Yesterday

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

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

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.

Cupcakes

Last Tuesday the Stitching Girls came over and I made cupcakes for us to have with our cup of tea.  Jenni bought these very cute silicon cupcake moulds for me last Christmas.

This sweet, little ball of fluff (Matilda) also came to visit.  She was very cosy in the pile of quilts.

Getting There

Butterfly Garden as at last night:


Block 7

Row 3

Progress so far ...

The embroidery is underway on Block 6, then a bit of applique and it's on to the dreaded centre block with all those needle-turned butterflies.  I'm so happy that finish is now in sight.

A Bargain

On Thursday night Jenni and I were shopping and I came across this seagrass blanket box at a great sale price.

On Sunday I went to the local hardware shop and bought a few cans of white spray paint

and now it's ready to hold my backing fabrics and other "stuff" under the frame in the sewing room.

One day I'll get around to lining it with some pretty fabric.  One day ...

On Saturday I went on a road trip with three friends to Canberra.  We visited Addicted to Fabric and a couple of other shops.  My shopping was very responsible/restrained - a glue pen and refills so I could start Pies and Tarts, which has been in the cupboard for about 2 years, some hexagon papers and some fabric for a swap present.

I spent most of Sunday afternoon cutting out Pies and Tarts

and then gluing the fabrics to the papers.

I had to make one pie.

Could someone who's made these blocks please let me know when the tails at the centre of the pie should be trimmed (if at all)?  Or, are they pressed until the centre lies flat?

Pretty Scrappy Spiderweb

I started making my Pretty Scrappy Spiderweb quilt top over 2 years ago and really felt the urge to get on with it over the Easter break so in amongst visiting family and friends and usual household jobs, I spent a good deal of time in the sewing room.

I had a few blocks in the drawer from 2 years ago.

Sewing these spiderwebs is a messy job (for me anyway).

The finished quilt top - the weather has been really miserable over the Easter break and I'm hoping to take some better photos soon.  The white "stars" actually have blush pink polka dots.  I had some of the stripe fabric from Robyn Pandolph's "Butterfly Garden" fabrics in my stash to form the outer rings of the spiderwebs and was lucky to find more for sale last year so had plenty to use for the rest of the blocks, borders and binding.

The backing is made up of a 2 yard piece of Robyn Pandolph fabric "Captured in Time" plus all my leftover pieces of Robyn Pandolph blue fabric and the rest of the yellow stripe fabric.

The Binding

Next step is to work out how to quilt this.  It hasn't turned out too badly for something made almost entirely from the scrap drawer.