Pincushions for Africa

I thought I'd better not just try the BSR, but the other functions of Nina as well. So on the weekend I dragged out a box of scraps and went pincushion crazy :) A friend of mine is going to Africa soon, and her church is having a table to raise money for the orphans, etc. These pincushions are for that table. I don't know how much they can sell them for, but every little bit helps, right? It was a bit of fun too :)

I also did a bit of stitching and must take some photos tomorrow to put up.

And in other news... Alice is back!! Yay!! (You need to put some photos up of the goodies you brought home, Alice!)

I'm sooooo excited!!!!!!!!!!!!

Let me introduce you to Nina!!!!


I bought her this morning and I have been having fun ever since!! I got her second hand from a lady in town who is upgrading. It was a great opportunity that I hadn't really thought I would get..... I mostly wanted it for the stitch regular, although there are other cool features that Bernie doesn't have. Also, if I ever want to get the embroidery module I can.

When I got home I got some scraps and started playing right away. As you can see above, I put the BSR on and had some fun! But just practicing on a few scraps gets rather boring, so... I dragged out a quilt I had started to stipple with Bernie oh... 18 months ago?! It wasn't going well, so I shelved it... but now.... I got it out and FINISHED quilting it!!!


I was very impressed with the stitch regulator. It really makes a difference. Now I still need to practice getting the shapes right, and the rythm of it all. Also the tension needs a bit of work... but all in all, I was very happy! I used gold embroidery thread which was making life difficult for me on Bernie, but went much better using the BSR.

Soooooooo.... nothing like a wonderful new machine to get me motivated to finish more quilt tops!!! Yay!!!!

For Alice

For more of these look here :)

A Sewing Day

Last Friday my friend Yvonne came for the day to sew :) I managed to get the binding done on Daniel's quilt! Yay!


I did it on the machine with a herringbone stitch. I thought it would be quicker, but in the end it turned out to be very fiddly. Over the past few days I tied the rest of the quilt, and now it is done :


I also worked on my disappearing nine patch quilt and did 10 nine patches. I still need to make them disappear...


When I got my ironing board out to use for the day, it got caught on something sharp and ripped:



It really need replacing a long time ago, but I've been putting it off - one of those fiddly jobs that takes me away from my quilting! When it ripped I decided I'd better make a new one right away. I used the binding and string from the old one (unpicked it) and then sewed it to the new fabric:



So two projects done for the July already!! Yay! Now I need to work on some boms... especially stitcheries, I am getting behind on them.

While I worked on the above projects, Yvonne was busy with this most gorgeous quilt:



It's called Snowflake Medallion, and it's from a class at Ballarat Patchwork. I am very tempted to take the same class one day if they offer it again. I haven't done real applique, so it would be good for me. Here are some close ups:





Isn't it just beautiful?!

Well, that's all folks. Better get back to school :)

Circles and Hexagons

I've just come home from visiting my parents in the Dandenong hills. We always have a lovely relaxing time, although it went by far too quickly. We made a quick visit to Mrs Martins, and I didn't spend much at all - so why do you think I was punished by slipping and falling over outside her shop? I hurt my knee, leg and foot.. and spent the rest of the day with my feet up.

It was a good thing I brought some handwork to do. A friend of mine is "The Yoyo Queen". She has made such beautiful quilts and cushions out of yoyos, and I kept meaning to have a go. I went to her house last week and made a start. I also did a bit of a search on the net, and came across this gorgeous one. That is what I am aiming for, but smaller, to go on a little side table in my kitchen. So at Mum's, I made a start, as you can see in the basket above :) There must be a couple of hundred yoyos in there - it gets very addictive once you start!!


When I ran out of circles, I picked up another project that I have been working on for a few years - my hexagons. That is meant to be a many year project. I am hoping to turn the hexagons into a king size quilt for our bed. I have NO idea how I am going to manage quilting a king size - I may need to tie it I think. Oh well, cross that bridge when we come to it.

We have some dear friends visiting us this weekend, and I shall keep going with my circles and hexagons. Until I get sick of them :) Hopefully my friend will bring some craft too and we can chat and have lots of cuppas, as you do!

My inspiration and motivation, Alice, has gone back to the US on a holiday. I have to be good and sew a lot for her, and yes, for you too Yvonne :) I'm looking forward to our sewing day next week, in amongst all the tidying and sorting I must do. Tracy, your pantry has inspired me... mine is a HUGE mess. Must work on that too! But first, I will finish this post and do a few more yoyos......

Happenings...

My only finish for this month is the above tablecloth. It took me longer than I expected to make, since I did frayed edges. I should have taken a photo of all huge ball of threads that I pulled out! The tablecloth got smaller and smaller... thankfully I started big enough :) I bought the fabric at Spotlight for $3 a meter, and I am quite pleased with the end result.

Other than that, I have been working on Daniel's snowball quilt. It is soooooo close to being ready, but I know it isn't going to be done this month! We just had too many other things on, like Matt's birthday..... and then a week later Elizabeth's birthday....

Matthew, my baby, turned 11! Unreal! He requested breakfast in bed, so here he is, fully dressed, having Milo, scrambled eggs and toast, and that is a leftover donut on the right just in case he was still hungry!

Elizabeth turned 13, and is growing up to be quite a young lady. She got to sit in my chair with her feet up to open her pressies :) She got spoiled by Alice with lots of crafty things, and some fabric from us as well:

Can you tell her favorite color is purple?? Just like Alice.... :)

And now it is school holidays for two weeks. I think we are all ready for it. I plan to visit my parents, sew a bit, and try to organize the boys' room. The latter is well overdue! I'm sure there are many bits and pieces of toys and stuff that they have outgrown. I haven't done a big sort out for ages, so I want to try to do that. Hopefully I'll pop back in over the next fortnight with some sewing updates!

Finally, some quilting!

I have to admit that ever since I got that horrible head cold, I have lacked motivation. I have also lacked time as I got behind with housework and school, so that is what I have been spending most of the past few weeks on.

I had kicked Bernie out of the kitchen and into the bedroom to make room for school work and meals at the table, and of course that didn't help my sewing motivation. Just thinking about shifting her back and forth.. well, it just didn't happen.

Yesterday I got Daniel to move her back to the kitchen table for me, and today I started quilting his snowball quilt. I have done all the machine quilting for it now!!!! Yay!!! I decided to try something new and combine machine quilting and tying it. I have never tied a quilt before, so this will be interesting. I will tie a knot in the middle of each of the snowballs.

I went to Spotlight this afternoon to find some yarn to tie with, and managed to find some that I liked in the bargain box. I also got some table cloth fabric from the furnishings section for $3 a meter. Maybe tomorrow I'll get to sew one up.

Tomorrow is Matt's birthday. He wants to go to the computer museum nearby where for $6 you can play on all sorts of game consoles for as long as you like. I will take the new block from Gail and stitch while he and Daniel play.

So..... maybe I will get on a roll with Bernie again this weekend...... Oh, and next weekend..... it is Ketchup Weekend. I think I may need to join in on this. I have a LOT of "ketchup-ing" to do!