new temptations....

 Well another week has just flown by. It would be nice to slow the days down sometimes.

All my snowglobes are done but they aren't able to be shared at the moment as they are all pinned together ready to sew them up. I hope to get the top done this weekend so that I can get it to the quilters in time to get it back by the end of the year.

I already miss not having such a handy project that is easy to pick up. I thought it best to give some attention to my heart blocks. I had decided that now that it is a decent size piece it might be more economical, time wise, if I sewed up hearts into 9 patch blocks then sewed them onto the main piece, instead of sewing a single row together and adding.

It seems to be a strategy that works.

While watching Good Omens 2 this afternoon I got the next section done.  I hope to start Season 3 tonight. I am loving it. Michael Sheen and David Tennant are amazing together. If you are fan of theirs you definitely need to watch Staged. filmed during lockdowns. 

Now to sew them onto the main piece.

Here is my Billy boy photo I promised. Our boy is now ten, he is such a good boy and thankfully still in good shape. This photo was after a good wash and trim. We have owned Curly Coated Retrievers for 40 years and I have always loved trimming and grooming them myself. They wouldn't win ribbons for my hair cutting but there is only ever a few weeks between a good and bad haircut.

From when we bring home as puppies their coat care training begins. One pair of curlies we had, used to line up the minute they saw scissors come out to be the first in line for a trim, the same happened when the bath got filled up.

These days we take advantage of the ergonomic height of the dog wash at the Car wash. It's perfect and Billy is the perfect gentleman, getting up and down when asked. Being a water dog we have never had an issue with getting wet lol.

A new project is in the works thanks to some encouragement from Fiona from Bubz Rugz. She is undertaking Tilda's Ginger jars quilt that showcases Tilda's Something Blue fabric range.  Being a blue and white fan I had secretly been coveting this fabric but wasn't sure what quilt design would tempt me. Jemima's patchwork had designed an applique quilt to showcase this fabric range but their supplies sold out quite quickly so I left it at that. 

When Fiona shared her project I thought it was absolutely perfect the applique flowers pushed me off the fence and Fiona had a spare copy of the pattern that she generously offered to send me. So off I went like bull at a gate. Fabric has been ordered though I do need to decide on a background fabric. I have also toyed with ideas as to how I can alter the sizes of the ginger jars so that they will be more varied than the original. the shorter jar on the cushion will be incorporated I think. I also will be appliqueing my ginger jars as piecing is  not my strong suit.

Well here we go.....one project ends and another inspiration appears!

Happy days

Marina

Heed the call

 Don't you love it when you get that message that your quilts have been quilted!

I got that message Friday and couldn't wait to go pick them up on Saturday from Jemima's ( my local quilt shop). It felt like I'd only taken them a few weeks ago but yes, 9 weeks had passed.

Next holidays I will take another quilt and slowly work through my flimsies.

I rummaged through my stash and realised that I wouldn't have any fabric for binding so I bought that too when I picked them up.That afternoon the binding was on and last night I put the last stitches in to sew the binding down.

One is a mini hearts quilt for my new grandbaby. I had made one 5 years ago for no 1 princess before she underwent major heart surgery at 5months so thought no 2 princess deserved one too. As there was less urgency with this one it is a little bigger than the first one and I also had it quilted. the first one was hand quilted as there wasn't time to delay as I wanted her to have it in hospital so she could have nana hugs with her as it was during covid and it wasn't easy to visit.

There were some lovely donated pieces of fabric that conrtibuted to these heart quilts over the years. Gotta love sewing friends.

There is a third one in the works in case another little princess or prince is in my future. I am hand sewing it together and it is a great pick up whenever project.

Princess no 1's quilt

Princess no 2's quilt

Poor Caswell quilt being used as a design wall.

No 3 underway

the second fnish is Orange Sherbet, pattern by Irene Blanck. This is a little out of my wheelhouse as far as colours and brightness goes but I loved making it and do love the final result. the inner backgrounds are the same as Irene used in her original and it took some web surfing to find them but I just had to have them. The border was navy in Irene's original but it was too much for my eye so I went with a Lori Holt fabric that had a subtle pattern. I'm not unhappy with the choice and the navy floral binding frames it nicely. 

Leftover orange fabric made a great backing.

More Snow globes are coming together. I have slowed down a little now that I'm back at work but I am over half way.

We had a brief getaway down the Mornington Peninsula a few weeks back and after scouring so many op shops I managed only two doilies.

One of these will become a label for the heart quilt, just need to decide which.

They are becoming rare as hen's teeth.

Be back next week hopefully with labels done!

Well done if you have made it through all this post and thankyou for stopping by.

Have a great week

Marina

this and that

Thanks to SAS Australia and Survivor there has been some extra sewing happening in the sewing room. Even though I have been a fan of these shows I am a little over them but Hub still likes watching them so I retreat to the sewing room while they are on.

I managed to finish sewing all my scrappy hearts into one piece.... Now to decide on the borders.

Yesterday I joined in with Chooky's blogaversary zoom and it was lovely to see and sew with all the lovely ladies.

I worked on my Liberty hexie flowers and realised I only had seven to go, so made quick work of them last night.

They are all ready to sew in rows and then I will work out the borders- this isn't their final arrangement as I can see from the photo some need to be moved around to balance the colours.

While at the sewing day last week I was bidding on an ebay item which I happily won. It arrived quick sticks , I love it.

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I'll leave you with a photo of the two princesses who seem to think the hammock was bought just for them.

So love my girls and of course my big black dog too, but there's no way he's getting in the hammock!!!

Happy days!

Full of hearts

 the holidays are flying by and only one week left till it is back to the grind!

Crafting is sporadic and it's been a struggle to concentrate on which project to work on so my hearts always seem the go to when I don't know what to do. I made a start on sewing them into sets of four and of course that led to a complete row so I can now know what my dimensions will be.

Looks like this project is still going to be the project I go to for a little bit longer. Ideally it would be great to finish it before I go back to work.

Looking for something to do I decided to start the Attic 24 Crochet along that started last week. I was going to wait but it has been a handy thing to work on when little Princess is having her naps, when I look after her.

By the looks of it so far it is going to be a bright cheery blanket.

Popped into an op shop yesterday to see if I could find any doilies and happened upon this pretty one.

It will make a gorgeous quilt label.

Happy days!!

Marina

The New year

 Well Happy New Year to you all in blogland. The festive season is done and dusted and the elves left for the North Pole bright and early on Christmas Day but not before they had seen the Chrsitmas Carols. I was sad to see them go as they have been great company over December... but the time had come.

The New Year seems to have left my Mojo behind again but I'm hoping to fire up soon so that the holidays are not wasted. It's been pretty quiet here and as there are so many Covid cases I am trying not to go out too much.

The only needle work I have managed was some hearts, bringing them to a grand total of just over 500 hearts.

They definitely need some sewing together!

Had some fun with my May Gibbs fabrics

Hope the new Year has started off well for you all 

Happy sewing

Marina

a tin full of hearts

 Little hearts have made a quick appearance this week. I can't seem to want to tackle anything too big at the moment.

I thought it was time to take stock and I have 320 little hearts. Well on the way to a new little quilt.

This weekend I hope to cut out some more little hearts.

Tomorrow night Victoria comes out of lockdown!!! woo hoo!!! There are still conditions but at least it is a start.

Just need to try to get a haircut as my hair is seriously out of control.

Happy days

Marina

Basket progress....

Work life is settling and I can get some sewing done of an evening without falling asleep.

I have so many ideas for new projects whirling around my head tempting me to start a new project, so far I have resisted but it won't be long till I will give in. lol Watch this space!

In the meantime I have managed to make a start on Basket case borders. One and a half completed. Easy sewing, the outer borders are going to be fun with lots of applique.

I found two nifty and cheap storage containers at Woolworths.

I usually store my projects in tins but have to go through them all when I can't remember what is in them. These are great to pick up and go and have great compartments in the white trays and lots of storage underneath, variable size to suit the project you are working on.

I'll share some little hearts that have been gradually restocking my collection which was quite depleted after I made the quilt for our little princess. It will be awhile before they will become a quilt.

Some friends added some of their scraps to my collection. Others' scraps have a way of injecting enthusiasm to a project.

Hope everyone has a great week!

Happy sewing

Marina

roll onto Christmas

 There has been little time for blogging or visiting blogs over the past few weeks.

Work is done for 2020 thank goodness and there have been some other issues keeping me away but hopefully now there will be more time for my favourite things.

Not a lot of crafting to show but I have lots of plans so stay tuned.  I have some lovely gifties to share from crafty friends.

Get ready for a marathon of photos

A lovely ornament from Michelle....

this lovely project keeper with a little project included from Annie from my sewing buddies.

Elyte made me this gorgeous sewing pouch with beautiful auriful cottons. Love the blues!

A work bud that I accidentally got hooked onto patchwork dropped in a surprise gift. Stunning fabrics for a beautiful runner! I couldn't believe it.

she included this supercute zipper pouch with some liberty fabrics to add to my stash!

I wanted to make a quick little quilt for our little princess as she had to undergo some serious surgery, thankfully all went perfectly and she is recovering well thanks to the amazing expertise and care at the Royal Children's Hospital. A large square of hearts had been started so I got to it and sewed up some more to make it 18 X 18 hearts, hand quilted it this week and dropped it off today.

A quilt of love from Nana

I have been quite enamoured with the Elf on the Shelf craze and got much entertainment and joy from setting up the elves in our school office. There are some amazing accessories too..... 

 The children's reactions are just priceless. At home I will continue to set them up and I have been facebooking the pics. I thought I would share some here too.  Next year I am hoping little princess will be suitably enthusiastic about them too.

If I don't get here again this week a Very Happy and safe Christmas to all, hope you get to spend it with loved ones.

cheers for now

Marina

November already

 I can't believe it's November already! Busy days at work have made for very little sewing time at night. I've been struggling to stay awake let alone stitch. The best I have managed is some hearts as they are quick and easy and don't take a lot of concentration.  Won't be long and I'll start adding to the pieced section again.

I had a bit of a clean up in my sewing room this morning as things had got a little out of control. Feels good to get some order. Also had an attempt to prepare some quilt labels ready to stitch. I am very slack in making labels for my quilts, hopefully I can play catch up and get some done when I'm looking for a quick pick up project. Next year I'd like to get a few of those smaller flimsies quilted, hopefully hand quilted! Might be a bit ambitious but I'll give it a go.

Lockdown has eased and a get together in a park was organised by DIL and we all got to fight over our gorgeous baby girl and have a proper cuddle. She has just turned three months and is a little doll xx

Nine patch blocks have barely been touched but now total 27 Reds and 65 Scrappy.

I hope to get some sewing time this weekend and especially to treat myself on my day off on monday.

Happy sewing!

Marina