Pseudo Sewjourn ~ Part 3

Yesterday was grey, wet, cold and miserable – perfectly suitable for staying indoors and stitching!

I made chicken and sweet corn soup for lunch (which I would have done at Sewjourn)

and while I was waiting for it to bubble away, I pondered this project. I’ve been playing with Anna Maria Horner’s “Hindsight” fabrics

They’re such large pieces and I’ve covered a big area, I wasn’t sure how to tackle what I want to do, so while the soup was cooking I rough basted the pieces into place

More pondering now on how to achieve my goal!

In the afternoon I watched these movies

while big stitch quilting a new project

The Golfer brought in aperitifs again, and heated up a Beef and Guinness pie courtesy of The Golf Club kitchen, and added some veggies from the freezer for our dinner

He shoo-ed me away again after we’d eaten and shortly after presented dessert (same as the previous day). Bless!

It’s been a leisurely morning here today; sleep in and just back from a walk with my new gloves (and here’s the link – apologies for not adding it in yesterday) which worked a treat!

Now what to do today?……before packing up for the long drive home !!!

Meredithe x

Pseudo Sewjourn ~ Part 2

Thank you for all your lovely comments about my Pseudo Sewjourn weekend and so pleased so many of you are going to do something similar – we need to keep our spirits up!

Yesterday morning I did a couple of things (which would have been our travel time), one of which I’ll tell you about after the weekend, and the other was to get some takeaway sandwiches for our lunch from a local cafe, to help support them.

After lunch I settled down in the lounge, putting on the fire and setting up “Boston Legal” for a bit of a binge. I came late to this series and missed the first season (or two? – I’ll find out as we go along).

I’d decided on a bit of knitting; my (purchased) walking gloves have given up the ghost so I’ve been meaning to knit these for a while to keep my hands warm and also give quick access to my phone (mostly for changing songs skipping ads etc). By evening’s end my “Leaves Fingerless Gloves” (pattern available on Ravelry) were finished!

On the way I had pre-dinner nibbles and a glass of Chardonny

The Golfer has listened(!) and taken in all the nuances of our weekend at Sewjourn and expertly cooked up the kebabs and decanted the salad (all from The Golf Club kitchen) and came to the lounge door to announce that “dinner is served, Madam” and bowing. Hilarious!

He wouldn’t let me clean up (which I would have done if someone else had cooked at Sewjourn), but sent me back to the lounge room, then brought in dessert. Not much for presentation but A+ for effort! Scrumptious salted caramel tart, in case you’re wondering.

I actually felt a bit lonely stitching on my own and not up to watching movies – just didn’t feel right. So after “Baptiste” finished I toddled off to bed, yep, got into those llama pajamas and had a good night’s sleep. Did anyone else watch “Baptiste”? Not happy with that ending!

Today I’ve had blueberry pancakes for breakfast (me made as we always BYO our brekkie at Sewjourn)

and now its coffee time and decisions on what to stitch and what to watch!

Hope you’re having a lovely weekend too.

Meredithe x

Pseudo Sewjourn ~ Part 1

What is especially galling about this lockdown is that it is normally our weekend away at Sewjourn; a much anticipated and much loved weekend spent relaxing, laughing and catching up with dear friends. It’s the first we will have missed since Jan opened it, 15? 16? years ago.

As we can’t physically go to Sewjourn, I’ve decided I’m having a Pseudo Sewjourn and have stocked up with what we usually have there;

~ alcohol (pretty label!)

~ chocolate & chips

~ cheese and biscuits (can’t find my usual dates to have with them though)

I’ve told The Golfer that I’m not cooking main meals for the weekend, so he’s ordered in meals from The Club (how handy is that? – might do it a bit more often!)

the bed has been made with fresh sheets this morning and I’ll be wearing my new Llama Pajamas just as I would have at Sewjourn

and I shall be ensconced in the front room with the fire going, DVD’s to hand, nibbles nearby, whatsapp-ing with my fellow Sewjourners, and lots to do…………….

there’s

applique…..

hand quilting…..

kantha…..

knitting…..

crochet…..

embroidery…..

ooh, and a new project to start……

Care to join me? Virtually, of course!!

Meredithe x

Lockdown……again!

It’s been a pretty stressful week with Melbourne and one adjoining Shire going into lockdown again as COVID-19 numbers keep rising. I totally understand why it’s been done, it’s just frustrating…..for all!

Thankfully the sun has been shining for the last couple of days and I took myself off for a walk this morning spying this gorgeous camellia. Don’t you just love the variegation of pinks in the petals?

Saw that the moon was still out too (and has its fullness contributed to the madness???)

and in my garden the polyanthus are still thriving

the daisy is starting to get buds

I counted 6 spikes on my orchids

and this shadow effect caught my eye

Plus I’ve had some happy mail from broderie – this fabric is beautifully soft and the most amazing shade of aqua. Now, what to use it for……….??

Hang in there lovelies, we will make it through the next 6 weeks!

Stay safe, stay well.

Much love

Meredithe x

Around here

~ it’s been very cold here, Winter has well and truly set in, and with the depressing news of a spike in COVID cases in Melbourne, things haven’t been that cheery. So here’s my attempt at cheering up (you and myself!!)

~ been enjoying carnations from the green grocer. They seem to last forever, and so lovely and happy to look at on a grey, dull, wet day

~ I’ve put together these low volume squares

and am planning an applique using the large print from Anna Maria Horner’s “Hindsight” range

~ you know when you stop sewing something cos it’s just not right, not sitting well with you? Well, I wasn’t happy with my applique background for the “Message in a Bottle” block, so got rid of the yellow on the top section and replaced it with these sweet hanging lanterns on Saturday night – much better and happy to continue to applique now.

~ and Mum’s socks are coming on a treat……

Hope you’re well and finding lots to do to keep you busy and on top of things.

Much love

Meredithe x

Shopping

I’ve never really enjoyed going to big shopping centres and being in lockdown has meant I haven’t been allowed to go, yippee! Thank goodness for internet shopping though as the state of my winter pj’s leaves a lot to be desired. The Golfer and I were trying to work out how old some of them were, remembering that I’d forgotten to pack myself pj’s when we went away one Winter many moons ago and had to buy replacements.

I do like the Bed Bath and Table pj’s so jumped on line to check them out. Unfortunately the ones I really liked were all sold out (obviously people with good taste!) but did find these.

Aren’t they cute? And snuggly warm too. We’ve been having near freezing temps overnight so flannel pj’s and a quilt on the bed with the blankets has been a MUST!

I’ve been spreading the love with my fabric buying too and scored a parcel full from Patchwork with Busyfingers which included a couple of extras which was very sweet

The parcel contained these fabrics, unusual colours for me I know……

Not sure what I’ll do with them but ideas are percolating……

And the extras?

The percolating might just include this design, hand pieced not paper pieced though – you know me!

Having enjoyed my recent sock making foray I decided to get some more sock yarn (I’d run out – heaven forfend!) and GJ told me about these beautiful yarns from Half Baked Hand Dyed which are made here in Melbourne – perfect! So soft and a great array of colours, including stripes of which I’ll get some next time. Mum has finally taken up my offer to make her a pair of socks and when I sent her the pic she chose the aqua. They’ll get started very soon. (You can see more of Danni‘s yarns on Instagram)

Instagram is a trap, isn’t it? Having not been on social media while I was unwell, I’m back to having a quick look every now and then and, oh dear! This parcel just happened to turn up from The Next Stitch Could be the beginnings of a new quilt??

Have you been buying anything other than fabrics online, or have you been brave and ventured to the “real” shops??

Meredithe x

Sewing

At the end of May I did start a new project (surprise, surprise!). I justify it by saying I’m testing a new set of templates (my story and I’m sticking to it!).

Using the echinacea from Anna Maria Horner’s latest release “Hindsight” as my feature fabric, I chose some complementary fabrics sorting them into groups

then had a cutting spree, ending up with a pile of sets ready to stitch

I finished sewing all the sets last Friday night

Cut out all the backgrounds on Saturday night, did a layout on Sunday and started stitching them up on Sunday night. Now to start on the accompanying applique! Very exciting and…….I’m getting my mojo back!!

How’s your stitching going?

Meredithe x

Monthly Makes | June

Yesterday I realised it was the end of the month……… Shock, horror – I hadn’t done anything about a Monthly Make!

Agog and aghast I trawled the box of kits and small patterns looking for something quick and easy to make in a late afternoon and found a “Sew Useful Clutch” kit designed by the delightful Rae Telfer (@sugarpluma1 on Instagram)

Everything was included in the kit to I quickly pressed the fabrics, layered them up, then basted them together ready for some quick machine quilting

It was too dark to take pics by the time I’d finished so I took them this morning for you.

Here it is finished

There are two buttons, one for when it’s full and one for not so full

Because I was in a hurry I decided to try machine sewing the binding down. Honestly, by the time I’d unpicked and re-stitched sections that hadn’t been caught I could have hand stitched it twice over!! Never again!

The inside has plastic pockets for storage (don’t look too closely at the binding – there are still places where it hasn’t been caught, but hey, it’s not going into a show to be judged)

Here’s one I made a couple of years ago (and hand stitched the binding down!)

and you can see they hold a lot!

Great instructions, lovely fabric choices and a project to be completed in an afternoon – win, win!

Anybody had time/energy/inclination for a “monthly make” for June??

Meredithe x

Virtual class

I haven’t been a very good teacher at virtual class of late and even this week haven’t set the best of examples. When one of my students asked what I was doing she (I was going to say “galvanised me into action”, but I think that suggests a degree of enthusiasm that just wasn’t possible) prompted me to get out of my chair and actually “do something”.

Twenty minutes later I’d made this

Hardly sewing I know, but as the lemons are coming on at a great rate, I’d rather use them gradually than have a glut. Mum loves Lemon Curd too, so I need to keep her supplied!

My students are all doing well and keeping up with their projects, some even starting new ones but we’re all hankering to go back to actual class. When that will be with this alarming increase in COVID cases in Melbourne is anyone’s guess.

Trusting you and yours are safe and well.

Meredithe x

Morning walk

I took these photos at the end of May, but I figure it’s not too late to be sharing them with you.

There seems to be (still) an inordinate amount of footpath, tree and road work happening in the neighbourhood. I’m guessing it’s a good way for Council to be keeping people employed and while there are/were less people out and about on the roads a good time to do it.

At the end of May there were still some vibrant tree colours

sometimes enhanced by filtered sunshine

beautiful camellias

and pretty spider webs, glistening with rain drops

I’m slowly starting to get out for, at the moment, short morning walks again. It’s a bit chilly though! Are you doing your daily exercise?

Meredithe x