Children and sewing

(Day 6 of a post a day during August!)

Back before we got too busy with calving, Lily and George had a sleepover so their parents could go away to watch a rugby test match.

It's a bonus when there is a calf or two to cuddle—

Helping to fetch the freshly calved cows—

Yaay, he's feeding!

There's all sorts of things that are compulsory when you stay at Ganma and Gandad's. Hunting for fruit, feeding the chooks, farmwork AND sewing.

We'll be busy doing something completely different, when all of a sudden one of them pipes up, "Ganma can we sew something?".

No point me having pre-planned ideas; their ideas are their own and I just need to go with the flow.

'Concept sketches' —

Lily wanted to make a Flower cushion. No, not a cushion with a flower on it, but a flower shaped cushion!

Her sketch involved a skinny stem with leaves and multiple petals. And it had to be turned inside out as she learnt about hidden seams last time she sewed here.

She finally realised that appliqueing her flower to a rectangular background might work best - whew - so that is what we ended up with.

They're getting old enough that they can use tools, etc, and do a lot more by themselves. I possibly did about an inch of sewing on each project to get them started and that was all they needed —

Learning about vliesofix and applique mats—

George initially wanted just a flat picture and half way through decided that he would make a cushion as well.

He wanted me to google a shark for him but I made him draw his own (aren't I mean?!). He was really proud of what he came up with.

The applique shapes were sewn around with straight stitch. I think they will last well enough —

We used every last bit of stuffing so I guess I'll be stocking up on that in case sewing is on the agenda next time they stay :-)

So much fun ♥

'til next time 

happy stitches

Raewyn

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

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

A quilt finish

I can't believe that I haven't blogged since June - and here we are in August already.

I actually started writing this post late in June but, obviously, I didn't get any further than a few introductory words.

In my last post I was busy finishing up Olive's baby quilt. I was about to start the quilting and was hoping for a good run with that. 

I can happily announce that the quilt is finished and delivered so now I can show it in its entirety.

I was inspired to add lots of little personalised bits in the quilt.  I chose the dog for the two they have,  and which Olive is fascinated by. The design is from a BOM, Wag Tales, by Suzy Sitcom.

A touch of Hawaii (applique design from EQ8) —

A touch of Delaware,  which is where her mum is from; a Delaware cross patch (also from EQ8) —

A touch of Japan, where her parents had been living; haha if you cant find it, it's the cherry blossom used for the dog's bow!

And of course there's a little bit of New Zealand in there too, with the kiwiana fabric I used on the final border —

And I backed it with fabric from one of Mum's nighties (or nightgown, as she would say). There was nearly enough to back the quilt. I had to join a piece of white on but I put the label on top of it and no one is any wiser —

While customised, I kept the quilting fairly simple and overall I was pleased with the result —

Naturally there needs to be a photo of the quilt with the baby —

I'm going to finish off here as I have plenty more news and this will just go on and on if I don't stop now.

I'm thinking of trying a post a day throughout August---hmmm---that should get me all caught up!?

'til then,

happy stitches,

Raewyn