More cushions on show

Here are two more lovely cushions to show case, and with only three more to see to complete the swap. 

Firstly Anna sent me this picture of the lovely cathedral windows cushion that she made for her lucky partner

 

Christine has made this vivid blue cushion for her lucky partner – both of them have just been posted and should arrive at their destinations soon. 

 

Strawberry fields and cushions

We spend a lovely morning at the Beerenberg Strawberry farm, which is near Handdorf in the Adelaide Hills.  Beerenberg are famous for their jams and chutneys which are sold all over the world, and even served on aeroplanes when you fly overseas. 

 

The first picture is of Mitchell in the green and Paige in the red with Jack in the background.   The second picture is jack and Leo.

You can eat as many strawberries as you like and pay $3 to pick them ( per adult) children are free.  They you also pay for the ones you pick to take home.

 

I can also show you some lovely cushions that have been completed over the long weekend.  You will have to wait and see who the lucky recipients of these are

 

From Allison

From Jeneta

From Julieanne

Last but not least, I worked on block 8 of the Fat quarter shops Mystery BOM today, Lime sherbet,  sounds delicious. 

I was planning to get stuck into my February block swaps but I am out of ink in my printer so I could not print the pattern off, so that can now be a job for next week.

Pond house table runner

In January 2012 I signed up for the Pond House BOM at my LPS, but after completing block one I decided that this quilt was not for me so I cancelled.
For the past 12 months the centre block has been sitting pinned to my design wall waiting for some inspiration.  My initial idea was to make it into a bolster cushion or something similar.

Yesterday afternoon I had my mini version of FNSI and started cutting up scraps in similar colour ways to the block.  Then today I added a border, quilted it in an all over loopy design and wholla, I have a new table runner.

OPAM 2013

I have joined in the fun this year with OPAM 2013.  When I first started quilting this was such a mystery to me, and over time I realised that OPAM stood for One Project a Month.

Today is the sign up day, its a good tool to keep you on track with at least one Finish a month.

 

I wish I could play along with Friday night sew in, but I have not seen mum and dad since Christmas so its time for a visit to them which will be lovely.  I managed to get the afternoon of work so instead of FNSI, I will have my own FASI ( Friday afternoon sew in).

Now I have caught up on the bloggy gossip I will retreat to my favourite room in the house.

My two hearts

This week I have been working hard on the stichery of my Girls day out quilt

 

I have finished the stitching on the two heart blocks -

and share them with you today.

 

These will be positioned either side of the central quilt shop block.  I have added on the first borders and have been busy cutting squares to join together all of the blocks.  The fabric I have used on this central border is the same as what will be bordering the completed quilt. 

Lovely mail

Its nice to arrive home and have squishy mail. 

 

Today my gorgeous cushion cover from Pat arrived from the US.  Pat did a perfect job with one of my favourite blocks the churn dash and my favourite colours cream, chocolate and lime green, like a minty chocolate bar. Delicious. 

 

I showed you a sneaky peak that Pat emailed me, and now it has arrived I can reveal all.   First, here it is all beautifully wrapped with a silver bow,

but look there are two parcels.

The second smaller parcel was this pretty purse, it has three zips with lots of separate compartments,  I can think of lots of uses for this -  such a gorgeous fabric choice.

 

 

But here is the cushion, I love the big stitching around the inside of the churn dash, and the runched piped border.

See how nice it looks in my outdoor wicker chair in the sunshine.

 

I

I am also excited to show another lovely cushion, this one is made by Maria and its for……. 

HHHmmmm, well you will have to wait and see

Here is a close up of the centre of one of those patches, very cute

Girls day out block 1

Here is my completed block one in the Girls day out stitch a long.  There are 10 ladies taking part in this now and its interesting to see the subtle variations in every ones blocks. Last night I started the stitchery on blocks two and three that will be placed either side of this centre block in the quilt, these two blocks are predominately lettering so not as much fun to stitch, but relaxing all the same . 

 

 

 

Initial heart swap

I have been linking up with Cheryll and playing along in her initial heart swap.

As DH was working late tonight, I was working in my sewing room stitching this together.  I had already completed the x stitch initial over the last couple of days.  Tonight was the construction of the heart, sewing on the trim, lace,  ribbon and button. 

I am showing it to you now as like me, my partners name starts with the letter S, and if I am guessing correctly there are quite a few S ladies playing along. 

So who is it for??  well you will have to wait till it arrives to find that out.

But before it goes on its journey I have do go chocolate shopping, and I know just the place.  Haig’s are a fabulous South Australian chocolate company and they sell, yes you guessed it - chocolate hearts.

Lucky for me their factory outlet and head office is only around the corner from my office.  Trouble is, whenever I visit Haig’s I cant help but get myself some of their peppermint chocolate frogs.

More cushions to share

I love it when bing, my inbox goes and I have pictures of the lovely cushions to share with you.  Its exciting seeing all of the creations, but sneaky Pat who is making mine only send me a teaser.

So to start with, here is what I am going to receive – I cant wait to see the rest of it.

Here is the pretty cushion that Fiona is sending to her partner, I love this one, Hmm, I wonder if I ask Fiona nicely if she will send me the pattern.

And here is the lovely one that Jan is sending to ??  Can you see the cute buttons holding down the little petals, very sweet. 

How is everyone else going with theirs? Remember you only have two weeks left to make and send them and we still have 10 creations to see

#13 IS NOT UNLUCKY

For Shez,

As Mr random chose number 13 of the winner of the charm pack give away, and the winner is the lovely Shez, Congratulations Shez - you selected this lovely Verandah charm pack.  I will email you for your postal details to get this off in the post to you.

Planning and preparing

I had a lovely day today playing with my toys, first I planned my Initial heart swap

Then I baked a cake (as there is a little special guest or two coming for tea tonight)

- and I had two over ripe bananas in the fruit bowl.

And last I drew the next two stitcheries for my Girls Day out quilt to keep me stitching through the week. 

Although, I did discover that I did not have a suitable pink in my stash to applique the hearts.  Isn’t it always the way,

I have lots of pink, but nothing that was right for this, so fat quarter shopping is on the agenda for this week to find the perfect pink.

Girls day out, Day one, week one

Its not the first day that I have blogged about taking part in this stitch-a-long but yesterday was officially the first day that I started this project.

I was off work yesterday (with chesty thing), so what to do with ones time but start a new project.

But first I had to tea dye the cream fabric that I had purchased for the stitchery, so after that soaked in a tea bag mix (I googled how to do this) I hung it on the line.  Then I sorted through my threads and decided that I didn't need to purchase any new ones.  (I probably do need to tidy them all up). I also have a little storage box somewhere with lots of thread on little bobbins if I need more.

 

 

So after a visit to my LPS to get a new pen to draw the design on it with it was all steam ahead.

I was so keen to get to work on this it didn’t enter my head to take a pic of the drawn design BEFORE I started work, but here is what I have done so far (please excuse the crumpled fabric, its been in a hoop)

As you can see, I have appliqued the roof, front under window walls, terracotta pots and fabric bolts.

I have started the stitching on the sewing table and front doors.  I am going to piece a mini quilt and then applique that onto the quilt hanger, I only hope that the whisper weft on the back of the stitchery acts nicely under the machine when I do that.  I am really looking forward to stitching the climbing roses.



So next time I show this will be when all of the stitchery is completed.  I am hoping to get it done within a week but I think when I look at how much stitchery I managed last night I am being a little ambitious.