This Week's Mail

A few packages have arrived this week - the most exciting is my 'Go Four It - Rainbow Rows' quilt from Sarah. 

Sarah quilted cables and the design looks so terrific against all the sharp corners of the squares.

Last night I made the binding and sewed it on - seemed to take the longest time.

This binding will definitely take a few hours of tv watching to stitch down - almost 11 metres.  This quilt is approx 92" x 99".

The other mail was two more blocks for "Christmas Cheer":

One more stocking block to arrive and I can sew these rows together.

The Sawtooth Stars for "Spinning Stars" are finished.

Next part is sewing the Pinwheels into 9 patch blocks, then the blocks will be added to the other two piles of blocks ("Nine Patch Waltz" and "Fresh") to be sewn in to quilt tops.

A bunch of my friends are or have been travelling over the last couple of months.  One friend returned from overseas last weekend, having spent almost three months in South America, Europe, UK and three weeks in Iceland - the landscape in Iceland is so stark.  I remember watching the first series of "Fortitude" and wondering how people survive there.

Other friends are travelling around Israel and Jordan for a month then heading to Sweden and Finland for a couple of weeks.  The temperature in Israel has reached 45C on some days.

Fun weekend coming up - one of the Stitching Girls recently moved to Sydney so the rest of us are visiting her on Saturday and Sunday will be spent with two of my sweethearts.

Blocks and Trimming

Santa Hats and Christmas Stockings (plus two little surprise blocks) have been arriving this month - one more hat and two more stockings to come and I'll be able to sew these rows together for my "Christmas Cheer" quilt.

Some "Happy Scrappy Baskets" progress - there's lots and lots of trimming to make the blocks.  I'd trimmed about half and thought I'd make up some blocks then trim the rest.

So happy with the look of these baskets.

Sewed up Month 3 of "Summer Moon" - such teeny, tiny pieces in the little Bear Tracks block.

125 pinwheel blocks are trimmed and ready to be sewn into "Spinning Stars" blocks.  Have a few more sawtooth star blocks to make before the quilt top can be sewn together.  I was hoping to have no fabric repeats in this quilt but noticed I've used two of the white fabrics twice.  Whether I made replacements will depend on how energetic I feel when it comes time to sew the blocks.

Had an enjoyable weekend after a stressful week (car troubles).  Bought a new car on Saturday afternoon (picking it up next week), visited Mum then went to see a local production of "Into the Woods" - not my favourite musical (or style of music) but the cast was fabulous and so was the show.  I'm going to see Anthony Warlow in "Sweeny Todd" in three weeks, so "Into the Woods" was a good re-introduction into a Sondheim musical.

Yesterday did some sewing before picking up Mum to visit Michael, Peta and Gulliver - had a lovely visit with them - the "ball of energy" was in full flight.  Arrived home to find The Honeymooners at my place, so that was a lovely surprise.

Another Start

In the lead up to last weekend's Quilt Market in USA, many designers have released new patterns and fabric ranges.  I've bought a few new patterns.  I've never made a Basket Quilt and when I saw Corey Yoder's "Happy Scrappy Baskets", I loved the scrappiness of it straight away - an opportunity to use up loads of Dena Designs/Coriander Quilts/FigTree fabrics that I've been saving.

There is a lot of prep work (sewing/cutting/trimming) to make the half-square triangles for each block but it's going to be a lovely, colourful quilt.

The "Fresh" blocks are finished plus an extra block centre to use when I make another sampler quilt.  I'll be in the mood to sew these together in a little while.

"Spinning Stars" is also coming along - a few more pinwheels have been made since the photo was taken.  Probably a bit over halfway with the 125 pinwheels now.  Won't be able to finish this off until another bolt of white arrives.

"Go Four It - Rainbow Rows" is on Sarah's frame today - can't wait to see this whopper quilted!

A Week Off

It's been a huge couple of weeks - Jenni and Kurt's wedding followed by a week off work during which I was hoping to sew and watch movies but plans changed (and that's not always a bad thing).

First up I sewed the "Dashing" blocks together.  This is such a great pattern - goes together very quickly and has a lovely secondary design.  The "Chantilly" fabric is so pretty.  I'm waiting for the backing fabric to arrive then it can be quilted.

I cut out the rest of the "Fresh" blocks.

The blocks are so big I can only fit four on my design sheet. 

Five blocks have been sewn together - eleven to go.

May's row for "Christmas Cheer"

and, as May is my month to receive blocks, the Christmas Stockings and Santa Hats have been arriving.

Re-made September's "Lucky" block so that each segment is out of a single fabric - the scrappy block can go into my next sampler.

Late last week Bonnie and Camille released their patterns to go with their new fabric range "Early Bird" - I bought a couple of patterns and had to cut fabrics to start the scrappy version of "Spinning Stars".  Think I'm going to love this quilt.

Been a while since I've had so many quilts on the go.

Lastly, I don't have many photos from the wedding - we're excitedly awaiting the "official" photos. This is one of my favourites.