Friday night slow stitching

I've been pulling a few UFOs out of the crate lately, and feeling great about finishing them. A couple of years ago I took a class in EPP - specifically focussing on how to deal with curves. If I remember correctly, I spent the whole class preparing for stitching - and then put it all away for another time!!

This was the project I had in mind for Friday night stitching with Wendy and friends. Perfect to get me going and very relaxing.

I placed all the apple cores - I'm sure the plan was to make a small placemat thingy, to put under a vase etc. I then watched one of Sue Daley's youtube tutorials to remind me about the tips and tricks of curves and EPP. Then I started gluing and stitching.

Wow, I'd forgotten just how slow EPP was - but I have to admit I think this is what appeals most (I'm not sure what says about me???)

So I've almost finished each of my rows, and I plan to keep this project out until it's complete! I'm open to ideas about binding/finishing - do I follow the curvy edge, applique it on some background fabric or cut back to a square? What are your thoughts???

Thanks Wendy for hosting. I'll pop over and check out what everyone else was up to.

Success!!!

Placement decisions have been made...

...borders are on and the top is finished!!! 

Yay...so good to pick up a 'dormant' project and get it to this point. 

I'll have to wait until next weekend to get it ready for quilting. I'm planning to hand quilt this project - I'm sure it will be done before Christmas!!!

Friday night progress

After a big week I was happy to get a little preparation done for the weekend. I recently pulled out one of my UFOs. It's one of Anni Downes' beautiful Christmas patterns which I started a while back and put away when I new it wouldn't be ready for Christmas.

I already had all my nine patches complete so I cut up the panel ...

...and some pieces to make Christmas trees.

I was quite happy with this progress because it meant I could start putting my rows together over the weekend. I'll show some progress pics soon.

Thanks Cheryll for hosting!

Quillow madness!!!

I had some cute fabric in my cupboard, which I'd bought for the special little ones in my life. It had been sitting in my cupboard for 12 months, but with the colder weather I finally found my mojo.

Out came one of  Monica Poole's pattern and I started cutting and sewing. I was so happy with the first so before I lost motivation I went on to make the second

My son made a surprise visit on his way to a camping trip by the beach and reckoned the quillows were the 'coolest thing in the world'. This was pretty high praise from 19 year old who usually  responds with 'cute'! So I decided to head back into the sewing room and start again. This time I used scraps from a previous quilt, made a heap of half square triangles and designed the front of the cushion. 

I sewed it together and attached the quilt and...dada!!!

I was really happy with the result. My son say he's 'frothin so hard' and keeps/uses it in his campervan.

Friday night with friends

Last night I joined Cheryl and friends for a virtual sew in. It's been a long time since I've joined up and I've decided I need to get my priorities in order as I always enjoy looking at what everyone else is up to!

I cranked up the fire and decided to put on some Netflix with my daughter. Instead of searching for something new, we decided to watch the Gilmore Girls from the very start. No-one else was home so we belted out Carol King's 'Where you lead' at the beginning of each episode and laughed ourselves silly.

I also managed to put together a couple of my little spools. These are pretty therapeutic (some might say slow!).

That's it for last night. Thanks Cheryl for hosting. It's good to be back!

Chookshed birthday fun!

I've had a great weekend of stitiching - joining Chooky and friends for her birthday celebrations.

I started on Friday night, hand stitching in front of the fire with friends.

 This "Little Spools" project made an appearance while I was at the Scrub Stitchin' Retreat in Apil. I was lucky to be sitting with the creator/designer Carol Roberts of Cherry Pie Designs, who gave me lots of little hints. I've managed to put a few together and love sitting down with this 'no thinking' project at the end of a busy day. I was watching a pretty intense film with my daughter on
Saturday night, so I stuck to tracing and cutting in preparation for next time!

I put a quilt top together a couple of weeks ago, using flannels for a snugly, winter quilt. I'm making it for a friend who has recently moved from temperate Port Macquarie to the very chilly Canberra.!

On Saturday I prepared the quilt for quilting, and today I donned the white gloves and got to work. This is my least liked part of making a quilt so I set myself the goal of finishing the quilting and binding by the end of the weekend.

I did it!!!!

So happy to have finished - I'll embroider a message and then send it off  in the post. Now I can get back to my first love...hand stitching!!!!

Thanks Chooky, for the virtual birthday party. The photos look great. I know you girls would have laughed yourselves silly!!!