Lynda in Wonderland

2011

2012-02-13T10:50:00.003+11:00

Playing with Picasa:

Family and Friends

Sewing etc

And Now for Something Completely Different ...

2012-02-12T11:07:00.001+11:00

A friend told me about a website she found that designs/sells very funky, extreme machine embroidery designs. The designs are definitely not everyone's taste but are very popular with the "young 'uns". Jenni bought a few and has started stitching them out on the embroidery machine.

This design takes over 3-1/2 hours to stitch out

By the end of the night Jenni had made a cushion to give to her friend as a housewarming present.

Meanwhile, I didn't do any quilting - I sewed a few of my pinwheels together for our on-line group's mystery BOM

and played with some pretty fabrics that I'd cut up some time last year.

Mini version of Camille Roskelley's "Dream Big"

Bec had sent me a few honey bun strips of "Spring Magic" by April Cornell and I added a couple of pretties from my stash. Not sure what size this little quilt will end up - that will depend on when I run out of these fabrics. I have more of the Lake House pearlised white spot and the pale peach that I may use for borders.

Looks like the rain has gone for a while - beautiful weekend weather here.

Blogging from an iPad

2012-02-11T10:22:00.000+11:00

I tried to do a blog post from our iPad using an App called "Blog Press" but there's some issue with our network and it won't post.

The last few days I've been pin-basting quilts. Anyone who has visited has been roped in to pinning too. The first quilt is being quilted but it's very slow going - lots of interruptions, which I don't mind.

iPad photo

The new sewing machine is great - after these 3 quilts the machine will be going on the frame and I'll get stuck into the rest of the quilt tops in the pile. Maybe some more quilting over the weekend. Lots of rain here the last couple of days.

One More ...

2012-02-07T10:08:00.001+11:00

Finished off another cot quilt last night - the quilting on this one was started well before Christmas but it was put aside (and forgotten about). Came across the quilt when I was sorting through a pile of stuff in the sewing room and was able to do the quilting over the last couple of days and sew down the binding last night. It's a mix of flannel (pale blue/white spot) and cotton.

33-3/4" (85 cms) square

Blogger is loading photos sideways again.

I think I have one more cot quilt cut out ready to piece but that one can wait for a while. I'm hoping to baste a couple of quilt tops this afternoon, if something else doesn't distract me.

Songs for Nobodies

2012-02-05T20:39:00.000+11:00

Yesterday Mum and I went to Sydney for the day - first I had an appointment at the Chanel Makeup Studio in Myer. I've never had my makeup done before so I wanted to have a trial run before The Big Day - no photos. We met up with The Bride, her mother and aunt for lunch and a bit of shopping before going to the Opera House with Elizabeth and Jared (her best friend) to see this show:

Brilliant! Stunning!

It was a beautiful day in Sydney - the harbour was sparkling and it's been just as beautiful here today. So many people mowed their lawns today.

Two Finishes

2012-02-03T10:54:00.000+11:00

Rain, rain go away ... it's supposed to be summer here in Australia. After such an awfully hot day on Monday we've had solid rain for the rest of the week. So many part of our country are flooding (again). All we can do is stay indoors and I did a bit of sewing yesterday. I needed to sew binding onto the table topper but was unsure how to mitre the corners as I've only ever mitred 90 degree corners on quilts. Google came to the rescue - found this great video tutorial.

Not all the corners are perfect but they're ok.

34" x 34"

The girls in our on-line group chose great blocks and I'm really happy with how the table topper has turned out, except for a couple of my fabric choices because two of the blocks don't have enough contrast. I love the "Oh Cherry Oh" fabrics - the same range I'm using for Sylvia's Bridal Sampler.

On Tuesday night, at stitching, I finished the punchneedle part of this bag. It's a Rosalie Quinlan design called "Welcome Home Bag". I received the pattern and starter kit when I went to the first Inspired Stitches a few years ago - took me a while to get around to making it. I started doing this punchneedle when we were away on holidays - not the best activity for car travel.


6-1/2" x 8"

Might do some cutting out and tracing today. It's our friend's birthday today so we will be going to her place for dinner tonight - should be a fun night.

Brain Food

2012-02-02T12:59:00.002+11:00

While at the hairdresser this morning I came across this article in an old Woman's Day:

Couldn't get the photo to post vertically - the article says:

"Being creative is good the the mind ... but throw away the paintbrush and pick up a sewing needle, recommends a Scottish study by the University of Glasgow. Researchers found that quilting improved wellbeing in ways that other activities could not, adding that the use of bright colours was 'uplifting'. The activity also distracted fro the stress of work while offering challenges such as maths and geometry."

Scientific proof that what we love to do is good for us.

Quilting

2012-01-31T22:52:00.000+11:00

I found a piece of batting the right size for my table topper so Sunday was the day to baste and unpack the new machine. It goes like the clappers, even on slowest speed, and has a great extension table.

Then yesterday morning the new roll of batting was delivered but it was way too hot to even think about playing with wool.

Did a bit more quilting on the table topper this afternoon and finished off a piece of punchneedle at stitching tonight - it's for a Rosalie Quinlan bag pattern. I started the punchneedle when I was on holidays - let me just say that using that needle in the car in an experience! Poked myself quite a few times then decided it was safer to stitch.

There will be lots of basting and quilting in my future.

Zig Zag Whimsy

2012-01-29T11:25:00.000+11:00

This quilt top seems to have taken so much longer to put together compared with the others I've made recently. I like it now that it's done.

Another quilt top on the pile. Hopefully the batting will arrive tomorrow. I found a piece of batting large enough for my Oh Cherry Oh table topper so I'm going to pin baste that this afternoon and maybe start quilting. Back in November I bought a new sewing machine for the frame and I still haven't tried out out. I've been wanting to quilt something small at the dining room table to get a feel for the machine before putting it on the frame and couldn't do that before Christmas because I had to wait for the walking foot to arrive. Today is the day.

Beautiful summer's day on the sunny South Coast - lovely change from all the rain we've had.

Fig Tree Zig Zags

2012-01-26T15:20:00.000+11:00

Last year I bought some Fig Tree fabrics from Bec and included in the parcel were 2 packs of Whimsy charm squares that had been sewn into half square triangle blocks with some Fig Tree cream. I've added a few more blocks using a variety of Fig Tree fabrics and am up to my least favourite part of the patchwork/quilting process: sorting out placement of the blocks.

I love scrappy quilts but deciding which fabric should go next to which drives me nuts.

The sun has come back today just in time for Australia Day bar-b-ques and celebrations. We are going to a restaurant at the local harbour for dinner tonight and we'll have a great spot to watch the fireworks.

Twirling Bliss

2012-01-25T11:31:00.000+11:00

Thanks to some great tennis last night, watching Rafael Nadal win, this quilt top is now finished.

I had just enough of the spot fabric left to make a narrow border, so I am very pleased about that as I really like a narrow border then a wider border on quilts.

I love this quilt top. Finally bought a roll of batting (from Sarah at Patchworks Plus), so maybe next week I'll start quilting. I have another Fig Tree quilt half made that I'd like to finish putting together this week. I bought this one from Bec last year and half of the work was already done. There's more great tennis coming up today and tomorrow (Nadal -v- Federer), so it looks like I'll be spending some more time in the sewing room.

Bliss Twirls

2012-01-23T11:15:00.000+11:00

No wonder this fabric range has been so popular - it is so pretty and each fabric tones in so well with all the others.

I love how the quilt is turning out. I think this block is my favourite:

Twirling Bliss

2012-01-22T11:43:00.001+11:00

I've had a jelly roll of Bliss fabrics for a couple of years. I bought it just because I liked the colours and designs but could never decide what to make with it. After looking through a stack of patterns and books a decision has been made.

Jelly roll strips were paired up and sewn together yesterday then while watching/listening to the tennis later last night, 572 diamond shapes were cut.

I'm making Jelly Girl designed by Fig Tree. I love the red spot on the milky white background. I bought that fabric before Christmas at a local shop just because I liked it - should have bought a lot more but sadly the shop has closed and there are no details printed on the selvedge. I have a Bliss layer cake in the cupboard - not sure what I'll make with that yet. Michael and Peta might get to choose which quilt they'd like - maybe they'll want both.

Had a lovely time with the Schoolgirls at lunch yesterday and Jenni was here when I arrived home - we watched the Vicar of Dibley 10 year special and the wedding specials - so very, very funny.

Quick Quilt Top

2012-01-21T09:56:00.002+11:00

I had two charm packs of Fig Tree's Buttercup plus a little bit by the yard in my cupboard and bought another two charm packs on special at Hatched and Patched. Four charm squares sewn together to make a larger square, 2-1/2" sashings and posts, the tennis on the tv to watch/listen to and it's done.

This photo shows the colours better

I've ordered some B fabrics (border, backing and binding) and when they arrive I'll finish off the top.

We are going to a wedding in July and this may be the present. I showed these fabrics and some Bliss fabrics to the bride's mother and asked her which she thought her daughter would like - she chose Buttercup. I'm slowly working my way through the Fig Tree stash. Have a bit of a Bonnie and Camille stash happening too.

We had a great night out in Sydney on Thursday night - dinner with all the kids at a Mexican in Newtown and coffee/sweets at Max Brenner. Lunch with The Schoolgirls today. Seem to be a "lady who lunches" lately. No complaints from me.

Table Topper

2012-01-20T10:20:00.000+11:00

This week I was determined to finish putting together the Table Topper our on-line group was making last year as our BOM using 6-1/2" blocks. Made the last few blocks and finished putting it together while watching Lleyton Hewitt.

Friendship Star

Fiddler's Jig - not enough contrast

Contrary Husband

The table topper together.

I fogot to show a photo of the main present I sent to Vicki in our Secret Santa Swap - it's the "Angel Project Tote" designed by Natalie Bird.

Hoping to spend some time in the sewing room today playing with my stash of Fig Tree fabrics.

Lunch with Friends

2012-01-18T22:11:00.000+11:00

On Monday I noticed a message on Teresa's blog saying she and Michael were driving down to Sydney for a few days. I sent Teresa a message thinking we could meet up with them in Sydney and it turned out they were actually coming much closer to home, so we were able to meet up for lunch at a cafe at North Wollongong Beach.

It was so lovely seeing Teresa again and meeting Michael. John and Michael have much in common - motorbike injuries etc.

The Two of Us

2012-01-17T16:28:00.001+11:00

I spent yesterday in the sewing room - first time I've spent practically a whole day in there since I finished work.

The stitchery I did while on our road trip is for this bag. It's called "The Two of Us" and is a Rosalie Quinlan pattern.

I love the bright striped fabric - really goes well with the thread colours. The bag is for a girlfriend for her birthday in 3 weeks.

Last October when the girls were over for a stitching day, I started making these blocks from "Bliss" fabric. The quilt design is "Hot Cross" from Carrie Nelson's Book "Schnibbles Times Two". The quilt is an engagement present for Michael and Peta. I love the colours and the lattice design.

I put a 10" wide floral border on the quilt top so that it sits well on a queen size bed.

Need to buy a roll of batting so that I can get stuck into quilting the ever-growing stack of quilt tops as well as the other quilts I plan to make over the next few months.

What's in the bags?

2012-01-14T21:50:00.001+11:00

One of the Christmas presents I received from Diann:

Proof that it's not my fault I shop so much.

My shopping from Anni's Shop - Hatched and Patched

Three Country Keepsakes doll patterns and three Hatched and Patched patterns plus a H&P kit and Anni's new book "Some Kind of Wonderful". I also bought some threads, a Theodora Cleave button and some purse snap frames.

A punchneedle set for my friend's birthday present, pin cushion kit, wool felt, Fig Tree fabric on great sale and some fat quarters of Anni's fabric range.

Pretty good haul in the short time I had there while John was checking out a nearby motorbike shop.

I also bought a 10" punchneedle frame. Didn't realise they came in this size - much better for the piece I'm making at present.

Rosalie Quinlan design.

I did some stitching while we were travelling. More Rosalie Quinlan.

"The Two of Us" a small bag design.

The finished, unironed design.

On our way back down the North Coast we stopped at a fabric shop in Macksville and I bought the striped fabric to make up the Rosalie Quinlan bag, the spotty fabric to make a basket liner and seat cover for my bicycle and the floral stripe just because I liked it.

I also finished off this block for my Gingham Girls "My Favourite Things" quilt - there are pearls and buttons to be added once it's quilted.

When we arrived home a parcel was waiting for me from Jenni - she had bought this for me for Christmas but it didn't arrive in time. What a lovely surprise!

Will look fantastc in my sewing room.

3,190 klms

2012-01-13T11:14:00.000+11:00

That's how far we travelled on our holidays after Christmas. We were away for 13 days and had such a wonderful time visiting family and friends and many new places.

Our first stop was Coffs Harbour to visit John's sister, brother-in-law and nephews. We brought our bicycles and went for a ride along the boardwalk through the mangroves. Afterwards Jo took me to visit her favorite shop, big mistake. So many beautiful goodies - some had to come home with me.

We had a great time with Jo, Roger, the boys and their beautiful Labrador, Rocky.
Next stop was our dear friends, Diann and Bill's, in Queensland. On New Year's Eve we decided to go for a motorbike ride to the Gold Coast for breakfast

but the weather became very nasty and we turned back after about 20 kms. We went to the pictures that evening to see "We Bought a Zoo" - lovely movie.

At the pictures

New Year's Day John and Bill went for a ride while Diann and I stayed home to stitch and watch the next series of "Downton Abbey". We managed to see two episodes before the boys returned.

Diann and I also fitted in a bicycle ride and we all went to the beach on the Gold Coast. My brother and sister-in-law were next on our itinerary to visit. They live in Brisbane and the bicycle tracks around their suburb and beyond are brilliant. We rode out towards Nudgee Beach one day and then towards Paddington the next. We met up with Diann at Carindale for a bit of shopping (bought an iPad) while Paul and Lynette were at work, visited my brother's shop where John found lots of goodies he had to have (angle grinder, nail gun, drill, camera) and then we went to a beautiful restaurant in Ascot for dinner.

The following day we drove back to Coffs Harbour via Mullumbimby to stay one more night with Jo and Roger then drove down to Lake Cathie to visit my other brother and his family. Was lovely to catch up with all of them.

The National Motorcycle Museum at Nabiac was the next stop. John spent hours in there. The museum has over 820 motorcycles on display and I think John photographed each one. After a while I went back to the car to read my book.

We stayed in Lochinvar that night en route to Dubbo. I haven't been in this area before. Elizabeth wanted a souvenir from Dunedoo

so we stopped there for lunch and found an embroidered tea towel for Elizabeth. Turns out the couple who run the tea shop live about 10 kms away from us and travel to Dunedoo every fortnight to open their Tea Shoppe. Delicious lunch and lots of home made goodies. We arrived in very hot Dubbo on Saturday afternoon and after some quick emals and sms's, we arranged to have dinner with the lovely Peg and her husband James.

Photo from Peg's blog

It was so wonderful to meet up with my long-time on-line buddy and we very much appreciated that Peg and James drove to Dubbo at the last minute to have dinner with us.

Sunday we went to Dubbo Zoo. We've been wanting to visit the zoo for over 30 years and I was so happy to be there. It is a great place to visit and wonderful to ride around, although a bit hot that day.

Monday we drove to Bathurst via Mudgee (what a lovely town). I wanted to go to Bathurst to visit Hatched and Patched - years and years ago I visited Annie's first shop but hadn't been to the new one.

When I walked into the shop Annie told me that it was the first day of the shop's annual sale. What a treasure trove the shop is. I'll leave my shopping and stitching for another post. Have to work out how to post photos from the iPad to blogger.

As it was still reasonably early (3.30 pm or so) we decided to drive home and that was the end of our holiday. This week has been a busy time of washing, packing up the Christmas decorations, taking my sick computer to the shop (using John's at the moment and it's not being friendly), Elizabeth is here for a visit etc.

Happy New Year - here's hoping for a healthy, wonderful year for everyone.

Christmas 2011

2011-12-26T23:59:00.007+11:00

Michael's best mate (and best man) Brook joined us for Christmas Day - Jenni made a stocking for him.

Elizabeth cooked our breakfast.

The new tablecloth and serviettes.

Black beer gingerbread with prehistoric decorations (made by Jenni)

Matt carving the Chrismtas ham

Enjoying a laugh between courses: Elizabeth, Michael, Brook, Jenni, Mum and Patti (Matt's Mum)

Trife and Orange Gateau

Jenni and Elizabeth organised a "guess the number of nativities in the house" competition - Patti won - there are 13 full and part nativities (including wallhangings)

Gingerbread house made by Jenni

Brook and Patti

Flaming the Christmas Pudding - always the Best Pudding ever made by Patti

Great day! Family at home and friends dropping in - what more could we want?

Today we had some very special visitors. My nephew, his wife and their two children popped in.

Our great niece 12 months old Charlise

And our friends, Phil and Louise, came by with their daughter, son-in-law and 8 weeks old grandson.

8 weeks old Axel with "Great Uncle" John

It's been a lovely couple of days. More friends came over for dinner tonight - good thing as there were lots of leftovers from yesterday in the fridge.

Christmas Swap

2011-12-26T12:01:00.000+11:00

Those who guessed got it right - my partner in our on-line group's swap was Peg. This year we had a mini-Advent swap - 5 presents to be opened from 20 to 24 December and a main present for Christmas Day. Here are the rest of the beautiful presents Peg sent to me:

Christmas Day: a very pretty sewing machine cover that looks beautiful in my sewing room and fits the sewing machine so well.

The back is so pretty too.

Thank you so very much Peg - I am thrilled to bits with my presents.

Christmas Party

2011-12-21T13:05:00.000+11:00

The Tuesday stitching girls came over last night for our final get together this year. We had such a lovely night. First bit of excitement was Paula showing us her finished Floral Bouquet quilt top.

The colours are so pretty against the white background. We all started this quilt earlier this year and the quilt had to be made out of stash fabric. Six of us started and six have finished the quilt tops before the end of the year which is fantastic.

Paula has been especially busy in the lead up to Christmas. She made aprons for all of us from Janelle Wind's pattern in Homespun Vol 12 No 11 - they are absolutely beautiful and each girl's favourite colours were chosen for her apron.

Sharon, Rhonda, Kerryn, Me, Paula and Karen modelling our new aprons.

I made the girls a sewing bag using a simplified version of a new-ish pattern from Natalie Bird.

Can anyone guess who my partner is in our on-line group's Secret Santa?

Day 1 present:

Day 2 present:

Beautiful presents from a dear friend.

PS I love my new mixing bowls, sugar bowl and milk jug. I also bought the 1 litre jug to use for juice on Christmas Day. Christmas presents from me to me.

Christmas Baking

2011-12-19T14:25:00.000+11:00

Yesterday was the Christmas Party at the retirement village where Mum lives and Mum being Mum, organised all the food. Saturday was Christmas cake baking day along with some cooking for the Village's Christmas Party: 2 Tiramisus, mince pies and Corrie's delicious fancy rocky road (further down in the post and I add pistachios).

Last night I finished some other Christmas "cooking". These went off in the post this morning and I hope to finish another couple this week - I'd love to have a few in a vase. All my other Christmas sewing/craft plans have gone out the window.

John and I finished off the present shopping yesterday. A bit more cooking this afternoon and tomorrow then a visit to the hairdresser and grocery shopping later in the week and I should be on the way to being organised for the family to arrive on Christmas Eve. It's the best time of the year!

Source

Santa's little elves are working overtime at the North Pole and in lots of homes everywhere.

The Tale of a Dumb Bunny

2011-12-15T16:52:00.000+11:00

Earlier this year I finished stitching The Wish Quilt, put the blocks away safely and completely forgot about the quilt until Monday night - I walked into the sewing room and it suddenly hit me, where is The Wish Quilt? Couldn't find it anywhere. I was convinced that I'd sewn the quilt top together but it wasn't amongst the tops waiting to be quilted. I searched through every cupboard, shelf, drawer and eventually found the blocks in the block keeper. The plan was to have the quilt finished for this Christmas but that won't happen now - the top is together

and looks nice on the dining room table even unfinished. There is still a bit of stitching to be done - antlers on the reindeer, "heart" to be stitched over the applique heart in "home is where the heart is" and button to be attached when the quilting is finished.

The fabrics in The Wish Quilt are "Yuletide Blessing", an older Fig Tree range. I had a small f/q pack of the fabrics in my cupboard and Peg sent me a f/q bundle as a surprise birthday present a few years ago and they were different to my fabrics, so they all went together beautifully.

I've been having all sorts of issues with my machine embroidery. Last year I started a Christmas tablecloth but only got halfway. Decided to finish it off for this Christmas as everyone will be home and it's been a nightmare. Thankfully it's now finished and I'll be able to put a salad bowl or something over the trouble spot.

These lace ornaments have been much more fun to stitch out.

Last Saturday we went to the Garden Restaurant at the Sydney Botanic Gardens for lunch with Michael, Peta and Peta's Mum and Dad. This is where the wedding reception will be held next April - a beautiful restaurant, delicious food and wonderful setting for a wedding.

The Band Lawn where the ceremony will take place.

For Elizabeth

2011-12-07T10:29:00.000+11:00

Loungeroom

Family Room

The embroidey machine has been cranked up and is doing its thing.

Swell Swoon or Swoon Swell

2011-12-06T10:01:00.000+11:00

A few weeks ago I enjoyed watching Kate's Swoon quilt come together so I order the pattern from her shop. I had a hunt through my fabrics and found some Swell fat quarters I'd bought from Bec earlier this year but I needed two more for this quilt top. After thinking about it for a while I decided to make the blocks smaller thinking that with more blocks I could repeat more of the fabrics. Sunday night I drafted up a 12" block, cut out the fabrics yesterday afternoon and sewed it up.

The stripes are a bit all over the shop but, on the whole, I think it looks ok. I might cut out the rest of the blocks then put them away to take with me if I go to a quilting retreat next year - this would make a great quilt to sew at a retreat.

I made the flying geese using the no waste method and also used this method for the striped flying geese with the two different "sky" pieces as I was trying to reduce the number of seams. As there are a few stripes in my f/q bundle, I think I might have a go at trying to have all the small striped triangles running in the same direction as the pieces they join next time.

More Preparations

2011-12-05T19:00:00.001+11:00

I had to move Snow White and her Dwarfs - the vase was too unstable, so the branches are now in a different vase in a safer (I hope) spot.

The tree is now up but not yet decorated. John chose very well - the tree is a great shape and smells beautiful.

The rest of the inside decorating is finished and we've been putting up the outside lights. The fruit is soaking for the Christmas cakes - I'm running late this year.

I finished the binding on a cot quilt on Saturday night - not much other sewing happening that I can show. I love the fresh, bright colours and the Dick and Jane backing fabric.

Last night I spent 4 hours wrapping presents. My present-wrapper moved out of home a few months ago and I'm working on suitable bribes for her to come over and do some present wrapping.

My New Favourite Decoration

2011-12-03T08:59:00.000+11:00

Well, for today at least ... I love coming across Christmas decorations that I've forgotten about. When Mum, Elizabeth, Jenni and I went to Melbourne in January I saw the very cute Dopey decoration from Jim Shore's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs Ornament Set. Had to buy the whole set and I'd forgotten about it until Thursday when I was bringing out all the decorations. I knew I didn't want to put them on the Christmas Tree and thought they'd look nice on their own white branch tree. After trips to the garden for branches and to the hardware shop for white paint plus one vase from the cupboard, we have:

The apple decoration has a scene showing the cottage in the woods - it's too heavy to hang from one of the branches. I'm hoping the vase will look lovely on the table when all of the decorating is finished.

Looks like white branch trees are very popular this Christmas - the guy in the hardware shop said he's lost count of the tins of white gloss spray paint he's sold this week.

Almost finished the secret hand-sewing and I'm hoping to crank up the embroidery machine next week.

Beautiful weather the last couple of days - so lovely after all the rain. Michael, Peta and Jenni are at HomeBake today - their summer of festivals has started.

Back to the decorating - "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas".

It's that time of year ...

2011-11-30T20:26:00.000+11:00

Like many others, lots of secret sewing is happening in my sewing room. Some presents to be parceled up and posted in the next couple of weeks and some to be wrapped for under the Christmas Tree.

John and I have been busy cleaning and tomorrow we will start decorating the house for Christmas. On Saturday John will visit the tree farm to buy/chop down our tree.

We've had a couple of trips to Sydney in the last few days. Mum and I went to see Schools Spectacular on Saturday afternoon - such a magnificent show, while John went to the Motorbike Show at the Exhibition Centre, next to the Entertainment Centre. After that we met up with Jenni and Elizabeth and had dinner together - they'd been to the Harry Potter Exhibition at the Power House Museum. Yesterday the car was booked in for a service at the dealer we bought it from in Sydney, so John and I spent the day Christmas and birthday shopping (it's Mum's 84th birthday on Sunday). Mum has already given me her Christmas present list: two bags of premium potting mix and one bag of dynamic lifter.

I love Christmas and am looking forward to re-discovering all our decorations and favourite goodies over the next couple of days.

The Cake

2011-11-21T20:28:00.002+11:00

Yesterday was cake-making day at Elizabeth's place to raise funds for Red Cross. By the time we arrived the cake was decorated and ready to be assembled. We ate it for sweets after our bbq lunch - delicious. Double chocolate fudge layer cake on the bottom level and burned butter, caramel and cardomon layer cake on the top level.

Elizabeth and Matt were so pleased that they cake stayed assembled long enough for the many photos. We are so proud of Elizabeth's effort - she raised $450. More photos here.

Another cot quilt is finished.

Today's class with Deborah Louie was great - I learned lots of tips and tricks relating to the Aurora 440QE. Some Christmas sewing tomorrow before having lunch with some retired work friends and dinner/pictures with a girlfriend. Love this new life.

We also saw Michael and Peta yesterday. Wedding plans are progressing - Peta has had a meeting with her dress designers, she's pretty much decided on the bridesmaids' dresses and made a start on the bonbonieres.

Ruffles 'n' Rows

2011-11-19T11:34:00.001+11:00

Yesterday I sewed up the Ruffles 'n' Rows quilt (Natalie Bird design) using the lovely, bright LakeHouse Dry Goods fabrics I bought last week and fabrics from my stash. I made the suffolk puffs while watching "Young Victoria" and "Elizabeth" last night. "Elizabeth" is so gruesome in places but Cate Blanchett is sensational.

The quilt is too long to photograph is one go on my design sheet. I'll get a better photo when the quilt is finished. The quilt is for my great-niece for Christmas.

The backing is made up of wide strips of some of these fabrics.

One of today's jobs is to sew these pieces together, sew on the suffolk puffs tonight while watching tv and another is to find the requirements for a class I'm going to on Monday with Deborah Louie, to learn about all the features of my Aurora 440.

Also finished a quick tablerunner out of Fig Tree's Whimsy this week. It will go onto the Christmas present shelf. The pinwheels are from charm squares leftover from another quilt I have cut out and hope to start soon.

We are going to a bbq at Elizabeth and Matt's place tomorrow - Elizabeth is cooking the cake for her Red Cross fundraiser and there will be crowd there to help eat it.

Beautiful weather today - hope it stays around for a while.

Simple Arithmetic

2011-11-17T09:26:00.001+11:00

Distance between my house and Canberra CBD?

8 Tarts.

I haven't sewn any of these for a few weeks -amazing how little hand-sewing I've done since I finished work. No more lunch-time stitching.

Pies and Tarts

I have enough pies sewn to their background fabrics to make another 3 rows and plenty of tarts ready to fill in the spaces - except for the last 8 they were all made in lunch-times over the last few months at work.

We went for a drive to Canberra yesterday so that John could visit this exhibition at the Canberra Museum and Gallery

A private collection of vintage motorbikes - all running and ridden often - from early 20th century till 1960's. I think John would have loved to have a couple of these in his garage. After lunch and a wander around Civic, we wanted to visit another exhibition at the National Gallery but the bridge over the lake was closed to traffic as Mr Obama had just landed.

Last night I cut out a quilt from all those lovely LakeHouse Dry Goods fabrics - Row by Row designed by Natalie Bird. I hope to have it finished by Christmas for my great-niece.

Another cot quilt is finished.

Teddy Bear Playtime

Shopping

2011-11-14T22:50:00.024+11:00

Last week I received a text message from a local quilt shop advising the shop was closing down. All fabrics were $10/metre and everything else was 50% off. While feeling sad that another quilt shop is closing its doors, Sharon, Paula and I did our best to contribute to their closing down sales figures.

Fabrics, ruler, patterns, templates, blades, needles, threads

I bought the three fabrics on the left in the sale and they tone in so well with other Lakehouse Dry Goods fabrics, plus a few others, in my stash - plenty of plans for these fabrics.

The big bargain of the shopping trip?

A new sewing machine for the frame - at 50% off, how could I leave the machine in the shop? I've been looking for a larger-throated machine for a while now. Haven't unpacked the machine yet as the quilting I've been doing over the weekend has been ditch-stitching small quilts.

Twirling Teddy Bears

Criss Cross - love the Peter Rabbit flannel backing

And, lastly, the rosebud I showed last week, has bloomed. This is a big deal for us - 2 roses now on the archway.

Pierre De Rosnard

Butterfly Garden

2011-11-11T09:03:00.001+11:00

In October 2008 I bought a f/q pack of Ava Rose fabrics to make Butterfly Garden, designed by Leanne Beasley. In April 2009 I started making the blocks. Last night the final stitch was sewn.

"Butterfly Garden" - 62" x 62"

Backing

I am so happy that this quilt is finished - it's taken a very long time to make. Leanne had a hand in choosing the colour of the fabric for the butterflies and hearts when I had a chat to her in Adelaide at the time I was just starting to make the blocks. I'm still not 100% convinced that needleturn and I are friends.

Might get back to "Gingham Girls - My Favourite Things" one day soon and when that's finished I'll think about starting "Down in the Garden". Too many beautiful quilt choices from our talented Australian designers.
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Elizabeth has entered The Impossible Cake Challenge, which is a fund-raiser for the Australian Red Cross, taking place tomorrow.

All you have to do is click on the link – http://www.redcrossfundraising.org.au/elizabeth_hezemans - from the web page you can make a donation and also leave a comment as to what cake you think she should bake.

The top 3 suggestions so far are below, pick one of these or suggest one of your own -

The Carousel Cake - http://notdrowning.files.wordpress.com/2008/10/carousel-cake-03.jpg?w=260&h=352

The Rainbow Cake - http://babyology.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/Rainbow-Cake2.jpg

The Chocolate Crepe Cake - http://cdn.taste.com.au/images/recipes/del/2006/11/14393.jpg

Almost Done

2011-11-09T08:20:00.000+11:00

Big progress has been made this week quilting Butterfly Garden and I finished the quilting late yesterday afternoon. The binding is sewn on ready to be stitched down.

We've had some big storms the last couple of days - very tropical weather here lately.

Another cot quilt top is finished and I have 2 others cut out ready to sew up but first I'll pin and quilt some of the finished tops.

Criss-Cross

A couple of weeks ago a girlfriend showed me a book she'd bought which explains how you take a striped fabric, eg

Cut it into squares, then quarter-square triangles and re-arrange the triangles to make different patterns, eg

I think it's brilliant. Might make some cushion covers out of these when they're sewn together.

Lady of Leisure?

2011-11-05T10:36:00.000+11:00

I don't know about that - I've had one day at home this week and the diary for next week is looking just as busy.

In amongst the socialising, I've done some sewing - finished off the cot quilt tops I started a couple of weeks ago.

Teddy Bears

Backing

Cut out some more quilt tops and finished two of those (no quilting yet).

Double Hourglass with sashings

Ric-rac and Spots

Made up sample blocks of a couple of the cut-out quilt tops


Love this block - the blue spot is flannel and is so soft and cuddly

Next week, in amongst more socialising and appointments, will be quilting week. First up with be more quilting on Butterfly Garden - I'd love to have that quilt finished off this year.

And the big news at our place this week?

Both of the climbing roses on our front trellis have rosebuds. We are so excited. Neither of us are gardeners. I hope that when the buds open no-one steals the flowers. A large branch was broken off our frangipanni tree last summer when the flowers bloomed - the poor tree is now very lopsided.

Presents

2011-11-02T20:09:00.000+11:00

Last year I knitted loads of baby/toddler garments but didn't sew up many of them. I need a baby present for this week, so sewed up this jumper and pants set - it's so cute.

Knitted in Bendigo Woollen Mills Classic 8 ply Wool, Panda Pattern, size 6 months

Our dear friends, Phil and Louise, should be grandparents by the end of tomorrow - here's hoping all goes well for Lorretta and Sean tomorrow and their baby boy arrives safely and quickly.

The last few days, I've been so very fortunate to receive some beautiful presents as well as the gorgeous bicycle.

White gold/diamond pendant from Mum and my brother; pink pearl earrings from the children; sapphire and diamond earrings from Tammy; gold bangle from John; crystal perfume bottle from a dear retired friend; diary and Bronwyn Hayes felt flower from Kerryn, a sweetie who works at the Steelworks and recently joined our stitching group.

I received phonecalls and messages from people I haven't worked with for years, flowers, cards. As I said, so very fortunate.

Friday

2011-11-01T09:34:00.000+11:00

Friday was a wonderful day at work - I only cried in the morning after Tammy started crying when I arrived in the office. Phil, my boss, had organised a huge bbq for everyone in Engineering as there were about 30 people leaving that day.

Friday night we had a farewell function at the local Golf Club for the 8 people leaving our area. It was a lovely way to end the day. Many of our retired people came along and it was wonderful to be able to share the night with the friends I'd made during the 22+ years and my family. I even managed to read through my speech without tears- so many funny interjections helped greatly.


Phil saying a few kind words about me. I wore The Shoes	.

Elizabeth and Matt

Jenni and Michael

Mum and Me

With Phil and Paula

On Saturday afternoon John took me shopping to buy a retirement present - she is so cute.

My sister-in-law named her "Pinky Tuscadero"

After much encouraging/hassling from family friends

has opened on Etsy.

A Change of Pace

2011-10-27T20:54:00.001+11:00

There has been so much in the news lately about BlueScope Steel's Port Kembla Steelworks, the Western Port Works, redundancies, plants closing etc. Not all of the news is doom and gloom. Friday, 28 October 2011, is a big day in our department. 8 people will be leaving/retiring - me included. I've been working there for 22-1/2 years and I leave with very mixed feelings.

Beautiful flowers from Eva, our cleaner at work.

I have known for quite a while that I will be leaving work tomorrow and I managed to hold myself together until Eva came to visit me at lunchtime - as soon as I saw her she started crying and then I was, then others joined in. Emotionally, tomorrow will be a big day and tomorrow night our whole department is going out for dinner - my family is coming along too, so that will be even more emotional.

I work with such a wonderful group of people and will miss seeing them each day but, on the other hand, I am excited about having a few months off before looking for some temp work. I think temping is the way to go for me as I'm not sure that I want a full-time job with lots of responsibility.

I would really like to make a big dent in the fabric stash during my time off.

Cot Quilts

2011-10-25T19:53:00.000+11:00

A year ago I finished off a stack of baby/cot quilts that I'd been making to try out a few different designs. Michael and Peta's friends had a baby boy in August and they gave him the Bento Box quilt. He is such a beautiful baby.

Baby A on his quilt

For my birthday a few months ago, Diann gave me a book called "X Blocks" and the X-block ruler. I had a play with them on Sunday using some of the left-over cot quilt fabric and a yellow stripe. The designs able to be made from simple 9-patch blocks using colour placement and the ruler are fantastic.

X-Block

The cut-off pieces are used to make a border. Very clever.

I also started another cot quilt using the left-over Teddy Bear fabric plus a couple of other fabrics from my stash. This pattern is based on Joanna Figueroa's Petite Fleur quilt design.

Teddy Bears

Lots of chain piecing for both quilts so they are made up quickly.

Rest in Peace Marco Simoncelli.

Steelworks Picnic Day

2011-10-19T12:14:00.001+11:00

Monday was Steelworks Picnic Day so The Girls came to play. I made quiches for lunch, Sharon brought salad (and flowers) and Karen brought sweets.

Quiche Lorraine

Quiche with chorizo and loads of vegies

"Hot Cross" from Carrie Nelson's "Schnibbles Two" book, using a Bliss layer cake I'd bought from Bec, was my sewing for the day - the fabrics have been cut out for months and this quilt was a great choice for easy piecing while chatting etc.

I didn't take any more photos during the day - forgot. Sharon was busy hand-stitching, Kerryn was sewing blocks for her raggy flannel quilt (her first quilt) and Karen made this bag - it looks great and she's started her Christmas present stash.

Karen's bag - photo from Karen

I kept sewing on Monday night and finished off the blocks. Trimmed them up last night and put them on the design sheet - not 100% sure of the layout yet. LOVE the Bliss fabrics and think this quilt will be lovely when it's finished. Once the blocks are sewn together I'll add a small white inner border, a wide outer border in the aqua floral and red binding. I'm giving it to Michael and Peta - I think Peta will love it.

Hot Cross designed by Carrie Nelson

We had a lovely day and look forward to another sewing day soon.

A girlfriend and I went to see "The Cup" last night - wonderful Aussie movie.

Fig Tree Floral Bouquet

2011-10-18T00:15:00.003+11:00

It's been a big week for finishes. The binding this quilt was completed on Friday night and made the pillowcases yesterday morning.

Fig Tree Floral Bouquet, 80-1/2" x 78-3/4" (204.5 cms x 200 cms)

The quilt top was made using a variety of Fig Tree fabrics from my stash and the backing is 3 pieces of Fig Tree fabric.

I don't know where the cream circle came from - it just appeared in the photo

The girls in our Tuesday night stitching group also made/are making this quilt - they are all beautiful.

The Pirate Quilt

2011-10-16T12:14:00.001+11:00

The Pirate Quilt was started a few months ago, the binding was finished on Thursday night and I made the pillowcase on Friday night. This is for Michael and Peta's Godson. They can decide whether to give it to him for Christmas or his 3rd birthday in February.

52-1/4" x 77-1/2" (133 cms x 196.5 cms)

I loved this fabric as soon as I saw it and knew it would make a wonderful quilt for a little boy.

Backing

How cute is this gift bag that I found at the local $2 shop? Perfect size for the quilt.

Yesterday was a great day for pin basting and Butterfly Garden is finally ready for quilting - started this morning.

Lots and lots of stitching in the ditch for this quilt.

Phillip Island

2011-10-15T11:22:00.000+11:00

This weekend the Moto GP is being held at Phillip Island. In 1988 the first Australian Moto GP was held at Phillip Island, Victoria. John had recently purchased a Suzuki Triton with a sidecar and decided that he and Michael, who had just turned 6, should attend this momentous event in the hope of seeing Wayne Gardner (local Wollongong boy) win the inaugural GP.

John with his Dad

John with his Mum

I was most unhappy about my baby boy going all that way in a sidecar! John built a canopy with windows for the sidecar, added a seat belt and Michael was quite cosy in there with his books, food, drinks, pillows, blanket etc. Anyway, they made it to the GP, had a fabulous time and Michael has a wonderful boyhood memory of a special time with his Dad at an event in Australian motorcycling history.

On the way home the bike broke down near Eden so John's Mum and Dad loaded up the bike trailer at our place and drove to Eden to pick up the weary travellers and the bike from the Eden Pub, where they'd been staying/waiting since the breakdown. I'll never forget opening the door early in the morning and there was my gorgeous little boy home safe and sound.

John turned 60 in April this year. His present was a ride day at Phillip Island - we are hoping to take his racing bike down there in the next few months.

PS: Wayne Gardner won the race and he won again the following year.

One More Cardigan ...

2011-10-13T18:52:00.001+11:00

... from the same book and my knitting is done for this year. All the trips we've had to Sydney in the last few weeks have provided lots of knitting time. Same pattern as my green cardigan and with a flower brooch. This cardigan is for my friend at work.

Cleckheaton Book 950, Design No 12, Bendigo Woollen Mills, 8 ply Luxury in Ghost

The Pirate Quilt is quilted, binding is sewn on and half of one side is stitched down.

Last year I knitted some baby clothes and they're in a bag in the sewing room ready for sewing up - hoping to have one of the little outfits sewn up in the next few days to give to our friends Phil and Louise for their first grand-baby (a little boy) is due in a week. Very exciting times for them with No 1 Daughter being married recently and their grand-baby arriving any day.

Cardigan

2011-10-08T09:31:00.001+11:00

The finished pieces for this cardigan and flower brooch have been on the back of the couch half sewn together for over a month. Finished the sewing last night and crocheted the edges.

Design 12, Cleckheaton Book 950 - Bendigo Woollen Mills 8 ply Celeste (85% wool, 5% alpaca, 5% silk),
the colour is Poppy

I'll be giving the cardigan to a girlfriend when I see her on Tuesday.

Close up of the brooch

Having a bit of a knitting craze (in amongst quilting) at the moment before summer hits. Am about 2/3 the way through another cardigan - the same design as the green one I knitted for myself a couple of months ago. This will be a present too. Many years ago I used to knit year-round with the fan blowing in summer, but not these days. Stitcheries tend to take over in summer.

Another rainy weekend on the South Coast. Time for some maintenance at the hairdresser then, hopefully, some more ditch-stitching on The Pirate Quilt before knitting while watching the last episode of "Monroe" - hope we see some more of this show.

Whirlygig

2011-10-05T18:42:00.000+11:00

This quilt top was made in January 2009 using 2 charm square packs and some extra fabrics in one of my all-time favourite ranges - Fig Tree's Patisserie. The quilt top has stayed in the "to be quilted" pile until a few days ago when I put it on the frame and finally got around to quilting it.

Whirlygig - 62-1/2" x 69-3/4" (158 x 177 cms)

Our weekend plans changed a bit due to the amount of rain we received, so Sunday night was spent sewing down the binding - brick red background rose fabric from the Patisserie range. The backing is mostly a green floral/stripe fabric from Fig Tree's Mill House Inn range with a pieced corner of a variety of Fig Tree fabrics.

As we had Sunday afternoon at home I pin basted The Pirate Quilt

ready for lots of ditch-stitching.

Jenni and I had a lovely trip to Ikea on Saturday - didn't buy too much that wasn't on the shopping list - and dinner out with the family last night at a Lebanese restaurant was very enjoyable - no belly dancer this time.

Happiness is ...

2011-10-01T20:27:00.002+10:00

... our dear friends, Phil and Louise, at their daughter's wedding last Saturday. In early August Louise broke her ankle and suffered unbelievable life-threatening complications.

Melissa's wedding was such a happy celebration of a wonderful occasion as well as joy and relief that Louise is going to be ok.

Joy personified - LOVE this photo John took on his phone

I'm having lots of trouble uploading photos through Blogger or Picassa at the moment - not sure how to resolve the problem (as I'm not sure what the problem is).

Blocks

2011-09-29T12:09:00.000+10:00

In amongst some secret sewing, a few blocks have been made:

Civil War Quilt - Kentucky Crossroads

On-line group's 6-12" BOM - Shoo Fly

Sylvia's Bridal Sampler - Rosebud

The Whirligig quilt has been on the frame for quite a while and the quilting is now finished. I still love the Patisserie fabrics.

Binding has been sewn on and I'm waiting for some free time to put on a movie and sew down the binding on Whirlygig and Fig Tree Floral Bouquet.

Long weekend coming up in NSW and it's roster day tomorrow so 4 days off - think I'm ready for a break from the normal routine. Jenni and I are going to Ikea on Saturday and we will be visiting friends and family on the other days. I'm hoping to pin baste the Pirate Quilt ready for ditch-stitching in amongst the socialising.

P.S.

2011-09-23T10:19:00.000+10:00

Forgot to mention that I went to see "The Help" on Monday night with a girlfriend and her daughters. Fantastic movie and so thought-provoking.

We had such a great time on Wednesday night when we went out for the birthday dinner - lots of laughs. We went to a new restaurant in Redfern called "Eat Here" - delicious food.

Michael, Elizabeth, John, Matt, Peta, Lynda

Fig Tree Floral Bouquet on the frame

Busy Time of the Year

2011-09-21T11:08:00.000+10:00

Lots happening at our place this month.

This gorgeous girl turned 24 on 2nd September

This gorgeous girl is 32 today:

The eisteddfod where John and I volunteered over the previous 8 weekends finished last weekend; we are going to Sydney tonight for dinner with the Birthday Girl; tomorrow John is going to Sydney to help Michael and Peta move house; we are attending a wedding on Saturday and on Sunday will go back to Sydney to help finalise the move.

Floral Bouquet is quilted and the binding is ready to be sewn down. Whirlygig is finally on the quilting frame but not much progress made lately. Lots of knitting in the car on the trips to/from Sydney.

Spring on the South Coast is so beautiful this year, except for the huge wind that hit us yesterday afternoon. Magical day today.

Up-to-date ...

2011-09-01T22:25:00.013+10:00

... until the next Civil War block is released on the weekend.

Carolina Lily

Comfort Quilt

Cotton Boll

Indiana Puzzle

Irish Chain

Peterson's Stars and Stripes

Rosebud

Seven Sisters

Star of the West

Tears for Texas

35 Blocks

Present for a Friend

2011-09-01T10:25:00.000+10:00

Our on-line stitching group has a birthday swap each year. This year's presents had to be items starting with the intial of the giver's hometown. My partner happened to be Chookyblue and I was so happy to be able to meet her at this year's Quilt Show in Sydney.

In July I showed a peak of what I was making for her:

It was part of this:

Which became a Punchneedle Purse.

Lynette Anderson design.

I sent a couple of other "P" presents - photo from Chookyblue.

Think I'll have to make one for myself sometime soon.

Sweet

2011-08-27T18:13:00.000+10:00

Straight off the clothesline, freshly washed and dried outside on a beautiful spring-like day - we are going to a wedding at the end of September and this quilt is the present.

I've called the quilt "Sweet" after the fabric range it's made from. I bought the layercake and yellow background from Bec, can't remember where I bought the border fabric from, and the design is from a tutorial on Cluck Cluck Sew's blog.

We had such a wonderful time at the Attestation Ceremony at the NSW Police Academy in Goulburn to see my nephew take his oath as a Policeman. My brother and all his family drove down from Lake Cathie, Mum, aunts, uncles and cousins drove up from the Illawarra. We haven't seen my brother's family for a year and it was fantastic. Mum was able to meet her little great-grand-daughter and spend some time with her great-grandson as well as give her grandson, John, a big hug on his big day. John has wanted to join the police force since he was a little boy - it's a magical day when a dream comes true.

John is in the front row, far right

Lots of pomp and ceremony with the Mounted Police

Police Pipe Band

Police Brass Band

and a motor cycle escort for the VIP's.

Proud and happy Nanna with John and his daughter Charlyse

There are some more photos on our phones - I want to upload the one on DH's phone of nephew John with his 3 brothers - John, who is the eldest, is now the shortest. Mitchell, No 2 son, is 6'8" and Zac, 15, is quickly catching up.

Floral Bouquet

2011-08-25T16:46:00.000+10:00

My dear friend, Diann, has been to visit - we had such a lovely time together during her too short stay. After I collected Diann from the airport we headed into the city to meet up quickly with Peta (who had to work that day), have lunch with Elizabeth and we had a good look around the refurbished Centre Point and also visited Queen Victoria Building (may have found myself something to wear to Michael and Peta's wedding).

We then went to see "Jersey Boys" - what a fabulous show; sensational singing and a great story.

Monday was a busy day: baking in the morning, lunch with Mum, sock-knitting lesson for Diann (on four needles) and then the friends started arriving for dinner. Jenni joined us for dinner too.

Shortly after dinner, the stitching girls came over for the evening and we had a show and tell of our Floral Bouquet quilts. Earlier this year Diann and I decided to make this quilt and I asked the stitching girls if they wanted to join in too.

Paula's pretty and fresh quilt top is almost together.

Diann's quilt top, in Aviary with a few added fabrics from her stash, is ready to be quilted, after which she will scallop the outer border.

My quilt top, in Fig Tree fabrics, is ready to be quilted when I have a free weekend or two.

Sharon's wins second prize - she is about 2/3 through quilting. Her quilt is very pretty - she's added an embroidered vine along the caramel sashing and also pearls at the centre top of each flower. The fabrics in the flowers are all from her stash.

AND THE WINNER IS KAREN - Karen's beautiful quilt, made in a Sandy Gervais range, is quilted, bound and labelled! It looks fabulous.

I'll take some closer photos soon to show the detail in Sharon's quilt and also Karen's lovely quilting. It was a shame Rhonda couldn't join us this time - her batik quilt top looks great.

Tuesday morning came and we drove back to Sydney to go shopping at Peter's of Kensington (had lunch there too - delicious). Too soon it was time to go to the airport for Diann to catch her flight home.

Back at work yesterday and today but I'm having tomorrow off to take Mum to Goulburn - my nephew has his attestation ceremony (passing out parade) at the NSW Police Academy. We are all so proud of him.

It's been a great week so far.

New Cardigan

2011-08-16T10:17:00.000+10:00

This is another cardigan/bolero from Cleckheaton Book 950 knitted in Bendigo Woollen Mills wool bought at the Quilt Show for me. The first photo shows the colour properly.

Yesterday some more wool arrived from Bendigo - lovely colour called Poppy. Not sure what I'll make out of this wool but another cardigan from that book is high on the cards.

Two more Civil War blocks:

Fort Sumter

Log Cabin

and another block for our on-line group's 6-1/2" BOM:

Antique Tile

John and I have been so busy over the last 3 weekends helping out at an eisteddfod - I am so looking forward to Diann's visit and a change of pace.

More Blocks

2011-08-10T14:25:00.000+10:00

Missouri Star

Blockade

Louisianna

Empty Spools

Birds in the Air

Richmond

London Square

Next Door Neighbour

Kansas Troubles

10 blocks to go and I'll be up-to-date.

Blocks

2011-08-04T10:26:00.000+10:00

The Stitching Girls came over on Tuesday night and I spent the time cutting out Civil War blocks. Sewed up some last night.

New England Block

Ladies Aid Album

Little Blue (Pink) Basket

Fox and Geese

Union Square

White House

Blocks so far - the photo gives me a good idea of which fabrics need to be included.

I love making these blocks - another 17 and I will be caught up. Our next Sylvia's Bridal Sampler block:

Rolling Stone

Beautiful spring weather today and the last few days - a lovely change from all the rain last month.
17 sleeps and Miss Diann will be here for a quick visit - I hope she brings some pickles.

Knitting

2011-07-27T16:22:00.002+10:00

A little while before the Sydney quilt show, a friend bought me this pattern book - so many lovely designs. I decided to knit No 10 for Peta for her birthday and stocked up on wool from Bendigo Woollen Mills at the quilt show. Jenni told me recently that Peta loves pom-poms so I decided to add a couple to the ribbon tie.

Design No 10, Cleckheaton Book 950, Bendigo Woollen Mills 8 ply, colour Ghost

The quilting on the Sweet quilt is finished and the binding has been sewn on - I'm taking my time stitching it down at night while watching tv - it's a big quilt.

Sweet - based on Cluck Cluck Sew's "Double Hourglass" tutorial

I've also been cutting and gluing more pies and tarts segments - that seems to be never-ending but is a good tv-watching job.

Lovely winter's afternoon - the sun is out.

Pies and Tarts

2011-07-23T09:28:00.000+10:00

More pies appliqued to their backgrounds.

All the pies I've made so far - enough to start sewing a row or two together and add some tarts. There are a coupe of fabric repeats, so I'll save those pies for further into the quilt.

Time to prepare some more pie segments - hopefully over this weekend.

Friends are coming over for dinner tonight - looing forward to seeing them. Woke up to a sunny morning - so nice after all the gloomy rain (a bit overcast now but maybe the washing will dry outside on the line).

Sewing Room 2

2011-07-22T13:58:00.001+10:00

Views from near the sewing machine

Looking left from the doorway

Looking from the doorway

From the corner where Bendigo Bear is sitting (we bought the bear in Bendigo in early 1979 when we were on a motor bike ride to Adelaide - Bendigo had to travel home by rail - he also attended our wedding).

That's enough tidying/tweaking for a while - a wet weekend coming up - hoping to have some sewing time. I wish this rain would fall where it's needed - we've had more than our share.

Two more Civil War Blocks:

"Illinois Roads"

"Barbara Frietchie Star"

Homework for this week is finished:

"Right Hand of Friendship" Sylvia's Bridal Sampler

More Blocks

2011-07-20T13:57:00.000+10:00

On Monday night I had enough space cleared around the sewing machine to be able to sew up two more Civil War blocks:

"Railroad Crossing"

"North Star" - I love the pink/milky white Hunky Dory fabric

Last night was stitching group and I took along some completed pies to applique to their backgrounds - it takes as long to do this as it does to make a pie. Sewed a couple more at home.

I have another 11 pies ready to applique - that will make 30, so soon I'll get around to sewing a row or two together. In a good week at work I can stitch 5 or 6 pies - by "good" I mean that my lunchtime is uninterrupted. I love making the pies and tarts. I plan to make the quilt larger than the pattern suggests and have added quite a few fabrics from my stash. Jenni has already claimed this quilt - I wonder if she realises what a long-term project this quilt is.

More sorting/tidying tonight and I may do some homework - our next Sylvia's Bridal Sampler block has been announced.

Terrible weather here at the moment - fierce winds, lots of rain etc. Winter has definitely been here this July.

Sewing Room

2011-07-19T10:34:00.000+10:00

Seems to me that my sewing room is a continuing Work in Progress. Weekend before last John and I visited Ikea to buy some new shelving/wall units for the room. Before the wall units could be built I needed to make a bit mess. Many of my magazines are being donated to a local quilt group (I have scanned the patterns/designs that I want to keep).

Elizabeth visited for the weekend - we had lunch at the Nan Tien Temple, saw the amazing embroidery exhibition at the Temple, visited Mum. We drove her home yesterday afternoon and I learned a new mathematical formula: 1 return trip to Sydney = 6 Pies sewn (for my Pies and Tarts Quilt).

We arrived home about 5.00 pm and decided to spend some time unpacking the Ikea boxes.

By 8.30 pm they were both in the sewing room, the drawers had been assembled and the larger unit attached to the wall (we need some wall plugs as there is no joist near the screw plates, hence the drills in one of the cubicles) and we had eaten dinner. These last few photos were taken on my phone last night - when everything is set up nicely I'll take some daylight photos on the camera. The photos up the top show more true colours.

Even though it will take a while for me to work out what should go where, I love the look of the wall units and having all my stuff within easy reach. The only issue I have is that I've lost my quilt-hanging space in the sewing room - I had "Leanne's House" hanging there for a few years and more recently Rosalie Quinlan's "Little Patchwork Village".

Swap Opening

2011-07-18T10:33:00.000+10:00

Friday night was opening night for our on-line group's Christmas in July swap. This year we decided to make each other Christmas stockings.

Jo made this beautiful, original stocking for me featuring bells, yo-yos and a perfectly stitched tag.

I love the tag Jo wrote and attached to the front of the present:

Wrapped inside the stocking were some other goodies - Toblerone, bath bombs and hankies

Thank you so much Jo.

My other partner was Leanne. The stocking I made for her was based on a Kookaburra Cottage design and I made a tag featuring a Hugs 'n' Kisses angel.

I also included a punchneedle lollipop - fat-free and sugar-free. I really like these lollipops and think I'll have to make a few more to decorate with at Christmas-time.

I did a some sewing later on Friday night before starting to dismantle the sewing room (so we could install the new wall units).

"Pinwheel" for on-line group's 6-1/2" BOM

"Lincoln's Platform" Not Quite Civil War Quilt

"Calico Puzzle" Not Quite Civil War Quilt

And just to break up all that pink sewing I finished off the Pirate Quilt Top. I love making children's quilts - the fabrics are so happy and colourful.

On the Design Sheet

2011-07-14T11:55:00.001+10:00

I have the attention span of a gnat lately. Hid away in the sewing room again last night and the photos show what is hanging on the design sheet (can't call it a design wall because it hangs in front of the wardrobe doors - consequently most things appear wavy): two new quilts started.

The first quilt is for Michael and Peta to give to their little Godson for Christmas - the lower black/white strips, blocks with blue surrounds and ships/ocean strip are not attached yet. I love the bright, happy colours in the ships/ocean strip and have more of this to use as an outer border. I need to cut black/white strips to the correct size - these were leftover pieces from another quilt that I put up so I could see how they would look.

I also made two of the Civil War blocks for my "Not Quite Civil War" quilt

"Catch Me If You Can"

"Underground Railroad" - see what I mean about wavy?

This quilt will be made using pink/hot pink/crimson fabrics along with Moda Bella Solid Baby Pink from my stash. I enjoyed making these blocks - nice sized pieces to work with. Some of the pieces in Sylvia's Bridal Samper are tiny - I have so much admiration for those making Dear Jane.

Blocks

2011-07-12T21:56:00.005+10:00

viavI spent most of Monday night in the sewing room - finished sewing up backings for Whirlygigs and Floral Bouquet so they are now ready to be quilted.

Also made this month's on-line group's BOM:

Calico Spools

This year's BOM blocks - we're halfway

and the next block Diann has chosen for "Sylvia's Bridal Sampler":

Ribbon Star

All of the "Sylvia's Bridal Sampler Blocks" made so far

I'm making a big mess in the room while sorting through magazines and books - what to keep, what to donate to a local patchwork group. I think I'll scan the designs/patterns I really want to keep.

Where did we go?

2011-07-11T15:59:00.001+10:00

A couple of secret sewing projects were finished on Saturday afternoon.

One needs to be posted straight away and the other in a few weeks. Then I started sorting through my Fig Tree fabric stash to organise backings for two of the quilt tops in my pile waiting to be quilted. It will be pieced backings for Floral Bouquet as I don't have one piece of fabric large enough and I've made another pieced backing for Whirlygigs.

Yesterday John and I went for a drive to Ikea. After 4-1/2 hours of shopping we were ready to come home along with some goodies I bought for the sewing room. I need to do some sorting/chucking out/tidying before we assemble these purchases but I think the room will be much neater and my stuff will be more accessible in its new home.

We also had a look at all the great things they have to organise wardrobes and kitchen cupboards. I thought John did really well lasting so long - I did let him have lunch at the cafeteria, and his patience at the check-out was miraculous.

This Week's Sewing

2011-07-06T13:55:00.000+10:00

"Sweet" is on the frame and about 1/3 quilted. I love the spotty backing fabric. This is the first time I've used the Aurora on the frame and it's certainly different to using the old 830. I'm using the BSR and have found it easier to use it with the foot pedal rather than with the stop/start button. Actually seeing the area to be quilted is a bit of an issue with this machine as the motor over the needle/foot is much larger than I'm used to. Aside from that the quilting is going really well and I'm happy with the stitch size, tension etc.

Lunchtime stitching is "Pies and Tarts" - I already had 7 pies appliqued to their backgrounds and all these tarts made. Last night at stitching group I sewed the other 4 pies to their backgrounds and put them on the design sheet when I arrived home (the tarts are pinned in place and the white backgrounds are not trimmed).

When I have a few more pies finished I'll think about sewing some of the blocks together and adding some tarts - I want to make sure I don't have two backgrounds the same next to each other. The fabrics sent in the BOM from Quilt Fabric Delights are so vivid and fresh and I've found quite a few more in my stash to add to the mix - it's going to be a lovely quilt. There's a good chance I'll make it a bit larger than in the pattern.

Vintage Valentine

2011-07-04T11:41:00.002+10:00

"Vintage Valentine" designed by Verna Mosquera of The Vintage Spool was started in 2006 (I think) and finished on 1 July 2011. I lost enthusiasm for this quilt so many times but am really happy that it's finished at long last.

"Vintage Valentine" 72" x 72"

"Vintage Valentine" centre block

The Backing

The quilt was started as a sew-along with Helen, Jenny and Diann - 2 of the quilts have been finished for years.

Another busy weekend has gone - trip to Sydney to see Michael for his birthday on Saturday, dinner at a lovely Lebanese restaurant in Surrey Hills (complete with belly dancer) and visiting friends yesterday afternoon.

I've put the Gingham Girls stitcheries away for the time being to concentrate on some knitting for Peta's upcoming birthday as well as cardigans for Jenni and me. I'm hoping to put the "Sweet" quilt onto the frame this week - quilting on the frame with the new sewing machine is certainly different to the old 830. Had a little practice on Saturday and found that the view of the stitching area is somewhat blocked by larger motor area over the needle and foot.

Extra Long Weekend

2011-06-27T12:51:00.001+10:00

On Thursday, John and I met up with 3 friends at Darling Harbour to attend the Quilt Show. We had a great day - a bit of shopping (wool from Bendigo Woollen Mills, pattern from Thread and Ginger, kit from Hatched and Patched, templates from Punch with Judy to make Candied Hexagons, Bernina stitch-in-the-ditch sole plate for my walking foot and a few other bits and pieces).

Some of the quilts on display were spectacular and so lovely to see our local girl (Merrilyn Pearce) take out Best of Show once again.

At lunchtime I quickly said hello to Chookyblue and Cardygirl, then met up with Chookyblue and Fairy Girl for afternoon tea - a definite highlight of the day. Really looking forward to meeting up with Chookyblue and our other on-line friends at next year's quilt show.

We didn't spend as much time at the quilt show as we normally would because we went to meet up with Peta and her Mum while Peta tried on a dress she would love to wear for the wedding. So exciting. Peta has found a dress she loves in a Paddington Boutique - sadly the dress is too big but Peta is talking to the designer about having a dress made in her size. I just hope Peta can have what she has her heart set on.

Friday was a Mental Health Day to recover from my rushing around on Thursday. Spent some time finishing off the outline stitching on Vintage Valentines and then started shadow quilting inside the blocks. I knew the space outside the appliques needed to be quilted but I wasn't keen on meandering or stippling. Never having done shadow quilting, it's been a matter of jumping in at the deep end and just having a go.

Saturday morning I decided to be brave and try out the BSR attachment - what a difference! My stitches are still not perfect but so much better than without the BSR.

Did some more quilting yesterday and now 9 blocks are finished. 3 more smaller blocks to go and then the central medallion - will need to move to the dining room table to be able to manoeuvre the quilt more easily at that stage.

Yesterday afternoon Michael rang to say he and Peta have bought a ring - more excitement - antique ruby and diamonds. They pick it up this afternoon. Mum, Jenni and I went to the pictures yesterday afternoon to see "Bridesmaids" - I didn't know much about the movie only that it looked funny from the previews on tv. Definitely not a movie to see with your mother or your daughter.

Guilty Conscience

2011-06-21T13:41:00.001+10:00

As a quilter I often have a guilty conscience about the growing pile of quilt tops and the number of UFO's in the sewing room. It's always so exciting to start something new. Then I become annoyed with myself because I don't think I should feel guilty - I love stitching/patchwork/quilting and if I decide to work on something different, then that's my choice. Even so, I was feeling really guilty about Vintage Valentines.

The quilt top was finished in February 2009 - I think it took me almost 3 years on and off to make the blocks.

It was pin basted in February this year and each block was ditch-stitched and then stitched 1/4" inside the seams. It has sat in the sewing room ever since with all those pins still in the quilt top - this was what causing the guilt. I would have been really upset if the pns had started to rust - I know it was only 4 months but you never know - we had a very humid summer and very wet autumn and start to winter.

On Sunday afternoon I started free-motion quilting around the applique shapes in the 12 outer blocks - to my surprise/relief I found that 2 were already done. As of last night I have half of the central medallion to quilt around and that part of the quilting will be done.

Next step is to make the binding and bind the quilt. Then I'll think about whether I'll do any more quilting in the background of the blocks and, if so, what to do. I'll discuss this with the girls at stitching tonight.

Maybe soon that guilty feeling will be replaced by the happiness of finishing a long-standing UFO.

Quilt Show starts tomorrow - I will be there on Thursday.

Homework is Finished

2011-06-17T23:24:00.003+10:00

I spent much of the long weekend piecing the rest of my Gingham Girls blocks using some very pretty florals and loads of pieces from my scrap drawer. The pattern has many applique hearts but I probably won't be adding many as I don't want to cover up the lovely big flowers.

I've enjoyed making the heart-shaped and circle blocks - these have been made following the method shown in "The Wish Quilt", using freezer paper and stitching the cut-out shape to the background stitchery fabric. The Gingham Girls pattern has these shapes blanketstitched but I didn't think that would suit my fabrics.

Gingham Girls - My Favourite Things - background blocks

Block 2 - "My Favourite Teahouse"

Block 1 - "Tea"

I love stitching these blocks. I've come across a few more errors in the patterns - there is no "I" in "ANTIQUE" in block 4. Background fabric for the Chinese doll in Block 10A should be cut 9-1/2" not 9".

While I was in Queensland with Diann, she told me our next block in Sylvia's Bridal Sampler was to be "Road to Oklahoma" - finally got around to making it last night, so I'm now up-to-date.

"Road to Oklahoma"

Not Long Now

2011-06-16T16:17:00.000+10:00

The final large "The Wish Quilt" block is finished. Hooray!

I had a few problems tracing the Santa and sleigh design onto the green stripe fabric so, after some discussion with a friend, I traced the design onto Solvy and stitched through that. It has worked really well but could probably do with another rinse as the linen still feels a bit stiff. I'm using Solvy for the little floral sprays on the red background too. This isn't the sticky Solvy that I've seen recently on some blogs, it's the Solvy I use for machine embroidery. I hope to find the sticky Solvy at the Quilt Show next week because printing directly from the scanner to the Solvy would be great in many instances.

4 little blocks to go and I'll be done!

More Shopping

2011-06-13T10:23:00.000+10:00

Yesterday we went to Sydney and Jenni decided she needed to go shopping at Bondi so we picked up Peta and Elizabeth and had a lovely afternoon shopping. Of course we had to visit our favourite shop to see what was on special and I saw these shoes as soon as I walked in.

Beautiful colour, bride-to-be loves them, brand new style just in, 25% off - what more could I ask for? They had to come home with me for the wedding. Once Peta has decided what colours she's having for the wedding party, I'll look for my wedding clothes and if the shoes don't match, well, I may have to shop for another pair.

Peta's Mum and Dad came in to join us for dinner - we had a lovely evening. It's so wonderful being able to celebrate happy news.

Shopping

2011-06-11T12:50:00.000+10:00

How cute are these little cases? They have been on my wishlist at Peter's of Kensington for a while as they've been out of stock. The smallest case is 6" x 4".

I also bought some new lunchboxes for Miss Jenni to take her lunch to school

The Wish Quilt is coming along slowly at lunchtimes - three small floral sprays, vine under the houses and one double heart block then I can add borders.

It's very chilly here for our long weekend. We're going to Sydney tomorrow for dinner with the happy couple, Elizabeth and Jenni.

Sweet

2011-06-08T11:46:00.002+10:00

Over the weekend I finished off the double hourglass quilt top (block design from Cluck Cluck Sew) using Sweet fabrics and some Moda Bella Solid in a lovely baby yellow that I bought from Bec a couple of months ago.

The quilt has turned out quite large (83-1/2" sq) and I'm now thinking about how to quilt it. I need to find somewhere at home to photograph larger quilts and start using John's camera so that the colours show up better in the photos - the colours in this fabric range are really lovely, not washed out as in these photos.

There has also been a bit of secret sewing/stitching happening at home.

I am finally making headway with The Wish Quilt - sewing the heart appliques and floral spray filler blocks at lunchtimes and the chequerboard blocks have all been made, so maybe another couple of weeks and this quilt top will be together.

While I was away I started stitching block one of the Gingham Girls "My Favourite Things" quilt - love stitching these girls. I've come across a couple of mistakes in the patterns - block 1: thread used for face and hands should be 3859; block 2: background for applique needs to be cut 1/2" longer.

This coming weekend is a long weekend here in NSW. We will be going to Sydney on Sunday to have dinner with our children and their partners. So looking forward to seeing Michael and Peta - Michael proposed to Peta on Monday and she said yes - we are thrilled to bits, tickled pink, over the moon ...

Life is Good

2011-06-02T10:57:00.001+10:00

Last Thursday morning everything was tidied up in the sewing room

my bags were packed with some clothes and lots of sewing and hand-stitching

ready for me to fly to Diann's later that morning before our trip to Kingaroy on Friday. I'd taken my old machine at Diann's on my last visit in March (to save on excess luggage) in readiness for this trip. The large purple bag contains all of Diann's sewing - her clothes bag was 1/4 the size.

The Quilters' Rest at Kingaroy is a fabulous venue where we can sew non-stop if we want or hand-stitch, read, do whatever takes our fancy.

I sewed and sewed so many small pieces of fabric together and the three blocks in the top row are all I have to show for my efforts - the block in the second row was made in March 2010 at Kingaroy and this quilt ("Rosettes" by Fig Tree Quilts) has been untouched since then.

All the block components are together and ready for sewing into 12 more blocks.

We returned from Kingaroy on Sunday night. Monday we shopped and then spent the afternoon sewing. I decided on some quick gratification sewing - Double Hourglass from Cluck Cluck Sew (which I'd cut out at home) using some Sweet fabric I'd bought from Bec.

By Wednesday morning all the blocks were made and ready for trimming.

42 of the 84 blocks

84 blocks ready for trimming

On Tuesday we decided to surprise our friends at Homespun and Beautiful, Tereasa's lovely shop where Helen, Teresa, Tereasa, Laurel and Mary get together each Tuesday. The surprise worked a treat. Teresa has more photos on her blog and I'll post one with Teresa when she emails it to me.

Helen, me, Diann, Tereasa - the quilts on the wall and samples on the shelves behind are are mostly Helen's beautiful work.

Two days at home before the weekend and back to work - life is good. I'm so fortunate to have met Diann and the other girls via the wonderful world wide web.

Australia's Biggest Morning Tea

2011-05-25T11:39:00.001+10:00

This morning at work we held our annual Australia's Biggest Morning Tea to raise money for the Cancer Council - a charity close to everyone's heart. I made Retromummy's White Chocolate Rocky Road (with Turkish Delight, pistachios, baby marshmallows) and Peg's Malteser Slice (also had to make a Malteser Slice for Jenni to take to school for their morning tea tomorrow and another to leave at home for John while I'm away).

The organiser of the morning tea provides a prize for the most popular item and this year it was Retromummy's Rocky Road - what a lovely surprise. Want me to put this in the post, Corrie?

Butterfly Garden

2011-05-23T10:42:00.001+10:00

Block 5 was finished on Saturday night

Yesterday morning I sewed row 2 together

and then the quilt top (a bit windy outside yesterday afternoon).

The backing is ready:

Was hoping to have it pin basted but ironing had to be done. Maybe when I come home from my trip to Queensland to visit Diann. We are going to Kingaroy (The Quilters Rest) for the weekend - can't wait!

This quilt has taken a long time to get to this point and I've received loads of encouragement and friendly ribbing along the way.

Little Kids/Big Kids

2011-05-16T11:03:00.008+10:00

Yesterday was a beautiful day on the South Coast. We were invited to Wil's first birthday party - we had a lovely time.

Little Wil with his Mum and Dad

Birthday boy with his Poppy and Nanny

Face painting had been organised for the children and some of the adults had to join in.

Wil's Uncle Shaun and Auntie Kellie bought him The Best Present - what every one year old needs in his garage:

Auntie Kellie, Wil and Uncle Shaun

Uncle Shaun had a fun time driving Wil around.

"Floral Bouquet" is now together - we've moved the clothesline to another area of the back garden, so I need to find somewhere to photograph larger quilts. This quilt is 80" x 81" - I changed the setting a little bit by making two extra blocks, adding one row to the width and taking two rows from the length, so it now fits a queen bed.

Floral Bouquet

Progress so far on Butterfly Garden Block 5

"Butterfly Garden" Block 5

Books

2011-05-14T10:28:00.001+10:00

On Wednesday night I had dinner with my dear friend Barbara. She gave me these two fabulous books for my birthday.

So many beautiful things in each book to make or ideas to decorate other items. Such a thoughtful gift from a non-patchworking friend.

Two more Sylvia's Bridal Sampler blocks:

"Old Maid's Puzzle"

"Pinwheel 1"

I'm happy when Diann chooses easier blocks - nice change from some of the doozies we made last year.

Hooray it's the weekend - winter vegetable gardening class at Bunnings (have no idea how I was talked into this), hairdresser and then maybe sewing the borders on Floral Bouquet. Tomorrow is our friends' grandson's first birthday party - Wil was one last Monday.

Yesterday

2011-05-11T14:24:00.002+10:00

was my birthday so, along with mothers' day, I've had a fun couple of days.

I received some wonderful presents including new black ugg boots with swarovski crystal buttons from Elizabeth and Matt. Jenni bought me a voucher for a facial and these very cute salt and pepper shakers (they are together in the photo above).

Vicki, from our on-line group sent me some beautiful "B" presents - this year we have to make presents for our secret partner which start with the first letter of where we live

Birthday diary/address book with machine embroidered birthday cupcake decorated with balloons, a blue fat quarter and blue variegated thread

The parrot head in the photo from mothers' day is actually this ...

A Mary Poppins umbrella from Michael and Peta. 15 sleeps till I fly to Queensland for a trip to Kingaroy with Diann (my present from John).

Our Weekend

2011-05-09T18:00:00.000+10:00

On Saturday John participated in Ride Around the Lake - a bicycle ride around Lake Illawarra (~40kms). My girlfriend, Lynell, and I were marshalls along the way. She brought along water pistols for us to shoot at the riders.

The parcel delivery person came on Saturday to drop off this parcel - see girls, I haven't opened it yet - honestly.

Yesterday was Mothers' Day - a busy but enjoyable day for us.

This is one of the presents John bought for me

A little greenhouse for our back yard. Hopefully there'll be some plants in there before too long.

Mum joined John, Jenni and me for lunch and then we drove to Sydney to have dinner at Elizabeth and Matt's place. Elizabeth is an excellent cook and dinner was delicious.

Can anyone guess what Michael and Peta bought me?

I love it!

Oops

2011-05-09T14:44:00.000+10:00

Looks what happens when I'm paying enough attention.

Was easily fixed and now Block 6 is finished.

A close-up.

Block 5 is sewn together, stitcheries are traced and the applique pieces (5 butterflies) have been cut out - so, it's time to start the last block - hooray!

Lots of little tart segments have been cut and glued ready for car trips etc.