Cats & Quilts - a match made in heaven... (except maybe those stubborn little clouds of fur that latch on to the fabric!)

Kitty Quote of the Day

I love cats because I enjoy my home; and little by little, they become its visible soul. - Jean Cocteau

Saturday, January 5, 2013

Friday Night With Friends


Last night I took part in my first Friday Night with Friends sew-in hosted by swap-mama Cheryll from Gone Stitchin.


I started earlier in the afternoon & made a very large cushion cover to replace an old one for the playroom at work. It's about 80cm x 100cm so not much to photograph but here's a pic of a smaller part of the fabric. It's cute for $8.00 a metre in the Spotlight sale bin.


Next I did a clean up of my cutting table & storage area in the laundry. I set up my new cordless iron - another Spotlight bargain at $19.99. The base reminds me of a snail who lost his shell. I thought it had lost its cord too but found it snuggled into a little hidey-hole in the snails buttocks! The kitty tin is for the rubbish & the red tin is for my scraps. I must have been reasonably productive last year because my scraps have outgrown the big scrap bin in my sewing room - maybe time to make them into something. As I told Sharon recently, I have scrap phobia so maybe one of those no planning, just grab & sew string projects might snap me out of that. Ohhhh, I shiver at the thought of it!


Later that evening I watched some episodes of Criminal Minds & did some knitting. No this isn't a fizzy red volcano, though I see the resemblance. I'm teaching myself to knit Christmas balls from the book on my sidebar '55 Christmas Balls To Knit'. Every time I see one of these knitted baubles on someones blog I covet them deeply so thought I better learn to make my own. I've done a couple with plain yarn so now have moved up to glittery fuzzy yarn - quite a new experience. I am hoping to soon get to the point when I can knit the fair isle picture knit ones the book is full of.





Finally I finished off a mug rug for my Uncle Gordon's birthday present. Maria suggested on my previous post where I lamented what to get this dear man for a present, that a mug rug would be nice. I decided that was a fine idea because Uncle Gordon doesn't go to bed without a cup of tea & a piece of toast. It's been his routine through all his married life with Aunty & beyond. It doesn't matter what was for dinner, tea & toast sends Uncle happily off to dreamland. So I stitched this little stitchery rug with nice alpine pictures my mountain climbing Uncle will love (I know - it's a bit FUGLY & the pics are Canadian - not New Zealandish - no bears or beavers in NZ - but I think he will like it).



So that was my productive Friday. If you haven't read about everyone elses FNWF, click here for the list & start visiting. There's 69 blogs to visit so grab a coffee.....


You may of read about some recent swaps where commitments have not been honoured which considering the amount of work, care & effort most of us put in to our projects, this is very disappointing and such a let down for the recipient that misses out. So swappers take up the initiative and take the pledge;






I Tracee Quiltkitty will try my utmost...
·        To always swap on time.
·        To always email a THANK YOU to my partner.
·        To be considerate and thoughtful when choosing a gift.
·        To give my partner the quality of gift that I would like to receive.
·        To communicate when it’s required.
·        To NEVER over commit and let a partner down.
·        To advise the swap mama when I receive my gift.

This I sewomly pledge....

To get a copy of the button & copy the pledge go to Cheryll's latest post or you are welcome to copy from here to. Thanks Cheryll, great idea!


Here a link to Tipnut - More Than 50 Fabric Scrap & Remnant Ideas..... lots of free patterns.

Happy Sunday!
Tracee xx

22 comments:

  1. Ah sew we have another Night Owl......
    You have been busy not only stitching but cleaning too.

    Love Uncle Gorden's Rug Mug..

    thanks for the Scrappy link.

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  2. Bonjour from France, just popped in from Cherylls' to admire your work and to wish you a Bonne Annee,

    You had a busy FNWF and did cleaning as well!

    Fiona x

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  3. Tracee,

    Did you see!!! We both won over on Auntie's Quaint Quilts. Whoo hoo!!!

    Susan in Texas

    PS Your Friday nights are WAY more fun than mine. 8) He's going to love that mug rug.

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  4. Mug rugs are a great pressie Tracee, love yours. Sharyn:)

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  5. So much to enjoy in your post today... love the new look in your room... I adore scrap quilts so I hope you do one soon.... I started taking out 16" scraps to do one like Sharons .... and I love your knitted ball... and look forward to seeing lots of them????
    Hugz

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  6. Very productive of you Tracee. Uncle Gordon will love his new mug rug! Im with you on the scrap quilts........its hard to make them scrappy

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  7. I'm sure your Uncle Gordon will love it! He will know it was made with love by you.

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  8. Wow you were busy. Jump in with the Scrappy Trip Along. Still not sure if I love or hate mine but hey, it is Scrappy and that was the aim!

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  9. your uncle Gordon will love this Trace,cant wait to see your knitted ornaments,get idea the pledge.xx

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  10. That was such a GrEAT post Tracee. Thanks for pledging too. Every little things to make a great swap experience! :)

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  11. Lots of progress made at your place Tracee. Love the pledge. Hear! Hear!

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  12. What a productive evening! I still need to take the pledge.

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  13. Tracee I am not good at tossing out scraps either, and have given mine a good ole sort-out just yesterday too... they gave me some great ideas!
    Now you are so very organised, my address is ..... LOL!

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  14. Great pillow fabric and I love your new iron. $20 is good. what a great idea the mug rug is. He will love it. Pretty nasty when a swapper doesn't swap. I have stayed away from swaps because I get too stressed out trying to keep the dead lines. I much prefer flexible targets. I am going to check out the scrap and remnant ideas. Thanks for the link.

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  15. Oh you were busy! Love your new iron. One of these days I'll take up knitting again, and do something more than a garter stitch. That mug rug is just darling, I'm sure he'll love it, it's priceless!

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  16. Great fluffy bauble! I've spied this book too, but I've never knitted on four needles or circulars. Maybe too fiddly for me I think! Well done on achieving so much on Friday!

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  17. Yay for you joining, love having more people to stitch with :) Gosh you achieved oh so much! Great fabric for the cushion. Not sure I would have thought to look in it's butt for the cord, lol. Wow using 4 dpn, scary thought! Adore Uncle Gordon's mug rug, very thoughtful.

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  18. You have been very productive, the knitted ball looks interesting!

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  19. Yes I've been hearing about certain bloggers not honoured their swap commitments,not nice at all!!
    Love Uncle Gordon's mug rug,I'm sure he'll love it :) Barb.

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  20. Gorgeous mug rug, I am sure Uncle Gordon will make good use of it. Your Christmas bauble looks interesting.

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Thank you friends for leaving a comment on my post - love to get them! Tracee xx