Craft and Quilt Fair

Did anyone go to the Craft & Quilt Fair at Jeff's shed last week? I was there on Sunday, working on the EGV stand from 10 am until about 3pm. As there were five of us rostered on, we took turns in wandering around the show, so as we got in free of charge because we were 'working', it was a good opportunity.
I took advantage of an offer from the Scissorman stall, and got 7 replacement rotary cutter blades for $19.95 which was a good offer, although the blades are not a well known brand, so it will be interesting to see how long they last.
I also bought some Xmas fabric to use for the Xmas project I'm working on for July. I am doing four redwork stitcheries and will use five Xmas fabric blocks with them to make up a table runner. I wanted fabric with a Nativity theme, but not one stall had any. Some of the stall holders didn't even know what I meant, and waved fabric with Santa Claus, reindeers, toys, etc at me...The reason for the season is fast disappearing. So I ended up with these three fat quarters:


The colour in this photo is not good at all - the top fabric is white with gold stars, and the second one is the same design, but red with gold stars.
Then I found something that I should NOT have bought, but with my new kitchen in mind, it seemed just the right fabric to make a lovely wall hanging!

I took a lot of photos of the quilts which were sensational as always, but there were notices up warning people not to take photos for use on the internet on blogs, without asking the quilt maker first. For goodness sake, where would you start looking for twenty of those women - they don't exactly sit in front of their quilts for the entire five days...I might publish my photos on my other Needlecraft Shows blog, and just leave them on for a week. I'll think about it.

Monthly Xmas project for June.

I finished stitching my June Xmas item a few days ago, and tonight I added borders to make it into a picture which I can use in one of several ways.   You can see it here.

PNG Quilt Collective.

Four baby quilts arrived from Kelli in California today, which brings the total to 53 quilts here now, ready to be shipped over to PNG the next time Ken's cousin is going there.  You can see some of them on the PNG quilts blog on the side bar. 

Second memory quilt finished.

We are having lunch with our friends M and L tomorrow, and I simply had to get this little quilt finished tonight to give them.  As I explained earlier on this blog, I was going to make one memory quilt for their 25th wedding anniversary, but I made a mistake when I bought too many fabrics with the travel theme that they wanted, and the colours didn't match.  So I ended up making two small quilts which can be used as a throw over the back of a couch, or wall hanging, or just on a table.  I posted photos of the first one here a month or so ago, and here is the second one.
The front is basic four patch in two colours with photos in the centre, alternating with travel theme fabric.

The back is one length of fabric with vintage architectural drawings of French buildings.  Very hard to photograph,  and it is a lot more interesting than it looks here.

Another tablecloth for my collection.

A surprise find in the opshop where I work - this table cloth which looks quite new, so it would seem there are still some ladies out there who like to embroider traditional cloths. 

May Xmas project now finished.

I finally got this project done, after weeks of procrastination.  It is only a felt pincushion, but it took a lot longer to make than what I had anticipated.  You can see it on the One Xmas Item blog here.
I had a project in mind for June, but as I only have 12 days to do it (we are supposed to 'hand in' our project at the blog on or soon after the 25th of the month), I've found a small stitching project that won't take long (famous last words), so hope to have that up and running in a few days.  I have another small memory quilt to finish first though, and again, it shouldn't take long because the blocks are made up and all I need to do is attach the photos onto the quilt front, then add the backing and binding.

Girlfriends Stitchery Club quiltlet complete

After many little delays, here it is in all its glory.  I didn't get around to posting a separate photo of the last stitchery in the set, but if you have a close look at the whole thing, I'm sure you will be able to find the one that you haven't yet seen.  The backing is a piece of patchwork fabric that I found at the opshop or the Guild, I can't remember now!

Stalled!

I have not done any sewing since the previous post.   My  throat feels like it is on fire, I am sneezing and sniffing, and will be staying in bed with my library books, this Samsung tablet, and hopefully a nice hot cup of tea if my hubby thinks I am too sick to get out of bed and get it myself...back in a few days hopefully.

Girlfriends Stitchery club and other projects.

Just a quick post to say that not only did I finish the last stitchery for the mini quilt the week before last, but I've also finished the quilt.  Just haven't had time to post anything here with our kitchen renovation taking place over the past two weeks. 
I also have the May Xmas project to do - it's cut out and ready to put together, but I didn't get any further for the same reason.  The kitchen is now fully functional, so I'm hoping for some me-time to work on my sewing projects in the coming weeks.

Another stitched block, and anniversary quilt finished.

This is the sixth block in Lyn Briggs' Girlfriends Stitchery Club - isn't it sweet? I've just printed off the last one in this series, and will stitch it in the next day or two. I am dying to make up the mini quilt with all the stitched blocks and four patch squares made up from my scrap box!

Below is the anniversary quilt for our friends Mark and Louise.  It isn't a full size quilt, but will make a nice throw or wall hanging.  The front has three photos of them with printed pics of London icons.  I have tried all the settings on my camera to make this clearer, and taken photos inside and outside, but for some reason, it always comes out blurry.  The quilt really looks much better than these photos.

The back is a completely different colour scheme and has no photos, so if they get tired of the red and blue, they can flip it over to show this fabric featuring Italian tourist spots.

Girlfriends Stitchery Club 5th block

Last week's stitched block.  I have just downloaded the sixth one and hope to stitch that over the next few days.  It's been a busy week and I have a few things that should have been finished by now, but with everything else going on around here (new kitchen, apron festival in Ballarat, sick husband), whenever I sit down to sew, there is an interruption.  Oh well, that's life.

The two aprons I made for the Apron festival both sold, which was nice to see when we went to Ballarat last Sunday.  I took heaps of photos, and have posted them on my aprons blog.

Today's stitching at the Guild.

If you assumed from my previous post that I was going to work on the GirlFriends Stitchery Club project today, you got it wrong - sorry!  I decided to continue working on the embroidery projects that are already in the tin that I take to the Embroiderers Guild when I'm on duty.   In this tin, I keep three or four UFOs along with the necessary threads, scissors, needles, unpicker, etc.  Travelling embroiderers box.  From time to time I remove an item from the tin, and replace it with something more interesting/urgent.  URGENT?  Who am I kidding - there is nothing urgent in my life these days!

So what was in there today?  A  Possum stitchery from an old issue of Australian Country Threads, a vintage doiley which I'd bought at the Guild's Paddy's market a few years ago, and my poor neglected cross stitch Peacock sampler.   A Certain Person who started the Peacock sampler some time after me, has gone from strength to strength and I understand hers is more than half way through.  I am ashamed of myself.  Ah what the heck.  Here's what I did today:
Finished the Possum Stitchery

And did some more work on the vintage doiley:

I think I should concentrate on that Peacock sampler in future.  After I've finished the memory quilt for our friends, after I've worked on my May Xmas project, and after I've done the fifth block for Girlfriends Stitchery Club. 

Next block in Girlfriends Stitchery project.

This is  the fourth stitchery in Lyn's Girlfriends project.  The fifth pattern arrived in my email tonight, so guess what I'll be taking to the Guild tomorrow to stitch?

FABULOUS Opshop discoveries!

Have a look at these two embroidered items that were donated to our local opshop today.  It was very fortunate that I'd been asked to fill in for someone else this afternoon, otherwise I may have missed out on them!  Although the manager had grabbed the cloth before I arrived, and put it in a bag with my name on, so that was lucky.
Exquisitely stitched small table cloth with hand crocheted edging, in perfect condition.  I 've got it soaking in Napisan at the moment, so once it is rinsed and ironed, it will look even better.

This Asian style shawl or runner was in the bottom of a box of clothes, and it was a fluke that I found it there.  It looks like machine embroidery, but I can guarantee you that it is  hand embroidered.  Traditional Japanese and Chinese embroidery is perfect when done by a master of the technique.  Again, it will look much better once it has been carefully washed and pressed.

Girlfriends Stitchery Club.

I am absolutely determined not to fall by the wayside with this weekly project provided by Lyn Briggs.  She emails each design to the participants promptly on Mondays, and I print it off as soon as I get it.  Last week was crazy, and even though I had everything ready, I just never got started on the third pattern.  So when I found the fourth pattern in my emails tonight, I said "That's it!" and told Ken not to disturb me for ANYTHING.  (He likes to come and see what I'm doing, then tell me what he is watching on t.v and why I should be watching it too).  Anyway, I got my Cupcake done, and the four patch blocks finished ready for making up the quilt in a few weeks.

This is a 'scrappy' mini quilt, so I didn't go out and buy a pack of matching charm squares, as I have a box of my own fabrics already cut up into 5" squares, and want to use them up before I buy anything else.

I have nearly finished the Anniversary memory quilt for our friends, who saw it on Saturday and were delighted with it - phew!  Always a worry when you  make something for a gift and wonder if it will be appreciated or relegated to the back of a cupboard....I've added a tartan border and quilted it, now all I have to do is trim it, and bind it.  I took some photos tonight intending to post them here, but they were no good, so I deleted them and will take better pics when the quilt is finished.

Monthly Xmas project and child's apron.

I have just posted a pic of my April project for the One Xmas Project a Month here.  Very proud of myself to be keeping up with this!  It helps to have made a list in advance for the year, with the pages marked in the magazines that I've chosen, instead of looking through hundreds of patterns every month trying to decide at the last minute.

On Tuesday night I sat up until the early hours to finish this child's apron for the Ballarat Apron Festival.  I had actually finished making the apron about a month ago, but left the Sweet Tooth stitching till the last minute...hopeless.   Entries had to be in by 25th April which of course being a public holiday with no mail deliveries, actually translated to a deadline of 24th April.  I was thinking I could post my entries on Wednesday and they would get to Ballarat on Friday.  Well, I posted them on Wednesday, but it cost me $10 to send them by Express to ensure they would arrive by Thursday.

ANZAC Day

Lap quilt top and some stitching done this weekend.

This quilt top is for friends who are celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary this year. It should have been bigger, but I had been stocking up on fat quarters of fabric featuring England and Europe, as our friends travel a lot, and wanted a memory quilt of their trips. I'd bought the fat quarters as I found them on eBay, not paying attention to the colours, so I've ended up with a stash that don't match each other! Stupid twit....(Not only that, I ran out of the paper backed cotton to print the photos from my computer, so I'm waiting for some more to arrive.)  I've made the four patch blocks to co-ordinate with one of the fat quarters, and put some of their photos in the middle of the blocks. I'm going to add another wider border, then will finish off with backing and binding, so it will be okay for either a wall hanging, throw for a coffee table, or just a lap quilt.
I'm making another small quilt like this out of a different fabric and four patch blocks, so will need three more photos for that.

This is the second stitchery for Lyn Biggs' Girlfriends mini quilt. I love doing these little embroideries as they only take half an hour to complete, and it is nice to have something finished so quick, even if it is tiny!

Happy Easter to everyone who reads my blogs.

Preview of linens to be sold at Eltham opshop week after Easter.

These are the linens I wrote about in the previous post. Mostly cutwork, except for the two damask napkins below, the round doiley, the tray cloth and the unworked cloth (last three photos). Some people aren't excited by white work or cut work, and I don't look for it myself, but I have to admit there is a lot of work in this technique, and it isn't something I want to learn!