Chit chat

It's been another mixed up week of sewing,......while my main aim has been to get Show and Tell finished for The Shop's new projects launch, there have been plenty of interruptions.

Now that Tammy cat has discovered this quilt,  there is no keeping her away!

At least this time I had the time to turn the back over for her to lie on!

Slightly cooler nearly autumn days help, too 😊

(There should be a photo of the finished quilt top in my next blogpost!)
Just as well there are plenty of other things to do in The Palace while the cats take their naps...

I've been making these cute little blocks for another shop project — 

 

And another Split 9-patch, RSC block...this month's colour is green — 

It's nice to have these straight forward blocks to plan and sew in between the more important things going on.

More Very Important sewing over last weekend was helping Lily make a cushion for her Christmas kitten Betty. 

She planned it on their previous visit after finding some offcuts of Minky fabric in my baby/children's sewing box. I told her she needed to draw her design so that we all knew what she wanted to do. 

(If you can make it out, she'd originally thought about sewing the two colours side by side, but then decided to put the pink on one side for the summer and the blue on the other for winter.  Interestingly,  the back/blue side of the cushion is drawn on the back of the paper! Don't you love how young minds work?! 
Wider sewing foot attached and speed turned to low.

She allowed her brother to help her fill it with 'fluffy stuff'.

The slippery minky wasn't the easiest to sew, we had varied seam allowances, but she did well.

The wee kitten is a cute (mass produced) hanging I'd offered her for her dollhouse; she decided it needed to be sewn onto Betty's cushion instead!

Other important sewing this past week was to resize 2 pairs of shorts for YD. One was sort of easy, the other more tricky because they were fitted, but they actually came up the best...

I had to unpick the side seams, cut a one inch strip off each side, and then sew them back up again.

I know she was pleased with them as she was wearing them the next morning when she left for her week-long hockey tournament!

Thanks for reading along🌝

'til next time,

Happy Stitches,

Raewyn

Another catch-up

I've gotten behind again so sit tight for lots of photos!
One day when the 5 year-old twins came to visit, they insisted they needed to make some shorts for their Barbie and Ken.

Out came the pattern and out came some fabric. George was the most keen to sew - 

After they had gone, I finished up the fiddly bits for them-

And we had two happy children!

Another time they visited, they wanted to go adventuring down at the stream-

Amazing how quickly these two are growing up!

Sewing wise I haven't been up to much lately, with other commitments taking my time. However I have made another small quilt for our series of them at the shop. A single block quilt this time-

Simple walking foot quilting- 

I really do like this 'block' so made another one using some leftover bits and pieces- 

There may be more of these in my future!!

Back in February, the MOML and I had a weekend away, travelling down to the Bay of Plenty to celebrate the 80th birthday of one of my uncles.

We stayed at the Karangahake Gorge on the way down. A beautiful area with a rich gold-mining history. We did one of the walks there, it went over some swing bridges, along the river and through an old railway tunnel. Very cool.

We then carried on to Papamoa, where Mum lives. 

The next morning, we climbed Mount Maunganui with my sister and her husband. A great workout! And great views...

After a quick dip in the sea, we spruced ourselves up for my uncle's birthday lunch-

Mum, my sister, and I - 

The next day we travelled home, having had a brilliant few days away.

I'm about to start another adventure-------more on that next time!!!!

See you then,
Raewyn

Tutoring

I held out on you after Scrub Stitching in April as there was a project I worked on that I haven't yet shared. This was the last photo I took while there before we packed up and headed home - 

It was a sample for a 'Mystery Midnight Madness' class to be held at The Country Yard....

We held the class a couple of weeks ago with 5 focussed ladies - 

Taking shape - 

Towards the end of the night, I revealed what they were making, here is my quilt - 

It was a fun and straight forward pattern to sew and within a week (I think) we had these. Liz -

Maureen (quilted and bound) - 

Judy-

Bernice - 

The pattern was 'Puzzled Nine Patch' by Franklin Quilt Company.

During the school holidays I arranged a sewing morning with the three younger grandie girls. Sadly one was unwell and couldn't come.

I set up two older machines and pre cut some light denim fabric - 

I pinned for the girls and they did all the rest - 

Interesting to watch them both work. One was pretty quick but her seams veered off wildly. The other was slower but more accurate.

No unpicking allowed/necessary. French seams within.

And what did they make? Simple bags -

While Saydee was busy showing hers off, Kaliah was talking about decorating hers. I was imagining all sorts of applique - but she was happy with marker pens! - 

The girls had brought a pile of books with them so they were able to put them in their bags straight away -

I walked them home. They requested the long route, winding our way along the farm races (tracks). Kaliah squeezed in a bit of reading while she walked (!!!) - 

They are really enjoying reading at the moment - long may it continue!

Photo op with their new bags - 

Loads of fun and happiness for Ganma ❤,

'til next time,

happy stitches,