Cool steering wheel

Another wonderful project from Sewing Club at Sew This and That this month - we made a steering wheel cover.   Good timing with summer fast approaching, we will have cool steering wheels if nothing else.

We used Insulbrite as the wadding, and the Mola design on the front is an adaptation of the traditional hand sewing technique of the Kuna Indian women - but with ours being done by machine.

Then of course I adapted mine even further - instead of the curly snake like design, I decided to make mine into butterflies.

These 2 Grandies are here to stay for a week while their Mum is being a leader at a music/arts camp.

 We are going to have a fun week I think.  Lots of movies for when we need quiet times, and lots of other activities to keep them occupied.

At the weekend they caught up with their cousin, Sammy for a fun time at the Play Centre.

It's a bind - straight to the birthday stash

On Thursday I attended a workshop run by Sew This and That.  The very talented Kath gave us some hints and clues about different methods of binding our quilts.  As always, even if you have made dozens of quilts and managed to bind them well, there are always things to be learnt in a workshop.

We needed to have 4 quilted pieces 10 inches x 12 inches and 1 piece12 inch square prepared beforehand.  Each of these were treated differently.

Techniques we used were adding ricrac over the top of the binding seam, single fold binding, top stitching binding down on the right side of the quilt, using a faux peeper, adding a fine piping under the binding, and the circle one.

The method used to work out the length of the binding for the circle was good - no maths involved, and as long as we were accurate it worked perfectly.  The person sitting next to me was heard to say "thats close enough" when measuring, and guess what - it wasnt.  Her binding ended up being a good inch too big.

I decided to make mine in coordinating fabric so that (providing they turned out well enough) they could be used as placemats.  Mine are going into my birthday stash gifty box. I figured that even though each of them was a little different in the finish, they would still make a great set.  

September Christmas items

Once again, it is time for

 This month I made my first Christmas cards for the year at our card making class.

I also added a small stitched item - or two -  double sided coasters.  One side is the log cabin, and the other a Christmas ornament shape. 

Why not go and visit Narelle at Pins and Whiskers to see what the other clever people have made this month.  There are some beautiful Christmas items made each month, well worth going to check them out.

Last month, one of my Sew Its Finished projects was this little dress.

Now here is young Grandie, Vicki wearing it.  It is very light, loose and cool looking which is perfect for the hot weather they are experiencing.

Such a cutie - and she is such a little girl now.

Another Grandie is growing up

A few days ago our Grandie, Peta celebrated her 6th birthday.

 Here she is talking to us when we rang to wish her a happy birthday.

  

I love the look of excitement as she unwrapped her gift from her parents.

And what was inside?

She is a bit keen on monkeys.  This is an interactive monkey and is amazing and so lifelike.  If you put your finger on its tongue it sucks.  Touch the side of its head and it will turn towards your hand. Plus many other things. She definitely loves this little creature.  She will have so much fun with it - she is that kind of girl.

We visited today and I was lucky enough to be in this photo with Pa, Zac, and Paul - 3 generations.

FNSI and other things

It is one of those times again - you know the ones where you seem to be chasing your tail attempting to keep up with what is going on - and just not making it.  But at least if you need to chase your tail it means you are alive, active and involved.

The last few weeks have seen lots of up times, a few down times, and what does it matter if I am a bit behind in some things when I have had wonderful times with family and friends, been lots of places and seen interesting things.  My blog is one place that has suffered from my lack of time so here is just a little catch up.

I did link up with FNSI, even though I didnt get to blog that I was going to do so.  Here is what I worked on last night.

 I stitched some 5 inch squares together.

I did some more work on this stitchery.

Early yesterday morning I received a phone call from a very excited Charlie.  "Gran, are you coming to Grandparents Day?".
Definitely, Charlie, I wouldnt want to miss it.

We worked together on doing the craft activity, had lunch, and enjoyed the little concert put on by each of the Prep classes, before joining all of the primary school for their final Chapel before school holidays.

On Wednesday a friend and I travelled to Peachester (45 mins drive away) to attend their Quilt Show and Tell.  It was a great day, with beautiful, inspiring quilts, wonderful country hospitality and tempting merchant stalls.
Their club had a challenge where they were given a piece of bright coloured homespun - red, blue, green, purple, pink, which they had to combine with only black and white to make a 12 inch block.  The blocks will be donated to Sunshine Linus group to be made into quilts.

The diamond block in the centre of the top photo was the winning block of the challenge.  It was so beautifully made and deserved its win.  There were many other impressive blocks, and there will be some beautiful quilts made using them.  The photo bottom right is their raffle quilt.

I have also finished the last of the projects for the Stitch A Long.  It has been so good to have a project each month to make, and all of them have been fun items.  The final one is the needlebook from Some Kind of Wonderful.

 Some of the projects grouped together - the sewing case with needle book, and 2 of the pincushions we have made.

Friday night - and Saturday.

I wondered if I would actually make any progress with stitching on Friday night - but this little girl was very cooperative, and went to sleep quite early.

 It is lovely to see her wearing a little dress I made for one of our daughters - over 25 years ago.  It still looks good, and Vicki wears it a lot.  The embroidery still looks good too.

My stitching for the night was the next block of Girls Own Stitch Club.  Just a few more flowers and it will be finished.

Saturday saw us taking 4 children on a train ride to South Bank in Brisbane.  I think Harry enjoyed his much anticipated first train ride.

  

They found lots of things to do at South Bank - dragon boat races to watch,

yummy drinks to be had,

 pools to swim in,

 and trees to climb.

Now it is so quiet in the house, as Harry and Vicki headed home today. I am missing them so much - even the repeating episodes of Peppa Pig at meal times when Vicki is reluctant to eat.  Good old Peppa is all the enticement she needs.  But the 2 big boys are still close by and I will see them again next weekend.

FNWF

After a busy week with Grandies visiting and fun outings with daughters, I am stitching tonight for

Go here if you would like to join in.

I will be back to sewing next week - hope you all have a wonderful weekend.