Finishing Up

I spent most of my sewing time on the weekend finishing up some goodies that will go into Christmas presents.  Some of these have been sitting around for quite some time, eg these lollipops:

My lunchtime stitching over the last few weeks has been the stitcheries for the star tree decorations from Lynette Anderson's latest Christmas book "Stitch it for Christmas":

I made two more pincushions for The Girls:

Designed by Nikki Tervo

Designed by Lynette Anderson

So now I have one for each of them; gosh that flower is huge!

Designs by Nikki Tervo, Natalie Bird, Lynette Anderson, Anni Downs

The embroidery machine was going full tilt as well:

I plan to wrap the girls' presents in tea towels.

Mum and I had a wander around the shops in Wollongong on Saturday afternoon - I may have found a shop with some beautiful dresses and suits for Elizabeth's wedding.  Going to check it out further on Thursday night.

Block 5

Finished off Gingham Girls Block 5 last night.  I think this is evidence I watch too much tv.

I decided to stitch the lace in the lower block rather than sew lace to the background.  Thought I was being quite original until the weekend when Paula and I visited Berry Patchwork and there was a Gingham Girls on display:  all the button designs and lace were stitched and we called in to Gerringong Quilt Show where another Gingham Girls was hanging, also with stitched button designs and lace.  They were both lovely.

I love all these delicate "Mary Rose" fabrics - the colours and designs are so soft.  This is an excellent quilt to make using all your pretty scraps.  Yardage is only needed for stitchery backgrounds, borders and binding.

This Week in Wonderland

Last week was busy - out for dinner with work friends on Monday night, stitching with the girls on Tuesday night - took along my Island Chain quilt made in Ruby fabrics - love these colours.

Ruby Chain - the background fabric is white with turquoise spot - really cute.

Hairdresser on Thursday night.

 Pinned the Bizillion Years BC top yesterday ready for quilting over the next while

and went for a drive to Berry with Paula.  All I bought was a packet of needles and some white thread to quilt those dinosaurs.  Pinned the baboushka cot quilt this morning too - won't take too long to quilt that one.

Jacaranda trees are blooming all over the countryside - a sure sign that the warmer weather is here.

You wouldn't know at work - the aircon is set so low I always have to wear a cardigan - better than overheating I suppose.

Some More Girls

Last night I finished the stitching on Block 4 of Gingham Girls - there's a lot of stitching in this quilt so the patterns are good value as a BOM.

Last Sunday afternoon I came across a stitchery that John bought for me years ago at the Quilt Show - I stitched it pretty much straight away but never got around to finishing it off.  "Swan Lake" was on tv that afternoon so I sewed on the binding and stitched it down while watching the ballet - it was the contemporary version with male swans.

This week I've been spending an hour after work sewing together the Ruby Chain blocks (Island Chain quilt from one of the Scrap Basket books using mostly Ruby fabrics and a couple of Bliss fabrics).  I love how this is turning out with the turquoise spot on white background.  A couple of the Tuesday Girls have already finished their quilts and I'm lagging behind.

Next step is to figure out a border or two.

Lunch with the Schoolgirls on Saturday and I'm taking Mum to Sydney on Sunday for a wander around Queen Victoria Building.  Should be a nice weekend.