March Chookshed Challenge and a Finish

Frustrating!  I wrote this post yesterday and while I was adding in photos from my phone I ended up losing it all ... fresh start this morning.

So Saturday and Sunday I hid in the craftavan out of this horrid wind (thanks Cyclone Alfred) and completed all 6 Flower Pot cards.  A little bit of special 'fertilizer' and beautiful blossoms appeared ... the sentiments aren't glued down as I want to be able to mix and match those as the need arises. Mum is 80 this month and I also have 2 sister-in-laws turning 70 in April and June so now I have some lovely handmade cards to gift.

Deana's number selector chose #2 for our Chookshed Challenge in March ... checked my list and clapped my hands for some Sashiko. I'm looking forward to some stitching at night in front of the TV.

Tomorrow our group of patchwork girls are meeting up in Childers for their Annual Quilt Display. After lunch Mum and I will have a visit through the Chad Morgan Memorial Room ... Chad was mum's favourite country singer.

Chookshed Challenge Feb Wrap

In by the skin of my teeth ... I got so into playing with scraps that I almost ran out of days for Challenge #10 - Card Making

Off to the craftavan with all my bits and pieces and the 2 little stitcheries from Challenge #6 ... before lunch I had 2 cards completed.

Then this afternoon I had a little production line going ... measure ... cut ... etc. I thought I had kept my original card but can't put my hand on it so I've added a photo of an earlier card to show the flowers.

This is my favourite design having made a few previously ... 6 Flower Pots awaiting plantings.  I think I'll leave the sentiments off for now and add those when the occasion arrises ... that way they can be multi purpose as required or hope to be able to make and sell a few as well. I promise to finish them in March.

Thank you Deana and Chooky for this challenge ... I'm certainly achieving more than I would under my own steam ... wonder which number will be drawn tomorrow?

Mending, Making, Baking and More Scrap Play

 Mending (Ugh)  -  well, not mending as such but along those lines. Hubby needed new shorts but can never find short legged shorts to buy so ... measure ... cut ... hem!

Making - with those out of the way, or maybe in between shorts (there were 5 pairs), I cut out fabric for 2 more Bondi tops.  I had purchased the blue specifically to make into a top and found the cat fabric in my stash ... fairly quick to make up and very comfy.

Baking - I've gone back to baking my own sourdough bread ... trial and error for the first 2 loaves (I'm a bit rusty) but they've been edible. My starter was in the fridge for a few days, out now and 'fed' so I'll see tomorrow how it goes for the next loaf.

Scrap Play -  it's so satisfying watching my containers of small strips diminish as my stack of 6.5" blocks grows.  First some green log cabins ...

Then out came the blue candy ... just playing around with scrap sizes and layouts and making them up to 6.5" blocks ... might try some half square triangles next, maybe some 9 patch ... I'll see. 

It's just nice to fiddle about with no expectation.

Now I've run out of days for February Chookshed Challenge ... today's the day my cards come out to play.

Hearts and Scrap Play

 Little 'Cuddle Hearts' have been posted. My dear friend has also been through her stash and has several sets ready to post.

I've had scrap play vibes so my time in the van has been spent colour sorting pre-cut candy strips Along with the 4 purples, I now have 3 each of yellow, cream and browns with 6 blues...green next. No plan yet for the blocks but I've managed to make a good dent in the containers.

Scrolling good old Facebook, I spied a colour wash quilt made from 3.5" blocks sooooo....

 It's called "Colour Wash Quilt Challenge" by Terry Rowland on Youtube. They make great leader/enders while sewing other projects. No time frame on these, I'll just keep making and storing until one day.

2025 Temperature Tree has progressed with some February leaves now.

Last Thursday I had a lovely invite to Grandson J's school for Student Investiture. J is a very proud House Captain and his best mate is School Captain ... last year of Primary School, oh my!

We've been fortunate to enjoy some beautiful rains so far this year and it's so lovely to see all the green ggrassin the paddocks and in the cattle yards ... although mowing around the house is never ending but we won't complain too much about that.

Time to squeeze in some bookwork to keep up to date ... doesn't mean I can't have a second screen open and multi-task with a little blog hopping.

FNWF Wrap, Hearts and Red Play

Fellow Bloggers and Facebook are giving me so many ideas to use my Quilt Candy but not how to fit more hours into the day.

My Friday night began with Hearts...some of you may have seen on FB, Mater Mothers put a call out for volunteers to sew 'Cuddle Hearts' for the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. I found a sweet piece of flannelette, printed the template and just need to tie off some top stitch threads (photo when they're finished).

A little bit of cross stitching to finish off the evening and I have a branch ready for some February leaves.

One of the ideas floating around in my head was 6.5" log cabin blocks using my candy strips ... some sewing yesterday and today ... I have 9 completed red blocks and strips for 4 purple picked out ready to sew.

Sticking to one colour was the tricky party. I have so many strips in various sizes but it wasn't as easy as I thought it would be to find enough of one colour. I foresee some very 'scrappy' blocks in my future.

FNWF and Another UFO

 Tonight's the Night ... joining in with Cheryll and Friends for .... I think I see some cross stitch happening ...

Another UFO becomes a completed top and another container leaves the stash (I've actually repurposed it for one of the Mystery projects)

This one goes back to Feb 2012 ... "Seasons Of BOM" designed by Wendy of 'Sugarlane Quilts' and Dawn of 'Sweet as Cinnamon'. I had completed 6 of the 12 stitcheries and sashed with 2.5" squares so after a dive in the stash I found the blue and hey presto!

The blue is looking darker than it really is.

Another wall hanger top to quilt.

Chookshed Challenge and a UFO

 How lucky am I?  In January I swapped my number #6 for item #10 so that I could have some little embroideries done for when it came time to mark cards.

Hey presto and February's number is #10 so I get to switch back for item #6 and make cards. As well as popping those little cross stitches into cards, I plan to make a few other flowery cards with my Stampin Up bits and pieces.

My sewing 'stuff' is spread between 2 spare bedrooms and the 'craftavan' so I've been busy trying to sort, rearrange, condense etc etc and get down to the van and 1 spare bedroom. Some bits and pieces I'm taking straight to the van to be dealt with ... enter a UFO!

Tucked away in a take-away container were the completed embroidery 4.5" squares, 4 sewn strips and lots of various strips of fabrics. Scrolling back through my blog, I first mention this project in March 2011. It was called "Home Sweet Home BOM" by Paula ... unfortunately when I click on the links they no longer work.

So using the strips in the container along with 1 or 2 strips from stash ... this is what I came up with and now have a completed wall hanger top. I've even managed to remove 1 set of small shelves from one room and open up a little bit more space for when Mum visits ... winning.

Chookshed Challenge and January Wrap

 Last day of January so let's wrap things up.

My Chookshed Challenge #6 I swapped with #10 and grabbed some small kits from a stash draw.  End result was 2 small cross stitches complete and 2 more repurposed ... I added the threads to my thread stash, needle to the needle stash and the 2 small squares of Aida can go in my sewing basket ready for grab and go project.

I'm loving the Temperature Tree Cross Stitch project and only have today's leaf to go for January ... then I'll move on to another branch ready for February.

For the last week of school holidays we entertained our daughter's 2 boys which meant they came to my patchwork day with me. I have squares of calico to put in a hoop, needles and threads and they create their own embroidery. We also walked down to the local shop to grab some chicken and chips for a picnic lunch in the park and luckily there is a great climbing tree close by as well. Perfect for 2 little monkeys to expel some energy ... 

Goodness ... is it really a new month tomorrow? Can't wait to see which number comes up for our challenge and also the 2nd block for the Murder Mystery Quilt.

FNSI January Wrap

 Yesterday I got a bit of a head start on FNSI by completing the first block for MMQ. Then I moved onto cutting some more Quilt Candy from scraps ... I have several containers of candy ranging from 12.5"sq down to 1.5"sq and then 1.5" strips in various lengths.  Here are a few of the smaller containers.

Last night I finally got to sit down with my Temperature Tree and finished the January branch before adding 2 leaves.  Add in that I also hung out washing and a couple other little jobs that needed attention...so this morning I was able to add more leaves up to the 16th.

2nd week saw a few HOT days. I'm going to really enjoy this project!

One more week of school holidays here and I have 2 more grandsons coming for sleepovers so I'm off to the craftavan to make more candy while it's quiet.

FNSI and 2 Mysteries

I will be joining with Wendy and friends for some Friday Night sewing and decided to get a headstart with a little bit of prep and sewing today.

This year I've signed up for another Murder Mystery Quilt and am off to Machu Picchu... thanks to some morning sewing, block #1 is now complete.

Best place on a hot day is in my craftavan with the aircon so I've also been cutting scraps into 1.5" squares for my 2nd Mystery Quilt.  This one is a Scrappy Mystery using 2 colour ways so I've chosen blue and yellow. Instructions so far call for 9 patches and half square triangles.

Now and then I go through my scraps and cut them into varying sizes ready for that "one day" project. I heard the perfect term for these precuts ... Quilt Candy!

So now it's back to making more candy perhaps ... oh and I almost forgot ... tonight for FNSI I'll be working on my Temperature Tree.