Weekend Wanderings and Palace Pottering

[A mouthful of a title but oh well :-)]

I got a chance to do a bit of pottering in The Palace (as the MOML calls it) last week —
One more block for my Snowflake Land project —

(from Quiltmania#80)

I love these chaps and always get a thrill when I finish one!

And a yellow Honeypot Star —

It took some effort to find enough yellow scraps but I guess that's a good thing!

Six made now, three to go.

A friend of ours' had a special birthday recently so, being quilters, we made her a quilt...she loves brights and gollies ... here is the block I made —

(without his eyes of course)

and here is the finished quilt.....Leeanne of qultmekiwi beautifully quilted it - she shows more detail in her blogpost *here* —

And my weekend wanderings took me down south for a couple of nights - Kerryn from The Country Yard and I visited with The Village Green Quilters where I led a 2-day class making a caddy.

The ladies were a lot of fun and I really enjoyed the class. What's more they were focussed too and nearly all of them finished their caddy by Sunday afternoon :-)

This one was finished (soon) after the class  and the photo sent through to me :-)

Thank you ladies for an enjoyable weekend!
Since the weekend the class samples have laid around looking neglected ... I have a great-nephew due shortly so I hope to get this one sewn up pretty soon —

'till next time,

happy creating,

Blame it on the cows —

I had a gentle prod nag reminder about my neglected blog this week and it really is all the fault of the cows. And calves.

Feeding time. I have 70 to rear now.

However, moments of crafting are happening;
A few secret projects —

(it's fun having a daughter around who can show me how to play with Photoshop!)

I got back to one of my scrap projects over the weekend; I've renamed this one Honeypot Stars after finding out that my initial name of Honeybucket Stars did not always inspire sweet thoughts (just google it!). As I store all my scraps in the (empty) Honey Buckets we are given (full) as payment for having beehives on our property I had thought it was an apt name!
Anyway, here's the latest block.

Slowly the pile is growing. The blocks are 15" square so I don't need too
many for a decent sized quilt. Might go for 3x3 so I'm over half way there!

I'm realising that although I'm a scrappy lover, I also like the blocks to be a little co-ordinated, I'm not a 'close my eyes and grab a fabric' scrap sewer.

So they all get laid out and worked out before I sew. Slower but keeps me happy!

The start of a Honeypot star :-)

These stars are from the book S is for Scraps by Gayle Bong. I've talked about how they are made *here*. I was trying to keep up with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge colours each month but now I'm just happy to sew up my scraps when and how it suits.
For those of you following YD's knitting adventures, here (in the teal) is the latest jersey for her dog. Trying to get an exact fit for his body has been a challenge, but she's doing rather well considering this is only her 2nd project. Oh and she drafted out the bones and worked out how to knit them herself!

Although the weather has changed again, we have had some beautiful days lately. The photo below really brings out the warm fuzzies in me. And didn't I do well, I managed to capture a bee at work too!

It's back to the gumboots for now, but later on I'm hoping for a quiet and productive day in my sewing Palace. Wish me luck!

'til next time, 

happy Stitches, 

Scrappy Saturday and Snowman Sunday

With a bit of wintery weather (wet but warm) I was happy to bunker down in The Palace and spend the weekend stitching.
On Saturday I did some Scrap Busting —

A few more cats

My little pile is growing. It will be a small quilt but I haven't yet decided
exactly what size I want it.

A few more 9-patches for my Omigosh quilt.
These are my Leader and Ender project, another pile is growing

And another star block

Over at Angela's soscrappy blog this month the scrap colour was teal/blues with a touch of green so I have a few less scraps in this colour now :-)

Sunday, being a new day, was time to focus on my OMG project - my One Monthly Goal for June was to complete a second block in my Quiltmania Snowflake Lane hanging.

Out came my #40 weight Aurifil for the applique.

Block Two completed!!!

Isn't he a sweetie?

Block 1 and 2 side by side. Hopefully next month block 3 will be with them!

It's great to be moving on this project again - thanks to Heidi and the little push of making that One Monthly Goal :-). *Here* is the latest linkup to see who else met their goal!. Wonder what I will work on next month...?

I've started the new week feeling content and, with winter still going on outside, I'm hoping to squeeze a few more sewing sessions in ♥

Have a good week - happy stitching,

Weekend stitching (and crocheting)

After a busy week it was nice to spend some weekend time sewing scraps..... it's been a while since I've joined in with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge on Angela's blog. May's colour was Green and I'm pleased to say there are a few less greens in my scrap stash now :-)

While I was hunting out some scraps I found my cat blocks; the 2 brown (February?) cats were put away partially sewn so I whipped those up then added a green block.... the 2 darker green at the top of the photo below are are ones I made last year- all good things take time!

Cat block pattern found on ohfransson's blog

I then pulled out my HoneyBucket Stars (explanation *here*) and swallowed up a few more scraps making another set —

Here are what I've made so far.

And then a few more 9-patches for my Omigosh! quilt —

Haha it will take a while to get enough for a whole quilt.... I'm sure I'll still have
scraps galore to make these for the next few years!

Not many scraps busted I know but I enjoyed the stitching all the same.(The colours in my photos ae a bit off sorry - they aren't as murky as they look!)

Before I went away I saw a new CAL (Crochet-Along) being advertised ... I thought it looked really cool but knew the timing was wrong for me to start it. When I got home though I was still thinking about it so have jumped in hook and all and am having a blast with it.

It's called Mandala Madness and is being run by Helen of crystalsandcrochet.  Below is Part One...so far they are up to Part 11 so you can see I have a fair way to go. It would be nice to think I might catch up by the time they get to the end but I'm being realistic; after all I had already done Part Two when I realised I'd missed a round and had to do a massive undo :-( {However it gave me a chance to rethink the colours I'd used}.

Part One of Mandala Madness completed

Already I've learnt so many techniques and stitches that I never knew existed! Helen has lots of really good tutorials on her blog to help us through and there is also an instructional video released with each part - so if you feel tempted to join in.......!

Look at that scrummy texture and dimension!!!

My SIL has told me off for causing her current obsession with crochet Mandalas; apparently I shouldn't have shared the link with her:-)

Earlier in the year I was signing up for Heidi's One Monthly Goal (OMG); making a goal that hopefully would be met by the end of the month. In March I had hoped to make Block 2 of Snowflake Land (Quiltmania) to go with the lonely block below..... I didn't get it done so here's hoping I'll be successful in June - wish me luck - it's too cute a project to let it live in a box all its life.

It's really turned into nearly-winter weather this past week so snuggling up in The Palace with a pile of sewing is on for the next few days ♥

Wishing you a creative time too,