Some Works in Progress and some finishes

Sewing, crochet and quilting have kept me occupied over the last couple of weeks.

Below is a sneak peek of some hand quilting.

I finished the hand quilting on Cheddar Cheese and Crackers last night. This little quilt has been going for a long time for me!!! I started the hand quilting around this time last year, but I was hit by tennis elbow, so most of my hand stitching was put away for quite a number of weeks. Since the cooler weather arrived here I started hand quilting again. This afternoon I will attach the binding. More photos to come soon.

I have sewn a few buds to the current Friends of Baltimore block.

A couple of finishes too!

I made another tablet sleeve. This one is for my DH. I used the same Yoko Saito fabric as I used for my DB's camera  bag. The sleeve pattern is from Simplicity 3889. I also used this pattern when I made the lap top bags.

I finished the cowl for my DD. I used Madeline Tosh Merino DK, colour silver fox.  When I saw Rita's Calm Cowl I thought it would be lovely for my DD. We decided to make it a bit more lacey by adding the edging.

The pattern for the edging came from this book, which I have had for a few years. It is full of a wide variety of patterns and easy to follow instructions.

I am very pleased with how it turned out, and thinking about making one for myself.

I haven't forgotten about making little houses from scraps.

Three more to add to the collection.

I spent a little while this morning finishing off adding labels to all my posts. I hope it makes it easier to find past posts on my various projects.

Recently I have found lots of inspiring projects out in blogland. I have made notes on several projects, quilts or even just single blocks I plan to try in the near future. Have you been inspired to make something from anyone's blog recently?

Coming up for air!

I have been busy with lots of sewing!

Successful flying geese! :)

I was so happy with the mini fit to be geese ruler I blogged about earlier, that I bought the larger ruler.

I have tried several different flying geese techniques before and I have found this ruler is the one that I am happiest with. There is very little wasted fabric. This little pile of scraps....

.....is the waste from these flying geese..

I don't have a pile of little triangles I need to find a use for and I am not throwing out flying geese blocks because they have turned out too small or the angles are out. All problems I have struck trying other techniques.
Kathie also posted about this ruler recently.

Here are my flying geese sewn in a quilt. Just a sneak peek because its more secret sewing. :)

Monique Dillard, who designed the Fit to be Geese rulers has also written some books. (Monique also designs fabric) Her techniques and quilt designs are featured in these books.

I have a couple of fat quarter packs these books will be perfect for.

Another package in the mail revealed this..........

The pattern for Kim McLean's latest quilt, Pandemonium. Isn't it an amazing quilt!!

Just 2 more little houses.

You will notice one house is the mirror image of the other! I cut out the roof section of the house on the right the wrong way around! Instead of starting all over again (plus it was the only scrap I had like it), I decided to make the whole house the other way around. When it is in the quilt, no one will notice!

Currently I am also machine quilting 2 small quilts (pictures to come later).

Trailing vines is coming along well. I have almost finished the first panel!!! Yay! Can't wait till I have 2 panels made so I can join then with the sashing.

Hmmm...OK, I am a Gemini, so I "need" to have enough going on to keep 2 people occupied! Lol

It has been ages since I worked on Friends of Baltimore or Roseville Album, but they are certainly not forgotten.

Finally I have managed to get a half decent photo of my quilting and blogging buddy.

Meet Jasper, who is often found sharing my lap with my hand stitching.

Thank you to everyone who offered a solution to the quilt cleaning question in my previous post.

Ok...back to sewing...and

Happy Mother's Day to all the Mothers who read my blog. :)

Red

Two more little houses from scraps.

Last week I chose the fabric for the sashing and cornerstones for my house quilt.

I have decided I want to make 2 house quilts, one with all red houses and one with all the other house blocks I have made.  Both quilts will have the same sashing and cornerstones.

More red.....

Turkey red fabrics from Collections for a Cause, Friendship.

Some of those fabrics will be used in a quilt from this book:

For more information about the quilt that inspired this book and some photos of the quilt look here.


This is what I have been doing today........

It has been a cold and wet day here, so a perfect day for some machine quilting.

Some red blooms from the garden today.

Today is ANZAC day in Australia.

My strongest memories of ANZAC day are from when I was a very young child. Both my father and brother played in our small town's brass band. The band played the music for all the returned service men and women who marched in the ANZAC day parade. I can remember wreaths being laid at the town's cenotaph.  I can remember "old" men with limbs missing, ladies in uniform, the wearing of medals, marching music, the last post and reveille,  and speeches. I was too young to have any understanding of the real significance of the day.
Later, when we had television I remember watching hundreds of people marching to the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne.

Thank you to all who have served and are serving now.  Thank you to all the young people who gave their lives.

Lest we forget.

Sokdee Pimay!!

.....or Happy New Year!

Today is the first day of Laotian New Year celebrations. (It is also New Year in Cambodia and Thailand.) It is the last day of the year 2554. Traditionally the last day of the year is for cleaning and decorating.
Today we had friends over for lunch.
Tomorrow is the day between the old year and the new year, a day of rest and for having fun. (If anyone has experienced New Year in Laos, Cambodia or Thailand, this is the day where they throw water on everyone!)
Monday is New Year's Day and is the day for more celebrations and giving of wishes for good luck for the New Year.

Last year my daughter was married on Laotian New Year's Day.


On the sewing front I don't have much to show.....yet.....more secret sewing happening! :)

Just one more little house to add to my collection.

This is my 37th little house from scraps. If I was making one house a day I would only be up to February 6th! Hmmm...a long way to go for me! Lol

A little progress on my next Friends of Baltimore block...

Recently Monique Dillard of Open Gate Quilts blog had a giveaway and I was lucky enough to win one of her prizes.

I am really looking forward to using the Mimi Fit to be Geese ruler. Up until now my efforts at flying geese blocks have been very disappointing! (very sad geese!)  One of the secret sewing projects has a round of flying geese blocks for the next step. I am sure that this ruler and the accompanying instructions will have me making perfect (and happy!) flying geese.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend. :)

Blogger's BOM, little houses and secret sewing

Already it is the 7th month of Blogger's BOM and the latest block comes from Allison Harris from Cluck Cluck Sew.  Here are my 2 blocks.

My housing construction is coming along slowly, but steadily. Below are my five recent completions.

All over the world there are hundreds of ladies making these little houses from scraps. Each house block is just 3 inches square. To see what everyone else has been making go here. Some very industrious ladies have   finished their quilts already!

Now for the secret sewing. :)  It was my sister's birthday last week so I decided to make her a needlebook. She reads my blog, so I couldn't post the photos until she received the package.

I followed the same design as Susan's Hari Kuyo needlebook. The pages are wool felt and all the other fabrics are from old kimonos.

These needlebooks are lots of fun to make. I have started my third one! :)

The last few weeks I have had less time to read and comment on  blogs. I hope to be able to get back into my blogging routine soon.
Thank you for everyone who has visited and especially to those who have left comments. I love comments! ......and replying to them. :)

Blog changes.

I am in the process of making a few changes to my blog.

The first, and most obvious, is the change from pink to green for my background. Now, I'm not too sure about this shade of green (green is my favourite colour!) and I may change to white instead. Does anyone have difficulty reading my blog with a coloured background, or have an opinion on background colour?

Secondly I have removed word verification for comments. After reading these two posts and experiencing myself the new 2 word verification by blogger (at least one of the words is difficult to decipher!) I decided to try turning off  word verification. Last time I did this I was hit by spam, but I believe Blogger now has better spam filters.
Thank you to everyone who has left a comment on my blog in the past and battled with the word verification!

If you want to turn off word verification on your blog, in your Dashboard click on settings. Below settings click on the comments tab and scroll down to "Show word verification for comments?"  Click on "no", then scroll down and click on save settings.

Lastly I have started adding labels to my posts. So far I have done all the posts for this year. I am not sure if editing each post individually will result in a whole new post appearing in everyone's readers. Please let me know if you have got multiple posts from me in the last few hours!

I have also got the link to work on the Hari-Kuyo Needlebook button. Thank you Susan!! :)

I can't have a post without a photo, so here is my one little house finished in the last couple of days.

Have a great weekend!!

Plenty of preparation and not so much stitching here during the last few days.

I have prepared the leaves for the first 2 branches of the first panel of Trailing Vines. The leaves are sewn down on the first branch.

All the pieces for the next Roseville Album block have been prepared and I have started stitching them down.

Here are the fabrics for the next Friends of Baltimore block. The next step will be to prepare the freezer paper pieces and make the overlay.

I did make 4 more little houses, bringing my total to 27.

You may have noticed a new button on my sidebar.  Susan is a talented embroiderer and this will be her first E-course. I can't wait to start!  If you would like to read more about the Festival of Needles there is a short post with more information here. It is a fascinating tradition.


In finishing, just a few photos from my garden this morning.

The bromeliad is finally flowering again..

Buds are appearing on the wattle tree.

This little fellow looked like he was doing his best chameleon act.

Have a great week, everyone. :)

Friends of Baltimore progress.

At last I have finished the applique for this Friends of Baltimore block! I started this block many moths ago. Now for all the embellishment.

I have already decided which block I will be making next. This one won't have any flowers on it!
I found the tiny pieces something of a challenge to stitch, the reverse applique flowers were OK to make, but for some reason, I had a problem with those 3 red flowers with the petals layered one over the other!! I left 2 of them as the last pieces I appliqued!

I only managed 3 little houses this week. Another Rouenneries house and 2 others.

The fabric the house blocks are lying on is from a new fabric collection called Josephine by Petra Prins. There is a blue colourway for this design too. In my next post I will show the other prints I have....and the quilt they are intended for. :)

I have made some small progress with Trailing Vines and should have some photos to share in my next post too.

Lastly, it has been a while since I showed photos from my garden.......

Have a great weekend! :)