end of June.....

Half of the year has gone by.....

June has seen these projects finished for me....

A Kathy Schmidtz wallhanging .... which I just loved making

... a bunch of mesh bags.... which were a bit boring if I am honest.... but useful....

.... and my Tool caddy, which was fiddly, but I love my lizards and it is very useful....

So thats my OPAM projects, thanks Kris and Peg for hosting

... and I have continued with blocks for my Dutch Treat UFO..... 

... and those are my Finishing Stitches projects... thanks for hosting Joy

A couple of wet days and these Apostle birds came into the veranda to dry off.... they are silly birds and don't stop chattering.... but they always make me laugh.  They march around the house cleaning up whatever they can find ... then generally make a nuisance of themselves around the neighbourhood

Lovely mail this week all the way from UK .... don't you love how it was personalised with the decorations of the envelope....

... and inside a special teatowel..... this is our little Matilda..... there is another in her class so she is Matilda R

 My design wall is looking like this at the moment.... that block with the aqua square is the latest in the Moda Blockheads weekly ones, also circles, Angel Story, Flowervill, mini baskets, Dutch Treat and My Small World...

Anybody get the idea I have a short attention span????

Righto, Gotto Go..... the weekend is here for enjoyment....

Hope you have a wonderful one

Chooseday......

Didn't meet up with the other girls to sew this week but I still decided to Choose my own projects instead of working .....  Tuesdays has become my 'me' day!!! haha

Yesterday I spent the day doing some machine sewing of scrap projects....  this is when my table was still tidy!!!

Making some more blocks for My Small World .... I am always amazed how long it takes when you are sorting through tubs of scraps, ironing, cutting little pieces....  much easier with new fabric!!!

The large block is 4 1/2" (every life has a tiger in it doesn't it????) and the small ones are 2 1/2" 

The churn dashes are 3 1/2".... I think they are very sweet....

... and these little bordered squares are 2 1/2" .....

Took most of the morning to do these....

Had the last of the focaccia with some yummy home made soup for lunch ....

After lunch I took out my tub of Safari scraps and sewed strips together for a few tray mats and a little bit left over will make up a couple of mug rugs...

I had to piece some of the backing and of course scraps of wadding from the edges of quilts - lovely to have an empty scrap tub

I will just do simple quilting and bind .....

Woke up this morning to the wonderful sound of gentle rain....  

you can see how brown the grass is.... crispy to walk on....

Righto, Gotto Go..... I'm going to finish off those tray mats and then get to work....

Have a lovely rest of the week......

Pooooofffff......

.. .. and the weekend has gone!!!!

Friday I spent preparing a quilt to be quilted .... and I did sew the latest Blockhead quilt block...  nice and easy and didn't take too long.... 6 1/2" and used up a bit more scraps.....

On Saturday we had a lovely couple come and visit us.....

Michelle and her lovely husband - who made the most wonderful focaccia to go with our lunch (sorry, I ate before I took a picture!!)

Besides a social visit Michelle was relieving us of some garden junk!  She had mentioned she was looking for a rusty wheelbarrow for putting a succulent garden..... well I had just the thing sitting at the back of our garden.... 

...not even necessary to make any drainage holes......  lovely old home made barrow top I think.... just a couple of old tin sheets bent onto a frame....

We did swap succulents too... we got some and she got some......

... and I got this gorgeous length of hedgie hoggy fabric - they are so adorable and I will look for a special pattern to make something with it....  thanks Michelle.... I loooovvveee it....

the sewing machines are tissues.... not that I think I could blow my nose on them but they will be a useful addition to a sewing kit... you just never know when a tissue is needed... 

It was a lovely day of chat.. the two blokes went off and amused themselves at an airoplane museum thingy and we just talked... and might have had some chocolate....  it was 70% cocoa and as Michelle said cocao is a vegetable....  so we had our dose of veges... 

Have you heard they are putting vegetables in coffee....

Yes the latest thing is a broccoli latte... the cafe is supposed to be helping us get our daily dose of vegetables..... I'm sure powdered green stuff is very healthy... with caffeine...  read about it HERE.  Anybody tried one?  

Righto, Gotto Go... I will have a non-vegetable laced coffee and start work.... will be head down, bum up here for a while...

Tool Easel.....

I finally made up my "Tooly Tool Easel" ..... 

I have seen a few made by friends and thought it would be a great carry out to hold the goodies on my sewing days.

I got the pattern HERE.... not expensive when you buy the PDF and it comes straight away.  I do admit to having to think hard in some places... I am a bit instruction reading challenged but we got there....

Isn't this lizard fabric so fun... I was gifted it in a Secret Santa a couple of years ago and delighted to use it for this carry bag...  as you can see I added a few matching plain colours so I could see the pockets easily.

I have started on the blocks for My Small World..... as I said I am instruction reading challenged and these are the second lot I did.... the others were trimmed too small!!! sigh

These blocks are big - 4 1/2".....

These pinwheels are smaller .... 2 1/2"...... I am using smaller pieces from my scrap baskets for this quilt.

I am trying to make a bit more effort on accuracy ... still not getting all the points meeting ... oh well

Handsewing in the evenings with the fire blazing and the TV on has resulted in 4 more Dutch Treat blocks....

I do enjoy the variation in the blocks, some take several evenings, some can be done in one... they are all different.

Righto, Gotto Go......  quilt pinning day ..... and the weekend coming up... hope you have a good one

Blog comments.....

Shez has found a solution to the blog comments.... I think most of the people I link with on blogs also link with Shez but just in case you can read her explanation... it is so simple it is laughable!!!

look over HERE 

A weekend away......

Last week I finished off the pretty Dresden block....

Hubz had some work to do at Primex - a large agricultural show in NSW.  It is held in a town called Casino and I went along for the ride.... about 4 hours drive from home including breakfast stop!

We were staying overnight in Lismore so I stayed there whilst Hubz went and worked on Friday.  I took a lovely walk along the river.  It is an old town and there were lots of lovely big trees and I spent a little time in the local museum. 

The next day we had booked out of the motel so I went along to the show with Hubz.....  not much there to interest me but I did find someone selling boutique beer so I stopped off for a tester... it was really nice....

After beer and lunch we went off to Ballina on the coast...... the town of the Big Prawn.... I thought it looks like an angry prawn

 ,but then I would probably be angry placed on a squewer in the middle of the town....

First stop was a walk on the beach ..... sand so lovely and white and fine that it squeaks when you walk on it....

The next day we went back... and could see whales from the beach.... just magic

I only have my little phone for pictures but you can see it ....

The Banksia are flowering at the moment.... they look like beautiful candles all over the bushes

Of course I took along some hand sewing and finished off the stitching on Libby the Librarian - another Angel for my Angel Story quilt.....

This morning I sewed up the latest of the Moda Blockheads blocks... this one is 6 1/2"

I do love to go to the coast for a walk and a paddle in the sea.

Righto, Gotto Go.... firewood to gather..... the cold is here....