"Truly Scrumptious"

" Truly Scrumptious

Though we may seem presumptuous

Never, never, ever go away

Our hearts beat so unruly

Because we love you truly

Honest Truly, we do"

Richard & Robert Sherman

"Truly Scrumptious" designed by Natalie Lymer of Cinderberry Stitches.

This quilt and the backing have been made mainly from stash fabrics and leftovers from other quilts. Remnant pieces were bought for the borders and binding.

I wanted to use the "extra" block as my quilt centre because her name is Elizabeth, so Miss Izzy became my label.

As I'd pieced the blocks prior to tracing the stitcheries, I should have taken more care about choosing the stitcheries for each block because each Miss Scrumptious is either blue or green and it took me a while to finalise the layout of the quilt.

"Citrus Crush"

"Citrus Crush" designed by Janelle Wind is now finished and all my Amy Butler fabrics have been used up (except for a couple of tiny scraps).

We are going to Sydney today to do a bit of shopping and have dinner with Elizabeth, Michael and their partners (Jenni has to work), so I thought I'd take both Amy Butler quilts along and let Elizabeth choose which quilt she would like ("Citrus Crush" or "Happy Days"). Hmmm ... which one? I honestly have no idea.

"Truly Scrumptious" is almost finished - she's quilted and bound, label is stitched and written on ready to be attached. Might have time to do that tomorrow night. The quilting on TS is very simple - in the ditch on all the blocks, sashings and posts then 1/4" inside the stitchery blocks and across the diagonals on the corners of those blocks.

Miserable weather today - great for shopping and spending time with the family.

TS Girls Finished

Here are the final two Truly Scrumptious girls: Gracie


and Miss T Tipsy

When life returns to our version of normal, hopefully after this weekend, I might find some time to start to sew all these blocks together. These girls have been a delight to stitch.

More Girls

Over the past few weeks during my lunchtimes I've been stitching some more "Truly Scrumptious " Girls - Miss Delish and Scarlett:

Gracie is next then it will be time to put the quilt together. "Girls Day Out" is my night-time stitching but this one is going very slowly - lots happening on the homefront at the moment and Wollongong Song and Dance Festival takes up most weekends in August/September.

In one week our gorgeous baby will be turning 21. Jenni decided she didn't want a party to celebrate this huge occasion; she would rather travel to Melbourne with my credit card to spend a few days shopping and having a great time. So, on Thursday night our family (7 of us) will be flying to Melbourne for 3 days. Looking forward to us all going away together.


On the actual birthday we will be having dinner at home with The Nannas along with Jenni's and our closest friends.

Sweet Pea's Quilts

My first two finishes in Peg's Challenge - two Sweet Pea's Quilts all done, except for the labels, which can't be completed until the babies are born in September. I've added sashings to make the quilts a little larger than the original design and one of Peg's Peepers to the pink quilt. 95% of the fabrics in the quilt tops are from my stash - have been trying to use up some of the stash this year.

This is "Miss T Tipsy" the next installment in "Truly Scrumptious" and two buckets (minus handles) that my daughter Jenni has been making - they are from the new Bronwyn Hayes book "Little Chicken Feather". A friend of hers had twin boys in January (3 months premmie) - the boys are doing really well now ("chubbin' up" to quote Jenni).

Another Weekend is Over ...

Spent some time last week writing up the April block - last block in my Leanne Beasley's 365 Challenge quilt. The pieced block is "Combination Star" from an older Quilters' Cabin newsletter. Sashings are cut out - a few pinwheel blocks to make for the posts then the quilt can be sewn together. Might be a quilt to qualify for Peg's Challenge.




This block is Truly Scrumptious "Elizabeth" - all of these girls are gorgeous.

This has been another social weekend.- John and I went to see "Keating!" - loved it. Yesterday had lunch with The Girls at the refurbished Scarborough Pub - fantastic location, delicious food and the added bonus of whales playing off-shore.

It is our baby boy's 26th birthday later this week and we all went to Elizabeth's today for a bbq. Freezing cold day but fine and sunny. Was lovely to spend the afternoon with our family.

Another "Truly Scrumptious" girl is finished and I'm stitching "Miss Elizabeth" at the moment - she's a bonus girl meant for a label but I'll be putting her front and centre in my quilt.

Received an email this morning advising that "The Quilter's Kitchen: An Elm Creek Quilts Novel with Recipes" will be out soon. Always happy to have another Elm Creek book to read.

This morning is Jane McGrath's memorial service. I was heartbroken on Sunday to hear the world had lost this wonderful, inspirational, courageous woman.

Social Butterflies

We are back at work after a long weekend mostly spent in the company of friends having a wonderful time chatting, eating etc.

Saturday I visited Sharon to help her make a bag for her daughter's upcoming birthday. John came over later in the day and Gary then cooked us a delicious dinner.

In the photo I'm finishing off the stitchery for a surprise present that will be posted to a friend in the next few days.

On Sunday John's cousin (Stephanie) and her husband (Allan) visited us. Lunch turned out really well - especially liked the roast pumpkin/feta salad. We haven't seen Steph and Allan for ages and really enjoyed their visit.

Finished off another "Truly Scrumptious" block (it's been half done for a couple of months) and also finished sewing together the "Ruth's Quilt" blocks - the quilt has turned out to be very pretty. I'll take a photo when it's quilted - am hoping to do this one on the doover (quilting frame).

Yesterday was another eat-fest. We'd been invited to lunch with some friends of ours, along with another couple of friends. Such a great afternoon. Shame I'd forgotten to put new batteries in the camera - the table was so beautifully decorated - Royal Albert Country Roses dinnerware, crystal glasses etc.

These are the fabrics Elizabeth chose for her "Travel Quilt" and they arrived today. Think they will be going into the cupboard along with the other recently purchased fabrics because I've enough on the go at the moment.

Another "Truly Scrumptious" block is finished.

And these are the "Sweet Pea's Quilt" blocks (not sewn together), designed by Cinderberry Stitches. Tonight I'm hoping to trace some of the stitcheries onto the white blocks. I love these bright colours. This is for our new great-niece/nephew who s due later this year. I'm also piecing one in pink/white/cream for a friend at work, who is having a daughter in September.

Tonight, when I was leaving work to come home, this was waiting in the portico of our building. After the Ebay success and the offer of a wonderful trade-in on his current bike, John couldn't resist and bought his Suzuki B-King. He is one happy boy.

But, there's still a large number of bikes to be sold, taken to the wreckers or tip. I always live in hope.

Bits and Pieces

This is "Nancy and her Notions", another Debbie Magee (Always Stitchin') doll. The pattern was in Homespun No 42. I've had the bits and pieces ready to make her for ages and finally decided the time had arrived. Amazing what a bit of tea-dying can do to a few pieces of fabric and lace. One more doll to finish ("Loubee Lou"), then that's it for quite a while.

Two more "Truly Scrumptious" girls are finished (Ava and Tilly) - these designs are so whimsical - love them to bits. I'm going to do a couple of other bits and pieces before I start the next girl.

One of the best things about the whole quiltmaking process is slicing up fabric. Here are 220 blocks (from my fabric stash so I'm feeling pretty good about that) all ready to be stitched and pieced for Ruth's Quilt. Bought some variegated thread for the stitcheries - have taken a real fancy to variegated threads lately.

I'm happy the weekend has arrived - bit more time for tracing, vliesofixing. The time has arrived to stitch another Vintage Valentine block. And, if the unbelievable amount of rain we've been having continues, will be a good excuse to stay indoors.

Truly Scrumptious

My friend Sarah and I have started making "Truly Scrumptious", the gorgeous new quilt from Natalie Lymer of Cinderberry Stitches.

I tried to be very good and use fabrics from my cupboard and have managed this pretty well - the only fabrics I've bought are the stripe for the binding, the floral for the outer border (these were both remnant pieces) and the rosebud stripe for one block inner border and the sashings (this was a great special from a local shop).

Because of the fabrics chosen I've changed a couple of the DMC colours from the colours used in the pattern (347 to 600 and 57 to 4210). There is a bonus block design to use as a label and as this girl's name is Elizabeth (written Elisabeth) I want to make her the centre block of the quilt. So Miss Izzy in the photo will be the label. The Girls are great fun to stitch.