A goal and a finish for April

This time last year I was making Xavier's Tractors and Trucks Buggy Barn quilt which I gifted to him in July —

Because I used a different layout to that given in the book, and because of the method of making the blocks, I had 3 blocks left over.

I had thought that I may use them to make a quilt for my (great) nephew, but in the meantime they were stored away. He recently spent a few nights in Starship (NZ's children's hospital) and the quilt idea came to mind again.

So I've pulled the blocks out and have decided that creating a quilt from them will be my One Monthly Goal for the month. I've started having a play, using a few leftovers for a start —

I was so excited last week when I finished my March goal and wrote about it in my last post, but forgot to link up to Patty's linky list!!! When I realised, it was too late - haha oh well, maybe this month I'll do everything right!
Thank you Patty of Elm Street Quilts for this gentle encouragement to help us achieve our quilty dreams.

Back in February I made a pair of Wayfarer shoes for young Odie. At the time YD and I dreamed up an idea for the next pair. I doublechecked with her recently and yes, she does still want the next pair.

This pair started with an old oilskin —

And some scraps of polar fleece I used to make myself a jacket years ago.

A cute little finish!

Turning the shoes through at the end —

The technique used is similar to that used when making burrito style pillowcases. Which reminded me of one I'd made earlier in the year and not yet shared - an early make for next Christmas! This one will go to the same family as these two, made a couple of years ago.

If I'm going to link up to One Monthly Goal, I'd better sign off now!

'til next time,

happy stitches,

End Of March in April

Oops, my final post for March has become my first post for April! A bit of childminding lately and a last minute dinner invite at ED's last night means the month finished before I was ready for it!

Never mind, here I am :-)

Katems, who is still living here at the house (after living in a farm shed for at least 9 years) celebrated her 18th birthday recently in a basket under my scrappy Christmas blocks.

My One Monthly Goal for March was to complete the rest of the blocks for my scrappy Christmas Ornament quilt...and guess what, I actually did it!

I know 12 more blocks wasn't a major ask but I wasn't sure what I would be able to fit in, and when.

As it turned out I was super-motivated to sew these blocks and an afternoon spent planning and cutting for the month soon resulted in all the blocks made!

The last block. The cute fabric in the centre is one I found in amongst a whole lot of fabric I brought home from Mum's when she moved. She used it to make Christmas stockings for her grandies when they were little. So it's been around a while —

Here are all the ornament blocks for the quilt —

And here they are with the random tree block I made in my 31 days of blocks back in December (when this madness started). As I don't want to have to start another quilt to use the tree block, it is going into this one!

I completed the blocks several weeks ago and I thought I may have got a bit of joining started but I only got as far as laying them out on the spare bed. They still need a bit of rearranging —

Thank you Patty for hosting One Monthly Goal. I'm pleased I was able to join in at both ends of the month!

My evening stitching time has been limited for some reason, but last night I put the final stitch in block four of The Santa, The Tree, The Turkey and Me (by Anni Downs). Block Five is already here so that will be be pulled out soon....

Please excuse the blatant lack of pressing before I took these photos!

In other news, I have made a few more star blocks for the Scrappy Star Adventure at work.

I competed some more 9-patch and churn dash blocks for my Omigosh! quilt this month —

And I nearly forgot about these two which were hidden under a pile on the ironing board - one more for my Omigosh! and one more basket block for my lockdown quilt —

All in all, 29 blocks made in March. That will boost my tally for the 350 blocks project - in fact it will more than double my tally so that's exciting :-)

A couple more photos; following on from my last post showing our autumn bounty, I just have to share this photo of young Xavier, grapes in one hand, feijoa in the other - Life is Bliss!

Earlier in the day; what is it about small children and puddles?! —

And another day, the MOML got a bit ambitious on the quad and needed my help with the winch to help him get unstuck (big boys and puddles) —

'til next time,

Happy Easter! 

and happy stitches,

Weekend sewing and a goal

After a busy and stressful week, it was nice to look forward to a quiet weekend, starting with Friday Night with Friends.

I have moved onto block four of The Santa, The Tree, The Turkey and Me.

I joined the first three blocks the other day and was quite excited by how they look (sorry about the poor colours in the photo) —

On Friday night I completed the small 'block' that is appliqued onto the main piece of block 4 —

During Saturday I copied the applique sheet onto Steam-a-seam - so much easier than all that tracing —

So that Saturday night I could make a start on the main piece of this block. We now have a goose —

Thank you Cheryll for hosting us, and to the other crafters for your company :-)  *Here* is the link so you can visit too.

I've done some other sewing this weekend, which I'll share another time, but this afternoon I made another one of my scrappy Christmas ornament blocks. 

While I was pressing this block I was wishing that I had the excuse to just work on these blocks full time-ish, In a light-bulb moment, I decided to make them my One Monthly Goal for March.

I have worked out that I need another 12 blocks so I'm hoping that by the end of the month they'll be made and maybe even joined. We'll see. You can visit the One Monthly Goal line-up at Patty's Elm Street Quilts blog.

'til next time,

happy stitches,

Some February sewing

My One Monthly Goal in February was to complete another column for my Foxley Village quilt.  (This pattern was originally in The Homespun magazine, and is now available *here*.)
It shouldn't have taken me too long to complete but with two weeks jury duty and other general busy-ness I nearly had to report a fail. 
Luckily I'd sorted my fabrics early on, and another time, I did the cutting, so this afternoon when I had a spare hour or so, I got busy on the machine.

Two friendship stars, some trimming of the applique blocks, a bit more piecing and this part of the column was done —

and joined to the first half —

Small progress but some progress. Thank you Patty of Elm Street Quilts for hosting the One Monthly Goal linkup, I doubt I would have completed this if I hadn't joined in this month!

I have (belatedly) rejoined Cheryll and her WOOFA challenge this year. Foxley Village is on my WOOFA list so I'm pleased to report the progress on it for that too ☺

Something else I achieved this month was whipping up a pair of shoes for wee Odie. I've been eyeing up this pattern for Wayfarer Shoes by Twig and Tale for a while. 

It looks like lots of pieces, but it's not complicated. I used cotton on the outer, fleece on the inner and a ridged denim for the sole.

The pattern has multiple sizes so I am thinking some of the other kiddies might like some to use as winter slippers.

I knew I saved my Moda tapes from fabric bundles for a reason! —

Here they are being modelled —

And in action at playcentre. Great for walking on the pumice —

This was an experimental pair and YD and I have some cool ideas for the next pair!

I did do some other sewing in February but I'll save that for another post.

'til next time,

happy stitches,

Block count and a goal

This month I am joining Patty of Elm Street Quilts and her One Monthly Goal link up.

I made very comprehensive lists last year and because I didn't make much headway on them, I'm working off the same lists for this year's projects.
Foxley Village was something I did pretty well with last year. I completed all the applique blocks. And I even made some of the pieced blocks.
There are four columns. Here's the first two completed columns —

And here's part of column four —

This month I aim to get column four completed!!!

Please visit Patty *here* to either sign up yourself or to have a good little look at other bloggers' goals.

I completed Block Three of The Santa, The Tree, The Turkey and Me (by Anni Downs) recently —

And have made three more Omigosh! blocks —

And another two Scrappy Christmas blocks —

Although I was focused on getting The Lorax quilt finished in January, I squeezed in a little block sewing time!

With the temperature quilt blocks and other bits and pieces, these latest ones took my block tally for January to 24. I've signed up with Shelly of Prairie Moon Quilts to do the 350 block challenge - January's goal was 31 so I'm a bit short but oh well.

I thought I'd finish with sharing a photo of Lily wearing the hat I made her, shown in my last post.

It's passed the test - she loves it!

'til next time,

happy stitches,