Great Weather For Moving House

Yesterday we moved DS No.1 back to Sydney for another year at university into a new residence. 

With 'torrential rain and strong winds' the forecast, I was not keen.

However, months ago he bought tickets to 'Soundwave', a really 'sick' concert and it is on today. With SO many bands on his 'bucket list' to see live, it was hard to postpone the trip.

Lots of slow moving traffic as we move onto Sydney Harbour bridge.

We had just one minor glitch with the Tom Tom ...it really hates tall buildings in narrow city streets combined heavy cloud cover. Luckily I had my own Tom (singular)  sitting next to me. Living near the CBD last year paid off as he directed me around the one way streets until finally... back onto George Street. The Tom Tom (plural) started talking to the satellites again and everyone was happy. 

DS No.3 came along to assist with the heavy lifting and was great company on the way home as the rain was even heavier and the wind had picked up speed.

The big question....

Did I get some stitching done?

Yes indeed I did.

DS No.1 drove half the way there and now I only have two rows of blocks with sashing to slip stitch and I am ready to join the rows.

Yeah!!

FNSI The Boring Bits

This is my first FNSI post. I have watched some beautiful projects in progress and being completed since I started blogging in January. I decided to join as it is so motivating and nice to see everyone's progress.
I am have stitched half of the sashing pieces on the back of the quilt down. Once I have finished doing this, the blocks will be completely joined into rows....Twenty seven pieces of sashing down and twenty seven pieces of sashing to go. I must say, it is becoming a little boring.

So, today I decided that I would get another boring job out the road. I joined all of the sashing pieces that will go between the rows for the front and the back of the quilt, as well as the binding. So binding is good to go once rows are joined. 

Will hopefully get a bit done in the car tomorrow. Taking son No. 1 back to Sydney for his second year at university. I hope to do a bit of stitching while he has a turn behind the steering wheel. 

A Very Productive Night

 At midnight I had one row of blocks to join together. Unfortunately, I had to do just a little bit of reverse sewing on the eighth row, so decided to finish the last row in the morning.

                      

 One of my favourite haberdashery items are these Row Marking Safety Pins. It is SO easy to keep track of the placement of each row if you have to pack up and then want to lay the rows out again later. Each pin has a different letter of the alphabet and is so much easier than writing on pieces of paper and pinning it to the block like I used to do to.

So here a are few rows laid out. There are nine in total.

Now I have lots of hand sewing to do while I slip stitch each piece of sashing  on the back of the quilt by hand before I can join the rows together. 

Life is Beautiful

I just LOVE French General fabric. This BOM I started a few years ago called "Life Is Beautiful" is a 'quilt as you go' project. I had never tried 'quilt as you go' before, thought I'd give it a go.

This is one of my favourite block. 

Progress report: I have quilted all 32 embroidered blocks, cut the circle of patchwork out from behind them and appliquéd those circles onto 32 four patch blocks. These are now quilted as well. Before quilting these, I cut a circle out from behind the appliquéd circle and this will be appliquéd over the intersection of the sashing once the rows are sewn together. Got it?

This afternoon I cut out the sashing fabric and laid out the blocks to work out placement.

So here it is laid out on my lounge. A few family members are out tonight and so I pushed the Ottoman up to the chaise and have taken over. The race is on to get the blocks attached into rows before tomorrow night when we are all home again.

Better get sewing.

Progress despite going back to work

Well now that I am back at work, progress on all projects has slowed considerably...or should I say come to a halt. It's incredibly annoying how that happens. Bring back the holidays I say.

I haven't had the time or energy to sit at the sewing machine. However, sitting to do a little cross stitch at night has certainly been a nice way to end the day. I have now completed, washed and ironed my Christmas cross stitch. 

 I was nervous about washing it, as the Sampler and Weeks Dye Works threads are not colour fast. I stitched a few crosses in each colour on some Aida and did a test wash.Yes, the red did run. However, I found Colour Catcher in the supermarket, held my breath and as you can see, it washed up perfectly, no colour runs.

Then I wore my cotton gloves while I stitched the charms on so I did not soil the linen again.

So, off to the framers some time this week I hope.

It will be nice to have something new to put on my wall this Christmas. 

Hope you had some time to stitch this weekend too.

Gift To Welcome A New Baby Boy

One of the ladies I know who are expecting gave birth to a beautiful baby boy last week. The plan for yesterday was to tame my garden. However, more rain and really cool weather prompted me to stay indoors. I embroidered these cute bunnies onto a singlet. Then a train onto this body suit.  

             

 Finally, you will either love or hate this one. Some little ants onto a bib.

 I saw this idea a long time ago, but had not given it a try until today. Some of the ants are bit like people. You know, some a little longer or shorter, thinner or wider than others. It was tricky trying to get them to look the same. I think 5th and 10th from the right looks like they may have been trodden on at some stage. I'll add these to the Jungle Bungle bib I made earlier.

Here is my first OPAM project for February. A Summer outfit for Pippy (the doll I made for my niece). They will be packed into Pippy's suitcase with the pyjamas and dressing gown I made last month and posted just in time for my niece's second birthday.

Look What I got From the Framers Today

I can't remember when I started this, but it was a while ago. Completing an antique sampler has been one of my 'bucket list' projects. The pattern is from Long Dog Samplers and I bought it from Crewel Gobelin. 

It is called 'Bristol Fashion'. The name originates from the 18th century nautical expression "all ship shape and Bristol fashion".Orphanages in Bristol were established in 1836 . Many children were orphaned by a cholera epidemic in the mid 19th century. "Bible readings, prayers and needlework were an everyday staple for the orphans". 

The children in the orphanages stitched samplers in this style in red cotton without wasting a square inch of fabric. The children often went into service in households marking the household linen when they left the orphanage. I guess it was a bit like a resume to show their skills and wide repertoire of lettering styles. 

So that's your history lesson for the day.

As it was stitched with one strand of DMC on very fine linen, I did find it a little challenging and a trip to the optometrist was in order.

As I completed the stitching in 2012, I probably can't count it as an OPAM finish. That's OK, I have something to show you tomorrow to count for my first finish.