Last bag

Have finished the last bag --that makes 4 in the same style-- I have used mine lots and find its great--My sister also has hers and loves it as well-- Wonder who is getting the other ones --not telling till after Christmas

My next stitching project   some super pieces of hand dyes all real scraps  I shall embroider  along the seams proberly using Buttonhole stitch using Pearl 8 in a varigated pinkish colour-This will be a ongoing project watch this space.

Last but not least last weeks efforts--I love to free style stitch--embroider

Back to bags

My latest creation--same pattern different colours  I know whose mane is on this bag --sorry not telling.

My Garden 2011

When I am not stitching I am busy in my garden-- I love to potter  I call it doing the dusting-- weeds do not florish in my garden--- Right now the garden is full of lush spring growth --nasty winds wreck havoc at times with soft stems -- especially the Roses --but that gardening!!.

                                           Trellis between neighbours

                                     Bird bath and a delightful old fashioned rose with a delicious scent 

                                                   Another trellis between other neighbours

                                                     A favourite  Burgandy Iceburg

                                       Looking down the side towards our back patio
                                    

                                        Guem growing thru Iceburg front garden

                                        
                                        Climbing Rose first flower on front trellis

                                              Such a wee beauty  front garden

                                   Delightful Apricot Rose a prolific flowerer

At the front door for the second year a $4 Gerbera such a vibrant colour


Hope you enjoyed a glimpse of my garden
Jan

Orange bag for LS

Hi all when I sent a photo of my Orange bag to my sister she said how mean I was to show her all these photos of bags and none were for her-- Well one cant have her LS saying her BS is a meanie so here is the bag for my LS.The sides are different fabric   then the original --now I am making two more for xmas pressies.

Orange Bag.

Today was a good day-- and I finished my orange bag. Must say its bigger then I expected  my DH said I would have no trouble filling it--LOL!!

Now what is next on the stitching list!

Orange bag progress

Today I planned to have a good day stitching--I did manage to have a few hours  and have made progress with my orange bag. Lots of work in this bag the black n white is only pinned on --I needed to see what it looked like- Hope to stitch again tomorrow afternoon

New bag

Friday last week a friend took me to Kilbirnie to the Janome shop--no not to buy a new machine-- June had several machines  from a group she runs that needed repairs-- I went for the ride-- Now this shop has a very good selection of fabric  and I did --do not have a bag with orange in it --sooooooooo guess what I looked for and found

The bag is all cut out and I have started stitching it  I should really be making Artist Trading Cards but this bag is calling  watch this space.

Luscious Lime

Lime green is a favourite colour and I had these bright threads I felt would show up well on the L/L. /
Soooooo I played around and this is the result

and a close up of the Applique

and its ever so much brighter then the photo.So I have been busy over the last 8 weeks. Now what will I do next-- 

Further update on my Knee

Its all good the cast is off and my knee muscles are starting to re build yippee can drive again but not too far can't kneel yet  no scrubbing the floors LOL.
Over the last 7 weeks I have made good use of my resting time-- Lots of handwork finished and in the last week managed to stitch with Fudge again --
I hand quilted my Turning Twenty quilt and must admit to being really pleased with it.It is actually brighter then this picture

I also finished off numerous Place mats using all the scraps from the Turning Twenty Quilt there is another set as well sorry no photo of them

Then when I was able to use Fudge I finished making this set

and the Pinny that goes with it-- ok how does one turn a photo?

 So that finished all the partly sewn before I had that fall!!!

What next I wonder?

Update on knee and 31/2 inch 9 patch blocks

Kia-ora to anybody who reads this-- first the update on my broken kneecap-- great news as no op was required kneecap has started to knit!!!! But I still have this cast on for 5 more weeks thankfully no crutches now as I am allowed to put weight on my leg and have to work the muscle and ligament  in my my leg to help keep its elasticity. Cant sit at the machine tho  so sadly Fudge is still silent--
 Have been able to hand stitch and have been working on my Tweets Applique and handquilting my Turning Twenty quilt --
A few years ago my DH and I had a trip to the States meeting up with friends from the internet-- in San Francisco  Phoenix and Florida. While in Florida my friend Irene and one of her stitching pals decided to make these little 31/2 inch 9 patch blocks and swap them --one of the rules was we were not to cut into a big piece of fabric the blocks had to be from our scraps--so all pieces were cut indivually at 1 and 1/2 inches-- Crazy --yer right-- a good Kiwi expression  meaning oh yer-- haha!!

I added corner triangles to mine and had enough blocks  to make two lap sized quilts and one Babys quilt for the neo Natal babies at our local hospital--the Club --Guild --I belong to Pinestream Quilters have been making quilts for the little babies for some time.Now for the photos --!!!
This is the little Babys Quilt they are around 26 inches by 28 and just fit over the cribs tucking in at the bottom

Now for the two laptop quilts
and the back showing the label I have used embroidered doillies  for labels they do look good

I seem to be having a little trouble with photos not where I would like them to be-- ah well at least they are there.

Thanks Irene and Linda for the blocks added to mine they have made nice quilts --Gotta love 9 patch no matter how little or big for that matter

More later.

Fudge to sit silent for longer

Hello all, well I have done it!!Fell over a pot planter on Sunday aaaaabanged my head and knee  -- and by Monday I knew it was a teeny serious  - Monday -spent the morning at A &E and by 1.30  I was waiting at the fracture clinic Lower Hutt Hospital  for a cast or whatever for a broken Knee Cap--Patela--  the bad news was no weight bearing for ten days have to learn to use crutches keep leg straight--  oh dear me-- this is the first sprain/ break I have ever had-- what a learning curve this is.
Worst is I can not use Fudge and its looking like about 6 weeks or---!!
Just as well I love handwork so my next posts will be embroidery or some type of handwork
Watch this space.

Applique Bag close up photos

 Front of bag

 Back of bag

Here are the close up photos of my Applique bag--As I mentioned in my last post Fudge could not manage the fancy stitching I wanted due to the thickness of the batting  so I handstitched the glitz--Handstitching is something I love to do and especially embroidery type stitching--

Applique Bag

Kia-ora --as I mentioned in my last post here is my Applique Bag---now dont get this wrong--the bag is not Appliqued --it has been stitched by Fudge mostly and then finished with some handstitching --
The Janome 6500  Challenge group had a challenge --Glitz-- we could either make something glitzy or add Glitz to a project already finished --I chose to make a bag to keep my Applique blocks nice and safe-- The bag needed to hold blocks as large as 18'' x 18'' so its pretty big --  The bag has been stitched using a wonderful thread --silk with a sparkly thread wrapped around i.t The thread has no label was sent to me by a friend from the States -- Fudge loves this thread -but Fudge did not want to stitch fancy stitches thru the heavy batting --thats why I hand stitched the embroidery
The bag has zips from the center top right down each side to the side  bottom so it will open out flat and has no linning -- the blocks hold fast to the batting inside.

There is one block laying inside the open bag--- more about this Applique  later as it  will be a ongoing project as there are 12 blocks and one big center block to keep me busy.

Turning Twenty Quilt

Kia-ora --as promised my turning twenty quilt made at our club day--[Pinestream Quilters]  --all pined ready to quilt--Thanks to Karen for helping me hold it up and to June for taking the photo--Both June and Karen are from our Tuesday stitching day . I am going to hand quilt this and right now have a idea about using number 8 pearl cotton in  bright colours  will try it out on one block to see how it looks This will be a ongoing project as I am working on a needle turn Applique quilt-- also a long term project.
I also mmm lots of also  like to make bits and bobs so my next blog will be my Applique bag made to hold finished blocks safe !!! ---

Wee scrap quilt and Fudge my Janome 6500.

Saturday the 13th my club Pinestream Quilters  is running 4 classes one of them being the   Turning 20 quilt. I have wanted to make one for some time so have my name down for this class.I did have fun shopping for fabrics and cant wait to see how it turns out.
The worst part of taking classes is taking Fudge --my machine along. She is a heavy machine weighs in at 18 kilos--!! Not easy to pick up and carry and one is always scared  one may drop it!!!or worse !!
 I would hate to  arrive at a class and have Fudge  my machine play up so it was clean and polish and wind bobbins  before packing Fudge away.
 To check out the stitching I decided to make a wee quilt using scraps already cut from my scrap basket.It finishes at 6/1/4 by 5/1/4 inches just slightly larger then postcard size.
Fudge sewed like a dream--I knew she would she never lets me down.
 Watch out for more on this class.

Bag for keeping all my packets of needles in.

Hi all  I stitched this little bag all by hand --even the zip in 2010 and have made it the home for all my numerous packets of needles. Its rather like a Crazy block --made from pieces of the same fabric but all different shapes --I fused then onto a piece of batting and there it sat for some time-- Inspiration came after I browsed a book called--the magic of Crazy Quilting. A page caught my eye showing what one could do using just one stitch--Blanket stitch--a favourite of mine.I also uses French knots.So using a variety threads and Blanket stitch I had some fun.

There is no special front or back now  for the inside where I have added some pockets to keep the packets of needles in- and must admit that Fudge did stitch the hems!!
Must admit that I do have to keep my eye on this bag as my stitching friends have admired it and suggested I should  be careful where I leave it when they are around!!

hand stitching

Kia-ora I know this blog is names Kiwi Jan and Fudge--Fudge being my Janome 6500 which I just love to use--I also love love to hand-stitch and hand quilt --I find it very relaxing and satisfying --I hand stitch in the evenings while my DH watches TV.
So the next blogs will be about some of my stitching-- sorry Fudge -- 
Last year I took several embroidery classes online thru joggles web site.Taking classes online does make you stay focussed-- The class notes were downloaded Fridays--we got them here Saturday morning-- what better way to browse thru them while enjoying breakfast.

The first class was Sumptous Surfaces with Sharon Boggin-- a design and stitch class I decided to use things from the sea --Kelp and shells--Its was interesting to learnt how to take part of your design and focus on that rather then the whole design--
I soon discovered that I needed to learn more stitches  and this lead me to my second online class --Library of Stitches again with Sharon thru Joggles website.
I know have a sampler of wonderful stitches worked in different threads thickness and how one can  add to and change these stitches to suit .
My last class was again thru Joggles with Christen Brown--  using lace and cheesecloth and silk ribbons
These classes were fun and I really enjoyed myself
Photos to come

Daffidols

Kia-ora-- From my garden --the first Daffidols July 2011 so early and so cheerful as they sit on the window sill in the kitchen

Stitching group--DJs

A group of friends --all whose names beginn with either D or J met on Tuesdays to stitch-- we have lots of fun lots of laughter lots  of show and tell --sadly one of our members is moving away-- we had a special day for her and all made a wee gift to put in a pocket heart  --I made D --a little Teddy he is about 3 inches high and has his own wee quilt to sit on.
DJ Ted and his heart quilt. They are both made by hand so Fudge sat very silent.

Redwork pillow

I stitched these wee blocks a few years ago and then put them away--Found them a while ago and thought these would look good as a pillow  so far I have it but my granddaughter has ohh and ahh over it Cute eh