August Finishes

Once again I finished the month’s section of the Nature’s Journey stitch-along by the skin of my teeth, putting the last stitches in last night.  Phew, with a day to spare.

Firstly the pink and brown border were added, using fabrics from the stash.

Then I had to make the decision as to how I would attach the diamonds.  I could do like the pattern suggested, ie basting over papers and hand appliqué, or I could baste  over papers and then machine appliqué with a blind hem, or I could do like the rest of the quilt and use Vlisofix and a machine blanket stitch.  After much procrastinating and the month very quickly passing I took the easy option and used machine blanket stitch.  It came together quickly and I don’t think the appearance of the quilt is compromised.

I'm loving how it is turning out.  It could quite easily be a wall hanging just like this.  I've cut all my coloured squares for next month.  There are now no pieces larger than a two inch square in my bag of scraps.  I then had fun pulling other fabrics from my stash.  Now I just have to cut the small blue squares and the pink pieces and get on with lots of piecing. 

Next month looks like it will certainly keep us busy if we are to finish the top, particularly as there is lots going on now that the weather is warming up.

I'm loving seeing everyone else's versions.  Thanks as always to the whip crackers.

What else did I do in August?……..not much.  There was lots I wanted to get done, but my get up and go got up and went.

My only finish for the month was two more butterflies.  A young friend who loves the colour green came to visit one day, so we each made two butterflies in her favourite colour.  They fit in nicely with my orange ones.

While I’m going, I’ll show you some fun magnets I made a few months ago.

While we were travelling through Queensland in March we visited lots of op shops and antique shops.  We visited one, and I can’t even remember which tiny town it was in, but she had loads of stuff, too crowded to really see anything, and really expensive for what it was.  However, on the counter she had a tub of cute buttons for next to nothing, so I bought some.

What to do with them?  Stick a magnet on the back.

While trying to find some round magnets I came across a pack of cute magnet buttons, so bought those too.  By the way, I finally found some good magnets at Bunnings. I don’t normally have magnets on the fridge, but there are quite a few at the moment.  The kids from next door have fun moving them all around.

I did make some progress on my knitted scarf, but that seems to be on the back burner at the moment.

I had hoped to make a start on putting the binding on my big drunkard’s path quilt, all 10 metres of it, but that has been put on the back burner for the moment.  I have challenged someone to a race to see who gets their quilt binding on first, so I must start soon.  It just may not be next month.

I’m disappointed that I didn’t get a Christmas item made this month.  The first month I have missed this year.  I will have to make up for it next month.

I have lots that I want to do next month, but I’ll just have to see how I go.

So, just two little butterflies for OPAM.  At least it is something.