End of month tidy-up

After my last post, my feet are now firmly on the ground; now its just a case of playing the waiting game :-). For now, its time to have an end-of-month tidy-up and show what's been happening in my cave lately.
This is for Marco —

oops

That's better!

Needs a good iron, I see!

I found a panel in my cupboard and decided it would make a perfect pillowcase for my 6 year old nephew. Of course it wasn't the right size so a bit of creative patchwork was needed!! They are a beach-y fishing family so I'm hoping it will go down well.

One question though - I sewed French (enclosed) seams on the main edges so it wouldn't fray etc...however, of course where I did patchworking stuff there were a whole lot of exposed seams - I topstitched to try and pin them down and prevent too much fraying - but I was wondering what other people do in this situation?? I would love it to be used and used without falling apart!!

I need to post the pillowcase off today as Marco's birthday was last week (you're a bit slow this year, Aunty Raewyn!) Also going into the post today will be these blocks to Cat for The Quilts for Christchurch Kids - a couple of stars and some pinwheels. Fun to make and going to a good cause.

And last but not least here are the latest Catalicious blocks (months 7 and 8), which I've finished this month. I understand there's just one month to go of these. They've also been great fun to do and I'm looking forward to getting them all together.

  Realised I hadn't shown month 6 so here it is with the other 2.

So that's my sidebar for September finishes updated. Happy sewing everyone!!

Catalicious

Here is Block 5 of Bronwyn Hayes' Catalicious BOM. I really like the buttonhole stitch for the flowers and blanket edging. I'm only one month behind on this BOM now... but as you can see below I have started the next one so should be caught up soon!

I thought I could show you my latest little technique-discovery. I was reading somewhere about basting a quilt. The author said to cut a longish thread, pull only half of it through and baste with it. Come back to the other end of the thread and baste away in the opposite direction. I thought I would try this idea with my stitching.
Above I have started a new thread and am busy sewing away.
Underneath it is a long dingle-dangle thead, out of the way and waiting to be used (sometime I tack it loosely out of the way if it is being in an annoying mood).
In the next (bottom) photo you can see I have finished the stitching with the first half of the thread; I have threaded the second half (that was dingle-dangling below my work) and started a new patch of sewing in another direction.

This technique has been working really well for me; I have half the number of ends to tidy up and sew in at the back. I make sure I start in a spot that is in the middle of a pattern so I don't run out of places to go.
It's really good for this redwork / one colour stitching but I guess if you were multi-colouring it could be used in the odd place where there is a large amount of one colour.

Well that's my words of wisdom for today!! Hope you're all having a good weekend :-)
Happy sewing!!

That time again!

Here we are at the end of the month and I have a few finishes to show you..........

Catalicious months 3 and 4.....

Isn't Brutus a handsome fellow.... and such a cat-like pose!

And another completion - Month 5 of the Flirting with Flowers BOM  - another lovely block

I've recently updated my Klosjes page too with more details on putting the spools together, see Post 3, here.

That 's all for now folks, my sewing room needs a tidy so best get to that....

Happy sewing!

Deadlines...

I have had the stitching done for these for a while now but hadn't done the finishing..... here is Month 2 of the Red Brolly Catalicious series. I reduced this one even more this time and am happy with the size of it within the 8 inch hexagon...I have discovered the size of a hexagon is quite decieving and there's a lot less area in one than it looks!

Here is another little block to go in my Hexagaon Cats quilt; the saying is from a calendar ED gave me for Christmas and I think I'll use a few more of these to sprinkle throughout my quilt.

ooOOoo

 You will see I have added a side button to my page; it was a bit of a fluke-y exercise and I surprised myself when it worked, but anyway, Stash Manicure is a new blogsite that is really interesting to keep track of whether your stash is big OR small!! To celebrate a month in being they are having a giveaway so head on over to visit!

ooOOoo

 It's the first of the month tomorrow so I must email my list of finishes through to Peg...also it's very exciting as there will be some more treats appearing in Blogland —  I'm looking forward to seeing the next "Flirting with Flowers" and "Catalicious" surprises!

Happy sewing

Catalicious with a dog and a horse thrown in...

Here is Brutus in Month 1 of Bronwyn Hayes' Catalicious Quilt. He's rather cute don't you think. As you can see I'm all sorted with my thoughts of combining these blocks with the Kiwiquilts In the Pink hexagon quilt. I did reduce Brutus so he would fit the hexagaon but I could have reduced him just a little more.The finished size of the hexagon is 8 inches...a bit of a squeeze for a chubby contented cat!  I also think In the Pink Catalicious is a bit of a mouthful so it's now my hexagaon cat quilt. Whew. Lots easier to type too!

Here is Brutus with one of his adjoining blocks. I think its gonna be kinda cool!!

I have just spent the weekend away on a Sisters Weekend. My sister and I met halfway at Auckland where our SIL lives. It was supposed to be a no-male zone but we did have the company of my 5 year old nephew who was happy to put up with us darting around the place. Neither of them are sewers or stitchers (sigh!) so I didn't get to explore any new haunts but I did get some handsewing done while we sat and chatted. So we browsed the shops, went out for lunch, had a bbq cookup for tea, went ten pin bowling and had a lovely time! On the way down I had called in at my ED's for a night. Neat to catch up with her and I also got a horse riding lesson while I was there. A bonus.The photo shows  my ED hosing
the horse down for me..the photo doesn't show it so well but he was HUGE. It was a long way to the ground!!


I got home to find my little grandson (my YD's dog) had missed his Gan-ma terribly! I couldn't resist taking these photos of him in my weekend bag!!


Next time you go away Gan-ma...I'm coming too....

....You can come too if you want....

A long post!! But I've caught you up with all the latest news!!

What was I thinking?!

What was I thinking!!!!! Starting up a blog when I KNEW Febuary was going to be a busy one?? I am now the proud mother-in-law to the lovely girl who has just married our son!!
It was great to have all the family at home again and we all enjoyed the social activity that goes with weddings! Extremely proud parents indeed! Our household is back to normal now and I even had the chance to get my horse in and have a ride this morning :-)
Barely relevant to quilting you say.... but I have discovered that riding time is often great reflection time...not when we are hard out in 'training mode' (when I'm doing my best to keep upright, flex this way, flex that, get a decent rhythm, etc etc and a whole lot more I don't understand!!) but the walks to and from our riding spot give me an ideal opportunity to let my mind wander.
Today I was thinking of ALL the projects I have earmarked that I want to do...and Oh Dear the list was too long!!
HOWEVER, while on horseback, I realised that I could combine several of my ideas and maybe kill 2 birds with one stone...so I have invented the "In the Pink Catalicious Hexagon Quilt"!!! I aim to do the Red Brolly Catalicious stitcheries and insert them into the kiwiquilts "in the pink hexagon quilt" ... I have it all sorted out in my head ... I'm off to sort some fabrics and see if this idea will work!... watch this space...