Tidying up at the end of April

Since I came out of isolation and resumed a normal life, I haven't had much chance to sew, or blog. However today it is wet so I am going to attempt to have a tidy up post before the month ends.

I took a photo of the Moda Love quilt top I made at Scrub stitching. I didn't have a complete photo to share when I showed the Moda Love quilts everyone had made, back in *this* post. I made this from a charm pack, In The Meadow by Riley Blake designs. Because I didn't plan my colours before sewing my HSTs mine went down a slightly different track. And I added borders to help the size grow a little - 

Hmm I wonder how long before I get this one quilted??! It's on the pile at least!
*Here* is a link to the Moda Love pattern. It now seems to only come up as a PDF.

Whoops, I told a lie, I did get a bit of time in the sewing room aka The Palace, yesterday. I decided to unpick a couple of the applecores in my applecore quilt to slightly redistribute the colours. Even though this is a top I didn't want to spend hours fussing to get the fabrics right, there were a few too many darker ones a bit close together which I have now swapped out. (I allowed mself to unpick four only!) This will also be bordered to so it has gone into my bag to take to work for a fabric hunt.

I've hunted out some photos of the makes I took to Scrub Stitching with me. First up, the dress up for our Australiana themed dinner - 

The Gumnut beanie - 

I used a basic beanie pattern and 14 ply (chunky) wool yarn. There are lots of cute baby hats with 'stalks' on them so I looked one up to work out how to finish mine. This actually knitted together pretty quickly - and I made two, (and unpicked one) as the first one was too small!

And to 'finish' my gum outfit, I made a gumleaf from a Twig and Tale pattern - I purchased and used the NZ leaves pattern a few years ago. This leaf is from their Australian series. Again, another quick sew which I had done in a day (just as well as I was running out of time by then!).

I left this in Australia for kiwikid Sue's wee grandson. I hope he enjoys it for some imaginative play as he grows :-)

Today Odie claimed the beanie as his own, saying that it looked like the hat that Dipsy, the green Teletubby, wears! If it will make him wear a hat, great!!!

I didn't have photos to show you the gift that I made for our mystery swap at Scrub Stitching. Janice received mine and shared photos on her blog, which I have now 'stolen'. I made this little bag that folds down to a useful container for using - 

I made one of these for my swap gift last time too (2019). Linda, who received it, loved it so I thought I may as well make it again!

The pattern is Catch All Cutie by Teresa Weaver.

One of the things I wanted to do at Scrub Stitching was to make a start on my On Williams Street QAL blocks. I had been eyeing up this QAL since it started in January but hadn't had the chance to do anything about it till now. Each month they offer a free motion quilting design for a block. Each month's block is the same, but the quilting designs are different. They are quilted as blocks and then all joined later.

The 15" block is a pretty cool block. However at this stage, one night, I decided to put this one into the corner for some time out!

Nice and fresh, back at home, I fixed it up.

And started another. Whoops, that one went into coventry too!

All fixed, 

And with its mate.

I have altered the pattern a little. Instead of sewing half square triangles for the centre, I made an economy block. And I used the 8-at-a-time method to streamline the making of the half square triangles.

If you are at all interested in enhancing your free motion quilting skills, pop along and have a look - they post a very comprehensive video each month.

Ok, I'd best be off,

'til next time,

Happy Stitches,

Heading home.....

Well my posts have jumped around a little bit time wise but this is the last bit of travel for our Scrub stitching adventure!

After leaving Nathallia, we drove to Rochester to see the Silo Art there. These were painted by the artist who had also painted the silos at Picola and they definitely did not disappoint.

The duck billed Platypus - 

The Campasre River Azure Kingfisher-

The third silo I didn't even want to photograph as it reminded me too much of the dreaded possum (well, dreaded here in NZ) - however Sue encouraged me to have a look. It was the Squirrel Glider -

In spite of what one might think of possums (and their like) you still have to admire the artistry!!!

Some of the painted silos are in townships and others are in more remote locations, a wee village or similar. While most have some sort of descriptive board, some also have nicely laid out carparking, facilities, playgounds which of course encourages visitors to stay a little longer. I guess it depends how much funding each community has been able to raise. Here at Rochester there was a very nice playground - 

After Rochester we made our way to Colbinabbin, where we viewed the last painted silos of this trip.

These silos noted the importance of the railway line in the early years, as well as events which brought the community together in the early years, such as picnics and race days.

If you look carefully, you'll notice a smaller silo beside the bigger one below; it has been painted to blend in with the painting on the larger silo-

It was interesting driving through the country side in New South Wales and Victoria, to see the number of UN-painted silos there were out there. They really are very strong grain growing areas!

Sue left me at the airport, where I stayed the night and she drove home. And first thing next morning, it was time to fly home.

A mosaic on the floor at the airport-

And a row of bears, for some reason, there was no explanation as to why they were there.

Leaving Melbourne/Tullamarine Airport- 

A nice day for flying-

And back to Auckland, NZ-

I thoroughly enjoyed my time away, the tiki tour we went on and the wonderful time at Scrub stitching. Unfortunately lovely memories weren't the only thing I brought home from Australia - also a case of Covid. However, I haven't been terribly unwell and I've had a nice time isolating downstairs with all the sewing I didn't get done at Scrub Stitching!

The kids came to visit (ED brought me out some food) and entertained me through the windows!

Today I tested negative. And it was back to reality having to cook dinner and do housework!

This was the gorgeous sky the other night-

'til next time,

happy stitches,

More from Scrub Stitching

I feel that there is so much more from Scrub Stitching that I haven't shared, but I'm having trouble choosing the highlights!

I noted earlier on that we received goodie bags - here is what was inside them - 

As well as the traditional Australiana themed coffee mug and sweet treats, there was a calico bag printed with the Scrub Stitching logo. On the back it had our names and where we were from. Plus a specially designed kit from Anni Downs. Several ladies have made theirs already, and I look forward to stitching mine up as well.

A cute pincushion and button -

and two sweet magnets (I'm already finding them handy for on my tabe, to throw the odd pin or needle at) -

As well, us International ladies were treated a little specially, with several extra gifts coming our way from individuals. I've watched Jo make these cool 'picnic placemats' on her blog - they have a zippered pocket to put cutlery in for travel -

Australian themed coaster, and template.

One of the kitchen ladies, who took care of our meals, has a new embroidery machine so had fun decorating the handtowels - 

Jenine, the maker, with Tracy and Deana, USA, Sylvia, Germany, and myself-

During the dressup dinner we also have a (random) gift swap; making the gift isn't compulsory but a lot of the gifts are. This year I received this journal from Jude. The fabric is a lovely hand dye,  and she used various threads and stitches to decorate it- 

I forgot to take a photo of the gift I made so when I receive some photos of it I will share them!

There was lots of show-and-tell.....we had an official session on Friday afternoon, with lots of completed quilts brought from home shared.

(In no particular order and many missing!)

Annette with an Elizabeth Hartman design-

Natasha's 100% denim quilt - not only gorgeous but heavy, too!

Jules with her Twister quilt. A lot of these were made last Scrub Stitching-

Jo with En Provence, one of Bonnie Hunter's mysteries-

Pat with her clever pretty-

Kylie had a trunkload of show and tell. One of her many stunning creations—

Another twister; apologies, I can't remember who this belongs to! Ahhh, Chooky tells me it is hers! She helped hold so many up, I'd forgotten she had one too! —

Maureen and her gorgeous applique quilt - 

A bunch of sewers have been making churndash quilts over the past 10 months or so. Here are some of the finished ones- 

(Mine is still only about 1/3 done.)

Sue and I shared the Scrub Stitching quilts we made after my 2019 trip over-

We all oohhed and aahed whenever there was a finish during Scrub Stitching too.

Lou's anchor wasn't quite finished but it was amazing to finally see it taking shape!

Tina's magnificent pineapple quilt-

Jo's Storm at Sea has been slowly growing on her blog. She pieced the last of it at Scrub Stitching-

The small finishes were celebrated too - Chris (Canada) bought her Lucy Boston project-

And Jenny spent much of the weekend making her caddy - 

Here's a pic of us International gals with Chooky-

And one last photo I forgot to add to our Dress up Dinner night - 

So that's me done for the night. 

'till next time,

happy stitches,