January Recap

Looking back over the month of January not as much time was spent in the sewing room as I  would have liked due to various reasons but the results were pleasing.

I took part in the Winter Blues Blog hop and have since signed up for Colour it Red blog hop starting on  17th February through to the 21st.   I need to make a start on this one as time is getting closer - that will be my excuse for heading to the sewing room today.

Cheryll over at Gone Stitchin' has encouraged us all to  work on or finish off those UFOs with a WOOFA challenge each month.     The table runner in the picture above  - while it did not exist physically - went from an idea to reality so I guess that counts as a UFO.   I am working on my next project.

Kris from Tag Along Teddies also runs OPAM which keeps us moving - it is nice to see the tally of all the finished items.

CalicoJoan over at Moosestash Quilting is organising blog hop to coincide with World Wide Quilting Day and the theme is Making us Laugh.    We all need a good laugh from time to time and we all know that laughter is the best medicine.

The day assigned to me is 19th March and I really need to get my thinking cap on for this one.

Back soon and in the meantime

Happy sewing all 

Winter Blues Blog hop Reveal Day

22nd January is the day allocated for me to reveal the project that I have been working on for the Winter Blues Blog Hop.   This blog hop is being organised by Carla who lives in the northern hemisphere and as they are in the  middle of winter the first thought that went through my head was the clear icy cold blues of winter but as I am living Downunder and in the middle of summer my thoughts turned to the  more soft muted blues and greens of the ocean which I enjoy swimming in when possible during summer.

My choice of fabric was a batik range which reflected perfectly the colours of the ocean with a hint of seaweed and sand.  Without further a do here is the tablerunner that was created.

When it came to choosing the border fabric I did audition many fabrics including those left over from the batik fabrics used but somehow the runner seemed like it wanted to continue.   Then various shades of blue were looked at but they did not seem quite right so after walking away and leaving my choice for a few days I came back and tried solid  black which gave a definite finish to the runner.    It is bound with the blue batik fabric used in the runner.

A photo of the back is below showing the stitch in the ditch used for quilting it.

I really enjoyed this blog hop and would like to thank Carla for organising it.    To see more Winter Blue loveliness pop on over to the following blogs.

Little Bunny Quilts

For the love of geese

The Joyful Quilter

Ms P Designs USA
Quilt Schmilt
Made By Marney
Podunk Pretties
Sunshine in the Attic

Now onto working on my Colour It Red blog hop item.

This will be the first item to be crossed off my WOOFA list.

This was also one of my nominated OMG items for January along with making joey pouches for injured wildlife.

Linking with Midweek Makers
                      Put your Foot down
                      TGIFF
                      Finished or not Finished Friday
                      Peacock Party
                      OMG

Back soon and in the meantime

Happy sewing all

FNSI

Last night was the first FNSI for 2020 which provided an ideal opportunity to make a start on quilting my "experiment" project.  

Good progress was made but as you know one can only sit for a limited time following that straight line so in order to have a break it was time to have a rummage around in my stash of scraps to find suitable fabrics for the first two of my mini quilts.

Thanks Wendy for hosting another fun night.    We can pop on over here to see what else was achieved by the other crafters.  

Back soon and in the meantime

Happy sewing all

This week in the sewing room

Has been all about finishing off bits and pieces that have been in various stages of construction.     Bibs have gone from sitting on the edge of my sewing table  all but finished except for their closures.

The snaps have now been added and there are 10 bibs all ready to go as can be seen below.

Kids' aprons have progressed from sitting on the floor in the corner of the sewing room with not much having been done to them.

To being finished

Hot pads were waiting for their bindings to be applied and now look like this

All these items are for the first hospital auxiliary stall of the year and even though it is not for another  two weeks  it was an all out effort to get them done as Miss M is coming to stay with us for a few days next week before school resumes.

In between the above I have been trying to conduct an experiment.   The red marks that you can see do need to be there - at the moment.    

I will endeavour to spend time on this over the next couple of days and hopefully can show you a finish very soon.

And then there is a secret sewing project which will be revealed next week.

Linking with Put your foot Down
                      Midweek Makers
                      Finished or Not Finished Friday
                      Peacock Party
                      Thank goodness it is Finished Friday

Back soon and in the meantime

Happy sewing all

Uninvited visitor

On my way out to the clothesline  yesterday I fortunately just happened to look down as I was stepping off the patio and saw a green tree snake basking in the sun at the bottom of the steps.   Needless to say that my foot stopped mid air and I did an about turn into the house.   From behind the safety of the screen door I could see the snake was just as impressed by my presence as I was by its and it slithered off.    I was far enough away from it for me to feel comfortable to grab the camera and take a photo of it making its way up the fence.

Then along the top of the fence before it disappeared onto the other side.

I have not seen it since but that is not to say that it has not returned - I am keeping a watchful eye out  just in case.

I am pleased to say that we had RAIN last night and woke up to see the magic of a spider web made overnight dripping in raindrops.   Very pretty but the photo does not do it justice. 

My mission was to complete 30 liners for the 15 joey/wallaby pouches that were made last week. 

A variety of fabrics was used for the liners - very soft t-shirt fabric, flannette and brushed cotton.    

Here are the pouches and liners together waiting to be delivered tomorrow to the drop off centre.

Now onto the next item on the sewing list.

Back soon and in the meantime

Happy sewing all

WOOFA

I have joined up with  WOOFA on Cheryll's blog in order to complete some projects.

While some of these projects do not physically exist as I type many of them have been on my "to do list" and in my head for ages so it is about  time that action is taken to bring them to an existence and a finish.

First on the list  is to finish off is my Winter Blues Blog Hop item which is taking shape quite well and is on track for its finish date.

Like everyone else I have a growing scrap fabric problem which needs to be addressed and managed better than it is now.   I am hoping that the rainbow scrap challenge will help sort out this problem and use up quite a lot of scraps in the process.   This has to be a win win situation for both achieving something useful and using up quite a lot of those scraps.

During the course of the year June from June's Jottings kindly sent me a set of mini quilts to add to the others that she had made for me sometime ago and I have a couple of ideas to add a few more "celebrations" mini quilts to my collection.

Then there is the item for the Colour it Red blog hop in February.    Looking at the above there are two pressing items with timeframes so I had best get cracking on them and have at least one done by the end of the month.

Back soon and in the meantime

Happy sewing all

Joey Pouches

Last night for FNwF I had intended finishing off my winter blues blog hop item but a more pressing issue had come to light during the week so it was onto making medium large pouches for injured medium sized roos and wallabies that have been rescued during the bushfires.    I cut out 15 pouches and got as far as sewing up 11 of them.     There is still plenty of fabric and offcuts leftover from the pouches to make smaller ones for sugar gliders and ringtail possums.  

Each of the pouches needs to have 2 to 3 liners to be made which will be on the agenda for the next couple of days.  

I hope to get these all completed by the middle of the week and delivered to one of the the drop off centres which is the next suburb away from me.

Time to head on over to Cheryll's blog to see what else was achieved by those who also joined in with FNwF last night.

Linking with Finished or Not Finished Friday.
                      Put Your Foot Down


Back soon and in the meantime

Happy sewing all

An Unexpected Project

As you are all know doubt aware bushfires have been a constant threat to our country since July with no sight of an end to them and until that little four letter word RAIN makes an appearance there is no stopping them with the consequence much of our wildlife is being injured or destroyed.   The Animal Rescue Craft Guild has put out a plea for sewists to make some pouches etc to be used in the nursing of these injured animals.

Seeing that I have a sewing room that has piles of scraps of the required fabric making some of these pouches will be my first OMG goal for January followed by finishing off my item for the blog hop.

Back soon and in the meantime

Happy sewing all

Happy New Year

Today is the beginning of a new year and a new decade.   It is time to look back on the old year and look forward to the new one and all that it will bring.      I am someone who always believes in looking forward and not dwelling on the past.   What is done is done and we need to keep learning and improving in all things that we encounter as we travel along life's road.

For me personally 2019 was a good year in all aspects and I hope that the coming year is as good to me.    I was very happy with the direction that my sewing took me and my plans are to continue down that path again.    Time was  spent in the sewing room during the week cutting out some babies' bibs as well as childrens' aprons for the next hospital auxillary stall to be held in February.   These are good sellers and as none were left at the end of the last stall I thought that it was time to make a start in order to have them ready.    My aim is to make 12 of each by then.    So far  6 of both have been cut out, pinned and ready to sew.

Hubs and I hosted our VIP New Year's Eve party again last night - just him and me with a bottle of bubbles and some yummy nibbles to welcome in the New Year.

May you have a safe and happy 2020 with lots of time to sew and create.

Must away today is the day to take down the Christmas decorations and catch up on some housework.

Back soon and in the meantime

Happy sewing all