Blocks and more blocks

I'm so pleased I took my blocks outside into the sun yesterday morning for some photographing. The day gradually got worse and we ended up getting some serious rain.

First up are my 36-patch blocks which seriously took over! I honestly forgot they were supposed to be my leader-ender project - I had so much fun sorting through my scraps for the 2" squares. I found these were also a good non-thinking way to sew when I just had small snatches of time.

The thing about Leader-Ender projects is that they are supposed to sit quietly in the background while a MAIN project gets worked on. That, obviously, is not always the case!

Anyway, these blocks are for Jessica Dayon's Smidgeon quilt. I'm making mine a little wider than hers as I didn't want to stop making the blocks (!), but also I thought that making it bigger would suit us better.

The next step is to decide what colour I want to use to surround these blocks, and also another fabric for the outer borders. These larger amounts of colour will help tie the whole quilt together.

Although I was battling with a slight breeze, I also managed to photograph my Popstar blocks. I have had these finished for a while but it's taken me a while to get them to the photography stage and onto my blog!

I made in a sewalong with a few friends. I got a little behind .... 

These fabrics are really pretty but incredibly hard to photograph. In real life the colours are brighter and the contrast between the green/blue and the grey star-shadow is a lot better.

The pattern is Popstar by The Fat Quarter Shop.

In other news, I haven't yet bragged about the hill-a-day challenge I set myself in May. It felt like I started walking, and just kept on going. We live in a hilly area so there is no shortage of hills on our farm to tackle. Once you get up the first one, it's easy to keep on walking and do the next as well! In all I walked a total of 117kms during May..... my goal was to do 100 so I well surpassed that!

There's a wee peak just off the farm track that I like to climb for a bit of extra height. This was the view from it one morning —

(You can just make out the clay track along the ridge.)

June hasn't been as nearly as productive walking-wise. I had two busy weekends and a slightly sore ankle which needed resting. We've also had more rain this month which makes the clay tracks either sludgy or greasy. Neither make ideal walking conditions so I time my walks for when we've had some sunshine to dry things out a little.

Yesterday morning though, while it was still fine, I managed another walk. I went the opposite direction to the above walk and passed the cows on the way —

As it's winter and the cows are not milking they are on winter rations. They'd not long had a fresh break of grass so totally ignored me as I went by.

I went  up a wee way into the bush, but not very far - I wanted to get back home to photograph my blocks!!
The house and buildings are about centre of the photo below, so as you can see, pretty much everywhere, if you want to go some distance, involves a hill!

Last weekend Miss Lily had a sleepover here, all by herself. When you're a twin, that's a pretty exciting event! She had several requests for her sleepover. One was that she help Ganma make Blueberry pie and the other was that she do some more sewing for her dolls.

We use a lot of blueberries - muffins, smoothies, snacking, etc but a Blueberry pie isn't something that's usually on any of our menus so it took a bit of thinking to make a nice and easy AND gluten free version. But we succeeded and she really enjoyed it!!

The sewing bit was to make (more) quilts for her Barbies. She has a couple of the little 'child' barbies so a small quilt was all that was needed. We made one that day and yesterday when her and her dad called in for a cuppa, she decided she needed to finish the second one. 

I didn't get a photo of the first - a blue one identical to this! Once again, the quickest quilt I have ever made. Sew through all the layers and then zigzag the edge 😁

'til next time,

happy stitches,

Pop Star Parade

Today I'm linking up to the mmmquilts' Pop Star Parade. 

This is  a result of a quiltalong Sandra (of mmmquilts) held during April-May, showcasing a lovely new design of hers. Of course, joining in was a bit of a squirrel moment for me, but I must say it was an enjoyable sew and I have a flimsy I am very happy with.

Sandra gave us a whole month to quilt and bind the quilt - and some fabulous quilting inspiration. Even that wasn't quite long enough for me!! 

Therefore I present my quilt top —

I made the small/baby size version (40" square) and chose the fabrics accordingly. Cute Gail Pan prints with bees. I have a recipient in mind 👶

The background fabric is some I bought last year for Sandra's 'Follow Your Own Path' QAL. I never did start that quilt so I'm pleased to have used it for this year's QAL.

This was a very straight forward sew, easily a pattern you could make in a weekend. You can access the pattern in her Etsy shop.

Thank you Sandra for such an effective and fun pattern! Please visit her blog (*link here*) to see the other fabulous quilts that have been made.

I thought you might be tickled by the below egg carton. The ‹nearly› 4 year olds have been having fun with a Cold Glue Gun lately and love making all sorts of creations.

I was recently presented with this beauty which I was told was for my eggs (the kids know their eggs always come from Ganma's) —

So now when I give eggs to ED, I have to use the decorated carton, which of course takes up far too much room in her fridge!

It's a murky cool day today and it's time to go and get another load of firewood in!

'til next time,

happy stitches,

Really...?!

I have no idea where the last month has gone and had no intention of taking a bloggy/social media break!!!

But here I am back again, ready to share my May finishes and achievements- yes there are some!!

The biggest finish of the month is shown here, being given the cat seal of approval by Nigel —

This started off as leftover blocks from Xavier's quilt. I added to the three Buggy Barn blocks intending to get it to my great-nephew last winter. Life got in the way (big time!) but I have now finished it for this winter! 
I had put it away with not too much needing doing on it - the quilting had been started so last week I got busy and finished that.
The farmyard shots of it were a bit glarey — 

...so I had to take a floor shot as well —

The quilting was fairly simple; straight lines in places, simple meandering in others, with a bit of wishbone and this and that thrown in elsewhere.

The border just got piano-key style quilting. It's so dark and busy, I decided that was all that was needed.

In my desperation I even roped in the MOML as a quilt handler...hehe check out the gumboots camouflaged against the shed!

Another quilt finish on a completely different scale is one I have called 'Lily's first quilt'.

I had two children here one day and they decided sewing would be a fun idea. We went through a range of ideas until 'we' decided a quilt for their dolls would be perfect.

Very random sized scraps of winceyette were sewn together —

And quilted —

George was the pin remover, pedal pusher and scissor snipper.

We just did a  simple zigzag around the outside edge —

George started one too but we didn't get that finished - that will be for another day.

I've also made Odie another pair of pants. This child literally grows before your very eyes and just when YD thinks she has his wardrobe sorted, he has another spurt! 

I used the Scout pattern by Twig+Tale. Although I have an overlocker, it's buried under unfinished quilts so I used the stretch stitch on my Bernina which worked well.

A modelled pic —

The final make for the month was a beanie I knitted for my sister. I made myself one a couple of years ago and always wanted to make one for her too. I finally got some yarn with possum fur in it (Outlaw Yarn; 45%Polwarth, 45% Alpaca and 10% possum) which I had been on the look out for. The possum is extra light and cosy and gives it a lovely feel.

The pattern is Everglade by Woolly Wormhead. The design on it has good texture without being too complicated to knit.

With the one I made myself back in 2020.

So, productivity-wise, not a bad month for me :-) 

It feels nice to be writing/blogging/documenting again!

'til next time,

happy stitches,