March Xmas project completed. Small addition to linen collection.

For the March Xmas project, I made a little felt gift pouch. I am determined to keep on track with this monthly commitment, as I know when November arrives I will be so pleased to have a box of hand made Xmas goodies to either give away or decorate our house! But this past month has been busy, so to keep this project achievable I had to keep it small.


I was passing through Ashburton this week, and couldn't resist stopping at one of the opshops on High Street. I found this gorgeous set of two doilies for $6. Mermaids and fish are uncommon subjects for embroidery, so I was delighted to find these.

Back to my sewing!

There is too much waiting to be done for me to waste any more time reading or sketching! So yesterday and today, I got busy.
A few years ago, I was given a freebie kit by a stall holder at one of the craft shows, when I bought something else at her stand. It was very simple - the outline of a rooster with numbered sections, and a selection of scrap fabrics. All that needed to be done was transfer the sections on to fusible webbing along with the relevant numbers, iron them on to the bits of fabric, and place the bits on to background material. So when I rediscovered the kit the other day, it was the perfect excuse to restart my sewing mojo! I am still doing some decorative stitching, and have a way to go, but I'm rather pleased with it!

The Embroiderer's Guild of Vic. have invited members to participate in a quilt to commemorate the ANZAC Centenary next year. The participants are supplied with green and red fabric, and are required to make a block, then stitch the name and serial number of any serviceman/woman who served in World War 1.
After asking everyone in our respective families, we found that neither of us had ancestors who served in that war. But one of our friends told us about his Great Uncle, who enlisted when he was 15, and was shot in the leg in France less than a year later. He died in hospital when he was 26. I asked Mark for his permission to use his Uncle's name and he was happy for me to do so.

My second apron for the Ballarat Apron Festival is nearly done. All I had to do was embellish the gingham apron that I found at our opshop! so it wasn't too difficult to attach some chook patchwork fabric. I'll add some ric rac and buttons to dress it up a bit more.

Off topic.

I haven't been doing any stitching for a week or so because other things around here have taken priority.  If you are curious, have a look at my day to day blog here.
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First apron finished for Ballarat Apron Festival.

The pattern for this child's apron was in Handmade magazine.  My version is a bit different; I used calico instead of pink fabric for the apron, and pink icecream instead of the the colour in the pattern.  It only took me two nights, so I'm thinking of making two more, for Ken's niece's little girls.  They would look so cute in these!  I still have to embroider words on this ("Sweet Tooth") but I would stitch their names on if I made them for the kids.



Today I found this gingham hand made apron at our opshop, and as the next apron I'm planning to make has a gingham base, this turned up at the right time - it will save me making one! All I have to do is applique the pattern items on the front.

Apron Festival in Ballarat on May 10 and 11.

I was at the Embroiderers Guild today, and as one of my volunteer jobs is to tidy up the members' notice board, I was doing that, when I found a postcard advertising the Ballarat Apron Festival. I took a copy of it, and looked it up online when I got home. The organisers have a website with all the details, and application form if people wish to make an apron for the festival. They have to be in by April 11, so it gives me a bit over one month to make an apron. Am I going to do it? You bet - everything else is on hold until I've done it - lol!
Here is the link to the Festival website.

Tea Cosy Festival at Bundoora Homestead.

I know it isn't quite stitching and vintage linens, but the Tea Cosy festival is still a form of hand craft, so I feel justified in posting about it here. I took photos last week, and have posted them on my Needlecraft Shows blog here.

Cheryl's PNG quilts finished, and two more quilts received.

I had a dozen other things to do yesterday, but was determined to get those baby quilts finished, and I did. You can see them on the PNG Quilt collective blog, along with two quilts donated by Steph H. in NSW.