Little Patchwork Village

Lovely cool-ish day on the South Coast today.  It's been great having a few days off.  I've vliesofixed the last flowers onto Girls Day Out and that will be my next lot of night-time stitching now that the Little Patchwork Village blocks are stitched.

Neighbours

Posh

Quilt Shop

I'd like to start quilting "Let Me Be" later today and when that's finished (in a few days) I'll put together the Little Patchwork Village.

12-1/2" BOM

I'm on holidays for a couple of days and am hoping to make some progress on a couple of UFO's. I finished putting the borders on our on-line group's BOM earlier today. Pretty windy outside so this is the best photo I could get.

I really wanted to make the ribbon border and to make it fit I had to make the cream inner border 2" finished for the top and bottom and 1" finished for the sides. I'm hoping to use up the leftover fabrics for the backing but am pretty sure that when sewn together the backing won't be big enough. Something will turn up.

Finished Quilt Top

The girls chose great blocks and I'm thrilled to bits.

Back to the sewing room to start the next SBS block and choose a UFO.

Sylvia's Bridal Sampler

The new year, and the fact that Diann has been choosing simpler blocks to get us going, has brought along enthusiasm for these blocks.

Anvil

Churn Dash

All the blocks made so far hanging on the design sheet.

I'm still not keen on foundation piecing and was very surprised to see how many blocks in the quilt are pieced this way.

1-1/2 Little Patchwork Village blocks to stitch.  I'm looking forward to sewing this wallhanging together - it will be a nice change for the wall in my sewing room.  I've had Leanne's House hanging there for the last 4 years.

Peta's Day Out

On Wednesday Peta had a huge day out - swimming with the sharks at Manly Aquarium.

Last year Peta decided this was something she'd like to do during her holidays.  She's so brave.  Michael went along for moral support.

Our family is full of surprises - skydiving, swimming with sharks.  Wonder what's next?

Little Patchwork Village

First week back at work is over.  Hooray.  I am grateful to have a job so close to home and working with people I really like, but it was so difficult to work up the enthusiasm needed to turn up on Monday morning after such a relaxing holiday.

Two highlights this week:  stitching group on Tuesday night - was lovely to meet up with the girls; and on Thursday our dear friends from Hobart, who have been holidaying on the South Coast, came to stay over.

Next week only 2 days at work:  with Wednesday being Australia Day and Friday is our RDO, I thought it wise to take Thursday as an A/L day.

During the last week off I stitched another "Little Patchwork Village" block

Sunday Afternoon

and this week I've stitched

Tree House

Three more blocks to stitch.

No other sewing this week but plans are being made - Diann thinks it's time to cut into a jelly roll and we might each make Floral Bouquet from the Jelly Roll Quilts book.  I need to work out if I have enough background fabric in my stash.  I am using "Bliss" and think Snow would look better than pure white.  Of course, I have 10 yards of pure white and probably not quite enough Snow- it will work out.

Back on Track

Diann and I are continuing with Sylvia's Bridal Sampler this year.  I am in no way a fan of foundation piecing and many of the blocks are constructed using this method, so I was pleased (surprised) to find this block came together well with lovely sharp angles.

Our plan, in an effort to keep up the enthusiasm level, is to make a stack of the easier blocks and then move onto some challenging blocks.  A couple of the blocks we attempted last year (eg Tennessee, New Mexico) really threw me.

Album 1

I'm still in love with this Oh Cherry Oh fabric and have so much that I'm planning to use it for our on-line group's 2011 BOM as well.

Stitching group starts back tonight after our Christmas break.  I might work on a Butterfly Garden block.  I have so many stacks of fabric ready to cut into and patterns waiting to be sewn/stitched but I really should make an effort to work on some of my WIP's.

12-1/2" BOM Sampler

The quilt top is together and I'm wondering whether or not to add borders.  The idea was to only use fabric from a f/q pack I had (Sandy Gervais - Anticipation) plus some background (Moda Bella Solid - Fig Tree Cream) from my stash.  I'm a bit concerned that I'll need to buy more of the cream fabric if I make the border I have in mind.  Might make one strip of border and see how I go - I can always use it in the backing as it will be pieced from the leftover fabrics.

This top measures ~46-1/2" x 61" at the moment.

Lunch with The Schoolgirls today and dinner with friends tonight, no plans for tomorrow except ironing, then back to work on Monday - I feel like I've been on holidays for ages but I'm sure that will change come Monday morning.

A little bit of sewing

I'm still on holidays and haven't felt like stitching or sewing very much at all.  Headed into the sewing room last week and made the last block in our on-line group's BOM, "Teresa's Pinwheel".  Very appropriate name as the block was chosen by Teresa.  




The second-last block is called "No Name"




All the blocks - this isn't the final lay-out.  I'm almost finished making the quilt top.

Over the last couple of months last year my lunchtime stitching at work has been Rosalie Quinlan's "Little Patchwork Village".  I had three blocks stitched


Christmas Day



Happy Home

For the Birds

and I finished off this one this morning.

 

Sunday Morning

The fabrics for the surrounding stars are all red and pink; the thread I'm using is DMC 107, variegated lolly pink to cherry red.

Like everyone else in Australia and around the world, we have family and friends whose lives, homes and livelihoods have been threatened by the floods in Queensland.  All our loved ones are safe.  Please visit Toni's blog to find out how to bid on the any of the goodies for sale in the on-line auction or here to make a donation

Jolly Holiday

Elizabeth, Jenni, Mum and I returned last night from 3 wonderful days in Melbourne.  For Mum's birthday in December, we bought her a ticket to see "Mary Poppins" and flights/accommodation.

Melbourne January 2011

Plenty of shopping, eating and fun times in Melbourne:  New shoes to wear to a wedding in March, breakfast in Brunswick Street, my favourite car on Lygon Street, fun at National Gallery Victoria, fabulous Christmas shop, polka dot clip for my glasses, wearing my Mary Poppins shoes to see Mary Poppins, t-shirt from my girls.  I'm looking forward to seeing the photos the girls took.

We all LOVED "Mary Poppins" - definitely lived up to our hopes.  We also saw "The King's Speech" - excellent movie.

The best thing about the trip was being able to spend a few days together - pretty rare for us these days to be able to spend more than a few hours together.  Maybe next time the boys will join us (as long as they don't have to see "Mary Poppins", I'm told).

A Theme Happening Here?

For Christmas 2010 I received quite a few presents featuring Babushka dolls - they are all really lovely.



I was very taken with this present which, surprisingly, is still unopened.

Wil's Mum sent me a photo of Wil in his Christmas t-shirt

and one with his Christmas present (Hey Diddle Diddle quilt made earlier this year)

We had a fun time last night - went to friends' house for dinner with a bunch of people - beautiful food, lovely company.  Towards the end of the evening we played Naughty Secret Santa - a game where each person takes along a present and during the course of the game you have a choice of opening a present from the pile or stealing a present someone else has opened.  Lots of laughs as the game progesses - I came home with a tiger print snuggly blanket (one of those ones that's half dressing gown/half blanket) and John brought home a plastic helmet with holders for a can of drink either side and plastic tubes to enable drinking while wearing the hat.  All the presents were tasteful and chosen with dear friends in mind - I wonder how many will be re-gifted next time we play the game?

2010



Happy New Year - best wishes for a wonderful 2011