A Pincushion and A Couple of Hexies...

Saturday afternoon Rosie came over for a play day...such fun!...a quick reorganisation of the sewing tables and we had both our sewing machines set up and ready for go...and off Rosie went...and I sat there and fluffed about...I made the pocket for the satchel bag - and by making the pocket I mean I cut a square and a rectangle and stitched them together with a zip to create a flat six" square, not exactly rocket science or great and wonderous achievement...and then...I sat for a while and pondered and wondered and looked around the room at all the projects that could be worked on and then I spied the felt stash box and made a pincushion...well a pincushion corpse as I then realised - no polyfill...I am nothing if not under-productive!...with the attainment of polyfill after the Spotty stop on Sunday the corpse became...

a square pincushion...using handmade felt generously "donated" by the maker Fiona, which was a dream to sew...the pattern taken from Hokey Pokey Pincushion by The Birdhouse which I bought for the applique version but was too lazy to deal with on Saturday so I went for the path of least resistance (how unusal...not!)...it has a pouch of crushed walnuts surrounded by the polyfill stuffing. I bought the crushed walnut shells at The Home Patch in Bathurst for one of Anni's designs but it is a big enough bag for a few goes.

So that's another little finish for OPAM this month...and while I was moving things around on the cutting table I once again came upon these two little hexie coasters that I made either at the end or last month or the beginning of this month - anyway, weeks ago - and just seem to keep forgetting to acknowledge....

so there they are (they can be counted in May) and they will now go and join a couple of other things that I really must post off to the recipient they are intended for.  But those things have been sitting on the bookcase shelf for so long now that I think I've just become blind to them and their need to make it to the post office.

Happy Stitching...

Bloggers, Tea Cosies and Finishes....

I had a fabulous outing today yesterday...a bloggy catch up meet organised in concert with the lovely Melody (The House On The Side of the Hill) held at Bundoora Homestead Art Centre, a gorgeous Queen Anne mansion built in 1899...I arrived to find Melody, Mistea, Simone (Quilts n Cats), Marina (Maisie and the Boys), Elyte (Tea, Fabric & Other Things) and Christine (MacDonald's Patch) settled in the cafe for the first order of the day...lunch!...I had the chicken and mushroom pie with salad followed by the lemon meringue pie and it was all yum!...food and chatter what's not to love...and during the coffee and desert portion Mistea's mum came in and joined us, always good to catch up with T's Mum as well...and you know, we were all having such a lovely time chatting and eating we all forgot to take foodie photos until the table was nothing more than empty plates and cups, not at all photogenic *LOL*...

The Homestead is also the City of Darebin public art gallery and the reason we chose to visit today was to take a look at the Tea Cosy Exhibition...

"Teacosy Tales

2 May – 27 May
Every teacosy has a tale to tell…textile artists, community crafters and teacosy enthusiasts join together in tribute to a treasured domestic icon! Curated by Marg Lanne and Maryanne Noonan, the annual teacosy exhibition is a vibrant display of handcrafted, beautifully embroidered teacosies with all proceeds donated to Cancer Council Victoria."

(source: Bundoora Homestead Arts Centre

Such a fun idea for an exhibition.  An initiative to raise funds as part of the Cancer Council's Biggest Morning Tea all the tea cosies were for sale - a condition of entry into the exhibition.

And this was Mistea's entry...Rumpelstiltkskin(oops! was reading a review of that new Once Upon A Time show focused on that character!) Rapunzel...cool huh...

After visiting with the tea cosies we wandered upstairs to check out the Melrose Art Pottery exhibition (photos not permitted upstairs)...two exhibitions for the price of one!...and given that the price was free, fabulous value for money *LOL*...

I couldn't resist taking photos of the quilting patterns pressed ceiling details...

 and the lovely applique ideas leadlight windows...

leadlight door detail

and how is this for a skylight...just fabulous...

And the finish?...the outing was also the debut of the prototype satchel bag (pattern: Large Tote and Satchel, You Sew Girl by Nicole Mallalieu) finally finished this yesterday morning...a slow process being worked on in very short bursts spaced quite far apart over the last couple of weeks...

There are a few "issues" as I tried a couple of different products for the first time - as well as using a new pattern.  Figured might as well put all the "tries" into one effort *LOL*.  The iron on vinyl that I used for the flap is awesome and I love it but it has ended up a bit crinkly due to being "over worked" because I turned the flap, then the bag had to be turned through etc, a time or two too many.  I also used a very very stiff bag interfacing and while I love the structure it gives to the bag...it stands up very well without external support....boy oh boy was it hard to turn...I had to use forceps to turn the tabs/strap supports...

A quick stop at Spotlight on the way home for poly fill and just like last weekend at Bendigo I met up with a friend I haven't seen in a long time....a friend from my previous working life, it was great to see K and her family...it's been a funny year, the universe keeps putting lovely people I haven't seen in a long time back in my path...I'm not complaining :)...so that poly fill, it was a need but I flagged last night (didn't even finish this post!) and it wasn't dealt with...maybe later today...

Have a great week, hope it is stitchy...


Happy Stitching...

Squishy Mail...

The mail box had something much more fun than window faced envelopes today...a squishy envelope!...yay!!!!  The lovely Fiona of Bugz Rugz fame had a little giveaway recently of some gorgeous quilt-as-you go hexie needle books she had stitched and most uncharacteristically I won one!  So this squishy envelope arrives and I think "oh yay the needlebook...gee it must be larger than it looked on the screen as this envelope is quite squishy"...but no, it isn't that the needlebook is larger than I imagined it was but because, oh my goodness, Fiona was most generous and the envelope contained...

all this!...

the gorgeous needlebook...I love the fabric Fiona has used (and I was secretly hoping she'd choose one of the birdie design ones for me)...Fiona also made the fabulous selvedge bookmark...the quilt label was immediately earmarked for my Some Kind of Wonderful quilt...a skein of floss in a lovely shade of my favourite blue, a cute little quilt hanger, hot chocolate mix and a yummy herbal tea...Fiona you left me gobsmacked, here I was happy to have won a needlebook and you have been so generous...thank you so much, I love each and every item.

Happy Stitching...

A Busy Day Out...

Jindi here...

Early this morning the human and I set off up the highway to Bendigo to met my cousin Millie the Customs Labrador and Laila the Fox Terrier with their humans so we could all play at the RSPCA Million Paws Walk.  The sun was shining, it was a lovely day and we got to walk around Lake Weerona with lots of other dogs, twice...

The human also caught up with someone she hadn't seen in a very very long time.  We were sitting at a picnic table waiting for the day to start and a lady sat on the other side of the table...well, that lady turned out to be L who is V's mum and the human and V went to high school together and V was there too because she works for the RSPCA in Bendigo!  So they got to have a little catch up but then I wanted very much to go and play in the practice agility activity...

...it was so much fun and later while we were waiting in the line for the nice Vet Doctor to check my teeth (I need to chew some bones to help keep them clean - yum!) we heard our names being called...seriously? our names? why?...so off we go to see why they are calling for us and guess what...I am so clever that I won the agility activity!...and we didn't even know it was a competition!!!!

Best time....20 seconds!...so I get a present...yay for me!!!

We all went to a cafe so the humans could have coffee and I was so good and lay down by the human's chair and minded my manners...I was a bit tired when we got home and had to have a long snooze, it was a big day out...catch ya later!

Woofs and Tail Wags

Jindi

FNSI Results(ish)...

Friday Night Sew-In for May rolled around last night here in the Southern Hemisphere...an opportunity to get some more work done on my version of the Stitch-A-Long quilt, Anni Downes' Some Kind of Wonderful...I had actually done a heap of the applique work over the last week or so having granted the project box resident status on the kitchen table (aka next to the heater!) and while I still have some applique blocks to finish preparing and stitch down last night's focus was to press, iron stabiliser to the back of and draw stitchery portions of the designs for the blocks I have already appliqued...

There are 23 applique blocks in total and 16 are now residing in the block keeper, ironed and marked ready for embroidery...I'm happy with that effort...and the remaining 7 are all in various stages of the applique portion being prepared and/or started...

There really is way too much mess to even attempt to set up a photo shoot...so I'm not going to bother...

Thanks to the Hostesses with the Mostest Heidi & Bobbi for the nudge to get some stitchy time in...

Happy Stitching...

The Wheels on the Bus...

Went round and round for Monday group's annual shop hop...off we ventured today to the City of Greater Geelong...first Moorabool Street and two shops - Joy's Fabric Warehouse and Jiddi's Patch...then Pakington Street and A Little Different, a shop I've long wanted to visit, as well as being our lunch stop. While wandering the other shops in the street I found a gorgeous pair of boots in an interesting little shoe boutique...and left them behind along with their $275.00 price tag...*sigh*...then I spied a beautiful hoop pine and leadlight crystal cabinet in a shop window and wondered if I could fit it in the bus' cargo hold!!!  But as it was at least $1,000.00 it too was left behind...oh but it was lovely...no idea how it would have actually fitted in the house but hey, that's what window shopping is for...dreaming...lastly The Blanket Box in Newcomb.  I was fairly restrained all day, although there was almost public Happy Dancing when I found "The" bag pattern that I've been searching for without knowing exactly which pattern I wanted...you know, the one that matches the picture in your head!...happy happy me as it is also a You Sew Girl by Nicole Mallalieu pattern so I knew it was quality...

So what followed me home?...six fat eighths and two small scraps/bolt ends...very restrainted fabric buying...The Pattern!...some more of my favourite Auriful threads to add to the collection...and the most gorgeous buttons just because they are pretty (the two large ones have a vague maybe purpose)...

Now to go and play in the fabric emporium and decide just which fabrics are destined to be my new bag...

Happy Stitching...