Girls' Day Out

Every six weeks or so I have lunch with The Girls; Lynell, Denise and Gail. Denise and I were in kindergarten together, Lynell joined the next year and Gail came along in Year 11 high school. We started having lunch at each others' houses when our babies were small but these days we meet up at various cafes in Sydney/Wollongong/Kiama - two live in southern Sydney and two near Wollongong. Amazing to think that I've been friends with Denise for almost 49 years.

Our lives have taken quite different paths. We all have different interests (basketball, knitting, silver jewellery making, art, patchwork, cross stitch) - none of us are interested in much the same thing except probably theatre (but that varies) and food. We've experienced some unbelievable heartbreak together (one of us more than the others); lots of happy times and laughing. We try to go away for a few days to celebrate major birthdays - the year we turned 40 we had 4 days in Noosa and the year we turned 50 we had 4 days in Melbourne. We're now thinking that we might need to celebrate "5" birthdays as well as the "0" birthdays.

Yesterday 3 of us met for lunch and a wander around the shops in Shellharbour - was a beautiful day with a lovely breeze blowing in off the ocean.

When I arrived home, John was getting ready to go out with some mates and Jenni was about to leave for work so I had a few hours at home alone. Doesn't happen very often. I decided the time had come to sort out the centre block for "Girls' Day Out" - I bought the background and 2 border fabrics plus all the buttons last year and will use stash fabrics for all the appliques. Think I'm going to enjoy this quilt - lots of stitching as well as the appliques.

The rose fabric would have to be up there with my favourite fabrics of all time. My friend Helen sent me a fat quarter of it for my birthday a couple of years ago and since then I'd been trawling the net and every fabric shop I came across to buy some more. In March last year John and I visited his sister and family in Coffs Harbour. I called in at "Hunters and Collectors Barn" and the first thing I saw was a bolt of the rose fabric.


2 sleeps. Yahoo!

Ruth's Quilt

Love stitching these little blocks - the variegated thread (DMC99) looks a bit pale on a couple of the backgrounds but they look fine in reality.

6 more sleeps until Diann (who shall remain blogless) comes to Sydney for 3 days. We are going to the Rod Stewart concert, the Diana exhibition at the Powerhouse Museum and I'm sure we'll find plenty of time for some shopping and lovely food.

A year ago this weekend, Diann and Bill celebrated a major anniversary. They came to Sydney for the weekend and John and I were able to join them. We had such an excellent time - lunch at Darling Harbour followed by harbour cruise then dinner at Doyle's on Circular Quay. We stayed at a hotel overlooking Darling Harbour.

The next day was spent at The Rocks Markets, a bit of shopping and hanging around Circular Quay. Was a fabulous weekend.

Look at the surprise that arrived at my work on Valentines Day. Think I blushed as red as the roses. How spoilt did I feel? John is becoming more romantic in his old age. Spent some time of today stitching more on Ruth's Quilt blocks - will post a picture when I've done a few. They are lovely to stitch and I'm looking forward to putting the a few rows together.

A Post for Peg

Hey Peg - these are blocks 6, 7 and 8 of Vintage Valentines that I've been preparing. Lots of tracing, cutting, ironing etc. I've been making this quilt along with 3 friends: Jenny has finished her quilt; Helen is progressing well; I can't link to pictures of Diann's blocks because she doesn't have a blog or webshots (yet).

Beautiful day here in the 'Gong - nice change after all the very welcome rain.

Received a lovely surprise today - 1 dozen red roses were delivered to me at work from my very own Tim Taylor - think I blushed as red as the roses.

Ain't She Sweet

I have to admit, I've never been a fan of prim designs but lately some designers have been releasing patterns of the cutest dolls, eg Annie Smith of Country Keepsakes. "Loubee Lou" is in Homespun No 53 and she really appealed to me (even with her painted face). I am totally daunted by the thought of painting but the instructions were excellent and I'm happy with how her face turned out (although the mouth could do with re-painting).

She's been sitting undressed in the sewing room for a couple of weeks and, as it did pour and pour yesterday, I had a chance to make her clothes and finish her off. I loved making the hat.

I hope my friend Kristy has enjoyed her visit to Sydney. For the first day and a half the weather was dreadful but it has cleared up beautifully.

Elizabeth and Matt visited overnight, so we had a lovely lazy morning over breakfast before they left to drive back to Sydney. What to do now? Washing/tracing? Better fold up the sofabed in the sewing room and tidy up in there first.

Bits and Pieces

This is "Nancy and her Notions", another Debbie Magee (Always Stitchin') doll. The pattern was in Homespun No 42. I've had the bits and pieces ready to make her for ages and finally decided the time had arrived. Amazing what a bit of tea-dying can do to a few pieces of fabric and lace. One more doll to finish ("Loubee Lou"), then that's it for quite a while.

Two more "Truly Scrumptious" girls are finished (Ava and Tilly) - these designs are so whimsical - love them to bits. I'm going to do a couple of other bits and pieces before I start the next girl.

One of the best things about the whole quiltmaking process is slicing up fabric. Here are 220 blocks (from my fabric stash so I'm feeling pretty good about that) all ready to be stitched and pieced for Ruth's Quilt. Bought some variegated thread for the stitcheries - have taken a real fancy to variegated threads lately.

I'm happy the weekend has arrived - bit more time for tracing, vliesofixing. The time has arrived to stitch another Vintage Valentine block. And, if the unbelievable amount of rain we've been having continues, will be a good excuse to stay indoors.