A Finish is a Finish unless it is not Totally Finished.

Here we are at the end of June already. This was the project I chose to finish this month. A little project as time was short and boy did I leave my run late.

All I had to do was quilt it and bind it, sounds simply for a table runner.  Somehow time just flew by and it was the third weekend of June before I sat down at the machine to quilt it. Once quilted I had to pick a fabric to bind it with and that seems like a problem as I only had more of the cream background fabric and the border fabric. So it has not been finished. Another failure on a total finish but at least it is quilted. That counts it, doesn't it? It makes it one step closer to being completely finished.

Until Next Time

Keep Stitching

Cynthia

Finish Along Q2 Results

We are halfway through the year and and come to the end of our second quarter of finishes. Now this quarter I had 3 projects on my list and I can say I have had 2 finishes.
They were my Sands of Time hourglass quilt which I love.

 The other one was my Handmade-Lucky quilt from Alize Fabrics sew along last year which I love to.
Two totally different colour palettes. One light and the other one dark. A matching pair so to speak.

It is one of the great things about quilting the colours and variety of fabrics we have to select from. I know sometimes there is too much to choose from but it almost guarantees you will find something you like. The third project will have to be added to next quarter list.


 I have linked this post up to She Can Quilt blog so pop over and check out some of the other projects that have been finished and maybe you will be tempted to join us in the next quarter of the Finish Along.

Until Next Time

Keep Stitching 

Cynthhia

Felt making Workshop

Today we had an Expanding your Knowledge workshop here at Cynthia's Ark. Today workshop featured felt making. The plan with these workshops is to try something new, may be a little different. Challenge ourselves, you just don't know what value we may learn.

We had a go at two felt making techniques today. In the morning session we made a funky scarf which also gave us a taste of making flat felt that can be used in all sorts applications across a number of crafts.

Following our lunch break we had a go at making pin cushions which use a slight different technique from the flat felted scarves.

You end up with two pin cushions from a ball of wool rovings. It is surprise when you cut the ball in half.

It was fun day and hopefully inspiring to the ladies who joined me today.

 Next month Expanding your Knowledge workshop is learning how to make piping and inserting zip workshop while making a pair of cushions.
Until Next Time
Keep Stitching
Cynthia

Quilting Time

I had a little quilting time about 1 hour long. So really not enough time for some block construction but I did have two small projects ready for quilting. So I whipped them out for some walking foot quilting. I did some basic stitch in the ditch quilting on the table runner and I am thinking it need some more quilting in the border so next time I sit at the machine hopefully I can be inspired enough to finish it.

The other project is this little travel companion. Now this one I got carried away with the quilting. I was enjoying doing the wavy lines, so much so I had to unpick a couple of rows so I  get the magnetic clip in place.

So the binding is ready to go on once I work out how it goes on.

Until Next Time

Keep Stitching

Cynthia

Secret Sewing Parcels

I have been trying to catch up with all the jobs that got put aside due the fair last weekend. I am finding the year is flying by.
With all the emails and orders done, I had to write up 2 lots of requirements lists for 2 upcoming workshops. Then some lunch and a special debriefing meeting with my friend Mandy about the fair and other stuff. Very important for our sanity, we don't do it often enough but we do try and meet regularly.

So now I find myself putting together some special sewing parcels together for the girls that meet at the Jubilee Centre every Saturday. I only get there once a month and I bring some of the goodies from the shop with me especially the new stuff that has arrived during the month so they can do a little shopping.  Some of the parcels in progress.

Until Next Time
Keep Stitching
Cynthia
PS I swear I will do some stitching after I pack these parcels.

Can I have some time out please?

I need some time out for some sewing. I hope there will be a block of free time for sewing some but at the moment it doesn't look too promising. No time for the rest of this week at least. I am going to have to make do with hand stitching in the meantime. In among all this busy time I have been working on 2 projects. The first one is a shop sample of Sue Daley's Travel Companion which I have English paper pieced the feature panel, appliqued on to the background fabric so now it is ready for the quilting step which is done by hand but I am wondering about machine quilting the background. You know that mean I have come to a stop on this one for the moment.

The second project is my Pemberley quilt which has been put aside as I had enough of the needle turn applique. I need to do some EPP demo at the Salisbury fair this last weekend so I decide to skip to the chubby dresden border and start on that. That way I will see some progress on that project.

The only thing is I now need to work out a little demo/ project using chubby dresdens for a group of ladies who are planning a visit to the shop and want a little more than shopping. So I will have to select some fabric and work something out while I stitch more half flowers for my Pemberley quilt.

Until Next Time

Keep Stitching

Cynthia

PS May next time I will be posting around a session on the machine. Fingers Crossed.

What has been happening around here?

The last three days I have been busy with the Salisbury Craft and Hobby Fair. We are at the end of day two and there is one more to go. There is a lot of work that goes into participating in an event like this and 80% of the work is behind the scenes.

Now being away from shop is hard because you can't take everything, so I do try to take a selection and ask if there is any special requests to bring along. There is always something I miss but that is generally the least of my problems. 

 Also there isn't much time for sewing but I do try to work my demos around something I am working on so even if I only get 5 minutes here and there I still get to make some progress on a project. So what was I working on, applecores for the shop sample of Sue Daley's Travel Companion using Sue's Bittersweet fabric range. By the end of day two I have finished the applecores panel and have appliqued to the background fabric.

So now to pin it and quilt the panel before finishing it. So tomorrow I will need another shape to feature in my English paper piecing demonstration.

Until Next Time

Keep Stitching

Cynthia

PS More on the fair tomorrow.

Another Sewing Machine.

That's right I have added another sewing machine over the weekend. My husband came across it in one of his buy, sell give away  groups that he is a member of. A very nice looking White treadle machine which means I now have three in my collection.It looked in good  condition from the front of the machine but there is some rust on the back.

Now the research starts and almost straight away things got interesting. I couldn't find any picture of a White sewing machine with these decals. A post in a Vintage Sewing machine group helped me out and I discovered the decal on my machine were Franklin decals with the White brand name in the place instead of Franklin. So it looks like this machine was on the production line when the White's Sewing Company brought out Domestic Sewing Machine Co and they just finished the machine off with their name. This does help with the ageing of the machine too, which with this information dated it to 1924.

I would like to use one of my treadle sewing machines but which one I'm not sure at the moment. This new one does need to be cleaned up and I think would make a nice display piece in my shop. Maybe I should look at using the one I received from my grandmother as it is younger and from what I can tell only needs an oiling and a new belt to get it going.

I don't think I need another treadle machine but you never know what I might find in my search for the one machine I would like in my collection (the Singer Featherweight) at a reasonable price.

Until Next Time

Keep Stitching

Cynthia

Under the Pressure Foot #30

I am hopeless sometimes with deadlines and with people demanding I do their jobs first it doesn't help. So I am doing a great job of failing to meet my targets. This is really messing with my mind and I am not doing any of it, which of course is the wrong thing to do. I know that but I have hit the wall and gone SPLAT!  So I stopped and joined in with the Project Uninterrupted session in store. There is a stack of jobs to be done but I just needed to stop and sew something. I started some English Paper pieced apple cores for a shop sample and had done a little bit of work sewing them together in to rows during the week late in the evening when I finally had stopped. This is where I got to.

So while the other ladies were working on their projects. It was a hand piecing kind of day so I continued to sew my apple cores together. I am using Sue Daley's Bittersweet range which comes from Riley Blake Designs.

By the end of the evening I finally got my panel all sewn together ready for the next step.

Next step is to locate the rest of the project which should still be in my sewing bag when we went on retreat down to Victor Harbor at the end of March.  Now back to the  work that I need to complete for the June long weekend and the Salisbury Craft and Hobby Fair.

Until Next Time

Keep Stitching

Cynthia

June's One Monthly Goal

It is time to set this month goal. It is an easy one to set. It is to complete the table runner which I was working on last month. This table runner is ready for pinning and quilting.

I need to quilt some more samples using the quilting rulers I have​. So I plan to use some rulers on this project.
I am linking up with Elm Street Quilts to share my goal for June. Pop over and check out what everyone else is working on.
Until Next Time
Keep Stitching
Cynthia

350 Block 2017 Report-May

This month's total is 46.


2 octagon block.

18 Gypsy Wife blocks

2 Victorian Lace block.

2 spool block


4 rows of apple core blocks join together.

Here is two of the rows.
I didn't make the total this month. Let's hope June is a better month for sewing for all ok f us struggling for sewing time

So my total for the month is 28.
Until Next Time
Keep Stitching
Cynthia