Starting new projects, finishing UFO’s and using up some scraps.

 Well that title says it all! Every patchworker/crafters dream as they embark on a new year. It is certainly mine as I survey my sewing room which is filled with all of the above. 

To that end the first finish of a UFO. This was started at a days sewing with a group I’m in to celebrate a friends 70th birthday. It sat for a couple of years and I’m pleased with the result now it’s finished and hanging in my sewing room. The backing I’d had for years and seemed to fit in quite nicely. 😊 

I am hoping to move onto another UFO and some scrap projects before starting anything new- let’s see how long that lasts. 😆 

Bye for now

Sue ( sue2sew)

New Year’s Day 2022

 Sitting on the shore of Lake Wanaka, New Zealand on New Year’s Day.

 I haven’t posted for a few years, mostly because my friend Lyn from http://stitchesfromthemainland.blogspot.com/  introduced me to blogging and sadly she became ill and passed away after a short time. She was a colleague and friend and we shared our projects both at school and in a quilting group we both went to. Lyn did beautiful work and much of it hand stitching, bobbin lace work  to name a couple of crafts. Patchwork and quilting had featured but she was getting more involved when she became ill. She was a very supportive and creative person who had a hearty laugh and was loved by all her students. She was a Australian by birth but after marrying a kiwi she lived many years in the lower South Island of New Zealand. I know that many followed her posts and she certainly enjoyed following day to day goings on from many.

I have intended getting back into my blogging but somehow it seemed a bit sad. 2022 is now the time I have decided.

Since my last post I have made many things and created many more UFO’s 😂 I think I need to join a finishing off group. 😛 

This is one quilt I have been working on. I went to a Anna Maria Horner class in November 2019 and it has only seen the light of day recently and a plan made for completing it. 

Wishing everyone a happy and prosperous 2022.

Sue

Holiday sewing and Friday night sew in

I am on holiday right now so have managed to get a bit of sewing done this week. Friday night I carried on with some more of it. These two items are what I have been working on.

Foundation pieced Angel
Now to quilt and bind.

 Sunflower quilt
Made using one of the templates from Scrap crazy 6 Template set. Fun to do and very accurate.
Now to find something to back it with and quilt it.

Great to see what everyone else have done. Thanks to  Wendy at Sugarlane Designs for hosting us again.

Happy sewing,
Sue

FNSI Update

I was doing a few finishing off jobs on Friday night. I finished the binding on the tree tonight but got it underway on Friday night.

 Good to have this finally finished. Now I need to decorate it.

 I made this Bib for a lady at work who has a new Grandson this week. His father is a Rugby player so the wee player is appropriate.

On Thursday night I made two of these shamrocks for the ladies in the office at school. They always decorate for St Patrick's day. I liked them so much that I made these two on Friday night to keep for myself.

Thanks Wendy at  Sugar lane designs for hosting us again. I have enjoyed looking at some of the projects people were doing.

Sue

Friday Night Sew In

is happening tonight over at
Sugarlane Designs

Friday night sew in

The first Friday Night Sew In for the year is tonight and the sign up can be found here at Sugarlane Designs  Now to decide what I will do tonight to join with everyone else. I've had a sneak peak at what some others are planning and look forward to seeing what gets done around the group. :-)

I may work on my latest Sew Together bag by Sew Demented. I am using New Zealand fabrics for this project.

I was happy with the last one that I did which I take out with me to stitching groups. It fits a lot of items and matches my hexagon project bag.

or... maybe something else

See you soon.
Sue

Friday night with friends

I did more work on this Christmas tree wall hanging. It is a pattern called A little bit shorter tall tree by Cindi Edgerton. It is done by foundation piecing and I found it really addictive to do. 

Last night I started to sandwich it and cut the binding to go on once quilted. I hoped to get a bit further but we had a Skype call and I couldn't do quite as much. I look forward to seeing what everyone else has done.

Happy stitching,

Sue

Friday night with friends

Hi,
I've been quiet on here for a while and this year I am hoping to get back into posting and reading what everyone is up to. (I have had a little look now and then)I have just signed up for Friday night with friends here: Friday night with friends. Off now to sort out what I will stitch at that time. Look forward to seeing what everyone else gets up to.

Sue

A finish for my owl

We are excited to be two weeks away from due date for our first grandchild.  This is one of the things I have been busy making in recent times. DIL is an optometrist so it seemed fitting. We have recently found out they are expecting a girl which opens up many possibilities for me to create. 😄

Pansy finish

I have tried to get a few things finished

This was done in a Mary Transom class and I am very happy with the finished wall hanging.

Happy day to you all.

Sue

Summer Mini

A long overdue post to show you all my beautiful mini I received from Lyn . I have thanked her back when I received it but it is nice to share the lovely mini which she has done so much work on. Thanks, Lyn.

 I thought it went rather nicely with these ornaments that sit near where my mini frame is in the hall.

Work has been busy and I have not had time to do as much of my sewing as I would like. In October I went to a class where made a Pot of Pansy's. The class was taught by Mary Transom , a New Zealand Quilt artist and tutor,and was most enjoyable.
My Pot of Pansy's isn't finished yet but getting there.

I'm hoping to be able to finish before the show and tell we are having on 5th December as a Christmas break up.

Bye for now,

Sue

A late Post from FNWF's

 I am slow to post what I got up to last Friday night. I have had this on the go for a while and it was time to progress it along a bit further.
So I added the sashing between the already made strips of different fabrics. It proved to need care as the sashing was going onto a bias edge so stretching could be a problem.

 I now have to sew a sashing top and bottom before adding a border of "piano keys" which I have created by cutting the leftover strip sets.

It will then have a border the same as the sashing before binding.  Now that I am back on track I am hoping to get this finished. 

I am trying to get a few things finished as I am signed up for  a challenge found here.

It is a challenge based on this book which arrived in the mail today. 

                                               

So many to choose from...

Much fun ahead...

Sue

Christmas in July

How exciting to be able to unwrap my parcel from Jan.

The "wrapping" was this lovely Christmas panel that has me thinking overtime how I will use it. Lots of possibilities that I could do. Thanks Jan.

Firstly I found this Christmas stocking which will be hung with pride at Christmas time. 

Then there was this cute reindeer pouch and the next photo shows the lovely fabric lining the bag.

Tucked inside the pouch were these goodies. A stitchery featuring 2 reindeer with 2 cute little wooden buttons to put on it. Also a wooden Santa Christmas ornament to hang on the tree by an Australian designer. The handmade card has some cheeky cockatoo Christmas fabric stuck on the front of it from the next pressie.

Here is the Cockatoo fabric on this gorgeous cushion cover. It gives a real Australian theme to my Christmas in July. Beautifully hand stitched Christmas tree on the front. I had just the right sized cushion inner that I could pop inside.

Thank you Jan for all my goodies and the time and effort you put into it just for me.

               

A fun swap thank you Cheryll for organising it for us. My swap partner hasn't received hers yet due to post delays which I am sorry about. Details will follow when she gets it.  I have had fun entering into it and now I have a new blog friend and blog to read in Jan's LITTLE RED HEN.

Thanks everyone.

Sue

A few days to go

My parcel arrived a week ago and I now only have a few days to wait.

This morning I opened the postal bag and found this fabric wrapped parcel. Thanks to my swap partner. It seems real now.

I hope mine gets to its destination by Friday. It has been winging it's way for over a week now to my swap partner. I hope she likes what I have made. I will have photos once I know it has got there safely. 

Two days back at work and it already feels like 2 weeks Haha. 

Looking forward to seeing everyone's reveal on the 25th.(3 more sleeps.)

Sue

Progress on Friday Night Sew In

Well I had a good night sewing. DH helped me move the machine table with machine to the room by the fire and I was very comfy. I found some aspects of my project a bit challenging but I am pleased with my finished top to my wall hanging.

I hope everyone else had a good time and made good progress on their chosen projects. I will have to have a sneak peek at the blogs. You can check them out here.

Happy stitching,
Sue

Friday Night Sew In

I have signed up for FNSI and you can find it here on this blog; Wendy

I haven't been able to participate for a while but I am getting myself organised. I am having trouble as the pattern I am planning to do is in centimetres and all my rulers etc are in inches. (and I have to add seam allowances all around as I go)  Even though I deal everyday in Metrics I am having a bit of trouble getting my head around how to cut it out. Perhaps a paper pattern?
It is a kit I bought when I came across to Sydney for the Craft Fair in 2013

Hopefully tomorrow you will see that I managed it. Or maybe I will do some other project. Ha Ha

I am looking forward to it and seeing what everyone else gets up to.

Sue

Weekend away

On my way to Christchurch for the weekend. It would have been nice to put my feet up and joined Friday night with friends. I usually do some hand stitching in the car but the light hasn't been good enough this afternoon and now it's dark.

This is the mini that I sent to Sharon.

I am working on Christmas in July that I am sending away. The big reveal on 25th July should be fun.

Bye for now,

Sue

Embroidery mini quilt

I received this lovely mini quilt in the mail today from Sharon. I love the stitchery that it has on it and the border is butterflies and my one to her had a butterfly border as well. What a lot of work she has done. Thank you, Sharon.

I'm not sure where my photo keeps going. This is the first time posting from my iPad.

Managed to get it on here now but through my laptop at work. I obviously need to play a bit more.

Sue

12" Mini Quilt swap sent

My partner in the 12" Mini quilt swap was Lyn from  Stitches from the Mainland and I know it has arrived safely.

I enjoyed making it for her and included a couple of Easter treats along with the coaster from Cheryll.

I tried it out on my frame and and was pleased with the fit. 

It was nice to arrive home the day I sent it to find my swap from Michell shown in my last post. It is in pride of place in my hallway.

12" Mini Easter Swap

Happy Easter 

Today I arrived home and received my Easter Mini swap from Michell.  

Thank you Michell, it has brightened my Mini quilt frame up wonderfully for Easter.

Thanks to Cheryll for organising this for us.
It is so long since I have posted on my blog. I have had a wee peep at what others are getting up to from time to time but no posts myself.
I am so inspired by what everyone has been up to.

Aurora Australis 

In February this year I went to the supermarket and met a colleague from work. He told me that that night was going to be a good night for the Southern lights or Aurora Australis. I went home and inspired my husband who is a keen photographer to go in search of this phenomenon. We finally settled on a spot along the coast from where we live. He set up his tripod and put on a timer and this is one of the images he got.

It certainly was a thrill to see. Lots of friends were keen to go out but conditions haven't suited quite so much since.

Hopefully it won't be so long next time.

Bye for now.

Sue

A new family member

Welcome to our family, Jen.