A Little Mat For Santa

Just thought I  would do a quick post here, as I am unsure how to link things.

I am participating in the "Holly Cottage Christmas" quilt along, held over at Stitch-A-Long blog, commencing in June.

We all purchased this beautiful book by Michelle Ridgeway, "A Holly Cottage Christmas".  This book has so many lovely projects in it.

For May we had to choose a small project to get our appetites whetted.  I selected this little mat for Santa's cookies.  Mainly to have a practice at needle-turn appliqué.  In past projects I have always used fusible appliqué, but decided I wanted more of a challenge.  I think I managed ok, and only hope I have not bitten off more than I can chew.

The only real disappointment I had, was I used "Cottage Garden" threads instead of mynusual DMC, and the red bled/ran.  The above photo is a vast improvement, soaked and sponged the bleed, although still there, it has faded somewhat significantly.

I was hoping to use "Cottage Garden" threads in the Holly quilt,  but am not so sure now.  Don't get me wrong, I adore "Cottage Garden" threads,  the colours are fabulous.

Anyhow, I will ponder this for a while, before I need to do more stitchery.


Thank you for taking time to stop by.

 Happy stitching.

 Sharon

A New Project

So much has been happening of late in my life.  Not all of it good.  It has taken me a while to decide how to write this post, but here goes.

On a positive front I have started a new TOM - Template of the Month, hosted by Amititie Textiles,  it is called Delilah by Jenny Kingwell Designs.

Block One is Rising Sun

I have had fun doing the first two months worth of blocks, though I made some errors. But I  am happy that I could fix up these errors.  I had to stitch a narrow black border around both blocks, for when I sewed the blocks I used the wrong foot,  thought something was wrong (thought the quarter inch foot was on), but could not figure it out until I measured the completed block.

Block Two is Bells Beach Block

With this block I could NOT work out how to cut a reversed template, wasted so much fabric, lucky I had some of the black I used on Block one so they sort of tie in.  I only hope when the quilt is completed, these blocks will not look out of place.

The trouble is my memory is starting to go.  I have had to give up work.    My ex-husband said "it is no good having a nurse with no memory!", honestly it was the first laugh I have had in a while.  All I have been doing is crying, and sewing, and crying.  This hit me like a bolt out of the blue.

I flew down to Brisbane last Wednesday, just for a day to see a Colorectal Specialist, they admitted to hospital, blood transfusion,  as Hb was only 75, and on the Friday morning some minor surgery.  Now I have to have some not so minor surgery later in the year.

Lucky, I have lots of hand sewing to keep me occupied, between the Insanity Quilt and Lucy Boston. To do while sitting around.  But when home have set up sewing machine and am machine piecing quilts, have some finishes to show in a future post.

Thank you for letting me vent.  I feel very lost and unsure at present.

Thank you for taking time to stop by.

Happy stitching. Sharon

Hello I am back.

I have good news and have been sewing up a frenzy, catching up for time missed out.

The good news, my liver tumours are STABLE! I was hoping they may have shrunken,  but alas, no, STABLE is good, means they did not multipy.   So I have been making up for lost time, patchwork and quilting.

Here is a snap of "Kool Kats". I purchased this from "Cynthia's Ark".

I am in the process of sewing on the binding at present, should have it finished on the weekend and I will share a photo of the completed quilt.

There has been more sewing, but I need to take some more photos.


Thank you for taking time to stop by.

Happy stitching.

 Sharon