Gone Fishin’ - March Chookshed Challenge Met

After doing my little project swap this month, my Number 2 was WORK ON THE FISH QUILTS. Work on at least one of the quilts.  It would be nice to have a finish, but any progress is good.

Well, definitely no finish, but plenty of progress on the Rainbow Scrap Challenge bright blocks.  I already had fourteen blocks completed and wanted to get the rest prepped to stitch down at Scrub Stitchin’ next month.  That would be another ten blocks, as my plan was to make two donation quilts from these blocks, each with twelve blocks.  

However, I have now decided that fourteen blocks on each quilt will be better, giving a bit more length.  So, another fourteen blocks will be required.

Ta da!  All fused down, ready to sit and stitch.  I was in two minds as to whether to make the orange tropical fish, as they are a bit fiddly, but in the end Mick talked me into it.  I’m glad, as they are cute.  They are the only two blocks that are identical, as they will be on different quilts and orange works well.  The eyes on the small fish will be embroidered, as they are too fiddly to appliqué.

All threads have been matched, ready to go.  Maybe a spool or two will be emptied?  Here’s hoping.

Everything is now kitted up in its tub, including the fabric for the joining blocks and borders.  With a bit of luck I will have two completed flimsies by the end of Scrub Stitchin’, unless I get totally sick and tired or stitching appliqué. 

The batik fish will have to wait for another day.

A Bit of Stitching and This and That

Now that things have settled down a bit I have actually been spending some time in the sewing room.

Firstly, my Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks have been made.

Then, the block I had to finish for Betty’s group quilt, that I started at her house last weekend.  It will get popped in the post tomorrow.

I have also been working on the Chookshed Challenge project, but that can have its own post tomorrow.

What else have we been up to?

The vege garden has been pulled out for the season.  It looks rather bare, but also much tidier.

Most of our tomatoes this year were self sown and ended up being small ones.  The last were mainly stewed up with onion, garlic and basil and frozen to use during the year.  Some are in the fridge to be used in the next week or so.

Our asparagus is only a couple of years old, so wasn’t eaten as yet.  However, it has just had a second flush of growth, so we picked a few spears and enjoyed them with our breakfast the other day.  They were so crisp.  Rather different to store bought.  I can’t wait to start picking some more next season.

I read a book yesterday.  My usual binge reading style.  Half way through I realised I had read it before.  Oh well, I couldn’t remember the outcome, so finished it off.  It is now being donated, so I won’t read it a third time.

The weather has been rather nice here and is starting to have a little bit of an autumnal feel to it.  I feel so much for all those affected by Tropical Cyclone Alfred.  You don’t expect that sort of weather system to be located so far south. We were preidicted to get about 30mm of rain today, but that has now been reduced to 0-20mm tomorrow.  We’ll see what eventuates.  A little rain would be very welcome at the moment.  What a land of contrast we live in.

That about sums up what I have been up to.  Hopefully, I will continue to spend more time in the sewing room in the next week or so.

Getting Sidetracked

I decided it was time to go into my sewing room and get started on this month’s plans, but first to do a bit of a tidy up……well, not much, just to at least get to see my cutting mat and get the ironing done that was on my chair, so that I could actually sit at the sewing machine.

In the process I notice this little pile of ten fat quarters.  They came to light a couple of months ago when I was looking to find a plastic container to put another project it and I noticed them, all alone in a tub.  A bit of a waste of space.  It reminded me how pretty they are.

Their history is that I purchased them on a stall at a local market quite some years ago for next to nothing.  They were obviously the remains of a fat quarters pack and when I look at them I can see why they were destashed.  They are nearly all very large prints.  The range is “Secret Garden” by Sandi Henderson for Michael Miller.  After having a little google, it appears the range of forty prints were released in 2011.

So, what to do with them?  It needed to be simple, with large blocks to showcase the prints, but I didn’t just want to do squares.  Yesterday, I noticed this pattern in my folder of ideas for donation quilts.  I liked that idea, so tweaked the measurements to suit what I had.

Fortunately, all the fat quarters were just over 21 inches wide and 20 inches long, so I could make it with blocks that finish at 10 inches.

Now to find a suitable sashing.  White or cream would not have enough contrast.  I got out my tubs of solids to see what I had that would suit and have sufficient yardage.   Nothing really worked, then I spied a fabric in the tone on tone tub that Brenda had destashed at Scrub Stitchin’ last year. Yes, the colour was perfect. There was 36 inches in the piece and best of all, it was 54 inches wide.  While I had my shower, I did some maths in my head and I reckoned that there would be enough of it if I just had sashings and no outside border.  I double checked, and yes it would work.

I could get four blocks from each fat quarter with next to no waste.  That would be 40 blocks, or five by eight.  Eight rows would be too long, so I decided to go with seven rows and then use the remaining five blocks on the back.

Today, I got everything pressed and started cutting.  After having checked all but two fat quarters yesterday to check their length, the first one I picked up to cut was only 19 inches long. Grrr.  Oh well, I could still get two blocks out of it.  One other was cut crooked, so I could only get three from it, so just as well I had worked on having some spares.

Everything else went swimmingly, and I now have a quilt cut and kitted up to take to Baradine.

The only left overs are about six inches of the teal, which may still need to be used, plus some tiny teal squares.  The fat quarters only had a shaving top and bottom and the selvedge off the side.  The bigger chunks may still get used on the back, along with the extra teal.  Time will tell.  I think this is a time that I want to use up every skerrick of the fabric, so will do something with the selvedges and whatever else ends up being left over. 

It will all be a bit of fun.

March Plans

After a busy February, it would be nice if March was a bit quieter, but it is also shaping up to have quite a bit on.  So, once again, I will try to keep things rather simple.

RAINBOW SCRAP CHALLENGE

The colour this month is Yellow.  I will make the split nine patch blocks and with a bit of luck, a crumb block to two.  We’ll see how that goes.

CHOOKSHED CHALLENGE

The number this month is Number 2. For me that is to make a Gail Pan bag using the stitchery I worked on while overseas last year.  Nope!  Not happening this month.

Like last month, I’m going to switch things around.  I need to prep some projects for Scrub Stitchin’ and one of those is the appliqué fish.  That just happens to be Number 9, so that will work perfectly.  I don’t expect to get anything stitched, but if I can get quite a few fused, ready to stitch I will be happy.  Fingers crossed that I have more time later in the year to work on the projects I am putting off now.

Pop over to Deana’s blog to see what the others will be working on.

What else would I like to do?

Ideally, I would like to get those rogue borders on my Blue/Hope quilt sorted and added back on to the quilt and the final border added.  It is stitched and ready to go.  Wish me luck on this one.

My knitting will probably progress.

And finally, it would be really nice to have the little pouch project from Scrub Stitchin’ last year finished for this year.  We’ll see how we go on that one too.  Don’t hold your breath.

I’m not making any other plans.  Everything else will be a bonus.

A Fun Weekend of Friendship

After the full on weekend with the Wedding and Baptism Display a week ago, this last weekend was a time to have some fun and head down to the big smoke.

On Friday, Mick very kindly drove Chooky and I down to Sydney to fellow Blogger and Zoomer Betty’s place, where we stayed for a couple of nights.  Mick headed back home after lunch. Us girls had a lovely afternoon of stitching with Betty and her friend Stephanie, who also comes to Scrub Stitchin’.

As if that wasn’t fun enough, on Saturday Betty, Stephanie, Chooky and I caught the train in to Circular Quay to have a little wander around and then catch up with Miss Jules (Scrub Stitchin’ and Chooky’s neighbour).

Then we all met up with Janet from Utah, who joins us on Zoom during most sessions.  What a blast! Obviously, this was the reason for the trip down to Sydney.

We started out by having lunch at City Extra with Janet, her hubby and their travelling companions.  Although we had never previously met in person, it was just like catching up with an old friend.  We were also joined by Leah, Chooky’s school friend.

After lunch, Janet was hijacked by all us girls while the other Americans went off to play the tourist.  We hopped on the Manly Ferry to cross the harbour.   

It was a glorious day to be on the  water.

Once at Manly, Betty and Stephanie remained at the Ferry Terminal while the rest of us wandered along the corso to the beach.  After a cloudy start to the day, you couldn’t have got a better day.  Janet got to dip her toes….and jeans up to her knees, thanks to a rogue wave…… in the Pacific Ocean on the other side of the world.

Once back in the city, we visited the Old Customs House to see the model of the city.  I was intrigued with this, as I didn’t even know it existed. 

Then it was a short ride on the light rail to the QVB.  

You have to visit the beautiful building and we treated ourselves to some Haigh’s chocolates.

From there it was a train and Uber back to Janet’s hotel for an early dinner.  It was rather sad saying goodbye, but they wanted an early night in readiness to leave on a cruise on Sunday.

What a fantastic day we had.

On Sunday morning, another of Betty’s friends also joined us for a morning of stitching in Betty’s excellent sewing space.

All too soon, it was time to say our farewells and head for the train.  I caught the Bathurst Bullet home, while Chooky stayed down for a couple of extra days.

I took my new knitting project to work on during the trip home.  

The start…

I knitted until we got to Lithgow, by which time my eyes were getting a bit tired.  I’m pleased with how much I achieved.

It really is amazing that we were able to have so many fellow Bloggers and Zoomers meet Janet in person.  We had a wonderful few hours together.

Thanks also to Betty for being a lovely hostess, inviting us into her home.

Janet left us with a small gift of items from Utah.  A coaster made by her, a Riley Blake charm pack, (they are an Utah company), some Utah chocolates and some soap made by Janet in a bee design, representing Utah.  Thank you so much.