Saturday with friends

I had a lovely catch up yesterday at Patch and Quilt in Gisborne with sewing friends.

Most of us go back to when there  used to be quarterly get togethers at Mill Rose Cottage. They were great get togethers and where the city girls bonded with the Gisborne girls. Many of the originals  have moved on to other things for whatever reasons and there is still a small group that get together. Sadly most of the bloggers amongst us no longer blog, I think I may be the only one to and even then I seem to forget to get fotos of the day to blog about! 

Mary's shop is always a great place to visit and you can count on a laugh or two.

Sadly I didn't do much crafting as my water bottle leaked over the stitcheries I had planned to work on and it also wet all the pages in the folder of patterns. I worked a little on a stale project that is well on the way to a completion so it all worked out well.

A few purchases were made of course

This has only a few more rows to go..... My favourite scarf pattern, I have used many times. This will go to a work colleague. Barb was admiring the pattern which coincidentally was purchased from one of the early Mill rose get togethers. 

We both purchase this same hank of wool, not knowing the other had bought it so we are going to see if we can have a scarf complete by next get together. I have chose this design and Barb will be using the pattern above.

Of course some fabric loveliness came home with me too. I had admired this coloured Tim Holz fabric on Mary's instagram and had to have some. The other fabric just had to come home with me too. Can never have too many positive affirmations.
 

A happy Mother's day to all those mums out there.

Tonight the masses will converge for feasting and merriment lol

Happy days!!

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

all good things....

....must come to an end.
I have been trying to make the most of the last few days savouring the time to get things done, having fun in the sewing room and spending a crafty day with friends.
It has been quite a productive break and you can't complain about that.
Yesterday I spent the day with Liz (the village quilters) and Rosalie (Briar Rose). Mum came up too and we shared some laughs, stories and sewing. Liz and Rosalie brought some show and tell with them and we were gobsmacked at how beautiful their finishes were. Liz brought her (my new quilt) AAHH top that has been put together. It is amazing!! I tried to steal kidnap it but there was not much chance of that happening.
Rosalie brought her crazy quilt to show and it was breathtaking. So much detail and such beautiful stitching.
The photos do not do either of them justice but here is a peek They are absolutely stunning.

I didn't take a photo of what the girls were stitching but Rosalie and Liz were working on two gorgeous Teddlywinks quilts. Mum was appliqueing like a woman possessed. She has found her mojo and is working on a quilt for my cousins little girl. I will get pics of that soon.
I wasn't idle and pulled out a 'had to do' project that has been sitting around for too long. Not quite finished but I'll share the finished item when it's done.
I did manage to tick two big things off my holiday list.....
The boys story quilt has been completely finished. The binding went on last night. I am very happy to have this done and it can go to it's new home next week.

the back was pieced from the leftover fabrics... Quilted by Jemima's with a jigsaw design. I love the quilting. They used this design on the dr Seuss quilt I made for No 1 son.

Second tick off the list was to try to complete the top for this special quilt..
Well it's a big 'done' and I have the back to piece then it will be ready for quilting.
I ended up going for an off white background as the taupe seemed to dull the butterflies too much and I wanted it to be bright and cheery.

Well Phew if you're still here thanks for sticking with me through all my pics.
There are just a few more to share..... Our passionfruit vine is flowering and I think they are the most amazing flowers so I wanted to share a few.
this one reminds me of the plant on the Little Shop of Horrors.... Feed me Seymour.....

One last pic of my latest sweet william block..

thanks for getting through all those pics.. there are some more that can wait till next post.
Have a great weekend
Cheers
Marina

crafting update

Well there have been bits and pieces getting done here. Some new spur of the moment projects which always crop up around holiday time and some work needing to be done on some old projects.
April's ufo's to be worked on are my Sweet Stitches. I have one ready to quilt and one stitched to be made up. Don't feel too enthused but I am going to try to fire up. I only got two ufo stitcheries crossed off March's list and two more will cross off once I make my block keeper.
I managed to complete my Baltimore block and I am quite happy with the result. Mum has completed two. We are both eager to get our next block.

Next on the agenda..... I have completed my cal blanket to the size I want it and am now starting a ripple blanket for my other niece.  I have enjoyed working on this and crocheting is a nice change to sewing.

 My holiday project is a special gift quilt....
I just love this pattern and I have been looking for a pattern to use my California Girl bundle for.
The pattern was a free pattern available on the Windham fabrics website, it is designed by Casey York.
I enjoyed cutting out the butterflies and just had to put some on the background to see if it would come together how I wanted... Yep loving it.

Yesterday I had some of the lovely city girls and country girls over for a sewing day. We missed those that couldn't make it but we ate some cake for you all and did lots of stitching of course. Mum popped over too but didn't bring her sewing.( Photo to follow)
The lovely Sue brought me a little giftie- a tape measure keeper. I have always wanted to make one of these and even tried once but was unsuccessful in my attempt. now I have one as a lovely gift. It is so neat and tiny.. amazing
It's going straight to the sewing room!

I managed to finish a stitchery that had been a little neglected while we chatted away.
An Urban Threads design. Another addition to the ufo stitcheries!

That's all for me this week..... After yesterdays sewing day with the girls I was very inspired to get going on my next Sweet William block. I am using my new applique skills on this block and should have a finish soon to show. 

Happy stitching!

Cheers for now
marina

sewing merrily along..

Well the relationship with Sweet William seems to be ambling along perfectly now. Those difficult times seem so long ago.......

I have a grand total of 13 baskets sewn so far and they are all of a uniform size. I am quite over the moon about this! A new 'Sweet William' page on my blog has all the photos of each block. There are another 8 to be made up in this batch then I will start to do some of the appliqueing. On Friday I got very organised and sorted all the patterns and applique bits that I had started to prepare, into a folder so that I will be uber-organised with this project now that I am in love with it once more.  (I think Elyte may have unleashed a monster)

Lesson-Never underestimate the power of the light bulb moment. Sometimes you just need someone to flip the switch.

 here are the latest blocks...

 On Friday I had a day out to Gisborne with Liz, Rosalie and mum. We had a great visit to Patch and Quilt, lunch at the new cafe a few doors up which we can happily recommend, then afternoon tea with lovely Karin from Kilmore quilters. Karin couldn't make the road trip so we detoured to visit.
Liz brought me two lovely gifties- one was this gorgeous pin cushion. It has already found a special place on my pincushion shelf. I love it and the colours are perfect, Liz knows my love of blues well.

 She also made this beautiful little angel ornament. It is so pretty. It has joined my treasures from crafty friends. It may go on the tree next year or just stay in my sewing room all year round.

Yesterday I had a great day with three of my nieces. 11 y/o twins and their 16 y/o sister. They are such wonderful girls. We made gnocchi together and then they asked me to teach them to crochet.

Well three students at once was a bit full on but I got them started with chain stitch. I told them once they perfect that we will move onto the next part of crocheting. They happily took yarn and hooks home to practice. I'm so happy to pass on some craftiness!

Needless to say once they went home I needed a big rest..... I did enjoy the girlie time a lot.

Well the sewing machine beckons, I need to make as much use of this holiday time as I can as it will end soon.

happy sewing!

Marina

Getting by with some help

..... from my friends....
Wondering how that Signature quilt is going?
Well it is going fine... with some help from my friends  Jacky and Jo the main part of the top was together last night with just the borders to be done this morning. After a 5 o'clock wake up I started to sew the borders on and they were done in plenty of time.
The top was presented at the farewell function this afternoon and it was very well received by the recipient and other staff that had signed squares. But she won't be able to keep it just yet as I still need to quilt it. That's my job over the next few weeks.
So many thanks to my lovely sewing elves for their help, couldn't have done it without you!
Now would you like to see the top...
I am hoping you do...

The pics were taken quite early this morning.

 Now the big question "do I like Kaffe Fassett now?"
Answer- I love this quilt, don't think there is one for me in the future but I love the effect of this one.

A very exciting arrival this week too... This beautiful Janome Memory craft 3000 machine.
Is'nt she lovely? She sews so beautifully too and there are some gorgeous stitches that I can try too when I am feeling a little adventurous. This was a generous gift from a friend.

 I tried it out when I made this block today.
It's in the hands of Australia Post on it's way to a crafty friend somewhere.....

Well I feel like I have used my holiday Sewing mojo all up-hope there is some left for the holidays?
I am hoping to spend some time with sweet William I  need the comfort of a project without such a drastic deadline, but I'll still have to spend quite a bit more time with Kaffe Fassett.
Hope your week is going well.
Marina

postal goodies and a little more christmas...

a few weeks ago I received a gorgeous parcel of goodies in the mail all the way from the Netherlands.

Lovely Els sent me a box which contained these lovelies..

 

the most adorable cross stitching..

The only crafting has been the progress on my swap goodies..

I managed to think of something for the third item. A holly decorated little cushion.. The stitchery design was a freebie, the link for which was put on Cheryll's christmas in July blog. It's such a pretty pattern.

 I thought some gold metallic thread would spruce the lettering a little bit. Not the easiest thread to work with though and so hard to get even.

the candle mat/ topper is all in one piece, basted ready for quilting.

I am waiting for some things in the mail that will allow me to start a new project which will involve trying something new. This gorgeous charm pack has been waiting for the right project, it was sent to me by the lovely Susan from Thimblestitch.

but you will just have to wait and see how it eventuates.....

Hope you all have a great weekend..

I am looking forward to a meeting with friends on Sunday

Happy stitching!

Marina