Marmalade

Last night I caught up on a few tv shows I'd missed over the weekend while stitching down the binding on Marmalade.  Before the night was over, I'd reached the last corner

and the quilt is finished.

The quilt was started in June 2014.  So happy to have made a quilt entirely from fabrics in my sewing room.  I can see myself making another of this design - I love it - but next time I will use one layer of white fabric for the petals with vliesofix around the curved edge only and cut away the excess patterned fabric underneath.  The quilt is ditch-stitched with free motion quilting around the edges of the petals.  It was a breeze to quilt after Karen had basted it with her long-arm.

Big excitement last night - our little man started to walk.

The Two of Us

"The Two of Us" is a very cute little bag designed by Rosalie Dekker.  I first made this back in January 2012 for a friend's birthday present, and thought it would make a very cute little bag for little ChaCha using some Tasha Noel charm squares a sweet friend had given to me.

I reduced the pattern by 20% to make it more ChaCha-size.

The jacket and overalls have been finished for months except for the buttons.  Delivered these to ChaCha as well - they should fit next year but you never know with her because she's so tall.  More patterns from the book I bought when Michael was a baby.

Mum and I had a a great day in Sydney on Saturday - shopping at IKEA then visits with our two little sweethearts and my bigger sweethearts.  ChaCha and Gulliver are so much fun and very entertaining.

"Cheerio" is now sewn together and waiting to be quilted.  I love how fresh and happy all the colours look together with the white/red polka dot background fabric.

Sunday afternoon was quilting time - "Marmalade" is done.  The binding is on too - hoping to stitch it down tonight.

Happy to recommend long-arm basting rather than pins - pulling out the threads in much easier than pinning a quilt.  I have another quilt that Karen basted for me a while ago and it will be quilted soon (I hope).

A work colleague and I went to the Helpmann Awards last night - this is an annual ceremony for live theatre in Ausralia and there are performances from various shows throughout the ceremony.  Lots of celebrity spotting.

"Matilda" was nominated for 13 awards and won all 13.

Saturday Dinner

On Saturday night Mum and I went out for dinner with my brother's family to celebrate my nephew's birthday.  We had such a lovely time and I took some photos of Mum with her youngest great-grandbaby.

 
All the 5" blocks for Spool Sampler are finished and the rest of the quilt is cut out.

Yesterday I decided to sew some Cheerio blocks together.  These blocks were finished in January, so it's about time.  Think I'm halfway and hope to sew a couple more rows tonight.

Mum wanted to see "Hunt for the Wilderpeople" (with Sam Neill) so we did yesterday - it's an enjoyable movie but a bit gory for me in a couple of hunting scenes (I just close my eyes).

Curtains

Recent sewing has been all about making curtains for my bedroom.  I had one hanging on Sunday night and the second was finished on Monday night.

Next were tie-backs, which I made only because I saw this lovely tasselled braid when I bought the curtain fabric.  A dressing table was delivered last weekend so the bedroom is now pretty much finished.

Marmalade quilt top was finished in February last year.  It's a Thimble Blossoms pattern and I've made it entirely from my stash of pretty pastels.

Karen basted the quilt for me on her longarm last year and I thought it's about time I got around to quilting it.  Quilting is going very well.  I know there will be a lot of threads to remove later on but not having to pin baste is fantastic.

Some more quilting over the next few nights and weekend and Marmalade should be ready for binding.

Piccadilly Circus

This is the third Piccadilly Circus quilt I've finished this year and the second for a customer order.  So happy with this quilt - the lady chose the Dresden Plate centre fabrics, binding and backing and it's such a pretty quilt.

 

The clamshell quilting by Karen is great too and really suits the quilt.

A few more 5" blocks for Spools Sampler. Still a great scrap buster.

Minded ChaCha for a few hours yesterday - she had a ball at my place playing in the new shoe cupboards and pulling the Lego train tracks apart.

I've finished one of the crochet pieces I was making.  It is trimmed with pompoms and I used this contraption that came with a Better Homes and Gardens magazine last year.  Not overly happy with the pompoms as they're not very full.  I re-read the instructions and watched a view instructional videos on YouTube but I think I'm still missing something.

Little Blocks

Far out time is going so quickly.  Saturday was Michael's birthday, so Mum and I went to visit him on Saturday afternoon and then minded Gulliver while Michael and Peta went out for dinner and to see a band or two.
 
I've been slowly working away on a custom quilt, another Piccadilly Circus.  It's almost ready to hand over for quilting.  I really like the green spot for the centres and the same fabric will be used for the binding.

A friend in USA and I will be making "Spool Sampler" over the next few months.  The blocks are cotton reels with a different block (4-1/2" finished) in the centre of each cotton reel.  Yesterday I found a little container full of half-square triangle blocks all pretty much the perfect size for some of these blocks.  There are six small blocks in the pattern, so we've decied to add a few other blocks to give the quilt a bit more variety.  Not sure yet how many I'll need to make as I'll probably make the quilt larger than the pattern.  Another quilt using up lots of scrap fabric is always a plus.

The pile of crochet hexagons has grown - there are enough to start joining some together.

So looking forward to next weekend - only thing planned is stitching with the girls on Saturday afternoon.  There are a few things I need to finish off for up-coming birthdays.