A Little Trip

Last week was another big event for our family.  Elizabeth graduated with a Masters of Business Management Degree from Monash University so that meant a trip to Melbourne for the ceremony.

My friend, Lynell who is Elizabeth's Godmother, came along for the trip too and it was lovely that she could share in this happy time with us.

Lots of happy times ahead for us as Elizabeth and Matt are awaiting the arrival of their baby daughter at the end of January.  Not much stitching/sewing happening but there has been lots of knitting and a bit of crocheting.  Elizabeth said "not too much pink" but there had to be some pink. 

 Everything else I've knitted is lovely bright colours or white.

The day after the graduation ceremony Lynell and I flew to Hobart to spend the rest of the week with our Schoolfriends.  Hobart is such a lovely city and we could have done with a few more days there.  A visit to the Museum of Old and New Art (MONA) was highly recommended - some very unusual pieces on display as well as some fun items.

The Chapel at MONA

One of the stained glass windows inside the Chapel at MONA

X and Plus/X and +

The X and + quilt was started and finished within 6 months - unusual for me at the moment :)

This quilt is made of mostly Bonnie and Camille's "Bliss" range of fabrics and I've added a few of their other fabrics to make a larger quilt.

One more binding to stitch down and one more quilt to trim and bind, then they're all done (until "Red Letter Day" arrives back from Sarah).

Kiss Me

"Kiss Me" is a quilt designed by Fig Tree and Company.  My friend, Diann, and I started to make this quilt last year and it's been waiting to be quilted since June 2013.  I love these Bonnie and Camille fabrics ("Vintage Modern").

I love how the flying geese border looks like prairie points.

Karen quilted this one too - this spiral design is really lovely. 

A little while ago it was my turn to make a birthday present for one of our on-line group members.  The theme this year is a black and white bag with embellishment so I made Ric Rac's "Work in Progress" bag for my partner with Bloom's embroidery from her "Coquetterie" design.

Photo taken by Leanne

Seville Limes

Another quilt top that's been finished for ages is "Seville Limes"- the pattern is "Seville" designed by Allison Harris of Cluck Cluck Sew.  I have used a few of her patterns and they are wonderful.

Karen quilted this one too.

Finished sewing down the binding last night.  I've had these beautiful green fabrics for ages - bought them at Quiltsmith years ago on a road trip with the Stitching Girls - and was waiting for the right design to come along.  I love how the shapes make a secondary circle pattern.

Goodnight Irene

Earlier this year I came across Terry's blog and she was hosting a sew-along to make a quilt using Goodnight Irene blocks.  Terry was making her quilt using blue/green batiks and I remembered I had a Tonga Treat pack in my stash called "Pink Lemonade", beautiful oranges, yellows, pinks and some fuschia.

The quilt top was finished in March and joined the pile of quiltops to be quilted.  My quilting frame was dismantled after the flood and moved to the garage.  It's still not re-assembled, so when my friend, Karen, bought herself a long-arm quilting machine, I gave this to her to quilt for me (along with a few others).  Karen quilted 8 quilts for me in two weeks so I have lots of binding ahead of me.

This is the first time I've used Batik fabrics and I love the colours in this quilt.  So glad I found Terry's blog.

Sewing Room

Six and a half months ago my sewing room looked like this:

We had an enormous storm and my sewing room and the spare bedroom were both flooded plus there was water damage in the kitchen and loungeroom.  The repair work was finally completed recently and by Sunday morning the sewing room was full of stuff (my great family moved all the heavy stuff in a couple of weeks ago).

 

Sorting it all out didn't take as long as I thought and by Sunday evening (after going to the movies to see "Gone Girl") the room was finished.

I had a temporary sewing area set up in another room during this time - luckily I have another spare room at the front of the house.

Yesterday, for the first time in over 9 weeks, I sat at the sewing machine and sewed bindings on three of the quilts Karen quilted for me recently.  I have 3 more bindings to sew on then lots of handstitching.

"Goodnight Irene"

"Kiss Me"

"X and +"

7 sleeps till I go to Melbourne for Elizabeth's university graduation and then head off to Hobart for a few days with The Schoolgirls.  We have lots to celebrate.

PS:  Really enjoyed the movie, didn't think I would - lots of twists and turns and there was only one part when I had to close my eyes.

Spell it with Moda

A dear friend of mine, Karen, has bought herself a long-arm quilting machine.  I gave her a bagful of quilt tops, my roll of batting and a general idea about what sort of quilting designs I like.

This huge alphabet/numbers quilt, Spell it with Moda, was the first one quilted and I love the bubbles design.

The only fabric I needed to buy for this quilt was the backing fabric, which I also used for the binding - I'm pretty happy with the way the dots sit in the binding.  The pinwheels were made a few years ago for another (unfinished) quilt, so I was very happy to be able to use them.  The quilt has gone to a new home with my great nephew and niece.

I have another 7 or 8 quilts to bind - Karen quilted all the tops in about 2 weeks, before she went away on holidays.  Once my sewing room is a bit more sorted, I'll start sewing on some bindings.

Over the last couple of weeks I have been knitting for a couple of new babies, including this cute basketweave border for a tiny cardigan.

 

 

Scrappy Trip Around the World

It's about time I came back to my blog after a little time away.

My Scrappy Trip Around the World quilt has been finished for some time but I haven't been able to take any photos until recently.

This is a large quilt (96"x 96"") and is made using all Bonnie and Camille fabrics. Sarah from Patchworks Plus quilted it for me with clamshells - one of my two favourite designs (the other is orange peel) and I'm tickled pink with how it turned out.  One of the labels is pretty special:

Camille was kind enough to sign some fabric for the ladies in her class when she visited Sydney in June.  I have another signature block for my Red Letter Day quilt.

The house repairs are finally complete and I am slowly moving things back into the spare bedroom and sewing room.  It will be a little while before I am finished and the house is back to it's normal state of chaos.

The spring weather has been glorious.  I spent Sunday afternoon with friends on a deck overlooking the lake eating homemade wood-fired pizza - thankyou Robyn, Lynell and Darren for a lovely afternoon.