November 14

Hello lovely friends. I was trawling through photos on my phone and thought it really was time to check in with you all. I think I have a few interesting ones to share.

But before I get to that, I just wanted to say how wonderful it is to see our lovely friend Teresa from Fabric Therapy posting again. I missed her lovely humour and wonderful work, and I don't mind confessing that I was worried. But there she is with her delightfully quirky applique and I'm beyond thrilled to see her again. Hi Teresa! xox

During the last month it seemed like I got a lot done, I get forgetful what I've shared here, as I've often popped a few pictures on Instagram - it's so much quicker to share there. So here goes:

A lovely friend of mine experienced a terrible loss, and my quilter brain immediately wanted to make her a quilt to wrap her in love. I used some favourite fabrics and this was the result. I can't talk about it too much, it's too sad, so I'll leave it at that.

The little cutaway HST's and scraps meant that I could make up this small table topper, so I gifted this to her too a bit later on.

Another DJ block, B5 - Hot Cross Buns. I tried so hard to get the points of the applique diamonds really good and sharp - some are better than others. There haven't been any more DJ blocks since this one - I'm definitely flitting from one thing to another at the moment, and I'm quite enjoying not having any particular deadline right now!

Some friends and I took a day trip to Victor Harbor and visited with lovely Penny at Pennylane Patchwork. I had never been there before and absolutely LOVED it! Here are my purchases on the day - I really had to restrain myself as I had set myself a limit of $200 for shopping, and came in just under the wire. There was no proper reason for me to have set a limit, but I find it really easy to buy SO MUCH and I know that there are fabric and notions purchased long ago and they are crying out to be used!

Here we have a little decorating I did in the hallway for Halloween. My darling friend Norma made the sweet little crochet pumpkins for me. And you see the Halloween table topper from a few years ago on the table there.

For the first time ever I put a couple of decorations outside. I saw someone on Instagram who had made up these light up pumpkins - I'm sorry I don't remember who it was, you know how it can be when one is mindlessly scrolling. You take a garden solar light (the kind where the top of the light looks kind of like a hat) cut a hole in the top of the pumpkin to fit the light but hat sits on top of the pumpkin - a small hole in the bottom of the pumpkin if you want the spike to poke through. Set the pumpkin with it's little light inside in the garden for the day, and in the evening watch it light up. I was thrilled with the result, and it was really inexpensive. This year we actually had a couple of trick or treaters which is unusual for our street!

After the spooky season passed, I set the hallway back to it's usual state:

Next came Melbourne Cup day, and I decided I wanted to make a pillbox hat to match a pencil skirt I had sewed earlier in the year:

Oh my goodness I was absolutely thrilled with how it turned out. I purchased the pattern from Elsewhen Millinery - the pattern very easy to follow with great instructions. I did make a couple of alterations because of the thicker fabric that I used, but it's about 98.7% exactly as written. Here is a link if you're interested in seeing the wonderful patterns this designer has for sale: Elsewhen Millinery.

On the next Saturday we had a dinner party with lovely friends. I took this picture before we learned we would be having extra guests and added the extension table. I love to use my Spode Byron dinner setting it's so much fun that the cabbage pieces add something a little different. I do have enough side plates to do the job, but the contrast is cute. We had a really great night and I left the cleanup for the next day. When that job was complete it was time to ...

... put up the Christmas tree! The Adelaide Chistmas Pageant had rolled through the city the day before and for so many local folk that means it's time to start decorating for Christmas. I would normally have done it on the Saturday but dinner party preparations meant that I was a bit too busy. There is a big gap at the bottom of the tree which I've since filled with a large pick including berries and poinsettias etc. I only noticed it after I'd taken the picture from this angle. Isn't it funny how pictures often reveal what the naked eye can't see. And I've used my favourite Dresden Plate Tree Skirt. I think I'll make another someday, maybe with a red toile fabric and coordinates. It's so much fun being able to change things around on a whim.

So that has been my past month - thank you for sticking with me if you've made it this far. It really has been quite busy and I haven't had many opportunities to check in, neither here nor on Instagram, but I hope to post a little more in the lead up to Christmas. Hope you're all well, and chatter soon! xox

Keeping my head above water ...

November and December are always the busiest months of the year for me, and this year is proving to be no exception. I've been working hard on getting Christmas gifts ready, and I'm almost done with all that - this is a busy social time of the year, and of course we have all the normal things going on.

Looking thru my phone, I've taken some photos that I can share with you, but as is my habit I don't seem to have everything:

This past weekend we had a dinner party with lovely friends - I made a new table runner for my big table and decorated for the event.

I love how this runner turned out, I used the Tim Holtz Christmas fabric that I absolutely fell in love with. This is basically the same as the Halloween Table Runner pattern I put in my Etsy store but I stretched it to almost 100 inches in length. As you can see, I'm still mad for ric-rac and have been using it on almost every project lately.

Once the table runner was done, I set the table on Friday:

We had a great time, and I did share a picture of the aftermath on Instagram stories - I can share that next time if you like :-)

Our sweet friends gifted me with some flowers and a potted plant which was so kind:

I've been walking the dog every day, and we've been finding new paths to explore. When Rowley was younger he was very anxious about going too far from home, but he's getting better every day. On a recent outing I was taken with these pretty trees close to home:

Last of all for today, I just wanted to share the latest set of mmmCrafts heads I've been working on. Larissa added the 'Hung by the Chimney' ornament to her Twas the Night Before series, and it is so adorable! After it was released, I added the doll heads to my own Etsy store and they've been so successful.

There seems like to much more that I have to share, but I've reached the end of the photos I've managed to take since last time I checked in with you all. I have my sweet daughter here and my grandbabies too, so I'll leave off here and check in with you again soon. Big hugs!  xox

Another Sunday ...

I'm starting to wonder if I should change my posting schedule to Sunday? It seems to be more achievable for me lately. After a busy week I went to bed at 9.30 on Friday evening. Those of you that know me will understand that such an early night is almost unheard of for this night owl. And I slept for a full twelve hours!

Anyway, I did get a few things done this past week - first up, I'm entirely thrilled with this lodestar ornament - the pattern is another by mmmCrafts:

It's so pretty! The pattern is for a tree topper, but there are options to make smaller ornaments too - thought I'd mention that if you go looking for the pattern for yourself.

I also completed the binding on Camo's aviation themed quilt - so glad to be able to have it done in his birthday week:

Rowley wanted to be involved in taking a photo of the finished quilt, and how could I say no to that sweet face? My dear friend Lizzy did a lovely job of quilting with a cloud pattern, and even helped me track down some more of the green fabric so I could use it in the binding. I am so lucky to have such beautiful friends xox

And last of all for today, on Tuesday I had an urgent sounding call from my Mum alerting me to some Copeland Spode Byron pieces that were at the Op-shop. Of course I dashed over to pick them up and was so surprised to find this:

There were six place settings in total of all the things you see in the picture. The two handled soup bowls are just darling, and to have a coffee service with demi tasse cups was such a surprise. I don't know how I'll squeeze it all into the buffet cabinet, but I'm sure I'll manage it somehow. And when I tell you that this treasure was only $32 dollars, you'll understand when I say I feel like I won the lottery.

I'm not sure what I'll work on in the sewing room this afternoon, I have so many things I can choose from, but you can be sure I'll find something to do. Hope you're all having a lovely weekend, chatter soon! xox

Whoops!

On Friday I was such a busy bee, and I spent so much time at the sewing machine in the evening that I entirely forgot to put a blog post up! So here I go on a Sunday evening instead:

I finally caught up with the group working on the Tiny Nine Patch Challenge - it was such fun making my blocks:

All four weeks

Week 13

Week 14

Week 15

Week 16

I love them all and have such a great time finding vintage shards of fabric in my stash.

Prior to all the blocks, I completed the Dresden Table Topper I was making anew - in addition to refreshing my pattern, it's going to be a gift ... shhhh - as discussed!

I was actually surprised at how much I love the finished item, I think I'll make another for myself at some point - it'll be a challenge to find a bunch of red and cream strips and border stripe shards, but if I dig around hard enough I'm sure my stash will bear fruit.

During the day on Friday my Mum, Dad and I went on a little adventure. There's a story ... when I was growing up my Nanna had a set of what we called her fish bowls. They held so many memories for me of being around her big kitchen table at meal times, school holiday snacks etc. Nanna knew I loved them and promised I could have them some day. Anyway a long time later in the hustle and bustle of her downsizing and moving, the bowls disappeared. I decided that should I ever see any in the wild, I'd make them mine. And Friday was the day I was able to collect some:

Aren't they darling? I think they date from around the 50's by Diana Pottery - they're fish ramekins. My Mum tells me these are possibly in better shape than the ones Nanna had due to so much use, so I'm very glad to have them and every time I see them they'll make me smile.

Also during the past week, while I've been working I've been watching/listening to many episodes of the Great British Sewing Bee. Ohh my goodness, I just love it. And I was thrilled when one of the episodes had the contestants sewing on Featherweight machines!

How fun! Featherweights are always super fun to sew with. 

Watching all those GBSB episodes got me inspired to sew some garments again, and I sewed two pairs of cigarette pants. The first pair was with fabric less loved to test the fit, and the second pair from a darling black and white houndstooth to wear to a dinner party last night. I haven't taken pictures of them yet, but I absolutely promise I'll share them with you next week if you're interested.

So that has been my busy bee week - how has your week been? Chatter soon xox

What a chaotic week!

If you had asked me at the beginning of the week how my week was looking, I would have told you it was going to be a relatively quiet one, with a couple of outings and some lovely stretches of time in the sewing room. That's not really how things went ...

On Monday evening Marty came to me and said 'I think we've got a big problem', and to cut a very long story short, the main water line into our house had ruptured (fortunately outside) and we were dumping water into the front yard underground somewhere, and very little water was getting to the house. Not ideal. I won't bore you with all the details, but all kinds of digging, investigating and repairing followed over the next couple of days. And while the water was turned off, we lived like pioneers with containers of water. 

Rowley was super helpful while we were working in the yard - relocating things we were using:

It was actually pretty funny, we should probably have named him Bandit!

Some of my friends and I had planned a trip to a quilt store on Wednesday which is about an hour drive away, with a side trip to pick up a dinner set I had seen on Marketplace. Because of the plumbing drama, I wasn't able to go, which was super disappointing, but my lovely friends offered to pick up the dinner set for me anyway, which was so kind. I had been watching it for a while, and thought I had missed my chance to get it.

It's Copeland Spode Byron, and I just love it. It really suits the decor in my front room, and I can't wait to use it at our next dinner gathering. As all my friends know, I have an addiction to vintage china that can't be tamed, but I am going to have to temper my collecting now as I'm running out of places to put these lovely pieces!

From a quilting perspective, I've made a couple more blocks, and cut one out of a lovely toile I purchased - I'm really loving working on these Morrell quilt blocks:

This is block 57, I love how it came together - the fabrics are really crisp and fresh looking.

This is block 53 - it's much murkier looking with that mustard coloured print in there, but I love it too. It gave me flashbacks to working on the Nearly Insane quilt with all those pieces, but definitely not so tiny. 

And this is the toile block I cut out - it's from one of Karen Styles of Somerset Patchwork's collections. I was so happy to find it. I've ordered some other fabrics that should look lovely in this quilt where the toile fabrics are placed, so I'll share them with you when I get them.

Before all the plumbing chaos I also quilted and bound a small top I'd made earlier in the year, but I forgot to take a picture, so if I remember, I'll share that with you next week. I hope to also get some more time in the sewing room over the weekend, so hopefully I have some interesting things to share with you next time I check in. Chatter soon lovely friends! xox

A slow start, but I got a little done ...

This week got a off to a rough start - a nasty gastro bug swept through our extended family, it was violent and persistent, so I had very little energy for a few days. Once the worst was over it was actually nice to lay low for a little bit, but I did miss time in the sewing room.

Before all that happened though, I put together another sweet little Alice Dress for Miss Mary:

I just love the Llama Drama fabric, both it and the lining were from Spotlight. The pattern is an instant download from Rebecca Page, and because goes right up to size 12, I'll be making these for many years to come. It's super easy, and since I'm not really a confident garment maker, I'm learning each time I make one.

During recovery I spent time online ... as you do ... and put a lowball bid on a box of random china bits and pieces at my favourite local auction house. I really didn't expect to win, but I did and here is my loot:

I was only really interested in the Spode Byron pieces, which are the green rimmed dishes at the back there. But the Myott dinnerset in the foreground is just lovely, and as well as the other bits and pieces, there were five pieces of Carltonware in there too!

This was the prettiest of the Carltonware dishes. I've given them all to a sweet friend as she loved them so. And the Myott dinnerset is going to another lovely friend, she's picking it up to grace her new historic home. I'm so pleased to have found some pieces I was looking for, and was also able to bless others with the pieces I don't need!

And then I was able to get quilting on one of the tops I made:

My machine gave me the devil of a time with this quilting project. I broke a needle, bent a needle, and had all kinds of backlash issues. I ended up having to change the tension on the bobbin, hopefully it won't mess anything else up. I did use a new to me batting - a Quilters Dream poly, and also used King Tut thread which I don't usually use, it's just so hard to imagine they could affect the tension so much, but who knows? Anyway, it's finished now, and I'm very happy to call it done! 

This week I have some more churn dash blocks to make, a secret squirrel project, and the binding for the quilt above. I'm sure that will keep me busy and I'll report back soon!