Melbourne 1

Time passes so quickly - this time a week ago I was on a plane heading to Melbourne.

It was so lovely to spend some time with Helen, Jenny and Norreen.  Wednesday afternoon we followed the Chocolate Walk around the city but our first stop was l'uccello  - such a beautiful shop.

Helen - l'uccello's new concierge

I bought a large spool (maybe for a pincushion one day) and a birthday present for Jenni.

In the Block Arcade on our Chocolate Tour, we came across Hopetoun Tea Rooms - such beautiful cakes and goodies in the window and such a long queue each time we walked by.

 A bit of shopping from Thursday's road trip:

Patchwork Teahouse

Amitie

Friday we visited the Quilt show and I was able to meet up with some lovely blogging friends.

Fiona, Norreen, Me, Jenny, Helen, Shez, Sharon, Sylvia

Only bought a few things at the show

including this:

So looking forward to it being delivered.

Road Trip

Helen, Jenny, Norreen and I are so enjoying ourselves in chilly, but sunny, Melbourne. Quick walk around the city on Wednesday afternoon following the "Chocolate Walking Guide". We bought supplies in Haigh's and walked through lots of laneways. Lots of steps on the pedometer that day.

Yesterday was a top day. We hired a car and drove out to the Patchwork Teahouse at Warburton. What a lovely shop, delightful people and delicious scones. We hit the credit/debit cards there. Visited a couple of other shops but didn't buy much else. Last stop on our road trip was Amitie in Gardenvale. That shop definitely did not disappoint. I bought a few bits and pieces there. The shop assistant suggested a few other shops for us to visit so we're going on another road trip tomorrow (in the opposite direction).

Quilt show today!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Picnic

Photo of finished quilt top - think this one will be about the size of a bedspread.  Not sure yet if I will quilt it or send it away to be long-arm quilted.  I'd like to do it myself.

Waiting for some more backing fabric to arrive (same as the border fabric), then I'll make a decision about the quilting.

Packing tonight, then up early tomorrow to drive to the airport.  

See you tomorrow Jenny, Helen and Norreen!

Yippee-ki-ay!

Over the weekend I watched four "Die Hard" movies - a friend from work loaned me her boxed set, which I've had for quite a while, so, as I had a fair bit of sewing I wanted to do, I watched/listened to the movies while putting the rest of the Picnic quilt top together.  I left my camera at home so will post photos of Picnic later.  It's huge at 81-1/2" x 99".

Pretty quiet weekend actually.  Elizabeth and Matt were coming to visit but their plans changed at the last minute, so the cake I made is now at work for morning tea - it's delicious.

Apple Streusel cake from Women's Weekly "Classic Cakes" book

The binding drawer is starting to fill up - shows how many quilt tops I have to quilt.

Yesterday afternoon I started cutting out some secret sewing projects using this fabric

Amy Butler "Soul Blossom"

to make something from this book

Need to get a wriggle on with the secret stuff.  Sewing time is very limited in August/September.  Lunchtime stitching is slow-going as time is also taken up with the daily crossword and talking.

sleeps till we go to Melbourne - can't wait!

Gingham Girls - 2nd Last Block

Met up with the stitching girls last night - had a great time and managed to do a good amount of stitching.  Second last Gingham Girls block is finished.

Phone photos with flash are a bit orange

I've been stitching Pies and Tarts for what seems like forever (on and off since 2009) and last week made the decision that I just wasn't going to finish it and it should go to a new home.

I have a feeling that a couple of other half-done quilts may move house too.

Last night Pies and Tarts left the building and moved house.  I feel great, the new owner is very happy, so it's an excellent outcome.

New lunchtime stitching is Rosalie Quinlan's Best Friends Forever BOM.

Wonder how long the attention span will last with this one?

7 sleeps till the girls and I go to Melbourne!

A Sewing Weekend

Another great weekend has come and gone.  Dinner with Barbara and Jenni on Friday night - we thought about going to the pictures but, as often happens, too much to chat about.  On Saturday afternoon I visited my brother and sister-in-law to drop off a wedding present for my nephew.  Mum was there too.  Also visited some friends then spent the rest of the weekend either in the sewing room or on the couch stitching.  Saturday was a beautiful day but the cold and rain is back again.

Yesterday morning I finished putting together Oh Cherry Churn Dash.  These blocks have been finished since early March.  I need to find a backing then it will go on the frame to be quilted.  It's a whopper ~79 " x 93".

Continuing with more Oh Cherry Oh fabric - a few Sylvia's Bridal Sampler blocks - working out block settings.  Some blocks will be on point and some will be straight.  These blocks have been hanging around since October last year - probably time to put the quilt top together. 

Next a couple of rows on Picnic - am about halfway with this quilt top.  I have a deadline - September.

During the week I started stitching the next Gingham Girls block - finished one little stitchery last night.

"Broadchurch" started on Friday night.  Anything with David Tennant is worth watching and this looks like it's going to be a top show.

Polka Dot Girls

When I started blogging in 2007, I was quilting Polka Dot Girls - a very pretty Bronwyn Hayes quilt that I bought as a block of the month.  The machine quilting was finished and I decided to hand quilt around the edge of each stitchery block and around each appliqued heart.  The binding was sewn on and stitched down and most of the hand quilting was completed.  The quilt has been unfinished ever since.

I had a little email conversation with Bec late last week and thought it really is time for the quilt to be finished - there were 3 hearts and 6 blocks to be hand-quilted - not much at all and they were done on Friday and Saturday nights.  I am so pleased the quilt is properly finished at last.

Polka Dot Girls 61" x 60.5"

 

I added two extra hearts to the bottom of the "Gingham Girls" block - much happier with it now.

Reasonably quiet day at home on Saturday - lots of housework, a couple of visitors and then some time in the sewing room.  Thought I'd start putting my Churn Dash blocks together.  Spent ages sorting out the block placement.

I love how this is turning out - the colours look so fresh and crisp against the white.

Michael celebrated a birthday during the week, so yesterday we went to Sydney to see the birthday boy and go out for dinner.  I made an orange/lemon poppy seed cake for afternoon tea.  It was delicious.
 

Dinner, at Una's in Darlinghurst, was a lot of fun - my kids are the best company.

More Girls

Went to stitching group last night at Paula's and finished off Gingham Girls block 9 - not keen on the two small hearts in the lower panel - think I'll add another couple of hearts to fill in the space.

A very smudgy iPhone photo

I don't have any other stitcheries traced at the moment so decided to start stitching Rosalie Quinlan's new BOM "Best Friends Forever".  While these are very pretty blocks and it is great to receive the design already printed on linen, I am disappointed that there is no paper pattern of the design provided - there is only a reduced-size sheet showing the stitches and thread colours used.  I'd rather pay a bit more and have a paper pattern sheet as well or pay less and trace the design myself.  I've heard that other designers are doing this as well.  I do my best to support Australian designers and retailers and am not happy with this new trend.

Family and Friends

Another fantastic weekend.  Elizabeth came down after work on Friday - we cooked delicious dinner (veal scallopini) and she brought sweets from the Guylian cafe located underneath her work building.

So, we had lovely cakes while watching a movie.

Saturday was packed:  breakfast in town with my girls and John, then Jenni and I went to A Day at the Races for Marko.  Due to the terrible weather we've been having, the horseracing was cancelled and that wasn't a bad thing - we had such a great time with our friends and raised lots of money for Marko.

That night I went to another fundraiser:  this time a trivia night to raise money to help send a young cyclist to the Junior World Championships.  Great night, lots of laughs and our table won.  All up, a top day.

By comparison, yesterday was very quiet:  some washing followed by an afternoon sewing some "Picnic" blocks together and catching up on recorded tv shows.  I've decided to sew the rows together as I go this time rather than wait till all the rows are assembled.  

Very messy sewing room

Think I'll really like this quilt top when it's finished.