Friday Finish

It’s good to have another finish, especially something which has been in the wings for a while.  The binding is now stitched down on my Christmas Mystery quilt.  I quite enjoy this final part of the quilt making process.

Hand stitching the binding down

This quilt should really be called “Quilt in a Jar” as most of the fabrics used were Christmas fabrics squashed in this jar.  A couple of years ago our Christmas Sew Wot gifts had to be something or other – the choice was up to us to put what we liked in the jam jar as a gift.   Helen had packed a whole lot of Christmas fabric squares into her gift jar so I used them in this quilt, adding extra fabric as required.

This project was added to my List of Six and is now finished, in time for Christmas.  Here it is on the clothesline, I had to wait for the gusty wind to die down to take a few photos.

Blowing in the wind

And this one taken out on the patio.  Can you see the tiny pink rose?  The rose bush is called “Precious Pet” and was a gift from a friend when our elderly cat Muffy passed away a couple of years ago.

Precious Pet rose

I don’t know about you, but I quite enjoy doing the ironing, plus of course it is used with my sewing.  But my old iron got dropped on the floor and fell to pieces.  There was nothing for it but to go and buy a new one, and luckily they were on special so we got a good deal. 

New Iron

And then, would you believe it, I had another mishap.   I was using my stick wand to puree some soup and it went bang in my hand – looks like I blew it up, so that will need to be replaced as well.  They say things happen in threes, so I do hope that nothing else will be dropped, blow up, or stop going!

Sew Wot Tuesday

This week our Sew Wot get-together was held at Helen’s home, out in the countryside.  I’ve been there before, of course, thought I knew where I was going, but got myself lost!  Quite upsetting really, but I backtracked and finally found myself on the right road, although running late after my misadventure.  I arrived to find a wonderful selection of Mary’s Heart Challenge blocks laid out on the floor.  A glorious array of colour indeed.  Some in pinks, reds, purples, and Christmas fabrics as well.  I’ve only done my first two so far, so I’ve got a bit of catching up to so.

 

Heart blocks galore

Heather brought along some Show and Tell.  This lovely giraffe head was made in a Mosaic class recently, and all the little pieces are glued down, then stitched in place.  And isn’t that an interesting background fabric?  And then she showed us a cute little pin cushion made from an old sock.  Not just any old sock, but these special “quilting” socks were a much loved pair from a friend. 

Mosaic giraffe head and her cute sock pin cushion

Helen had been busy, and had recently stitched up a set of red, grey, black and white place mats.  And being the hostess, had been working in the kitchen to give us all a wonderful morning tea.  Helen’s husband doesn’t refer to our little group as the Sew Wots, but instead calls us the Eat Alots, and he could be right!  There is nothing better than home baking.

Delicious Morning Tea

Our next Sew Wot get-together will be the final of the year, our Christmas Lunch.  We have all made our pin cushion gift from recycled bits and pieces to bring along, so it will be interesting to see the variety we are sure to get.

Selvedge Quilt Finished

This is my first year taking part in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, and I decided to make two different blocks each month, one of them being selvedge Asterisk blocks.   Each month I stitched two selvedge blocks in the suggested colour, except for black and dark brown, which I didn't fancy.  After sewing the blocks together, moving them from here to there till I was happy with the colour placement, I pinned the top to a fleecy backing and stitched in the ditch between the blocks for stability.  Then I decided on spiral quilting across the quilt.  I was a little worried about the slight stretchiness of the fleecy backing, but I didn't have any problems at all.

Machine quilting the spiral

The binding was scrappy dark blue strips left over from another project, so I was pleased to use some of them up.  It’s always nice to spend a little time outdoors sitting under the Archgolo during some hand stitching.  With the binding finished, it was time to add the label.  My cozy Asterisk quilt was made for  my car.  We don't suffer from snow, ice, and cruel winter weather here, so probably wont be needed for warmth, so it can sit on the backseat looking  pretty.

And here it is, my very first Rainbow Scrap Challenge finish.  I’m really pleased with how it turned our as I only had a glimmer of an idea when I started stitching the blocks each month.  Many thanks to Angela of  Sew Scrappy for encouraging quilters worldwide each month, and providing her Linky Party.  It’s always fun to see what others are making with their RSC blocks as the months progress.

Selvedge Asterisk quilt

Running Free

Granddaughter Megan had a big birthday this week – I can’t believe she is now 25!  Like all grandmothers I can remember when she was born, a toddler, going to school, then college, now working, haven’t the years just flown by.  We met up during the week for coffee to hand over her new quilt for her special birthday.

Birthday girl Megan with her Nana

Just like her older sister Emma, Megan is a keen and proficient horsewoman, taking part in all manner of horse events, from competitions to hunts.  So a horse quilt would be just the thing for this birthday celebration.   With a whole pile of dark grey and black nine patch blocks left over from Emma’s horse quilt,   I decided to utilise them, introducing a bright teal as sashing between the blocks.

Nine patch blocks

These blocks were set around a horse panel I spotted in a quilt shop while on our travels some time ago.  The sashings picked up the touches of blue water in the panel.  The top was assembled some time ago, you can see how tiny our kitten Gemma was back then.  And as often happens, the project was put away for a while, but not forgotten.

Working on the top

The quilt was finished earlier this year and I took it to a local quilter to be commercially quilted.  Much too big for me to cope with, it measures 87 inches by 95 inches.  I remember sewing the miles of binding down, that took ages. 

With the label added, it was just a matter of waiting for the big birthday to roll around.  Now both granddaughters have their own special horse quilts.

Running Free, for Megan

Autumn Stitchery

I’ve loved doing the slow stitching on my Autumn stitchery piece, a pretty free design from Crabapple Hill Studio.  When I finally completed all those brown knots representing sunflower seeds, it didn’t take too long to trim the piece to size and stitch the borders on.  The Autumn leaves fabric I had tucked away finishes it off nicely, don’t you think?

Autumn Stitchery

This is quite small, so I’ve decided to layer it together, ready to hand quilt.  I’m already slowly hand quilting my New Zealand Botanical quilt, which seems to be taking me ages, but it might be nice to do a little quilting on this smaller one now and again.  It’s Summer here now in my part of the world, so maybe I’ll get it completed to hang up next Autumn, wouldn’t that be nice.  This will be a nice little project to hand quilt outside under our shady gazebo, listening to the birds as they busily go about their birdy business.

Selvedge Asterisk Blocks

I’m running a little late with my blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, the colour chosen  by Angela of Sew Scrappy for October was black or dark brown.  But I didn’t really want to use those colours in my RSC blocks, so went went with a variety instead.  I’ve stitched four more Asterisk blocks and used as my backgrounds, cream, purple, dark real, and a greeny brown.

Four more Asterisk blocks stitched

So far, I've stitched 22 blocks, and need another 3, I’ve decided, then I can assemble them 5 x 5.  Not sure if I’ll do a border or not, I’ll have to see what the top looks like when the blocks are together.

I've also been stitching rainbow Bow Tie blocks each month as well.  But I’ll have to call it quits on this project, as I’ve run out of the background fabric.  I have enough blocks to make up into a baby quilt, I think.

It’s been fun working along on the Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks each month, and I’m looking forward to getting my two tops assembled, then hopefully quilted, before too long.  And I’ve already been thinking what blocks to stitch next year when the RSC starts again!

Sew Wots on Tuesday

It was a Sew Wots morning with a difference on Tuesday.  We were invited to meet in (another) Jenny’s home – she used to teach sewing in her working years so was a well accomplished seamstress.  And what a beautiful home it was, we enjoyed morning tea sitting in the conservatory looking out over the garden.  Jenny had two cats, of half Ragdoll heritage, and one of them, Fatso,  settled down to be admired by the visitors.  His brother however, didn't want anything to do with us and stayed outside.

Spending the morning in Jenny’s lovely home

We had our usual Show and Tell, of course.  Heather had a couple of items, and showed us her heart wall hanging.  As well as various hearts, I can see some flowers and bluebirds there too.  She had also completed a child’s cloth book featuring nursery rhymes, this panel was a great find in the Op Shop.

Heather’s Show and Tell

Carol had been busy too, and had completed some baby knitting to be donated to charity.  Plus a lovely Log Cabin quilt which will be donated to Ronald McDonald House.

Carol’s Show and Tell

We were in awe of Helen’s work, she has been working on family doilies to get them out of the drawers and made into something gorgeous.  Just look what she has achieved so far, they look stunning.

Helen’s family doilies

We worked away on our various projects, doing stitcheries or knitting, and I started to hand stitch the binding down on my Christmas quilt.  And no, it’s still not completed, but I’ll get there shortly.  I had a couple of exciting birthday gifts to open too.  From Carol, this pretty little dish and matching knife featuring our pohutukawa tree,  just the thing for serving pate or fancy cheese.  Thanks Carol, I love it!

From Carol

And from Heather, a pair of her famous hand knitted socks!  I had seen her knitting socks over the years, and I’m so thrilled to have my own pair – they feel so lovely and soft.  Now the weather is getting warmer, I’ll pop them away in the sock drawer till next year, and look forward to wearing them later.  Thank you so much, Heather.

Hand knitted socks from Heather

After all this excitement, our hostess Jenny took us upstairs to her sewing studio.  Such a wonderful room, chock full of fabric and notions.  Jenny kindly let us all choose some fabric pieces to take home, and then most generously gifted us several metres of calico and some batting as well.  Thank you so much, it was most appreciated and will be put to good use.  It was a lovely morning indeed.