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,

Mopping up...

I'm calling this a mop-up post as I am attempting to tidy up some loose ends before I go away. More on that shortly!

Lately I have been asked to test a couple of patterns for Juliet, of Tartankiwi. Long time followers may remember that I love to test her foundation pieced patterns; I never know what journey they will send me on. I enjoy making something completely different, hunting out fabrics that might work and I actually enjoy writing the feedback on the pattern for her! So when Juliet sends out an email to her group of testers, I usually try very hard to squeeze her request in.

It has to be said though that I have a very healthy pile of blocks that I have made/tested that haven't eventuated any further, in spite of my best intentions. So when the latest calls came through I tried to be very realistic and thought very carefully about the end product.

Accordingly the fabrics I chose were possibly a little different to what I usually choose but they will work perfectly for the grandies who hopefully will all end up with cushions this year!

I decided to make two of this design, they will be for the big girl twins - 

This pattern is called Grumpy Cat. Very cute, I think, and fun to sew.

And next came Grumpy Bun. He will be for their brother and I think I will possibly make another of him; depending on what other Grumpy designs Juliet comes up with.

While the patterns come in a variety of sizes, the ones I sewed finished at 12 inches square, bigger than some of the others I've sewn for her, but a useful size for making cushions from. Both patterns have now been released. Visit Juliet of Tartankiwidesigns *here* to have a look.

Other sewing recently includes these harem pants for 3 year old Odie.....even if you look twice you probably won't realise that these started off as one of YD's dresses! The dress had a drawstring/elasticated waist which I shortened for his waist. It still has the (perfect for small boys) side pockets. I shaped the legs ever so slightly and finished the bottom with elastic. Very satisfying and extra cute!

Now onto my traveIs.....I have started my pilgrammage to Scrub Stitching. This is a (sewing) retreat held in New South Wales, Australia, near the home town of Chooky. These have been held for a number of years, disrupted, of course, by covid. I attended in 2019 and am excited that I can finally go again! Chooky has been instrumental in bringing a large number of (mostly) bloggers together - via the retreats but, in more recent times, via regular and, at times marathon, Zoom sessions. It's been a lot of fun getting to know other quilters and I'm so excited to be joining in again. My first Scrub Stitching blogpost is *here*, and I'll try to write posts while I'm away.

This afternoon I flew down to Auckland and I will be flying to Melbourne tomorrow morning (Easter Sunday) - Kiwikid Sue is meeting me at the airport and we are roadtripping up tp Baradine, arriving there, ready to sew, on Wednesday morning.

I was disappointed though to miss a bit of excitement at home tonight.....our son-in-law decided it would be a good thing to put a hangi down on the farm for a shared family meal.

A hangi is a traditional maori method of cooking food. Of course it has been adapted over the years with the use of some modern materials, but it's basically the same technique.
Rocks are heated until they are white hot. We used empty molasses drums to build the fire in and used hot burning and nice flavoured Manuka firewood. While the rocks are heating a pit is dug; then the rocks are tipped into the pit.

Straight away (so they don't cool) the food goes on top of the hot rocks. The basket of food is covered with hessian or muslin cloth or whatever is available. You don't want dirt in with the food!!!

Here is YD preparing the basket of food. The basket was lined with banana leaves, then the meat was put in. Ours had two chickens (no, not my babies), a leg of mutton and also some mutton flags. Then a layer of banana leaves and the vegetables are layered on top. She put in pumpkin, potato, kumara, cabbage, and also made a bread stuffing, and topped it off with more banana leaves.

The hangi was left for about 4-5 hours. Not sure how long ours cooked for as I had left home by then.

Apparently is was really delicious. hangi food has a really distinct flavour! The kids had a great time eating and playing so it was a success all round. Now that we have the stones and setup at our place, I look forward to the next one, and actually partaking!! Handy that there was plenty of food so the MOML will be fed for the next few days while I am away.

I apologise in advance if the formating for this post is all over the place... I'm used to using my PC for my blogposts and can't find some of the buttons I'm used to using! (I started this at home so part of it is 'controlled'!! (Actually, now that it's published, it's not too bad!!)

'til next time,
happy stitches,

Great excitement!

There is a new sewalong starting and I'm very excited about it!

Regular readers may remember that I love to test Juliet Tartankiwi's FPP patterns for her. When she sends a plea out to her group of regular testers, I very seldom say no, and manage to squeeze in the sewing, somehow. I think I enjoy the combination of making something I had no idea I wanted to make and the technical side of analysing a pattern, feeding back to her and so on.

And something I tested/sewed last month, is now in print and about to be launched as a new Sew-Along.
...........Introducing the Sleigh Ride Sew-Along!

Here are the two blocks I sewed up as a tester —

The reindeer —

And the sleigh —

Once I started sewing I wasn't sure about the background 'night sky' fabric I chose but it has grown on me and definitely gives a unique look!

The sewalong is focussing on making a table runner but, knowing me, I'll make mine a little bigger - and I'm hoping that by joining in with the sewalong I'll make some good progress!

(Oh and this pattern is definitely easier to sew than some of Juliet's patterns. They are all well designed and written but these particular ones are suitable for 'adventurous beginners' {to quote Juliet!})

Head over *here* to check out the details of the sewalong.

Which now gives me three Christmas projects I'd like to complete this year.

My Scrappy Christmas ornaments —

And The Santa, The Tree, The Turkey and Me —

But who's counting........😂

In other exciting news, I made another star block for The Great Scrappy Star Adventure —

And my 'baby chickens' (hereinafter called The Pullets) have started laying - spot the (tiny) pullet egg in the photo above! They are now enjoying life as big chooks, with the same freedoms, and I am hoping for nests full of full-sized eggs pretty soon. At the moment they scatter all the nesting box hay around and generally create havoc but I continue to live in hope!

Great excitement but not of the positive type over the weekend. Recently, the MOML has been getting to the cowshed at 5am to discover lights not working or the pump running. We figured there were rats in the ceiling chewing wires so have been working to get rid of the rats, seal up all the little entrances that creatures find and to pin down our electrician  to come out to fix the wiring.

Saturday was the last straw, when the radio wouldn't work! Up came the roof to see what on earth was going on. Amidst a tangle of chewed wires was a big old possum. Obviously he'd been having a grand old party living in the roof and living off wiring - how he didn't cause a fire, we don't know, so we feel very lucky. It took seven calls to get an afterhours electrician, but we were up and running by afternoon milking time again!

Roofing iron off

Look how chewed the wires were - so lucky we didn't have a fire!

The area is well sealed now, I think that even a slug would have trouble getting in!

Anyway, cows and calves are calling!

'til next time,

happy stitches,

End of the month again!

May turned into another of those months where I didn't get as much sewing done as I hoped I might.

The kiddos have all been here regularly and our house guests stayed for nearly three weeks - all good and no dramas but life gets a little out of routine at times :-)
However looking back through my photos, I see I did achieve a little. 

I made another Pathfinder vest. This one was for Odie and was made using more of the old oilskin I have been cutting up one project at a time.

And a brushed cotton lining.

I decided to use the sewn back seam of the original coat (because it looks cool!) but it meant I couldn't avoid a wee hole there. A simple patch job —

which adds to the authenticity, I think —

The button loops were actually cut from narrow straps already on the coat - a little less sewing for me!

Below, being modelled by the young Sir —

And speaking of Pathfinder vests, we had a Gruffalo feeding the chickens the other day —

A fun, versatile pattern.

I did some pattern testing for Juliet of Tartankiwi earlier on. Now that she is releasing the pattern, I can share some photos.
This is a rather clever design and Juliet has got lots of ideas on how to use it.

I enjoyed sewing up these blocks for her and would like to carry on and make some more, using different colours. Visit Juliet *here* to see more.

The photos are either too dark shade or too bright sunshine, sorry!

The one below is a better representation of the colours —

(They aren't as tricky to sew as they look - and Juliet's instructions are always Very Good.)

Deanna and I have challenged each other to make 4 Omigosh! blocks a month. Some months I cruise in but yesterday I had to spend a morning catching up in order to meet the goal!

Each month as I bag them up, I add to the running tally. I'm now very close to halfway with the blocks. It has taken me a couple of years to get this far so this is definitely one of those longterm projects!

And I think I may need to start a new bag - that's a good sign of progress :-)

It's really feeling like winter is sneaking up on us now. We usually try to (stubbornly) hold out till June 1st before we light the fire but we started early this year. With a youngster staying with us, and all the others coming and going, taking the chill off the house won over silly ideas that it doesn't get cold enough till June 1st!

The other day Xavier helped me get the firewood in —

Don't you just love his efforts!!!!

'til next time,

happy stitches,

End of June rolls around

Gosh, the end of another month! I'm pleased to say that I finished the latest block of Foxley Village—

Here's a close up of the leaves; instead of satin stitch, I did something a little different, not sure what stitch it's called but it created a sort of vein on the leaves. 

There's just one more applique part to this instalment of the quilt and then I'll be onto the piecing.

Recently I tested another block for Juliet of Tartankiwi. This is another part of the Flashcat Medallion quilt she is currently designing. I really loved making this block and can imagine it in a lots of different fabrics.

You may remember that this cat is the centre of the quilt. I have since swapped out those cornerstone blocks.

Juliet is running a QAL for this quilt soon - her instagram page is the place to watch if you want to find out more (and to see her finished quilt).
Both of these projects are on my WOOFA list for this year (Working On Or Finishing), hosted by Cheryll of Stitching Cubbyhole. These two projects seem to be the only ones I'm making much progress on this year, everything else on my to-do lists is currently on hold 😕.

Last month the older twins came over and did some sewing. They told me the other day that the snugglies they had made needed mending so came over again to fix them up and adorn them further. They were very confident this time and told me I didn't even need to watch them sew. Hmmmm, after recently reading Lori Kennedy's blogpost about an accident with a needle, I told them I would watch them sewing like a hawk!!

Their snugglies still go to bed with them every night :-)

The only other sewing I've done recently has been to make some beanbag snakes. Wee Odie has a lot of windows in his room, with no pelmets, and too much light is getting in. YD and I are experimenting with 'snakes' to cover the gaps at the top.
The first ones were what we call singles. No good. So we progressed to doubles with a flap.

The doubles with a flap are too wide so the next version will be singles with a flap! Sigh. I know that my patience with these snakes will run out soon so I hope the singles with a flap work. In the meantime rolled up towels work just fine. Watch this space!!!!

An ineffective single.

(Oh, the snake making is a Great Way to use up scraps, so that's a positive.)

'til next time,

safe and happy stitches,