My quilting thoughts and inspirations sprinkled with a glimpse of life down on the farm

Thursday, February 12, 2015

Bags of Bags

With close family living overseas, Christmas sometimes stretches out for quite some time. Why post gifts when you can deliver them in person (even if it is a month after the event)? Happily most of our overseas family was able to get to NZ for our daughter's (fabulous) wedding.... now I can share the last of my Christmas sewing.
I made this knitting bag for my sister-in-law - a crazy crafter (I mean that in the best possible way).
Good old Kiwiana fabric :-)

I did enjoy making this bag and will definitely be making another one from this pattern - the see through front is such a good idea. Next time I'll make the odd alteration - I didn't like how the inside seams were finished with a zig zag so I'll organise myself better to bind those edges. Also both edges of the zip were sewn in differently, I'd like to try to nut out a way to alter that as well. (It was because of the see through insert so may not be easy to change).




It was nice to see it filled almost immediately with a knitting project.. I hope it continues to be of good service to her!

I mentioned a couple of times last year that Mum had visited and we were doing some secret sewing together.
I'm not the only crafter in the family to collect orphan and unfinished blocks ... Mum had a pile of embroidery blocks that didn't have a home; samples from classes she's taken or 'just because' projects.
She brought them up here and we sorted through them and did some thinking. Over several serious sewing sessions (try saying that at top speed!) we used them to create 8 very different bags for her grand-daughters.
We built each block up to a standard size patchwork style (sashings, filler blocks, etc).  All of the fabrics came from my stash (and some of the linings from Mum's) - it was amazing what we managed to find - gulp!!
Mum was a dab hand with the pins (and the iron) and I did all the sewing.
I took lots of photos after we'd finished the first half, but didn't take so many of the rest of them. You get the idea anyway!
Eight very different bags.
There was more fun deciding which bag was for who!
First batch modelled by Mum :-)
 And where would we be without our Mums? Full marks to mine for the stirling effort in the leadup to the wedding....a last minute wardrobe malfunction meant taking out the zip of a bridesmaid's dress and replacing it with lacing. No mean effort!
Mum planned and pinned. Every time I went back to the house, I had a seam to sew!
(Yes, had to take my machine out to the beach.. Wasn't planning on that!)
(She did the last of the hand sewing on the morning of the Big Day!)
I think that's about all for now :-) We have another fun weekend coming up so I'd best get packing for that! 
Thank you for visiting, and happy stitching

Saturday, February 7, 2015

February's Friday Night with Friends

How silly was I signing up for Friday Night With Friends when much of my sewing at the moment is Secret Sewing?! Hehe. 
My favourite quilting shop, The Country Yard, has its New Year's Launch soon so us staff are busy sewing samples and playing with fabric in preparation for that.
So you'll have to make do with some sneaky looks at what I did last night :-)

I was extra cunning with tea - steak for DH to BBQ (clever huh?) and a rice/courgette bake in the oven. That meant I was able to start off the evening nice and early.
First of all I finished off some cross-hatching which I'd started earlier in the day —
Half-inch cross hatching takes a while, I discovered!
Then I had a little time to finish putting the block below together. Remember the Great Granny Along from a few years ago? The block really appealed to me but I didn't take part... I remembered it when I was wondering what to do with my scraps. I'm focussing on my scraps for my leader-ender projects this year and this is the start of them :-)
This will use my supply of 2 1/2" squares.
Photo a little washed out :-(
I've just taken another photo to show that I have used green
fabric for the second round but it still doesn't show up very well!
By then the steak was cooked so it was time to leave the machine and venture upstairs to my comfy chair and DH's charming company. I worked on another project I cant share but did make good progress. I haven't needleturned for a while and am really enjoying doing it again.
Thank you Cheryl for hosting us again. To see what others got up to on their Friday Night click *here*, then click on the links to everyone's blogs. Prepare to be inspired by the variety of projects!

To finish off I have some photos to share - read on....
When I'm in my sewing room (aka The Palace) I often look around at my mess creative activity and wonder why I have ended up with FOUR chairs in there.
Yesterday the reason why was revealed....
Yes, 3 chairs taken up with pets and one left for me!
At least they weren't sleeping on the ironing board or my cutting table! I've been trying to train the cats to stay off those surfaces to keep cat hair out of my seams!! 

Thank you as always for visiting, I hope you all have a lovely weekend,
happy stitching

Wednesday, February 4, 2015

Love, sunshine and sea breezes...

... made for a fantastically fabulous day :-)
In my last post I mentioned that our daughter's wedding was approaching - now it's been and gone!!

We haven't had many photos to share - yet - but I thought I'd give you a quick peak of the ones that I do have :-)
Yes, we have got to the right place....
(Don't forget you can click on the photos to make them larger and see more detail.)
...the father proudly giving his daughter away...
...a beautiful happy couple...
..well and truly married...
...her sister does her proud...
...beautiful flowers everywhere... 
...scrumptious food and a great night was had by all...
...mother of the bride..'scuse the sunnies :-)...
Part of what made the wedding so special is that we all stayed out at the beach for the (long) weekend.
..love these communal meals...
...taking advantage of the summer sun...
.. I love this action shot of my brother and niece...
Did I already say it was an amazingly awesome wedding and time?
We're still coming back down to earth... I hope to land soon as there's plenty in the real world that needs doing!!
I hope to get back out into blogland again very soon, till then, happy stitching,