My Expectations .......

At the market day stall were exceeded with sales well in excess of what I had thought and many of the items were sold out very early especially the bowl cosies, wine bottle gift bags, Easter treat bags and tooth fairy pillows.    

The placemats, childrens aprons, bibs, small make up bags and glasses cases were also very popular.    

There were other stall holders as well selling jewellery, cards, Easter eggs in cute packaging,  jams and chutneys as well as raffia plant holders.   From what I can ascertain everyone was very happy with their takings on the day.    

The social committee has decided to hold a Spring fair in September so the items not sold yesterday  will go towards my stall then.     I will need to increases quantities of those good selling items and look at making some Christmas themed items such as small stockings, tablerunners and ???? to fill the gap of the Easter treat bags.   At least I have just over 5 months this time to think about what to make instead of just 5 weeks notice that was given for  market day.   

While I am thinking about that the RSC colour for April is pink.    I had made a start on sewing up pink scraps into slabs sometime ago but that is as far as they got.   Now is the time to convert them into bibs.   

                                            

I finished reading the book in my last post and thoroughly enjoyed it.   The mystery behind the art work was interesting and I can imagine from what I have read and learnt of the era that the circumstances would have occurred even though it was fiction.  

The next book to read is

My quilting student has had her quilt returned from the longarmer and she has finished the binding.    After much consideration it was decided to leave the snowflakes off that she was tatting.

She is delighted with the result as am I as her teacher.  

Back soon and in the meantime

Happy sewing all

The yellow scrap basket

 Was raided over the past weeks.   And those scraps now look like this.

The bibs will be added to the other scrap bibs made for the previous months rainbow scrap challenges and the bowl cosies are for my market day stall.    

You can head on over to the Joyful Quilter to see more yellow flowers Table scraps.

The last items to be made for my market day stall were four more cross body bags.

Below is the updated list of items that have been sewn over the past 5 weeks.    I could have added many more but where do you stop?

Well market day is tomorrow and the forecast is for a wet day .   There are plans for guided walking tours to the waterfall and around the gardens which will need to be reviewed as well as a sausage sizzle and other outdoor activities  - maybe the forecast will be wrong - we can only hope.   The stalls are inside right next to the coffee shop so no worry there only having a lot of stock leftover......future birthday and Christmas presents for sometime to come.  

There were two goals for March - one to get all the items completed on my ideas list for Maket Day and secondly to sew up three yellow RSC bibs - both of which were achieved.   You can see more OMG here.

This book was started during the week and it is proving to be a real page turner as I cannot wait to find out what the mystery is behind the original art work.   

Finished off a beanie that has been on the needles and sadly neglected for a couple of weeks.

I ordered the most delicious meal the other day when hubs and I went out for lunch.

It consisted of kale, roast pumpkin, beetroot hommus, wild rice, pomegrante and avocado.   There is the option to add chicken, salmon or falafel but I was battling to finish the bowl without any more additions.   I will certainly be ordering this one again when we return to the venue.  

Back soon and in the meantime

Happy sewing all

FNSI and one week out from Market Day

The 3rd Friday night of the month means getting to sew along virtually with others as we join in for FNSI.   During the week I have been adding a few more items to my ideas list which include 6 heat packs.

As you can see they are clearly labelled with instructions on how to use them.   I do not want to be responsible for someone giving themselves 3rd degree burns due to ignorance.  

Six bowl cosies.    They are made from 100% cotton inner and outer so they will go in the microwave without any problem.   These are yet to be labelled.  

I spotted this fabric when out and about

Which naturally ended up like this

Some of the glasses cases have snap tops and the others have velcro inside both of which will stop glasses from falling out.

Six pot holders again all 100% cotton inner and outer.

That completes all that was originally on my ideas list however there is still one week to go which cannot be wasted so last night was spent making a pro-type of a small crossbody bag.    The bag is 7" wide by 10" high and is fully lined with a lined pocket on the back as can be seen below.

I made myself one a few years ago and it is used all the time.   It is a good size to take walking as it fits my phone, keys, bottle of water, some change and a small packet of tissues.     I have enough time to make another 3 or 4 before next Saturday.      

Thank you Wendy for having us all over again.  You can see what else was happening here.  

Back soon and in the meantime

Happy sewing all

Time in a Bottle

Welcome to my blog and today it is my turn to share with you all the item that I made using an hourglass block.    When making my tea cosy for an earlier blog hop this month the thought did cross my mind that every teapot should have a trivet to stand on so with that thought in mind here is my Time in a Bottle idea.

And in the picture below is it teamed with its matching tea cosy.

As we all know when making an hourglass block you end up with two so in order to avoid having an orphan block hanging around the sewing room it was used as the backing.......so you can have two trivets the same by flipping it over.   

Time now to head on over to the following blogs to see some eye candy.

March 16

 Inflorescence

Lynn's Blog

Karen's Korner - you are here

Stitching Farm Girl

Scrapdash

Familypatchworks

 

Thank you Carol for organising another fun blog hop.

Back soon and in the meantime

Happy sewing all

This Week in and out of the sewing room

After the record breaking rain that much of the east coast of Australia has endured this past couple of weeks the sun has finally broken through and I took the opportunity once it had stopped raining to walk to the waterfall that is on the edge of our property.   Normally the waterfall looks like the image on the left but after all the rain it was pounding day and night.   

I am pleased to say that it has returned to its normal steady flow again.  

So back into the sewing room and a few more items have been completed.     A pile of scrunchies

 Some small zip top pouches and snap top ones.

 Another set of two placemats

The ideas list now looks like this

I will have to stop looking at Pinterest....it does not help that they send me daily emails suggesting pins that I would be interested in.....as I keep seeing items that could potentially be added to my list. 

 

Another book was started.  It is very light and frivolous......ideal for late night reading.  

Time to head off and do some kitchen/domestic duties.   Back soon and in the meantime

Happy sewing all

Pro-type and finished items

Over the weekend the pro-type of a tooth fairy pillow was achieved and as I was happy with the result there are now 6 tooth fairy pillows on the finished list.   I did learn from the first one to make sure that the background fabrics were a dark fabric as the white tooth did not show up too well on the lighter fabric.  

Each pillow has a hanging loop and a pocket on the back in which the tooth is placed in the hope that the tooth fairy will visit and leave some cash in exchange for the tooth.  

Then it was onto some Easter treat bags.    Seeing that the stall is 2 weeks before Easter hopefully these will prove to be popular if not Miss M and her friends will be on the receiving end of them.    

Each one has now been filled with 3 of the easter eggs and 3 bunnies and look like this. 

Twelve Easter  treat bags are now on the completed list and the next lot of fabric has been pulled to make some bowl cosies for use in the micro-wave.   

Back soon and in the meantime 

Happy sewing all

3 "B's" and FNwF

This past week has been all about staying dry in my sewing room and managing to get some items on the production line finished.   First up 6 drawstring ballet bags

Secondly 12 babies bibs.      I did sell 4 of these just yesterday so another 4 need to be made to replace them.

And the third B - binding another set of two placemats.   There are now 4 sets of two placemats ready to go.

The list of completed items is growing.

Next book in the pile to read has been started.

When joining in FNwF I had a play around with some cutesy fabric for another couple of  ideas that are being kicked around but not on the list - yet.     I seem to get these bright ideas around 2 am  and then lie awake for ages mentally going through my stash  in order to work out if the fabrics are suitable.

I will make a proto type of both later on this afternoon when I get  back from doing the morning shift at the hospital auxiliary stall.   

Thank you Cheryll for organising another fun Friday night.   Don't forget to check out what the other bloggers achieved last night by heading on over here.     

Back soon and in the meantime

Happy sewing all

Marching right along

What better way to spend a rainy day than in the sewing room along with a screen full of sewing buddies from all around the world.

Chookyblue was celebrating her blog's 15th birthday and we were all there via the screen to help this occasion happen.   As always it is a fun day with lots of laughter as well as sewing.   As  you know I am currently sewing for my open day market stall in 25 days time......that close!!!!!! and plenty of encouragement and suggestions for items were coming my way during the day.   

The plan was to batch sew multiples of one item before moving onto the next but that plan has been slightly altered along the way as I found that sometimes it was easier to get a few items to a certain stage, then iron them all and move onto the next stage but of course that does not produce too many finishes so as a consequence I do not have anything to show you from my Saturday sewing marathon with the girls.  Hopefully that situation will change before the week is out.    

Since Saturday the rain has steadily increased.   The view from our bedroom window.

The rain has been non stop and some parts of Queensland and Northern NSW have had the worst floods in history.     Unfortunately the rain depression is heading south and it is expected to hit Sydney within the next day or two.     I guess the view from the window will be the same for the next few days. 

Looking on the bright side  - I can spend as much time as I like in the sewing room and seeing that the RSC challenge colour for March is yellow that will certainly brighten up anyone's grey day.   

My OMG for March will be to get all the items - hopefully - ticked off my to do list for the stall and then dive into the yellow scrap bin and make 3 yellow bibs to add to the red and aqua ones already made for Sri Lanka.  

Back soon and in the meantime

 Happy sewing all

Dust off a Quilt Book Blog Hop

What an interesting idea I thought this was when  first reading about it.   Us quilters all have a supply of old books sitting on the book shelf for that "one day soon project".     Settling myself down with a cup of coffee and pile of books I started to flip through and make a list of possible items to make.    After doing some preliminary investigations most of my choices were discarded which meant several more cups of coffee and more flipping of pages until I found what I thought was going to be my final choice.  Obviously it had to be from one of the books although it could be "tweaked".    I also wanted a small item and something that could be useful for someone.    Decision time.   

The book.    This book was first printed in 2008 and I was given it soon after that date. 

The page chosen.   Something small and could be useful for someone.

However before going through my stash for suitable fabrics I thought it wise to consult a tea conniosseur - my daughter-in-law who loves her speciality teas and does use a teapot - unlike me who is a coffee drinker and if I do ever have the occasional tea it is a green teabag dunked into a cup of hot water.     I know tea drinkers will be shuddering at that bit of information.    

So I was advised by my daughter-in-law that the best size  tea cosy to make would be for a 4 cup teapot - language foreign to me - and to use a thick wadding to keep the tea hot for ages.    Armed with this information it was time to dive into the stash and find suitable fabrics.

Will I go country - seems like a good choice or  modern, patchwork, fruits, vegetables, oriental,  kitcheny - is there such a word - or  teapot themed?   

This fabric won out in the end.  It seemed the obvious choice to me as it had teapots and kettles of all shapes and sizes on it.  

And here is the finished item - slightly tweaked from the one in the book but none the less a quilted tea cosy.

The pretty cup, saucer and plate next to the tea cosy belonged to my grandmother.    She always kept them in a china cabinet in what was known as "the good room".      It now sits in a  glass cabinet in our living room.   

Thank you Bea for organising such a fun blog hop.   You can see some more "dusted off books" and projects from them at the following blogs.

Tuesday March 1^st ----

Quilting & Learning - What a Combo   

Karen's Korner

 

Wednesday March 2^nd    

Becky’s Adventures in Quilting and Travel

Creatin' in the Sticks

 

Thursday March 3^rd

Quilting Patchwork & Appliqué

Just Let Me Quilt

 

Friday March 4^th

Patchwork Breeze

Beaquilter

Back soon and in the meantime

Happy sewing all