Finishing Up

I spent most of my sewing time on the weekend finishing up some goodies that will go into Christmas presents.  Some of these have been sitting around for quite some time, eg these lollipops:

My lunchtime stitching over the last few weeks has been the stitcheries for the star tree decorations from Lynette Anderson's latest Christmas book "Stitch it for Christmas":

I made two more pincushions for The Girls:

Designed by Nikki Tervo

Designed by Lynette Anderson

So now I have one for each of them; gosh that flower is huge!

Designs by Nikki Tervo, Natalie Bird, Lynette Anderson, Anni Downs

The embroidery machine was going full tilt as well:

I plan to wrap the girls' presents in tea towels.

Mum and I had a wander around the shops in Wollongong on Saturday afternoon - I may have found a shop with some beautiful dresses and suits for Elizabeth's wedding.  Going to check it out further on Thursday night.

Block 5

Finished off Gingham Girls Block 5 last night.  I think this is evidence I watch too much tv.

I decided to stitch the lace in the lower block rather than sew lace to the background.  Thought I was being quite original until the weekend when Paula and I visited Berry Patchwork and there was a Gingham Girls on display:  all the button designs and lace were stitched and we called in to Gerringong Quilt Show where another Gingham Girls was hanging, also with stitched button designs and lace.  They were both lovely.

I love all these delicate "Mary Rose" fabrics - the colours and designs are so soft.  This is an excellent quilt to make using all your pretty scraps.  Yardage is only needed for stitchery backgrounds, borders and binding.

This Week in Wonderland

Last week was busy - out for dinner with work friends on Monday night, stitching with the girls on Tuesday night - took along my Island Chain quilt made in Ruby fabrics - love these colours.

Ruby Chain - the background fabric is white with turquoise spot - really cute.

Hairdresser on Thursday night.

 Pinned the Bizillion Years BC top yesterday ready for quilting over the next while

and went for a drive to Berry with Paula.  All I bought was a packet of needles and some white thread to quilt those dinosaurs.  Pinned the baboushka cot quilt this morning too - won't take too long to quilt that one.

Jacaranda trees are blooming all over the countryside - a sure sign that the warmer weather is here.

You wouldn't know at work - the aircon is set so low I always have to wear a cardigan - better than overheating I suppose.

Some More Girls

Last night I finished the stitching on Block 4 of Gingham Girls - there's a lot of stitching in this quilt so the patterns are good value as a BOM.

Last Sunday afternoon I came across a stitchery that John bought for me years ago at the Quilt Show - I stitched it pretty much straight away but never got around to finishing it off.  "Swan Lake" was on tv that afternoon so I sewed on the binding and stitched it down while watching the ballet - it was the contemporary version with male swans.

This week I've been spending an hour after work sewing together the Ruby Chain blocks (Island Chain quilt from one of the Scrap Basket books using mostly Ruby fabrics and a couple of Bliss fabrics).  I love how this is turning out with the turquoise spot on white background.  A couple of the Tuesday Girls have already finished their quilts and I'm lagging behind.

Next step is to figure out a border or two.

Lunch with the Schoolgirls on Saturday and I'm taking Mum to Sydney on Sunday for a wander around Queen Victoria Building.  Should be a nice weekend.

I'm Done

Over the last week I've sewn up the rest of my Sylvia's Bridal Sampler blocks.  I've decided to call it quits at 63 blocks.   Steps to the Altar was the last of the traditionally pieced blocks in the book for me to make. 

Steps to the Altar

There are 140 blocks in the quilt and the rest of the blocks in the book are made using either foundation piecing or templates.  Being more of an "instant gratification" type patchworker lately, I went looking on-line for alternative insructions to make some of the blocks below rather than follow the instructions in the book.

Rolling Star

Rocky Road to California

Flock of Geese

Gentleman's Fancy

Lemoyne Star

Next Door Neighbour

North Wind

Windmill (Pinwheel 2)

And hot off the sewing machine, the last block, and probably my favourite because I love all the colours together:

Love in a Mist

Had a wonderful day out yesterday with my two girls wedding dress shopping.  Although we came home empty handed we had a lovely time.  Found lots of styles that don't suit, so that's a start.  Some of the sales assistants were horrified that Elizabeth is marrying in 3 months and doesn't have her dress.

I'm off to trace some Christmas stitcheries. 

More SBS Blocks

Diann and I are plugging away at our Sylvia's Bridal Sampler Blocks.  I've sewn up a few over the last week and have a few more cut out ready to sew up when the mood strikes.  I had a look on-line and found some pieced alternatives to some of the foundation pieced blocks in the SBS book.

I made up for the lack of yellow blocks.

Sawtooth Star

Swamp Patch

Ohio Star

Sickle

Sarah's Choice

Shoo Fly

Corrected Milky Way - had to change it.

Last weekend I finally got around to sewing up a pouffe for Jenni - I've had this material for over a year.  It needs a bit more stuffing.  It's already stuffed with a couple of old jumpers, lots of batting off-cuts and some fibrefill.  I saw the idea for using the old jumpers in a Kathy Doughty designed pouffe in Quilters' Companion.

24" diameter x 10" high

This photo is from the car while driving to Sydney last weekend.

The little sewing bag Sarah made for me earlier this year is so handy - love it!

Last photo is of Gingham Girls Block 3 - this has been finished for months and I realised last week I hadn't taken a photo.  I'll attach buttons and pearls once the quilt top is finished and quilted.

Gingham Girls Block 3

Block 4 has been my tv-watching stitching for the last couple of weeks.  I really enjoy stitching these blocks but they may need to be put aside soon to do some Christmas goodies.

Driving Miss Lynda

Yesterday Elizabeth and Matt invited the family to their place for a bbq. I took some sewing to occupy myself on the trip to Sydney.


The new pile of pies is growing. Most lunchtimes at work I've managed to make a pie and yesterday's pies almost doubled the stack.



There are enough already appliqued to the backgrounds to make another three rows but I've added some more fabrics from my stash so don't want to sew the new rows together till these new ones are ready so I can mix them in with the other fabrics.

We had such a lovely afternoon: beautiful weather, delicious food and the best company.

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