The Treehouse

Quick Update

I've been meaning to do a post for days now and not getting around to it. Festive and sporty social engagements for the children are taking up a fair amount of time and when not doing the usual 'jobs' I've been finishing off my DJ swap blocks - they're all done now and on their way to the hostess (phew!). I was a bit hesitant about joining in with this swap having only recently started making these blocks but it went better than I expected. I made one block that I've made before and two blocks that were completely new to me - all with plenty of needleturn applique on them. The more practice I get the better the results are :D 

 

 

 

I've also spent a little time with the curly tree - it's quite a challenge but I'm determined that it will be done...eventually!

 

I think I need to make a list of things that I intend to work on and finish next year. I recently dug out some cross stitch as a little break from the applique and then of course, I went surfing and discovered some beautiful Christmas ornaments that needed to be stitched! I fell in love with the designs of Little House Needleworks and Country Cottage Crafts earlier this year. It was very difficult indeed to pick a design to begin with - they're all gorgeous. I love Geraniums so I began with Geranium Cottage from Country Cottage and then got thoroughly distracted by various things so there's only a little bit of stitching done on it - I intend to try and finish this before the New Year (!!!)

 

Not a brilliant picture, it's a bit dark here this morning.

Now - the ornaments. These are by Little House Needleworks, as mentioned above and there will be one a month to stitch. The first one is called Fa La La and I've been having a bit of fun with it...well it wasn't too fun when I realised that I can't count and had to undo :o (that's why it looks like I've started stitching one tree before finishing the other one!) 

 

I intend to finish this to hang on this year's tree!

Far too many lovely and tempting things around to sew at the moment. I've signed up for a SAL to encourage me to get my Blackbird Designs stockings stitched...and guess what? While I was reading the SAL blog I spotted another few things that were calling out to me. Enough though, I'll be tempted no further until a finish occurs. There's a new Inklingo collection out as well - Orange Peel. Gorgeous designs to be made from that one but I dare not download it, my POTC require some attention (planned for over Christmas).

I'd better go and squeeze in a little sewing before it's time to collect the children from school, lol! 

 
 
 

 
 
 

Feeling Festive

Yes, the festive feeling descended upon me this week. I was hunting around in my fabric drawer and came across poor, abandoned Santa. I'd made a start on him last year...a small start, I'd ironed the fabric onto the steam a seam ready to cut out the shapes for the jolly old chap and that was all. I think that at the time, I was all Christmass-ed out having finished making the Christmas countdown from the same pattern book - 12 Days of Christmas by Art to Heart. Anyway, Santa was looking at me in a pleading fashion and I felt that having waited for 12 months he really deserved to be completed so I set to with scissors and got him all cut out. This was a rather fortuitous job to discover as Matthew and I spent a few days last week glued to the sofa with some ghastly lurgy and it was the ideal thing to do while all snuggled up and watching a film in front of the fire. Santa is just needing a little embroidery and a few buttons stitching on and then I can sandwich him together ready to hang on the wall - I have a lovely hanger ready and waiting for him.

I think the festive feeling had been approaching for a little while as I was feeling the need to stitch a Christmas stitchery and was looking with needy eyes at one of Lynette Anderson's beautiful designs which I'd seen on May Britt's blog. Having a failed to find the pattern over here I decided that by the time it arrived from Australia I would probably be too busy getting ready for Christmas to play with it and so I went looking for something else to stitch. I happened upon a pretty design on Gail Pan's blog and decided it was perfect for my needs...and it was available right now, straight away and free of charge - a lovely gift :D

I've also managed to join in with a Dear Jane festive swap and have been preparing some blocks ready for applique.

 

Last night I spent a bit of time printing some Inklingo shapes. I love the apple core and bought the download quite some time ago and was super eager to start stitching the shapes until I decided that I would make a mess of the cutting out! I had a nice project in mind to use these shapes for but kept on putting it off because I was convinced I'd make a mess of the cutting. Time for a trial run, I thought. I decided to make Tilde's little bag and see how things went. I thought this was a free pattern but I can't find a link to it now on the Inklingo site. I used some charm squares to print onto and the cutting went much better than I thought  -  I used my little 28mm rotary cutter and held it in a different manner from usual and now I have a pile of lovely apple cores to stitch into a bag :D 

 

Next printing job is to get some more POTC hexagons printed out. I'm going away for a crafty weekend with friends next week and I've got some stitcheries to take, the little bag and hopefully a couple of POTC blocks...I won't get all of that completed of course but it's nice to have a selection to choose from!

Sunday Afternoon Sewing

Have spend a very pleasant afternoon with my sewing machine while listening to DD playing her flute and occasionally singing along in a fairly out of tune fashion - tuneful singing and paper piecing do not go together, lol! 

Had a lovely little parcel yesterday morning from the Fat Quarter Shop. It was month 1 of a BOM that I signed up for. I did that at a point in time when I had few projects on the go and had recently begun to wonder if I'd made a mistake and taken on tooooo much. Well - no mistake was made, I knew that as soon as I opened the parcel and saw the fabric. It's Wiscasset by Minick and Simpson and it's very, very lovely indeed. In keeping with my 'do not get behind on BOM' rule I set to it last night and printed 1/2 square triangles onto the fabric using my Inklingo cd - love that, so glad I got it working :D This month's block is called Prairie Star and it went together super quick this afternoon :D

 

This afternoon's Dear Jane blocks - first off...A2. I was terrified of this one but it's turned out not too badly.

 

 

and a Jason's Jacks for a Dear Jane Winter Holiday swap. Got a couple more that are almost finished and just needing some applique doing on them.

An Afternoon with Jane...

t's been rainy and wet here again today. Not fit for going anywhere at all so with jobs and DS' badminton done this morning, it was an afternoon indoors with a little television, a little surfing and some sewing. I finished off that starburst block this morning...only had the little triangles to applique onto it and this afternoon I've made a Bachelor's Buttons for both Flowery and Rainbow Jane and a Sweet Tater Pie for Rainbow Jane...I would have made one for Flowery as well but the material hasn't arrived for that block yet. I'm having fun with these little blocks although I'm no expert at making them it's all a fabulous learning curve and I'm enjoying it.

Bachelor's Buttons for Rainbow Jane...I LOVE that fabric.

This is one of my favourite blocks, not because of the colour (I'm not big on red) but because I LOVE pinwheels. Can't wait to make it for Flowery Jane now. I finally got my windows printer drivers installed on the Mac this afternoon so that I could print from my Inklingo triangle cd and that is what I used to make this block - really super quick and easy.

and finally, a Bachelor's Buttons for Flowery Jane. I did both of these using reverse applique which was a new thing for me - turned out to be easier than I thought :)

Patchwork of the Crosses #1

I've finished my first POTC block - I like it! When I first bought an Inklingo collection I had no intentions of hand stitching at all, everything was going to be done on my machine. That seems to have changed somewhat now and I've become rather addicted to hand stitching blocks! The pretty fabric at the centre is some that I got on my birthday trip out - this was my first attempt at fussy cutting with the printer - it's not absolutely perfect but I'm happy with the result. Going to print out some more more hexagons tonight - I've already started block 2! 

That's one of this week's goals completed. The other was to finish a Bluebird block that I started a little while ago...and I've thought of a few more since then!

1. Print hexagons

2. Finish Bluebird block (some serious effort required)

3. Finish off cardigan (not much left to do)

4. Make this week's DJ block (freezer paper is on the fabric, just needs cutting out)

Not sure that all that is do-able but I've not got an all consuming read on the go at the moment so it just might be.

 

Arent' they pretty? I looked at them for months before caving in and getting the download and I am so glad that I did.

A Birthday, an Angel and a Postman...

Last Thursday was my birthday and DH took the day off work so that we could go on a little jaunt together. He asked me where would I like to go...I said - the quilting shop please! Quilting shops are few and far between around here the best one that I've found - Patchwork Chicks in Barrowford, is about 30-40 mins away depending on the traffic. Barrowford is a lovely little village as well, very picturesque and so perfect for a little trip out. We spent a lovely time in the shop choosing some fat quarters, had a walk in the lovely Autumny park and then a nice hot cup of coffee before returning home in time to collect the children from school (and play with the new fabric!)

While we were out...the postman had been and left me a card to collect a parcel but it was Monday before I was able to collect it. So frustrating to know there's a parcel waiting and not be able to go and get it! Anyway, it was the most lovely surprise. I joined in the Stitcher's Angel swap this year...my first time swapping anything in the sewing community actually. The parcel was the gifts from my own Stitcher's Angel who turned out to be May Britt from Norway. Goodness me what an absolute treat awaited me in the parcel...here's a picture.

 

Aren't those little bags absolutely fabulous? I already know what I'm going to be putting in them and it will be stitching related, lol! May Britt also sent me a beautiful pincushion - I love pincushions and am always admiring them and never making them for myself! Also included were a lovely little stitchery that I shall complete and hang in my sewing room and some fabulous applique pins...I have wanted some of these for simply ages and not been able to find them in the shops near here. I want to say a huge, heartfelt thank you to May Britt for such beautifully made gifts. They could not have arrived on a better day than my birthday!

Although I have plenty of things that I should have been finishing off I was eager to have a little play with my latest Inklingo download that DH had kindly bought as part of my birthday present....this was the reason I wanted to go to the quilting shop so that I could buy some fabric to fussy cut. I was able to have a quick play on Thursday night and I'm totally hooked on these little shapes - even DH is impressed and likes them. Yesterday the postman brought the rest of my Inklingo order which was the Patchwork of the Crosses book and the Quilted Diamonds DVD. The book is lovely and it's really helpful to have all of the info in one place. The DVD is fantastic...originally, I only bought it in order to watch the hand piecing lessons so that I could make sure I was constructing the POTC blocks properly. Of course now, having watched and seen the diamonds...I am wanting to make some of those too and without doubt Linda's Quilted Diamonds 1 and 2 will be winging their way to me as soon as I've finished a few more projects.

This is my partially completed first POTC block - the fabric is just gorgeous, I bought a few fat quarters from the same range because I loved the colours and designs so much. One of the patterns had different patterned stripes on it which will be great as I can get lots of different fussy cut shapes from that one.

The rest of my birthday present has also arrived - yesterday a lovely book by Sue Daley, the next Bluebirds of Hope quilt block and a gorgeous Don't Look Now pattern and today my biscornu finally arrived.

What a fabulous post week! I'll certainly be rather busy for the forseeable future - wonderful :D

Now if only there were more hours in the day and I didn't need sleep and it wasn't half term I could be extremely productive, lol!