1st SAL.....Peg, Dale and I committed to stitching Anni Downs - A Gardener's Journal in March. I blogged about this on my blog thinking maybe one or 2 others may join us and lots of girls indicated an interest so I decided to start this blog where we can all encourage each other to meet the goals set along the way....March 2010 -March 2011...........
2nd SAL ......well so many of the girls wanted to continue on with another project and some new girls joined us and now approx 91 girls are stitching Natalie Bird's Tis the Season. March to Sept 2011...............
3rd SAL....many girls want to stick with the SAL so now we have moved onto Anni Downs Some Kind of Wonderful - My Favourite Things Quilt.......Oct 2011-Oct 2012.........
Where are we now.....
4th SAL 2013...is numerous smaller projects from the previous 2 books Tis the Season and Some Kind of Wonderful plus some projects from Red Home by Natalie Bird approx 60 ladies stitching together.........
2014 we had the year off..............
5th SAL 2015..........inspired to continue we are doing another quilt project.....Anni Downs newest quilt Natures Journey.....
6th SAL 2017.............A Holly Cottage Christmas by Michelle Ridgway.......once again the pattern is in an affordable book so it is easy for everyone to join in...........and you can raid your stash for the fabrics........or lash out and buy a the whole lot........this SAL will be run by Fiona aka Bubz Rugz and Raewyn........
Chookyblue........

Thursday, April 30, 2015

April cruising

I've just had a wonderful holiday in USA.. Cruising the Mississippi River for 6 days on the American Queen paddle steamer....visiting an Amish community in Ohio.. And ending up at  Paducha, for Quilt week!....   Of course My Natures Journey blocks came too.. And therefore April is complete.

Ummm....last day of April And

I still have today to work on my blocks...my time has not been my own this past weekend (you can read about it on my blog) so I might be late with my blocks...between my back issues and this past weekend, I have not finished my blocks...hopefully in a day or so...I have meetings today with ins. adjusters so no stitching until late in the evening...I promise to be back in a few days with my blocks for April all finished.
wendyf

So near.....

and yet so far!  

It's pointless waiting longer to tell you that I'm not going to get Aprils Blocks made before the end of the month.  Not surprising at it's tomorrow (it's probably tomorrow now for you girls in the Southern Hemisphere).  Drat!  I've been trying so hard to hang onto my spotless record too.  

Here's what I have left to do....


I've prepared the final bit of applique and that empty circle just needs an EEP 6 point star.  Who knows... I might just make it by midnight... it's not quite 2pm here.  What do you think... will I do it... Hummm...   looking dodgy I think.

Maybe Chooky will cut me some slack.  After all my BOM was late arriving this month.  It arrived April 16th so I've had much less time to complete.   C'est la vie!  

Well I'd better get back to work.  I'll show you all my efforts for April when I'm done.   Hummm... think I'll hang around here a while and catch up with all your work first......:o)

Be happy...
Josie

Just Missed!

Well the end of the month is here and I have yet 2 blocks to finish....... a committee meeting at our local theatre and 2 unexpected dinners out after work with friends this week have put an end to my plans of completing all blocks by 30th - though it was close...... will get them finished over the next couple of days..... meanwhile here's where I'm up to....

..... and I did change the 2 small blocks with flying bees(?) to a ladybird and another flying bee - I really didn't like the original design - though I did actually do them but.... well... there was just something about them......they looked like little planes.....
Be back over the weekend with all completed....

Happy Stitching
Asta

Soggy April 30

Raining all day and we're in for a wet few days.  With visitors coming and going since Easter, back to work after school holidays and feeling like I live in a continuous whirlwind, I sadly must admit that I'm not going to make this month's finish line.


4 small blocks and 1 large block completed. The dragonfly block and EPP star are pinned ready to stitch tonight. That leaves 1 more flower and the cherry block but this wet weather should mean I get to stay indoors and stitch.
Narelle @ Pins and Whiskers

Nearly there.....

Just have to attach my EPP star to the background... will be doing that tonight and will post pics soon! Went to my weekly sewing group today and my wonderful teacher showed me how....
xxx

The last day of April

I promised to come back today, and guess what? I have all my April blocks done, and here in Norway we still have most of the day ahead of us. I'm almost doing a happy dance :-). 
It's so interesting to see all the great blocks made by the SAL participants. I really look forward to the day we can see the finished quilts. A big thank you to Chooky and Susan!
                                       Have a wonderful weekend!
                                                 Oddbjørg

April Blocks

Here are my April blocks. Had most of them finished last week, just the epp star to do. Finally finished that off last night so thought I had better get a move on and post a photo today.


I stitched the stems on the flower and cherry blocks in satin stitch. This is my first epp star so am quite pleased with how it turned out.

There are lots of lovely blocks being made out of a variety of fabrics. I can't wait to see them when we finally get to put all our blocks together.

Thank you to Chooky and Susan for keeping us on track.

Till next month..... Happy Stitching...........










Ducking the whip ;0)

Hello girls ;)

I'm going for it! Here's what I have done so far....


And here's what I'm going to finish before midnight lol. 


My gorgeous Daughter is not going to die....thank god! 
Cardiologist diagnosed her as having severe sleep apnoea. The thought just Never even entered into my head. So hopefully after her sleep test next week and a machine of her own she can get back to a normal life. Soooo happy. I can't even tell ya.

Glad to have you girls to stitch along with to keep my mind of it all.
I say lets go! We can finish this month together!

Ducking Chookies whip......
Kel xoxo

Kel@alwaysapplique




April Done and Dusted

I can't believe it.  I actually finished my blocks last night with a whole day to spare.

I'm still enjoying playing with my bag of little scraps. There are memories from lots of old projects here.


I thought I may have to delve elsewhere for the paper pieced star, but I was able to come up with some suitable fabrics among my scraps. It is even appliqued by hand rather than by machine. I take my hat off to all you girls who are working this all by hand. 

The light purple outer leaves on the flower are  even scraps from our recent weekend at Nundle.


Thanks once again Chooky and Susan for keeping me on the straight and narrow.  

Now to see if I have enough scraps for May's blocks.

Wednesday, April 29, 2015

Nearly there but wont quite make it...

I know - lots of excuses but I do have a couple.  My BOM only arrived last Thursday so I started straight away but not finished yet.  Got all the stitching done and most of the  applique prep, but wont get it finished by tomorrow night as I have to go away for work tomorrow and not home till Saturday.

Hopefully finish by early next week. Hope May's BOM arrives a little earlier otherwise it is going to be a struggle each month!

Alex


April done in the nick of time ......


I am very pleased that I managed to finish my blocks in the nick of time with 1 day to spare.  I am aiming to make a start on May right away.

Hugs,

Fee xx

Late!!!!


I didn't finish my March blocks and I have 
to start my April blocks.
It seem that there's always something else
to do.
We went to France for a little break
to charge our batteries.


We made trips on our bikes and went
to visit our friends, so no time to sew ;-)

So today....


Have a nice day,
Martine 




April's done

Had a wonderful time stitching and I am so glad to finish these blocks:)

omg. . finally can blog here...he he ha ha ...

Well after a few hiccups and posting on other pages I am here at Sal 2015. I have started a bit late but here is my effort so far....

This is us flooded in for one day..did lots if sewing....

And this the  the sun  rise afterwards.

So happy to post here too.. yeah Chooky  I did it... yeah ha...😆
Big hugs 
Diddle. 

499............

Can you believe we have 499 followers on this blog............I wonder who will be the 500th follower..............see people do enjoy seeing what you are sewing................
Happy Stitching..........
Chookyblue.....

April? - That's A Tick!

My blocks for April are done...
The photo is way too yellow but it was taken very quickly yesterday morning before I set off to work away for the next few days and the sun was still sleeping at the time...so that's an A for me thanks Chooky!

Happy Stitching...
Annette @ Jindi's Cottage

April blocks

Here are my April blocks
I don't enjoy hearing the whip crack over my head, but I guess it's needed to get me working and be on time. And for that I'm glad!


Tuesday, April 28, 2015

April

Finally got my April block done just in time. 

Nay from Nays Place - Reporting back for duty

The whip cracking has been heard,
I'm back on the ball after letting March and April speed on past
Whilst I cant keep up with Chooky's schedule
 I do plan on 1 block per night till I've caught up.

I have been AWOL due to coordinating our  towns Anzac Poppy display
Whilst we're not quite up to Lynn Berry 5000 Poppy display of over 250,000 in Federation Square we did managed over 2500.



I can report that all blocks for March, April and May have had the blanket stitching completed and as it's been so long since I've held a needle and not a crochet hook or knitting needle I thought I'd start with a pear - not the best but getting there

Monday, April 27, 2015

April Blocks

Here are my April blocks - not perfect needleturn, but finished -
Cheryl

April finished now

 Just had to finish my diamond applique so that this month's blocks for the Stitch-a-long are done.

April blocks completed

I'm happy to report my AprIL blocks are all done .... Please tick me off Chooky !!
....  Fiona@peaceful threads 





Done April


Hooray......April we are done,although the Pattern just arrived on 20.April, i got done in time,i m happy

Sunday, April 26, 2015

March blocks done

I'm glad to tell  that my March blocks are finished. Today I'll try to start on the April ones, but I'm afraid I haven't enough time to have all done by the end of the month. I'll be back on Thursday letting you know the progress.
Have a nice day!
Oddbjørg 

Made with 'heaps' of time to spare!!

Well this month was a learning curve for me, I have not yet caught the English Paper piecing disease so the star block was, not my best effort, but hey it's a finish and if I get a chance/more experience later down the track, I may do it again. So Chooky, put me down for an April finish...yay!!

April Done

Well whip crackers I am done for April.... Finally caught up and enjoying stitching for stitchings sake .. not to catch up... Lets hope it stays that way...  Today is cold for April... low grey fluffy clouds and a very cold wind...... loving it... so much better than 40 degrees Celsius ......Lovely sewing day and its a weekend.....  

Bernie's cooking ribs...mmmm...spoke to my kids this morning.......cuppa with mum and dad .....all is well with the world....  Hope your day is lovely too...

Beautiful day for ANZAC commemorations yesterday and now a lovely day to be inside. I think the crowds at both dawn service (4.28am) and morning march and service at (10.00am) were the most our town has ever seen. Seems to be repeated all over Australia by all reports.  


The proof.......  Have a lovely day everyone....


Behind Again!

After just sneaking across the line with my February blocks, I've fallen behind.  As life does, it's presented a few challenges - unwell father requiring hospitalisation (he's on the mend again now) and a recalcitrant teenager who would not conform has had to change schools.  On top of that, two of my children qualified for National Age Swimming Championships in Sydney (we are in Queensland).  So school holidays came and went and not a lot on my "to do" list was ticked off!

Before the holidays I managed to prepare all my March Blocks.  I've started sewing them and hope to get those completed by the end of April.  

My father is to return to hospital for surgery (knee reconstruction) on 18th May.  If this goes ahead, I will be away with my mother - so there will be some sewing time then.  

I'm really enjoying seeing everyone's progress and I'm enjoying the time I have to sit and sew.  It's going to be a beautiful quilt and I know that this stitch-a-long is my one of hope of completing it.  

Cheers

Marg

the clock is ticking.........

so you've all got a couple of big blocks done...........
another big one due today.........
come on girls go for it.........
Image result for ticking clock
good to see a few more finishes there for April.............
Chookyblue..............

April work..

Yeah,here are my April blocks,all done. I see somthing has gone a little bit wrong,but it works for me ;-) 
Now I can play with more ideas for the rest of April. 
For May blocks I must use more colours.... 
Hope you all are having a great time, I'm waiting for the snow to get away.. I want summer .. 
Hugs from Laila

Saturday, April 25, 2015

April .... Tick !!!!


Here we are my April Blocks and a week too go .... I love these blocks , so quick too stitch up. I am tempted to start May but think I will try and catch up on some other sewing ;)

I am loving seeing everyone else's colour combinations all so very pretty .

I hope you all have a lovely weekend with lots of sewing happening :))

Friday, April 24, 2015

So far behind

I finally bought my pattern, I have my fabrics - black and white, greys, creams and a lots of scraps to play with.

This weekend I plan on starting and trying to catch up a quick as possible.

The reason for my delay was a family crisis that has seen our eldest son, daughter in law and 3 year old granddaughter move from rural Victoria to Melbourne to live with us while they work through some major issues. It has been a delight most of the time have our granddaughter living with us except when grandma wants to sew, she wants to join in and or help me.

Hopefully by Sunday night I will have some progress shots.
Sue

April blocks

Just a quick hello to say I've completed one of the larger blocks and going to sew two tonight, will do the other two big ones tomorrow and the small ones Sunday!!
Going to Cardiologist on Monday with DD, everyone cross your fingers for me, hoping to have some answers soon.
Love Chookys schedule, too easy.
Happy stitching ladies. Xox


Kel@always applique

Can start up again

Finally got my threads today, so I can start up and do the blanket stitch.  I am vowing to catch up.  I know what I will be doing tonight

April .....

Thanks Chookyblue and Susan

you can mark me off for April


Great to have these blocks done and so much fun seeing everyone's.....

Have a wonderful weekend...


attack plan..........

so your running late and have not done anything for April..........
it's not too late........
we have 6 days.........
24th - big block
25th - big block
27th - big  block
28th - big block
29th - 2 little blocks
30th 2 little blocks.
OK so lets go........
13 people finished for April so far.....but we still have time.........
go go go.........
woops I mean crack crack crack........
Chookyblue..........

April 23rd and done!

I have thoroughly enjoyed stitching my blocks this month.  I decided to get organized! So organized I messed up.  Stitched some of May's blocks and some of April's blocks.  Oh well, off to a good start for May now.  I also forgot about the amendment for the star (diamond) block.  After piecing the star I laid it on the block to be stitched down and something was not right.  It did not fit!  How many others did this?  Am I the only 'block head'?  Wow...and I loved that star!  It was the first time I had done English paper piecing and loved it....but it didn't fit.  So back to the drawing board...I am enjoying seeing everyone's progress.





Happy Stitching!




Thursday, April 23, 2015

Making Progress?

Thought I'd better show you what I'm up to...... 


Yes there are 5 block finished but.... can you see the stitch unpicker? Well, on checking out what everyone else was up to it became very obvious that my poor little bugs were flying upside down!! I had put the wings under their little pudgy bodies!! 
Now... I know some of you might think it doesn't matter but it will always "bug" me.... a decision had to be made :( 
So while 5 finished blocks have become 3 I'm still hopeful that I will have my "homework" finished by the end of the month!

Am enjoying everyone's creations!!
Happy Stitching
Asta

Another Slow Starter

This is just a quick post.  Thanks to Chooky and Susan encouraging me to post my progress.  Due to surgery recently, I have to take the summer off work which gives me the chance to sit in my garden stitching most days for the next four months.
I cut all my blocks out at the beginning of this project.  Now I am feeling a little better I am stitching away. I love reading all your inspiring posts.  I will post pictures on my next post.
Deborah 
 

Wednesday, April 22, 2015

A slow starter.......


Finally, I have done my first part of Natures Journey.  I started rather late, so I am a bit behind, but I hope to catch up sometime....... Now I am going to start out with the March part.
It is my first time with Needle turn, and I think that is a bit hard. Hopefully it will be better when I have done it some more time......
I love to see all the gourgeous parts that you all have made, it's nice to see all the difference in fabrics


Most of April done...

I have been working on April's blocks. Here are all the applique blocks done. I just need to get some diamond papers to do the paper piecing block and I will be up to date.

April is DONE!!!


I have finally finished my April blocks..

I am really enjoying making these.

Thanks

Sandyn




Tuesday, April 21, 2015

March completed.

 

Here's the March blocks. All trimming will be done when it is time to sew. I suppose that I should say all ironing will be done then too.

April blocks are coming soon.