Random Round up of Creating and Cats

The start of last week saw me basting Olive's baby quilt......she's now over 4 months old but there's been a serious lack of sew-jo around here for the last little while and I've only just gotten back to her quilt in the last week or so.

And some quilting has even happened!!

SO, watch this space😊

I've also put together a cloth book for Olive, using one of those easy-to-sew panels....cut the pages apart, layer with scraps of batting, sew around the outside, turn it through and sew the pages together —

A little bit of kiwiana for our Hawaiian baby ♥

I realise that I haven't yet shared the pouch I made as a gift for our Make It, Fake It, Bake It swap for our Scrub Stitching retreat. It's always fun to see what everyone comes up with.

I came across a pattern for a wee bag which looked a little different - and Christine ended up with it —

Luckily Christine is a better recorder than I am and I have stolen the photos of it off her blog!

The top folds up to open the pouch (Christine's Luna Lapin is modelling the bag) —

(I used leftover fabric from my kiwiana dress for it. Dress shown in *this post*.)
And I included a cute scissor keep that Mum had made.

I found the pattern for the *Malmo Pouch here*.

While Sue and I were travelling for retreat, I completed the last few rounds of the crochet cat blanket I'd started whilst spending time at the hospital with Mum last year.

I've made three of these simple Afghans now - I just love having something mindless to crochet and the cats really do appreciate them!!!

Last year, in preparation for the arrive of McGeorgeous I made a little cat cubby. It was such a fun make but sadly once I'd finished it, the cats barely waved a whisker at it. Recently I realised it needed better structure so it would look more like a cat house than a cat bag. I found and inserted some foam coated wires. (These are intended for gardening and I bought them for making a Barbie tent. That didn't eventuate and recently the kids have been using them to dangle toys off when playing with the cats.)

Look at Miss Tammy! Success!

I very nearly had a very sad tale about McGeorgeous to tell this time. One evening last week he suddenly disappeared. We looked for him for DAYS and had given up all hope of ever seeing him again.

Thank goodness our son looked up at just the right time and spotted him at the window of our little garden shed one morning!! (We hardly ever go in there and seldom leave it opened.) He's a shy boy and the men had to empty the shed to get him out - and then he shot under the house.

After a lot of food and water he returned to life as normal and is wondering what all the fuss is about!

I had been in town and had 11 missed calls from the MOML trying to let me know he'd been found.

I think Tammy may have missed him a little as I've caught her letting him sleep near her a couple of times now! —

This winter, to celebrate 10 years in existence, the NZ Premmie Knitting Club has had a publicity drive, encouraging people from all walks of life to pull out their knitting needles and make some peggy squares. They're then sewn together to make blankets for premature babies across the country. It's been quite fun to see politicians, sports people and TV personalities promoting the cause by knitting squares themselves.

I've made a few squares which I will send off this week, along with some tiny booties and a beanie which I knitted a couple of years ago. I would have liked to make a few more but I started a bit late (they want them all by the end of this month, I think) but have also been struggling with a minor wrist strain/inflammation which seems aggravated by the knitting motion. So I've been limiting myself to a few rows a night.

I'll finish with this lovely sunset we had last night —

'til next time,

happy stitches,

Raewyn

End of January catch up.

I've been able to indulge myself in The Palace (aka the sewing room) this month. There has been the much needed tidy-up which led to lots of opening of and peeking into project boxes, and then rearranging them within the room. 

The biggest change has been installing another cube bookcase under my cutting bench. (Six cubes, on its side.)

I put one in for project boxes sometime last year and it has worked rather well, and after getting fed up with folders and papers everywhere - and all over the cutting bench - I decided to get another identical one for the other side of the bench to tidy up that area of my life.

Sideways bookcase #1 for project boxes—

The Palace also doubles as a Farm Office; the main hub for the farm accounts, animal and farm records, not to mention an ever increasing amount of Fonterra compliance paperwork (even online systems need supporting paperwork!). These all incessantly jostle for space with my sewing and quilting folders and paper stuff.

Of course I didn't measure beforehand and the big ring binders don't fit the cubes....(sigh). Thank goodness I hadn't found a new home for the large cube I'd been using and after a bit more rearranging, a new solution was found!

Sideways bookcase #2—

The start of the year always sees me doing some secret sewing for the shop, as we work towards our 'New Year's Launch' later on in February. 

However, while waiting for some fabric to arrive, I did have a chance for a little more personal sewing, making this quilt top for a soon-to-be-new-baby.

I started with a block from the new pattern by Elizabeth Hartman, Show and Tell.

And grew it a bit, adding to her suggested instructions for a baby sized quilt.

Here are two kiddos showing it off at the shop —

Hehe —

I then discovered the perfect fabric for the final border, and soon it was ready to be presented as a top. My attempts at outdoor photos (in the natural light) did not go well —

So indoors it came!

(Hint there may be more of this pattern sewn for the shop's New Year's Launch).

Apart from the extra fabric for the border, all the rest of the above baby quilt were scraps and bits and pieces - using those always gives me so much pleasure!!

And I've had lots more pleasure sewing more Leader-Ender blocks while tackling my other projects.

Back in October, I shared that I had joined in with Bonnie Hunter's Leader-Ender challenge. This year's block (July-July) is Four-patch fun.

I'm using any shade of red and have amassed 51 blocks to date—

I made a couple of blocks in the same fabric at the start but am now only using each fabric once. 

144 blocks will give me a 72" square quilt, and that is my goal at this stage. 

(I used 80 different reds for Mum's birthday quilt back *here* so let's see how I do this time!)

And yesterday a Squirrel sent me down a Rabbit hole. I have so much on my plate that I was not looking for another project, but I always relish the chance to pull out and play with some scraps (can you see where this is heading?!).

I saw Janice's finished Rainbow Scrap Challenge quilt on her blog the other day, and commented that the block she had used was one I'd always admired (or something like that). Of course that little seed planted itself in my brain and sprouted into a baby squirrel!

Hence —

I was quite pleased with myself because I finally mastered the web piecing technique for making this block. I was shown it a few years ago but had not seriously tried it until now. It meant that once I had all my squares laid out the block went together very quickly (and efficiently).

Blue was January's colour for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge - I'll probably follow Angela's colour prompts, and make one a month.

I know this is getting photo heavy but I just want to show you my new chickens. I like to get a few every year to keep the supply of eggs going (their laying slows down as they age).

I saw some advertised reasonably local and couldn't resist grabbing them. On my way home I picked up Odie to help me unload them and he was as entranced as I was with them......

They bob their heads around so much that decent photos are hard to get, hence I caught this one for a selfie—

(Yes, I should have waited until he'd finished his snack!)

We call them Dr Suess Chickens but their official breed is Legbar. Apparently sometimes you have to trim the feathers around their eyes so they can see. 

They MAY lay green/blue eggs but we have to wait patiently for a couple of months to find out.

Cute, huh?!

And on that happy note, I will leave you.

'till next time,

happy stitches,

Raewyn

Binding time

Once again I can't believe how quickly the days have gone by since my last post! It feels like not a lot has been happening in The Palace, BUT something has happened, and that something is some quilting!

I recently came across a linky party for Free Motion Mavericks and WOW! that is exactly how I feel about the quilting I have done on the Bears quilt for my great-niece. Very maverick-ic, if that is a word!

When I was piecing the quilt I told myself (continually so that I would get the message) that I was going to do an all-over quilting design.

"Quicker and all that is necessary on a child's quilt."

When I was basting the quilt I told myself (continually so that I would get the message) that I was going to do an all-over quilting design.

However once I sat down, the bears told me they needed proper faces —

The Bear Paw blocks told me they wanted a bit of fanciness and to look like claws —

And then I decided a feather fill would be perfect for this quilt.

I think I've broken every feather rule in the quilting world. I have small feathers, large feathers, long feathers, short feathers, wonky feathers, beautiful feathers, all side-by-side.

And to add insult to injury, I have small spirals, large spirals, spikey spirals, loopy spirals —

And because the border fabric is busy, I just did a diagonal checkerboard there  - I did try to measure to get it all even but didn't get it quite right; however it's barely visible and a wee lass won't be bothered by it!

Binding will happen over the next few days and then I will have a long awaited finish!

Thank you to Andree at Quilting and Learning -What a combo! for encouraging me to join the linky. If you want to see other Maverick Free Motion Quilting, or join in just go *here*.

And binding of a different type. Over the weekend we attended the wedding of one of ED's best friends. ED was in the bridal party, and YD and  I travelled down south (to the Waikato) together for it.

It was a great 36 hours away; the wedding was held at an Alpaca Farm which added an extra bit of fun and personality to the proceedings! 

We were told by one official-type person that we were allowed in with the Alpacas, but were quickly shooed out by another!

The bride's family and ours (well, me and my girls) spent a lot of time together when they were teenagers. The girls attended a lot of horse competitions so we travelled together, camped together and the girls rode together. Here are the girls with their 'other mummies' —

(YD in the red and ED on the right.) (The bride in her Dancing Dress!)

Such a fun night. I'm slowly catching up on my sleep (!)

'til next time,

happy stitches,