Road tripping to The Chook Shed

Yay! guess where I'm off to after work this afternoon,

 I am heading out to The Chook Shed to

celebrate with Chooky, stitch, eat,

drink wine and relax....Woo Hoo!

I decided to go with the brown for my table topper,

 the red was too strong and I am really pleased with

 how the brown is looking....

2 Bunny stitcheries left to complete....

A pretty wet autumn snap shot of my front gate,

 the leaves were floating down from the tree as I

 stood watching them, such pretty colours....

And a happy dance pic, my girls are back on the lay....

 I love getting fresh eggs from my chicken coop....

I hope you all have a fab weekend, I know I will....

Until next time, Happy Stitching

Kate

Spring Table Topper from GDITC Nundle

In March I was lucky to be able to attend my third consecutive Girls Day in the Country at Nundle, hosted by the lovely Kerry swain from Cottage on the Hill. Our guest tutor for the second year was Lynette  Anderson and here's Lynette displaying our project for the day. A spring table topper with lots of paper pieced hexagons and 3 embroidered bunny ones....

My swap gift, kit and mug from Kerry on our table when

 we went in, also my completed project from last year

 tucked in beside the brown paper bag......

This is the kit I received on the day but I didn't really

 like the bright red or the dog/cat prints very much,

I just didn't feel excited about the combination....

I had a look at Kerry's pop up shop and found a couple of

 other coordinating fabrics that I was much happier with

and so the piecing began. The centre section came together

 really quickly because I decided to piece it all together

 first before I do the stitcheries....Such a Rebel I am! Ha Ha!

My Mojo has been away on a whirl wind adventure

somewhere and I think it's finally back, needless

to say when it's back it is back big time!

I have spent the last couple of nights stitching the last of

 the triangular hexagons together, they really do

come together quickly when I am on a roll....

I decided to join the last 6 together before I stitched

 them to the main table topper section....

They really were a lot of work and so worth

the effort now it is all together.....

I have completed one of the stitchery hexagons so far and

 think this little flower looks sweet as.....

The bunny still needs his little patch added....

Isn't that just the cutest little cottontail :)

I am now auditioning fabrics for the outer triangles and

 binding, I have the plum/red colour on the left or the

brown, the same as the centre hexagon on the right....

What do you think??????

Or maybe I will go with both colours, red triangles

and brown binding....Hmmm....Decisions Decisions!

I think it could work and I could do the red patches on the

bunnies as well, maybe I will finish the other two

stitcheries off first and then decide....

I also have some more of the pretty blue floral in the large

 hexagons so I could do brown triangles and blue binding.....

Oh what to do?

Until next time, Happy Stitching

Kate

"Pickled on Peisley"

No Stitching for me yesterday because I was at a

Monster Garage Sale peddling my wares to help

 pay for my addictions....LOL!

It wasn't too bad a day and I sold around 40 bottles/jars....

I made a couple of purchases as well, this print that seemed to have our home written all over

it and a barbed wire ball that I plan to string with fairy lights and hand in my back patio area.

I had planned to make myself one but it was just too tempting to get the ready made version.

I am sure there would have been a serious amount of blood loss in the constructing of this ball so very happy to go with the ready made version....

I did manage to finish cutting out my Vintage Modern block

and Dresden strips and also cut the circles for the Dresdens....

Sooooooo Pretty!

Today started with a frost and is shaping up to be a gloriously

sunny Autumn Day so my washing machine is clanging with the

sheets, towels and clothes from the week.....

My Favourite Things Quilt that I took off my bed this morning.

I've pulled out an old faithful for a change of scenery...

Nice rich colours that make you feel

warm before you are under them.....

I hope you all enjoy your Sunday, however you plan to spend it,

 I am off to the Movies later this afternoon with a friend to

watch The Spy so I best go and get my chores out of the way....

 

Until next time, Happy Stitching

 

Kate 

Vintage Modern and Dresdens

This week in my Studio I have started playing with this kit that I purchased at my first Stitches and Craft Show in Sydney in 2012. Chooky organised a Bloggers meet up and it was one of the best days ever. I already had met some of the ladies but also got to meet some new ones including my travel buddies(You can read about it HERE HERE and HERE) Pop on over and have a look cause I am sure some of you will be in the pictures. I travelled to Lithgow and met up with Susan and Deb at McDonalds, it's so lovely the people I have met through having my sewing blog. Whilst I was waiting I was sitting there stitching and having a cuppa and a lady sitting next to me started chatting to me about my stitching. Turns out she loves all things stitching as well and was from Orange also. She introduced me to the world of Pinterest in the short 20 minutes that we sat there.....If only she knew the can of worms that she had opened for me!

 

So many Ideas in this head of mine....so little time!

This is a kit that I purchased that day and I am excited to have pulled it out of the cupboard to get started on it. The pattern is called Sugar Dish and the one at the Craft Show had an extra floral border added to it. I think I will have to skip that now unless someone knows a shop that still has this fabric. I am doubtful that I would be lucky enough to get any because it is such pretty fabric that I am sure it has all been snapped up. I will just go with the binding on the edge of the blocks like the original pattern.

My first ever attempt at Dresden's as well so wish me luck!

I did plan to start this last year at our Blogger's weekend in Bathurst but when I opened my kit there was only half the amount of background fabric supplied. Another Blogging friend Anita also purchased the same kit(Have you made yours yet Anita) so I emailed her to see how much fabric she was given. turns out we were both short. Anita remembered the shop we purchased it from and contacted them with our dilemma. They sent down a new piece of fabric for Anita and I was lucky to be given the piece from Anita's kit. I really liked the print and of cause the shop had sold out so I was excited to now have enough to start.

WELL!!!! What do they say? Measure twice, cut once. I measured 3 times and calculated as well to be sure I would get the 2 x 8 and a half inch strips and the 14 x 1 and a half inch strips needed.

I cut the 2 larger strips first and then started cutting the smaller strips, I was up to 5 when I realised that I was cutting them at 2 and a half inches and not 1 and a half!!!!!!!!

It almost went straight back into the cupboard at this point!!!

But after some more calculations and using the leftover piece from the larger strips I managed to get all the pieces that I needed from the background print....

PHEW with less than an 8 inch square to spare....

Needless to say by this time it was wine o'clock and

 no more cutting for me for that evening!

This is the fabric range that I am using, I really did not

 want to unwind that pretty jelly roll but I did...

These are the 36 strips that I have chosen to use for the

blocks, I now have to cut those to size and also cut the

Dresden's from them but that will be another day

after I measure twice and cut once hopefully!

6 strips left over. I pulled out the lightest ones

 and a double up of the aqua dot....

Friday today! Woo Hoo!

Hopefully I will get to spend some time out in my studio

 tomorrow afternoon. I am having a stall with my

 "Pickled on Peisley" products in the morning at a Monster

Garage Sale so will be nice to play in the Studio in the afternoon.

Have  a great weekend Blogland

Until next time, Happy Stitching

Kate

Scrappy Flannel Quilt Back

Hello there....this post has come up as a bit of a tutorial I guess,

 scroll to the end if you don't want to listen to me waffle on or

 if not grab a cuppa and pretend we are sitting in my studio and

 I am telling you about my backing....

My first job was to cut strips 13 inches across by varying widths

 from my leftover flannel fabrics, the Apple Harvest fabric is so

 nice that I wanted to use up as much of it as I could....

I then set about joining them all into a very long strip, my quilt

 is just over 2 and 1/2 metres long so I made around 175cm's.... 

I then gathered my border scraps and worked out I would have

 enough if I cut them 1 and 3/4 inches wide....

I have joined them all together into 2 individual strips and set

about sewing them along each side of my scrappy strip....

I gave it all a good press and popped it up on my design wall..

Sideways and it was still too long....ha ha!

The backing I chose was actually 270cm wide which is perfect

 so I purchased the same size as the quilt top 135cm across

ways, I could have just purchased a bit more and wouldn't

have needed to join it but I wanted to add the strip in...

I decided to have my scrappy strip off centre so I cut the

backing in two 2/3 in from the left hand side....

I then sewed the 2 sides of backing fabric to my scrappy strip...

Here it is on the deign wall and the floor....LOL!

The colours are so rich and lovely and

the blue/grey backing looks great!

Originally I was looking for brown/beige tones but found this

 one at spotlight, the quality is really good as well which surprised

 me and has given the whole project a totally different look...

Stay tuned to see the finished project after a trip to the Quilter!
I have Julie from Jewells Blog calling in to pick up both my
 finished quilt tops this afternoon and they will be heading off
on a road trip to Dungog to be quilted for me....Yay!
Julie as been busy handing out lovely donated quilts to the flood
 victims so if any of you have any unwanted quilts lying around
 I am sure she will be able to find a good home for them, pop on
 over to her blog and have a look at what she has been up to...


Thanks for stopping by and I hope you are all finding
 a little time for some stitching in your lives....


Until next time, Happy Stitching


Kate

Some backings

I have chosen this cream toned all over print for the back of my

 Thimbleberries' Jelly Roll Quilt, simple but a perfect match.....

And surprisingly this grey flannel backing looks perfect with

my Harvest Town Flannel Quilt top, I will piece a scrappy strip

 to add into the backing to use up the left overs, I do like a nice

 contrast on the back of some of my quilts to give

 them that extra something....

They will both be quilted with an edge to edge pattern...

Yay may be some finishes in my not to distant future!

 

Until next time, Happy Stitching

 

Kate

 

Farm Girl Vintage...."Squeal"

Looky Looky Looky what I have!!!!!

A little Happy Mothers Day to ME Present!!!!

This bundle arrived last Friday and so did Chooky so I haven't

 had time to play with it yet but I have been drooling over the

 colourful pages and gorgeous projects in Lori's latest book....

I also got a fat quarter bundle and a Canning Season Quilt

pattern, the colours just make me smile and are different to what

 I normally use but I can't wait.....

 They make me think of 60's housewives in colourful aprons....

But for now I am content looking and smiling and am not sure

how long it will take me to open the cellophane

package on the fabrics.....Yummo!

Have any of you started the Farm Girl Vintage journey?


Mine will not be starting this weekend because I am spending
 the weekend in Narromine for an 18th and helping my
friend move house....No rest for the wicked!

Until next time, Happy Stitching

Kate

Jelly Roll Race Quilt Top Complete

This is one of the 2 UFO's I completed last weekend...

I had started this back in 2011....can you believe it? 2011!

 Feels like yesterday. You can read about it HERE

First job was to trim up the edges and add a little

 brown peep to frame the centre section....

I then added some 51/2 inch borders to finish it off...

The fabrics are Thimbleberries' and I think it looks great

 hanging on my design wall along side the timber frame....

This is a quick and easy way to use up a jellyroll to get a

 unique colour combination, I wasn't liking this so much but

am so much happier with it now the borders are on....

 The pictures really don't do it justice....

I will also bind it in the same floral fabric as I used in

the borders, here it is all rolled up and waiting to be used....

I always like to make the binding when I complete

 the quilt top before it goes off to be quilted....

 Do any of you have funny little routines like

 that you like to follow when quilting....

It is so nice to have my special space to retreat to whenever

 I get the urge, I still pinch myself every day and

cannot believe it really is all mine!!!!

Next step is to get some backing and get it quilted...

Until next time, Happy Stitching

Kate

Mothers Day Spoiling

I hope all the Mum's out there had a lovely Mothers Day on

Sunday and were made feel special like I was, Miss Molly is

away at Uni but Jacky Mister is home and knows the way

 to his Mummy's heart, Wine, Chocolate, Roses and cooked

 Breakfast for myself and my Friend Chooky who was

visiting and also cooked me Dinner....

The Chrysanthemums are from Chooky's daughter Fairy Girl....

We had the best day stitching and being spoilt...

My Roses looking beautiful on my table this morning....

Until next time, Happy Stitching

Kate

Some shopping and lovely gifts from Chookyblue

Not only did I get to spend the weekend with my friend

Chooky but I also got spoilt with some gifts....

This lovely roll of fat 8ths that Chooky picked

up at "The Home Patch" in Bathurst on Friday for me...

Here they are with 2 fat quarters that Chooky also gifted to me

 for my Birthday in 2013, I have been saving them for just

 the right project and I now have these others

 that will go with them perfectly....

We both had a good giggle at just how well they

 went together because Chooky had forgotten about

 the fat quarters so it was really a fluke... 

Chooky also got me this handy little ruler when we were at
Hobby Sew that I can keep by my machine
 to check seam sizes etc easily....

Feeling very Spoilt indeed!

We went to Hobby Sew for some thread and we

 came home with some bargains of cause!!!!
We found this fabulous backing that Miss Chooky
DID NOT BUY but we both think it would be perfect on the
 back of her EPP quilt you can read about it HERE I am sure she
 will be sending me back some time soon to get some....

 

A few bits to add to my stash that were

half price or end of bolt sales....

The Studio now has 2 bolts of fabric....LOL!

Looking very professional indeed!

I had to buy a bag to bring our purchases home in, I couldn't
resist the one with a vintage machine and accessories
 on and the studio now has 2 bolts of fabric propped
 up on the bench.....Ha Ha
 Looks really professional now! 
So much for ducking out for some thread....

It is so nice to be doing some blog posts this week and I thank

 you all for stopping by and visiting with me and especially to

 those who leave a comment, It's nice to know I am not talking

 to myself although that is a frequent occurrence at my place....

Until next time, Happy Stitching

Kate