Gardener's Journal - by Kris

Kris has finished her Gardeners Journal top - well it was finished in September and I have taken a while to post about it for her..

Pop over here to read her story and see some more pictures.

Well Done Kris!!!

(The blog header tells me this is a project from March 2010-2011)

Cold Inspires Creativity!!

I really think the onset of cold weather here on top of our 'hill' has inspired me to be creative and get stitching. You see ... the warmest place in our house is in the lounge room, in front of the heater, so I've DEFINITELY been inspired to sit and stitch! Tee! Hee! Hee!

Today was a little warmer, though, allowing me to leave the comfort of my heater-side seat to venture into the sewing room, where, amidst some grumbling and mumbling about slippery-sucker rulers and rotten one and a half inch blocks, I managed to piece together Block "A" of my version of "A Quilters Journal" ...

Ta Da!! Despite the bad-tempered muttering at my lack of measuring and cutting skills, I'm really happy with how this block looks. So, my quilt so far looks like this ...

I'm having fun searching out bits and bobs from my stash and although it's turning out to be a bit brighter than I'd originally planned, I'm LOVING it! When I'm finished, it's going to be SPRING time all year round at our place and for someone who HATES the COLD ... that's a WONDERFUL thing! Tee! Hee! Hee! I'm pretty proud of myself for managing to beat the end-of-month deadline two months in a row ... now if only I can manage to keep it up!! Perhaps I'd better go and take a peek at NEXT months' stitcheries now ...! :0)

Hope you're all having a fabulous weekend and enjoying being part of the Stitch-A-Long as much as I am - a big thanks again to Chookyblue, Peg and partners-in-crime associates ... for encouraging us all to dig our "A Gardener's Journal" books out of the cupboards and get stitching! Til next time ...

BEAR HUGS!
CHEERS!
KRIS

Cold Snap & Some Stitching!

Here on top of our 'hill' in Toowoomba, winter is starting to snap at our cold toesies, with temperatures already dropping down to 4 and 6 degrees Celsius several nights this last week - BRRRRRRRRR!! Did I mention I HATE the cold?!?!?! And since our old heater was big, ugly, sounded like a  Mac truck driving through the lounge room AND all but gave it's death rattle at the end of last winter, my Beloved Geek Boy and I decided to bite the bullet and hit the heating stores to buy a new one. Here's the hot little number that came home with us ...

Aaaaaaahhhh!! WARMTH! :0) And what does any of this story have to do with Stitch-A-Long, I hear you ask?? Well ... since the lounge room was so toasty warm ... guess where I've spent most of my weekend? Yep ... in the lounge room ... STITCHING! Here's the result ...

I've now finished all of the stitcheries for Block A, though it DID take me a bit longer than anticipated. You see, I had one of those 'bright ideas' that we all have from time to time ... you know ... the ones that half way through you think, "Who's STOOPID idea WAS this?!?!" Tee! Hee! Hee! You see ... I decided to add some little patches of satin stitch to my blocks to add some interest , some extra colour and to make mine look a little different to other's. Well, mission accomplished, it just took LONGER to do. Ah well ... never mind! :0) I'm hoping to get the piecing for this block done this week ... it's always good to at least START with a plan, right?!?! :0) I shall pop back and show you when I get Block A all together.

Whether you're curled up in front of your heater, or sitting in the spring sun, I hope you've all had a fabulous weekend of stitching. Til next time ...

BEAR HUGS!

CHEERS!
KRIS

A Road Trip & A Finished Block!

After deciding to accompany my Beloved Geek Boy on a work-related road trip to the Sunshine Coast on Friday (pop over to my blog for the long version of the road trip report!!) I packed up my stitching gear to keep me occupied while he worked ...

... my favourite sewing pouch made for me by the gorgeous Joy, my favourite needle folder, a cute little fairy tin to hold my threads, my 'Watering the Garden' block and the stitching instructions. So that I didn't have to take a larger bag to fit my "Gardeners Journal" book in and so my pretty book didn't get travel damaged, I photocopied the stitching instructions and shrank them to A5 size pages so they fit nicely into my pouch ... why hadn't I thought to do this before now!!! SOOOOOOOO much easier to use than flicking through book pages all the time!!

I had quite a lot of stitching time while GB was installing high-tech video conferencing equipment and managed to finish 'Watering the Garden', so today I headed into the sewing room to put Block G together. During this process, I muttered some VERY unladylike things about rulers that don't sit still and small, slippery-little-sucker blocks that jump out of your fingers and remembered why I don't do a lot of patchwork!!! However, I persevered and the result is ...

Ta Da!! I know Anni's original quilt colours look more like summer, but it is definitely SPRING in MY garden! Tee! Hee! Hee! When I decided to join the stitch-a-long, I promised myself (and my long-suffering GB!!) that I wouldn't buy fabric to make this quilt, it all has to come from my stash. Shouldn't be a problem really, since I have just a FEW fabrics in there to choose from! Tee! Hee! Hee! It will definitely be a scrappy version of Gardeners Journal, though, I think.

And now that I have April's block finished, I can breathe a sigh of relief and feel rather chuffed that even if I'm behind for the rest of the challenge (a distinct possibility!!) I DID get the first month's block finished before the end of the month - YAY!! As a result, I think I deserve a cup of tea, so I'm off to pop the kettle on. Hope you're having fun stitching-a-long, too ... and perhaps managing NOT to mutter unladylike things while YOU sew your block together! Tee! Hee! Hee! Til next time ...

BEAR HUGS!

CHEERS!
KRIS

Still Stitching Along ... Slowly!!

I had big plans to finish the stitcheries for April's task over the weekend and even thought I'd start playing with the piecing ... but I overestimated how much I'd manage to fit into one weekend ... a VERY common problem in our household! :0) But ... I'm still stitching along ... slowly! Here's where I'm up to ...

The birdies now have a birdbath to ... er ... bath in! And I've built the fence and the garden edging and planted the shrub for 'Watering The Garden'. :0) I've used a few different colours to those listed, cos it was late at night and I just wanted to keep stitching, not wait to hit a shop for more threads the next day. Besides, I DID promise myself (and my Beloved Geek Boy!!) that I wouldn't buy anything to make this quilt - it was all supposed to come from my stash. We'll see how long I manage to keep THAT resolution! Tee! Hee! Hee!

It's so much fun to watch everyone's quilts grow and amazing to see the photos of blocks as they are finished in a huge variety of colours and fabrics. Every single quilt is going to look very different from the next and I kind of like that our quilts will end up reflecting a little bit of us all along the way! :0) Happy stitching everyone! Til next time ...

BEAR HUGS!
CHEERS!
KRIS

Easter Stitchin' Here I Come!!

After a couple of VERY busy weeks, we're hauling in the drawbridge (locking the doors!), setting the dragons (brainless-but-friendly dogs!) to guard the castle and pretending we're not here for Easter! Meanwhile ... inside, I'm going to be doing some garden stitchin' and some DVD watchin'! :0) I've already started on my first stitchery block ...

My birds will soon have a bath to play in! :0) Hope you all have a fabulous Easter ... perhaps you're going to spend it stitchin' too! :0) Til next time ...

BEAR HUGS!

CHEERS!
KRIS

EEK!! What Have I Done!?!?!

This was the question I asked myself numerous times after committing to join the Gardeners Journal Stitch-A-Long! At first I thought ... OK ... a couple of stitcheries a month ... surely I can fit that in amongst ... designing ... magazine commission deadlines ... sample stitching ... instruction writing ... giftie making ... work ... singing ensemble rehearsals ... the usual housework ... And it was at THAT point that I  "EEK-ed!" Tee! Hee! Hee!

After a cup of lavender tea and a little sit down to take deep, calming breaths and flick back through Anni's lovely book ... I'm much calmer and PRETTY sure I can keep up with my committment ... sleep is over-rated, right?!?! :0) I'm looking forward to making up one of my long-term "Must-do-one-day" projects in the fabulous and talented company of all the lovely ladies who have joined Chookyblue's merry band ... and are probably asking themselves the same question I am ... "Eek! What Have I Done?!" Tee! Hee! Hee!

Til next time ...

BEAR HUGS!

CHEERS!
KRIS