Stitch and Doodle

I have been so lethargic the last 4 days with a cold and cough. I wander in and out of my sewing room and cut a bit, stitch a bit or sketch a bit.
I have been playing with some tulips for a spring look. After making a scene with lots of little bits I decided I should have done large pieces so I sketched an idea with large tulips in a frame. I have not quite done half of the stitching on the little bits.

I have been to the beautiful Keukenhof gardens in Amsterdam in 2012 when mum and I went travelling together. The plantings are just amazing.
These are a couple of my photos. The gardens are a tourist site but huge and well worth visiting. We booked a 1/2 day bus trip.

I have been looking at bird images and even though I seem to be drawn to the cute little cartoon birds I think my style is more realistic. I sketched a pigeon collecting threads for its nest. Another spring theme.

Since it is actually autumn here I have decided to make a mini quilt with some colourful leaves and a brown background.

While walking around the shore I noticed lots of Blue Tiger butterflies.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Blue_Tiger_(Tirumala_limniace)_at_Narendrapur_W_IMG_4260.jpg

I thought maybe a Summer's Final Fling mini might be in order with this beautiful butterfly on it. They migrate south in summer to Brisbane and sometimes Sydney then fly back north again in autumn. I think the couple of dozen I saw must have been on their way up the coast. They are a tropical butterfly and like really hot temperatures. Apparently they live for about 5 months.
Now I think I need to get out my book for Let's Book It and make something.

If you haven't entered my giveaway for a free Craftsy Class visit here and click to enter. Closes 2nd April.

Happy Quilting and Crafting,
Val

My Sewing Day

Not that I don't sew everyday but I just need a title that tells me it is not a BoM or linky day. I had a search widget on my blog for a while but it just seemed to stop working one day so I took it off. Sometimes I want to refer to past posts because they have links or ideas or projects that I want to look at again so instead of a search widget I have tried to sort out my labels into nice general specific groups like knitting or cross stitch or the name of a linky party. At least I will have a chance of finding what I need that way and hopefully it will make sense to visitors too.
So no linkies or sew alongs today. I can't guarantee there won't be an affiliate link somewhere. Only joking.

I went a bit overboard with the links on my Craftsy post but I was quite excited about it.

Today I have finished the pink granny bag I started some time in the distant past. It was so easy to finish with the round handles. I made two pieces that gave me a 3 inch fold over and it went together easily.

I have been wanting to make a start on a quilt project so I pulled out the Mrs Greenthumbs fabrics and panel. I was struggling to work out exactly how to show off the panels without just putting a sashing round them.
I decided on a square in square economy block. With the panel picture in the middle the block is 24" square.

I think I will put some green or black sashing between 4 blocks then add some hat fabric as a border and turn it into a lap quilt.

I rediscovered my quiltcalc app while playing with this block. I got the measurement for the hat fabric triangles with it but had to work out the big triangles myself. I am thinking I will make use of the quiltcalc and make some different sized square in square blocks and economy blocks. They always look so good. The app is by Robert Kaufman and is free from the app store for iPads and iPhones.

The other morning I was woken by the local bird gang. They really put on a show. That's the street light outside my place.

I wrote about my Hundred Days Calendar today in my organising blog. It is a great help with those resolutions we like to make. I finally feel like my yoga is a morning habit now.

I am off to Brisbane tomorrow and a bit of a holiday in Sydney. DH will be trying to console Stumpy while I am gone. He hates it when I go away. We bought him some special treat foods to distract him a bit.
I will be trying to look in on the blogging world while I am away but only if I get time.

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Happy Quilting and Crafting,
Val