it's holiday time

 School holidays are here in Victoria though there isn't much difference to the past few weeks except for the fact I won't have to work from home and won't even get to go to work for my one day on site.

It has been great to go to work, a luxury in these lockdown times. An opportunity to see some work colleagues and interact with different people.

I am going to treat myself and start my basket case quilt. I have all the background fabrics now and I made an impulse by of some Tilda fat 1/8s for the baskets.  Hopefully that won't take two weeks to arrive by mail or it will not get to be my holiday project.

This weekend the little smocked dresses got finished completely and I can't wait for them to go to the little girls they were made for.

I got some very productive time in the sewing room this afternoon.  The latest border for Spring Bouquet has had lots of new applique pieces glued down. My plan is to get it done by the end of this month then next month's goal will be to complete the fourth border.

A neglected project has been my Farm Sweet Farm quilt top. The top and bottom row of pieced blocks needs to be done and I had entertained the thought of giving them a miss and just putting an outer border but fired up and made a start on the remaining blocks. Chain piecing them seems the easy option so the centres got done first. Only 5 more to do and I am on the home stretch...

Hope your weekend has been crafty

marina

Midweek musings

Another wednesday in lockdown has arrived and looks like there will be a few more to come.

A little pick me up arrived today in the form of a squishy package.  I had ordered some fabric for my latest basket quilt at the start of the month but with the post the way it is at the moment, It finally arrived today. (the top and bottom fabrics)

I now have a lovely stash just waiting to be cut into... the grey spotted fabric on the bottom will be for the outer borders and the others will make up the centre basket blocks. Can't wait to cut into these... but need to finish off those little dresses first. School holidays coming up so there will be time to start then.

Here are a few more of some mini's I made to use up some of my Liberty fabric leftovers...and some backing fabric leftovers too. Win win!

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I love this pattern and have made one in reds as a gift but the liberty fabrics go quite well too. I must make myself one, one day...

There are a few more to be revealed once they arrive at their destinations.

I just wanted to share a picture of one of my orchids. I have two the same that have been resurrected after not flowering for many years. They are both yellow and the flowers are smaller than they should be but each year they are 'less yellow' and a little bigger. As far as flowering they are going great guns with at least 10 spikes on each one. Gotta be happy about that.

This is a picture of my 'co-workers' for today! As you can see they are flat out.......but not working lol

Hope everyone is having a great week so far!

cheers

Marina

sewing day

This morning I got all ready to take part in the zoom get together only to realise it is on next week! 

Not wanting to waste the enthusiasm I spent the day in my sewing room getting stuck into those smocked fronts.

Two little dresses are done with just some finishing touches needed, namely-hems, neck and buttons and elastic in sleeves.

I'm quite happy with how they came together but I can tell you there was a heap of reverse sewing and re-sewing. I knew there was a reason I always stalled on the sewing machine side of things.

all this sewing got me enthused enough to delve into my 'smocking box'. I have some dress front's in various states of completion that have been there for many years... just waiting for a little recipient to turn up and need some little dresses. I think if I can get them done our little princess will get one and I will gift the other two to some other little girls in the family.  All the pieces are cut out waiting to be completed.

This one just needs sewing up....

This one needs some embroidered flowers along the front.....

This one is all pleated and ready to be smocked. All the cottons are included.

Some patchworking has been getting done too but the item I am working on at the moment is a secret project so it will be revealed once received so you'll have to be content with smocking for this post.

Happy days

Marina

Friday

 Another week has flown. Crafting has been sporadic but there have been a few ticks off the to do list.

Two little fronts got smocked and hopefully this weekend I can get a good start on sewing them together. I am quite happy with them and the only issue I have is that the fabrics were so busy and they take away a little from the smocking but I can feel my stitching improving and getting more even.

Early in the week a good friend celebrated her birthday so I popped her gift in her letterbox on a walk with the furries. A gift card and a mini quilt to celebrate.

I made this in an attempt to use up some of my Liberty leftovers. I got to make a quick project and play with fabrics I enjoy. 

Think I'll leave you with a picture of a Camelia flower from my garden. I have five large bushes in full bloom. The are amazing and add a burst of blooms to the garden. Sadly they don't last too long but we'll enjoy them while they last.

Tomorrow I'll get to catch up with sewing buddies via a zoom meeting. It's not the same as a get together but it will be a nice change from sewing alone at home.

Hope you all have a great weekend

Saturday morning

 The weeks are just rolling by...

Secret sewing is finished and winging it's way to it's recipients. Phew now to get back to other stuff.

Second border of Spring Bouquet is almost done. I want to get a wriggle on with this one as I have earmarked it as a gift for my SIL's big 0 birthdayin March next year and I have to allow time for it to be custom quilte. I think I'm on track..

This week I bought a new quilt ladder as the one I have is a little small and it doesn't really display the quilts as well as I would like. New one displays the quilts quite nicely and the old one has been repurposed in my sewing room for completed flimsies.

Here is the new one....

old faithful with flimsies...

 

I had a brainwave yesterday when I was putting my flimsies on the ladder and feeling guilty about the older ones waiting to be quilted.... I thought I would back my liberty dresden top with my clamshell flimsy. Two quilts for the price of one. Still debating this though as I had hoped to handquilt the dresden but if it is backed with the clamshells an overall machine quilting would be better. Hmmmmm need to think this out.

 Decisions, Decisions....

Anyhow... sun is shining for now and my plan is to get that border done and the next one marked out and applique pieces prepped. Might even dabble in some smocking if I get that done.

Happy days....

Hearts progress

 Some time ago I shared a photo of some little hearts that I decided to make to use up little scraps and bits left over from other projects. Well in my absence from blogging they had accumulated and I decided to sew them together. The project is ongoing of course as there are always little scraps that are happy to become little hearts. They make a great pick up and go project.

This is the where they are at.... once the tin is full then they will get sewn together and added to the main part.

two other little UFO's that needed finishing were two little minis that were made from half square triangle scraps that I had held onto for way too long. Then they stalled as minis that needed quilting. Well they got quilted and are on display.

Sunday crafting time was spent pleating two little fronts for smocking.

Now just to finalise colours of cotton and smocking pattern. Sometimes I think I enjoy the prepping process just as much as the crafting.

Happy Days!!

Marina

Saturday sunshine

 Today the sun is shining... the wind is blowing but at least the sun is shining and it is a lovely mild day.

Seeing as we welcomed a granddaughter I have been able to resurrect an earlier passion of mine. 

Smocking!

I altered a romper and turned it into a dress and finished some little nighties that I had discovered quite a few years ago at my mum's house.  I had also cut a little dress from a Liberty stash I had received for a birthday a little while ago which has made a very pretty little dress and re-acquainted me with some lost skills. The result isn't perfect but still pretty. I wish I had done a practice run first on a more inexpensive fabric. But as they say there are no dress rehearsals in life!

I have two more dresses cut out and a metre of fabric waiting to be cut into.  It's lovely to be doing this craft again.

I am trying to finish some secret sewing I have to do and once these are done it will be full steam ahead with this pattern.  A new design by Irene Blanck. I love little baskets and that border is something I couldn't resist. 

I only have Spring Bouquet as my other applique project so this will fit in to the scheme of things well.

I still have to decide on my backgrounds, I am thinking a light background but can't decide between vintage or reproduction fabrics......Reproductions are my comfort zone but vintage might be a nice change. Lucky I don't have to start it straight away.

Happy sewing!

Marina

Okehampton

Over the past months after a lot of stalling I got back to my Okehampton quilt. Attaching the clamshell borders was very challenging for me but I stuck at it and it seems to have worked out ok. 

This has been a challenging quilt in lots of ways and I am so happy it didn't get the better of me.

I loved the quilt the first time I saw the original at a quilt show a few years ago and I still love it now.

It just needs to have the clamshell basting threads removed and be quilted but there is no hurry.

After finishing this lovely and Mary Brown I had hoped to make a dent in my reproduction stash, you can laugh out loud at anytime! Needless to say I could make another couple of quilts before I would run out. Luckily I am using them for the Spring Bouquet quilt and also a project I have in mind to start very soon...... just have to finish some secret sewing!

Today I got this cute woolly jumper in the mail from a work colleague. She makes these to order and has a large selection of pictures to personalise them. With the profits she makes generous donations to various dog charities.

If anyone is interested she has a facebook page 'woolies for woofers'.

Snug as a foxy in a fox jumper!

Happy sewing

Marina

May Gibbs loving

 well don't know if you're ready for another post so soon....

I had a zoom catch up with sewing girls that I usually see every few months but with lock down that hasn't happened for what seems like ages. Others that joined the zoom get together I haven't seen for even longer. I have taken this photo from our facebook group and unfortunately a few had already signed off.  We usually meet at Gisborne Patch and Quilt so I put a photo of the shop as my background for the meeting. Just wish I could have done some shopping lol

It felt good to see everyone's faces and have a chat. I hadn't realised how much I had missed my crafty get togethers.

There a quite a few photos so brace yourselves...

I Saw some May Gibbs fabric online and decided I had to have some to make a quilt for the then future baby.   I had gifted the new parents two May Gibbs books that I had bought when my boys were babies so the quilt was a perfect addition. I won't finish it off just yet, it will be a gift for her first birthday.

The top is complete though...

these are just a few of my favourite blocks.

I also got Celebrating Mary Brown custom quilted by Leanne Kaufmann who has worked her magic on a few of my quilts. It has turned out beautifully.

It's a little too big to get all of it in one photo and it would take a body builder to hold it up   So much beautiful detail in the quilting.

Well hope your weekend is including lots of crafting...

Happy days

Marina

Get ready for some pics...

 Here we go with another post....

These are the photos I had wanted to share the other day... I may have worked out my photo issues

This is my Liberty Dresden quilt. A little indulgence for me and a great project to have as a portable hand piecing project.

I am hoping to hand quilt with a very thin wadding.

Before we knew there was going to be a new addition to our family I had really wanted to make Lori Holt's Farm sweet Farm quilt. I only have two rows of the pieced blocks to do to complete the top. The piecing is always where I seem to stumble but as there is no  hurry it is patiently waiting to be finished.

I have worked out how to upload photos to google pics where they can be edited! Hooray that is going to make it so much easier. 

Here goes....

row 1 are the first 3 pics.

bottom row left

middle row centre block

bottom row centre block

bottom row right block

bottom row left block

I'll just cram in one more photo of the quilt I made for our little princess. 

The pattern is Milestone quilt by Melly and Me.  As I wanted to needleturn applique most of the pieces the numbers and letters would have been too difficult so I used black wool felt and it worked a treat.

The arrow and round bear outline are perspex that came with the pattern. Great idea!

Well that is a photo overload so I'll leave it there for tonight..

Hope you enjoyed seeing them and I 'll be back soon to show more of what I've been up to.

thanks for hanging in there 

cheers

Marina