Scrub Stitchin’ - Part 8 - What I Took Along and Brought Home

In the lead up to Scrub Stitchin’ I decided to make a little something to pop in each of the goodies bag.  I made little butterfly magnets, a project I have made quite a few times.  It was great fun playing with colour combinations and then they were an ideal project to work on at my stitching days.

A “kaleidoscope  of butterflies” is what Mr Google informed me.

Or alternatively, a “flutter of butterflies”.  Either sounds nice.  I had fun playing with them on the fridge.

All packed up, ready to take flight to Bardine.

For my swap gift, I made another Blossie Basket.  They are a fun little make. 

Now for what I received.  My swap gift was from Sue and was a very handy mug bag.  This is something I have been wanting to make and haven’t got around to.  The one I made about 20 years ago is too small.

It held lots of goodies.  I particularly like the fact that there was a souvenir teaspoon from the Great Ocean Road.  

I was also the lucky recipient of one of the random lucky door prizes, being a mini jelly roll.  Very handy.

And, to top it all off, I received a gorgeous, personalised project bag from the American ladies.  The embroidery was by Phyllis and the bag construction by Deana.  This will be very useful.  Thanks ladies.

The last post coming up next.

End of April Stitching Summary

April was a bit of a varied month when it comes to my stitching.  At Scrub Stitchin’ I was very productive, but for the rest of the month there wasn’t a great deal to show. Quite a bit of what I am going to share are duplicates of earlier posts.

Let’s start with the finishes.

Happiness is Stitching a Hexie Flower picture.

EPP Coathanger, which was actually completed in March, but not shared until gifted.

Knitted cardigan.

One Yard Wonder Quilt Top. I know this isn’t actually a finish, but I have finished my contribution to it.

Next,  the starts….. there were quite a few of those.

Bonnie Lass leader and ender project.

One inch hexies for something for the Chookshed Challenge.

And one I haven’t shared as yet.  I have started a crochet blanket.  This was due to the fact that I didn’t really have any hand work to play with, so it was something I could quickly start.  This is my first corner to corner blanket and it is proving to be a bit of a yarn guzzler, but I love the texture.  I’ve used one full large ball and half a small ball of yarn and it still isn’t to full width.  This was initially to be a donation project, but Mick likes it, so I guess it is his.

I have four balls of the yarn and will definitely need at least another four.  I can’t get any more in town, so will keep my eye out while travelling later this month, or if that fails, I can get some on line, but that’s no fun.  I also have some other random grey balls of yarn, so can mix them in with the large balls.

And finally, the ongoing progress on some projects.

The Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks were made.

At Scrub Stitchin’ I made the Secret Garden quilt top.

Also the blocks and worked out the layout of the Five and Dime Quilt.

The Appliqué Fish are progressing nicely. 

I have not progressed any of the above projects since we have returned home.

After Scrub Stitchin’, Lou and I both went along  to my Patchwork Group.  While there I completed the stitching of my Sashiko panel.  I’ve still no idea what I will make with it.

I joined in with a Zoom session while working on my crochet.  It was a lovely day, so I was able to sit outside.

When you look at all that, it seems a lot, but not a real lot happened on most of the projects.  I probably shouldn’t start any new projects for a little while, but get some of these finished.  Let’s see what May brings.

Oh, and I nearly forgot…,

I emptied three thread spools.  Not much, but better than nothing.

And, I managed to do 15 minutes on 23 days.  Some of those were for many hours, but it is the days that count.  Not bad, considering everything else that was going on.

April = 23/30

Year to date = 92/120

Statistics = 76.67%

Scrub Stitchin’ - Part 5 - The Wrap Up

This is just a short final post to share the swaps I was in.

Firstly, prior to Scrub Stitchin’ when Lou and Tony came to visit, we did a little swap.  

My gift to Lou was a little hoop with a reference to hexy flowers.  I thought it was rather appropriate.  This also counts as a finish for April, which are a bit thin on the ground.

Lou gifted me two cute little zippy pouches.  Both beautifully made. The top one was used straight away to take some bits and bobs to Baradine.  Thanks so much.  They will be very handy.

For the Make It, Bake It or Fake It swap I made an EPP coat hanger.  

It went to Kylie.

I received a gift from Annette (NSW).

It was also a zippy pouch, made by House of Jackson in Armidale.  You can’t have too many zippy pouches and this one is cute.  It was filled with lots of handy little treasures and Easter eggs.

A couple of other things came home with me too.

For being joint winner of the Toddler Photo competition I received some quilt labels and a pattern.  I have this ongoing goal to add labels to all my quilts, which gets carried over from year to year.  These lovely, understated labels may just inspire me to pull my finger out complete this goal.

I also received another random prize for being an over achiever in the sewing stakes.  This was two lovely fat quarters and a “Handy Little Ruler”.  Yes, that’s its official title.

There were a couple of community groups selling their wares.  The biscuits are to raise funds for the local school children to have an excursion to the Great Barrier Reef and the wild flower seeds are from Coonamble and are to raise funds for Macquarie Home Stay.

Sandy of Shiralee Stitches had a pop up store in the corner of the room with some beautiful and handy items.  I forgot to take a photo.

I may just have purchased a fat quarters bundle of “Ruby’s Coverlet” by Devonstone from Sandy.  It is beautiful and I do have an idea of where to use it.  In the meantime, it is nice to stroke and is my new pet, named “Ruby”, seeing as we no longer have a pet.  I’m sure a pet costs more than a fat quarters bundle and she doesn’t shed. LOL

Finally, those purchases I made at Deb’s new shop in Coonabarabran.

And that wraps up Scrub Stitchin’ for 2025.

Merry Christmas

It is Christmas Eve and we have just about done all the preparation that we can in readiness for tomorrow.

Our day will consist of Mum, my brother and his family here for a cooked lunch before Mick and I then visit some good friends in the evening.

I just realised I hadn’t taken any photos of our decorations this year.  They are much the same as usual with just a few changes in the entry hall.

My little collection of kitsch nativity scenes has found a new home on the china cabinet, together with my wise men and shepherd.

Our outdoor lights are up, but I haven’t taken a photo.  There seems to be quite a few less around this year, however, our street is still putting on a great show, with most houses joining in.

I have received a new decoration from Lou.

It is front and centre on my twiggy tree that features my collection of very special hand made decorations.

I can now share the one I sent to her.

I’m not sure if this one has been received as yet, so won’t mention the recipient.  They were both fun to make.

So, on that note, I will wish you all Merry Christmas.

September Stitching Round Up

Here we are at the end of yet another month, with the year three quarters over.  Where has it gone?  

Time to check in to see how I went with this month’s stitching goals.  You can read about them here.  All I can say is that my goals didn’t go well.  

Once again, the main reason is that my sewing room has turned into a big hot mess.  That always does it.  I find it too overwhelming to sort out and just avoid it.  Funnily, I was reading back to this time last year and I could nearly do a copy and paste of that post.

Having said that, I still have been doing bits and pieces.  Let’s see how I went.

ONE MONTHLY GOAL AND CHOOKSHED STITCHERS’ CHALLENGE

As I shared previously, I did get the quilt top made while at Baradine.  Then it just sat until yesterday.  

I finally started to make some headway in sorting things out, excavated Monique, and actually pieced a backing and got the quilt loaded.  (Photo taken to show the tidy side of the room.  We won’t look at the other side.)

I started basting the edges and noticed the thread was unravelling after going through the tension discs.  We tried everything we could think of and have now put in a call to the serviceman to see if he can give me some guidance.  Therefore, despite my best last minute efforts, I have failed to get this quilt completed in September.  Not to worry.  It will get done, all in good time.

Pop over to Deana’s blog to see how the other girls went.

RAINBOW SCRAP CHALLENGE

The colour this month was black.  Not something I want to work with in the split nine patches or hexies.  It would work for the Fish Quilt, as this month is tropical fish.  Well, I printed off the fish pattern…….and that’s as far as I have got.

BATIK FISH

Ditto.  I have the pattern, but have not gone any further…..see above…..the sewing room was too messy.

OTHER STITCHING GOALS

June Chookshed Goal - Koala Baby Quilt - I kitted up two quilts from the fabric I had and got the tops made at Baradine.  Once I get the current quilt finished I will quilt them.  Then I will be up to date with Deana’s challenge.

Quilt Laundry Basket Mystery Quilt - I want to try out a feather pantograph on one of the koala quilts before using it on this one.  Obviously, that hasn’t happened yet.

Deconstruct the crochet rug - that didn’t happen either.

Add the sashings to the Sashiko table runner - nope.

Hand stitching hexies - YES!!! LOTS!!!  This has ended up being my main stitching project for September.  I have made 23 one inch hexy flowers and one two inch hexy flower.  I have now made a total of 53 of the one inch flowers, so nearly half way. The quilt needs 111 one inch flowers and 8 two inch flowers.  I have also started to appliqué some onto their background fabrics and have several more glue basted ready to stitch down.  I’ve used up all the obvious small suitable fabric scraps, so now have to cut into some fat quarters.  I’m really enjoying working on this project…..more than I thought I would.  It also is the perfect project to take to my stitching mornings.

GROUP QUILT BLOCK

Our patchwork group are making a quilt and 12 inch blocks were requested.  I made one at the end of last month and have now made a second one.  The hardest part is to decide on a block design.  This was a fun block to make.

CRUMB BLOCKS

These were made while I was at Baradine.  They are great fun and use up some of those tiny scraps.  No idea what I will do with them.

UNPLANNED PROJECT

While I was at Baradine, Mick went to a garage sale in the street behind us and the lady had some fabric for sale.  He phoned me and did a wander showing us what was there.  

He bought a few pieces and one was a Dr Seuss panel.

After I returned home I wandered up to see what else she had left. One piece is now being used as the backing on the quilt that is currently on Monique.  

She had been making fabric masks during the COVID lockdowns and had a bag of cut out pieces.  She gave them to me.  I sorted them into types.  The solids will go into something at some stage, the batiks are from the same range as the ones I’ve been using for the fish, so they will get used and then there were some nice bright colours, but what would I do with them?  I had a brain wave.

Firstly, I cut them into pieces to make the best use of the fabric.  Somewhat of a time waster, but fun to see the odd shapes transform into something usable.

Then I added one inch borders to the Dr Seuss panels.

Before using the bright scraps for sashing and border.  I’m loving it.  I still felt it needed a border to add some size to it.  Fortunately, I found a suitable fabric in my stash.  That hasn’t been added yet.  It has now been put aside for the minute, until I get all those quilts quilted.

It was such a lovely day that I dug out my baby Elna Stella and set myself up on the back verandah to sew.

AND ALSO….

I nearly forgot that I made the little swap gift for Spring in the Scrub.

And that about sums up what I have been getting up to on the sewing front.

15 MINUTES A DAY

Apart from one day, I have done some stitching every day.

September = 29/30

Year to date = 250/274

Success rate = 91.24%

I’m happy with that.

So, all things considered, despite not achieving many goals, I still have a bit to show for the month.  We’ll see how we go next month.