December Day Nineteen

My flower garden is very much like my sewing room.

It can be rambly (Spellcheck tells me that's not a word, but I think it is), it can be disorganised and at times doesn't make sense at all but it also has moments of brilliance.

The roses bloomed beautifully this spring. We start with this unknown rambler, which comes up everywhere. It's a gorgeous colour and very prolific. It just flowers once, and is best cut right back once that has happened. If you have the time.

I was so excited the first time I grew this rose from a cutting - about 30 years ago. Little did I realise at the time that this rose doesn't need help to grow. It just does it itself!

More roses come after that. They need to be hardy to be in my garden and most of them hold their own pretty well.

I generally only buy a rose plant if it is scented and I like the old fashioned, David Austin type ones. I'd love to be a better rose gardener but I do my best!

My 'border' of my main flower bed is probably 30 metres long and at least 3 metres wide so keeping the bigger weeds at bay, and allowing lots of self seeding is the key to sanity.

Below is a wider part of the bed; Frangipani tree, hydrangeas, Agapanthus, Jasmine, Violets, as well as that pretty rambling rose, grow prolifically!

The purple is Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow — 

I found this fun photo when I went through my phone. As a teacher used to say, "Small things amuse small minds..."

'til next time,

Happy stitches,

Raewyn

December Day Eleven

A quick post tonight......first of all a quick peek at our dahlias - I hadn't been to our dahlia patch for a week and quickly saw what I'd been missing!

There is a story behind our dahlia patch but that will have to wait for another day.

And I had a fun little 'conversation' with Louise today. She was tickled by my chicken blocks yesterday .....the fun thing is that Louise has just got home (USA) from a holiday in New Zealand, and when she saw the chicken blocks, she thought KIWI!!

She played with the picture of my chicken block then sent me though a design which I thought I'd sew up. Here it is!

The bird family so far —

'til next time,

happy stitches,

Raewyn

August ends....

It's time to report on the churn dashes I'm making for the Churn dash SAL.

The quilt I'm making has several different sized blocks and my personal goal was to get all the 6" blocks made by the end of August. These are the last of them, made over the past week —

The yellow isn't as insipid as it looks in the above photo —

I took a family photo —

And a fancy photo —

And then did a proper count up - I realised I was one short!!!
So one last, lonely 6" churn dash was made!

(39 x 6" blocks.)

Next I'll start on the 12" blocks - 11 are needed. I have made one already so hopefully they'll all be done by the end of the month. Chooky has a list (with links) on her side bar of those of us who are taking part, so take a look *here* if you want some churn dash inspiration ♥

I finished the stitchery I'd started in my last post. I'm happy with how it turned out but still haven't decided how I will use it. One thought is maybe a gardening journal cover, as a gift....?

And speaking of gardens, the daffodils at the cowshed have started flowering...they're very pretty. Most of our daffodils have finished flowering (we seem to have had 'spring bulbs' since May!) but these ones were only planted in May so are a bit later.

And I spoke previously about my concern that the Magnolia tree would lose its flowers in the nasty weather we were forecast 10 days or so ago. 

It was pretty windy but the blooms held on and we have had a wonderful show.

Not to mention a gorgeous fragrance which wafts around and catches you unawares as you're walking by!

The bees have been busy. Check out the pollen laden legs —

The leaves are growing now, a delightful splash of lime green.

I'm sure the calves are enjoying the Magnolia too - you can just see it here in the background while they are feeding!

Must away,

'til next time,

happy stitches,

Summer catch up #1

I started writing a post, hoping to do a catch up and counted over 20 photos to share!!!

So, here will be half of my catch up, in a few days I'll finish the catch up, and then I'll try to stay caught up...hopefully!!

Summer's in full force here, we've had some hot days and the farm has burned to a crisp. On the really hot days, a great place to visit is the stream partway down the farm. It feeds into the main river after starting as a spring somewhere up in the bush and winding its way up down.

It's a fabulously cool place to be, and very peaceful and relaxing. I took some friends who visited earlier in the month up there. They had their four dogs with them, and they really appreciated the spot —

A few days later, while childminding, I took the kiddies there as well. we walked up quite a way. When there are deeper pools we skirt around through the trees but I do admit to ferrying children along one particularly long deeper patch - I was in water up to my knees but the kids all stayed dry!!

Here are Kaliah, Saydee and Xavier having a picnic lunch on the 'old bridge' afterwards —

When it's too hot for much action outside it's nice to sew, of course.

I've picked up my Wings and Pretty Things project. I haven't worked on this for a long time as my evenings got busy with other projects last year.

Two more applique blocks complete —

And Miss Lily requested some clothes for her Barbie — 

This pattern is a free t-shirt pattern from Pixie Faire which I adapted to form a dress. I used a Barbie ED used to play with to check the sizing and halfway through sewing I had a sudden fear that the Barbies of 20 years ago might be a slightly different shape/size than today's ones. The dress was a perfect fit for the old Barbie —

And luckily was perfect for a 2021s one too. So perfect that a second dress *exactly the same pwease Ganma* was requested for her Barbie #2! 
I'd been happy to find a scrap of fabric in the cupboard for the dress (I made tights from it for ED when she was about 8!!) - luckily I squeezed the second dress out of the leftovers this afternoon and there's definitely only scraps left now - very satisfying to finally use up that bit of fabric that's been sitting there for so long!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Some of my favourites in the garden at this time of the year are the swan plants and monarchs. I have some really decent sized plants which provide a lot of food.

And lots of seedlings come up which soon get stripped bare. Look how many are feeding off these stalks! —

'til next time,

happy stitches,

October update (in November) —

We've had lots of wet and/or drizzly days lately which have been great for the garden and for my sewing.

Even though we're at that time of the year when we are supposed to enjoy every drop of rain before the summer dry, we're not appreciating the continual up and down of the river, causing all sorts of hassles and dramas.

I had two requests for 'small' sewing lately which boosted my October finishes - from 0 to 2!!

Firstly three year old George requested a Paw Patrol sunhat like his sister's. 

I made her one last summer. This is it, which she really loves wearing —

And below is the matching one for George. I used a totally different pattern, which we felt was less 'girly'. I found the pattern *here* at Red Poppy Designs.

His favourite colour is green so he wanted the same green lining Lily requested for hers, but I found something I thought he'd like better —

And speaking of tractor linings, Odie has inherited the vest I made for George last winter. Apparently he had a really fun time discovering the tractor lining of that! —

The second bit of requested sewing was a new pair of Wayfarer Shoes for Odie after major foot growth. The oilskin I have been using for the outers is working really well, and I still have plenty left for future projects. And the camo fleece on the inside is a good match.

This is the third pair I have made in this combination now! The photo below shows how these can be reversible if you wanted. There was just a 2"  gap to handsew after turning them through.

Finished! —

Once the serious sewing for children was finished, I was able to get back to my fun sewing. (Working at getting my Christmas quilts done by the end of the year.)
In my last post I'd started joining the Scrappy Christmas Ornament blocks together. After adding fabric to one side or the other of each block, I finally joined them into columns —

And now the columns are joined —

I have added borders to the two sides, but not the top and bottom yet. 
Really pleased with how it's turning out —

I've not joined in with Patty D's One Monthly Goal for a while but I've decided to get November off to a good start and sign up this month. I would like to see this quilt quilted and bound by month's end.

The next photos belong to the "Why I make Quilts" category.

We had five of the cousins here playing one day. Of course the games got busy and involved. Lots of quilts and cushions got pulled out to use for props. I love seeing the kids do that - the quilts are just part of the furniture here at Ganma's.

Must be off, I'm hoping for a little more sewing time before I start the evening meal prep :-)

'til next time,

happy stitches,