Monday, July 28, 2014

It's here at last....

..I've been checking the mailbox everyday when I get home for the past week..hoping that my new book might have arrived..and finally there it was today...I couldn't wait to open it up and look inside the cover...
                 
Such big excitement because I am joining in to the Simple Shapes quilt-a-long that Tania is organising..you choose a quilt from the book and over the next 12 months work on it "in secret"  with a big unveiling at the end..if you think this sounds like you then visit Tania's blog and read her post about it..I think it will be a fun year..now to choose a quilt to make...hmmm so many to choose from..do I want one with squares or rectangles or circles...


Sunday, July 27, 2014

Today's project...

......was to make a 'chair bag' for my great niece to pop over the back of her chair at school...as you can see pink is her favourite colour...my niece asked if we could make one so DD2 and I went shopping for the fabric yesterday...we loved the floral with the bees but also got a firmer fabric for the main part of the bag...added some appliqué flowers and now it is all set to be used...DD2 did the machine sewing and I was in charge of the cutting, pinning, pressing and blanket stitch around flowers..where would we be without vliesofix...a lovely afternoon spent sewing together..warm and cosy inside...while it was cold and wet outside..
          

Saturday, July 19, 2014

A bit of this and a bit of that for FNSI

I spent a lovely day stitching with friends yesterday...a bit of appliqué and a bit of stitching...then some knitting last night on another tea cosy..this time I am adjusting the pattern to make a smaller one for Mum..and then for something sweet to round the night , I enjoyed one of the apple and cream turnovers that Wendy shared the making of on her blog...it was yummy too
..and now I'm off to visit and see what others were working on..

Thursday, July 17, 2014

Yes....it's FNSI tomorrow..

                                           


and I have signed up for it too..just getting things ready to work on..and I'm going to join Wendy for a sweet treat..well virtually at least...apple and cream turnovers "Wendy style" and the recipe is on her blog post today...

Monday, July 14, 2014

HELP!!!! please...

A friend washed a piece of redwork embroidery..in cold water.. and the red colour of the thread ran..they have never had the problem before..does anyone have any suggestions about what they can do to get the colour out..

A bag in the making....

My sewing this afternoon has turned the fabric I cut yesterday into the front and back of the bag I am making...
                     

                     
The rest of the construction will have to wait till tomorrow as I have to go and cook tea..one does have to eat!!

Sunday, July 13, 2014

Cutting out my next project..

It has been time well spent this afternoon cutting all the pieces for my next project..and as I did I labelled them so I will know what needs to go where when I start sewing..it has been a cold damp afternoon spent inside so I have the fabric all cut, and I have made a loaf of fruit bread in the breadmaker and also made a sultana cake ...just what DH wanted when I asked if he wanted anything baked today...
                                      


Thursday, July 10, 2014

Flowers in a winter garden...

When it is the middle of winter we usually don't see many flowers in the garden..but a few shrubs seem to be unexpectedly flowering...there's a cold wind blowing but they seem to  be surviving through it and the morning frosts... 
                 

                   

                





Wednesday, July 9, 2014

I have a question...What do you put onto the back of your stitchery fabric?????

Yes I am looking for advice....I have tried a few things and ironed them on (a bit of trial and error...not all of them have been totally successful!!) so I was just wondering what other people use on the back of their fabric before they start stitching...

Tuesday, July 8, 2014

Gorgeous goodies in the mail...

I realised that I didn't post about the package I received a few weeks back.  The lovely Peg had a giveaway as part of the celebration for the Chookshed's 2nd anniversary and I was one of the lucky ones to receive some goodies.  I was especially excited to receive one of Peg's key fobs..just gorgeous....thank you Peg for your generous giveaway...and even though I am late in posting about it I did email Peg to say thank you when it arrived....

                 

Monday, July 7, 2014

I got Good Mail (and then I got bad mail...)

Well the postie brought me some very good mail and then some bad mail at the weekend.  The good mail  I received was my mini quilt from Michell.  It has the most touching saying about friendship.."Happy is the heart that holds a good friend".  Michell had matched the embroidery thread so well to the fabric she used..thank you Michell for my very Happy Mail...
             

Just as well I was sitting down for my other piece of mail..one of those nasty window envelopes..yes this month's electricity bill.  As I'm writing this the sun is out after a heavy frost overnight and the temperature has climbed to a rather chilly 8 degrees celsius outside though it feels colder with the wind blowing.  It is cold here in the south during winter and it is also the time of the year when they put up the cost of power for the winter months, just when you need to keep warm.  Well how much was my power bill for 1 month you might ask..well keeping in mind that it is the estimate month only since they only read the meter every 2nd month...  the GST was $90 plus the power cost of ....wait for it $600 gives a total of $690 for 1 month..if I pay on time they give a discount so I only have to pay $588.  Just shows you how expensive electricity is here in the south of NZ.  I went out to read the meter and think it's about $90 over estimated but that should make next month's a bit cheaper??yeah right.  
Considering it was just me home alone for 10 days of the month and I am at work during the day one does wonder how it ends up so much..little wonder you see stories of people wrapping themselves up in blankets etc because they can't afford the cost of heating..
So is it just here in the south NZ that power is so expensive ??    

Sunday, July 6, 2014

FNWF

My Friday night was a bit of a chill out night....after a long week I had an idea what I wanted to do...so....on the way home I bought some stitchery fabric and then set about doing some prep for a project for Christmas.
A few years back, when I was just finding out about stitcheries, I started this Christmas quilt and while I completed a few blocks somehow I never quite got the last few finished...and they have sat in the cupboard since, out of sight out of mind....I know a couple of other ladies who are in the same boat and every so often the topic of finishing them comes up and that is about it...so on Friday night I got the patterns out and had another look at them and decided to start again..leave off the buttonhole edge and the other stitched border and reduce the size down to 85%...and maybe then with renewed interest I might finish it by Christmas!!!
 So first decision was how big to cut the fabric for the 9 blocks for this smaller size, then with pen ready it was get ready to trace..
              
I bought a zip around folder for $2 at the cheap shop in town and my smaller sized blocks fit in perfectly..so no losing any of them now... 
               
..and so what about those orphan blocks that are already done...well I will think of something I can use them for...

Tuesday, July 1, 2014

OPAM for June

...and time to tote up what I have managed to finish off this month..a mini quilt, a felt mat, and a tea cosy..only I forgot to take a photo of the tea cosy before I sent it off to Mum ..silly me I only have a photo of the 2 sections before I knitted the top section..so it does look unfinished..so I popped in a photo of the one I made before which at least shows what it was like finished..I added a little knitted ring on the top as well..lesson learnt..remember to take photos of the finished article!!