slightly different track. And I added borders to help the size grow a little - 

Hmm I wonder how long before I get this one quilted??! It's on the pile at least!
*Here* is a link to the Moda Love pattern. It now seems to only come up as a PDF.

Whoops, I told a lie, I did get a bit of time in the sewing room aka The Palace, yesterday. I decided to unpick a couple of the applecores in my applecore quilt to slightly redistribute the colours. Even though this is a top I didn't want to spend hours fussing to get the fabrics right, there were a few too many darker ones a bit close together which I have now swapped out. (I allowed mself to unpick four only!) This will also be bordered to so it has gone into my bag to take to work for a fabric hunt.

I've hunted out some photos of the makes I took to Scrub Stitching with me. First up, the dress up for our Australiana themed dinner - 

The Gumnut beanie - 

I used a basic beanie pattern and 14 ply (chunky) wool yarn. There are lots of cute baby hats with 'stalks' on them so I looked one up to work out how to finish mine. This actually knitted together pretty quickly - and I made two, (and unpicked one) as the first one was too small!

And to 'finish' my gum outfit, I made a gumleaf from a Twig and Tale pattern - I purchased and used the NZ leaves pattern a few years ago. This leaf is from their Australian series. Again, another quick sew which I had done in a day (just as well as I was running out of time by then!).

I left this in Australia for kiwikid Sue's wee grandson. I hope he enjoys it for some imaginative play as he grows :-)

Today Odie claimed the beanie as his own, saying that it looked like the hat that Dipsy, the green Teletubby, wears! If it will make him wear a hat, great!!!

I didn't have photos to show you the gift that I made for our mystery swap at Scrub Stitching. Janice received mine and shared photos on her blog, which I have now 'stolen'. I made this little bag that folds down to a useful container for using - 

I made one of these for my swap gift last time too (2019). Linda, who received it, loved it so I thought I may as well make it again!

The pattern is Catch All Cutie by Teresa Weaver.

One of the things I wanted to do at Scrub Stitching was to make a start on my On Williams Street QAL blocks. I had been eyeing up this QAL since it started in January but hadn't had the chance to do anything about it till now. Each month they offer a free motion quilting design for a block. Each month's block is the same, but the quilting designs are different. They are quilted as blocks and then all joined later.

The 15" block is a pretty cool block. However at this stage, one night, I decided to put this one into the corner for some time out!

Nice and fresh, back at home, I fixed it up.

And started another. Whoops, that one went into coventry too!

All fixed, 

And with its mate.

I have altered the pattern a little. Instead of sewing half square triangles for the centre, I made an economy block. And I used the 8-at-a-time method to streamline the making of the half square triangles.

If you are at all interested in enhancing your free motion quilting skills, pop along and have a look - they post a very comprehensive video each month.

Ok, I'd best be off,

'til next time,

Happy Stitches,