Sewing for the Family

 I've been procrastinating for months - not sewing for the family but finally got around to starting in January.

"Blaire" blouse designed by Style Arc for Elizabeth is a lovely linen.

Finally sewed up the baby clothes I had cut out for Daisy - some of the patterns were purchased when Elizabeth was a baby.

Jenni brought this fabric to me and asked me to make a romper for her baby.

Last year when Hugo chose Halloween fabric for his pants, he also chose fabrics for his sister and cousins.  Jelly beans for Thea

60's swirls for Gulli

and Paw Patrol for Vinnie

When Gulli was little I cut out a pair of pyjamas for him but never got around to sewing them up and didn't sew them up for Hugo.  Finally sewed them up for Vinnie during this batch of sewing.

Vinnie's third birthday was earlier this month and we spent the day at Sydney Zoo - a lovely zoo and very easy to navigate with children.  His party was last weekend and I made him "Giddy Up", a Melly & Me design.  I've previously made a few of these and this may be the last.  I added little wheels because I think it's a bit heavy for a little one to hold up.

Magoo Monkey

Little Sweetheart has been staying with me overnight this week while her Mummy and Daddy were in hospital.  Her baby brother was born on Tuesday night after a very long day.  Now that he's here, he looks much smaller than his 4.19 kg weight would suggest.

I asked her if she'd like to help me make something for "her baby" (as she calls him) and gave her the choice of a monkey, giraffe or elephant (all Melly & Me patterns).  I was hoping for the elephant but Magoo Monkey was the decision.  She helped pick out some fabrics and we cut out all the pieces.

Started sewing him together once Little Sweetheart was in bed and finished him off the next night.  Love how quickly these fun designs come together.

During the last while I've also been stitching down the binding on "Seaglass" Variation.

Elizabeth and the baby will be going home from hospital tomorrow - will be quiet at my house when Little Sweetheart goes home with her Daddy tonight.

Little Sweetheart is 2

Monday was little Gulliver's 2nd birthday and his party was held on Sunday.  Lots of fun and great times with his little cousins and the rest of his family there to celebrate with him.

On Saturday I needed to use the power tools to put Gulli's present together.

Melly and Me's "Giddy Up"

Also made him a reading cushion and added a couple of books.  Gulli loves books and has an impressive library for a 2 year old.

Other recent sewing has been more "Wish Upon a Star" blocks - all are now done and I've started sewing the sashings/posts to make smaller stars where the blocks join.

I need a larger design wall!

Two sleeps until Diann arrives - we're going to the Quilt Show on Friday and looking forward to catching up with some friends there.

One TWO ChaChaCha

Little ChaCha turned two this week.

I made a couple of presents for the Birthday Girl:

Reading a Girl Cushion with a pocket to hold her new favourite bedtime book

"Giddy Up" designed by Melly and Me

 

Had a little issue when drilling holes in the dowel to stitch the head to the pole - it helps if the drill is in forward rather than reverse.

ChaCha and Gulliver are the sunshine in my life - their smiles make any heart melt - and I'm so fortunate to be their Nanna.

Scrappy Quilts

I've been invited to a wedding in early March and the pre-wedding celebrations started on Saturday with lunch at a fantastic pub in Marrickville.

 

Lynell came with me to the lunch and we finished up the day watching the Hawks win an absolute nail-biter.

Very much looking forward to the wedding and a weekend away with family and my dear friend Lynell. 

The sewing machine has been whirring away making more Scrappy Churndash blocks - 18 made, 7 to go and I can put this quilt top together. 

The embroidery machine has been busy too.

The pile of orange, pink, yellow and white fabrics in the last blog post has now been made into something and it was finished yesterday.

I've been wanting to make a Pineapple Quilt for ages and I now have a reason to.   Love all these colourful fabrics. 

I LOVE making these blocks - they whip up in no time and I hope they will look wonderful in a quilt top.   Might have to make two quilts.

Presents

These are the lovely presents I received from Fiona for my birthday from our on-line group.  They are all beautifully made and follow this year's theme "Grow, Cook, Eat".

These beautiful flowers arrived yesterday from dear Diann.

Yesterday was a lovely day - so many phone calls and messages.  Pictures with Mum in the afternoon then we went out for dinner with Mum, Jenni and some friends to a Thai restaurant.  I received so many beautiful presents and we had a great time.  We're going to Sydney for Mother's Day, so I'll see Elizabeth and Matt and the Newlyweds then.

I made young Wil's birthday present on Wednesday after spending most of the day/night in the sewing room (had to go out to buy more fibrefill and visited Mum).

"Giddy Up" designed by Melly & Me

This is the fourth "Giddy Up" that I've made and I'm saving the rest of the cowboy teddy fabric - one day I might need it ...

One of the members of our Tuesday night stitching group is a young girl (well, she's 22 so a young girl to us) and she's just finished her second quilt - this is for her Mum for Mother's Day.

She made it following the design of the zig zag quilt I made a couple of months ago and she used 3 charm packs of Fig Tree's "California Girl" and 3 charm packs of Moda Bella Solid in White.  The quilt is wonderful.  She ditch-stitching the coloured zig zags and stipple quilted the white background fabric.  Her first quilt was made for her Nanna for this Mother's Day - I'll try to get a photo from Kerryn of this quilt.

Another beautiful day on the South Coast - might make a couple of the Stepping Stones blocks today to see how they look.  The whole quilt is made of only two block designs.

Bonaparte and Ellie

Last night was opening night for our on-line group's Softie Swap.  Jenny made Bonaparte (from a recent Homespun magazine) for me - her work is beautiful and he is gorgeous.  His hat is fantastic.

My other partner was Karyn and I made Melly & Me's "Ellie" for her.  Ellie is such a sweetie.  She was the sneaky-peak photo from a little while ago.

Giddy Up Again

The filly is finished and waiting to be taken to her new home on Tuesday.  Pretty obvious that I love this pattern.

This week's Sylvia's Bridal Sampler block - Bright Hope.  Nice to make an easy block after last week's.

The blocks so far:

Lots of Pink

My blog is looking pinker and pinker by the week and this week's Sylvia's Bridal Sampler block - Laurel Wreath adds more pink.  This was another doozy with lots of set in pieces and Y seams.  I decided to hand-piece this one and the points turned out well but the block is still a smidge larger than the 6-1/2" it should be.  Accuracy is definitely an issue with this quilt.

Sneaky peak at softie finished last weekend for our on-line group's next swap.  She will be flying to a warmer climate next week.

A few strips have been added to the Hexagon Quilt

and this is a filly version of Giddy Up - hopefully John will have some time on the weekend to cut and drill the dowel so I can finish putting it together to give to a little tot when her new baby sister comes home from hospital early next week.

I've been to the pictures twice this week - last Sunday with our family to see "The A Team" (great characters, funny one-liners and as much action as would be expected) and on Wednesday night Jenni and I went to see "Toy Story 3" - as much as I enjoyed this movie, there's no way I'd take small children to see it.  There were children crying in the theatre, which I found upsetting.  Buzz Lightyear's Spanish dancing is sensational.

Merc Magoo and Friends go on a road trip

John and I as well as Merc Magoo and his friends, Giddy Up 1 and Giddy Up 2, went on a road trip heading north.

On the way we visited my brother and his family in Lake Cathie, where Giddy Up 1 is now living, and we also visited John's sister and family in Coffs Harbour.  We arrived at Diann and Bill's last Friday evening, after a very speedy shopping expedition into Pacific Fair.  That night Giddy Up 2 moved to his new home with Diann and Bill's grandson.

Saturday saw the boys visiting numerous motorbike shops while Diann and I had a lovely day visiting her local patchwork shops.  Managed to find a few things to buy.

On Sunday Diann, Bill, Maurice, Merc, John and I all took off for a drive

to Fernvale

Gus Beutell's Lookout

Esk, Crows Nest and Highfields and stayed overnight in Toowoomba.  Monday morning we had a look around Toowoomba then drove back to Diann and Bill's via Nobby.  Had lunch at Rudd's Pub - where Steele Rudd wrote "Dad and Dave".

On Tuesday John, Merc and I drove back to Sydney - big trip, stayed overnight and then yesterday met up with a bunch of friends to visit the Darling Harbour Quilt Show.  I didn't buy too much there.  The crowds were huge this year - I found it a bit overwhelming in the morning.  We have lots of photos of the quilts - some unbelievably stunning quilts on show this year, but I'm not sure if putting these photos on blogs is allowed.

An excellent few days.  And this afternoon Merc is moving to his new home with Baby Wil.