Sewing along(s) —

As a new weekend approaches, I am still trying to find the time to write about last weekend's sewing! I've had a week of meetings, appointments, a work day and heavy rain (flooding) so it's sped by with little sewing and blogging time.  I started last weekend with a new blade and a new needle - armed with those I felt ready to take on the world!! I spent most of Saturday thinking, planning and cutting ... I seemed to be partway through several projects, all of which had stalled because I was ready for the next step.

I had got Irene (see Terry's Treasures to learn about this sewalong) to this stage and was ready to do the outer border...calculations done.... enough fabric left to do it Terry's way —

— until I did a miscut (probably was day dreaming about the next project I want to start) - oh no, would I have to rethink the outer border, or maybe do some piecing and hope the joins were not noticeable?  I managed to hold my breathe until I got to work on Wednesday... I had taken the last of the fabric on the bolt, but was hoping there would be some precuts still left in the shop and ...lucky me... there were two bullets in the bullet jar!

And the two bullets were just what I needed!

~~<<>>~~

I made a few decisions and did a little cutting on the project I haven't officially started yet - if it's not on my blog, it's not started, right? I am loving this project but needed time/space to decide on my next fabrics. I feel confident with where I am going with this one now.

Hmmm, maybe it is officially on my blog now and maybe I'll have to 'fess up to
another started project pretty soon?

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With Irene off the design wall, I pulled out Hop To It....actually it was already out but Mum is coming next week so I needed to take it off the bed in the spare room. More decisions needed with this one, I hadn't been able to decide on the cornerstone fabric, but think that using the background fabric will be fine... my sashings are quite dark so I think it needs the calmness of the creams. Deciding on an outer border will be another path I need to go down!

(Hop To It is an Edyta Sitar quilt, some bloggy friends and I used it as a sewalong 'in the past' (I am scared to think how many years ago - two maybe?!))

~~<<>>~~

I've been wondering who else is doing Pam Buda's Market Day sewalong? I love Pam's mysteries so of course couldn't help myself :-) I also caught up on my cutting for this. (By the way, I met Pam at Pittsburg and she really is a sweetie). This is really intriguing me ... we are making a few small, simple blocks each week so is a good one to cut out and use as a leader/ender. I wonder what will happen?!

Pam is giving instructions for two sizes - I couldn't resist trying them both.
3 1/2" and 2" unfinished sized blocks.

I've started playing with possible layouts but the 'odd' number of some of the blocks are throwing me. Guess I'll have to be patient!

 (Seems the colour went a bit off in this last photo, it's the same carpet as the previous one!).

 I have a few little secret projects I need to complete this weekend, hopefully I can squeeze in a little time cutting and sewing :-)

Happy creating, and thanks for reading to the end :-)

Party Time!

A special thanks to Chooky for inviting us all over to her place this past weekend...a weekend of sewing sounded like a great way to celebrate the Chookshed's 2nd birthday. 

I started with some curtains for YD - winter hit New Zealand suddenly last week and her thin little curtains just weren't keeping her flat warm....I cheated and bought lengths that already had the tape sewn on. All I needed to do was the sides and the hems...

Woohoo using my quilting skills and a walking foot on the curtains!!

I spent a bit of time on a little design I was putting together for our 'Seasons' club at The Country Yard. It's a 12 inch mini... had lots of fun with this one and wow a finish for June already!

'It feels a bit like Winter'

It sure does feel a bit like winter. The fire is going well and we had several frosts last week that knocked the socks off us - Northland NZ is supposed to be the winterless north!! The photos below show that this isn't always true!

 Anyway back to my weekend of sewing to celebrate Chooky's Chookshed's 2nd birthday...
On Sunday I also stitched a little —

a Rag Tag freebie from Michelle Ridgeway designs

and crocheted a little —

This is growing nicely and ever so cosy. It went to America with me
and helped keep me occupied at airports and on planes!

— And all was well with the world!

I just want to finish off with sharing two lovelies that I have been lucky to win lately; the lovely Kris sent me this as a monthly OPAM winner - a very cute pattern of one of her Tag Along Teddies designs that I look forward to stitching up one day - thank you Kris!!! Opam is a great motivator and a good way to keep on track with my projects, it should be us sending gifts to two lovely hostesses, Kris and Peg, shouldn't it?

 And I was delighted to also win this English Paper Piecing kit through a sponsered giveaway on beaquilter's blog.

It will be a case of coming up with a clever plan with my fabrics to get an effective design. (Gulp did you notice the size of some of those pieces?!). Thank you Bea, and also to Hillbilly Quilt Shop.

Bea is a clever crafter who willingly shares her learnings with us. I originally came across her blog through her EQ7 tutorials, but she does all sorts of things.

And here it is only 20 minutes (or so) until midnight on Tuesday night - yes the weekend, and Chooky's birthday bash is well and truly over.
Time to stoke up the fire and pop off to bed,
Happy creating everyone!

Another catchup post -

The weekend before we went to Pittsburgh for Quilt Market, a group of us had our annual retreat.
The peninsula of Whangarei Heads is beautiful, with lots of coastline, and the camp where we stay is a lovely spot with a gorgeous setting. Admittedly we are mostly heads down at our sewing machines but it is always nice to look up and take in the view. There are always some good walks to be had, as well, along the coastline.

Always something happening out on the water.

We had a full house this year (18), luckily most of us have Sew-Ezi tables so
we all fitted in (still setting up and waiting for later arrivals in this pic).

We decided to host a Pink Ribbon morning tea while at there to raise money for The NZ Breast Cancer Foundation.
Prior to retreat we needed to organise a few props -

Using 'breast cancer' fabric we sewed and sewed...

...and made this gorgeous table runner,
perfect for our tea party.

And for a bit of fun, can you spot the
special biscuits I made, keeping to the
theme of the occasion?

We also thought it would be fun to wear a quirky hat. For some reason this hat
won the  most votes as favourite!

This fundraiser carries on until the end of the month. I have a special fundraising page if anyone wants to donate a little ... this year the funds raised go to research. The link is in my sidebar or *here*. I was asked if it is possible to donate via PayPal, this isn't possible. They will only accept credit cards. I haven't reached my goal yet so any further donations, large or small would be gratefully accepted!

This year I took a lot of little projects to retreat so in a way felt that I didn't achieve much, but I guess they all add up!

I did start a new quilt, my new Red and White one for the SewCalGal challenge.
Lots of learning which I will share another time.

I made a recipe book cover for one of ED's friends.

..and decorated a hand towel as a gift for another friend.

A few of us decided to make this bag.
Very cute, a lovely shape.
This pattern is by Gathering Stitchers and can be
found *here*.

All so different!

It was a great weekend, lots of laughs and creativity. Of course we all took far too much food and too many projects. Looking forward to the next one :-)

Today was the first chance I have had to unpack my sewing machine since retreat  - I made a few simple blocks and feel whole again. The days are definitely cooler now so hopefully I can have a few more dates with it!
Have a great week and happy stitching,