A couple of days worth of hexies....

 This is not what I was going to do with my days off this week, but once the mending and hottie cover I mentioned in my previous post were taken care off I fell down the hexie hole. And I have a happy pile of hexie flowers to show for it.

There are some very pretty fabrics being used in this latest batch of flowers. The flower at the top of this image, with the dark centre has more pink in real life. It's still dark here this morning, so the lights are on and as you know that can mess with the camera.

I have a couple of small chores to do today, then my time is my own. I don't plan to stitch hexies, but we will see where my muse takes me. My box of prepped hexies is running low, so I will need to find some fabric scraps to make more.

I do have fabrics pulled for a very special quilt. I have a whole year to make it, so no rush but you know how quickly a year can pass! I keep on telling myself I should make a start. Then we have another cold dark wet day and I curl up in my chair with some hand work.

Speaking of hand work, my cross stitch Bee needs only one wing and some back stitch......

My batik EPP is here waiting for me.....

My Chookshed challenge is here waiting for me.....

The Christmas ornaments I have kitted are waiting for me....

Oh! I forgot to mention... I completed last months Chookshed challenge. I used my rulers while I was quilting the hottie cover. Yay!

A tidy up was needed.

Yay! Three days off.

What to do with myself?

The first job on the list was a good tidy up in my very messy room.

Things have been dumped everywhere, the first stop on the tidy up mission was to sort out the pile of felt pieces that I was lucky enough to score yesterday.

A facebook seller was letting go of her late Mother's huge stash. There was a massive amount of threads, ribbons, magazines, fabrics and, and, and...

After a good look I settled on this big pile of craft felts for a very small price.

Time to sort it out.

The pieces are all different sizes,

Many have been cut into, but that's ok.

And some are just pieces. 

There, that is better, all put away. 

We have a felt project at club later this month, I'll take one of these boxes along.

NEXT!

That big bag of fabric I scored from neighbour Shelly.

Those beautiful batiks did fit into the top drawer without any major maneuverings. 

Only just.

The other fabrics in Shelly's bag soon found homes in various drawers. Then I had my cutting table back and could get on with a quick repair job for work.

When we are working in the dining rooms at work we wear cute cotton aprons. Some of our residents also wear an apron at meal times. Yesterday this poor apron fell apart while in use.

So I brought it home for a quick repair. A dig through my lace trims and ribbon jar found just the right piece.

Five minutes later it was all fixed and ready to return to work.

Next I had a request from a colleague.

Please make her daughter a hot water bottle cover.

Plan A will become something else. LOL. But plan B looks cute. I'll deliver both tomorrow.

NEXT.

I ironed the small pile that had grown.

Tidy up and chores completed.

After some lunch I think I'll sit and sew something for me.

Acquisitions.

 My second blog today. But I had to record this... I mentioned earlier today that I was going over the road and a few doors along to visit a pal who is destashing....

What an incredibly generous lady. She agreed to my original offer, but when I got home and had a play in the rather large bag, I doubled my offer and paid it before she could object.

About half of the pieces in the bag are batik, you know I love batiks. Many of those are over a meter, one is a very generous two meters. There are fat quarters, off cuts, and even a panel to make a very cute quilt. 

WOW!

Take a look.

This piece is about 1 meter.

Another big piece.

Two half meter cuts.

These two Christmas fabrics are half meter cuts. They both have a lump missing, but that is ok.

A skinny off cut.

A fat Quarter.

Three more FQ.

A beautiful Japanese dragonfly FQ

And a bunch of leafy browns and golds.

The horse fabrics are about a half meter, one is a little bigger.

A collection of kiwiana. Mostly long thin pieces, not skinny quarters, thinner than that. 

A whole layer cake and a charm pack.

And some left over layer cake pieces. 

More not quite FQ off cuts.

And more....

The lighter green below is a half meter cut. The darker piece with white butterflies is a Japanese Tana. A half meter.

And some off cuts. 

A huge purple triangle. 

A huge piece of blue check.

I got the deal of the Millennium!

And what a cute panel.

I just need to find a coordinating fabric and follow the instructions.

I saved the best for last...

It looks like not much in this image, I'll spread it out a little...

Some random shapes and off cuts. That piece with the purple splodge is a half meter cut.

There is a meter cut of this one, look at the chain stitch all over the swirls.

A bunch of FQs.

And some more FQs...

A big pile of golden off cuts in all shapes and sizes.

Then the big pieces...One is over 2 meters.

On the left are the 1 meter or larger pieces and on the right the half meter pieces.

Oh my goodness. I can't stop looking at it all, stroking and folding and stroking and refolding...

You know how it goes. 

I might keep it here by my chair for a day or three. LOL

I'm not ready to put it all away just yet. LOL

A bit of a reshuffle will be required to get the batiks away, that drawer is pretty full already. 

I really need to get some quilts made. 

It's been a quiet week.

 I've done very little with needle and thread this week. I've managed just about 15 minutes a day on the bee, or maybe a hexie or two.

Yesterday Chooky had a short zoom session, I got to sit for a couple of hours and sew, that was nice. I did a little more last night too, but don't have much to show.

As you can see, by the light and shadows in this image, it is a beautifully sunny day here, but there is a bitterly cold Southerly breeze blowing, a good day to stay indoors and sew. I'll get to that soon I hope, first I need to do something with feijoas. Maybe some more 'Joa jam. Torstein and Charmain have been here today for their Sunday dinner. I had purposely not been outside to the feijoa trees and sent them out with ice cream boxes.

They brought in four full boxes of 'joas. We sorted through them and they have taken two boxes away. One for home and a box of tiny fruits for their friends pigs. 

I had already made some of my Feijoa and chocolate muffins for dessert and added an orange cake. This is not a new recipe to me, but it is one that I recently adapted to the keto diet.

Yes ok all I did was take out the sugar and use Stevia, but it sounds good to say I've adapted it! LOL

Shelly's Orange cake.

Take two oranges, remove any labels and rinse them under clean hot water. Pop them into a saucepan and cover with water. Bring to the boil and simmer for 45 minutes. Set aside and allow to cool.

Break 6 eggs into a large bowl and beat to break up. Add 250g sugar or stevia and continue to beat until pale and fluffy. Stir in 1 tea spoon of vanilla essence/extract. Then fold in 205g ground almonds and 1 tea spoon of baking powder. You could also add 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips at this point. 

Drain and puree the oranges. Chop them open and check for seeds before you puree them. Then stir this into the batter.

Pour the batter into a prepared tin. Bake at 160 C for about 45 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.

Allow to cool completely in the tin. Douse with Cointreau if you like, I didn't do this for the children.

We served it with Greek yogurt.

Yum.

Speaking of Shelly, she is destashing!  

I've been invited to have a look at what is on offer. 

I might need to wander across the road and a few houses up!

Who knows, there might be something I can add to my hexie project.

Or maybe even just add to the stash!

What's in store for me in June?

 A New month means a new Chookshed Challenge number. And this month Deanna selected # 5, which for me is my Down In The Garden project.

This is the project that I took away to Scrub Stitchin'.

I finished the stitching on one block while I was there. And also another block since getting home.

Hopefully I will be able to make some more progress this month.

There are a few more to go, before I can start putting the blocks together and getting them into finished top stage.

Of course all of that depends on where the muse takes me. Lately she has taken me well off the planned course.

It would be nice to get back on track with my Christmas ornaments, and other monthly goals. That said, the Bumblebee is sat here beside me and the hexie box has been out for a play too.

Here it is, with little bundles of hexies all clipped together in their flower sets.

Over the last couple of days I have put a few of those flowers together.

And added them to the pile. 

They look rather drab in this image but they are very pretty in real life. It's still dark here this morning so I had to put the light on to see what was happening.

There is still no real plan for these hexies, they are just a nice no pressure project to work on here and there. A sort of 'procraftination' project to play with when I should be doing other things. LOL

Yesterday was a public holiday here in NZ, to celebrate the Kings birthday. Tony had the day off work and it was my rostered day off work. We did the grocery shopping together and one or two other chores in town. I also did some baking and a load of laundry. Today, Tony is back at work but my day is not all mine. I'm off to visit a friend in hospital, get my hair chopped and visit the sewing centre for some thread. 

But first another cup of tea to see if it will give me some energy.