Mothers' Day Dinner ...

... with The Newlyweds, Elizabeth, Matt, Jenni, Mum and The Bride's parents after a relaxing morning at home and lunch made by John.

 

Jenni made orange and poppy seed cake and mushrooms (without the stalks)

We had such a lovely time.  Peta's parents will be grandparents for the first time within the next two weeks or so - very exciting times for their family and Peta's Mum has been knitting and crocheting like a whirwind.

Fig Tree Allsorts is now on the frame ready to be quilted this afternoon (maybe).

A Party

We had such a lovely time at the birthday party yesterday morning.  The Birthday Boy is our dear friends' grandson and it's so nice to be included in the fun.

The Birthday Boy

Poppy arranged for a baby animal farm to visit - all the children loved patting, feeding and chasing the animals.  The little pigs were hilarious.

With his Poppy

This guy from next door really wanted to join the party.

The birthday cake.

  

Birthday cake with his Mum

It's time for a new hairstyle - I have an appointment with my hairdresser on Wednesday.  Picked up my new glasses 2 weeks ago and am finally used to the new lenses.

These are the two blocks that make up the Stepping Stones quilt - not sure yet if I really like them.  I'm hoping I feel more positive when more blocks are together.

Stepping Stones blocks made with FigTree Fig and Plum

Karen and I will be making our quilts over the next few months.

Yesterday evening finally put a quilt on the frame (Buttercup Squares) - about time I attacked the pile of quilt tops.  This quilt is a wedding present for July.

Happy Mothers' Day!

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.

Cutting Out

During the last couple of days I've cut out two more quilts using Fig Tree fabrics (surprise, surprise).  These are the last of the pre-cuts and kits in my stash, although there's still a fair bit of other Fig Tree fabric left.

The first is "Stepping Stones" from one of the Jelly Roll books using a layer cake and jelly roll of Fig and Plum.  My friend Karen is also making this quilt in Rouenneries Deux - it's going to be beautiful.

This is "Pathways and Crossroads" which I bought from Bec last year.  It uses Buttercup fabrics - the blues are so pretty.  Funny, blue is one of my favourite colours and I use it so rarely in quilts.

One of the blocks laid out on the design sheet:

Fig Tree Bow Ties is together and I'm really happy with how it turned out after adding some borders.  This quilt top is based on "Benington" in the Schnibbles 2 book.

It has turned out to be a reasonable size.

Today is a special little guy's 2nd birthday

and we're going to his party on Saturday - so it's time to start making his present.  Maybe some photos tomorrow.

Progress

I decided I wanted to use the blue and white check for the sashings, borders and binding and would have just had enough after sewing lots of little pieces together.  On Friday I visited my local fabric shop (HobbySew) to look for some backing and would you believe they still had the check fabric in stock.  I bought all that was left on the bolt and will use it for backing Big Dots and the Alphabet Clown Sampler.  The Big Dots quilt top is together and I love it.

Big Dots

Yesterday, after the Ride Around the Lake and some grocery shopping I pulled out the Bow Tie pieces I'd cut out a couple of weeks ago.

Practice Block

I spent some of yesterday afternoon and evening sewing the pieces together - a bit of a production line happening.

and by bedtime the blocks were made and on the design sheet.

I may re-arrange some of the blocks a bit more.  This won't be a very large quilt - the bow ties section will measure ~40" x 40" and I'll add a couple of borders.  I tried to use as many of the off-white/cream/light caramel background fabrics in my stash as I could.

During the afternoon my friend Karen came to visit and we sorted out our fabrics for a quilt we are each going to make using the same pattern.  Was so nice to see her and spend some time playing with fabrics.

Another beautiful autumn day on the South Coast.  Happy Weekend!

Circles and Squares

Last week's sewing was this quick quilt top which is made with a variety of Fig Tree fabrics and Fig Tree cream for the background.

Fig Tree Allsorts

Next is sewing the backing fabric together then it can go onto the frame.

This week I've been playing with the clowns.

And, there's a bonus quilt from all the cut out circles.

Still not sure about the sashing for these blocks - will think about that for a bit longer.  Sashings and posts have been added to the clown blocks and borders should go on today.

 

Alphabet Clown Sampler

Best thing about all of these quilt tops?  They are all from stash but I will need to shop for backings for the clown and big dot quilts.

Beautiful autumn weather the last day or so; the sky is such a clear blue.  Hope it continues tomorrow - John has signed up for the "Ride Around the Lake" - my friend and I are marshalling again.  It's a bit too far for me to attempt.

Pyjama Babies

I'm so thankful this quilt is finished as I've been having lots of trouble lately sewing on borders and binding.  Took me ages to work out that the interchangeable part of the walking foot was not attached properly - easy fixed once the problem was identified.

The quilt is square - it's a bit too windy today for photos.

The backing is Aneela Hooey's "Little Apples" with the cutest creatures.