While the rain tumbles down outside

 

The only thing to do is to stay inside and sew which is what I did today.   There have been a lot of WIP's sitting on my sewing table in various stages of completion that have been annoying me over the past couple of weeks so making an early start at 8 am I disappeared into the sewing room only to emerge for a quick coffee break around 10 am and then again at lunchtime.   During that time the snaps were put onto 5 bibs.  The first item to be ticked off the list.

Next onto sewing up the squares which had been cut out for sometime for 2 small quilt tops.  Second item ticked off the list.  The next step is to cut out the borders for them.   

Time for a lunch break.     While munching on my toasted sandwich and in between mouthfuls of pear I managed to make a pasta sauce for tonight's dinner which comprised of chopped onion and zucchini simmered in a can of tinned tomatoes.    I diced up some cooked chicken while the vegetables were simmering away.  Once the vegetables were cooked through the diced chicken and some cashews were added.   All that is left to do tonight is to cook the pasta, heat and stir the sauce through.  

After lunch it was back into the sewing room and onto threading the elastic through the casings on the skirts.  All 15 are now finished.....just a quick iron needs to be done and they are ready to deliver.  Third thing ticked off the list.

And lastly the pieces that had been cut out  for the RSC aqua potato chip block were sewn together.

This audio book was playing along side me while all this was happening

My sewing table is now looking so much more tidier and the only WIPs left sitting on it are the cut out pot holders.  It is now 3 pm and my concentration has disappeared which tells me that is time for another coffee.    It is amazing how much can be achieved if left uninterrupted in the sewing room for a day.  

Linking with So Scrappy

Back soon and in the meantime

Happy sewing all 

FNSI

When unpacking the goods for the last hospital auxiliary stall at the beginning of the month I noticed that there was a shortage of - I should say - no pot holders  for sale.    So when joining in last night with FNSI it was all about cutting out pot holders so there will be some for the September stall in a couple of weeks time.  4 pot holders were cut from each of the three fabrics.  

Next step is to cut out the wadding which will happen over the next couple of days once the skirts are finished off  - which really should have been happening instead of cutting out.  Oh well variety is the spice of life they say.  

Back soon and in the meantime

 Happy sewing all

The Production Line is.........

Back in business.   This time making skirts for 10 year old girls.    When handing over the 101 library bags last week I offered to sew up some skirts and was handed this bag which contained 15 skirts already cut out and ready to go which makes it a much quicker job. 

During the week the overlocker has been busy.

The next step in the production line is to sew the hems and casings for the waists.  I hope to get them all finished and delivered by the end of next week as time is getting closer for the marathon packing effort that is involved in getting the items shipped to Sri Lanka in order for them to arrive before Christmas. 

Time to head off for some morning tea and then back to the sewing room to make a start.

Back soon and in the meantime 

Happy sewing all

A Rainbow of Library Bags and FNwF

During the week the casings were sewn around the last of the library bags that were the subject of my last post and when joining in with FNwF last night they were turned right side out and now ready to deliver.

Below is a photo of the 101 library bags that were made throughout the year using the RSC challenge.  They are stacked up in order of the colour that was nominated each month starting with pink on the bottom with it being the January colour and working up to July's colour purple.   The 13 bags on top are the odds and sods colours that do not fit into any of the colour categories nominated.  

I also managed last night to sew up another beanie and do a few rows of knitting on the next beanie.

This week I have to go "scrap bin diving" in order to pull out this month's RSC colour of AQUA

Thanks Cheryll for organising us again last night. 

Back soon and in the meantime

Happy sewing all

The Library bag........

Production line is back in business again.  The mammoth task of packing will begin in early September again for Network Heaven and the small part that I play is to make some library bags.   Over the last 7 months I have been using the RSC colour each month to make library bags and seeing that time is getting closer to handing over the bags any fabrics remaining in one of the cupboards to be cut and sewn up were collected and the production line started.

So far they have been put through the overlocker.

Next step is to the sew the casings for the drawstrings, turn them inside out and hand them over.

When out shopping the other day I grabbed a net of passionfruits - some of them are the size of cricket balls and just as heavy.  Hubs and I have been enjoying them on our breakfast cereal each morning this week.   

The "fabric fairy" dropped by my front door the other day and left these behind.    The first lot are all disney prints and they will be perfect for making the small donation quilts.

The next lot is an assortment of prints and sizes which will be used in various projects over a period of time. 

Looking out the window it is a lovely sunny day so time to head out and get my daily dose of Vitamin D while making a start on reading the latest book club book.   I have read another of this author's books previously and it was not my type of book but I will give this one my "usual 2 chapter" trial.    If I am not "grabbed" in by the first two chapters then  it is time to give it away.     Being a book club book I will have to "skim read" it to be able to join in the discussion.    

Back soon and in the meantime

Happy sewing all

FNSI

Hubs and I went out to lunch yesterday for Christmas in July

Needless to say the kitchen was closed except for a toasted sandwich so extra time was spent in the sewing room finishing off the purple potato chip block 

As well as tying off and burying the ends on another small quilt.

A patch of pretty purple flowers spotted while on a walk

You can see more FNSI achievements here.  

Linking with So Scrappy.

                      The Joyful Quilter

Back soon and in the meantime

Happy sewing all

All caught up....

With the posts from my interim blog.   Now that I am back on track what other things have been  happening.   Miss M stayed with us for a couple of days last week and seeing that the weather played nicely we decided to make it a "nature" holiday.    First up some whale watching from Long Reef headland....but no whales this day.  She enjoyed scanning the horizon with a pair of binoculars.

Off to the Ku-ring-gah Wildflower Garden  to see what we could see.  

Tall tree canopies.

A posing butterfly

And of course wildflowers

We decided to return in the September holidays when there should be more wildflowers on show.

I did finish off the humidicrib quilt during the week but decided to stick with the smaller ones (32"x 32") in future.  

Time to sign up for FNSI tomorrow night and my goal is to finish off my purple potato chip block.

Back soon and in the meantime

Happy sewing all

FNwF (4th July post)

Was on again last night which gave me the opportunity to finish off an order for two  heat packs.  The recipient wanted a "normal" size one which is 8" x 22" finished and requested a bit bigger one being 10" x 28" finished as they wanted  to fit around the base of their back.

Mission accomplished.

(NB hand written lables as windows 11 would not recognise my printer.....grrrrrrrrrrhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh).

You can see more accomplishments here.

Back soon and in the meantime

Happy sewing all

Catching up (June 28th Post)

I have been a bit remiss on posting this last couple of weeks so it was time to catch up with happenings in the sewing room.  Seeing that the weather has been rather chilly this past week it has been a good opportunity  to spend time finishing off items that have been around for a while.    First up 5 bibs were ticked off the list.

Three small quilts that were at various stages of construction are now finished.  It  was too cold and windy to photograph them outside.

There is another bigger quilt that is waiting to have the binding sewn down and that then then be called a finish.  

July's  RSC colour is  PURPLE .   Time to get out with the purple scrap basket and make a start on a purple potato chip block.  

Back soon and in the meantime

Happy sewing all

FNSI and a challenge was issued......20th June post)

By my Saturday quilt group.    Each year we have a Christmas in July challenge but it was decided to change it around this year and have a French theme to coincide with Bastille Day.  Anything could be made as long as it was French related.

As our July meeting is approaching it was time to make a start.   A rummage through the stash revealed these two fat quarters.

Now to make something from this limited amount of fabric.   Thinking cap on and the result is

There was a small amount of both fabrics left and I also found another piece that belonged to the fabric group.

This extra fabric along with the left overs then allowed me to make a zippered pouch with a boxed bottom.  The introduced fabric had to be used as a whole piece for the back of the pouch.     Here are all four pieces together.

It will be interesting to see what the other group members come up with.  

When joining in with FNSI I got to work on my next potato chip block in this month's RSC colour of orange.  

 

Also finished off during the week were 4 orange library bags.    Orange is not my favourite colour so not much is in the stash.  

That about wraps up my week in the sewing room.   I have still not been able to access my original blog so will continue on with Part 2 and maybe one day a solution will be found.

Back soon and in the meantime

Happy sewing  all

A new beginning (June 5th post)

 Last week I upgraded my computer to Windows 11 and a problem has arisen where I have not been able to sign back into my original blog Karen's Korner so it was decided to start Part 11 and maybe in the near future I will be able to figure out how to transfer my blog from Windows 10 to Windows 11.  

Tonight is FNwF but due to the time spent on getting back into  the various sites and re-entering all the required passwords - all has been successful  with the exception of my blog - so as a consequence not much has been happening in the sewing room this week.

I will however be visiting those who do take part tonight to see what they have achieved.   You can also catch up on their progress here.    

Back soon and in the meantime

Happy sewing all

UPDATE

At last I have been able to  get back into my original blog after a few weeks of frustration since upgrading to Windows 11.   This was only achieved by hooking up my old computer again so I guess I am only "kicking the can down the road" as it has not solved the problem of being able to access my original blog while using the updated version of Windows.    Hopefully I will be able to solve this problem in due course but in the meantime I am going to transfer the posts from another blog that I had set up in the interim.

 Back soon and in the meantime

Happy sewing all

Happenings

A lot has been happening in the sewing room due to the constant rain that has been falling.  The view from our bedroom balcony over the past weeks has been this

And of course all that rain has to fall to earth and the waterfall at the edge of the property is pounding day and night as a result

So while all this has been happening outside I was inside my sewing room, warm and dry, beavering away finishing off a few items that should have reached the finish line a while ago but have not.    First up a blue bib

Then two red bibs

Some pinning.   As you can see in the photo below I decided to "birth" this quilt.    Something I have not done before.  

Then some quilting happened

A break in the weather allowed me to run out and photograph the finish

Next finish is 3 green beanies

20 assorted coloured library bags had their casings sewn

Some bobbin winding happened

Tonight is FNSI and looking at the bomb site that the sewing room looks like now after all those happenings it will be a case of doing a big tidy up.

Back soon and in the meantime

Happy sewing all