A Wallflower

The 3rd clue - straight down the middle - was given out 2 weeks ago for the mystery square dance table runner but somehow time has just gotten away and my 9 patch blocks having been sitting to one side in the sewing room all alone and looking like a wallflower at the school dance.

Before I can begin work on sewing straight down the middle as the clue suggests I need to cut the fabric into various sizes.

Catching up on the cutting and sewing will be my OMG for April and if I can achieve that  I might even try sandwiching and pinning the mystery quilt ready for quilting......maybe.

Linking with Elm Street Quilts OMG.

Back soon and in the meantime

Happy sewing all

March is Marching on

I realized today that almost 1/4 of this year has gone already....where???????  The days are warm and sunny however the nights and mornings now have a touch of autumn coolness about them so it was time to get a wriggle on and finish off those pants for Miss M that I did not get a chance to last Friday night as well as two other pairs that were in the construction stage. 

These can now be added to my OPAM  list for March along with the cosy bowl holders that were finished earlier in the month.

Back soon and in the meantime

Happy sewing all

The last border

Last week I showed you the mystery quilt that I have been working on over the last few weeks and at the point a couple of fabrics had been auditioned without any success so back to the stash and more fabric was pulled and auditioned only to be eliminated until I found what I thought was "the right one".

The decision was made to go with yellow as the last border as each of the blocks had yellow in them somewhere and I felt that it framed the rest of the quilt and brought it together. 

Getting this top to a completed flimsy was my March goal which was achieved.

If you would like to see if the others reached their goal pop over to Elm Street quilts link up.

Back soon and in the meantime

Happy sewing all

FNSI

Well the intent was there but after walking around the Easter Show all day, catching the bus home, doing some shopping, organising dinner and other bits and pieces that needed to be attended to it was after 8 pm before I sat down and all that I managed to achieve was to turn up and pin the bottom of a pair of pants for Miss M as well as turn  over the casing  at the top for elastic to be threaded through.

I did have a much grander plan but that did not happen.....next time. 

Hopefully the others that signed up will have achieved more than me so head on over here to see. 

Back soon and in the meantime

Happy sewing all

All the Fun of the Fair

Today was the first day of the Royal Easter Show - an event that has been held every year in Sydney since 1823 firstly at Parramatta then Moore Park and now at Homebush since 1998.  I have not visited the Show for many many years so it was  interesting for me to compare the Homebush venue to the Moore Park venue.   

So what does the Royal Easter Show have to offer.   The slogan of the Show is "The country comes to the city".    My first port of call was the CWA tea rooms which I have been told is a must.  Why you ask - for the scones.   As you can see below I am not the only one who was told this.     It is a Show tradition and if you look at the last photo you will see a tally of the scones made on the premises and sold last year.  I wonder if they beat that score this year.

You can try your luck in side show alley,  then head into the showbag pavilion.  Or have a go on the rides if you are game. 

Then of course comes the arts and crafts.   Seen below is some of the prize winning sugar work, quilting, dolls, knitting and cakes.

Being day one some of the items were still being judged.   The first photo shows all the scones and cakes laid out waiting to be judged.     The competition is fierce as can be seen in the next photo as the judges cut the cakes looking for whatever it is that makes a prize winning cake.    Then onto the pumpkin patch.    I can see many pumpkin scones and pumpkin soup being made from these.

And being the country there has to be animals.   Lots and lots of animals being paraded and judged.  A clydesdale horse getting new shoes, sheep being judged and cattle having a shampoo, blowdry and clip before heading to the ring to face the judges.

Not be be forgotten is the fruit and vegetable displays showcasing the fruit, vegetables, grains and wool grown in each regional division.  And of course the floral exhibits.   This year the theme was "Floral Masquerade". 

Well that was my day at the Royal Easter Show. 

Back soon and in the meantime

Happy sewing all

P.S   Don't forget that it is FNSI tonight.

The mystery quilt revealed

At last I am able to share with you the mystery quilt that I have been working on over the last few weeks.

I just love the result and all the components went together so easily without having to do a bit of an ease or stretch at any point to make it all fit.   One of the clues did require that one consistent colour was used in each of the QST blocks and I choose to use black and I then repeated the use of the black fabric when doing the cornerstones.

All that is left to do now is the final border and whilst  two fabrics were auditioned yesterday I was not really happy with either of them so back to stash to find just the right piece.     I nominated to have this flimsy finished by the end of the month and hopefully I am on track to reach that goal as there is just over a week to go before time runs out.

Linking with Oh Scrap.

Back soon and in the meantime

Happy sewing all

A Rogue Wave

Hubs and I went to the beach for our morning swim as usual and being right on high tide I did say to hubs that we should put our stuff up a bit higher and his reply was "it will be alright where we usually put it" - now I want you to remember those words.

Into the water we go and it was just beautiful - the right temperature with a bit of "rock and roll" as the waves came through and we were having  great fun.     We both just  happened to see at the same time a "rogue wave" building  height and gathering force heading our way.    I think by now that you have gathered where this is going and what I am about to tell you next.

I called out to hubs that I will try and get out to grab our stuff  before......too late.......I was about 2 metres away just as that wave hit and right before our eyes the lovely new beach bag that I made a couple of months ago complete with the car key was swallowed up and swirled away under a sea of foam and sand.   Both of us saw the bag heading out to sea and then the next wave came in and it completely disappeared  from sight.   You can see the water coming in splashing up.   This photo was taken after the mishap. 

 

I ran back to the water's edge trying to see if the bag was anywhere near and a couple of people asked me what had happened.     When I told them they very kindly headed off up the beach looking for the bag and by now most of the people had left the water and had joined in the search for the missing bag and  what would now be a ruined electronic car key should it ever be found.

Then the reality of the situation hit.    There was our car  parked 100 metres away with our house keys, extra towels,  dry clothes, money and phone all safely locked up and not accessible as the key was missing.    What to do.

Someone asked me if we saw the bag go out to sea which I replied it was swirling around here and then just disappeared.    There is some building work happening alongside this area and it is all boarded up with a small gap in between the seating area and excavation site and something made me walk to the top of the seating area and look over the board and there at the bottom was the  bag  caught around a steel post.  The second wave that came through must have picked up the bag and forced it back where it got caught.    I called out that it was down there and one very kind man squeezed in  grabbed the bag and the key was still  in its secure pocket.

A great cheer went up and we thanked everyone for their help.     Off we headed back to our car with a very soggy bag, towels, barefooted as we were each missing one shoe - goodness knows there they have gone and a car key.

We held our breath as we approached the car and wonder of wonders the key could be operated electronically.   The beach bag is now in the washing machine along with the towels.    I hope they come out cleaner than they went in.

Now I am not going to say "I told you so" as there was a very sheepish voice behind me that said "I should have listened".     What can I say.    Our lucky day.

Needless to say that the bag and anything else will be placed as high as it can go in future.

Back soon and in the meantime

Happy sewing all

Worldwide Quilting Day

As well as being St Patrick's Day it is also Worldwide Quilting Day so what better way than to spend the day than quilting. 

It is quite hot here at present and not very conducive to sewing but I have managed to get these  4 patch blocks and QST blocks of the mystery quilt that I am working on.

Sewn into these blocks

And even progressed to getting as far as putting the sashing between some of the blocks.

There is a total of 12 blocks so the layout will be 3 across and 4 down with a couple of borders - depending on how big I want the finished quilt to be.

Linking with Oh Scrap.

Back soon with hopefully a finished top to show and in the meantime

Happy sewing all

Cosy bowl holders

Last year I made a few cosy bowl holders and had some fabric leftover which was put aside with the thought that I would make more of them one day.   The ideal time to do so arrived when I saw that the colour for March was lime and yellow greens.   The inside of the bowl holders all have soft greens in there somewhere.

There was enough of the yellow green fabric to use as the outside for 4 bowls only.  On the remaining two I used a beige leftover piece.   I am pleased to say that all of those left fabric pieces that were put aside have now been converted into bowl holders.   

Linking with  Oh Scrap and So Scrappy.

Back soon and in the meantime.

Happy sewing all

If I sew faster........

Will I get to the end of the seam before the thread runs out?     And the answer to the question is no! I was so busy keeping my eye on the bobbin and forgot about the top thread.

And of course it ran out just before the finish line.

The bobbin just made it to the end with 2 centimetres to spare.   

Back soon and in the meantime

 

Happy sewing all

Do-Si-Do

Time to do step number two in the square dance mystery table topper.   This involved making eight 9 patch blocks using the dark, medium dark and lightish fabrics.    I have been working on these during the week and took the opportunity last night during  FNWF to do the trimming and give them a good press.

Now they are sitting to one side waiting for the next step which will be in 2 weeks time. 

If you would like to see what else happened last night pop over here.

Linking with Oh  Scrap.

Back soon and in the meantime

Happy sewing all

OMG for March

The first day of  the month means goal setting for OMG and during March I am going to work on getting my QSTs and 4 patch blocks sewn into a flimsy.    So far they are sewn together as a QST block with a 4 patch block sewn on either side.    It takes 4 QST blocks and five 4 patch blocks to make up a 12 1/2" square. 

Back soon with progress photos and in the meantime

Happy sewing all