1 Xmas Item a Month, Aiming for Accuracy Blocks 4 and 5.

A day late in posting my 1 Xmas item for this month hosted by Narelle  from Pins and Whiskers. Use the link to go over and see what other bloggers have made this month. The pattern had this stitchery placed on the front of a gift bag but I decided to make a Christmas Card Holder instead of the bag. These days most people send emails instead of cards at Christmas but I usually get a few and so thought this would be nice to keep them in the stitchery pocket. Haven't got the right hanger in my stash so will need to get one at the Brisbane show in October. The stitchery is a Hugs and Kisses one and has some colour added to it using a Derwent pencil and sealed with fabric medium.

I also managed to finish two more blocks for my Aiming for Accuracy QAL.
Below are Blocks 4 and 5.

These photos don't show the colour of the fabrics that well so hope I can do better with future photos.
I also added some fabrics to my stash on the weekend. I love word fabric and so I was pleased to get some of these. No idea as yet what project I will put them in.

Well must go as I have some secret sewing to finish off.  Happy Stitching till next time.................

A block, Redwork and a Day Out.

Yesterday I finished stitching together my 3rd block of Aiming for Accuracy.  I am so pleased with the result as the points look pretty good to me. Have started on Block 4 so that should be done by tomorrow. Block 5 is trimmed and ready to go as well. So I am on a roll at the moment so lets hope that keeps going.

Block 2 with Block 3 underneath.

I have also completed my Friendship quilt red work stitchery and think the Hugs and Kisses Cottage Garden thread looks lovely. Still have a couple of applique blocks to finish to catch up on this one.

Today, Chris and I played hooky and went on a mid-week hot rod run.  Only 6 cars went but it was a great day. We met at Yatala for morning tea and with Chris leading the way, we headed out to the Dougandan Hotel just outside Boonah about an hour away. I tried to get Chris to stop at Maynards in Boonah (lots of quilting fabrics found there) but couldn't convince him that this was a good idea.
This is where we ended up.

The cars had quite a few  people stopping to check them out.  Ours is the yellow one in the middle.

This is where we had a lovely lunch before getting back in our cars and heading for home.

It was pretty chilly in the hot rod this morning so I got to wear my woolly scarf and hat that I bought when we were in Tassie in March but by the time we had lunch it was quite warm.
Must go now as hubby wants his turn on the computer.  Tomorrow it's back to sewing.  Till next time.......Happy Stitching..........

FNSI results......

I had a great time sewing last night and got quite a bit done although not as much as I thought I would. I don't know why I always think I will get lots done as I have learnt over time that if I hurry, I make mistakes and I really don't like to unpick, so slow and steady it is. Anyway I worked on my Aiming for Accuracy blocks. Way, way behind and have 6 blocks to make now to catch up.  I had 5 blocks cut out so managed to stitch all the pieces together and cut them apart ready to make up the blocks. The photos below show Block 3 ready to stitch together and just a few more blocks to cut to size and Block 4 will be ready for stitching too. The 3rd photo shows the next three blocks ready for trimming (my least favourite part ).

 I was a bit sick of trimming half square and quarter square triangles after a couple of hours so I decided to finish the night off by doing a bit of embroidery on one of my group's Friendship Quilt blocks, a red work stitchery.
Hope everyone else had a productive night. I enjoyed stitching with you all and am looking forward to checking out what everyone else was working on.
A big thank you to Wendy for hosting FNSI for another month.      
Till next time.........  Happy Stitching..........

FNSI, Some Xmas stitching, A gift......

It's the third Friday of the month so that means Friday Night Sew In hosted by Wendy from Sugarlane Designs. If you want to join in, go over to sign up.. Just click on the link on my side-bar. It's always fun to know that others are sewing along with you.

I hope I'll see you there. If you have time, we'll share a coffee and a biscuit along the way.
Last week I helped my friend quilt her quilt and she gave me a little present. She knows I love bears and have quite a collection of them in the spare bedroom so she gave me some bear fabric along with a USB stick in the shape of a sewing machine to keep all my quilting photos on and a cute snail tape measure. Thank you Rowan, I love them.

I have been working on lots of things lately, doing lots of stitching, but not really finishing anything. I have completed 3 more of Michelle Ridgway's Xmas stitcheries though, so am up to date now Michelle. I just love that 'gingie'.

I have just noticed that I've missed a French knot on my tree, oh dear.  I'm using Mistletoe, a Cottage Garden thread. I love this variegated colour.
Anyway that is all from me. Hope to catch up with a few of you tonight.........

What I've been doing this week.....

I finally got back to quilting my Authentic quilt top, top now completed with free motion quilting ready for binding to be added. Hopefully I will get this done next week.

I also helped a friend quilt her top today using the pattern attachment and acrylic templates that came with the quilter. A bit of trial and error but turned out alright in the end.

I will definitely be using the templates in future as so much quicker than the FMQ I just completed.
Tomorrow I will be working on some quilt blocks and a few secret projects that need finishing. Hubby is off to the Nostalgic drags so some uninterrupted sewing time coming up I think.
Hope everyone is having a great weekend.  Till next time........Happy Stitching.

FNWF .

The best laid plans get changed sometimes as mine did last night. I had full intentions of an early start so prepared dinner so we could eat as soon as my hubby got home from work but I hadn't counted on my GS asking me if he and his Dad could stay for dinner.  You see Jake loves Spaghetti Bolognaise so what is a Grandma to do but make her Grandson happy and let him stay.
After my late start, I decided not to work on my Aiming for Accuracy blocks but work on the blocks my group is doing this year. We are making a friendship quilt.  Each member of the group chooses a design they like, and then we all make one in fabrics of our choosing. We have 18-20 in our group so we will be working on it well into next year. These are the first few blocks, I have prepared two and finished one.
The size of the blocks will not be the same so will eventually add small scrappy squares to border them.

Joy's Blanket Stitch applique block prepared.

Claire's Stitchery block prepared.

Jan P's Paper Pieced block finished.

 I also started to cut the squares for my next SAL 2013 project. It is the sewing bag from Anni Downs Some Kind of Wonderful book. I am using the same fabric as the pin cushion I made previously. Didn't get far with these though as it was getting a bit late.

In all a good night's work. Thank you Cheryll for again hosting this and Congratulations on the birth and safe arrival of your new Granddaughter.
Well now I'm going to check out what everyone else got up to last night.     Hugs.........

Tonight is FNWF.

I am joining in Friday Night with Friends hosted by Cheryll from Gone Stitchin. If you would like to join and stitch along with other like minded quilters, pop on over via the link above and sign up.
I'm not sure what I will be doing but have lots of things on the go so have plenty of projects to choose from. I'm heading into my sewing room after lunch to sort something out to work on tonight.
Hope you will be joining me and I look forward to catching  up with all your blogs over the weekend to see what you worked on.
I've got the coffee and biscuits ready so let's get started and sew...........