Stitch Sisters

Saturday was Stitch Sisters, this time at Karen’s home, with lots of yummy treats (Karen makes The Best egg sandwiches!)It was a cold day, so we all really appreciated Karen’s open fire, warming cold fingers and toes!

Maree has done some fabulous fussy cuttingKaren is starting to put her blocks togetherSue’s fine hand quilting is progressing wellGrand daughter Miss 7 was visiting her Nanna and started on a tied quiltHelen is loving her appliqueKaye is working on mini tumblersHeather is stitching a modern Lucy Bostonand I think, THINK, I’ve finished the hand quilting on this one!I know it doesn’t look finished here, but this was taken earlier in the afternoon.  Just need to do a final check of all the triangles.

Meredithe x

Class show and tell

Morning

We thought Jo had brought in some chocolates for us to sharebut it turned out to be better than that…..lots of pretty yo-yos for her “Carousel” (pattern by Sandra Boyle, Everyday Quilts), and Jo nearly has her blocks togetherSue E does have her blocks togetherand just for a change, she’s started on the new BOM from Treehouse Textiles “Matilda”Carylin brought in the box she made in a class Carol had while I was away helping Ma Kettle You can make one too at the Winter Workshop Class (details here).  Carylin has started a baby quilt for a friend, and we chose some borders to go with itDenise is working on her blocks and we chose some more combinationsand Beth worked on her yo-yosAfternoon

Linda stayed all day, and in the morning had a re-fresher on hand quilting big-stitchand in the afternoon worked on her “Welsh Quilt” (pattern by Sandra Boyle, Everyday Quilts)Lyn stayed all day too, and she wrestled with the borders for her quilt, and mitred two of the four cornersFrances has finished three of her applique blocks for The Aunts Quiltand she cut out two blocks for “Sweet Sunday“ Helen stitched up her first “Sweet Sunday” blockand did a bit more applique on her improv quiltJane has two bundles of Double Wedding Ring rows and is working on the last row before joining them all together! Cathie returned and is working on the last rows of her quilt tooand between us, we chose some fabrics for a baby quilt for one of her friendsTineke and I had more embroidery funand Cheryl cut, prepped and stitched most of her bordersMeredithe x

I had……

Hi Dear Peeps, I had an extreeeeeeemely productive day on Wednesday.

I’m so out of routine at the moment that I’m feeling a little discombobulated – isn’t that a great word?  I’m not walking regularly, meals are haphazard due to illness and not shopping properly, I’ve missed lots of social sewing days, and my sewing room had but a tiny trail of wavy floor leading in and out, so no incentive for productivity there.  It was time to Take Action!

After brekky I put on my grotty clothes and started cleaning out my sewing room, moving everything into the neighbouring lounge room and putting it all into groups (don’t ask – I knew what I was doing!).

Then I cleaned out the shelves in the (small) wardrobe in the spare room, a job that had been on my list for a loooong time, creating lots of bags for the op shop and a few for the rubbish bin in the process.  All these project boxes went from the armoire in the sewing room down to the newly vacated wardrobe shelves.leaving the armoire emptyBut not for long.  I’d been the guest speaker at the Warragul Quilters “Christmas in June” day on Monday, and a lot of my quilts had been packed into suitcases and bags for the show and tell.  (Had a lovely day with the Warragul Quilters and the other quilt groups who met with them on the day.  They were a lovely audience and such a friendly group, and the food from these country women was excellent – thanks ladies!)

This was a good time to rearrange where the quilts live.  Many years ago I cut out a photo from a magazine of a cupboard filled with quilts and put that on my Wish List.  Now was the time; a bit of collecting from other rooms, the unpacking of the suitcases and bags, a bit of folding happened and now when you open the armoire It looks like this!

Probably not as neat as it could be, but it’s hard to fold different sized quilts to the same size (and there was lots more to be done too – no time to waste).  The ones on the bottom shelf are YTBQ (yet to be quilted)!  I’m delighted to have all my quilts in one spot making it so much easier when changing quilts on beds and hangers.

The rest of the day was spent sorting:   I have the 17ufosin2017 projects all in one place; I found fabrics I thought were lost (as Papa always said – “it’s not lost it’s on the farm somewhere”!); I’ve reunited half made quilt tops with their relevant fabrics / patterns; I’ve packed projects into stackable boxes with a list on top of what’s inside.  There’s still a bit to do but I need more boxes before I can go further (where I’m going to stack them when they’re full remains to be seen!).

I really think we need to keep going with our UFO challenge as these project boxes will just languish without some incentive to get them out and explore the contents.  What do you think?  Maybe just 10 or 12 projects each year?

I finally showered at 4.30 and jumped straight into my pj’s just in time to ring Ma Kettle and find out how her day had been (’twas good – thanks for asking) and finally sat down feeling tired but very pleased with myself.  Best of all there’s acres of floor in my sewing room and I can actually walk into it without stepping over bags and boxes.  It’s quite a big room when it’s not so cluttered!  Not looking the other way into the lounge……….

Meredithe x

Eliott Stitchers

It’s been an age since I’ve seen The Eliotts, so it was delightful to spend the day with some of them on Tuesday, and doubly so as we were at Heather’s lovely new home

with its bright, light interior and sheltered sunny back garden and deck, although not quite sheltered enough for us to eat out as the breeze was far too cool despite the Winter sunshine.  So we enjoyed our delicious eats insideand a wonderful array of show and tell from GJ, including her latest knitting and crochet.The pretty moth was made at a class with guest tutor Kate Bruning at Little Woollie.  GJ bought a couple of Kate’s books too for some more crochet adventuresand had started a shawl using this yarn (it’s finished now!)and GJ has been sewing some bags using the Frou Frou plastic.GJ scored this gorgeous Cath Kidston sewing basket at an op shopand she’s decided this fabulous rug will be next year’s crochet projectAmazing!

And while we were catching up on news, GJ crocheted a bobble edge onto her shawlHeather started on another block from Tula Pink’s “100 Modern Quilt Blocks” bookand I prepped some more petals for “Ruby May“Such a lovely day.

Meredithe x

Squishy parcels

While I was away a few parcels arrived which The Golfer kindly put into my sewing room awaiting my return.  Some were regular mail outs, like the Material Obsession Fabric Club Westwood Acres Prints Charming Club and Treehouse Textiles (love that pear fabric!)and a couple of oops-my-finger-hit-the-button purchases; from Queen of Fabricthe new Anna Griffin range and I had to assist my friend Irene who had kitted too many of these packs – what could a girl do but help her out by purchasing one?!Meredithe x

PS Thanks for the love – feeling better.

Thank you!

Thank you everyone, for your votes, comments and encouragement.  I shall have a ponder before deciding!!Sadly there will be no Class Show and Tell this week as I’ve been struck down with a gastro attack.  Hence this short post.

Back soon
Meredithe x

Help!

I’ve been doing some Substantial Progress on my 366 Circles and have the initial 192 blocks* finished.  But how do I set them?

Once I’d finished I painstakingly sorted them into colour ways and realised that even though there are four of each fabric, there are different numbers of each colour ways, so………(please excuse the poor photo quality, ‘Twas a dark rainy afternoon in a south facing room)

Option 1 – blocks of the 4 fabrics (there are purples and greys to go at the bottom)

Option 2  – a colour wash of sorts

Or option 3  – as they came cascading down (you bump one and they all decide to jump ship!) they were put back up in a random arrangement (didn’t do them all, just a general idea)So what do you think?  Any preferences?  Any other suggestions?  All ideas gratefully received!

Thanks Lovelies

Meredithe x

* I’m setting the 192 blocks 12 x 16, then there will be borders around all four sides and the remaining 174 circles will be appliquéd to the borders in a random manner.