Weekend at the Chook Shed

I spent last weekend hanging out in The Chook Shed

 with Chooky, Googy and Miss Jules....

We had a lovely time celebrating the Chook Sheds

3rd Birthday and were so happy that lots of you

were also joining in on the Cyber Party.....

This was dinner on Friday night when I arrived after a wet

 slippery drive on the last leg of the journey which was dirt

road and there had been lots of rain which is great

for the area but not for my trip....

There's nothing quite like chilling with your friends

in your pyjamas stitching the weekend away....

Staying up late and sleeping in until The Whip cracker

 jumps on your bed and makes you get up!!

We were all ready for a great day of stitching....
Trish was all cosied up under the charity quilt that we have

 all been working on....Earning her keep here....

The finished product that will be donated to one of the

2015 Dungog Flood victims....

I'm so happy I got to be a part of it....

I machine sewed some binding onto 2 quilts,

 you can read about those in my last post....

I then worked on my Vintage Modern Dresden

 Quilt, here is my progress in pictures....

That's as far as I have gotten so far with my blocks and little

Dresden plates, not without problems, all that mood lighting....

And most definitely because a fair bit of this.....

There was reverse sewing involved when a few blocks were

sewn together with the fabric around the wrong way....Lol

I am happy to say that Miss Jule's other half is a great unpicker

 if you constantly feed him dip and bickies....

Trish busy working on her and Chooky's bonding quilt....

Oh the concentration!!!!

Miss Jules was busy quilting table runners....

Lots of bubbles, friendly banter, chatter, food and laughter...
Sadly the time came as it does far too quickly
 for me to pack up the car and head home....
Mr Chooky kindly drove me across the dirt section because
 the rain had not eased up all weekend, I had to take this along
 to calm the nerves whilst we were drifting in the mud....

I have hit the ground running this week  but I
have lots of fun memories and a very dirty car
 to remind me of our great weekend....

Bring on the 4th Birthday Celebrations!


Until next time, Happy Stitching


Kate

Happy Mail

I picked this fat little package up from the Post Office

 just as I was driving out of town heading for

The Chook Shed on Friday afternoon....

I couldn't wait to arrive and cut it open...

Hiding inside were some yummy peppermint boiled lollies

 from Julie that have "Julies Quilting" printed in them....

Too Flash Julie........

A lovely thank you card and a hand knitted

washer as well, you are too kind Julie....

Inside were my 2 quilts that Julie collected from my house

 the week before, how's that for quick quilting?

My Apple Harvest Flannel quilt that Julie has quilted with

 leaves and pumpkins, perfect for my quilt...

The other is a Thimbleberries Jelly Roll Race Quilt....

This is the quilting on the back....It looks lovely....

I managed to get the bindings sewn on by machine

at the party over the weekend....

I chose this green for the flannel quilt and have it pinned and

 ready for some hand stitching during the week....

I used the same print as the border for the other quilt, also

on and pinned waiting to be hand stitched....

Thanks again for being so speedy Julie, I love them both...

Stay tuned for all the fun at the Chook Shed party...

Until next time, Happy Stitching....

Kate

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