Which quilt did she choose? And a giveaway.

John and I had such a good day yesterday - picked up a few Christmas presents at various places, fruit for the Christmas cakes, Christmas lights etc. I visited "The Remnant Warehouse" on Botany Road, Alexandria (what an excellent shop - all the latest patchwork fabric ranges and a fabulous selection of ric-rac in all colours and sizes - last time I visited I bought the extra-wide green ric-rac from there for "Citrus Crush"). Didn't buy much for me - some cotton to use for stitcheries - but bought plenty for my girlfriend who makes smocked babies and children's clothes (silk, pique, voile) at terrific prices. And John managed to visit a few motorbike shops.

Went to Elizabeth and Matt's place for a cuppa and a chat before heading out for dinner. Elizabeth chose "Happy Days" - no particular reason. Drove to Michael and Peta's to collect them and spent a bit of time there looking at the fantastic brooches and head pieces Peta has been making. These are the brooches I brought home with me.

I don't have a photo of a headpiece - Elizabeth will be wearing one to her work's Melbourne Cup function so I'm hoping she'll send me a photo. Peta is looking into having a spot at Glebe Markets and perhaps an Etsy shop. By the way, dinner was lovely and so was spending time with the family.

This morning I noticed that this is my 100th post - I thought about having a giveaway, but as I'm a bit busy and don't have a lot of time to make something for a hand-made present I'm going to buy some goodies from the Jane McGrath Foundation and send them out as the present. If you'd like to be in the draw, please leave a comment and I'll ask Jenni to choose the winner (by random number generator) next Sunday night (9.11.2008 EST).

"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.

Sunday is Quilting Day

Yesterday I decided that it was time to quilt "Citrus Crush". Not using the doover this time as I want to ditch stitch this quilt first then see if it needs any more quilting. The main advantage when using the doover is that a quilt doesn't need to be pin basted.

Block 2 of "The Wish Quilt" is finished. Will be putting this aside for the next few weeks as I have some swap goodies to make. I love stitching on linen but it does need a good ironing to look fresh.

Beautiful day on the lovely south coast - Spring is definitely here this weekend (lovely after the incredibly cold days during last week).

The Wish Quilt - corrections

Someone left a comment saying that there are errors in The Wish Quilt instructions in recent Homespun magazines. http://www.completecraft.com.au/ under the tab "corrections" has the correct instructions.

The postman came today and left a parcel - some lovely Moda "Odelia" fabric to back a couple of quilts, gorgeous patterns and pretty "Ava Rose" fat quarter pack to use in "Butterfly Garden" next year.

Miss Diann's Quilts

After a weekend sewing retreat, my dear buddy Miss Diann (with no blog) has almost finished these two quilts - binding to be added and then they're done. They are both so gorgeous - such pretty colours - that when I received these photos from another of our friends, I had to ask if I could put them on my blog for everyone to see. This first quilt is "Christmas Belles" by Mum's Moment and is for Miss Diann's grand-daugher.

And this quilt is "Truly Scrumptious" - it sure is! This quilt is for Diann's darling daughter and she's absolutely scrumptious.

Terrific to see another TS quilt together.

Lunchtime Sewing

My lunchtime stitching over the last few weeks (and for the next few months) is "The Wish Quilt" which is in Homespun 62, 63 and 64. This is the first block I've finished (tiny red buttons to be added to Santa's coat when the quilt is together).

Saturday afternoon and night I spent a fair bit of time in the sewing room and now "Citrus Crush" and "Truly Scrumptious" are ready to be basted. Tickled pink with the look of the quilt tops and, once again, I'm blown away by the size of the quilts - doesn't matter how many times I read the measurements on a pattern, it doesn't sink in.

Happy Days are here again

"Happy Days", a design from Anni Downs of Hatched & Patched, is finished. This quilt has been made for our daughter's 29th birthday (a bit late).

The backing:
A goal for this year was to make some quilts to be quilted on the doover and 5 have been done, so I'm pretty chuffed about that.

My tv stitching is the Cafe block of "Girls Day Out" - boy, there's a lot of stitching on that block. Will take photos when it's finished.

Lastly, here's a photo from my sewing day at Sharon's on our October holiday Monday - ran out of fibrefill. Sharon's Santa looked about the same. "Prim Olde Santa" will be finished for Christmas (hope they are famous last words).