Saturday, December 29, 2018

A Planning Party


There are only 2 days left of 2018 so it is time to start thinking of moving out of the old year and into the new one.     This past year has had its ups and downs for me personally as well as other family members and friends - as most years do.   

In my previous post I reviewed the year in regard to my sewing and was pleased with what I had achieved both in the amount and variety.    I did name 2018 as being "the year of the smaller item" and the previous one "the year of finishing off UFO's" both of which I stuck to but as we are about enter into 2019 I am looking around my sewing room and find that all UFO's and WIP's are completed and there are no more plans for smaller items to be sewn.    What does this mean  - that I am efficient or there is a lack of forward planning?   

Over the years I have taken part in quite a few mystery quilts and ended up with some surprising results -  some of which are my favourites.   I have also joined in scrap challenges and  never cease to be amazed at what can be created out of leftovers.  Some of the colour combinations I would never have put together which just goes to show that you need to think outside your comfort zone.  

This coming year I am going to "go with the flow" in regard to my sewing and whilst there are no firm plans  I do keep finding inspiration and adding notes to "my one day list".   One thing that I have added to that list to try  is a technique called "quilt collage".     There are some very inspiring works on the "net" which need to be looked at in detail.  

What plans do you have for 2019 in regard to your sewing?   You can share them here or see what others plan on doing.

Back soon and in the meantime

Happy sewing all



Thursday, December 27, 2018

The Best of 2018

                                     

At the beginning of the year I called this  "the year of making  the small item"  and mostly I have stayed with that thought throughout the year.  Some of my favourite small items are below

Firstly some apple and pear potholders


During the year a friend sent me a covered notebook with its own penpocket that fits perfectly into my handbag.    She was kind enough to also send me the directions as how to make them.    Since then I have made quite a few as gifts.    Some of which can be seen in this next photo.


Next on the list are some fold up shopping bags which also slip perfectly into a handbag.  

 
The photo below shows a few more small items that have been made during the year.


I did cave in twice and made two quilts - not big ones but what I call "snuggle" quilts although  both do fit a single bed quite well if needed.   First was a mystery quilt that I was taking part in.   The clues were given out each week for 3 weeks and this is the result. 


And the last item is what was named the checkerboard quilt


While looking back through my blog posts for the year more smaller items were made such as shoe bags, tabletoppers, zip pouches, clothes for Miss M, library bags which are an on-going project for the charity that my quilting groups supports, cushion covers, boxed pouches and a few more items so all in all I did manage to stay with the theme of "the smaller item" and very happy with what was achieved.   

You can pop on over to Meadow Mist Designs to see what others achieved during the year.    You are sure to see some "eye candy" and pick up some inspiration for future projects.

Back soon and in the meantime


Happy sewing all






Wednesday, December 26, 2018

Caddy envy

Last Christmas I bought hubs a revolving remote control caddy and everyday since I have eyed it off enviously thinking how handy that would be in my sewing room.     Well hubs must have been aware of my envious thoughts as he  thoughtfully placed one under the Christmas tree for me yesterday.     After doing some domestics this morning  time to head  to the sewing room where I gathered up all my scissors, unpickers, pens, glue and other bits and pieces that one needs to have at hand and organised them into their home.


And viewing from the back when it swings around


Everything is clearly on show and can be easily reached when needed.

Amongst all the other lovely gifts that I received yesterday  was this gorgeous bundle of batiks strips that I will enjoy sewing with.  


Miss M certainly got into the swing of the day to the point that she partially crawled into her Santa sack to see all the goodies.

Back soon and in the meantime



Happy sewing all





Monday, December 24, 2018

Last minute Christmas things

On Saturday I  had some last minute Christmas shopping to do in the city.  Of course I had to pop into the Queen Victoria building to see the Christmas tree.


A close up of some of the many beautiful crystals which adorn the tree


One of the beautiful shop fronts in the building all dressed up for Christmas


After doing some shopping I then met up with Miss M and her mummy to see the childrens' ballet Coppelia.    On our way to the Opera house we passed one of the many large cruise ships that dock in Sydney Harbour.


It was up early in our house this morning to make a start on cooking the turkey for our family Christmas lunch tomorrow which hubs and I are hosting.    While it was cooking time to put the presents out under the Christmas tree



I even had time to finish off a new summer nightie for myself


Back soon and in the meantime


Happy sewing all




Saturday, December 22, 2018

It is Summer

Which you can tell by the number of cicada shells that are appearing all around our garden.


Cicadas live underground for up to 6-7 years in Australia .  When they reach full size they dig  their way to the surface.   They generally surface about nightfall in the late spring or early summer.    They climb onto a tree trunk or other object and shed their skin for the last time. 

Some days the noise from them is quite deafening.    You can read more about them here.

Moving away from the noise of cicadas and onto some quiet sewing which took place last night during the last FNSI for 2018.   I had been "commissioned" by my mother  to make an A6 journal cover for a friend of hers.


A big thank you to Wendy for hosting FNSI during the year and I look forward to joining her and the others in 2019.   

I wish everyone a happy and safe Christmas.   Enjoy whatever way you celebrate and with who you do. 

Back soon and in the meantime

Happy sewing all

Monday, December 10, 2018

Girls Day Out

Last night Miss M had a sleepover at grandpa and grandma's house so that us girls could make an early start and catch the bus into the City to see all the Christmas decorations.

First stop was the to see the State's biggest Christmas tree in Martin Place 

 
After more walking it was time for a coffee break


 Time to head off and see more Christmas decorations.   Starting with the Strand Arcade.


Then we headed off to Myer 's Wonderland.   Miss M is waiting to enter into the rocketship lift to take us to the 6th floor.


Upon arriving at the 6th floor all sorts of interesting activities await us.


The best being the ride on the Santa express train which takes us to the North Pole where we visit Santa in his living room.   Miss M is deeply engrossed in the scenes of Santa's workshop as we "travel" in the train.


After all that excitement it was time for some lunch and head on home again in the big yellow double decker bus.  On the way home Miss M asked if we could go to the city again soon as she had the bestest time.   

Back soon and in the meantime

Happy sewing all





Saturday, December 8, 2018

One More Door

This time last year Miss M told me that "I have one more door to go through Grandma" at her child care centre and then she was finished.    Well she passed through that last door yesterday and now has her "graduation certificate" to prove it.  Below she is being presented with her certificate by the Director of the centre.   A proud moment for her parents and us as grandparents.  As she heads off to "big school" next year so many more doors are about to open for her in the future.    


After having dinner with the "graduate" and her parents we headed on home and there was still enough time for me to join in with the rest of the "gang" and do some sewing.    What I did could not be called sewing but I did manage to cut 20 pieces of cord,  slot them through and tie them off in the library bags that I was working on during the week.    They are all ready now to go off to the co-ordinator and then sent off overseas in the next container early in the New Year.


It is time now to head on over to Cheryll's blog to see what the others got up to last night.   That was the last FNwF for 2018.     Hopefully Cheryll will be hosting this again next year.  

Back soon and in the  meantime


Happy sewing all


Thursday, November 29, 2018

As darkness descends

This photo was taken from the back of my house at 7 am on Wednesday morning - the day that now goes down in history as one of the wettest days in November.   The "lights" that can be seen in the photo are the reflection of the flash picking up spots of rain on the camera lens.


As the day wore on it got brighter but the rain continued to fall and this was the view from the back door.


And the front door.    Rain wherever you looked.   Fortunately for us we had no damage unlike many areas.


So what does one do on such a day when you cannot put your nose outside?   First up was to get out the address book and write out my Christmas cards.   I can now boast that they are all addressed, stamped and just waiting to be posted early next week.

Then it was time for a cup of coffee and finish off a book that I was reading.  I have now read a couple of books by this author and enjoy her style of writing.   
After lunch I made a start on some more library bags for a charity that our quilting group supports.   I wanted something quick and not too difficult to sew as I was keeping an eye on the weather reports to hear the latest warnings.    These  just need to have the drawstring cord slotted through and turned right side out.


And this lot need to have their casings sewn and they can join the other pile for finishing off.



Back soon and in the meantime

Happy sewing all







Friday, November 23, 2018

FNSI

As the wind blew and the dust with it time to head to my sewing room and make a  handmade gift for the secret Santa swap for my quilting group's annual Christmas party.     I decided to make a lined flat bottom drawstring bag and pop in a box of curved safety pins - one can never have enough pins when quilting.


I had to act quickly in order to get the photo outside as it was blowing a gale and the bag kept falling over.  

Thanks Wendy for organising another fun night of sewing.

Linking with Oh Scrap and TGIFF.

Back soon and in the meantime


Happy sewing all


Saturday, November 17, 2018

Triangle pouches

During the week it was time to make a start on using up some scraps of fabric to make 4 triangle pouches.

This was done production line style and last night when I joined Wendy and 20 other sewists and crafters from around the world I was able to finish them off - the last step was to neaten up the inside edges by using a zig zag stitch and turn them out.     Here they are

Oops just realised that I forgot to put on the little zipper charm pulls.  That oversight will be fixed  later on today.

During the week when heading towards the letterbox I spotted what was at first thought rubbish that blown into the garden but on closer inspection this was found


Not sure why these mushrooms decided to grow there as we have not had much rain and it is in a very sunny position - that is nature for you.  

Thanks Wendy for hosting another fun Friday night and if you are interested Wendy is hosting another FNSI again next week.

Linking with Finished or Not Friday, Oh Scrap  and TGIF.

Back soon and in the meantime


Happy sewing all







Sunday, November 11, 2018

Zippie clippies

I have been working on getting these "zippie clippies" finished as they are going to be given as Christmas gifts when I have lunch with the "girls" at the end of the month.    Viewed from the front


And then seen from the back


Now onto  making a couple of triangle pouches and then a decision is to be made as to what to make for a handmade Christmas gift to be given to a member of my quilting group.

Linking with Finished or Not Friday  and Oh Scrap,

This project was my nominated OMG for November.

Back soon and in the meantime

Happy sewing all

Saturday, November 3, 2018

FNwF

Was on again last night.  While tidying up my sewing room I came across an outfit that I had started for Miss a couple of months ago and it obviously got "buried" underneath a pile of fabric and other bits and pieces and was uncovered yesterday morning.   All that was left to do was slot the elastic through the  waist of the pants and  the put bands on the top.    An hour later one outfit finished.


While the weather has been very hot here for the last few days it will be a suitable outfit to wear when we get those cooler  spring/summer days that often happen after extreme heat.

I then got to and made a small trinket bowl using up some Christmas fabric.     


For some reason I am not real happy with the result.    I am not sure if it is the fabric choice or the fact that I think the sides are a bit too high but whatever it is I will stop at this one.    It will be used at Christmas time to put some chocolates in.

Now lets go over to Cheryll's blog and find out what others achieved last night.

Linking with Finished or Not Friday with Oh Scrap.

Back soon and in the meantime

Happy sewing all




Friday, November 2, 2018

OMG for November

What November already....where have the previous 10 months gone I ask you?   Time to set a goal - or some goals depending on availability of time - and so it is back to doing some smaller items.

Firstly I see a couple more mesh front zip pouches being made from these fabrics


And if time allows making some triangle zip pouches from the fabrics below which will be perfect for holding all those coins that seem to accumulate in wallets each time one goes shopping.


Back soon and in the meantime


Happy sewing all


Tuesday, October 30, 2018

Being a tourist

Today was one of those days that you just had to be out and about enjoying the sparkle of the city.   I caught the Manly ferry into the city.  This is the view of the bridge from the ferry as it comes into the City.


My aim was to find the newly installed lift that takes you to the main deck of the Sydney Harbour Bridge.  It cuts out the need to walk up 64 steps.   Well there it is but how do I get to it from where I am -  do I go up these steps or down this alley?????


It appears none of them so I wound my way around the streets of what is known as the Rocks and finally found the entrance to the lift.  Up I go and here is the view from the walkway.   The first photo is of course the Sydney Opera House, the second is taken from underneath the first pylon on the bridge.   You can access the top of the pylon but I did not fancy going up 200 steps and then back down 200 steps.   The traffic never stops across the Bridge day and night and the last photo is taken back down in one of the park areas at Circular Quay.    


After all that walking it was time for a coffee and catch the ferry back to Manly.    I thoroughly enjoyed the day being a tourist in my city. 

Back soon and in the meantime

    
Happy sewing all


Monday, October 29, 2018

If at first.....

You do not succeed try, try again.    Well that is what I have been doing for the last week in order to restore the facility on my blog whereby I can receive emails from those who leave a comment.     Not only did I try, try and try again but had many unsuccessful attempts during the week and thought I would give it one more try this morning and then give up should it not happen.

My lucky day - all the planets and whatever else it took to be aligned with "blogger" happened and

YEAH
It worked.

I am one happy blogger again and can now reply to those commenting on my blog.

Back soon and in the meantime
 
Happy sewing all

Monday, October 22, 2018

In the dark

The storm season is upon us and  we have had three storms in as many days.   With the first one we only caught the tail end of it and the second one passed right over but with the third one we were not so lucky.  It was one of those storms where the thunder and lightning were striking together and right above us for quite a while. 



Fortunately we had no damage but did loose our power for over 2 hours just after 6 pm....right on dinner time preparation.    I had seen this storm "brewing" for sometime and decided that we would eat a bit earlier than usual as I had a "feeling" that this storm was going to be worse than the previous two nights and being an all electric house we did not want to be eating a half cooked  meal.

As darkness settled around us it was out with the torches - which provided enough light to see around the house but not enough to do anything such as sewing or reading.    Hubs and I looked across at each other and decided that life without power is pretty dismal.   I cannot image life without electricity - no lights, no tv, no computer, no sewing machine, no power to make a cup of coffee but that was how life was in the not too distant past.  

Even though I was walking around the house carrying a torch I still was in the habit of walking into a room and turning on the light...a big cheer went up from us both at 8.30 when the first flicker of light appeared.    It was on with the tv and off with the torches.

Before the power went off I was able to use my machine to make a small zip pouch with a mesh front.



When buying the mesh  my choice would have been white but it was a case of take it or leave it.....black, black or black was all that was available so black it was.

And I am still in the dark as to how to fix my blog problem of not being able to receive emails from those who leave comments.   I have gone into the screen that I went into a few months ago but it is different and I have tried to do what was done before in a couple of places but still no emails coming through.     Thank you to those who  left a comment on my "Help" post.   Computers...….grrhhhh.

Linking with Finished or not Friday and Oh Scrap.

Back soon and in the meantime


Happy sewing all