Ready, set, sew.

When I was in Baradine for scrub stitchin' in April this year I bought one of Jude's Ready Set Sew kits. I 've picked away at the precut triangles and squares over a few months and this last week I've gotten stuck in and finished sewing them all.

Hmm, it would seem that blogger prefers my photos to be sideways again!

So the other day I got down on the floor and played shuffle.

Before sewing the blocks into rows.

Then yesterday I sewed all the rows together.

Today I added borders. 

That looks rather nice, I might just leave it there.

It really did not take long to put together, having the fabrics precut certainly helped a lot. Thanks to Jude and her Fairy. 

Now to find some batting for it, but no rush, I've already started cutting for the next project. LOL

I have a cross stitch finish to share, but I'll save that for another day.

There have been more extra shifts at work and some more to come. My colleague is out of hospital and will hopefully be back at work soon. Another is leaving and I'm to train her replacement.

Right, I'm off to sew for the remainder of my one day off this week. 

Another finished quilt in old man tree.

We don't have a big property with lots of trees and shrubs or other interesting places to drape a quilt, so I keep on returning to the same trees. Old man tree sits at the front of the property and is a beautiful tree, all year round. He does drop his leaves and has bare branches throughout the winter months. His branches and twigs look old and gnarly, they curl and bend in odd directions.

I thought I should try to get an image of the tree itself.

I couldn't get a great image of the quilt in the tree this time, so opted to try the fence just by the tree.

That works, all those lovely pinks and purples pop amid the green tones in the garden.

I do want to show one image of the quilt in the tree. Here you see the back of the quilt.

And Noah. I hadn't realised that next doors cat was peeping around the fence.

He visits every day and is a very handsome fellow. 

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In other news, I have found a unicorn pattern to stitch for Charmaine as a part of her Christmas bundle.

Progress has been made on the cat cross stitch and also on the ready set sew blocks.

With just over a half of them now completed.

I've been doing extra shifts at work again as my colleague is back in hospital with complications following her dance with Covid. I do hope she gets well and is able to return to work soon, her little family has been through a lot this year, they do not need more complications. 

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That's my news, I'm off to sew for a while before Torstein and Charmaine get here for their tea. 

Dinosaurs in trees!

That nice day finally arrived and I was able to get outside with the Dino quilt and get some photos.

First I tried old man tree. He now has leaves and flowers and is looking so pretty.

They cast beautiful shadows on to the quilt.

Next I wandered down the path and tried the cherry tree. 

It was lovely out there on a warm morning so I kept going and took some images of the gardens for you, but first a quick peep at the pantograph I used.

Dinosaur footprints by Urban Elementz.

Perfect!

Now back to the garden. 

The iris are looking splendid and I have to say I think this is the best I have ever seen them.

At the bottom of the path some lillies are starting to flower.

They too look to be setting up for a great show this year.

As are the neighbour's roses. Don't they look beautiful clambering over the fence?

Right under the window of my quilting room I can see some huge peonies.

This photo really doesn't show how big they are. 

Around the corner on the other side of the house is an area that gets very little sunshine and we have struggled with it, not really knowing what to do. Well over winter I finally settled on a fern garden. 

I'm just getting started to only two ferns and two small hostas at the moment, along with the lovely pieces of driftwood that my son Joe found for me.  I'm hoping to put a tree fern in there too, to give things a little height.

And finally while we are outside a picture of the flowers on old man tree.

They are beautiful, or rather they were, we had more wind and rain!

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As  reward for sticking around while I show off my garden, here is another quilt.

I bought a Disney panel of an online seller and had to go shopping for suitable fabrics. That was the day out Debbie and I had recently.

A couple of days ago I made a start and today I have just put the binding on, I plan to close it before work this afternoon. 

Here is a closer look at the quilting design.

It's called Trumpet Vine, by Kerryn Emmerson.

While I quilted my companion/inspector was sat under the frame looking out of the window.

No Janice, the wedding cake tree did not lose all of its flowers in the thunder storm.

Let me see what else has been going on?

Plan A for my Christmas ornaments didn't work out, so plan B it is. They will be mailed to family and friends very soon.

I finally put a back on Dippy the Dinosaur for Torstein.

You've seen him before, but no harm in looking again.

Now to find something smallish and quick for his sister.

I've also been working away at the black cat cross stitch, more on that another day.

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Time to go find lunch, then I'm going to sit and close binding. 

Tornado warnings!!?

Two weeks ago I was off to find a panto for quilting the dinosaur quilt. Well I did find one, dinosaur footprints.  I fiddled and tweaked with it so that I could do it with my machine on the frame. Then made a start and stalled. It is a very involved pattern, especially made smaller!

I procrastinated for a day or two then wound myself up and got back to it. It was a beautiful day when I settled in, all around me the windows showed the gardens looking lovely. 

Iris and peony were showing colour in the long bed.

The wedding cake tree was looking stunning as the flowers started to open.

I quilted and quilted as the sun shone and enjoyed the fresh air through the open windows.

On the other side of the house some rather different weather was brewing.

Huge clouds were growing and dark skies were approaching.

Then the radio said there was a tornado warning!

I marveled at the weather for a while and listened to the thunder coming closer and closer. There were some very impressive bolts of lightening. 

Then down came the hailstones and very soon the rain.

I called to Tony when I spotted these waterfalls forming.

A leaf had fallen into the downspout and blocked it. Tony was able to lean over from the deck and clear it. The storm lasted for quite some time.

I have to say here in Timaru we got off lightly, to my knowledge no tornados put down but  some areas had flooding and hail damage.

I carried on quilting through the storm and got it completed. Then I trimmed and put the binding on. I spent the evening after the storm closing the binding.

And I'm happy to say that Belle approves. LOL

I had intended to take the quilt outside on a nice day and get some photos in the garden, but that didn't happen yet. Maybe sometime soon. For now you will have to make do with an indoor artificially lit image. Sorry.

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Amid work I made what was supposed to be a quick trip out to Geraldine to visit the Pin Tin with Debbie. It turned in to an all day affair and we visited a few different shops. I'll show you my fabric purchases soon.

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I've also been doing some of my cross stitch.  

It's made quite a bit of progress since I last posted about it.

With that eye watching me I feel like I have company now. 

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We have a new member in our local club she likes to do a little thread painting and brought along this show stopper for show and tell last week.

OMG!!

He is beautiful. 

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What else has filled my time in the last couple of weeks?

I've been reading, baking, gardening, working, the afore mentioned day out with Debbie and I left my Christmas ornaments to the last minute this year and have been fiddling about trying to get them done too!  Now I really need to get them finished and also make another quilt for Christmas. 

Oh and I have fabric cut out to make a new top. 

D Day, Two for One.

 Today was D day. Or dinosaur day!

Yesterday I went to the Pin Tin in Geraldine and purchased some end of bolts in the same fabric collection as the bundle I had scored at the charity sale.

I started out by laying the larger pieces on the floor to give myself an idea of how things would look, then just got stuck in cutting and sewing. Nothing complex I told myself, let the dinos do the work.

A quick consult with Janice and a decision was made, but first food!

While eating lunch I had a rethink and when I returned I went digging through the stash.

That works.

In a very short time I had a completed top.

And a problem.

The top is now too big for the fleece throw I had purchased to back it.

Hmm, nothing for it, I'll have to use up all the extra fabrics to create a pieced back.

LOL  So much for keeping it easy. As they are mostly fabric samples they were all different sizes. And the end of bolt left overs of course.

There was a piece that worked perfectly as the center piece/panel for the back. I started cutting and sewing and piecing and cutting and sewing some more.

I had made great progress by the time Tony got home from work.

We went out to do some garden work together, but only for an hour or so, then I was back to it. 

More progress was made, then Tony wanted feeding. 

When I got back from tea I noticed that the skinny sliver of T-Rex was upside down.

Hmmmm.

He can stay that way!

I quickly put the last two side borders on and Tada! 

The back is complete. 

And here it is. I used up even the skinniest pieces of off cuts, hence the skinny T-Rex.

The holder upper was grumpy because I had disturbed his game.

Here is a better look.

I have to say I am very happy with todays offerings. I hope Torstein is as happy as I am when he opens this one on Christmas day.

Oh and it's been inspected!

She was asleep on our bed, but appeared very soon after I spread things out on the floor of course!

So, now I just have to find the right pantograph for it.

Wish me luck.