Doc is Done

Today I finished the top of May's Schnibble Doc. It was too dark when I finished to take a photo but below is one I took yesterday before the outer borders were attached. At least it gives you a bit of an idea of how the top is looking.

 

In last months Summer Day Schnibble parade on Sherri's blog, I was a very lucky winner of a Fat Eighth bundle of Hello Luscious donated by the designer of all the wonderful Schnibble patterns, Carrie Nelson. Carrie also included a Birds and Berries charm pack and a lovely card signed by her and Rosie (the Golden Retriever after which her pattern company is named) in my parcel. Thank you so much Carrie. I will have lots of fun with these gorgeous fabrics. Thanks also to Sherri and Sinta, the organisers of Another Year of Schnibbles. It is so much fun working with a new pattern and fabrics each month.

Aren't these pinks fabulous? I love the blues and greens too but forgot to get a photo.

 Another parcel that arrived this week contained Joanna's latest book. Regular readers will know of my love of all things Fig Tree.

 

It is full of lovely sewing and quilting projects. These pillows ...

 

 and the fabulous Cherry Blossom quilt are among my favourites.

 

Four more days of school for me before school holidays start. Last week my school choirs performed fabulously at the Burnie Eisteddfod taking home four first prizes. The kids were amazing and really impressed the adjudicator. It will be nice to take things easier for a couple of weeks after a very hectic term. 

 

Doc Block(s)

This morning I pieced my first Doc block from Delilah.

 

 

I was so pleased with the first one I made a couple more after lunch. Six more to go.

 

Not much to show for a weekends sewing but I did tidy up the sewing room yesterday. I don't know about you but I seem to get more done when I'm not surrounded by chaos.

 

Red and White Delights

Way back in February I had a birthday and received some lovely gifts from my Material Girls friends.

There are 6 of us in the group and when one of us has a birthday the others make them a gift. To make it a little easier to decide what to make we choose a theme ... mine was red and white.

Annie made me this gorgeous journal ...

  

with a very 'sweet' Cinderberry Stitches stitchery on the front.

 Christine M made this lovely pot holder ...

 

   

with a lovely Bronwyn Hayes design on the front.

 Christine does the most amazing button hole stitching (and she is really quick, too). Check out those beautiful satin stitch lips  ... adorable. There is no way a pot is going to be touching this beautiful piece ... it is strictly for display.

 

 Rosemary made me a lovely 'basket' for presenting rolls or muffins.

 

 This is the back. What lovely fabrics.

 Vicki made me a phone/ipod pouch from Janelle Wind's book. Gorgeous.

 

 And Lyndy made me a pouch from my favourite Etchings print.

Inside it has little pockets to keep embroidery floss and a needle holder. 

 

 Thank you, girls. I love all my beautiful red and white gifts.

 

The weather is appalling here today. I have tidied the sewing room and done a little bit of work on my Doc Schnibble ... mainly pressing and trimming squares. Hopefully tomorrow I can start sewing them together.

 

Gem's Dilly Bag

I have completed Gem's Dilly Bag, one of the kits I bought from Marg Low at AQC a few weeks ago.

 I really enjoyed making the felted flower detail on the front.

 The lining fabric is really pretty too. This was a really easy pattern and I'm sure it would look great in lots of other fabrics and colours.

 Today I had a play with the fabrics below .... Delilah by Tanya Whelan. The spotted background fabric is Sweet Shoppe by Michelle D'Amore.

 I am going to use them for this months Schnibble, Doc. Can you believe it's May already?

  

Hope your week was a good one.

Craft Fair Goodies

On Friday I went to the Craft and Quilt Fair in Launceston with Vicki and Christine M. We met up with Sarah, Roseanne and Gail and had a lovely day shopping, eating, talking and admiring the quilts in the exhibition.

 Not surprisingly, I showed little restraint in the fabric purchasing department! I found these lovely Japanese prints on the Be Be Bold stand.

These grey fat quarters were from Frangipani Fabrics. LateIy I have collected quite a nice little stash of grey fabrics.

Fee had some fabulous specials including these one metre rolls of wonderful stripey fabric.

And oh dear,Tilda was at this fair too. Bad news for the credit card but great for my stash were these Tilda beauties from Fresh Fabric.

I spent quite a lot of time at the Handiquilter stand and had a play on the Sweet 16. The lovely Sarah took this picture and was very keen for me to post it on my blog. Hope you are happy Sarah. LOL!

 To Elizabeth who asked about Christmas Fun. It is a design by Lynette Anderson. It was her button club BOM last year. Elizabeth, I tried to reply to you privately but you are set as a 'no-reply' blogger.

Christmas Fun

I've been plodding along on my Christmas Fun blocks and have now finished 3 blocks.

This is Christmas Cottage.

 

Wouldn't it be nice to live in this little house?

 

This one is called The Pudding, I was a tad disappointed that part of the vine disappeared into the seam. Hopefully it won't be too noticeable when the quilt is finished.

 

 But I do love this cute little blue bear.

 

 Here's how the 3 blocks look when joined together. Quite cute, if I say so myself.

I am trying to avoid the quilt looking too 'brown and countryish'. The Glace fabrics seem to be helping me achieve this. What do you think?

Yesterday I went to the Craft and Quilt Fair in Launceston. I will try and pop back tomorrow to show some of the goodies that found their way into my bag. 

ANZAC Day Sewing

This morning I marched and played in ANZAC Day parades at both Forth and Ulverstone. It was a beautiful day ... warm and sunny ... and there were loads of people at both services.  

I made the most of an afternoon off to work on the February Schnibble I.S.T.H. (Insert Snappy Title Here). I was super busy in February and didn't find the time to make the quilt then so as the Summer Day top is done it seemed like a great opportunity to try and catch up a bit.

I am using one of the earlier French General lines, Rural Jardin. I love the reds and blues in this range and thought they would be great for these star blocks.

 

 The blocks are made entirely with half-square triangles, pieced slightly larger then cut to size. I like the accuracy that results from this. Another thing I love about the Schnibbles patterns is the really clear pressing instructions which ensure everything fits together nicely. I finished another two blocks after these photos were taken so only three more to go.

 Back to work tomorrow but only for one day then it's off to Launceston on Friday to the Craft and Quilt Fair. Bye.

 

Summer Day

April's Another Year of Schnibbles quilt is Summer Day. I am quite pleased with myself for having the top all done and it's not even the end of the month yet.

 I chose to stick with the fabrics on the pattern cover ... to me Strawberry Fields seemed the perfect choice for this sunny little quilt.

 The flying geese blocks were fun to piece and with the addition of a strip on each side most of the work was done.

 I cut my outer borders a smidge wider to allow for trimming the sides straight after quilting.

Once again, I am looking forward to finding out which Schnibble we will be making next.

Little Bits of This and That

 Little bits of this and that is what I have to share today.

Yesterday I started one of the Marg Low kits I purchased last week at AQC. Below is the front of Gem's Dilly Bag in gorgeous Ruby by Bonnie and Camille. The felt flower was so nice to stitch. ... very quick and easy.

 Last night I finished the stitchery front of  Bronwyn Hayes' Bunny Googy Bag. This is available as a free pattern over on her blog.

And at long last I have finished the Cookies block of Christmas Fun. One down, seven to go!

Also, this week, I was the lucky winner of these Creative Cards on Rosalie's blog. Thank you, Rosalie. My favourite is the Happy Easter Gift Bag ... I hope to trace the stitchery onto some fabric and make a start before the weekend is over.

Later today I'm having afternoon tea at Two Oaks with some stitching friends. Should be fun.Have a good weekend.