Christmas Stroll

Christmas Stroll has been finished for a couple of weeks - it's a very quick, easy quilt to make and works well with lots of scraps as well as bigger stash pieces of fabric.

Karen used a new quilting design called "Decorations" and it looks lovely.

Sarah quilted H's "Dinosaurs" quilt and the smaller quilt - they look great (and still need binding).  I'll give H's quilt to the sub-contractor to sew down the binding.

No patchwork happening at the moment - some Christmas sewing (ornaments for the little ones) and lots of dressmaking.  A "Selina" (Style Arc pattern) top for me.

A "Selina" top for a friend in some Liberty cotton she sent to me.

"Blair" (Style Arc pattern) blouse for Jenni.

A "Blair" blouse for Elizabeth.

And a "Blair" dress for Jenni.

A "Melba" (Style Arc pattern) for me.  I'm not happy with the way the neck sits on me so I've unpicked it to cut it down a little.  I love this fabric.

The house was decorated in time for Mum's 94th birthday lunch with all the family (except for the tree). 

Mum with her youngest granddaughter and youngest great-grandchild

Peta and the grandchildren decorated the tree on Saturday - it was a fun afternoon.  Mum was there too.

Catch Up

I haven't been machine sewing over the last week or so - busy putting up the Christmas decorations and doing some embroidery on the little ones' Christmas decorations.

A couple of weeks ago I made a trial "Castle Gardens" block - this is a Sarah Fielke design using fabrics designed by Sarah as well.  I'll make the full quilt next year.

A Christmas stocking has been finished for the littlest sweetheart.

"Christmas Stroll" is together and with Karen for quilting.  Karen visited a week or so ago and it was lovely to catch up with her in person.

A few weeks ago I tested a new pattern for Thimbles and Needles - "Feel the Tide" - another quilt I'll definitely be making next year.

Waiting for backing fabric for "Hannah's Garden" to arrive and it can go to Jenny to be quilted.

Last sewing I finished off was a new blouse for Jenni made as try-out - she wants the dress and I needed to test the size for her.

Had some fabric left from her maternity dresses I made last year.

Time's Flying

Time is flying so quickly and I'm a bit behind in my blog writing.

The Dinosaurs quilt top for Little H is finished and is with Sarah for quilting.

The pattern contains a small and large quilt.  The kit from The Next Stitch was very generous and there was plenty of fabric leftover to make the smaller version of the quilt as well.  I think I could stretch out the coloured fabric to make another small quilt and use a different fabric for background.

I finally machine embroidered towels for Vincent

and a couple of other new babies.

Cheeky chops Vincent has been standing up in his cot for a couple of weeks - the base has been lowered - and he is pulling himself up to standing wherever he can.

A friend asked me to piece a quilt for her - "Hannah's Garden" designed by Treehouse Textiles.  She sent a starter pack of fabrics put together by Treehouse Textiles - so pretty.

All the blocks for "Loveliness" have been made and these have joined the other 4 stacks of blocks to be sewn together in to quilt tops.

I bought myself a present.

So happy with it.  Lots of space to spread out my stuff.

Chase's Rainbow

My cousin-in-law and I are pretty close.  Our families spent a lot of time together while our children were growing up.  Our youngest daughters (born 5 days apart) both had their first babies this year - my grandson, Vincent, born in March and my cousin's grandson, Chase, born in September.

It took me a while to decide what to make for Chase's quilt then I stumbled upon a piece of "Safari Life" fabric in The Pink Room and bought some Kona Solids from Sarah at Patchworks Plus to make a rainbow to tone in with the "Safari Life" fabric.

The backing fabric wasn't big enough for the quilt so I added a couple of "stripes" to the sides.

Jenny, AngelCake Quilting, used Ikat design and it looks terrific.

The Triceratopses are made so it's time to start sewing the quilt top together.

I think I may have enough fabric leftover to make the smaller quilt (48" sq) as well.

Most time this week has been spent cutting out new quilts.

"Master Plan" designed by Carrie Nelson of Miss Rosie's Quilt Co

"Joyful", a new Thimble Blossoms design

I like have a few quilt options to sew - don't tend to work on one quilt at a time.

When Jenni turned 21, I made her two quilts and one was from Very Hungry Caterpillar fabric.  I've been saving this fabric for 13 years or so and made a little romper for Vinnie for the coming summer.

During the week Jenni sent me some photos of Vinnie wearing this yellow top/pants set that I knitted when I was pregnant with Michael 40 years ago.  This shade of yellow looks lovely on Mr Personality.