In The Pink Room

Lots of different things happening at the moment.

On Saturday, Lynell and I caught the train to Sydney to meet up with Robyn - we spent a very pleasant couple of hours in Darling Harbour enjoying the spring afternoon and early dinner before going to see "Jekyll and Hyde" - Anthony Warlow was so, so fabulous.  WOW!  We LOVED the show. 

Spent time on Sunday with the littlest sweetheart and then had some free time later in the day to start  sewing together the "Basket Case" blocks.

I was thinking of adding a border but decided I like it as is.  I'm waiting for one more piece of fabric to arrive then I can make the backing using the lawn fat quarters from "Smitten" and "Little Snippets" - of course, I cut into one a few weeks ago and then was one short when I decided to use the fabrics for the backing.

I've joined my first quilt-along to make Thimble Blossoms' "Hide and Seek".  As I had cut this quilt out a few weeks ago, I was ready to go when the QAL started on 1 November.  The first part is cutting out and sewing starts on 11 November

but, being me, I couldn't wait and I've made the first 10 of 36 stars.

There was a fair bit of wool left over from the Sloth, so I've been knitting at lunchtime - a fisherman's rib vest for Jenni's friend's little boy.  His Mum loves dressing him in natural, earthy colours.

A new cot quilt will be underway soon, using these beautiful Kona Solids from Sarah's shop.

Last night I started sewing "Sweet Escape" blocks together.  Another night's sewing and this quilt top should be together.  Making these log cabin blocks hasn't been my favourite sewing but they've turned out ok.

Tomorrow night Mum, Lynell, Robyn, Gail and I are going to see "The Wharf Review" - Mum and I have been going to this show for a few years and love it.  Always extremely entertaining, so well-written and acted/sung.

A fun weekend coming up with Gulli coming to stay on Friday night, the Stitching Girls coming for afternoon tea on Saturday and I'm not sure what's happening on Sunday - maybe Mum and I will go to the pictures.

Bonnie and Camille Scrappy Sampler 2

Last night I finished stitching down the binding on my second Bonnie and Camille Sampler.  This is the last of my navy and white striped The Good Life fabric - I love stripey fabrics for binding.  I have about 3 metres of the same fabric in red so should get a few quilts out of that.

There are many quilt designers represented in this quilt:  Cotton Way, Thimble Blossoms, Coriander Quilts, FigTree & Co, Moda Lissa, Carried Away Quilting, Cluck Cluck Sew.  From last year when I've started a new quilt or made a block for the Aussie B&C Beehive, I also made a block in B&C fabrics to go into my next sampler.

The quilt is quite large at 86" x 89".  There were plenty of blocks to make it larger but those extra blocks can be the start of my next sampler.

Karen quilted it with Orange Peel - always a favourite design.

Some of the blocks up close:

Catching up with some old friends for dinner tonight - my children's dance teacher and her husband - it's been way too long.  So looking forward to this coming weekend - Lynell, Robyn and I are going to see Anthony Warlow in "Jekyll and Hyde" - we've had the tickets for months.

Birthday Present

A certain son-in-law has a sloth or two (not real) in the house and when I saw the pattern for a knitted sloth in a recent Homespun magazine, I thought it would make a fun birthday present.

I used Bendigo Woollen Mills Luxury 8 ply and learned a new technique or two.

Christmas Cheer

For this year's Aussie Bonnie & Camille Beehive, I chose a Bonnie Olaveson (Cotton Way) pattern called "Christmas Cheer".  I thought it would be fun for the girls to make the Santa Hats and Christmas Stockings, while I made the other rows - one per month.

Karen quilted it with "Party Streamers", which is a fun design.

I'm looking forward to having this on my bed for Christmas this year.

I particularly like the backing fabric.  There may be enough left to make something for Little Sweetheart to wear at Christmas time.

So pleased to have made another quilt entirely from stash and a quilt that was made with the help of 11 other quilters.

Entry Room (the Parlour) Makeover

By the time Jenni and Kurt went home two weeks ago all the prep work and undercoating had been completed as well as a first coat on the back of the front door, some architraves and some cutting in around doors.

They came back on Saturday morning and were straight into it.

Gulliver was with us on Sunday and he was on kitchen duty helping to feed Jenni and Kurt

as well as providing entertainment with Mum.

By the time Gulliver and I left to go to the basketball game, the room was done.  Such a huge job that Jenni and Kurt finished in two weekends.  Unbelievably thrilled and grateful.  They even styled the room before they left so that it would look pretty when my friends and I arrived home from the game.

 Happy Christmas 2018 to me - the most generous present.

Chamomile

The strips to make "Chamomile" (designed by Allison Jensen, @woodberry_way) were cut out a while ago and I started sewing up blocks in early September.  This is a great design when a quilt is needed in a hurry and I was so pleased to be able to make it using only fabrics from my stash, except for the backing (so that's ok).

Lots of pretty low volume fabrics and favourite FigTree & Co fabrics for the sashings, binding and posts.

I love Baptist Fan quilting and it looks so pretty on this quilt.

Little Chicken Feather 2

"I'm late, I'm late for a very important date" - 8 months late actually.

Baby Sweetheart was born a little over 8 months ago and his quilt was finally delivered last Thursday.

I made "Little Chicken Feather" because I couldn't find another embroidered baby boy quilt that I liked better.

I bought the "Guess How Much I Love You" fabrics long before he was born.  The colours and designs are so sweet.

Mum stitched down the binding on this quilt - it's nice to have GG involved in making a quilt for our littlest sweetheart.

There's been a few finishes over the last week or so - not all sewing related.