Saturdays Scraps

Today is the first day of my "Saturdays Scraps".

Each Saturday, I will add what I have done in the way of scrappy quilting, and the processes, so that you can see what's happening.

If you would like to join in with me, then leave a message on this post and I will start up a linky party  for us, and we can show our scrappy bits 'n' bobs each week.

You may have noticed this quilt earlier on:

This is the first scrap quilt top for this series, I call it my "squares and strips" quilt top.

Quilting all these scrappy tops will hopefully happen once I have completed all the tops I want to get done this year - or at least we'll see!

No 2 for today is:

(drum roll here!!!)

Scrappy Tumblers:

I started with a shoebox with around 350 tumblers in it

I used my wonderful Go Baby to cut around 650 more tumblers - these are 3 1/2", finish at 3".

I ended with a shoe box filled with around 1000 tumblers!

I joined the tumblers into pairs

Here we have 107 pairs of tumblers joined today

Plus 5 joined incorrectly - managed to unpick them today.

So that is Saturdays Scraps for today, don't forget to let me know if you want a linky party here each Saturday, so we can all encourage one another.

The Quilt Photography Workshop

August and the first of the Quilt Photography Workshop groups.

Today the lesson is all about photos of fabrics.  So armed with my trusty Canon EOS 550D  camera, I trotted off and took some photos of fabric.

I didn't do very well I'm afraid - wasn't confident enough to use the personal settings - used the preset ones, mostly Close up. I seem to have lost confidence in using the personal settings - I'm hoping that this course will help me get over it.

Here are the photographs that I took:

I know that the picture above is messy, but I do like the way the fabric looks

I love the fabric in this one, though the chair sneaked into it! Here's another first - I am going to try and crop this photograph, something I have never done. We will see how I went at the end of this post!

Don't know what possessed me to put this frangipani with the fabrics, but I did, I think the fabrics look lovely and silky.

Hung the fabrics up on the clothes line over a bright blanket - I thought it might show them up prettier -= the black ones it did, but not the others. The sun also was in the wrong spot

again the sun is glarey, but I love this fabric against the orange - no I don't, it shows the holes in the blanket - I'll have to crop this one also!! (It is an old blanket)

So I have made some adjustments to the photographs - had a great time doing it, and taught myself lots - so here are the cropped photographs:

Wow, doesn't this look so much better after cropping!

I got rid of the holes in the old blanket - much better!

Here is one that I didn't show before - again, I don't know why I thought the Buddha's head would help!

If you would like to join in with us all, go to Plum and June HERE and join the fun!

See you there....

QBSA for August

The postie bought this beautiful star block for me today.

It is from Nikki in Victoria. Thanks Nikki, I love it!

Of course I didn't take a picture of the block I sent to her, which I just posted today also!!

Playing With The Camera

Couldn't resist walking around the garden this morning, and playing with the macro on  the camera dial - it certainly sees things in a different light!

 There is a bug on the orchid!

The Crown of Thorns never stops flowering

Bougainvillea flowers are so tiny

The coleus leaves look wonderful so close!

Pretty little begonia flower

I should have aimed at the flower, not at the stem! But even the stem is amazing, isn't it!?

New Garden

Alan is in the process of starting up a new garden bed in the back garden. I am planting it with Hibiscus, and simply ground covers and ferns at their feet:

Here is the Rose of Sharon ( when I was young, I truly thought that this plant was named after me - they had made a mistake with the spelling!)

The orange plant is a ground orchid that I found on an abandoned house site in town - must go back for more, I love the colour.

The garden is at the back of the house, so Alan has laid a row of bricks, the garden and will surround it with upended bricks to keep everything tidy. I'll show the rest when it is complete!

August Moon Day 3: Blessings

As the prompt states:

"Count the blessings you have had to be grateful for this year."

There are so many.

I have woken up each morning , grateful for the day. So many others lost the opportunity a lot of years ago. My hair is grey, and my joints hurt, I can't breath too well but I am so lucky. There are many others who aren't.

Each year that passes, Alan & I grow closer. I am so blessed to have this man by my side.

*I am grateful for the opportunity to plant a garden and have it grow. It is a joy for us both.

I am grateful for my grandchildren, that they are in my life now. They make life special to me.

I am grateful for our friends, who stand with us.

I am grateful for my crochet, my knitting, my quilting and my gardening. They all work together to keep me going.

There is so much more to be grateful for in my life, but I am sure that you all get the message here!!

Thanks for reading, I hope that you can say that you also have so much to be grateful for.

August Moon Day 2: Seize the season

Kylie Bellard has put up a set of questions to guide thoughts on this day.

They really did assist me to get my mind around this statement of "Seize the Summer".

I am so happy to be heading into the springtime here in Queensland. Winter has been hard and cold ( for us anyhow) and it is time for the sun to start shining and things to warm up a bit. Needless to say, I love the warm weather!

I have made myself lots of promises for this Spring and Summer - such as to be more attentive to the cleaning and washing in the home of ours - I make the same promise to myself every season, hopefully this time it will stick.

I keep getting waylaid with quilting and crocheting, and who really needs a sparkling clean house anyway!

Once a month we will spend with the grandchildren, and for a week or more over holidays we will have them to stay here with us. Can't wait for that!

I'm hoping to get all the gardening done through Spring, so we can relax and enjoy the Summer time.

If I could just attend to one thing I will be happy!

August Moon Day 1: Intentions

How have you treated yourself this year?
Have you kept your intentions?

Wow, aren't these questions a goldmine?  After all, the year is only 3/4 of the way through, and i still don't really know how I'm going!

My health has been good this year, so obviously I must be doing all the right things there - I did make myself a promise that I would not go into hospital this year so that is going very well. Only 4 more months to go!!!

Alan and I love our quiet life here in paradise, along with our good friends and a laugh a day with them, we are so lucky to be older and more grey.  Lots of others don't have this opportunity.

Yes I have definitely kept my intentions this year - the intention to only use fabric from my stash comes to mind.

I have done that well so far, if a little slow: No I was my cross + and x quilt:

He lives in over the back seat of the car now.

No 2 is my scrap squares and strips quilt:

Still to be quilted and bound, but the piecing is finished.

I'm also hand piecing the Green tea and sweet peas quilt, that is a long term one, that one!!

I have also been able to spend a lot more time with my beautiful grand children, trying to make up for 6 years without them.  That has been a wonderful success. 

So all in all, I must say that my intentions have been fulfilled this year in a very good way.

From Sharyn's Crochet Space/Just to Keep You Up to Date

Monday, March 11, 2013

Good Things Finished

Some items I have just finished :

I played with this little bird, following Attic 24's instructions

The hat, scarf and cowl are finished, just need to be wrapped for my friend tomorrow

I call the hat a Flapper hat. because it looks like one on!

Just finished this blanket also - a nice granny stripe,

I quite like the colours in it

Do you like the edging i put on it?  I played around with stitches and came up with these leaves and flowers.

Now I am about to start crocheting a cotton cancer turban for another friend who is losing her hair from chemo. She should be able to wear the cotton through the warmer months and I have already made a woollen one for her (forgot to take a pic too!) not that it matters..

NEW! August Moon 13

I just signed up for the August Moon 2013.

It is run by Kat at I Saw You Dancing and also Meredith Shadwill from  blog.sailorscorpio.com.

What is August Moon?

Once in a blue moon, what would you wish for?

On 21 August 2013, we will be experiencing a "blue moon". There are varying definitions of "blue moon", but the one we're working with is the third full moon of the season. Whether you're a star gazer or not, full moons are undeniably powerful times. As we transition into the last quarter of the year, we are inviting you to join us in responding to a series of prompts designed to bring you closer to all you wanted 2013 to be. We reckon that now is the time to ask: the universe will hear you.

There are two ways of participating in August Moon 13, depending on how much you want to share. Prompts will be sent out via email each day from Wednesday 21 to Saturday 31 August.

You are welcome to use these prompts to guide reflections in your private journal.

OR if you would like to share your insights with the August Moon community, then all you need to do is blog your response then visit us here at katmcnally.com and pop your URL in the linky provided each day. This will give other participants the chance to read your words and/or see your images and leave words of encouragement, and vice versa. You are warmly encouraged to connect with kindred spirits this way.

You are also welcome to instagram or tweet your responses using the #AugustMoon13hashtag. Kat and Meredith will be keeping an eye out for tweets using this hashtag throughout August Moon and retweeting them (so it would be a good idea to follow them on twitter if you’re not already!).

To receive August Moon 13 prompts, please SIGN UP HERE!

I think it will be very interesting, and I  am always asking the universe for assistance, so this may help a little extra!

So please join me by following the prompts.

See you there!

Year of the Scrap

Well, we still continue hand sewing on the Green tea and Sweet Beans quilt, and i have been madly cutting scraps as well, to complete some more quilts a little faster!

Got out the Go! Baby and  have been madly cutting:

$ 4 1/2" squares, 2 1/2" squares and some half square triangles. My poor Go! Baby won't last much longer, she is being forced to work overtime,

One bag of scraps and some yardage gone through this afternoon.

The problem with this is that you need so many blocks to make up the quilt but boy, it certainly saves some time and wrist strain!

I love my Go! Baby (and no, I am not being paid to say that!)

Look What the Postman Bought me Today

Today the postman bought me another star block from the Australian Quilters Blocks Swapfor July.

Here it is:-

 It's from Kym in Bundaberg, and i do like it very much.

I may have said it before, but it is true.

I am so spoiled. I am grateful.

I've Been Thinking Hard

I must apologise to all my friends who are following on Bloglovin', for being away for so very long.

I have been having a crisis in confidence since we returned from our Young trip, but have decided on a few things.

• I am shutting down Sharyn's Crochet Space and will bring all of that blog over to this one.
• Crochet and knitting and everything else will all be included in this main blog - the pages that I set up here are really a waste of time, because I don't believe that people want to have to scroll through tons of things to find the latest item.
• I will be setting up some days for linky parties, but will let you know what and when later. All current linky parties I am cancelling.

If there is anything you would like to link up for, let me know .  I'm open to all suggestions, and I would like to have everyone all interested in linking up though.

Enough talk, it feels ok to be back.

Here's some pretty pictures of our debut girl! Melanie is the same age as my own grand daughter, 17. She was the reason we took a holiday down to Young, to be at her debut on June 1st.

This beautiful girl is Alan's youngest grand daughter.

Here Melanie is, dancing with her father, Ray. Her lovely smile says it all, doesn't it?

This lovely pic is taken with her great aunts, jean and Joan.

Well, I will be back soon with some more exciting things happening!!