Jiggery Pokery

Finished stitching down the binding on this large quilt on Monday night.  I love the name - it means "trickery".  The quilt was designed by Kaffe Fasset and I've used a lot of Jen Kingwell's "Gardenvale" fabrics along with some Moda Bella Solids.

I asked Karen to use "Featheration" on this quilt too - really happy with how it looks.

I was on holidays for the week after Easter and was able to spend some time sewing.  The main blocks for a blue version of "Blueberry Kisses" are made.  When I get back to this, pieced setting triangles will be next.

A friend asked me to make the small version of Elizabeth Hartman's "Pretty Birds" for her with white cockatoos as a tribute to her 40 yo cockatoo.  I really like Elizabeth's patterns - although there are many pieces in some blocks, the pattern is very well-written with great diagrams and lots of detailed instructions.  I used Alison Glass fabrics because the colours are so fantastic.

Cockatoos

Lorikeets

Macaws

Toucans

Cockatiels

When I have the backing fabric sorted and another secret-sewing quilt top finished, I'll send "Pretty Birds" off for quilting.

Little Sweetheart stayed over last Friday night and we took out my Thimble Blossoms jigsaw puzzle to start.  I've had this for a long time but hadn't jumped on the Covid jigsaw bandwagon.  

Have to say, it's a great time-waster.  A couple of times since I've completely lost track of time.  I have a couple more jigsaw puzzles in the cupboard and will be doing them once this one is finished.

Castle Gardens

My part in making "Castle Gardens" is done and it has been sent to my friend to stitch down the binding.  This lovely friend gave me a ute-load of fabric last year and I thought she'd like this quilt.  She loves stitching down binding.

I didn't take a photo of the quilt before sending it off, so this is the best photo I have of the quilt.  Karen quilted it with "Featheration" and the design looks lovely.  The binding is the same hot pink used in the blocks and the border.

This is a free pattern on the Wyndham Fabrics website - the fabrics and pattern were designed by Sarah Fielke.

A Happy Easter

We had a lot of family time over Easter with Jenni, Kurt and Vinnie coming to stay for a couple of nights and family lunch and Easter egg hunt on Easter Sunday.

I bought the adult children Easter eggs from Junee Licorice and Chocolate Co - they are delicious.  Also bought a small egg for me.

Triple Chocolate Easter Rocky Road was delicious.

We had some prawns with lunch on Easter Sunday and that night we used the leftover pieces of lemon to clean my jug following Nancy Birtwhistle's method - worked a treat and Jenni was chuffed when Nancy re-posted her photo.

Rearranging

I will be on holidays next week and my plan was to do a bit of furniture reshuffling in The Pink Room.  A little bit of water seeped onto the carpet under the window during the unbelievably heavy rain last week, so I decided to move the furniture on the weekend.  It's time for Elizabeth's desk, corner unit and hutches to go to a new home (they're listed on GumTree for free).

Moved the desk my Dad built for me when I was 8 to along the wall under the window for the overlocker and moved a slim chest/bookcase from Jenni's original bedroom to the corner then moved the sewing table adjacent to the wall leaving more space to the left of the sewing table.  I'll give it a couple of weeks to see if I like this new arrangement.  This room is always a work in progress.

"Jiggery Pokery" is together - I don't have a wallspace to hang it so that I can take a good photo.

It's 90" x 96" - will shrink a little bit with quilting.

The backing.

"Castle Gardens" is also together - this one is more large lap size.

A friend sent me the fabrics for this quilt, including the pretty Tilda backing fabric.

Both quilts have been sent to Karen for quilting.

Had a fun time at work yesterday with Jenni, Kurt, Vinnie, John, Elizabeth, T and H coming to campus for lunch.  So wonderful to see the little ones having a great time together.

Definitely looking forward to the Easter break and holidays (starting Wednesday night).

Master Plan

This would have to be one of my most favourite quilts ever.  A lot of cutting out (I used stash instead of charm packs as suggested in the pattern), a lot of piecing and then my usual angst with laying out the rows.  Because of the stars kind of interlocking, the blocks couldn't be sewn into stars and then laid out - it had to be made row by row.

So happy with how it turned out.  Each star is made of a unique fabric but fabrics have been repeated in the four patches and the outer chequerboard border.

The backing was a fun Moda fabric I'd bought a few months ago from the Fabric Sauce - I knew it would suit one of my quilts in the future.

I asked Karen to use "Featheration" for this quilt - even though it's a busy design it doesn't overwhelm the patchwork and the texture is lovely.  Karen adjusted the size of the design and it turned out beautifully.

Weekend

Finished stitching down the binding on two quilts over the weekend.  "Master Plan"

and another quilt that is a surprise for someone in the middle of the year, so I can't show it until after it has been given plus I will be making the same quilt as a surprise for someone else.

I'm still working on "Jiggery Pokery" and "Castle Gardens" blocks are ready to be sewn into a quilt top but I've also been spending time knitting.

Michael and Peta took Gulli on a roadtrip on Saturday but didn't tell him where or why they were going.  This is Gulli's new friend Wynstan a beautiful brindle boxer.  I met him yesterday - he's adorable.

Mum and I went to see "The Duke" on Saturday - we really enjoyed the film.  Second time I've seen it (saw it in early March for a local Rotary Club fundraiser to help eradicate polio) - I knew Mum would love it.  And yesterday we spent the day with Jenni, Kurt and Vincent - a fun time with our beautiful family, then I went to see a local production of "Chicago" - absolutely outstanding.  Loved it!

Canberra

I spent most of 1976 overseas and a couple of months of that time backpacking around Europe with some dear friends.  We try to meet up a few times each year but Covid has played havoc with that over the last two years.  Last year we managed to see the Monet and Friends exhibition in Sydney and on Saturday we drove to Canberra to see Van Gogh Alive.  In 1978, 4 days after our wedding, John and I flew to Holland and spent a year living there - we were fortunate to be able to visit the Van Gogh Museum and see the real paintings.

This light exhibition was wonderful and Vincent's writings were interspersed with the pictures.  I believe the exhibition is heading to Melbourne next.

There were sunflowers everywhere.

Saturday night we had a fantastic dinner at an Afghani restaurant - the food was delicious.

Sunday morning we visited The National Gallery to see the "Know My Name" exhibition featuring female artists, including Jenny Kee, Linda Jackson and Romance was Born. 

A very interesting piece of display looked like a floormat but it was made up of old cutlery and chillis.

Romance was Born also designed my daughter-in-law's fabulous floral and black lace wedding gown.

After the Gallery, we visited more sunflowers - this time a Sunflower maze.  It's a lovely farm where fresh eggs and other produce may be purchased, as well as sunflowers.

Am definitely looking forward to our next adventure.

The sewing machine hasn't been turned on since Friday last week!