Secret Christmas gifts - revealed

I have two good friends that I sew with, but this year we have tried to meet monthly and been sewing the same quilt from Simply Friendships book by Kim Diehl and Jo Morton.  The quilt has lots of hand sewing, which was chosen on purpose, for easy get togethers in each others homes. 

We also have a tradition of buying each other gifts at Christmas and birthdays.  So this year for their Christmas presents I made them a Hugs and Kisses bag for their hand sewing.  Then I added two scissor holders, but they are for large scissors - just grabbed my small scissors for the  photo shoot!

Then I popped in the rest of the fabric - because I knew she loved this print and I found some in a shop.  Plus a fabric marking pencil.

Same pencil, but in this case a Christmas ornament that I purchased in London - because she loves bees!  

Happy quilting Sue.

2018 Finishes, flimsies and extras

Well it seems that in 2018 I finished a lot of kids quilts!  All six of which have been given to charity, along with one table runner (70th birthday present gifted) an, one big quilt (bottom right) which was gifted to friend in England.  Ahh, opps, that's a bit of an issue, as my local group have a quilt show which will need some entries in May.

All is not lost, as these are my flimsy finishes and WIP from 2018.  Now I wish I had sorted them a bit better here; top middle and right, along with centre photo are currently all at my long arm quilters.  The bottom left quilt (Moda Love) is just waiting for me to hand stitch down the binding.  And the brown log cabin is ready for quilting - when I find a backing.  So there are four very close finishes...but the string blocks (top left) and two bottom centre and right are still being worked on. And who knows if they will be done in time!  Not making promises about anything this year, just going to sew, take one day at a time and enjoy myself.

Here are my baking pictures from the last year, the bulk of which were made in the last three months....so it is not surprising that I have put on a kilo or two in the last few months!  Might resolve to do no baking in 2019 and a bit more exercise!  Top left is my birthday "cake" - a lamington cake with icecream centre - delish!
Happy quilting Sue.

Harvesting wheat

From late November my brothers start harvesting the crops.  This season their progress was delayed by rain and cool weather.

My brother Greg drives the semi, here he is filling the truck with wheat in the paddock behind his house.

My youngest son was keen to join me for a ride in the header.  My brother Mike drives the header. 

This is a better shot - you can see the true colour of the grain.  An average harvest this year, as lack of winter rain was followed by a dry spring and frost - but grateful as it was much worse for some.  Many farmers north of our town cut their crops for hay...if they bothered at all.  And then there were districts where it was a bumper year - an hour or two from our place.  It all comes down to when and how much it rains folks!  So getting serious rain during harvest was frustrating.....as it was sorely needed two months ago - but now is just a nuisance.

This is my sister in law Kylie driving the tractor, pulling the chaser bin.  Its a skill driving at the right speed alongside the header - but enabling the header to empty its load while harvesting at the same time, saves precious time.  Kylie takes the grain back to the field bin at paddock gate.  Means Greg can fill the truck from the field bin and get another load delivered to the silo.  This little merry go around continues while the weather is good - too cold or too much dew means they cannot harvest.  Too hot and windy (eg total fire ban weather) they cannot harvest because they might start a fire.  

Kylie cooked a beautiful Christmas lunch (compulsory day off as the silos are closed) and my contribution was roasted veggies and lemon meringue cupcakes - both normal and gluten free.  Two  wheat farmers in our family are now unable to eat wheat/gluten...ironic isn't it!

Happy Quilting Sue.

Baking and binding

I finally got this little Very Snuggly quilt quilted, simple straight lines through the blocks, stitch in the ditch around everything and stipple in the border.  When the weather was cool, I sat and hand stitched the binding at night while watching TV, which was lovely and peaceful!

We don't really have a tradition of Christmas cookies in Australia like the North Americans seem to, but I still end up baking a lot at Christmas time!   

Un cooked gingerbread people and sheep!  DS1 needed a plate for a class party and I personally have a tradition of making gingerbread with the kids.  DS1 helped with rolling and cutting, but was over it by the time it came to decorating (end of year tired), so I got to have all the fun!  No photo, but they had Go Hawks (footy team) and baa written on them!

There was a different party for the kids that competed in the HPV team.  This was a few weeks ago, and the night before I agreed to make chocolate cupcakes knowing that we had left overs for a easy and quick tea.  I then went overboard and made proper butter icing and decorated the cupcakes with the reindeer theme.  I just wished I had known about the little tubes of icing you can get, because these would have looked even cuter with a dot of brown icing in the marshmallow eyes.  Still the kids could not have cared less, all 24 were eaten on the day!

Happy quilting Sue.

Making Christmas reindeer

A few weeks ago a neighbours tree fell on our adjoining fence.  They are what I call farmers fences (wire) but still we wanted to clean it up....when hubby had time.  Luckily the tree missed squashing some of the new trees I had planted and hubby waters.  Thats our routine, I go overboard at the nursery and buy lovely plants, plant them (or set and forget I call it) and then hubby has to adjust the watering system, so they survive!

 I had a light bulb moment and went out with the pruning saw to "help".

I could not get the kids interested in helping, but hubby quickly got on board!

So now we have two more reindeers in our herd!  The one on the end was the original that I brought at a artists market a few years back.

He has one wonky leg that's a bit short, but a cute red nose!  I think he will stay as Rudolph, and the newcomers can be christened Blixen and Donner, if I remember the song correctly.

Its starting to feel a lot like Christmas here!

Happy quilting Sue.

Progress on some WIPs

A trip to Geelong for a family party enabled me to do some fabric (and Christmas) shopping.  I got this super cute Jodie Carlton designed sea gull fabric as the backing for my Modern Plus quilt.  I made the backing and binding all in one day. 

On the same trip I got this nice rust paisley print for the backing of my maple leaf quilt.  I fancied red, to bring out the red, rather then the brown accents of this quilt.  But after the major colour run I had previously with red and white Dresden I am avoid reds!  Bedsides I was shopping in the sales racks, so colours were limited, although there were lots of brown options!

My friend Lisa has been trying to fit in half an hour of sewing here and there. I have done the same, but chosen to dedicate a few minutes a day to making berries!  I think I have enough now for the border on my Warm Regards...but kept loosing count, so gave up!  

Definitely need more leaves.  But the biggest hold up with this project is no border fabric.  My trip to Geelong did not reveal anything suitable as Bellarine Sewing Centre has dedicated most of their stock to modern and brights.  So waiting for a opportunity to travel somewhere a bit different and see what I can find.  

Happy quilting Sue.

Tic tac toe table runner

I have been finishing lots of UFO's to the flimsy stage lately, but did manage to get this new project started and completed within a matter of days!  Still I delayed showing you because it was a special gift for a special person.  I used the Pattern  (but altered the block size) called Tic Tac Toe by Blossom Heart quilts, and my finished table runner 15 x 37".  

I used fabric out of the stash for the backing (top was left overs from another quilt), because the pattern suited the recipient and the colours worked as well.  Even though it is a traditional floral print and the top very modern, it worked. 

 

I quilted the background heavily with vertical and horizontal FMQ, not adequately described as squiggles....but that's the best description I can come up with...if it has a proper term please let me know!

I prefer heavily quilted table runners, but my right shoulder and neck do not like quilting.  I took breaks, but a trip to the physio is still in order.  

I brought some grey especially for the binding, because I fell in love with the secondary pattern and wanted to compliment it.    I chose to put the grey in a different placement to the original pattern, but only really fell in love with the overall effect when it was sewn together.  

Happy quilting Sue.