There has been crafting...

Happy Halloween!

I managed to lightly quilt and then bind these 2 panels that Toni sent me. The long one is hanging at the front door and the smaller one over the fireplace...



Little big boys are big into crafting too especially when it's on my table in my sewing room and means that there is access to all sorts of trims etc...



But I'm very proud of the results...



I also decided to put the leftover blocks together from my 'Butterfly Blossom' quilt that I gave my brother and his wife. DH couldn't leave the layout of this lap quilt alone and so in the end we compromised and used half his idea and half mine, but here he can be seen rearranging...



I discovered a new use for selvages: row numbers for pinning!!



I also finished the borders on my Double Delight but that will go into my lottery winning wish pile for longarm quilting LOL. I am almost finished the borders on the above butterfly quilt, but this one I plan to back with fleece and quilt myself for use by my Mother when she visits as she's always complaining that it's so cold here - compared to South Africa, I guess it is :-)

My drawing is now closed and I'll announce a winner in my next post - thanks for playing!

EDIT - As I didn't give a warning, I was going to close my giveaway drawing, I'll leave it open and will draw a 'Lucky Dip' winner on the 4th of November. (Hopefully by that time my children will be well and back at school and nursery which will give me time to make up the winning parcel)

So many silly skeletons...

Okay I'm a few days late... but Happy Halloween
and

BOO!



thanks to Brenda for this wonderful Halloween postcard!

Today was the most Halloweeny we got around here. The friend who was going to have a party decided not to bother and so we didn't bother either, but today we went to one of DS1's classmates birthday parties which had a Halloween theme and entailed dressing up.



Seems most 4-5 year olds were skeletons this year. I guess next time we'll have to push the boat out a bit more LOL


And for some 2 year olds it was quite hard work being a pumpkin...




This week I have 2 hospital appointments for my leg so I have cut all my new rose fabrics out with the intention of basting them onto the hexagon papers while I wait around to be seen. Hopefully I won't be waiting long (just long enough to make a bit of progress would be nice though LOL)



I neglected to give anything away for my 200th post, but if you can guess how many hexagons are waiting to be basted to papers in the above picture. The winner can choose from a handmade gift (either an evening or a tote bag) or a selection of African fabrics. If there is a correct guess then that's great. If not, all comments will be popped in the bag and a random winner drawn. Regular commenters get an extra entry and if I've received rose fabrics from you at anytime in the past you get another entry too. I'll draw a winner November 15th. (oh, and if you commented on the 200th post before today you get another entry as well - just a bit of fun LOL)

Scary Scrappy Houses

I have completed a UFO!!!

Toni sent me these cool Happy Scrappy House blocks. I doctored some of the windows and doors to make them more scary for DS1 and have machine quilted it in metallic varigated thread that I won some years back in a raffle at Birgit's Quiltfest. (Time to win another raffle as I'm out of this thread now LOL - or perhaps I just over-quilted with it??)



Here's a close-up of the quilting. I tried some words. I have never done words or much machine quilting, but I am really enjoying it.



I definitely need more practice and I also just need the hanging sleeve or something like that and it's done, done.


I've been having a little play with the leftovers of some charm packs. I robbed the charm packs of roses and then thought that some of the rest of the fabrics would make a few small Autumn wallhangings...



It's still in the 'play' stages... I cut the pumpkins out free hand then I tried a bit of hand stitching and machine stitching of the felt pumpkins and just played around... These were fun. One will be a very mini gift for the hostess of the annual Halloween party.

We just did not 'do' Halloween in South Africa when I was growing up so I've got some catching up to do :-)

And for those who wonder how I sew at all in this house, here are the gruesome details:

We have lost our 'dining room',


(here you can see my friend Vicky and I sitting at the upstairs kitchen table perusing patchwork magazines on the last day the table lived upstairs.)

but gained some stud walls and a skeleton of a bathroom.


Oh well, at least my scrappy houses are finished! :-)