A finish or two.... or more....

This years ornaments were finished in November but of course I couldn't show them....

I made about 20 ... sadly the ones I posted overseas didn't arrive in time even though I posted them early... hopefully they will give some new year cheer though......

As you see I went for the Merry Grinchmas theme......

Over the last couple of days I have been sewing down the binding and hanging pockets on the African Silhouttes quilt

(it is for Hubz and he likes a rod in the bottom to hold it down as well as one in the top to hold it up.... so I obliged even though my eyes rolled to the back of my head!)

Black on black binding is not the most fun... but it is done now and hanging up in his office

I have continued plodding along with my Naive Melody blocks and these are what have been done...

I have 20 more to do then they can all be sewn together....

We survived a lovely day, had lots of lovely food, Debs and Xav came round and spoilt us very much and we had lots and lots of long chats to our locked down families in UK ... and played Risk, the board game gift this year.  It only took 10 hours for me to conquer the world......

I do enjoy this time in between Christmas and New Year... I always feel like I should be doing nothing at all .... and I enjoy endulging that feeling!... and of course eating left overs....

Righto, Gotto Go.... I do hope you had Happy Christmasses and Happy New Year to you all ....  I'll catch up with you next year! 

sort of finishes

My farmyard stitcheries are all done now.....

I will add peepers around the edge and there will be pretty 4 patches in between them and finished with a border (or 2)

and my 'love' quilt top is finished.... look at green grass!!!!! woohoo the rain has been wonderful

.. all those half dresdens have been handsewn down.....

needleturn, EPP, embroidery and machine piecing..... and mostly in much loved Tilda fabrics

The pattern is from Natalie Bird's Make it Blue Book.....and it is 65" square

Another for the quilting queue.....

Our frangipani is looking glorious with these big bouquets of flowers all over it....

... and I have been making a mess with preparing the blocks for the Naive Melody quilt (in the background).  That will be my handsewing for a while now....

A couple of lovely quilts were put up on the walls.....

this is Holly Cottage designed by my lovely friend Michelle.... it's just gorgeous....

and last year I made up this one....

I have quite a lot of other lovely hangers but they are not going up this year...

This cute runner is out on the table though....

Wishing you all a very lovely Christmas however you spend it... I have to admit I am sore for my family in UK .... one child family can't go out as they have a young daughter in quarantine (close contact with someone who tested positive) another childs family can't go out as they live in Tier 4 area which is strict lockdown.  There are others who can get together but only for a short time... and outside in the winter cold!  It can't be easy trying to make Christmas magical for their children, and they are still my children to be heartsore about!

Things have changed here very quickly in some places and I know a lot of people have had to suddenly change their plans.... thinking of you all

Righto, Gotto Go..... I want to go shopping for peeper and border fabric!

WOOFA and Sunday Stitchers

This month has been a big fail as far as finishing off or working on UFO's..... 

(Thanks to Cheryll and the Sunday Stitchers for the nudging and support this year)

not to worry.... other life happened.....

December is frazzling so surviving is a victory!

I have made all my half Dresdens.... 

and now they are being joined to the borders..... they do look pretty....

some more lovely ornies arrived in the post this week...

an angel from Susan

and a caravan (look at all that detail) from Karen....

Of course they have been added to my chimney pole

I go to a couple of sewing groups during weekdays and this year I experimented with some mini Christmas cakes.  This was the second batch I made and they were gratefully eaten....

they have been a success... I will do it again

Hubz got a nice box with snacks and whisky 

to be honest I thought the box was the most exciting part.....

I have refilled it.....

This is one of my projects for next year.... it will be a big challenge and I will take it slow....but I'm very excited

Righto, Gotto Go.....

I saw this poem the other day.....

xxx

,

Decorating

We had a very tatty tree which had served us well.... it got retired after our last use.

We went to town to buy a new one

they were sold out

we went to about 6 stores

so I gave up

When we came home I looked at our wood fire

and dusted it off

Hubz and I wound tinsel and lights and fetched out a couple of Christmas quilts

and now it has a whole lot of my extra special decorations, all hand made... by friends, family and a few of mine

I love it

and it takes up no extra space

Beautiful hand made decorations have been arriving at my home this month

Maria sent this gorgeous coaster... but it is being a decoration since I don't want to spill my wine gin martini coffee on it.....

Shez sent this cute stitched circular one....

Michelle sent a lovely stitched dove on felt

the quilt group had a decoration swap at our lunch..... Heather made mine out of ribbon on a polystyrene ball....

I think we might have a workshop on these next year.... so I will attend 

I have a couple of finishes.... my Melbourne son needed 2 new cushion mattress covers.  Made out of upholstery corderoy  about 2m x 1m... and have a long zip each.

I didn't really know what I was doing so I hope they work ok....

December has Christmas parties.... sadly I can't get to them all but I did make some yummy for the Tuesday girls group....

Melt 2 bars white chocolate, add 1 cup each of tiny marshmallows, pistachio nuts and dried cranberries.... mix well, put in pan in fridge till set... chop up.... eat.....

easy peasy yummy scrummy and looks pretty too ... thanks to friend Rachel for teaching me this one....

Righto, Gotto Go... sorting, baking, tidying to be done.... perhaps I should start with a  wine gin martini coffee

Farmyard

When I saw last seasons Tilda fabric Tiny Farm I thought of this sweet Ella and Skysie stitcheries and pattern...

I have made it before, many years ago - I don't even remember where it went to live....

The stitcheries are lovely and calming to do... just a little bit of satin stitch on the eyes...

I have been enjoying sewing these in front of the TV at night...

... or during marathon Messenger chats with friends....

I have started putting the blades I sewed at retreat together into half dresdens....

they still need their circles in the middle then will be appliqued to the final border of my love quilt ....

I have started thinking about quilts I want to make next year... and quilts I want to quilt next year....

hmmmmmm

Righto, Gotto Go... might be a good time to open one of those boxes with quilt tops in....  I will be making a list and photographing over the next few weeks...

One of the bundles of fabric I am hankering to use is this ....

It's called Perfect Union and I fell deeply in love with it .... I worked hard at election time and needed a reward!! haha... any excuse.   I don't know what I want to make with it yet....

Retreat Sewing....

A lovely weekend with friends (new and old).... its always lovely to get to know some people over an extended time.....

I took my large machine (Pfaff Grandquilter) as I can change the foot plate and quilt with it easily.  It is heavy and I think I need to treat myself to a trolley bag one day...

I went round all the black edges of the silhouettes in black, around the coloured borders of the blocks in a clear thread then used a lovely lightly metallic thread in the sky (so in real life you can see the odd sparkle)

Up the sashing was some scrolls...

... and leaves around the borders.... black on black the quilting is not obvious but adds texture

I even added the binding but will not sew it down until we have made a decision about how we are going to hang it....  so not quite a finish yet!

I found fabric for the border of Wish You Well.... I'm very happy with that blue, it is not as strong as it shows in the picture but picks up some of the blue's I have used in the piecing.  I found a nice mustardy brown for the binding

The Quilters Angel had a pop up shop where we had our retreat which was very convenient

Then I sewed about 200 dresden plate blades..... good to have company in jobs like that which is lots and lots of repetition...

Last night I turned them inside out and they will be pressed today and put aside to await the next step.... I need to make a bunch of circles for the middles next...

I don't get as much done as some people but I did finish off the things that I had specially wanted to achieve.  

Righto, Gotto go ..... a busy week ahead...

Take care, keep safe.... hoping for some rain here...