Monday, October 29, 2012

"I did a bit of gardening....no sewing..



some marigolds
On the weekend I bought 2 grafted tomatoe plants and 3 normal plants to see how they go.  I don't usually have much luck with tomatoes so i haven't bothered with them for a few years now.  When I go on holiday to my mum's wayne has to look after the animals and everything else but is not really keen on gardening so if it rains a little he thinks it's alright not to water the plants .... so then they die...some men don't get it. (I know he will never read my blog  hee hee!)
grafted tomatoes
Houdini (on left) and another chook having a dust bath
other tomatoes (still have to weed this area)
"Houdini"

 I got a new chook called "Houdini".  She kept escaping from her old owners chook run and she got fed up  with her as she eats all the garden....so I put my hand up and brought her home. My fence is nearly 6ft high so she shouldn't escape or so I thought...... She figured out how to get up on the wire fence and over she went into the neighbors paddock!  I went and caught her and locked her in the'broody cage' for the night.  When I went to feed the 'girls' the next morning she had layed me an egg so I let her out but expected her not to be home when I came home from work....but she was still there!  I'll have to see what she does tommorrow.....

a table runner pattern
tweezers and p.piecing  1/2"hexagons
1/2" hexagons to play with soon.
My friend Mandy  and her son jamie,came with me to a quilt display up at Kumeu in Auckland.  Grandmothers Garden take there big red van around the country all during the year selling there goodies. I saw a really nice clamshell bag i would like to make later on, I bought myself a cute pair of over locking tweezers with a lady painted on them, a small bundle of doggie prints , a couple of  cute  tape measures,  some 1/2 " hexagon papers to play with as I want to make a small purse. a pattern for a table runner with chickens on it. We had a good day out in the country and it only took about 15 mins to get there!  We saw quite a few strawberry gardens with shops ....tempting to stop but we will do that another time.
close up of the lady
some cute tapemeasures that came home with me.

cute doggie prints for the stash.

I never had time to sew as the weather was really sunny and warm...to nice to be inside. Sewing can wait for another day!

Sunday, October 21, 2012

a little more stitching...

I did a bit more stitching on the back of my tape measure but forgot to do the centre of the flower so just have that to do ,then it is done . I blanket stitched the back piece on . I don't have good close up light when I did this while watching tv as I usually go in my sewing room but it's come out ok I think.

herringbone stitch on the edge.
doing the centre of the flower.
blanketstitch 
This is a pic I took of my clivia bush . It is flowering now quite well this year and the sun was out too ....unlike today as it is pouring with rain!!! Yesterday was nice but not today and just because it is a day off tomorrow it will probably decide to rain too.  It is long weekend here in NZ...labour weekend.




my clivia bush in flower.


We are extending the chook run up in the bush a bit so I hope it stops raining.  Wayne has the week off next week so will probably get it done one of those days. Well that's all for now so I'm off to sew something or just fluff around in my sewing room for a while.
chippy having a rest .

Thursday, October 18, 2012

Just for a change...






close up of the bee.
the bee is made up of bullion stitches close together.
I have been doing a little more work on the fusion blanket but felt like a change so I decided to make one of these.  It is a small retractable tape measure .  It is made using some wool fabric , then I drew up a design of little garden creatures and flowers, then I transferred the design to the wool that was a bit tricky to see so it is mainly just stitched free hand  and I just roughly followed what I had drawn and added some bees to the flowers . I haven't done any stitcheries for a couple of years i think as I have been teaching myself  to crochet   . The stitching is the fast part but sewing this up takes a bit longer .  When it is properly finished I show you it.  I have to  put the back piece on and join it carefully all around.  I like doing these. I have lots of ideas buzzing around in my head too . I have started to draw them roughly  in my book so I don't forget about them so when I want to make some more I won't forget.  I want to do some bunnys!  I love doing bunnys...so cute! here are a few pics. (sorry that some of the pics are a bit dark).  Well that's all at the moment.