PRETTY STUFF and more

I have called this post Pretty stuff, which relates to the first picture and a possible few later on, although there is an ugly there too, you will spot it when you come to it....

The pretty is for this picture of Rebecca, she looks so grown up in that hat, her mum had the day off the other Saturday and they had fun trying some hats on in the shops before going to the cinema. I think the hat really suits her, but why do I keep wanting to say.... 'The rain in Spain' and stuff like that????

My beautiful 13 year old GD.....

Bookmark and ATC from Fay in Israel,

the painted card was done by disabled children, many thanks Fay they are great...

 Cathy in New Zealand sent me this postcard of a sewing machine,

plus the cheeky chicken card which makes me laugh, thanks Cathy...

the little piece of white is peltex, she uses for making the postcards...

 'AUSTRALIA' Postcard from Tessa,

a Canadian living here in Penrith - confused??

hahaha, thanks Tessa it is fabulous of course...

 Bookmark and ATC sent to Sandy in Australia, from me,

it was Free choice theme...

 I did Pictionary type for the Bookmark, can you work it out???

I have entered yet another 'Strip swap' on the PP Forum,

we had to send Katy 14 strips of red fabric, she mixed them all up

and here are mine, I received them Saturday, thanks Katy...

WOO HOO I have done my Hexagons for the Quilt Set swap Pat -

my hand is now swollen like a balloon but I got them done...

Just thought this was pretty, in the garden above the water butt -

which is constantly overflowing due to the weather...

The President clematis has done really well this year

 masses of flowers on it, but I only wanted one...

 We planted, well hubby planted loads of Lilys this year for a change,

I love Lilys but....

 so does this horrible bug - it is eating them, we go out at regular intervals

and find these little monsters and kill them DEAD, apparently this year

they are rife throughout the country, maybe cos of the rain????

FMQ CHALLENGE with SEWCALGAL -

The tutor for July is

Angela Walters -TILES is the challenge...

you may remember I had done this as the challenge, then I was reminded by one

of the ladies on the Facebook page for this  - Cathy - that I was going to do my samples for this challenge each month of trees....

...so here is my tree for the July Challenge

I have actually cheated cos the tree is not 'tiled' the background is...

I chose NOT to quilt this one for some reason -

this is the back..

Following is a review of the trees done so far...

January with Frances Moore...

February with Diane Gaudynski...

March with Ann Fahl...

April with Don Linn...

May with Leah Day...

June with Cindy Needham...

Hmm looking at some of these I think I may do some over again...

Thanks for looking....



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QUILTING, QUILTING, QUILTING and POSTCARDS

You can see from the title of this post it is all about quilting, I make no apology as it is what I do!

The first pictures are of my latest sample for the FMQ Challenge I am in with SewCalGal I am loving this challenge, it is similar to June's Challenge as we can do what we want in the spaces provided for us. June's were curvy spaces, this month they are uniform and straight. Here then is my first attempt... 

The fabric is Black sari silk and I am using Isacord thread in Emerald Green for the quilting, it looks a bit like mint choc chip, this picture I am not finished as you can see from the space at the lower edge...

this is just showing the back of it so far...

this is it totally finished...

back...

close up of back...

close up of front...

I have put the next three pictures on as when I took them, I don't know what I did, but they came out really weird, but I kind of like them so kept them for fun use maybe later for something or other, who knows....

this looks a bit like Verdi Gris don't you think....

just really odd...

I am now having a go at the second part of the challenge,

it is taking me a while, so no pictures yet....

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In between times, I did a challenge from the PP Forum which Katy had set for us, it was to make a 'Wonky block' I opted for Log Cabin as I like LC, not sure about the wonky though, but I gave it a shot, this is the result....

this is it quilted, I thought I would make it into a bag, but changed my mind...

this is the back view of the blocks...

TaDa - I made a cushion out of them for my chair in the sewing room, when I sit back, the back of my chair is a bit loose now and I get back ache so this is perfect for me, it is surprisingly comfortable too, job done...

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A few posts back I offered up two of my Christmas UFOs for swaps of cream fabrics. Hmm, I had no takers unfortunately, but my lovely friend Dar saw I was after some creams and look what she sent me as an RAK...that means Random Act of Kindness, Dar I am absolutely thrilled with these and will most certainly let you see what I use them for which will be something very soon, thank you so much...

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My friend Betty asked Annette and myself to go to her house to help 'rid' her of some of her fabrics, we took along a big bag and had a lovely time going through her stash. To tell the truth I could have brought it all home, Betty has a good eye for fabric, but we kept it to a minimum this time, hopefully gave her what she considered a good price for it all, and promised we will go soon to help her sort it all out into some sort of order and have another buying session. These are the fabrics I bought from her...

Plainish ones...

Patterned...

I thought I had a huge stash but Betty's make mine look silly. See you soon Betty.

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This Postcard I received from Tessa in the swap on PP Forum -

Theme - Trip Around the World, we pick a country and they have to make a Postcard to represent that country, we are seeing some amazing postcards folks, this country was CHINA, thank you Tessa, this is perfect...

Another gorgeous Postcard, this time the theme was HAPPINESS is - set by Alison, I invited her to choose a theme as she had been terribly bored being bedridden for a long time and unable to do anything, she said she spent a lot of time looking out the window at her garden which gave her great happiness, hence the theme...

Anyway, this Postcard is for me from Helen, now Helen I have to tell you is a Senior Citizen and blind in one eye and one hand is pretty difficult to do anything with, so I have to take my hat off to her as these little flowers have been hand embroidered on the card, Helen loves her garden and all the flowers in it, thank you so much Helen I love it...

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CATCHING UP

The header picture is of my beloved Bernina sewing machine. This is the ONLY sewing machine I have barring my Embellisher. Everything I make, mend or Quilt is done on this Bernina 1090s...I love this machine.  Thank you Bernina for making it and thank you hubby for buying it for me all those years ago.

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This is my Postcard from Tessa from the postcard swap on PP Forum

Theme - CHINA, isn't it fabulous, thank you Tessa...

OK there should be more Postcards here but I forgot to take pictures of them..derr...

Instead -

here is a picture of my Suzanne's bike...

 and guess who is on the petrol tank?

ROSSI of course....

I need to take pictures of tons of stuff, I have got way way behind again!!!!!

Tomorrow is another day..

'they' say...

Just WHO are 'they' ?????

Things I have to do, in no particular order - just to make you smile....

1]  Sort out TWO Birthday swaps for the PP Forum ---

2]  Make a Wonky block Journal page for  PP Forum---

3]  Do my 6 June Journal page for PP Forum ---

4]  Do my Personal Challenge for PP Forum which is New York Beauty block ---

5]  Cut strips for PP Forum strip swap ---

6]  Do Hexagons for swap for Quilt Set - 3 lots ---ARGHHHHHH

7]  Sort instructions for Sew a Row quilt for PP Forum ---

8]  Crack on with Marian's beast of a quilt ---

9]  Maybe do the hoovering and dusting, it seems to be piling up!!!!!

10]  Try to remember what it is I should be doing and have forgotten all about -

          there is bound to be something lurking I have forgotten all about!!!!

Looking at that list it seems I am into the PP Forum for a lot of things right now!!!!!

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NEW BITS AND PIECES

I have been doing the FMQ CHALLENGE on FaceBook and Leah Day suggested these threads to use, I ordered some from Barnyarns in a special deal they had,

and oh my I love them...

so I ordered another special pack...

 and a white one -

and this is snow white beautiful...

 Following are three fabrics Marian got for Annette and myself off her market,

they are 100% cotton and gorgeous for backings - thanks M...

 I treated myself to a new book on bags...

 I painted my nails and decorated them with these nail art things...

 dodgy trying to take pics yourself of your hands...

ah this is better, thanks hubby, the bits stayed on for about

5 minutes -

they drove me nuts to tell you the truth so I removed them,

I expect Rebecca will get them...

Postcard depicting RUSSIA in a swap I am in on the PP Forum

this one is from Katy, I thought it was Russian, look closely

you can see it is Janet backwards and upside down, clever...

 This is not a handmade postcard, but Katy sent it with the Russian one and I love it...

 Picture of the River Pageant for the Queen's Jubilee -

taken whilst the TV was on,

didn't the BBC make a right old hash of it, I put in a complaint...

Back to the FMQ CHALLENGE on Facebook -

this is the challenge for JUNE -

mark off a piece of fabric in sections then fill with FMQ - just my sort of thing I love doing this, can you see I did the alphabet on there...

 this is the back, and no it doesn't have a backing on it yet as it will be turned into a bag later, but can you see a face on this, it is a bit spooky...

TWENTY VALDANI Variegated threads =

one feather sample of FMQ...

the back...

 this is the next sample I am working on it and not sure if it is going to work out,

we shall see, can you guess what it is though????

This picture is of my Son-in-Law, Richard, on his new bike
at Donnington I think it was, Suzanne took the picture with her new camera,
great picture, how fast was he going?
On second thoughts, no don't tell me....

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Thank you all for looking