Happy Scrappy Baskets

Another quilt started in June last year and finished in January this year.  "Happy Scrappy Baskets" is made from my Figtree & Co stash and is a great quilt to make from your scrap baskets.

Karen quilted this one with "Featheration" - I love this design with Figtree fabrics.

I love this deep coral/red for the backing - goes so well with so many fabrics.

Dinosaurs Quilt

Three years ago I bought a kit from The Next Stitch to make Elizabeth Hartman's "Robots" quilt.  I thought this would be nice for Vinnie when he went into a big bed.  But, as with most little boys, he prefers dinosaurs, so earlier this year I started making Elizabeth Hartman's "Dinosaurs" quilt.

I sent this quilt to Sarah at Patchworks Plus Shop for quilting.  She used Scottish Plaid Diamond and I love this design.

Vinnie chose the backing when we visited Spotlight a few months ago.

I went to visit Vinnie and his family on Sunday to give him his quilt - the colours are terrific with his room and curtain colours.

Vinnie also wanted a dinosaur t-shirt, so I made him a shirt.  What is it with clothes patterns these days?  Vinnie is a very regular size 4 boy and I made this shirt size 6 - it will barely get him through the summer.

The "Happy Scrappy Baskets" quilt top is together.  This was enjoyable to make, mainly because I was able to use up fabrics from my Figtree scrap basket.

The setting triangles and backing fabric is from Figtree's "Strawberry and Rhubarb" range.  I'm not sure which range the basket fabric is from.

A few weeks ago my friends and I went to see Torvill and Dean's show in Sydney - was so lovely seeing them skate again.  I went to see their first shows in Sydney after they won their gold medal and, even though they were as graceful as ever.  Was disappointing that the arena was only half full.

Baby on a Quilt

Mack's quilt was finished earlier this year (maybe February) and it took me ages to get it to him.  His Mum sent through a couple of photos of the little cuties on his quilt.

Big brother had to get in on the act too :)

I think I'll be ready for some more colourful sewing after making these blue and white quilts.  I was rummaging through the Figtree scraps and came across a bag of 2-1/2" squares.

There are more than enough to make "Happy Scrappy Baskets" (which has been on my mind lately), so I cut out the rest of the required fabrics.

Might start this next and get back to the rest of the blue and white quilts later.

Vinnie and Daisy had a great time at The Wiggles - Vinnie made a lovely poster and was so happy to give it to Caterina.

Friday week ago Elizabeth, Cousin Stephanie and I went to see Anthony Callea and Tim Campbell in concert singing songs by Elton John and George Michael - what a fantastic night out.  They are such good singers and so entertaining - we had a great laugh and loved the show.

One of my Bucket List items is to go to Jane McGrath Day at the Sydney Test.  I'd always wanted to take Mum to a day at the Ashes but I was never able to get tickets (let alone tickets in the shade in a stand).  The tickets for the Sydney Ashes game next January went on sale last Tuesday and, after a very stressful time of being in a queue of 190,000+, finally getting in only to be timed out and then joining a queue of 32,000+, I managed to buy tickets for me and the girlfriends to go on Jane McGrath Day  By that stage I didn't care where we were sitting - just happy to know I can be there.

Happy Scrappy Baskets

"Happy Scrappy Baskets" is a Corey Yoder (Coriander Quilts) design.  Corey's patterns are so well-written and easy to follow.   I've made a few quilts with these fabrics and it's time for some of them to go to a new home.

The backing fabric is the lilac version of the turquoise fabric used for the baskets.

This is a great design to use up lots of 2-1/2" squares.  Karen quilted it with "Featheration" - the design looks lovely in all the white space.

Finished stitching down the binding on "Dashing" last night - two more to bind then I'm done for a while.

Sampler Blocks

Over the weekend I started sewing the "Happy Scrappy Baskets" together.  I was so happy that I had just enough of the Corey Yoda "Lulu Lane" large floral to use for the setting triangles.

By Sunday night the quilt top was together and the backing was made; ready to drop off to Karen on Monday night.

The main reason for visiting Karen was to pick up "Nine Patch Waltz", which was quilted last week.  It looks so lovely.  Might get around to sewing on the binding next week.

I've decided to make another Bonnie and Camille Sampler Quilt - this time making a block from each quilt I start this year as well as blocks made for the Aussie Bonnie & Camille Beehive.  I've made 5 blocks this week

"Moda Love"

"Nine Patch Waltz"

"Starry Starry Night"

"Summer Nights"

to add to the blocks already made.

"Lucky"

"Happy Scrappy Baskets" and "Spinning Stars"

Centre of "Fresh"

"Snippets"

It's a great opportunity to use up all the leftover pieces of background fabrics.

Last weekend was busy with little Sweetheart staying over.  We went to see "Toy Story 4" on Sunday morning and visited GG (Mum) before heading home to her place.

This weekend the stitching girls are coming over.  My son and his family are moving house next week, so Sunday I'll be packing.

Quilt Tops

Last Monday the Honeymooners flew out of Sydney to Amsterdam to start their European honeymoon.  Their first couple of days were spent in Eindhoven with family and they saw lots of places relating to the family.

Next stop was Brussels and overnight (our time) they arrived in Paris.

Cruising down the Seine

I had a fun start to the weekend - spending time with Gulliver while he assembled some of his birthday Lego.  He did it all by himself following the photos in the instruction book.

Saturday was lunch with the Schoolgirls - they've all been on long holidays:  Gail to South America/Europe/UK/Iceland; Lynell to Middle East/Scandinavia and Denise on a marathon caravan trip through Qld/NT.  Was fun to catch up with them after so long.

The rest of the weekend was spent in The Pink Room.  Thursday and Friday nights I sewed up blocks to make two rows for my Aussie B&C Beehive quilt "Christmas Cheer" (Sawtooth Stars and Chequerboard)

and then I sewed the lower four rows together.  The stockings were made by the Aussie B&C girls.  This quilt will be large enough to go onto my bed at Christmastime.

Saturday I sewed the "Spinning Stars" blocks into rows and by the end of the night I had a quilt top.

Plain white borders were added on Sunday morning and the backing and binding was made.

Then I started sewing "Fresh" blocks together - even though there are only 16 blocks in this quilt, it took quite a while to sew them together - lots of points to match up.

The backing has been made and the binding will be offcuts from the backing.  This quilt is huge at ~96" sq.

Don't think I have any more piles of blocks in the sewing room.   Might get back to some "Happy Scrappy Baskets" sewing - I'm halfway with this one.

While sewing, I've been binge-watching "Bed of Roses" - first watched this ABC series when it was originally on tv (2008-2011 or so) and I still love it.  Wonderful friendships, fun characters and a nice romance.

Not Much ...

Not much happening in The Pink Room - trimmed the rest of the half-square-triangles for "Happy Scrappy Baskets"

and laid out charm squares for another "Bradley Street" quilt using these new "Safari Life" fabrics I bought from Karen.  They will make a fun cot quilt. 

The rest of my spare time I've actually been stitching blocks for the newest Sweetheart's quilt - running very behind on this one as he's almost four months old.  Three large and two smaller stitcheries to go.

On Saturday night, along with Tania and her son, I went to see "Sweeney Todd" starring the wonderful, superstar Anthony Warlow.  Could never say that this is a favourite musical (Sondheim's music is always so jarring - I was hanging out for a nice melody) and the subject matter is so very gruesome, but Anthony Warlow was sensational.   Lynell, Robyn and I have tickets to see him in "Jekyll and Hyde" in November and I'm looking forward to that show - it's a one-off concert version in Sydney.

Yesterday afternoon Mum and I went to the pictures to see "Red Joan" - I enjoyed this suspense movie.  Judi Dench is always good value.  Looked up the real "Red Joan" afterwards - she was much more involved in espionage than depicted in the film.