"How I make a Baby Block tutorial."

 Hello,

The Christmas gift making is continuing. I wanted to use up some foam I had leftover from making Jacob a baby block last year. That  block is still being used but I thought Jude could have a new one for Christmas.

The foam I had on hand was 2 inches thick and I cut  two 4 inch squares.  I used my electric knife for cutting the foam. The fabric was cut into 4.5 inches square. A total of 6 bright happy prints are required.

Sew 4 of the strips in one long row using a 1/4 inch seam. It is best to stop and start 1/4 inch from the beginning and the end of the fabric when sewing the pieces together. This makes for perfect joins at the corners. I used my Purple Thang to help with this measurement, or you can use the measurements on your sewing machine. I then pressed the seams open on the 4 squares . Now you join the final two squares to the second block, making sure you centre them. You will end up with a long cross.

The next step it to sew the fabrics into a square box shape.At this stage you will have one piece of fabric that is only joined by one side. I put the foam in to the box shape so you can see what it will look like at this stage.

Then you sew the final two sides of the top fabric to the box shape, You will be left with a opening on the top to  put the foam pieces in.

Hand sew the opening with matching thread.
Of course you can use a full piece of foam if you have thicker foam but it is so much easier to add the foam in two pieces. If your local craft store doesn't have foam you could try an upholsterer.

These foam baby blocks have been one of my go to baby presents for many years. Let me know if you make one.  Do you have a favourite present you love making. I would love to hear about it.

Happy days.
Bev C

"A Hexie Tutorial- I"m Grateful for Roses small table centre."

 Hello,

I have got lots of things to be grateful for. I am especially grateful for the roses here in the garden at Kainga so I decided to make a small table centre to celebrate this.

First I found some pink/floral/rose themed fabrics and used my  Fiskars Hexagon Punch to make my  paper shapes. This is a great way to the exact size shape.

 I needed 16 hexagons for the table centre.

 Sitting out in the Spring weather was the most relaxing way to spend the morning. I used 100 per cent cotton to stitch them together.

 Then it was inside to use the embroidery machine to stitch out the words and a small rose. If you don't have a embroidery machine you can embroider by hand or add details to suit. First I pulled out the papers from behind the hexies but I did leave some in the outside ones this helped them to stay in place while being hooped.. I also sprayed the hexies with some Crisp ironing spray to stiffen it a little. When hooping up the hexies I used some tearaway to stabilise it.

 The next stage was to iron some Easy Fix on the back.

I then cut up the fabric for the table centre, I used the same fabric for the front and the back. This measured 14 inches wide by 10 inches long. I used some pink/purple toned silk thread to do button hole stitch around the edge. I used a lightweight pellon for the wadding which was cut a little bigger then cut back when the 2.5 inch binding was sewing on.

With Christmas not far away a table centre like this would make a wonderful present. Your friend maybe grateful for her sewing room, so you can use some sewing fabric for the hexagons. Or the person may love chickens, the ideas are endless.

What are you grateful for? I would love to hear.

Happy days.
Bev C

"National Flag Day, Spring, A quick quilt, my new ruler and the wasjig is finished."

 Hello,

Are you hanging up your Australian flag today?

We have one out on the side gate.

 Plus this one I cross stitched a few years ago it always on display. Today the 3rd September is Australian National Flag Day.

It is interesting to see that New Zealand is going to vote on a new flag, they often get confused at sporting events and at times the wrong flag has been put up on the flagpole. I was a little surprised that the 4 flags they can choose from have no green on them at all. New Zealand is always so green. I was even more surprised that Richie McCaw's  face isn't on one of the flags!

 The first two days of Spring have been cold and windy with top temps of about 14 on both days.

There are signs that Spring is on the way with bulbs starting to bloom.

 The Rosemary plants are in full bloom and the Bee's are loving them.

 I have been on the embroidery machine the last two days quilting a quilt for my Niece who is visiting from over East. I decided it had to be a quick simple quilt and lap size as I only had a few days to make it. I was a bit annoyed that the horse fabric in the background couldn't be used. It certainly was not printed on the grain of the material. I did find a cowgirl boot red work design for some of the quilting which showed up quite well. Will post a picture of the finished quilt next week. Planning to give it to her on Saturday at a special morning tea.

Now we all know that Father's Day is not far away, actually I didn't realise until yesterday I thought it was next weekend. Men get a lot of things cheaper than us, think socks underwear even boys chocolates are cheaper than the pink ones. I won't name the chocolate brand. Anyway we were wandering around Master's last week, Ian had a gift card that had money left on it. I had a wander around the tools and found this metre length ruler for just over ten dollars. It has all sorts of handy measurements on the back. There was a bigger length but I thought this would be so useful in the sewing room and it has been. Can you imagine what price 

this would have been in a patchwork shop.

I finished the puzzle at 8.00 am Monday morning, Yippee. This was so addictive I would stop to look for a piece and a hour and a half later I was still there. A few late nights.

This was the box and I had to work out the view from the opposite direction of the car.

Thanks for all the warm wishes welcoming Jude into the family, very much appreciated.

Now I had better get back to the sewing machine and finish the quilt.

Happy days.
Bev C