Didn't have much to say....

So I was quiet for a while. Sorry about that.

But now I do have something to say.

Today was the day between Tony's night shifts. I had to be quiet. I had planned to sit and stitch, but it was such a beautiful day I opted to go out instead. I had a quick cuppa with Debbie, who is packing to move house. She is very excited. There really wasn't much I could do to help as she is culling at the same time, so I left her to it and headed on an op shop spree. 

No orange mug with white spots....

But I did hit gold in one shop. They had a box of patterns and charts.

These two caught my eye. A pretty cross stitched needle roll

And some butterflies. You know I can't resist butterflies.

I also found a pretty retro sheet that is just perfect for backing the Lottie Quilt.

So hopefully they will be loaded on to the frame very soon.

I've had some happy mail too.

A while ago I saw this pretty sail boat design on Marias header (Sadly it is gone now) and she was good enough to give me the details.

I ordered it right away, and it has finally arrived, all the way from America.

It's difficult to see in this pic, but each boats sails are made up of different quilt patterns.

So pretty.

Thank you for your help Maria. 😀

I took a few moments the other day to attach a pretty gold trim to this piece, and this evening I plan to make a wee hanger for it, then it can go on my wall.

The description on the kit packaging said pin cushion, but obviously that is not how I saw it.

And finally, on Monday I started on the Morning Moon Fairies kit. I loved this kit when I found it, but after getting it home and opening it I discovered that the shop who produced it had changed out some of the original designers fabrics and also changed some of the instructions.

The fabric exchanges were not straight swaps for another piece, many were different sizes too.

The new set of instructions required some interpretation and Claire's help was enlisted to sort it all out.

Then I set about cutting everything up. All was well until I started to attach the first row of strips and corner stones to join my rows together.

Jack the ripper had a lot of work to do.

I had lots of issues getting things to line up, and when they do, I have more waves than a beach on a stormy day!

When I got to this point on Tuesday lunchtime, I swore at it, just so it knows how I was feeling at the time. Then I walked away.....

Nothing crafty has happened since.

But I'm sure I'll be back.

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I do hope your sewing is progressing better than mine.

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In other news, work is keeping me very busy, with lots of shifts and phone calls to come and help at short notice. Which is a good thing, because after tonight Tony has only two more shifts left on his temporary contract at the cheese factory, then he is once again unemployed. He is very worried, and it is awful to see him that way.

Please keep your fingers, legs, pins and needles crossed that he finds work soon.

I know I am. 

 

First offerings for the new year!

In spite of a cool wet start to our Kiwi summer, our green house is looking good and things are starting to change colour.

Our first tomatoes for the year made it into the kitchen last night and there is the promise of more to come. 

Debbie and I took a road trip the other day to visit Cathy at The Quilting Shed. It was our first trip out for a while. I needed a little red batik for my poppy quilt, (Santa missed a bit.) of course, it's a long way to go, for just a fat quarter!

So I bought a quilt kit too. 

LOL

As you do.

I got stuck in pretty much as soon as I got home, forgetting to take photos!

Doing all the cutting and beginning to piece the blocks before bed time.

On the second evening I completed constructing the blocks and today pieced the rows and put them together. LOL

A very quick and easy quilt. 

I would be quilting it right now, but alas I need to go shopping for a backing fabric.

The Fabric range is called Lottie Da, and more kits are available from Cathy.

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On New years day I took part in Chookys Zoom sew along.

I really didn't contribute much to the conversation, but I was very glad of the company, listening to everyone else chatting away and I did get around to completing my sun flower table topper, to the flimsy stage. I started this way back in October, during another Zoom Meeting. 

Both of these tops still need to be quilted.

The sun flower is appliqued on and is not quite as flat as I would like, but I can live with that.

As discussed in the Zoom meeting, I have joined Gail Pans I  Stitch club again this year. The design is called 'Bring Me Flowers' and I have made a small start on the first stitched piece. I plan to do more to that later today. I'm not back at work until a week today, so have plenty of time to make progress there.

Before New YearI went to our local needle work store to get supplies for my monthly Christmas ornament, but they didn't have them. After shopping at three different online stores I have enough to make maybe the first 3 months. I do hope stock manages to make it into NZ before I run out.

I must talk a little about my monthly Christmas stitch along.

A while ago I asked if any of you would like to join me.

No rules, no pressure, except that each month we would all work on something Christmassy. For me it will be my secret ornaments, you could do something secret too. Or you could show it off each month. You could complete an old WIP, make a Christmas gift, add a little each month to a larger project or like me, just do one small item each month. 

The idea is to spread Christmas throughout the year, to save ourselves from the October to December scramble to get things done.

People who have already said they would like to join in are....

My good pal Janice of Jannimary Blog.

Gail of  Gails Place Blog. 

Deanne, of Dreamworthy Quilts. 

And Rose, who doesn't have a blog.  Yet! Maybe we could convince her to start one?

If you find yourself joining in, let me know.

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And finally, Tony has a new model kit, it was delivered just in time for his birthday on Tuesday, so Belle has a new box to add to her collection.

It seems to be the favourite at the moment. Took her a while to get the paper just right, but she spends pretty much every evening sitting in it.

I wonder if this means I can get rid of one of the old boxes, there are seven of them at the moment!

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Happy New Year to you all.

It's a very wobbly start, but lets hope it's like riding a bike and things get better the more we try.