A Stitching Wrap Up of August

This is rather late, but I wanted to get our trip posted first up.

Let’s see how I went with my wishes for the month…..

My main wish was to have the Batik Fish Quilt finished.  I’m very happy to report that it was done.  A full post coming soon.

Then I finished off the Strippy Rainbow Quilt.

Elly May was used on both of these quilts, as well as Jo’s.

In amongst all that, I helped a friend with a baby quilt.  She purchased the kit about 20 years ago and was finally wanting to make it as a gift.  I helped her cut it out, she then pieced it.  An afternoon at our house saw it quilted with a cute butterfly pantograph.  Then I showed her how to add the binding.  

Once that was done, she used all the scraps to make two cushion fronts, which I also quilted for her.  I didn’t get a chance to see the two completed before gifting but they would have been lovely.  She is an experienced seamstress, so did precise stitching and the cute Peter Rabbit fabrics hadn’t dated at all.  A lovely gift to give.

The next thing to work on was the Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks.

Of course, Betty’s blocks had to be made as well.

My Corner to Corner crochet squares progressed nicely, with ten squares being completed.

My knitting didn’t fare so well, with no progress being made.

An August Escape was a driver during the month, with four quilts being prepped.

The Jelly Roll Quilt, which was pieced at Baradine.

The Aeroplane Quilt, which was appliqued and pieced at Baradine.

A Farmyard Quilt, that still has to be pieced.  I did work out the layout on the design curtain, but have since cut a golden yellow for the sashings instead of the blue.  It won’t take long to make, once I get to it.  There is no rush.  It may even be next year at Scrub Stitchin’.

Finally an easy strippy quilt, which will also get stitched at some stage.  No rush.

So, all in all, not a bad month.

The other thing that I did during the month was donate a pile of quilts to the domestic violence support organisation here in town.

15 MINUES A DAY

I stitched on 30 of the 31 days.  The best for the year.

YTD = 201/243 - 82.72%

While piecing the Batik Fish Quilt I managed to empty lots of bobbins and a couple of spools of thread.  It was great to be able to use up some odds and ends that were darker colours, as most quilts require something lighter.

Now, even though it is half way through the next month, I will get down my wishes for September.

Rainbow Scrap Challenge Complete for August.

The weather on Monday was rather feral, with the temperature only reaching about 6 degrees C and windy.  A good day to stay indoors and sew.

Therefore, I made the yellow RSC blocks for the month.

I only needed one crumb block, as I had made two yellow ones a couple of years ago.

It is good to be making progress.  Only two more colours before it is time to start putting the quilts together.  I do hope to have the three completed by the end of the year.

I have linked up with So Scrappy.

My Wishes for August

​Here we are in the next month already.  The last month of winter.  I really don’t know where this year is going.  Anyway, time to think about what I would like to get up to this month.

Let’s start with the stitching wishes.

MY MAIN MONTHLY WISH

As usual, I would like to use this to push myself to get something out of the way.  This time it is the Batik Fish Quilt.  I started this back at the start of 2024, so it is well and truly due to be completed.  I put the blocks out on the design curtain at the end of last month, so there is no excuse.  I really want to take this for show and tell at the end of the month.

RAINBOW SCRAP CHALLENGE

The nominated colour this month is yellow.  Yay!  I have yellow blocks prepped. No colour substitution required this month.  Also, I only need to make one crumb block, as I already have two made.  

BETTY’S GROUP PROJECTS

I have the Rainbow Strip Quilt ready to quilt.  I hope to have that done soon.  I want to take this for show and tell as well.

There will also be a new block to make this month.

USING ELLY MAY

This will be the Rainbow Strip Quilt and hopefully the Batik Fish Quilt.  Any extras will be a bonus.

KNITTING AND CROCHET

I really need to get a wriggle on with my alpaca jumper.  This month I aim to have the front and back finished, including the neckline.  That will just leave the sleeves to finish.  It should be doable.

While I’m at my stitching days I will probably work on the C2C crochet squares.  They are a nice, no brain required project.  Ideal while chatting away.  I need 28 of these, so if I make four a month I’ll have them done in seven months.  I don’t really think it will take that long.

AN AUGUST ESCAPE RETREAT AT BARADINE

This smaller, shorter retreat is happening on the last weekend of the month, so I need to prep some projects to work on:

1. I have a jelly roll that is earmarked for a quilt, that requires no prepping beforehand.  

2. There is still some of the solid fat quarters that I used in a recent quilt, so I hope to prep a smaller donation quilt with those leftovers.

3. I have some novelty print that I want to use on a kid’s quilt, so need to find a pattern and get it cut out.

4. I will probably prep another kid’s quilt as well.  

I don’t expect to get them all done, but if they are prepped I have choices and they will be prepped to work on later at home.

15 MINUTES A DAY

This is also an aim.

NON STITCHING WISHES

1. Try a new recipe.  I have one earmarked and hope to try some others as well.  I seem to be on a roll.

2. Read or listen to a book.  We’ll see how I go with this wish.  I’m not doing so well.

3. Have a fun day out. I’m sure that will happen.

4. Use our caravan.  Yes, we are going to Baradine.

5. Catch up on my blog posts.  I still have to finish our Queensland trip from June and everything since.    However, now that I have discovered an app in which I can add my photos on my iPad it is much more likely to happen.

I look forward to checking back in at the end of the month.

The Rest of July

​It is about time that I shared what else we got up to during the month of July.

Remember that I attended the California Fashions exhibition just before we went on holidays and found the vintage magazines with information in them.  Well, after we came home I had lunch with one of the organisers and gave her the extra magazines.  She then asked what I was doing on the following Tuesday, as some of the former employees were going to have a morning tea and the museum ladies were going to interview them.  Would I be able to come along and help?  You bet I could.  It was a wonderful and interesting time with about a dozen former employees attending.  I learned so much more.  I even ended up with my photo in the local paper. There is going to be a book written, so that all the research that has been carried out and information gathered from the former employees won’t be lost.

A big event each year since 2015 has been the Bathurst Winter Festival.

Last year the local council stopped hosting it so another organisation took it on.  Their venue was not idea, so this year the Showground Trust, together with many local sponsors, took it over.  It ran for the two weeks of the school holidays and was quite successful, so fingers crossed it will continue into the future.  

We went down on the first Saturday night.

Another afternoon out that I had was to attend a Sashiko Workshop put on by the local Embroiderers Guild. There were only two of us in the class.  We mainly learned how to mark out the patterns for stitching. I have to admit that I haven’t progressed the project at all since that day.  I will eventually make four panels and hopefully make a rice bag with them.

One of my informal wishes each month is to try a new recipe.  Sometimes it happens, often not.  Well, I’m not quite sure what happened in July, but I made seven new recipes.  Yes, seven.  All winter comfort food type meals.  I had a little pile of the free magazines that you get at Coles and I went through them and pulled out the recipes I liked the look of.  It ended up being a rather European centric selection.  I have just taken the photos from the magazine, as they are presented much nicer than mine.  From the top left, there was Cassoulet, seafood marinara, a Greek style lemon chicken, Spanish red wine chicken casserole, beef stroganoff and Curtis Stone’s Best Bolognaise.  The Bolognaise took much longer and was more detailed that the one I normally use that came from a Margaret Fulton Leggos Tomato Paste ad in a magazine in the early 80s and I’ve only ever made beef stroganoff from a packet before.  I also made a seafood chowder that was very tasty.  The seafood marinara was not all that great as it was too tomatoey, but the others were all good.  I did let Mick know that this experimenting won’t last and to expect just the normal old meals.

 My other informal wish to read a book didn’t happen.  Not to worry.

I finally got around to donating a couple of quilts that I finished earlier in the year.  They have gone to the nursing home where Mum used to live.  They will be given to residents that have come in with very little and therefore their rooms look rather plain.  I think that is a wonderful outcome.

And that about sums up the month.

Stitching Wrap Up for July

It’s amazing what you can achieve when you are not travelling all over the countryside, although I did have some fun days out.  Let’s see how I went.

Firstly, my Main Monthly Wish was to complete the Simply Serene Quilt.  I’m pleased that it was done well before the deadline.  

Then it was Rainbow Scrap Challenge time.  That too was achieved easily.

The other main thing was to complete the Corner to Corner Rug for Wrap With Love.  Another one ticked off the list.

Then it was time to play.

I did make some good progress with my knitted alpaca jumper and have exceeded my wish of having it knitted up to the armholes.  I’m well on my way up the back. It is knitting up quicker than I expected.  I just need to get back to it. Yes, it will look wonky until it gets blocked at the end.

At the Wrap With Love Knit In Day I started another C2C Rug, this time making 10 inch squares to sew together at the end.  I’m using lots of variagated yarn.  It works well with the C2C stitch, as there are no lines, just a nice all over mottled effect.  There will be plain blocks in the rug as well.  I have four blocks completed so far.  There is no time frame for this one and it is a nice and easy thing to take along to my stitching days.

Betty sent out her July block details for us to make.  It was a challenge, but the completed block has been posted back to her.

Meanwhile, the rainbow strips needed to be pieced together into a quilt top.  I took the very simple option of just adding black sashing between the strips.  Not terribly creative, but still effective.  It is now in the quilting queue.  I hope to have it completed before our Zoom get together next Saturday.  It should be quite achievable.

Finally, I quilted and bound the quilt for my friend in Queensland.  

Oh, and at the last minute on the 31st I pulled out the batik fish blocks ready to advance that project.  It is about time to get it finished.

15 MINUTES A DAY

I did rather well this month.

July = 28/31

Year to date = 171/212  = 80.66%

Not too bad.

As it turns out, most of my stitching has been donation projects, being the Simply Serene Quilt, both C2C rugs, the rainbow strip quilt, Betty’s block and probably the Rainbow Scrap Challenge quilts when they are completed.  That is a good feeling.

Rainbow Scrap Challenge for July

I have completed my blocks for this month.    The nominated colour was Aqua.  However, as I substituted Aqua for Pastel last month I had to make a second substitution.  The colour I had prepped was Dark Blue.  I suppose at least it is in the same colour family.  

Firstly, the Potato Chip Blocks.

Then the Crosses.

And finally, the crumb blocks.  I only needed to make two this month, as I had already made one previously.

It is fun to see these projects grow.  Now to see what next month’s colour is.  Hopefully, it will align with what I have prepped.