Thursday happiness

 It's a lovely Anzac day holiday today and I am hoping to get some time to prep some blocks for my Blooms quilt as I have run out of prepped ones. Always a lot of fun selecting fabrics.

Speaking of fun this week I got to catch up with two bloggy friends. Fiona (Bubz Rugz) is down from Queensland and we arranged a catch up. I thought it would be great to ask our mutual friend Liz to come with me for the drive.

It has been a few years since I have had the chance to catch up with Fiona and it was a joy to do so. Of course the time went by too quickly but there was lots of chatting and laughs had. I remember I caught up with Fiona, Michelle and Teresa in Queensland years ago and that was a wonderfully memorable catch up.

Michelle and Fiona are both making the Caswell quilt which  I made a few years ago and I very generously gave Fiona my pattern (after we both talked her into making it). I thought it might have been even more generous of me to give her my Celebrating Mary Brown pattern as she may like to make this one next but she was not very receptive and replied with a threat about sending me the Civil War Bride quilt patterns if I did.

Hmm some people? 

Thanks Fiona for the catch up and hopefully it won't be years between this and the next one. 

Here are the latest bloom blocks. They are such fun to make. I think I may be close to half way, I must tally up and see.

Hope your day includes some sewing.

Cheers

Marina

Social sewing weekend

The past weekend was spent partaking in some socialising with crafty friends.

Saturday evening I joined in with Chooky's zoom session and it was lovely to spend some time with the lovely ladies that were on. I hadn't had a chance to join in on a session for awhile so it was lovely to chit chat while I worked away on my crochet blanket which is progressing beautifully.

 

On Sunday the Gisborne girls and the City girls got to have a long awaited catch up. We haven't all been together since all this covid business.  Tracee was our hostess with the mostess and she spoiled us with an amazing lunch. There was some sewing happening and lots of laughter. 

These get togethers are definitely a tonic.

I actually have a photo of the get together, it seems like we don't remember to take pics these days.

Here we are looking very industrious

L-R Anne, Robyn, me, Sue (kiwikid), Tracee, Marg, Gail & Annie.

Most of us met through blogging and it's been at least 10 years of getting together and crafty companionship.

Here are some latest blocks for My Favourite things..... I did finish two yesterday but I just need to do some embellishments before they are photo ready

Hope the sun is shining where you are... 

Marina

Happy Saturday zoom

 Chooky put out the notification of a zoom get together and I wasn't sure if I would get the chance to pop in but I was lucky to get two pop ins to the zoom.

So lovely to sew with people from all over the place that I would have little chance of catching up with in person. Of course there were some sewing friends that I have met in person too.

I had a little company that joined in on the zoom with me. As they are quite crafty too they enjoined the  conversations while I worked on my monster circles. Making some progress.

It's a dog's life

Happy days!

Marina

We are free!!

 Covid Lockdown has been lifted at last and what an amazing feeling, a little bit unusual considering how long we've been lockdown but amazing nonetheless!

On Saturday a get together was arranged with the City girls who it seems like I haven't seen for an eternity.

Lots of laughing and chatting and eating as you'd expect with some sewing thrown in for good measure.  It was an absolute joy to see everybody again.

I got some photos of show and tell but forgot to get a picture of us all.  They are such an amazing bunch of girls and hopefully it won't be too long till we go on an adventure. There are so many shops we have not visited for a long time.

The next two quilts were Anne's work. I think we have nominated a new High Achiever in the group!

This was Gail's handiwork. 

This was Elyte's Tilda fabric quilt, beautifully made and hand quilted

I took my Okehampton for show and tell and my clamshells came along too.

I have also been finding joy in the garden at the moment as flowers begin to bloom. My Sister in law gave me some Iris plants and they have flowered for me beautifully. I have a few clumps in the garden but this is the first to flower. I am absolutely smitten with them.

My red rose has gone berserk this year. I had a lovely flowering last year but I think this year is going to be a record best. The plant was grown as a piece from a plant that my mum had been gifted when they first moved into their new home 50 odd years ago. My plant is over 30 years old and is one of the first plants we put in our garden. It is looking the healthiest it has ever looked and the perfume is intoxicating. They bring me lots of happiness.

Hope the flowers are blooming in your gardens 

Some sewing will make an appearance next post.

Happy days!

Marina

playing with scraps

Holidays provide the luxury of spending idle time in my sewing room and I have really been enjoying just dawdling and getting distracted by bits and bobs.
Yesterday I decided it was time to minimise my scrap baskets and iron and sort larger pieces and try to utilize smaller ones. Gradually I have been trying to cut up small scrap pieces into 1 1/2"and 2"squares so added a little to these but had a great idea to try appliqueing small hearts.
I made two tops to donate to the victims and first responders of the New Zealand tragedy and I enjoyed sewing the hearts so what better than downsizing them and making little hearts. Another mini on the way?

 

It started out as only prepping some hearts to have at the ready, then progressed to having a little go to see if it would be too fiddly or not,then  to getting carried away last night and sewing little hearts till my hearts content!

In for a penny, in for a pound as they say! I just can't help myself.
The hearts will use my 2" scrap blocks and the backgrounds are 2 1/2" and are from odd pieces of backgrounds that I have plenty of as I can't seem to throw them away.
Now aren't they cute? you can hardly blame me for getting carried away?
In my defence I did prep another saw tooth border for Mary Brown ready for applique and also a row of clamshells are ready to sew onto the border piece before losing myself to these hearts.

In the mail yesterday I received a gorgeous little parcel of loveliness from wonderful Michelle.
I had sent some of my stash pieces to contribute to her clamshells and her heart blocks for her grand daughters. I got to reduce my stash (minimally) and it added variety to her projects. Winning all round. As a thankyou she sent me this very cute milk jug doily and beautiful shirting piece.
I love milk jug doilies and this will add beautifully to my collection.
the little cup and saucer is so tiny, about the size of a thimble!

Happiness is...

Happiness is spending time with these beautiful Ladies!
All the problems of the world disappear and are drowned out by laughter and comeraderie.
we could probably solve the problems of the world if we put our  minds to it.
Of course the road trip is such a hoot too....but what goes on in the car stays in the car! might I add it was a beautifully cleaned car for the occasion. I won't have to clean it again for the rest of the year it had such a good scrub inside and out.
Thanks to the gorgeous Sue for hosting us.

l-r yours truly, Robyn, Anne, Marg, Sue (standing), Tracee, Elyte and Annie

 thought I would share a close up of the blocks I personalised for my Gossip in the garden...
This Chocolate block is one from Anni's quilt design My favourite things. We used to eat so much chocolate at work.... probably comfort eating more than anything lol

 ......there was also lots of cake, cake, cake and talk, talk, talk..... I know you are surprised...

I Changed the border around the centre as I couldn't master the blocks of the original and I felt it needed a bit of 'space' as the quilt is so busy. Also added another cup cake... can never have too many cupcakes-well that was our philosophy at work. Can you see a pattern here, no wonder I gained the weight over a long period.

 nope, didn't change this one .... love it though

 I simplified the border a bit to give some more neutral space and added the scalloped border to frame it.

 here's another pic, look away if you're sick of seeing it lol
Sue's pic has more light and shows up the fabrics better.

Well thanks for hanging in there.....and thanks for visiting and leaving such lovely comments on my previous post.
will be back soon to show my finishes for 2017.
cheers
Marina
x

pardon my absence...

Time seems to fly by at the moment and my poor blog has been sorely neglected.but I do have a good excuse....
for the past 3 1/2 weeks we have been travelling through parts of Europe with our eldest son who has been living in the UK. We had a wonderful time visiting with relatives and friends that I haven't seen for many many years..
I won't bore you with all the photos of my trip as there are so many. We got to go to the Colosseum, Roman ruins, magnificent churches in Switzerland and Austria and even went on a sound of music tour in Salsburg which was great fun.
It seems like a dream now that we are home.
......and yes I did visit two patchwork shops. I had Den Haan and Wangenmakers on my list to visit in Amsterdam and it was a lovely shop and there was another shop right next door which I would've walked straight past if not for no 1 son. Some little souvenir purchases were made, I was very well behaved (because I had spent up at the blue delft shop!)
A big highlight was also the opportunity to meet a bloggy friend Els in the Netherlands. We first corresponded after doing a swap  a long time ago. Els and her husband were very hospitable and showed us wonderful dutch hospitality and the glorious dutch countryside. It was an amazing day!

 

me and Els at the Royal summer palace.

As you know I had stocked up on clamshells as my travelling project, well no go on the plane they wouldn't allow the needle at all so I had to save it for the many train trips we did to get to the different cities we stayed at. I did managed to baste them all and make a start on piecing two blocks.

Since coming home I have sewn another few blocks together. It's lovely to be able to sit and sew again.

clamshell progress

just to share.... here is mum's baltimore quilt that we did the class together for. She added three more blocks and has appliqued sashings and has almost finished her outer borders which are so beautifully appliqued.

Another reason for lack of time has been the arrival of furry little paws at our house.
We picked up our new curly boy on Wednesday..... His name is Billy.
He is such a sweet pup but I know there will be some naughtiness in store as his eyes give it away.
He settled in really well with thanks to poor Coffee who has to endure his naughtiness more than we do.
A lot of time gets spent with looking after this baby and there will be many more hours to be spent in training and teaching him to be a well behaved boy. All part of the fun!

I'll slowly catch up with blogs and see what everyone has been up to...
Till then
cheers
Marina

loooooots of photos..

Time is flying by and my poor neglected blog has seen little attention. I have been visiting here and there to see what everyone has been up to, sometimes commenting and sometimes not.
Seems like I have just lost my blogging mojo......
Facebook is a little to blame. It has been a wonderful way to keep up with no 1 son who is exploring the world and it seems to give instant gratification too, with a simple like, little commitment and eye candy by the truck loads. not to mention cute animal videos.
I thought I just had to share a most gorgeous squishy parcel that arrived in my mail from a wonderful and talented lady who I wouldn't have met had it not been for blogging so I fired up the computer and here we are...
Now I will warn you that there are going to be lots of pics as I bring you all up to speed with the crafting craziness that has been occupying my time.
Firstly the squishy!
an exquisite glasses case/purse and immaculately stitched book mark from Fiona (bubzrugz) I was gobsmacked... thankyou so much Fiona XX

Had to share two new finishes from Mum.... She completed these beautiful quilt tops last week, they were hanging over her head for a bit and were a hurdle to getting her back to her baltimore. Unfortunately the photos don't do them justice as there is so much detail, especially in the fairies one.

There has been lots of crochet with a rainbow ripple blanket done and having pride of place as my header.
Now where has Caswell been during this blogging absence....never far from my hands....
Here we go ...
firstly this probably has to be my favourite block. I love the birds and am pretty chuffed that I managed all those little pieces interweaving with each other as you pretty well have to work out the order yourself from the pattern sheets.
oops pardon the threads..

 this one hot off the needle last night.

I must say that I am really loving these blocks.....12 done 18 to go.
If you're still with me, thanks for sticking through all that. don't know when my next post will be but you are all caught up for now.
Hope all is well in your world
Cheers
Marina

Is it too soon.....

.......for me to share some more blocks from the Caswell quilt.....?
this is block 2

 block 3

 here are some more applique papers prepared and ready....

 here's the first applique block for my Hopscotch quilt. lovely and fresh..

Lots of happy sewing days have been on the agenda..... Last sunday was spent with the city girls catching up with Shez and some of the other usual suspects like Barb, Cheryl and new friend Karen and of course a contingent of the Gisborne girls. What a wonderful day!

Today I had a lovely day sewing with Liz, Rosalie, Karin and Mum. We had a lovely day chatting and laughing but there was also some stitching. I worked on the second hopscotch block and fixing up some reverse sewing required on the no 2 Caswell block. Couldn't work out why the two red flowers didn't look quite right then  realised I had sewn the centres back to front!  so off they came and they look much better now, as in the pic.
Another sewing day tomorrow with the city girls and a special visitor....
More of that next post. Looking forward to a last catch up before it's back to routine next week....
But I'm sure all this  happiness will keep me going for a while!
Hope some happy sewing is happening your way....
Cheers
Marina

shirt challenge reveal....

Today was the day for the big shirt challenge reveal. The venue was the beautiful home of the lovely Marg.
It was bring a plate and your shirt challenge project and also the Kaffe Fassett challenge for those that took part.
It was a wonderful day spent with inspiring ladies as the following photos will show...
Be warned there are quite a few photos.
first up was the kaffe fassett challenge quilts...

Sue's gorgeous Samoan fabric top

Annette and Marina's completed quilts.

Tania and her gorgeous start to her top

Donna's beautiful top all basted ready to start quilting.

 There were some other finishes that made it to show and tell..

Sue's beautiful Batik sew along top, quilted waiting for binding.

Marg's amazing 'message in a bottle' flimsy. So love this!

Now for the shirt challenge.....

This stunner was Marina's, and I so wish it was this Marina's, but it belonged to Gisborne Marina.

Marina's other shirt challenge quilt.

Tania's challenge was going to be a mini but she enjoyed it so much she is going to let it grow

Annettes stripey delight. Even had a pocket for keeping the remote.

Marg's stunning quilt. this was amazing.

This was Helen's 

Sue's stripey quilt with lots of pockets. This will go to the Orangutans at the zoo and treats will be hidden in the pockets.

 Forgot to take a pic of my own quilt so here is one I borrowed from Sue (kiwikid's) blog. Not quite finished but together at least as a flimsy.

Here we are all together.

Thankyou all for a wonderful day and to Marg for hosting us all in her home.

There were a few of the usual suspects absent and were sadly missed. Hopefully it won't be too long till the next get together.

Cheers

Marina