LeMoyne stars

Last week Lindlee of Plains and Pine hosted a wee sewalong called One Block 5 Ways.

Lindlee makes/designs fabulous star quilts, a lot of them Lone Star style. This event focussed on five different ways to make LeMoyne Stars. 

Four other designers joined Lindlee, each with a different technique for making the LeMoyne Star. As the week progressed, each one shared a video of their technique.

Of course I needed another project like a hole in the head, but I thought it would be fun to follow and sew along. I rummaged through my stash and found some suitable fabrics and then I got sewing.

Day One's tutorial by Lindlee featured the star sewn traditionally with Y-seams —

(The sun came out just as I went outside to photograph so the colours are very washed out. The background fabric is darker than it appears.)

Day Two's star was made by Foundation Paper Piecing. (Tutorial by Lisa Taylor Handmade) I'm quite pleased that I didn't have enough of my first choice of fabric (after already starting the cutting) and had to add in another one—

Day Three's featured Curves. This tutorial was by Erin of Mija Handmade. 

I was quite scared by this one but it actually worked out okay!

Group photo —

There are two more blocks to make. I've started the hand applique one. The final one is EPP with a difference and I haven't sussed it out yet. 

A quick photo which amused me. I received a late birthday present and Tammy was quite taken with the wrapping paper!

'til next time,

happy stitches,

Raewyn

She's off again....

Hot on the heels of arriving home after my visit to Hawaii, I headed slightly south to Ruakaka to spend a couple of days sewing with a few friends.

This had been planned for a while - finding a weekend that suited us all was not easy. In the end we were able to take advantage of a long holiday weekend - I had 3 nights there and my friends had four.

It was just lovely - being able to sew all day and chat and laugh to our hearts' content was just wonderful. 

We took turns with the meals so that was not arduous. It was all delicious and would you believe it, this is the only food photo I took!

So what did I take and what did I do?

I took a few easy to pick up and put down projects; ones I didn't have to think too much about. 

I hadn't done anything further with the Scrappy Trip around the World project I started at Scrub Stitching in April, so that was an easy thing to pack.

I made a couple more blocks —

And I was itching to finish the last few blocks needed for my Four-patch fun. It's been a leader-ender project since last July (ish)..... I got to the 'impatient to make those last few blocks stage'. They had lost their leader-ender status and became hard out sewing. The cutting was already done and these didn't take long to put together —

Now I look forward to sewing all 144 blocks together (one day!).

My main goal for the weekend was to finish making my "On Williams Street" blocks. I've had them in the pipeline for about 3 years, and pull out the box from time to time. The fun part of this project is that each block is quilted in a different way, Quilt As You Go style...however I was determined to make ALL the blocks before I started looking at the quilting instructions.

They're quite cool blocks, a little time consuming to make, but there seems to be plenty of space for varied and imaginative quilting designs.

Finally they are all done so I can think about the next stage.

We went for the odd walk, I did a little hand sewing and that was about it :-) 

All too soon it was time to pack up and head for home. Roll on the next one!

'til next time,

happy stitches,

Raewyn

Delivering the Quilt

What I didn't tell you in yesterday's post was that I delivered Olive's quilt to her in person.....some of you may remember that the little family live in Hawaii - so that meant a bit of travelling for me!!

Grabbing a couple of spare weeks, I went over to help out my daughter-in-law while our son is still in NZ. Ultimately it would have been ideal for him to be on the plane, and not me, but he is patiently waiting for paper to be shuffled around (and visa approval) in order to return there

Olive's mum is back at fulltime work so it was really good to be there to support her while I could.

Olive continued attending childcare but I still got plenty of cuddle time. 

While they were both away during the day, I prepped meals, filled the freezer, did the washing, walked the dogs, and so on.

But I also had plenty of time to walk and explore. NO, I did not drive (!!) but I walked lots, and biked to the beach one day.

And of course I took Olive for walks too.

All in all I clocked up quite a few miles. 

The weather was beautiful while I was there - it was lovely and warm but not muggy, so although I did get hot and sweaty while walking or biking (ugh!), it was quite bearable.

I was there for my birthday, which was nice. My daughter-in-law told me she had to pop into work for an hour and would I mind the baby (of course!) but she came back with a delicious GF cake which my son had organised online.

And then the next day was Fourth of July. We didn't go anywhere - snotty baby - but had a great view of the fireworks and heard plenty of happy people in the streets below.

I took some stitching with me, but only pulled it out a few times, and did a little crocheting (another cat blanket). Another Holly Jolly block finished —

I spent longer than I should have trying to make eyes for the little octopus I'd bought Olive when I was in Australia back in April. The original eyes were glued-on felt and not the best for sucky mouths and small fingers. I had very limited resources (just some variegated yarn from the cat blanket crocheting) and gave up trying to achieve anything more decent after an hour. My daughter-in-law liked the 'unique' look but I thought the eyes were a little evil!

I was also able to deliver the kiwiana counting cloth book I'd made for Olive a couple of posts ago.

All in all it was a wonderful visit. I've decided I quite like Hawaii. Especially when there is a baby involved!

'til next time,

happy stitches,

Raewyn