Whimsical Woodland catch up and the odd finish

As I put the last few stitches into Block four of Whimsical Woodland the other night, I realised that I hadn't shared about it on my blog for a while... not since I'd finished the first block actually...whoops!
Whimsical Woodland is the current mystery stitchery being run by The Country Yard (where I work). Each year we do a mystery stitchery project and this time I decided to take part as a customer not a staffer.
Here are the first four blocks —

Yesterday morning before breakfast (and work), instead of catching up on my blog reading, I had the urge to do some piecing. We were to put 2" squares around the outside of the first three.

And here's block 4 —

Aren't they looking lovely? Cant wait to see what else is in store for us :-)
(The fabric range is Edyta Sitar's Crystal Farm).

I also have two finishes to share - more projects that have been sitting on my camera waiting for attention.
A Holly Cottage Christmas, a design by Michelle Ridgeway.  I took part in a stitchalong for this one which was a great motivator. I  loved making this, the combination of the applique and the stitchery made it an enjoyable project.

For the quilting I did fill in the applique blocks and crosshatched the squares.

And feathered the borders, treating both borders as one. It's hard to tell in the photo but there are two red borders in the photo below.

It was also to be a shop sample so as soon as it was finished I needed to get it in there and hung for display. So I didn't get a chance to roam the farm for a photo shoot session!

Back in February two friends and I went on retreat. We started a little project by Lisa of fig 'n' berry creations.
Here is the finished pouch —

We decided to change the outer fabric supplied in the kit as we found some lovely Liberty fabric while on retreat....it was a good excuse to buy this fabric which we usually avoid because of the price!
OK gotta go... I  can hear the MOML has finished milking so I'd better get organised for breakfast and off to work I go :-)

Happy stitches,

 

Another week....another month...

At the start of the year I made a quiet resolution to myself to blog more frequently. Blogging remains my favourite form of social media. I enjoy the more indepth 2-way conversations, the stories and the friendships forged.
And because I mostly only use my PC for 'internet stuff' it's the easiest thing for me to do too.
But I am failing in my bid to blog more often.... January was only 3 posts and here I am only just squeezing in a 4th for the month...maybe I can kid myself that because it's a short month I'm doing OK ...it's just the way the cookie crumbles I guess!

So what have I been up to?
With the warmer evenings, the MOML and I have been sitting up a bit later this month and I've chewed through more stitching than I usually do  —
I've finished the hand stitching on the Fig 'n' Berry project I started on retreat.

This will get sewn up into a wee pencil case which will be very handy...to pack pencils and markers for retreat I ended up using my rotary cutter case..... it was not easy to get the pencil sharpener or rubber out of the bottom!

I've finished up a few more blocks for Ruth's Quilt, a Leanne Beasley design, which we are doing here on the No Fuss Sewalong blog. These are lovely wee stitcheries which don't take too much brainpower and nice to do in moments where my fingers would otherwise be idle.

Here is a close up of one of the blocks. I think the petals are supposed to be done with backstitch but I decided I'd rather do (the very much quicker) lazy-daisy stitch!

And I've completed my first block for Woodland Wonderland mystery quilt. I couldn't resist signing up for this one; something I told myself I wasn't going to do...!

(Sorry the colours aren't showing very well today!)

Daytime sewing feels like it hasn't been nearly as productive but I do have a few photos to share so I guess I've done better than I thought!
I've completed the pig block for the Barnyard quilt I am remaking for work. I performed a bit of surgery to improve the snouts I'd initially done and am a lot happier with them now.

Eyes will come after it's quilted.

And lately I've tested some patterns for Juliet of Tartankiwi... I've done a fair bit of testing for her in the past but not for a while. Juliet designs foundation pieced patterns of all shapes and sizes; a lot, but but not all of them, are animals. I find her patterns well designed and written and I've enjoyed putting these wee birds together for her.

This is the NZ Rock Wren

This is the Red Backed Fairy Wren.

Another Red Backed Fairy Wren...I thought I'd try it with the different background.
The whiter more snowy looking one didn't seem to suit an Australian bird so well!

They form part of the On the Wire Pattern Club she is running this year.

One reason I want to blog more often is so my posts don't get so long.....oh well, thanks for seeing me through to the end,

Best be off,

Happy stitches,

A retreat among the Gumtrees!!

A couple of friends and I just spent the last weekend on retreat. Two full days (return journey) of travel for two days of stitching retreat may sound a little crazy but when the combination of Lisa Cantlay of fig 'n' berry creations and Katie Dawson of Cottage Garden Threads was advertised we just couldn't resist! We decided it would be quite nice to have a wee trip to Mooroolbark, Victoria, Australia to join in.

Lisa and Katie had each organised a project for us to work on (if we chose to) —

This is what I worked on

The two projects.
Hmmm, maybe I was too busy chattering; I didn't get it finished!

In the past, the retreats I've been on have been with a small bunch of friends. At those we all worked on whatever and we all helped with meals. This time there were about 70 of us (I think) and we were provided with 3 square (delicious) meals a day :-)

It was lovely to meet new people and spend time with them. Everyone was so friendly - all just loving being away on retreat!

Although it looks rather long here, it was a good sized room, fitting us all in comfortably.

Our table mates :-)

Kerryn and Bernice receiving some expert advice from Katie ....

.....and showing the foxes they stitched with Katie in her Inky Stitches SAL.
(These are adapted from an Adult Colouring Book and have a variety of stitches
and colours in them - lovely).

I may or may not have done a little shopping...

...the wee lamp was my other purchase; the other bits and bobs were
gifts and prizes (including the cutting board!).

Lisa's right hand person Hazel kept us entertained with games and activities. Quite a few laughs were had.
Katie's Mum, Pam (who does all the dyeing at Cottage Garden Threads) kept us entertained with stories and her tips for successful stitching  - even more laughs were had.
I didn't pull my camera out very often. Below was the only wildlife photo I took —

— and I'm not even sure what it is!!
HELP! please my Australian friends...if the photo is even clear enough for
you to identify the bird!

The crochet below was my flying project; just a wee baby blanket.

One ball on the way to Australia and one ball on the way home!
I reckon I need one more trip 'over the ditch' to complete it!

Maybe we were a bit crazy but we had a great time  - and it was well worth it!

I've just popped back to link up with Linda and Julie's fortnightly Stitch-sew-snap-SHARE. These lovely ladies are doing their bit to keep the blogging world alive and interesting. Visit them *here* or *here* and spend some nice time discovering what other bloggers are up to ☺

Till next time,

happy stitches,

Home again

We had a wonderful time retreating; I'm feeling relaxed and happy so thought it would be nice to share some photos from the weekend.

While it was all sewing, because I live very much inland and don't get out much, I was totally enamoured by the sea views out Whangarei Heads.......

(You'll have to bear with me as I have re-discovered the Panarama setting on my camera so had a real good play with it!)

This is the view from the deck of our home for the weekend.

One of the rules is that we have to hang 'finished' items up as they are done. A good way to do Show and Tell.

Another different look at things.

The girls at work.

I sewed all weekend but haven't too much to share as my bits are all at different
stages. I got a really good start on this baby quilt ♥

Another rule is don't fuss with the food!!
Oh well, rules are made to be broken.

The same group of us head out each year, our numbers were down a little this time but we had a great time - good sewing and plenty of laughs :-)

A little walk down the hill takes us to this private little beach below.
Sunday morning was a beautiful morning although I was in the shadows taking these
photos so not the best. 

Cute little island!

It's great watching life out on the water. Boats of all shapes and sizes.

This ship was fully laden.....

Maybe that's where these logs were heading as I left home on Friday
 morning!

Back home again and a walk in the countryside - here's my normal sort of vista!

Now you all know that what happens on retreat stays on retreat so I'm leaving it there for now :-) Can you tell I had a great time? Loved it!!

...see you next time and happy creating...

Another catchup post -

The weekend before we went to Pittsburgh for Quilt Market, a group of us had our annual retreat.
The peninsula of Whangarei Heads is beautiful, with lots of coastline, and the camp where we stay is a lovely spot with a gorgeous setting. Admittedly we are mostly heads down at our sewing machines but it is always nice to look up and take in the view. There are always some good walks to be had, as well, along the coastline.

Always something happening out on the water.

We had a full house this year (18), luckily most of us have Sew-Ezi tables so
we all fitted in (still setting up and waiting for later arrivals in this pic).

We decided to host a Pink Ribbon morning tea while at there to raise money for The NZ Breast Cancer Foundation.
Prior to retreat we needed to organise a few props -

Using 'breast cancer' fabric we sewed and sewed...

...and made this gorgeous table runner,
perfect for our tea party.

And for a bit of fun, can you spot the
special biscuits I made, keeping to the
theme of the occasion?

We also thought it would be fun to wear a quirky hat. For some reason this hat
won the  most votes as favourite!

This fundraiser carries on until the end of the month. I have a special fundraising page if anyone wants to donate a little ... this year the funds raised go to research. The link is in my sidebar or *here*. I was asked if it is possible to donate via PayPal, this isn't possible. They will only accept credit cards. I haven't reached my goal yet so any further donations, large or small would be gratefully accepted!

This year I took a lot of little projects to retreat so in a way felt that I didn't achieve much, but I guess they all add up!

I did start a new quilt, my new Red and White one for the SewCalGal challenge.
Lots of learning which I will share another time.

I made a recipe book cover for one of ED's friends.

..and decorated a hand towel as a gift for another friend.

A few of us decided to make this bag.
Very cute, a lovely shape.
This pattern is by Gathering Stitchers and can be
found *here*.

All so different!

It was a great weekend, lots of laughs and creativity. Of course we all took far too much food and too many projects. Looking forward to the next one :-)

Today was the first chance I have had to unpack my sewing machine since retreat  - I made a few simple blocks and feel whole again. The days are definitely cooler now so hopefully I can have a few more dates with it!
Have a great week and happy stitching,