"The Claremont Home and 240 Circle Quilt."

Hello,

I have just about finished the work on the Claremont Home. The actual building has been stitched for a while. I did all that bit at the start of last year. I took it along to crochet each Tuesday to stitch but then it was up to the part where a lot of counting had to be done. You can't count, stitch and chat at the same time. So into the darkness it went for a while.

 



Seeing I am finishing up projects this year I decided it was time to stitch again and the landscaping needed doing. January is a good time to sit inside from the heat and stitch.



Now I am onto the dreaded back stitching. I find this rather boring and tedious, similar to doing dishes for hours on end! I will most likely make it into a cushion cover.

The other project I have picked up again is the 365 Circle quilt which was started a few years ago. The idea was to do a block which contained a circle each day. Well mine has turned into a 240 circle quilt. I know that I could continue but it is such a great size now so why mess with that theory.

 



 I used up lots of scraps of calico and similar fabrics for the background fabrics. I had forgotten how much pressing you do when it comes to patchwork. I pressed the seams apart instead of to one side. Though when it came to joining the rows together I just pressed them up. I know that is being slack but in the end the recipient's won't be worried about this.

I have since added a blue border to the edges. Next week I plan to purchase wadding. Hopefully I will find some fabric in the sewing room for the backing.

I found a lovely note book in my sewing room that a friend had given me a few years ago. It has a embroidered cover. I have finally decided to write in it so have the first page filled up with items that need to be completed. Hopefully over the coming months I can tick a few off.

Have you got projects planned for the year? I would love to hear how you tackle them. Do you start a new project as a reward after finishing a few or not?

Happy days.
Bev C

"What to do with pink bricklayers string and Gnomes"

Hello,

Sometimes you make craft kits without realising it. That is you make all the parts of the project but you just don't get it completed. That is what happened with the following two projects.

First off I had plans to make Bonnie a shopping bag for her Birthday which was in October just gone. I managed to get it to her a few days before Christmas.

 

 I used up a Canteen bandana for part of the lining. This fabric suited the base of the bag perfectly. The sale of  bandana's support young people with cancer.

 



 I followed partially a pattern I found at Atic24 blog then made the rest up myself.
I used up a roll and a half of Bricklayers string which I purchased from Bunnings. It was so lovely to crochet with. I will have to look out for another pattern to finish of the string I have. It was much cheaper to crochet with this than cotton yarn.

 



 I hand sewed the lining to the bag with a suitable matching DMC embroidery thread. The buttons are more or less decorative but also help hold the handles to the bag. Bonnie absolutely loved the colour of the bag and was most appreciative.

 

 My other kit I had made up was this pillowslip. It only sat in my sewing room for about two years. Twenty minutes of sewing and ironing and it was done. This will be shared with Jacob and Jude, so handy to have Grandies with the same initial!

Following on the theme of gnomes. This little fellow is now residing near a tree stump in Gnomesville. One of the newest residents having arrived late November 2019. I visited Gnomesville two times last year. The second time I made sure we had a gnome to leave. I lost count of the towns we called into around here and down closer to Gnomesville to find a gnome. Luckily we found this one at the Tourist Bureau in Dardanup.  He was signed by us and left to do his work. In case you haven't heard of Gnomesville, it is one of the top hundred things to do while in Australia. There are over 10 000 gnomes etc there. You can explain to people what it is like but nothing prepares you for the sight of 10 000 gnomes. Both times I have been there it has been busy with people from all over the world. We were lucky to find this tree stump with no other gnomes. I can guarantee by now he has lots of gnome friends with him.

I have recently built a house called Claremont, all went well and now I am up to the landscaping. I will share some more in my next post.

Happy days.
Bev C