New Starts

Over the weekend I had some unexpected sewing time, so I made the centre block of "Medley" (designed by Corey Yoder of Coriander Quilts), a quilt that has been requested by a dear friend.  She chose a beautiful turquoise floral and butterfly fabric for the backing and I bought some more fabrics from the same range and added a few more from my stash.

Yesterday I was chatting on Messenger with another friend and mentioned that I really wanted to make "Handmade with Love" so when I arrived home last night I started cutting and sewing.  It's wonderful to be sewing with larger pieces of fabric and makes these blocks so much fun to sew.

Can't wait to start on the next gift boxes - they will take longer to make as they have more pieces.  I really should be getting on with a few other things but I love this instant gratification sewing.

106/145 Scrappy Stars made - having a little rest from making these.

Had a fun weekend with ChaCha staying over - we visited some friends, had dinner out and spent some time with GG on Sunday morning.  Then there was a Hawks game on Sunday afternoon - very exciting game which they lost in overtime. 

Kaleidoscope and Dresden Plate Cot Quilts

A few months ago a dear friend in USA told me her daughter was expecting twins - baby girls, and they were due to arrive in November.  Plenty of time, I thought to make two little quilts.  Then I was told they were going to be born a month early.  I bought some peony Kona Solid background fabric from Sarah and extra pink fabrics while I was in Queensland in early September to add what I already had and made two little cot quilts.

Kaleidoscope, designed by Cluck, Cluck, Sew

and Dresden Plates, a traditional design.

 

Jenny at AngelCake Quilting did me a huge favour by quilting them straight away and I was very happy to have the quilts ready to post once I knew the little babies had arrived.

The parcel took a little detour on it's way.  It was a relief to hear that the Mum and Dad had received the quilts on Wednesday.

The colours look much better in these photos

and I love these little characters in the "Old and New 30's" fabric.

Triangle Pouches

I've been wanting to make one of these little cuties for years (ever since I saw the tutorial on A Spoonful of Sugar's blog).  I bought a pack of tiny metal zips with attached zip pulls and some other cute zip pulls to attach to ordinary zips at the Quilt show in June and last Friday night decided to make one.

One quickly became 3 - doesn't take long at all to make one of these.  There will be more.

Last week's Scrappy Star blocks were put on the design wall by ChaCha when she stayed over on Saturday night - she now likes to climb the ladder to do her "quilting".

Sunday evening was The Hawks' first home game of the season - a controvery-filled match but a great result (at last).

Also on Sunday, Michael, Peta and Gulliver flew up to Cairns for a holiday.  Little Gulli is the cutest little snorkeler ever.  He's braver than his Nanna, that's for sure.

I needed a cot quilt in a hurry and "Off Track" by Cluck, Cluck, Sew is such a great quilt pattern to make up in a hurry.  I cut it out on Friday night, sewed it up and made the backing on Sunday and Monday nights, and gave it to Karen on Tuesday night for quilting.

More Scrappy Stars have been made this week but I'm keen to sew something else for a change.

"Clambake" Quilts

Lots of trips to Sydney last week - one was to the beautiful State Theatre to see Michael Ball and Alfie Boe in concert.  Fabulous, fantastic show - such wonderful voices and they both have a great sense of fun.

Friday night was dinner with The Schoolgirls - always love catching up with them - the Sangria was nice too.

On Saturday I was back in Sydney (Potts Point) with some other friends.  First off lunch in a cafe by the Archibald Fountain

then we headed to the Hayes Theatre

to see "Assassins".  I knew nothing about this musical - really enjoyed it.  All the performers were outstanding.

Sunday afternoon Mum and I went to have a look around the new shops in Wollongong then visited family.

Not many Scrappy Stars completed last week - need 101 more.

Last Thursday I picked up the two "Clambake" quilts from Jenny (AngelCake Quilting).  One is lap-size

and the other is cot-sized.

Maybe a quieter weekend coming up - the big event will be The Hawks' first home game of the season on Sunday evening.  Here's hoping for a win.

Framed

On Wednesday night Lynell, Robyn, Darren and I went to the State Theatre in Sydney for the Michael Ball/Alfie Boe concert.  It was fabulous!  Their voices are amazing and they are such wonderful performers - lots of laughs as well.

Finished stitching down the binding on "Framed" last night.  It's a lap-size quilt designed by Camille Roskelley (Thimble Blossoms) and the pattern is in her book "Simply Retro".  It's a great pattern to show off large prints and comes together very quickly.  Because of the amount of fabric I had available, this quilt is one row narrower than the pattern, and finished size is 49-1/4" x 62".

Jenny at AngelCake Quilting quilted this for me using "Mod Flower" design.

 

 

Two "Clambake" quilts to be bound next - one cot-size

and the other lap-size.

Next up is finishing ChaCha's twirling dress and then it's time to start some Christmas sewing.

Another busy (ie socialising) weekend coming up - dinner with The Schoolgirls tonight and Sydney tomorrow with other friends to see "Assassins" at the Hayes Theatre then out for dinner.

Dream Big

During last week I sewed some more Scrappy Stars.  There are now 37/145 finished.  I don't expect many stars to be made this week.  Too many other things happening.

On Thursday afternoon I collected two quilts from Jenny (AngelCake Quilting) and sewed the binding on during the weekend.  "Dream Big" is now finished - it's a cot-sized quilt made in Moda's "Whisper Muslin Mates" - a very different colourway for me to use.  All the fabrics were purchased from Karen earlier this year.

 

 

The binding on "Framed" is yet to be stitched down.

ChaCha stayed over on Friday night but wasn't well enough to come with Mum and me when we visited Michael and Gulliver on Saturday.  We had such a fun time.  Gulliver is such a busy little boy and a delight.  The treasure chest Mum gave to Gulli kept him entertained for ages and he was very impressed with his new Star Wars Bandaids.

We also visited Jenni and Kurt and popped in to see Elizabeth, Matt and ChaCha, so it was a great day out.

On Sunday afternoon I started sewing up a couple of little dresses for ChaCha.
 

This one is for twirling - her favourite thing to do at the moment.

 
Mum will be doing the hand-sewing on both of these dresses.

Tonight Robyn, Lynell, Darren and I are going to a concert at the State Theatre:  Michael Ball and Alfie Boe.  We've been looking forward to this for months.  Friday night I'm meeting up with The Schoolgirls for dinner and on Saturday, Tania and I are going to see "Assassins" at the Hayes Theatre - I know very little about this show, only that David Campbell is in it and it's a musical.

Tessellation

It's been so great to spend some time in the Pink Room during the last couple of weeks.  I have a box of cut out quilt tops and have finished sewing some together - they are all smaller quilts with large pieces so didn't take long to sew up.

A few months ago I bought a layer cake, Moda "Whisper Muslin Mates", from Karen plus some yardage for background, borders and backing.  I was able to cut out two quilts:  "Dream Big", designed by Camille Roskelley (Thimble Blossoms) from her "Simplify" book -

and "Framed" from her "Simply Retro" book.

 
Another quilt I had cut out was "Clambake" also designed by Camille.

I cut out too many blocks, so only needed to cut another 12 to have enough to make the cot-sized version, which is included in the pattern.

Recently I dropped off these four quilts plus the two pink cot quilts to a new-to-me quilter and on Monday she sent through photos of the two pink quilts.  I'm picking them up this afternoon and hope to sew on the binding over the weekend.

Jenni's birthday quilt arrived back from Sarah last Friday and the quilting looks fantastic!  The quilt needed a design to off-set all the triangles and points and "Squares All Around" was a great choice (along with the aqua thread).

Sewed on the binding on Monday and stitched it down while watching tv.  I'm so happy this one is finished and with how it turned out as "Tessellation" was a real challenge for me to make.

On Friday nightI was looking through one of my fabric boxes to cut some more 5" squares for my B&C version of "Snippets",

came across some half-square triangles and had a light bulb moment - made some hourglass blocks with them and "Scrappy Stars" was underway (another Camille Roskelley design).

We've just had a long weekend and it turned out to be a busy few days.  Saturday had a lovely time catching up with Lynell and Wendy - Robyn couldn't join us because she was in Canberra awaiting the arrival (on Saturday morning) of her brand new grandson and on Sunday Mum, Jenni, Kurt, ChaCha and I had lunch at the Audley Dancehall and Cafe - such a lovely place and loads of space for little ones to run around.