Friendship Stars ........................

for Joanne, my 6 inch block swap partner. Joanne asked for blue and green with white - and I made three variations of this block -

 

I received a $40 voucher from Spotlight this week, so bought fabric for a quilt for my youngest granddaughter, the only grandie I have not made a quilt for yet. It will be a third birthday present, and these are the materials I am looking forward to working with -



 

love the cats

Paper Piecing Swaps ................

In September I swapped with De. This is the block I sent to her -

 

Cupcake. In return De sent these cat blocks, eyes will be embroidered and tails added with quilting -

I have asked for my blocks to be in real cat colours - black, white, brown, grey, orange - but in any patterns.

Yesterday was wet all day - a great opportunity to spend time at the machine.
I did spend a lot of time sewing and I am so excited by the result, very pleased indeed. This is Julianne's scrappy Starburst -

I can't imagine having the patience to make enough blocks for a quilt, but collecting some in a swap is the way to go.

90 mm of rain so far. The trees and grass look greener and the air is clear and green. The earth can soak up a lot more before we think we've had enough.

November Swap Partners ..............................

Carmen asked for a Box Kite block in black, white and red. These are the blocks I made for her -

 

Carmen asked for Any Stars in pink, burgundy, green and cream. These are her blocks.

 

 

 

I have 2 options at the moment - Tall Ships, and Tile Block in black and white with one patch a solid colour - like this -

 

 

 

I will join a number of these ships to make a large floor cushion for my sailing grandsons.

Yesterday I spent over an hour choosing books for my older grandchildren for Christmas. There is a lot of rubbish on some book store shelves, but I believe I found 4 beautiful, meaningful and well written books appropriate to the ages of the readers.

For the little girls, I am making summer dresses in co-ordinating fabrics from Prints Charming.

What a very busy time of year - Dragon Boat Regatta at Forster next weekend, Manning Dragon Boat Christmas party [and breakfast] the following weekend,
district Croquet clubs Christmas celebration and trophy presentation early December, and our club's Party and Trophies the following weekend.

Our district is sooo-oo dry the trees are shedding leaves and the grass is brown. At this very moment the rain that started last night is still falling, and is forecast to continue for a number of days. The vege garden and the water tank are also benefitting.

Can't work outside today, so I think I'll warm up the machine and do some more of my paper piecing swap block.

 

 

Two parcels in a week ..................

My swap partner for December was Lori in USA and her blocks took nearly 3 weeks to arrive. My January partner Helen and I swapped very early in the month - soo-ooooooooo - two parcels arrived in one week. Lovely!

These are from Lori,

and these are from Helen, all beautiful blocks that fit well with my collection of spinning wheels.

This is the blue and white star I sent to Helen, along with a mug mat made from the same fabrics.

Now I have made contact with my February partner who has asked for a block with a teapot or cup and saucer theme. I have found some foundation piecing patterns I will make up with some new exciting Asian patterned fabrics.

I was also part of Sue's cushion swap - mine arrived a little while ago - picture in an earlier post. This is the cushion I made for Fiona -

The petal shapes are held in place with buttons, and the cover closes with a single overhand knot in a matching tie.

I am currently making a couple of cushions for ME. Pictures will follow their completion.

More sewing is planned for my grandies - next birthday is for 5 yo - angry birds purse and a wall banner with her name is planned.

For an older grandson I have plans to make The Hobbit quilt from fandomin stitches. If I start now it should be ready in plenty of time with no rushing.

Christmas Toys

I have bought gifts for my older grandchildren, but made soft toys for the 3 youngest granddaughters -

a simple decorated cat for the youngest [18 months],

a dragon for the next one [4 1/2 years],

Mabel Monkey for the 5 year old.

I had a lovely time making them, and shopping for the other children. Hope they are loved on Christmas Day.

Momo, Nenek, Jan

QBSA and U3A

My December partner is Lori, from USA. Lori gave me 2 options for her block, but as I had never made either before, I decided to make both. They are simple but beautiful blocks and I hope Lori will be pleased.

bachelor's puzzle

and snail trail

I mailed these blocks at the very beginning of the month, but since my last parcel to America took 3 weeks to arrive, I'm sure these are still travelling.

I've also signed up for the Cushion Swap with Sue from QBSA. Since the last swap I've gathered many ideas for cushion covers and I'm really looking forward to putting these ideas together.

U3A - this is such a wonderful organisation - University of the 3rd Age - where like minded people get together to learn and to share their skills. I belong to the Tai Chi and the Folk Dancing groups, but in our district there are also classes in various forms of art [painting, sculpture, jewellery, etc], music of many styles - instruments, choir - drama, play reading, languages, gardening, touring, films, book club, etc, etc, etc.

A person could be busy every day of the week.

Yesterday was the end of year concert and afternoon tea. It was the best way to spend an afternoon, and the most wonderful, talented and entertaining concert!!

U3A folk dancers