Small Quilts

The binding has been added to a couple of small quilts and these quilts will be going to their new homes later this week. 

The Zig-Zag quilt was made from left-over Fireworks fabrics.  Lovely bright, fresh colours.

Backing, binding and quilting by Karen.

The X-block quilt had been cut out for a couple of years and it's good to have this one finished.  My friend, Diann, gave me the ruler and book as a birthday present and I've made quite a few quilts using this ruler.  There is a great variety of designs that can be made.

Backing, binding and quilting by Karen.

The binding on this quilt was added using a method/tutorial from Linda at Flourishing Palms - a great way to use two different fabrics to finish off a quilt.

Last week a friend sent me a link on Facebook to some very cute crocheted characters - had to buy the book/kit.

Made a lot of mess in the sewing room cutting strips and squares for a very scrappy quilt I hope to start in a little while.  It's going to take a long time to make this quilt - over 1,000 2-1/2" 4 patches.  Lots of chain piecing.

Four more Orange Swoon blocks to add to the stack - halfway now.  So many different shades of orange.

 

Had some great company this weekend - friends came for lunch on Saturday and Sunday and I also spent some time with another old friend.

Goodnight Irene

In January I cut out a second Goodnight Irene quilt, on Saturday the label was attached and the quilt was given to my dear friends to celebrate their milestone birthdays - between them they turned 100.  This is quite a large quilt at 88-1/2" square and I think it goes well with their bright personalities.

Karen quilted it with a hearts and flowers design, which is a great pattern that doesn't detract from the piecing.  I bought a wideback for the backing and it's so nice to have a backing with no seams.

I'm a few months behind making a quilt for a family member.  The blocks for Orange Swoon have been cut out for 6 months but other things have got in the way.  Friday night I started working on these blocks - they are a huge 24" finished.

12 blocks to go - the original pattern has 9 blocks but I'd like to make this king-size.  I've collected 32 different orange fabrics - such a big range in shades of orange.

Presents

Fireworks is together.  I love the border fabric - such a great mix of all the fabrics in the quilt top.

There was a fair stack of these lovely bright fabrics left, so I decided to make a quick zig-zag quilt - I owe a few people baby quilts.  This one will be going to a sweet 2 year old soon.

I had a day off last week and took these two quilts and the X-block cot quilt over to Karen for her to quilt.  

My friend Barbara is recently home from a 5 weeks cruise around Asia.  We had dinner together last week and she gave me this huge box containing my birthday present but I couldn't open it till I was at home.

This is what was inside - it's just fabulous!  And it suits my home (and me) so well.

 

For our on-line group's birthday present, Sarah was sending to me and this is how my parcel arrived - stitched up all the way around!  Cheeky thing.  Such a fun idea and she used lovely Fig Tree fabric for the "wrapping".

Out came the unpicker.  So many lovely, handmade goodies inside - all made using more beautiful Fig Tree fabrics.

Had a lovely birthday/Mothers' Day with all the family and catching up with friends during the week.

A friend, Lynda, came to visit during the week and also brought me a present:

 My friends have great taste and style :)

Last Night of the Proms

Months ago I received an email from Sydney Symphony Orchestra about the "Last Night of the Proms" concert coming up in early May.  Thought it would be a great Mothers' Day present for Mum so bought tickets and off we went last Saturday.  We had lunch at one of the cafes on the concourse - such a busy, bustling place.

The concert was so wonderful - beautiful music and then lots of audience singing towards the end of the second half, flag-waving, streamers etc.  Loved it.
 

Following the concert we had dinner with Matt, Elizabeth and our little sweetheart - it was Matt's birthday on Sunday.

Finally got around to sewing the last four "Fireworks" blocks and spent some time arranging and re-arranging the blocks with some help from my friend Amy in Oklahoma - a little more tweaking and I'll be ready to put the quilt top together - can't have two orange-centred blocks next to each other.  These fabics are so bright, they might even glow in the dark!

A little bit of shopping this week from a favourite shop - thinking very carefully about what to make with this lovely stack.

The Best News came yesterday with the safe arrival home of my dear friends Lynell, Darren and Robyn - they were in Nepal when the earthquake struck, trekking within a few kilometres of the epicentre.  They had to walk for days over the most rugged terrain to find an area where a satellite phone worked to be able to get a message out that their group was ok and then to arrange for helicopter evacuation back to Kathmandu.  So wonderful to have a chat with Lynell last night.

Another Frolic

Love when a plan comes together quickly and easily.  I wanted to make a quilt for a very special little boy, knew he loves Mickey Mouse and had recently seen some very cute fabric that happened to go with a small jelly roll I had at home of navy/red/black/white spots and stripes.  So, another Frolic quilt came about with Mickey Mouse fabric as the feature rows.

Karen quilted it with very cute Mickey and Minnie heads and I sewed the binding on a couple of nights ago.

Finished stitching the binding down last night while catching up on some recorded tv shows after delicious roast lamb dinner Jenni cooked.

I have another 3 quilts to bind then I'll be caught up.