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 It's been a bit of a rush, but I'm pleased to say that I've finished my Chookshed Challenge this month.  Number 10 was chosen for July, which was my jungle panel quilt.  This panel was donated to me from my elderly neighbour's stash when she went into a rest home.  I received a lot of children's fabrics, and I'm slowly working my way through them, although there are plenty more tucked away.  There was no piecing involved with using this panel, so it was just a matter of smoothing the layers out and pinning ...

 Just to show that I do knit other things than socks, I have finally finished the little cream toddler toddler jumper.   This was started many years ago  by my friend Eileen for her grand daughter.  The girl is growing up fast so I suggested to Eileen that she pass the knitting over to me - I can finish it and donate it to somewhere worthwhile.  There was only about six inches done on the back, and because our tensions could well be different, I unraveled it to start over again.

 On Thursday we had the AGM for the caravan club at Paraparaumu.  Although I am no longer an active member, as a Life Member I am welcome at any functions and get togethers.  The meeting was at Club Vista and the restaurant has views over the sea.  Not much to see as the weather was very wet indeed on the drive down.  Kapiti Island was under the clouds.

View from the restaurant

We all stayed on for lunch and took over two tables in the restaurant.  The meals were very tasty, and rather large helpings indeed.  I enjoyed my Pork ...

 I've been busy knitting some blankets for kittens.  Every year the Knit World shops throughout New Zealand choose a charity for their customers to support, and provide patterns.  This year, they are supporting the SPCA, (Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals).  After checking it out I decided that I would like to help with this good cause.  I got the free pattern, purchased three balls of the discounted 12 ply yarn, and started knitting.

All ready to start

"At SPCA, we always need heaps of knitted blankets for our cats and kittens.  Each cat and kitten receives ...

The Wheels on the Bus, my Chookshed Challenge for January, is done.  Number 6 was chosen for January, and it was tucked away in this plastic crate, numbered and ready to go.  My number 6 was a rescued duvet cover featuring transportation and I thought it would make a great donation quilt for a boy.

Challenges for the year, all numbered and waiting their turn

The cover needed a red border, I decided.  Once that was done it was all ready for pinning the layers together.  This was achieved one sunny afternoon sitting at the patio table outside in the ...

Here we are half way through the month - let's see how I'm doing on my Chookshed Challenge for January.  The number chosen was 6, Wheels on the Bus whole cloth quilt, a boy's donation quilt .  I'm making this from a rescued duvet cover I found in an Op Shop (thrift store).

Duvet Cover

The first thing I did was to stitch a red border around the edges, that was easily done.  Then find some backing and batting.  The backing I had planned to use was much too small, so I decided to use a single sized ...

 I've been (slowly) knitting beanies using some donated wool from a group which does knitting and sewing for those in need.  Beanies for men were needed so from the big box of wool I chose some brown and a smaller ball of cream.  This group does good work for the community but the day of the week they meet doesn't suit me so I've decided not to join them after all.  But of course I needed to pop in and return the beanies to them.  I managed to get three large and one child's beanies out ...

It was time for our monthly lunch with our Super Leisure Group (SLG) friends, and Calvin had arranged for us to meet down at Porirua.  That suited us fine, as on the way I could do a donation drop off at Paraparaumu Beach, on the way to Porirua.  So I packed up some goodies for Foster Hope, and we set off bright and early.  These had been finished some time ago, and were waiting patiently to be delivered.

Three draw string bags for toiletries or pencils

Three toddlers aprons, a woolly beanie and two pencil cases with pencils

Two quilts ...

      One of the super cool things about blogging is the people. I have met such wonderful people over the years. Sadly, some have stopped blogging and communicating. Boy, do I miss them! Because some readers know I make comfort quilts almost all the time, they have sent me fabric and quilt tops to finish. What a delight that is! I have been able to back quilts, finish quilts and quilt them with the generosity of others. Recently, I got a boxes of fabrics and I received tops from across the ocean. Can you believe it?

A big load from Gwen ...

 Over the last several months I have been stitching away, and had accumulated a bag of donations for Foster Hope charity.  The nearest drop off point was on the way to where we were heading for lunch, so that worked out well.  I collected the bag, and we were ready to go.

The Safelight Project made great headway in the past two weeks, as case sets started coming in, and checks arrived. I was stunned at the amounts on several of them, in the hundreds of dollars! So much so that I can announce that we have exceeded our financial goal!! To say thank you seems so inadequate, but to Dorothy F, Janet S, and Tina W, you are all amazing. The three of you funded over half the project! Special thanks also to Kay, Susan and Vicki, your generosity is much appreciated. Those donations along with a lot of $5-$50 ...

This past week, I got an email from the shelter director at Safelight, Morgan Abendroth. She wrote “We have used up our last spa bag and I was wondering if you are still making them. They are such a great addition to welcome clients into shelter. We would love to get more if that is possible.” I had asked them to let me know when they were down to a dozen, but with the holidays it got lost in the hustle and bustle. 

In previous years, we have come together as a community to assemble spa bags for new residents ...

I have another finish to show, and no, I haven't whipped this up after returning home last week from our Anniversary trip.  This was completed a week or so earlier.  It all started with a unicorn panel looking for a new home  from Sew Wot buddy Helen’s stash.  Gemma thought those unicorns were well worth checking out.

Unicorn panel

So I cut the panels apart, sashed them with different fabrics from my stash, assembled the blocks and added a purple border.  Then one sunny day I pinned the three layers together on the patio table outside.

Next step ...

Finally, a finish.  This strippy boy’s quilt was made from donated fabrics from my elderly neighbour’s Dorothy’s stash which I received some time ago.  Dorothy’s quilting had slowed down over the years, but she had collected a huge stash of fabrics, with many suitable for children.  For this project I selected two WOF 1/4 yard pieces in navy to start with, one with areoplanes and helicopters,  and the other featuring construction machines,  plus some red and cream solids to make a strippy quilt.  The completed quilt top was pinned up ready for machine quilting a ...

Although I always seem to be busy with my projects, I have to admit that I’ve been flitting from one thing to the other over the last week.  So consequently, nothing really gets finished.  With my knitting, I've been working on the sleeves of my navy blue cardigan, then also on the button hole bands as well.  Then I’ve two pair of socks on the go, sometimes I work on one set, later I work on the other.  I've been doing a little machining here and there, working on a couple of projects.  So nothing much ...

We have been out and about lately.  First we took a trip down to Kapiti to drop of a bag of donations for Foster Hope Charity.  Included in this donation were two draw string bags for the kids pencils or treasures, and two little girls aprons.

Bags and aprons

And quilts, winter is coming after all, and there is sure to be a need for these.  First were two toddlers quilts made from small printed panels – these were finished last year but I wasn't quite ready to part with them, just in case there was a need close to ...

It has been a slow start to this year’s Safelight Project, but we have begun to see some progress this week. I am delighted to report that we have exceeded our revised financial goal in order to deliver 50 spa bags and we will be able to do 60. Any additional funds received over the next couple of weeks will go to adding more bags to the total. It would be great to deliver 75 bags, but we’ll see what the mail brings over the next week.

Several boxes and letters arrived at once, containing checks, case sets ...

I spent a lovely hour or so outside today under our Archgola finishing the hand stitching on  the binding on a baby quilt.  It was nice and warm, the sun was shining and the birds were chirping.  Gemma was outside with me, watching those birds intently who were perched up on the neighbour's  roof, no doubt wishing she could get closer to them and show them who was the boss!  It certainly was a delightful slow stitching Sunday.

The quilt started like this, using up some leftover flannel to make some easy Cobblestone blocks.  Gemma found them nice and ...

This is a cute little boys quilt made from pictures cut from a small panel and framed.  The top was constructed “leader and ender” style, and it was layered and pinned, ready for machine quilting.  The binding was made, and I was set to go onto the next step.

Ready to start quilting

I stitched in the ditch around the plain sashing and used simple Serpentine stitch in the diagonal quilting lines, extending them right through to the borders.

Easy machine quilting

Then quiet time doing slow stitching, I enjoy sitting down hand stitching the binding down, especially when the ...