The calfsheds are full

I knew this would happen - just as I planned a post about calving and all the farm goings-on, and explaining that we were right in the thick of it all ------ 

--------we had an ultra-busy day and it's just going to be a few words and a few photos----

Otherwise my month long commitment of a blogpost a day would fail on the fifth day!

Tonight I fed 8 mobs of calves (about 75 calves) in four different locations, which took me a while (that's a lot of milk to carry around!) —

(The calf with his mum, and with the bottle in the first couple of photos is the one second from the left in the above photos - 3 weeks later - he has GROWN!!!)

'til next time,

happy stitches,

Raewyn

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