Wednesday, 30 October 2024

October roundup and Some me time...

I made only one commitment for the month of October.
The wedding dresses.
Anything beyond those would be a bonus.
On October 9th a very exciting and tempting new toy arrived, but I was focused.
On Saturday Chooky held a special Cancer zoom. In order to gain an invite first we had to make a donation to a Cancer organisation. I chose Cancer Society NZ. As they were recently very supportive to our family.  
I was able to put the finishing touches to the wedding dresses. They are finished, done.
The bride came for one last try on and brought her flower girl along too. The girls who were on zoom at the time got to see them both in their dresses. A special preview peek. Jewels too!
Once Lee and Charmaine had left I was able to relax and get on with some me sewing. so out came my Blue lanterns.
It went from this...
To this.
A whole blue row and the beginnings of the next white row. Eleven blocks were added.
I also cut fabric and basted it onto the last few papers needed to complete the top.
There will be one more row of blue and a row of partial whites. Nearly finished.
While on zoom I went stash diving and showed the girls my ideas for the next one. We settled on Batiks. More about that another time.
We had a lovely day and between us raised just over $1000AUS. Chooky converted all the international amounts to Aus $$ to get the total.
Thank you Chooky for a great day.
Work got in the way of life for a day or two, as it does, but today is the first of 7 days off. I took annual leave over the weekend, for the wedding but the other days were rostered. It's nice when I can get a whole week off but only use two days of leave.
After a morning in the kitchen I set about finally playing with the upgrade that my lovely husband purchased for my quilting machine. It's been here since the 9th and installed and working since the 11th-12th October. 
My old stitch regulator was a very basic model and I was having some bad issues with it. Fingers crossed all goes well with this wonderful upgrade. I was very happy with my efforts this morning. The 'Pacific' pantograph was still on the bed of the frame, so I just used that after loading some large off cuts of fabric and batting.
All went very well. In manual mode I was fine, the regulated stitches will take a bit of practice though. LOL
Buoyed on by my success I pulled out my 'Ready Set Sew' quilt that I purchased as a kit from Jude last year. It didn't take long to find backing and batting and to get them all loaded on to the frame.
I also loaded a new to me pantograph.
Some clamshells.
I've done a few rows and I'm very happy with how things are going.
So there you have it. October is over and I achieved my goal.
*
November goals will include the final Chookshed goal. Which for me is to complete some cross stitched Christmas ornaments.
Everyone else has completed their Chookshed challenge, the last one was scheduled for October, but I gave myself a pass to focus on the wedding dresses.
I might leave it at that. A nice easy goal and anything else will be a bonus.
*
The wedding is Saturday, three sleeps away. I'll be back with photos of the October goal after that.
Keep your fingers crossed for a beautiful day.

9 comments:

Ma Betty said...

Hi Lou, all the best for a wonderful day on Saturday.

Maria said...

Pleased the wedding dresses fitted .
Great your quilting machine is working well with the new gadget.
Quilts looks lovely.
Enjoy your week off and all the best for a beautiful day for the wedding 💒

Lin said...

Lanterns looking lovely. So looking forward to wedding pictures, hope all goes well and you have a lovely day. xx

Jennifer said...

Well done on the blue lanterns, and the wedding sewing! I missed zoom, had something else on, but good to hear it went well.

Jenny said...

You have achieved a lot this last month. Sadly my Chookshed challenges didnt eventuate over the last two months, I'll have to hope the challenge happens again next year and I can move them across.

Jeanette said...

Blue Lanterns is looking very lovely. It was nice to see you on Saturday. Look forward to seeing photo's from the wedding.

Janice said...

I’m finally catching up on blog reading. It was a nice catch up on Saturday. I missed the big reveal, but look forward to seeing photos of the big day. It has come around so quickly. I still have a couple of my Chookshed challenges to finish off. That’s the beauty of only having 10. We can still, fingers crossed, tick them off before the year is out. Your Blue Lanterns are looking so good. You’ll have the top together in no time. I love the way your latest quilt has turned out. The colour of the border pulls all the small pieces together so well.

kiwikid said...

Blue Lanterns is looking wonderful Lou and growing beautifully. Have fun with your new addition to your machine. Well done with the dresses too, looking forward to the photos, I hope the day goes well.

Anonymous said...

You did a wonderful job on the wedding dress Lou, well done. You got a lot done on your blue lanterns too, it looks great