Pear cushion complete

At last I finished the cushion for my friend's birthday. Sometimes it's good to have a deadline cos then you know you have to make the extra effort to get it done! It turned out bigger than I thought, but very interesting to make. It was my first go at needle turn and jeez I have some learning skills to do there! I took a photo of it, but have yet to load for you all to see, I'll do that in a day or two.

Ready for stuffing

Inspection by Bella

In the meantime I havn't tackled my bargello blocks for some time now.... As for my Wednesday sewing class, a few of us have begun to make a large bag (my very first). It will be a very interesting few weeks ahead. Can't wait to show you the end product!

Time to begin Part 5 of the mystery

Finished off appliqueing the circles of Part 4 yesterday, only that darn elephant to go... Today I cut out the pieces for Part 5, which include four strips and four sets of scallops that sit at the top and bottom. Those extra circles (fabric being brought from the web) will go in-between. After that I will attempt the last elephant (well, let's hope so).


I've been able to do this extra bit of sewing because my car is at the garage. On Friday morning on the motorway, passing a 18-wheeler truck I look down to see "Check Engine" looking back at me and the temperature needle on HOT!!! EEK, here's where my cool banana skills took my driving skills to another level... with cars up my bum and already 3/4 of the way past the truck, I put my foot on the gas and got in front of the truck then had to indicate quick and pull over at speed and not hit the marker sticks in the process. Made it! Cellphone in hand (thank goodness I packed it in my bag that day) I rang the AA and Bob's ya uncle. Out of action till the end of tomorrow so I reckon I'll have lots of free time to sew, sew, sew!!!

Part 4 continues

I knew those elephants would be sew-stoppers! I have to buy more grey fabric to make them. I also ran out of another shade of fabric and the original store I brought it from ran out and the other shops I purchase from also don't have it :( So pleased then that the wonderful world of the web exists! I will be purchasing my required fabric from 'The Stitching Cupboard'. I googled them awhile back and they have some in stock. The only down side is, I don't have a credit card. After setting up my Pay Pal account it requires either a credit or debit card, so it's off to the bank next week to get a debit card at least. All so I can start Part 5 of my mystery quilt!!


Tonight I am hand appliqueing the Part 4 circles, down to the last eight. My friend's birthday is next week and only the binding to go on her cushion, oh and buy a cushion inner...

More of the same

The weekend brings a chance to unwind, relax and sew! With only two weeks before my friend's birthday I thought I had better get on and try and finish off the cushion I am making her. The detail of the front has the applique done in needle turn. I've never tried my hand at needle turn before and boy do I need to practise some more! I quilted the cover after adding the detail then tackled the back which has an insert that the cushion inner goes in. The last touch will be the binding.  Once done I shall take a piccie and add it here, but that probably won't be till next weekend.


In the meantime I am hand appliqueing Part 4 of the my mystery quilt, sewing on 32 circles..... And because I constantly want to start a new project long before I have finished the last, I have already begun to select colours out for my next project, a queen sized quilt for my Dad and his wife, in shades of green and pink. I have decided to do a log cabin design even though I haven't done one before. I wonder if I can get it done in time for this Christmas?

Two halves make a whole

At last I finally finished sewing my halves to complete my blocks!! I will now sew the two halves together to make a whole!! Can't wait for the blocks to become whole and get a better picture of where the quilt is taking me. I have so many threads to trim, rows to iron and make them all look pretty. Sometimes when we do block construction we often are so focussed on the task at hand that we forget the bigger picture. Last week I was de-moaning that I wished the blocks would just vanish, but now with them complete I can't wait for the next step in the process.

Here are the completed halves all ready to sew as whole blocks.

This is what the two halves will look like when complete!

Mystery quilt Part 5

Sorry if I'm about to spoil your party, but ANOTHER elephant :( You have got to be joking me!! I struggled with the first one, haven't done the second one, and now you throw another one into the rink!! When all is done I better post an image of the completed "mystery" so you all know what "misadventures" I had to go through. I managed to stuff up cutting some fabric and searched high and low in my local shops for a replacement measure of the same fabric, but came up empty. Thus I googled it and came across a site in Australia that I can purchase it from, the things you resort to eh! It is lovely neutral shade from Nancy Gere, from the Vanity Fair c.1865-1890 range.


Well, off to the Amberley craft market this morning. They have just started up, so thought I might see what creative beings there are in the district. I shall report later on my findings! Catch ya.

Two to go...

Yes, you read it right!! Two more halves to go before my 16 blocks are completed! I was sewing three halves last night at my sewing group and for the majority of the time I was saying to myself, "I am soooooooooooo over this..." But since I am a true believer at only putting "happy stitches" into my patchwork I so got over that and thought about the special day when it would be all sewn together and be as one. I guess I'm not the only one who gets "block-i-tish" every now and again!!?


Now off to applique the remaining three scallops to my mystery quilt....