Sweet Sixteen

My baby turns 16 today! Happy Birthday Ben.

Susan x

Sewing room reveal......Part One

I am one happy little stitcher this afternoon.......

The finished side.

The unfinished side.

The view from my window. Hmmmm, that would be the unfinished paved area out the window.

A treasure not seen for a while, Great Nan's sewing machine, complete with little silver oil bottle.

I am desperately trying not to throw everything out of Mr 11's cupboard, which will be coming to my room next week when we get his bookcase. Apparently patience is a virtue.

Have a great week.

Susan x

Creativity of a different kind

I am spending the weekend with a paintbrush in my hand, so it's lucky I like painting. For a long time I have had a sewing corner in a small spare room, shared with the computer and printer and other paraphernalia. Well the desk top has been replaced by a laptop which now lives in the "charging cupboard" and I am very excited to say I'M GETTING MY OWN SEWING ROOM.

It's something of a two stage process as I have to work around some of the furniture, but by the end of today I should be finished except for one wall.

It has a lovely view down to Mudgee, and is right near the lounge and kitchen....so I won't miss out on anything!

Getting ready:

I hope you're enjoying a lovely weekend.

Susan x

Retail therapy

I went to Bathurst today to visit my parents...........afterwards a little retail therapy was in order so off to Hatched and Patched I went. I kind of behaved myself, it is only four weeks until GDITC after all.

These are for a secret project, so quite legitimate.........do you think the stripe looks like the odd one out?

These don't even go together.....little random acts of kindness to myself. The Melbourne fabric was only $4 a metre at Spotlight, I have been looking out for it since I saw Marina's last September. And I just couldn't pass the little umbrellas.

And some more Floral Beauty blocks finished.

I even had to buy new pins. I haven't bought pins for quite some time, but they seem to be vanishing. I really hope they aren't all in the couch......or in a forgotten project!

Hope you find some time to stitch this week.

Susan x

Hexie purse update

On the weekend I began sewing my hexie purse together.

I was not feeling very confident at this stage. The frame kept coming off on my first few attempts.....I thought I had the wrong size. Marina from Maisie and the boys came to my rescue with the excellent tip of basting the frame in before sewing it. It worked a treat.

Then last night I sewed it in. I ended up using DMC, as the first thread broke part way through. I also broke three needles. So it's finished except for the strap, which will have to wait until I can get the swivels. I love the look of the hexies, and that so many snippets of my favourite fabrics are in this bag. Thank you Marina for your advice and encouragement all the way through.

Now I need a new little hexie project. Maybe another purse in a different colourway........

Happy Valentines Day.......

Susan x

In the mail

Today I finished sewing down the binding on my quilt for Caring with Quilts. It will be in the mail tomorrow, on it's way to brighten someone's day (I hope). I'm happy I took the time to finish it off, and whilst it's not the best quilt I have ever made, I like it more today than I ever have before. It's amazing what a bit of quilting can do to an ordinary flimsy.

My little hexies are all sewn together, and will soon become a bag. The fabric behind is what i'm using for the lining.

I think they even look pretty from the back.

So ends another wonderful weekend. Have a great week.

Susan x

Slightly mad

Some of you will think I am more than slightly mad after reading this post. Anyway, after pulling out a UFO to donate to Caring with Quilts I decided that it was a job for a machine quilter, as I have no idea. My local quilter very kindly squeezed me in because it was for charity, but I ended up canceling.

So instead of paying for quilting, I donated to Blazeaid, got out my perle thread, and got to work. A couple of late nights last weekend, and any spare minute this week has been spent hand quilting around the circles on my quilt. I'm happy with how it looks, it didn't cost a cent, and it was really fast with the bigger stitches. Just have to get some binding for it today, and hope to post on Monday.

Hope you have a lovely weekend stitching.

Susan x

FNWF

What a great night/day of stitching. I finished the top of my nephews quilt. The pattern is called Fair and Square from Crazy Mom Quilts. Sharon at Lilabelle Lane whipped up another quick quilt top from this blog last night too. It was a very easy pattern to follow.......will definitely use it again. Now I need to think about how to quilt it.

As it turns out I can show you my block for the nine patch swap, I'm just a little early. In 6 months time, 72 little nine patch blocks in a variety of reproduction fabrics will come back to me.

I also pulled out a UFO to finish for Chookyblue's quilt drive Caring With Quilts. It just needs to be quilted.

Unusually, I did not do a single stitch by hand yesterday, but I had a rather nice time with my machine. It really does speed the process up, but I guess you all know that already!

Hope you had a fun and productive night, enjoy the weekend.

Susan x

FNWF

Well here we are in February already, and time for FNWF. I am indulging in a whole day of Friday with friends, working on some different projects. You can link up at Cheryll's blog.

 

 

I started with my first set of blocks for the Traditional Nine Patch Swap. Twelve of these little babies, but they were so quick to make using strip piecing.......under wraps until the end of Feb.

 

I have finally made a start on the quilt for my nephew's 18th in August. The piecing won't take long, but the quilting might. The grey sashing is actually spotty, not plain.

 

And a little more Floral Beauty.

 

So lots to do here. Enjoy your night and the weekend.



Susan x