FNSI, and a road trip

In between having some more special Granna time with Kai and Charlie, and packing my car for my road trip I did manage just a bit of stitching. 

The top stitchery is the September block of "a year of blooms" which is our reward stitchery from our lovely Sew It's Finished motivators.  Under it is another stitchery but I can show only a sneaky peek. 

Tonight I am in Goondiwindi after a five hour drive this afternoon. Tomorrow is another five hour drive to where my daughter lives. Hopefully I will arrive in time for a late lunch. 

I will visit you at your blogs while I am away but probably won't manage much commenting. 

This is another unexpected opportunity to spend time with Grandies, this time it's Harry and Vicki. Can you tell I am just a little anxious to see them, even though it is only a few weeks since they visited us. 

FNSI and sewing projects

Tonight is our first FNSI for this year.  Why not go over to visit Wendy to sign up.  Wendy has shared a yummy looking recipe with us today, so we can have our dinner cooked ahead of time.  That means an early start for FNSI.  Then come back later to check out what everyone has been working on.  There is always lots of gorgeous inspiration to be gained as we look at what has been achieved.

For my 1 Christmas Item for January, as well as another 2 January UFOs, I have finally hemmed my Christmas tablecloths.  And as is often the way with UFOs this has a story attached.

My daughter had left her large outdoor table with us for a number of years, so I bought some Christmas fabric to make a tablecloth for it.  Before I had finished making it she needed her table.  I have been waiting till we had another outdoor table before cutting off the fabric and doing the last hems.  Just before Christmas we were given an outdoor setting.  The tablecloth wasn't finished for Christmas but now it is - all ready for next Christmas.

This is a smaller table than my daughter's one, so after trimming off a good sized piece I made it into a fitted tablecloth for the small coffee table height outdoor table that the Grandies often use.  Hopefully it will be a lot harder for one of the littlies to pull off.

 

I have also made 2 Grandies their chair bags for school this year.

 Although I hadnt thought of it when buying the fabric I had enough fabric and the pieces the right size to be able to pattern match Spiderman on  the pockets.  There are 2 layers of pockets on each one, which show more clearly on the photo below.

The important thing is that the boys are very happy with their chairbags. 

Now I am off to get organised for sewing tonight.

Time is marching on

Time slips away, and all of a sudden I realised that some blocks that I needed to post to arrive in Sydney by the end of the month really do need to be made NOW.

Last year at the Aussie Hero Brisbane Dinner we were given a block challenge - a piece of fabric which we were to add to and make a 10 inch block to be incorporated into quilts to go to the Al Minhad Air Base Medical Centre to be used when our Service people are admitted there. The fabric we were given is the one I have used in the corner squares.

 The BOM for the last 3 months for Aussie Hero Quilts was to make poppy blocks to be used for quilts for "Wounded Warriors".  Yes, that's right, the last 3 months.  And I made mine today.  Well there's still 10 days before the end of the month, so plenty of time. :)

Next on the list of what has to be done before the end of the month is to make 2 chair bags for Grandies before school starts next Tuesday.  Tonight I have almost finished the first one, so they will be done in time.

The quilting is done.....

and I have my first UFO finish of the year - Flirty Squares, a design by Dawn (As Sweet As Cinnamon).  I have used charm packs of Happy Go Lucky by Bonnie and Camille for my quilt, so have renamed it Happy Go Lucky Squares.

 Here is a closer  view of the little stitcheries (in the corners).  These finish at 1 inch square, and were so quick but such fun to stitch.

Our son, "Dunx" headed back to Sydney yesterday, while his family have stayed behind.  They are building a house about 45 min drive from us, and Sammy will start school there in a week's time.  Dunx will be at sea for a lot of his time, so this was the decided living arrangement for them until he completes his time in the Navy.  It will be lovely to have another lot of Grandies living close by and Dunx will travel up when he has the opportunity.  I think the road between Brisbane and Sydney will be well travelled by them  this year.

Almost a flimsy.....

Here it is - the two parts of the quilt combined.  I still have to add the final border and it will be a completed flimsy.   I have loved working on this quilt.  At this stage it is 42 inches square.

This is what I worked on for FNwF, piecing the sashing strips, and then constructing the quilt top last night.

You can check out what everyone else did for FNwF by visiting Cheryll here.  It is so lovely of Cheryll to be our hostess each month - even when she has other things to do and is MIA.  

FNwF project

A group of us will be "getting together" tonight for our first FNwF for 2014.   So far it is 55 of us - why not join in !!!  Go and sign up too, if you havent already.  Cheryll is organising us all again.  YAY !!!

  

Today I am working on this quilt

 It is Dawn's pattern, Flirty Squares.  I am using Happy Go Lucky charm squares, so I guess that makes my quilt Happy Go Lucky Squares.

I am putting the sashings on these cute little stitcheries, then it will be ready to join up.  That is my project for tonight - to try to have the main part done, ready for its border pieces.

What will you work on tonight?

Catch up

I am a bit slow to show the beautiful table runner I received from Kerrie as my "under the tree" gift from the 6 Items Swap.

 

  Such lovely embroideries.

I have also just finished making the Sleepover bag, a Melly and Me pattern.  This bag is for one of my daughters.  It is a gorgeous bag, which holds so much.  I have to say though that it was a bit of a challenge to make on my small sewing machine.  My Husqvarna has developed a problem with the foot control, and I am waiting for a repair on it.  There were parts of this bag that didnt want to cooperate with the smaller manouvering area of the small machine, but apart from the final row of top stitching which I can do later, I did finally manage to complete it.  (just took so much longer, with more struggles.)  I am still thankful for my small machine as at least I can still do some sewing.

Now I have moved on to some secret sewing, to be revealed sometime in the future.

The Grandies

 

The house is so quiet.  

Pantry and fridge are quite empty.

Toys are packed away.

Cat can come out of hiding.

No more ready supplies of leftovers for the dog.

Can watch the news instead of ABC2.
No bedtime cuddles from little people.

 The Grandies have gone. 

Missing them already.  

Cant wait till they come again. 

But at least these two live close enough that I will still see them often.