Busy Weekend

Last week's Sewcialite block was fiddlier to line up than it looks:  "Genuine" designed by Lori Holt.

Blocks 1-15. 

Still adding to my "Hourglass a Day" stack each day.

Philip and I (mostly Philip) had a busy weekend working on the verandas.  Saturday was more sanding followed by cleaning with Deck Clean.  I was amazed at how light all the wood looked when it dried.

Sunday we applied three coats of timber oil.  Love all the different colours in the tallow wood.

Philip was keen to assemble the first bay of pickets and I love how it's all coming together.

So many other jobs on the list: filling/painting drilled holes in top/bottom rails; painting the screen doors and front door architraves.  I'd love new windows but they'll have to wait.

The Hawks played their first game of the season on Saturday and had a great win - so exciting.  Next game is tonight, so we're hoping they play well.  Very grateful that the games are available on tv.

A Big Parcel

In early December all the rows for "Stroll" were completed and the sashings cut out.  After all the Christmas dressmaking I really enjoyed putting this quilt top together.  I've been waiting for some backing to arrive and it came on Monday.

This is the last 2019 "Sewcialites" block, "Joy" designed by Susan Ache

and this is the first for 2020, "Serenity" designed by Chelsi Stratton.

I had sewn up all my Bonnie and Camille 5" squares for the "Hourglass a Day" sewalong and was waiting for some more charm packs to arrive, so started sewing the Hourglass blocks in to nine patches over the last couple of weeks.

On Monday, a big box of fabric arrived from my friend Amy in USA.  Amy sold off a lot of her fabric late last year and I've been pretty excited about all the fabric I bought.

Backings, backgrounds, low volumes, loads of Figtree off-cuts and squares etc plus 4 charm packs for my "Hourglass a Day" sewalong blocks - I think it's going to be a pretty big quilt.

Amy also included a Yazzi project box, some American lollies and a beautifully made bag.  Gulli was with me on Monday and was very interested in the lollies.

Each morning I sew four Hourglass blocks and in the evenings I've been making "Kaleidoscope" blocks - this is a fun pattern by EmmaMary Designs.  The photo shows one quarter of the quilt on the design sheet,

and here are the other half of the triangles.

The plan is to use each 5" floral once (giving two triangles) in the quilt and so far I've cut 170 - need to find another 30.  I was able to cut a few from the fabrics in the box from Amy.  Another 200 blocks to be made.

My friends and I are missing the basketball, which normally would have started last October - the season will hopefully start this coming weekend but I doubt we'll have any home games.  Going to the game and out for dinner in summer is always fun.  We'll have to have picnics in front of the tv when the games are on.

All my free time has been spent working with my brother to replace the rails on the two verandas at my house.

We've cut and painted 185+ pickets and 23 top and bottom rails, painted all the veranda posts, Philip has sanded the decks, and the top rails have been attached.  Philip is hoping to clean/oil the decks on the weekend and then the bottom rails and pickets can be installed.

My friend, Gail, volunteered to help with the painting, so her job was the front door.  It looks fantastic!  Marine grade paint has such a glorious shine.

Someone is pretty excited about starting school after the holidays!  

Dressmaking

Happy New Year!

I bought some very sweet Christmas fabric featuring May Gibbs designs to make a dress for Jenni to wear to school during December.

Maternity dress patterns are very few and far between these days and the patterns I had from when I was pregnant seemed far too dated.  I used a Vogue dress pattern for this dress but it was a little short in the front so I added some extra inches to the centre front when I made it again.

The maternity t-shirt pattern I had from 1982 is still ok and the pineapple fabric I found in Spotlight was cute.

Jenni really liked the Christmas dress and sent me some links to fabrics she liked in Spotlight - beautiful cotton poplin and cotton/linen mix.

When I was shopping for these fabrics, I also looked for fabrics for more t-shirts and cotton knit dresses.  Was very pleased to find the Jocelyn Proust print for $5/m if I bought more than 3m.

Jenni the day the parcel of dresses arrived:

There was enough of the animal print fabric left to make a dress for me.  I've never worn animal print and haven't worn the dress yet.

There was also dressmaking for T's Original Girl Doll - these for were a Christmas present.

Mill Hill cross stitch santas and an angel were made for the little ones this year.  I make a handmade decoration for them each year.  Next Christmas there will be four.

Christmas 2020

Mum's self-designated job each year is to spread out the ornaments on the Christmas tree after the grand-children have placed them on the tree.

Decorating this year seemed to take much longer than other years - probably because my brother, Philip, and I have been doing work on the verandas, replacing the railings, and this has led to even more work (as it does) painting trims, the front door etc.

The garland of pre-school/kindy artwork is my most precious Christmas decoration.

Friends gave me a gift voucher for my birthday and I used it to buy this beautiful red berry tree - it's much sturdier than the white tree and Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs are much more secure on this tree.  I'm thinking of leaving the tree out year round.

Mum was very happy with her woven Christmas Tree wallhanging from Jenni and Kurt (made by Jenni).

We were extremely fortunate that our family could be together for dinner on Christmas Eve after all the uncertainty of the previous couple of weeks.