February's Friday Night with Friends

How silly was I signing up for Friday Night With Friends when much of my sewing at the moment is Secret Sewing?! Hehe. 

My favourite quilting shop, The Country Yard, has its New Year's Launch soon so us staff are busy sewing samples and playing with fabric in preparation for that.

So you'll have to make do with some sneaky looks at what I did last night :-)

I was extra cunning with tea - steak for DH to BBQ (clever huh?) and a rice/courgette bake in the oven. That meant I was able to start off the evening nice and early.

First of all I finished off some cross-hatching which I'd started earlier in the day —

Half-inch cross hatching takes a while, I discovered!

Then I had a little time to finish putting the block below together. Remember the Great Granny Along from a few years ago? The block really appealed to me but I didn't take part... I remembered it when I was wondering what to do with my scraps. I'm focussing on my scraps for my leader-ender projects this year and this is the start of them :-)

This will use my supply of 2 1/2" squares.
Photo a little washed out :-(

I've just taken another photo to show that I have used green
fabric for the second round but it still doesn't show up very well!

By then the steak was cooked so it was time to leave the machine and venture upstairs to my comfy chair and DH's charming company. I worked on another project I cant share but did make good progress. I haven't needleturned for a while and am really enjoying doing it again.

Thank you Cheryl for hosting us again. To see what others got up to on their Friday Night click *here*, then click on the links to everyone's blogs. Prepare to be inspired by the variety of projects!

To finish off I have some photos to share - read on....

When I'm in my sewing room (aka The Palace) I often look around at my mess creative activity and wonder why I have ended up with FOUR chairs in there.

Yesterday the reason why was revealed....

Yes, 3 chairs taken up with pets and one left for me!

At least they weren't sleeping on the ironing board or my cutting table! I've been trying to train the cats to stay off those surfaces to keep cat hair out of my seams!! 

Thank you as always for visiting, I hope you all have a lovely weekend,

happy stitching ♥

Love, sunshine and sea breezes...

... made for a fantastically fabulous day :-)

In my last post I mentioned that our daughter's wedding was approaching - now it's been and gone!!

We haven't had many photos to share - yet - but I thought I'd give you a quick peak of the ones that I do have :-)

Yes, we have got to the right place....

(Don't forget you can click on the photos to make them larger and see more detail.)

...the father proudly giving his daughter away...

...a beautiful happy couple...

..well and truly married...

...her sister does her proud...

...beautiful flowers everywhere... 

...scrumptious food and a great night was had by all...

...mother of the bride..'scuse the sunnies :-)...

Part of what made the wedding so special is that we all stayed out at the beach for the (long) weekend.

..love these communal meals...

...taking advantage of the summer sun...

.. I love this action shot of my brother and niece...

Did I already say it was an amazingly awesome wedding and time?
We're still coming back down to earth... I hope to land soon as there's plenty in the real world that needs doing!!

I hope to get back out into blogland again very soon, till then, happy stitching,

Welcome to the New Year!

It feels a little late in the year for saying Happy New Year but here we are, 11 days into it and this is my first post - I hope your year has got off to a great start  ♥
Ours is charging ahead at an amazing rate of speed... in these lazy hazy crazy days of summer we are thinking, talking and breathing weddings! In less than two weeks we will be celebrating the marriage of our YD.

— these are the only pre-wedding photos I will share for now —

There's been little time for sewing and making New Year's resolutions.... 

I have managed two little dresses —

Oops maybe this is another pre-wedding photo!

— and I found myself hemming 8 pairs of trousers for a neighbour who realised I'm a sewer and she doesn't have to put up with over long trousers any more....!

Chain sewing, using my rotary cutter and my clover clips all helped me get
through this totally un quilt related task!

As a bit of a sanity saver, I've used a quiet moment to sew up a couple of these blocks —

Sometimes a girl just has to sew quilty stuff.

✄

In other quiet moments I've done a little thinking.....I've read and enjoyed many of your posts about resolutions and goals for the year, which of course got me thinking, what are mine...?
Many of you who know me well will know that I dive off in different directions with my sewing - I love exploring ideas and learning skills. So I'm not going to say I'm not starting anything new until my ufos are done and my flimsies are quilted.

You and I know that that. is. not. going. to. happen.

I will unashamedly take part in sewalongs, link ups and projects because being inspired by you all and socialising while I do it is what I love about blogland. I have discovered a whole new world and made awesome friendships while doing all this in the past so why stop now?!
HOWEVER there will be a goal or focus in mind when I sign up and join in - I do want to use my scraps (I am a hopeless scrap magnet; I can spot them at 20 metres), practise skills and move towards clearing out some ufos or flimsies.


An aside but related —
Last year I decided to take this thought of the Grinch's literally and challenged myself to put a little homemade love into all my giftgiving for 2014 birthdays. If you look *here* you'll see I came up with a variety of handmade goodies for various friends and family (Not everything shown on that page was a gift and there was baking and other non-sewn handmade gifts too).
While I really enjoyed making them all, by about October I ran out of steam and was feeling the pressure. I then realised this goal was at the expense of my other loves in my sewing and quiltmaking world.

                         ✄

Just before I sign off and get back to looking at wedding task lists, I want to share with you the beautiful day we are having today! This is the scene from The Palace window. I just love looking out and seeing what's happening in my world.
{The vege garden looks terribly overgrown - which it is, but not with weeds; I have tomato and cucumber plants having fun and games in there.}

It's now far too hot to be out there, I'm happily enjoying it from inside.

Have a wonderful day everyone!
Thank you for visiting and happy creating,