Home Stay

Limited going out is meaning more time in my sewing room!

I have 80 little 2 1/2" pinwheels all trimmed and ready to go....

Background is purchased.... a soft buttercup yellow floral design and this is the basic idea... thanks to Jennifer who shared pictures of her lovely quilt made with lots of little pinwheels...

My quilt made with the Sew Kind of Wonderful quick curve ruler has been quilted .....

It's all in batik fabric (purchased on a trip to Bali years ago) ... including the backing....

I've added the binding - just need to hand sew it down now...

I still enjoy some sit down quilting and did this 12 1/2" block ....

Close up the quilting is a little bit messy in places ....  I do very little with contrasting colour

A new project is cut and ready for sewing on a Sew Day next week..... I am using the free PopStar pattern by Fat Quarter Shop and sewing along with a few other friends....  plan is one block a week if we can.....  If anyone else wants to join in feel free....

All tucked into it's own project box ready for pick up and sew...

I have hand stitched down lots of little flowers and leaves into the mini baskets...

My accuracy is not amazing and it shows in little blocks far more than in big ones....   

Another block for Civil War Bride is my evening sewing at the moment....

Righto, Gotto Go... time to research our evening meal ....

Have a lovely weekend....  keep safe, keep smiling and keep stitching ...

Stitching Easter .....

Not much going on ... so I may as well sew.... luckily there is lots to do there....

Sorting through some photo's I spotted this small mat I made a few weeks ago but forgot about.... the pre-printed stitchery had been a gift some time back, and I found some fabric in the Christmas box to finish it off....  a little bit different to the usual....

... and I  have now finished off all the little snowman hearts ... free pattern from BunnyHill designs though they are in a square block format now...

A large portion of my sewing time this last weekend was spent outside...

I have added borders to my Pinwheels quilt.... I think the pink helps to give it a bit of a lift

There was not enough of the pink for a binding but I have prepared a small peeper which I will add under the binding at the end when it is quilted....

This is how it all started.. quite a fun technique... make up the quilt with squares and a wide border then using the speciality ruler (or a template) cutting it up again to new blocks and rejoining.

I feel my fabrics didn't hold enough contrast but I will try this again sometime.... very effective and relatively quick.

Off to the Quilting Queue now... ready with it's peeper and binding....

After cutting out the pinwheels there was enough of each fabric in the scraps for 4 1/2" squares so I teamed those up with some pretty strips that I already had and am making them up into 4" HST's....  I'll make a pretty baby quilt with them.

Righto, Gotto Go... hope you are all going okay - adjustments have been made.

I am enjoying the extra sewing time.  Managed to watch a 'show' streamed over youtube.  Some of the big theatres (UK) are showing theirs for limited times.  

National Theatre in London

I watch Jane Eyre... very cleverly done (finishing soon)

Shows Must Go On

Have full shows over a weekend - sadly I missed Jesus Christ Superstar over Easter (ran out of time)

Some really great initiatives during lock-down time.

Keep Safe, Keep Smiling and Keep Stitching

Happy Easter.... FNWF#2

Happy Easter to you all.... very different this year....

We had special visitors to our birdbath this week!  I thought it would bring a smile to you all

they had done a runner from home.... so lovely and friendly and I did see they got back home safe and sound....

This is the new Tula Pink fabric... isn't it so lovely and happy and sewing themed too!  It is fun having a play with it (shop sample)

A few more games of Sequence have been played.... so far the score is Hubz 4 .... me 1.... (I think he let me win!)

we are doing our bit for the children on neighbourhood walks with a few teddies at the window.... we are a bit off the road but have noticed a few people see them...

Thank you Cheryll for hosting FNWF#2 to keep us busy sewing and blogging over shutdown time.... I have continued sewing my little angel in the evenings and she is done now....

Today I want to add a peeper and borders to make her into a little hanging.  This was a free stitchery from The Quilters Angel on their 'tribe' facebook page  (I made a little adjustment to the title as I want it for my sewing room)

The last couple of days were overcast and windy (sadly not wet!) but I have got out onto the veranda and done a bit of sewing....  these still need to be stuffed...

The pinwheel (or twister) blocks are all together now...  its a bit insipid as not enough contrast in the fabrics but I still think it is pretty.

I am going to add a 1" pink border and then more of that Tilda border which surrounds the pinwheels

It's a beautiful day today so after this I am off outside ... Hubz is mowing the lawn so I will wait till that is done...

I will also be continuing to sew the next round onto my Pineapple blocks... these are growing steadily...

Last night I couldn't resist starting my newest needleturn project.....in lovely Tilda fabrics....

.. and this weeks crochet is almost up to date.... I am working from both ends of a ball to get two squares of different sizes from it....  

Righto, Gotto Go... I can no longer hear the lawn - mower so I'm off outside....

Happy Easter... I hope you all find something fun to do

Keeping busy

I have had a couple of people ask if I was getting bored being at home so much..... hmmm .... nope. 

Though of course I miss my physical sewing times with friends and seeing my local family ... internet chats are real boosters at the moment.....

My circles quilt now has it's navy shadowplay borders on... and the binding made in the same fabric....

.... and into the Quilting Queue....

This quilt was fun to make, I gathered the circles around a template and starched and pressed and then the needleturn was pretty easy in the evenings....  trimmed back the background batik and this got them all to fit together so well....

The snowmen have been stitched down and cut.... perhaps this will be a good one to sew outside at the weekend....

Here are all 12 of them together... they need a backing sewn onto them, turned through and a bit of stuffing added then a ribbon to be able to hang them up....

My favourite LQS has shut it's physical doors but started a Facebook group sharing positive thoughts, tips etc and this Easter runner was a freebie link ... 

I already had lots of the strips together from a previous quilt... so it was great to find a use for them... and I love those colours

 if you feel like joining in go HERE ... I do love seeing what people are making and happy for positive sewing groups.

I have had this grouping sewn up and on my design board all week.....

Yesterday when I had a spare hour I started chopping where I had sewn...... 

... now it looks smaller and a bit different.... some more stitching to do outside over Easter....

Hand sewing is happening too .... I had the binding for my Easter runner to sew and am doing this cute stitchery given by The Quilters Angel on the above mentioned F/B page...

Pretty teal colours and it will fit in perfectly in my sewing room....

Righto, Gotto Go.... Hubz is working from home today... and I am going to pin a quilt while listening to a book.

Have a lovely day, keep safe, keep smiling and keep stitching... and #stayhome

The New Normal....

I think Blogger played a belated April Fool on me.... my post writing seems to be back to how it used to be... not sure what it was but I am pleased not to have to try and relearn how to blog.....  

With extra time at home... I am sewing more.... so might be blogging more too!  sorry if I overload and no problem if you just want to scroll past....

My new to me quilt rack (thanks Michelle) was put up.  Hubz kindly painted it white to go with the rest of the room.  Another lovely corner and some more space for special cushions and things on the shelf....

 ..... and yes, I played a board game with Hubz called Sequence as recommended by Maria.  It is fun actually and I think I will enjoy more though of course I lost the game.... but a win getting the quilt rack up!

Then I took a leaf out of Janice's book and had lots of fresh air this weekend....

... this was my view... Saturday was cloudy and a little bit of a breeze, Sunday was sunny and glorious...

Firstly I used up scraps to make up the strips and my little Elna sewed a pretty edge (there is no blanket stitch so I improvised)

.. then I sewed all these blocks together and the border (which I had to do twice since I can't measure properly it seems!)  This project still needs a fair bit of work to get it to a finished top....

All the time sewing these two I led and ended with my pineapple blocks... and I now have a nice pile with their 4th round completed....

Trimming is a breeze with this ruler.... I feel I made a good investment....

At the end of Sunday I had to pack up..... my electrical cord holder has recently raised in value quite hugely..... and Hubz was in danger when he inadvertently tried to clean up and throw it out!!! hmmmph....

 All in all a very successful weekend..... not much hand-sewing at night... I think the fresh air made me tired!  Little bit more done on the snowmen and a bit of crochet was done....

Righto, Gotto Go... back to a Monday routine and some quilting to do.... I hope I get outside next weekend again.  Anybody game to join me?