Thursday, March 31, 2011

BORDERS ARE ON

I am really happy to say that the borders are on my BOM quilt. I have been working on this quilt for 14 months , there was a fair amount of embroidery on each block that kept me very busy but I have enjoyed every moment.

Yesterday I was determined to get the borders on and everything went very smoothly.

This is the finished quilt top. One of the inner embroidered borders.
A really cute little heart cornerstone on the final border
I am going to quilt this one myself it just needs minimal quilting and lots of little heart buttons which I have been collecting over this past year. Hope I have enough.

Monday, March 28, 2011

What have I been working on.........

Over the past year myself and 5 of my friends from my patchwork group have been working on a BOM called "Seasons of the Heart" by Leanne Knell from Petals & Patches. I have completed the 9 blocks and although I liked the original patterns of the embroidery I have changed about 90% and designed my own or used patterns from other embroideries I have done before. These are just a few of the blocks




Hopefully by the end of this week I will have all the blocks together and the borders on as I am quite keen to get this one finished. So more photos to follow on my next post.

Saturday, March 19, 2011

PINCUSHION

As a part of Fiona's Crazy Felt Pincushion swap, today I have finished my part on Dianne's pincushion. This is my first experience at wool embroidery and I quite enjoyed it. Now it is ready to post on to Laura in North Dakota.

Monday, March 14, 2011

AN ENJOYABLE DAY

Last Sunday my DH and I set out early to travel to Oberon to attend a swap meet. I don't usually go to these but after all I have been doing lately for my parents etc I needed a day out.
Travelling up through the mountains the fog was quite dense until we got a bit higher and I was able to see and take a few photos.

The landscape looked beautiful with the fog in the valleys. So fresh and clean.
At the swap meet apart from the few car pieces my DH purchased I was lucky to meet up with a fellow blogger jannimary, and look at what I bought from her stand. An old icing set for my daughter Danielle, an old frame and a whisk and all for a good price. It was lovely to talk to someone who has the same interests and to think I have often followed her blog and her bike riding experiences.
Also purchased these few items. The little fan is for a friend who loves fans.
After leaving the swap meet we headed for Bathurst to visit the patchwork shop Home Patch but unfortunately it was closed. On our way out of town there was an auction at the showgrounds we just had to go in to have a look.
Well we came home with this occasional table.....

Another mirror for my mirror wall I just loved the shape of this particular one.


And a bargain for $5. a lot of old picture frames. Danielle is forever looking for old frames so once cleaned up they will go to her home.

All in all we had a lovely day.

Wednesday, March 09, 2011

HOME AGAIN

Yes came home last night after spending time helping my parents. My Dad came home from hospital on Tuesday night and is doing well. I will be returning there next Tuesday when Dad then goes in for an eye operation. Everything seems to be happening all at the same time. Whilst I was at their home it gave me a great opportunity to do a bit of spring cleaning. Now I know you can all imagine how much clutter has been collected after being in the same home for over 54 years?????? There was lots. Many bags of stuff went to the charity bins and lots went in the garbage bin.
I was able to get my wool pincushion base ready to be posted to Melody for embellishing. I guess this is like a round robin pincushion started on Bubzrugz.blogspot.com. Sure am looking forward to receiving Diannas' base from Canada.
During my cleaning up at my parents home I found a few things I thought I would like to keep.
I made this knitting bag for my Mum a few years ago when she was a prolific knitter. These days she only does a bit of embroidery and crocheting which is pretty good for an 86 year old.


How cute are these little embroidery transfers and look at the price.


Also came across this unfinished cross stitched apron. All the pieces are there to complete the apron so in a spare moment I will do just that. I can remember my Mum doing a lot of these types of aprons.


The pattern for the above apron was in one of these book along with lots of other hand drawn patterns


And these were two of a draw full of aprons that I found stuffed in a cupboard. These certainly do bring back lovely memories. My Mum always had an apron on as she went around the house doing her daily chores or cooking, both of which she does not do much of these days.

A few years back (about 2 years I think) my friend Chris and I bought some yellow chenille fabric with the idea of making some chooks. Well I wanted to do something reasonably easy during my days of rest from my parents AND get finished so I stitched up the 2 chooks.
How cute do they look. I guess you can say that this was another UFO just waiting to be made.

Friday, March 04, 2011

A Quick Post Today

I have not been able to post lately as I have been staying with my Mum whilst my Dad is in hospital. Am home today for a bit of a rest myself as my sister has taken over the Mum sitting duties for the weekend.
I am so happy with myself before I left to go to Mum's I wanted to get another UFO finished. This quilt became my worst nightmare. The top had been completed some ? years ago and I had started machine quilting it in June 2008. Nothing seemed to go right at the time so it was put away for a better day. Last weekend I started the quilting and once I got into it everything went smoothly. Took me three days and the quilt was complete.

Because the quilt is now well over 8 years old I have misplaced the fabric for the binding (probably used it in another project) so it still is not totally completed but I am pleased I only have the binding to do.
This is my finished quilt (well almost). Another UFO out of the box.
What UFO will be next????????