Catching up

We've completed nearly two weeks of (Covid Response) Level Two now and it almost feels that life is back to normal for me. I'm back to my once a week fitness class, once a week playcentre session, once (or twice) a week work day and so on. And you can tell this by the lack of productivity in The Palace!!
I'm working at making sure it doesn't get too busy again and trying to make sure I have complete days at home. Saying NO to the odd thing.....
(To clarify, social distancing is still expected, as is keeping track of where we visit and no gatherings bigger than 10 people. NZ has had just one new case in the last week.)

Anyway, last week I had the older twins come over for a play. After two months of not being allowed in Ganma's house they were very excited ♥ They talked, they played, they ran, they climbed...and they sewed!
They spied my evening sewing bits and bobs and thought it might be nice to do some sewing themselves. I managed to steer them away from the needleturn and after a bit of a discussion they decided they wanted to make bunny snugglies for bedtime. Their mum had done a little sewing during lockdown and they knew they had this sewing thing sussed! Not having the same picture in my head that they had in theirs, I suggested they draw me a picture —

Hmm not much to go on here!

We rummaged in the downstairs (non-quilty) sewing stash.
Here's Kaliah ready to sew —

She gathered the thread, pins and scissors to go with her fabric.
Definitely knew what she was doing!

It soon became obvious that their idea of a bunny snuggly was quite different to my idea of a bunny snuggly. I pulled out a basket where I put braids, trims, and anything too useful to throw that I don't know where to put. I have been collecting and adding to this for a very long time. My girls used to raid it for their sewing when they were younger.

While one prepped her's —

The other sewed her's —

Very proud! They did add a few more bits to these after I took the photo, in a second burst of energy!

I had a wee weaving loom when I was a kid and that's where the fluoro
orange and yellow piece came from! If you hang onto anything long enough,
it will get used!
AHEM - can you make out one of my Omigosh 9-patches attached to Saydee's,
on the left!! I let it go :-)

Apparently the snugglies go to bed with them now ♥

Time for some exercise after the sewing time —

This past week I made a pair of slippers for George —

I made several pairs like this last winter and the kiddies got good wear out of them.

Sadly though, the pattern only comes in one size so I (once again) had to play to change sizes. I went up a needle size and added a few more rows at the base.

I made the soles a little small though so they are a better fit for Lily than George, so here she is ably modelling them. And I've started a second pair for him.

And I have actually done some sewing. I started this zippy pouch in lockdown when I was making the others. I didn't have a suitable zip so had to wait until we were allowed to go to the shops.

We're very happy as it is raining outside and it's been raining on and off throughout the night. Yaay! Although the farm has greened up over the last few weeks the soil moisture levels still screamed drought. I'm sure this rain will help remedy things.

Must be off,

'til next time,

happy stitches,

Goals and the like

I had a real muddly day yesterday, not settling to anything much so I have decided it's time to Stop, Plan and Focus.
And I'm nearly too late to sign up for Patty D's One Monthly Goal over at Elm Street Quilts. Signing up and 'pledging' to finish something is great motivation to actually getting it done!
After my efforts last month getting my Buggy Barn Tractors quilt together, it (probably) goes without saying that quilting this needs to be top of my agenda for this month so that is what my goal will be.

To quilt, bind, label and gift the Tractors quilt!!!

Backing purchased. No excuses now.

Thank you, as always, Patty, for hosting OMG. It really is helpful in making progress :-)

I also have some other goals for the month - to focus on doing some winter sewing for all the kiddies. I made a start by overlocking the edges of some brushed cotton so I could wash and pre-shrink it. This will be for some more cot sheets and a kiddie jacket lining.
Then I tidied the spare room downstairs. Climbed up into the top of the wardrobe and found all my old patterns for children sewing. They went onto the downstairs bed —

Did anyone else collect and drool over the Topkids Magazines?
I used to love these and made some wonderfully creative clothes from them for
my kids.
There's also patterns in the boxes for basic things like trackpants, tights, etc which I want
to find.

Most of those patterns have sat there in those boxes since we moved here in 2004!!!

This old sewing cabinet contains all sorts of fabrics for kiddie sewing. I'll use it as my base for the sewing and it will be lucky dip, that's for real!! There's some lovely pieces in there that I bought to make things for my kids but didn't get them done - now's my chance!!

This cabinet was actually one Dad built from a kitset when he and Mum
were first married. Most of the kitset furniture he made then is still going
strong - not like kitset furniture these days!

(I had to do all this downstairs as if I try to sort this amongst my quilting stuff in The Palace it would be bedlam!! A separate clear space was needed!)

Oh and I will be pulling out my knitting for the kiddies too. Yesterday I started a vest for wee Odie who is no longer very wee and is outgrowing the vests I made the other kiddies. Not only is he a big boy but was also born in a completely different season than all the other kids. Who knows what will fit him when!

In other news — Since finishing a needle case over the weekend, I've made a pouch to go with it. I enlarged the stitchery from the Anni Downs pouch made last month—

I made a vinyl fronted zippy pouch (pattern available *here*) —

And sewed the stitchery to the other side.

It was a bit odd in a way as usually the vinyl side is displayed as the front, but when it's all filled with a messy array of project and notions, I sometimes think the 'back' is a nice option to look at!

I intend the needlecase and pouch to be used as a set...because the needlecase was a kit I didn't have the same felts and fabrics but oh well.

And speaking of pouches, this was a project from the Tilda FB page I joined. This pouch is a lot smaller than the one above so won't fit an A4 page/pattern but will be useful for storing threads, etc. It was designed by Fee, of Fee's Little Craft Studio, who runs the Facebook group.

I used fabrics to match the pincushion I've made previously.

It's probably pinkier and girlier than what I usually make but it's pretty cute all the same!

The conditions of our Lockdown Level Two were released today - we will have a lot more freedom which is great.....now we just have to wait and see when we go into it.

'til next time

safe and happy stitches,

A bit of this, a bit of that

When I threaded my needle for some more stitchery the other night, I lamented (to myself) that I don't seem to be making much progress on my current block of Foxley Village. In my last post I was doing the stitchery under the main applique, and guess what, a good 10 days later, I'm still working on the same patch of stitchery! (Although I have changed thread colour!)

I generally reserve my evenings in front of the telly for any handwork that needs doing, and here's a touch of what has snarled me up.
My handwork in the evenings lately has consisted of —

Unpicking some quilting. I made this quilt top some time ago and I decided it really is time to finish it. After all the ditch stitching, I amazed myself by quilting the first block sideways!

Mending slippers. George thought it was great fun to have his toe come through and spent quite a bit of time wriggling it and watching it. These slippers have been well worn all winter; I'm hoping the babies will get just a little more wear out of them before summer comes!

Sewing the finishing touches on two pouches.

Haha, you can't see much but I sewed strips down to cover the raw edges inside these two pouches.

I got my old sewing machine serviced the other day so that YD can use it. I thought, while sorting out some bits for her, that a couple of wee pouches would be handy. I made myself some a few years ago and they are still in use.

One big, one small.

I spent an evening knitting up a swatch. Although I've put my knitting away for now, I found myself wanting some to do while I babysit sleeping children (and recharging my batteries for when they wake!!). This is some homespun which was spun for me years ago. I had a whole lot of 'fleece' from our pet goat which a lady mixed with some sheepswool and spun. I had started a jersey out of it (years ago) but have unpicked it. It was a cabled, loosefitting jersey and I could see I wasn't going to have enough. I have found a fresh pattern I want to use

The swatch was far too big for the pattern so I've put it away for now, and will decide how best to tackle it in the future.

So I spent another evening getting started on another knitting project for those babysitting sleeps. I've had this beanie pattern for a while and have always wanted to try it out.

 

So I guess slow progress doesn't mean no progress :-)
I am hoping to finish that stitchery soon though!
'til next time,
Happy stitches,

 

Scraps and finishes

Each year I allow myself to start one new scrap project (regardless of the state of my other scrap projects hehe). I've decided to join in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge run by Angela over at her superscrappy blog again - I lapsed with this last year but am up and running with it again.
So what scrap project could I do???





About the time I was sewing this cute block for my Farm Girl Vintage quilt, I came across this blogpost by Sue of Mother Patchwork.... I fell in love her finished RSC Scrapppy Sprouts quilt!! I followed the links she gave and decided to make one too :-)





So lately I've been leader and ending away sewing up 2 ½" purple squares. Sadly as I sewed I sunk deeper and deeper into despair — somehow I just wasn't feeling the love — the blocks didn't look like anything and I felt uninspired! BUT Something Happened when I rounded up what I'd done for a photo to prove that 'at least I'd tried' with this month's scrap challenge. I saw it through different eyes and fell in love all over again!!!!!!

A photo of my 'soon to be rejected' semi-made blocks

Yaay - I unpicked a few lights I wasn't happy with, did some more sewing and, ta-da, this month's scrap bocks are made!

I decided these lights were too dark and distracting.

Excitement mounting - maybe these will work after all!

Yes - I'm happy.
May I present This Year's RSC block project!

Thank you to Sue for the inspiration and to Angela for the motivation :-)

Most of the sewing I'm doing at the moment is for the shop I work at as we prepare for our New Year's Launch of new projects and programmes. Mostly secret stuff.  During the weekends I give myself some time-out and try to spend a little time doing 'my own stuff'. Today I finished off the second of the little cushions I've been talking about lately.....

Here it is with last week's finish.
The step-grandies have gone home now but these will be waiting for them in the next holidays :-)

These started off as test blocks for Juliet of Tartankiwi. Click *here* to get to her blog where she has links to her shop for these designs.

And I have one other little show and tell item to share. A friend and I have challenged each other to make one thing a month for our gift-box. I made one of these Ouch Pouches; rather cute I thought and also rather handy. I found the pattern on Melissa's Cornbread and Beans blog. Thank you Melissa for the brilliant tutorial.

A wee pouch for band-aids (plasters), Panadol, etc to pop in the bottom of a bag.

Now that the weekend is nearly over here it's time for me to get back to what I need to be working on for the shop - 

Flying Geese border for my Farm Girl Vintage.

Before I go, I thought I'd give an update on our wee dog. Last post I shared that he'd had a nasty accident...thank you for all the thoughts and concern for him. He is making a remarkable recovery so we are very pleased. His routines are nearly back to normal now. Apart from the stitches in his neck and a little bit of swelling on his head, you'd barely tell anything happened. Whew what a relief!

Wishing you all happiness and lots of creative moments,