Some time ago I found the pieces for this little pouch in my stuff. It was already traced and I had already done about 10 stitches with dark blue on the waves on the front piece.  I am not sure why it was put to the side, but I do know it must have been around 2012-2013.  Was the blue to dark?  Anyway - I picked the dark blue thread out and started again, and now the little pouch is finished and in daily use, holding my lipstick in my purse. I think it is cute and it was fun to finish it. The design is by Natalie Bird / The Birdhouse The hexagon quilt top is co ..read more

  Deana pulled # 5 as this month's Chookshed  Stitchers Challenge. My project # 5 is this big hexagon quilt. It still lacks 8 rows + half hexies on the top and bottom row. I can promise this will not be finished this month, but I can promise to move it forward, every morning with my morning coffee ? I am not to sure spring has come to stay, and in this country we are used to the changing weather in the spring. I had a lovely couple of hours out on the veranda, resting in the sun today, with an audio book on the ear. I had SPF 30 on. It is easy to forget how strong the sun is ..read more

April was a good month in the Quilt Corner ? First I finished this shopping bag with sashiko. It was originally my March focus project ( #3 ), but life interfered with sewing, as I said before.  Anyway - it is done, and it was shipped to another part of the country as a gift for someone special - and it got there in time for April 7th. It was very well received. Next I finished these 4 Advent / Christmas coasters.  They have been started years ago. The design is by Natalie Bird, as a wall hanging. We do not have much space for wall hangings anymore where we live now, but coa ..read more

Ever since I bought my first sashiko panel, I have been smitten - with the designs and with the process.  I love dragonflies as you may know. I love how they look and the symbolism they have all over the world.  This tote was supposed to be finished in March - it was on my Chookyshed Stitchers 2024 challenge list -  and since it had a deadline (for a gift) I had to just pull my socks up and do it. I finished it on April the 1st.  The tote is travelling to its new owner as we speak ? I am happy with how it looks. I love fabric totes and use them all the time myself, inste ..read more

  The best laid plans and all of that...... My focus project # 3 (my own priority) - turning the sashiko into something useful and pretty for a special person in my life, with a deadline,   and the project Deana drawn for us, #4, which turned out to be the Raspberry tea quilt from Sue Daley are not done. I did join together the last 9 block square and cut fabric for the sashing around the focus block in the middle of Raspberry Tea quilt.  Other than that, nothing much happened on that project. The sashiko - no progress at all in March. Life interfered with my p ..read more

  The little candle mat is done, and I can put it away with the other Christmas things. With only 1 thread of stitchery barely done, and lost in a bag of scraps, I am happy I found it after several years.... The candle mat is a mix of 2 designers and patterns.  The stitchery is from Northern Quilts in Norway, and the hexagon design and the rest is from Helen Stubbings, Hugs n' kisses in Australia.  Over the last years I have made several of the candle mats, both with Helen's bird stitchery in the middle and with other stitcheries in the middle. I am sure I will make more in ..read more

  The care quilt top I had as my February goal in the Chookshed Stitchers 2024 Challenge is done, and has left the house for the next person in line doing the machine quilting. My care quilt group meets about every 6 months for a 2 day gathering, in driving distance from everyone's home, so we all sleep in our own beds. I have started cutting and sewing another top like this, from my own fabrics, with fewer blocks - 7 by 9, instead of 8 by 10.  I am shaking my head about the fact that I must have had like 5 yards of the pinkish red fabric, French General. Note to self - do not bu ..read more

  Since I picked up this Ufo in January, I decided that it is it's time to be done ? It's a candle mat - the hexies are 1 inch. My main focus project for February - with a deadline - is this lap quilt top, 48" by 60" It was never an Ufo, but it is on my to do list for my care quilt group's get together next weekend.  We do have a lot of fabrics in the group the participants can pick from, but for me it feels better to use from what I already have at home. I am sure I am not the only one having more fabrics that what I can use for many years...... These care quilts do not m ..read more

  It is a good process, to go through my boxes and treasures, with small steps. Since I have already finished my January challenge, and there are still 3 days left until the February challenge is drawn, I think I will focus on giving these 3 projects a push forward. I found a red stitchery, with less than one thread done....... No stitchery stabilizer.... really?  I've used a  very very dark red floss, not very Christmas-y...... It must have been laying around since before we moved, over 5 years ago. What on earth have I been thinking? The flower stitchery is a design by ..read more

  This cushion has been finished for a little while (finished in January), and I am so happy with how it looks. It was so fun to make! The design is my own. I also enjoyed the hand quilting with Aurifil 12 very much. I will be teaching curved seams by hand this upcoming weekend, and I needed more blocks, like in half size.  The cushion blocks are 4 inches, the pouch blocks are 2 inches. I have even tried some 1" blocks, but they are quite small, even for me. So for January I can check off goal #1, these projects, and goal #7, the stitchery from the previous post. I will sta ..read more