Saturday 28 February 2015

february ufo

This month I have been working on trying to finish the tops of my Lisa Bonegan  SAL minis and am happy to have a finish of one and a nearly finished on the applique one.
Just some berries and leaves are all that need to be done to finish it off.
There are bits that are a bit wonky and bits that don't look as perfect as I had hoped but it has been a learning curve making the different rows and especially working with such little pieces at times. Lisa's instructions are wonderful, wish she had written the Sweet william pattern!
Here is the photo evidence....
there were four more of these little buggers....  boy they would try a saint (of course I photographed the best one)



I am very happy with these and a big tick off my ufo list..... next to have them quilted
I have drawn March's ufo out of the bag and it will be No. 6 stitcheries. My task is to attempt to finish off the pile of stitcheries and cross stitcheries that I have stashed. I already have plans for two of them.....
after I sew the berries on my border of course, there's still one day left in february.
Off to craft group this morning so hopefully I can cut out all 36 of the tiny little things!
Have a wonderful weekend.
Marina

ps Melody is hosting a Rosalie Quinlan Stitchalong... I am not taking part in the United Stitches sew along but I have sewn quite a few of Rosalie's designs and this month you can share a favourite Rosalie project.
One of my favourites is the one I sewed for my friends birthday last year.
I still love it so much..


pop on over and see what everyone is sharing. Melody has a lovely prize to share too.
happy sewing!

Sunday 22 February 2015

a get together and some progress

Yesterday was the day for the first Mill Rosie get together for this year.
It was lovely to see everyone again and in such a beautifully inspiring venue.
I happily sewed in between the socialising, eating and retailing.
Top of my list was some fabric for the border of my pieced Lisa Bonegan sewalong.
It was unanimous that this star and stripe fabric would fit the bill perfectly. It is posiitoned with the fabric that I will use for the thinner border. Big tick here!
 While at Mill rose I appliqued 8 roses in the corner blocks for the appliqued sewalong block. When I got home I prepped and sewed down a vine one border. The other three are stapled ready to go.

 On Friday I popped into Jemima's to show the girls the fabric I wanted to use for my baltimore blocks.
I have had the papillon fabric on the left for years, waiting, waiting..... I picked up the centre fabric from Jemima's and the third one is from my stash too.
The other fabrics shown are all from my stash and these will be used for the applique. Some are newly added and some have been there for a long time. It feels good to use from my stash. There are a few more bits and pieces that I will need to gather before I start in March.
 We have been having quite a burst of heat here in Victoria, perfect excuse to hibernate and craft.
I found this cute heart pattern on the net and had some wool embroidery skeins given to me that I figured would be perfect.
I think these will be gifted to my nieces next time I see them
 Just had to share this cuteness. I adore this little mini jam jar. There were two in a hamper mum got for christmas. I have some ideas milling around my head on how to use this mini and the bigger version too. It's just so pretty.
Thanks to all the girls for a great day yesterday
cheers for now
Marina

Saturday 14 February 2015

Oops!

Well I have had two big oops moments today so I think I will quit while I am ahead as the third one might be a doosie!!
I thought I would give myself some time in the sewing room today..... but there were a few things that halted the retreat. Mum popped in this morning as we are both doing an applique class at Jemima's in Craigieburn and we had to go and sign up. We will be making a gorgeous baltimore quilt. Mum and I are both very excited!! Roll on March.......
Then......No 1 son popped in to get a button sewn on- are you for real!
I told him that I would show him how to sew it on.  You know the saying.... Sew a button on for a man and he wears his shorts without falling down, teach him how to sew and his trousers will stay up for a lifetime...
He didn't buy it....
Next visitor for the day was a dear friend. We had a great natter over a cup of tea then....... it was time to sew.
Then......One more delay to stop me sewing was one smelly curly beast. We had a massive downpour last night and Coffee got quite soaked which meant he also got smelly. He got a much needed wash, now I won't be so reluctant to bring him in the house if he has a decent aroma.
 He has also been in a little bit of trouble as he has been enjoying the fruits of DH's labours and helping himself to the green tomatoes. Seems we not only have to combat the thieves from the air but have to combat hairy ground forces too. For Heaven's sake.
So then eventually I made it to the sewing room......
I had cut out the blocks for the next sewalong batch of flying geese. During the week I prepared them all, pinning carefully ready to sew. Well here is where oopsie no 1 took shape.
I sewed and sewed, zipping along and when I made the first cut discovered my mistake

Notice that pretty floral fabric? Yes that's right, I sewed the corners on the incorrect side of the red square. Seeing as they were all cut and I didn't have enough fabric (or enthusiasm) to resew them they are staying as they are and I must say I prefer them this way.
some more sewing and cutting and sewing and they have become this
I am going to put a final border on this and then it will be done. Next week is the mill rosie get together so I will be on the hunt for a nice panel fabric that I can use for the last border.
It seemed a good idea to snap the pics outside. Well that's where we come to oopsie no 2
I put this one on the ladder to snap a pic too and thought i should put something on the top corner on the ladder to keep it on...  like so...
Well the item I put on the fabric had moudly stale water that dribbled out of it and landed on my mini.
 
After a few expletives
I ran inside to get this..
It's amazing stuff and has removed all the yukkiness that was going to ruin my mini and reduce me to tears. Once it dries out I am sure it will be perfect again. Phew!
These ufo's were on my February ufo list and I am still hoping to get the tops done and will be happy if the applique and quilting is the only part that needs doing byt the end of the month.
Hope there has been some sewing in your day too
cheers
Marina



Sunday 8 February 2015

UFO guilts


A few weeks ago I visited my sil who had just been given a mountain of fabrics from an elderly aquaintance who was destashing.
Among the metres of fabric and assorted crafty books and goodies were numerous, and I mean numerous smocking projects waiting to be sewn up. My sil asked me over to have a look and give some advice on the sewing process for the smocked pieces and also to give me some lovely aida and cross stitch linen that were in the stash.
Seeing all those beautiful smocked dress fronts and thinking what would happen to my own stash of wip's smocked bits I have decided that I need to address those ufo's too.
I used to love smocking and made lots of items as gifts for great nieces and nephews who were born at the during my smocking phase. I was also smocking for other sewers and a magazine and that took a little of the enthusiasm away. You know when you have to do something to other's specs it becomes a chore not a hobby. So quite a few unfinished pieces got put away in a large box. I was great with doing the smocking just not so great with the sewing them up into a garment.
Well it's best to get them out into the open and I think I need to try to make some headway with these ufo's too... so they are being added to the list and will wait for their number to come up. Who knows they may just make it to the top of the creating pile too...
 Here are the ones that have just been smocked, some pieces cut out....

 this is an assortment of garments at the finishing stage......quite a few needing buttons....
I feel so guilty having this many unfinished bits.

Now to more pleasant things....
Yesterday Hub and I visited family in Gisborne (sorry girls....) and I also made a visit to Patch and quilt to look for a cream fabric from a previous visit and also some red to finish my sew a long minis. No luck with the cream but found some lovely reds. We then headed off to Daylesford and made a little detour to Castlemaine to Threadbare. Found a gorgeous cream and some more reds and two greens.
 Two amazing shops in the one day. I only had about 15 min at Threadbare as DH must have had an inkling I might go a little crazy lol
Here are my goodies...   (the greens will go towards applique on my sweet william blocks)
Speaking of my sew along blocks...
The first one is done, just needing some wool applique which is prepped ready to go.The outer border will have more applique of a trailing vine with the flowers in the corner. Hit a bit of a hurdle on the geese for the second one but am keen to get that one to this stage too. But I did manage those tiny star blocks..
a little wonky in places but done!

Some cross stitching has been happening while watching tv too now that I have a new stash of linens and aida..
These are both freebies...
This one from the Little Stitcher (Dorothy's red shoes by Laura Rimola) It is stitched with only one thread on tiny aida and it was difficult to get the stitches even as if I pulled too tight it would disappear!
 I really love this one and I will make it into a little cushion like the pattern....
Using some of the linen this time and two threads makes it a little easier.
Pattern from www.thesnowflowerdiaries.blogspot.hu
Off to put that smocking stash in my sewing room so that it is under my nose and I can't forget it as easily.
Have a wonderful sunday!

cheers
marina

Thursday 5 February 2015

February UFO project...

February is here already and it was time to select the project for this month

My Lisa Bonegan Sew along blocks have been neglected for quite awhile.
I had every intention to keep up but I was a little intimidated by a whole pile of little flying geese that needed to be done for the 3rd instalment.
Well the number was up and out it came.. and surprisingly the piecing was easier than I thought. The instructions by Lisa were so easy to follow and there are pictures to follow as well. My kind of patterns.
this is where the blocks were left at in July last year.
This week the applique one has progressed to this..... some applique pieces all cut out for the corners. They will go on once the next borders are on and that's where I'll finish it. using one of the later patterns to finish it off.

The star pieced one has the next border on and a visit to the fabric shop is in order so that I can get some more red fabric for the geese.
In the corners it has little star blocks. I have these half sewn..
You can officially call me certifiably crazy as those little cream squares are only 1" square!!

Off to the cave to tackle those little stars..... wish me luck

Cheers
Marina

Time is flying....

 Seems like my blog has become a little neglected again, this doesn't mean a lack of crafting though. Progress has been achieved on most...