Pineapple Party

Finished "Pineapple Party" on Monday night - it's such a fun quilt and was a joy to make.  The different blocks in the body of the pineapple add lots of interest.  I love these bright Alison Glass fabrics - I've used these in a few quilts lately.

Not a great size quilt for a queen bed but it adds lots of colour as a bed-topper

and I think the little ones will like this when they're lying on the couch watching tv.

I love the two different quilting designs Jenny (AngelCake Quilting) used:  "Pina Colada" in a variegated thread on the pineapple

and a lovely swirly design ("Growing Things") on the border.

The backing is lovely - sherbert colour with cute pineapples.

What a big weekend we had!  A few months ago I bought tickets for the girls and I to see "Frozen" - first major musical experience for Little Sweetheart T and so happy that Vincent was on his best behaviour (with his daddy) so his mummy could come with us.

We had lunch in the new Darling Harbour precinct - lots of "Frozen" items on the menu.

Elizabeth took T down to the front of the theatre to check out the orchestra pit.

Sunday was Mother's Day.  Peta was working all weekend (starting at 5.00 am on Mother's Day), so Michael and Gulli visited in the morning and left in time to pick up Peta from work.  The rest of the family came for lunch - Matt cooked a Mexican extravaganza (which was delicious).

Little Vincent was showing his new party trick - he's smiling and it melts my heart.  Mum was thrilled because Vinnie was quite happy to sit with her for a good while.  The other great-grandchildren are too active and fidgety to do that now.

As my birthday was on Monday, Jenni made a fabulous cake for sweets on Mother's Day and T helped with the decorating.

Last week's "Sewcialites" block is Gratitude designed by Thimble Blossom.

30 blocks made and 6 more to go then I can put the quilt top together - some of the blocks might be moved around to mix in the colours some more.  I've ordered silver Kona Cotton for the setting triangles.

"Boho Heart" is up-to-date.  Love working on these blocks and using these beautiful fabrics.  They are a bit more expensive than most quilting fabrics but the colours are fantastic.

The first half of the quilt is now finished.

Last week I cut out another "Village" quilt - this is for a special order and I'm more than happy to make a third one of this design.  It's so bright and happy.  Lots of last pieces of favourite fabrics will be in this quilt.

Another Riley Blake Block Challenge block is made.  I'm having to add a few more stash fabrics to the mix because I have very little variety left in my "Chantilly" fabrics.  So great that all FigTree and Co fabrics mix in so well together.

Think I'm caught up on all my sew-alongs and BOM's at the moment.  "Another Story" sew-along starts next week and I have most of my hexagons cut out.  I swapped fabrics with two other SAL members so that will add more variety to my quilt top.

SAL's/BOM's are a good way to make quilts and not become bored making the same blocks over and over.  I've found lately that I end up having a few quilts all finishing around the same time.

Hawks home game on Tuesday night and a win!  The season has been very long this year and we have 7 home games over 3 weeks.

Stroll

 "Stroll", a quilt designed by Camille Roskelley, Thimble Blossoms, is a fun design.  Really enjoyed making this quilt, especially the strawberries.

Last week's "Sewcialites" block was Virtue designed by Bonnie Olaveson, Bonnie Cottonway.

Blocks 1-25 laid out as per original design.

"Pineapple Party" is together and ready to be quilted.  Such a fun design to make.  I'd like to resize the blocks to make a cot size version.

Fun backing fabric and binding ready to go.

I think this background fabric is up there as my most favourite background ever.

Decided that the Easter break would be a good time to sew "Gypsy Wife" together - the blocks have been made for many months but I was a bit intimidated about making the background strips.  Once I had sorted out the order of the colours and had the strips numbered, it all went pretty smoothly - there were only a couple of sections that needed unpicking.

Section 1

Sections 1-6

"Gypsy Wife" top

I bought some lovely Art Gallery fabric for the backing and the mid-grey will be the binding.

As a reward to myself for finally sewing up "Gypsy Wife", I started making blocks for this year's Scrap Busters' SAL - "Boho Heart", another Jen Kingwell Quilt (this one was designed with Andrea Bair).

I have another 3 lots of blocks to make then I will be caught up.

Had a lovely Easter break - Easter hat parades, family lunch, grandchildren playing together, Easter egg hunt, time with friends.

Double Hourglass

This is the second time I've made a Double Hourglass quilt - the first was 10 years ago.  I love how this FigTree version has turned out.  The colours are a great contrast to the scrappy, low volume background fabrics, while not overpowering the overall look.

The quilting design is called "Maidenhair" - a new design for me.  Quilting was done by Karen at Quilting on the Coast.

The backing is a cute Riley Blake fabric and the binding is from FigTree's "Strawberry Fields Revisited" range.

Last night I finished making the blocks for "Pineapple Party" - hope to start sewing some rows together tonight.  I love the colour-saturated Alison Glass fabrics.

Stitched down the binding on "Stroll" last night.

One more binding to stitch down and I'll be caught up till Karen's next visit - she has two quilts to quilt and I have a two ready to go to another quilter (three when some backing fabric arrives).

Niner

Finally a quilt is finished this year :)  "Niner" designed by Thimble Blossoms and made with loads of FigTree and Company fabrics.

I love the scrappy background fabrics.

The backing fabric is a pretty Brenda Riddle floral that I picked up on special at the local Hobby Sew shop.

Last week's "Sewcialites" block - Abundance designed by Robin Pickens.

Caught up on "Shine On Sampler" blocks.

Month 2

Month 3

Month 4

The extra fabrics for "Pineapple Party" arrived last week

and I was excited to cut out the rest of the blocks.

Started making some blocks on Saturday night and I love how quickly they all come together - the pattern instructions are terrific.  Hope to finish off the blocks tonight and perhaps start sewing them in to rows tomorrow night.

Stitched down the binding on "Double Hourglass" on Sunday night.  Very happy with how it's turned out.

Visited littlest sweetheart and his Mummy and Daddy on Friday and spent some time with Elizabeth, Matt and the family on Saturday - T came to stay Saturday night, which was fun.  Beautiful day on Sunday - Mum and I went for a walk in Shellharbour.  Lots of home games coming up - the basketball schedule is all over the shop this season.  Exciting win for The Hawks last night after a scare during warm up - the hoist holding up the hoop gave way.  Amazingly no-one was hurt.

Many people on Instagram were posting Bitmoji sewing avatars - a bit of fun.