Triangle Pouches

I've been wanting to make one of these little cuties for years (ever since I saw the tutorial on A Spoonful of Sugar's blog).  I bought a pack of tiny metal zips with attached zip pulls and some other cute zip pulls to attach to ordinary zips at the Quilt show in June and last Friday night decided to make one.

One quickly became 3 - doesn't take long at all to make one of these.  There will be more.

Last week's Scrappy Star blocks were put on the design wall by ChaCha when she stayed over on Saturday night - she now likes to climb the ladder to do her "quilting".

Sunday evening was The Hawks' first home game of the season - a controvery-filled match but a great result (at last).

Also on Sunday, Michael, Peta and Gulliver flew up to Cairns for a holiday.  Little Gulli is the cutest little snorkeler ever.  He's braver than his Nanna, that's for sure.

I needed a cot quilt in a hurry and "Off Track" by Cluck, Cluck, Sew is such a great quilt pattern to make up in a hurry.  I cut it out on Friday night, sewed it up and made the backing on Sunday and Monday nights, and gave it to Karen on Tuesday night for quilting.

More Scrappy Stars have been made this week but I'm keen to sew something else for a change.

The Two of Us

"The Two of Us" is a very cute little bag designed by Rosalie Dekker.  I first made this back in January 2012 for a friend's birthday present, and thought it would make a very cute little bag for little ChaCha using some Tasha Noel charm squares a sweet friend had given to me.

I reduced the pattern by 20% to make it more ChaCha-size.

The jacket and overalls have been finished for months except for the buttons.  Delivered these to ChaCha as well - they should fit next year but you never know with her because she's so tall.  More patterns from the book I bought when Michael was a baby.

Mum and I had a a great day in Sydney on Saturday - shopping at IKEA then visits with our two little sweethearts and my bigger sweethearts.  ChaCha and Gulliver are so much fun and very entertaining.

"Cheerio" is now sewn together and waiting to be quilted.  I love how fresh and happy all the colours look together with the white/red polka dot background fabric.

Sunday afternoon was quilting time - "Marmalade" is done.  The binding is on too - hoping to stitch it down tonight.

Happy to recommend long-arm basting rather than pins - pulling out the threads in much easier than pinning a quilt.  I have another quilt that Karen basted for me a while ago and it will be quilted soon (I hope).

A work colleague and I went to the Helpmann Awards last night - this is an annual ceremony for live theatre in Ausralia and there are performances from various shows throughout the ceremony.  Lots of celebrity spotting.

"Matilda" was nominated for 13 awards and won all 13.

Social Butterfly

The silly season has hit with a bang - last week and this coming week are particularly busy at work, after hours and the weekends.  Lots of fun things happening, spending time with my little sweethearts (and my bigger sweethearts) and some sewing.

Mum and I went to see Schools Spectacular on Saturday afternoon - it's always a highlight of our year and once again was such a fabulous show.  Mum will be 88 on Friday.
 

After the show we visited the babies so I could give them each a package of goodies for December.  ChaCha's Christmas dress isn't quite finished - it will be soon.

Saturday night we were invited to an engagement party.  I was so happy to catch up with family I hadn't seen for ages especially for such a lovely occasion.

Machine embroidered a set of towels for Gabby and Mitch.

Another Stash and Dash bag is on its way to the new owner as a little surprise present.

Yesterday I was back in Sydney with The Schoolgirls - we went to see "Matilda" - loved it, and then had such a lovely time having dinner with my dearest friend Lynell - not often we can say we've been friends for over 55 years.

While I was out socialising Karen quilted two of my quilt tops:

Shortcake - photo borrowed from www.quiltingonthecoast.com.au

and

Off Track - photo borrowed from www.quiltingonthecoast.com.au

Off Track - photo borrowed from www.quiltingonthecoast.com.au

Having dinner with another dear frient tonight.  Wednesday night I'm going to see Hugh Jackman with friends from work.  I need to find some time to start decorating the house.  Everywhere else is looking very Christmassy - maybe tomorrow night as it will be 1 December.

A Couple More ...

Cot quilt tops.  No more (at least until I've quilted these).

"Retro" is a design from Camille Roskelley's book "Simply Retro".  The seafoam coloured fabric is a lovely soft flannel.

The traditional Shoo Fly block was used for the last cot quilt.  It creates nice secondary patterns.  The fabric is Riley Blake's "Hollywood Sparkle" - it has a lovely pearlised sheen.  Very glamorous.

I added the leftover blocks to the backing - it needs a good iron before basting.

During the week I received a couple of parcels from friends in Queensland.  A while ago I ordered some magnetic pin bowls for Christmas presents but missed out on a pink one for myself.  Teresa was placing an order and managed to score a pink one for me - you could say I was tickled pink.

Also, Helen sent some fabric so that I can make a certain sweetheart a Pookie Panda.

I have the best friends.

Another border has been added to Jelly Rolls Gone Wild Log Cabin

and the pile of little granny squares is slowly growing.

Had some extra time on Saturday afternoon and made this very cute pencil case - it's a free design called "A Pencil Case for Lola" from Patterns by Annie.  The very cute fabric was a gift from another friend a few months ago.

Having a day off on Wednesday - so looking forward to seeing the babies.

Road Trip

On Saturday Paula, Karen and I drove to Bathurst to meet up with the other girls who were in Bathurst for the blog meet.  First stop was Anni's shop, The Home Patch, where we met up with some of the girls (Chooky and Ros and a few others).  I bought a few things at Anni's - a couple of her sweet patterns, some of her lovely Christmas fabric

and some chocolate brown linen for an Anni-designed bag I hope to make one day.

Next stop was the retreat venue for lunch, show and tell and "make it, bake it or fake it" swap.  I took 4 photos - 3 of them are some of Chooky's show and tell.

I took along this bag as my swap present:

The swap was a lot of fun with many girls wanting to steal each other's gifts.

Sunday was such a hot, humid day at my place.  I spent most of the day in the sewing room with the fan for company working on a Christmas present.

 

Last night I sewed a few Best Friends Forever blocks together and then felt like doing something different so I made a couple of Lori Holt's blocks that have been all over Instagram (#haveyourselfaquiltylittlechristmas).  These designs are so gorgeous - am very much looking forward to making the rest of the blocks.

The last Best Friends Forever stitchery block is coming along - might be finished this by the weekend.

Kiss Me

"Kiss Me" is a quilt designed by Fig Tree and Company.  My friend, Diann, and I started to make this quilt last year and it's been waiting to be quilted since June 2013.  I love these Bonnie and Camille fabrics ("Vintage Modern").

I love how the flying geese border looks like prairie points.

Karen quilted this one too - this spiral design is really lovely. 

A little while ago it was my turn to make a birthday present for one of our on-line group members.  The theme this year is a black and white bag with embellishment so I made Ric Rac's "Work in Progress" bag for my partner with Bloom's embroidery from her "Coquetterie" design.

Photo taken by Leanne

Fantastic Weekend Away

Friday night I flew down to Launceston to spend the weekend with some of my stitching buddies.  I was made very welcome by Cathy and her family (including Miss Millie).  It was pretty chilly when I arrived (4C) and an even chillier 3C on Saturday morning.  Lunch on Saturday was at the famous Cherry Shed - I was very happy to have the chance to visit.

Delicious food and wonderful company

After lunch some of us headed off to Sarah's shop in George Town to start some prep work for making the Weekender Travel Bag - as well as more eating etc (great pizzas in George Town).

I took a couple of presents with me:  Sew Together Bags for Sarah (with green zips) and Cathy (with burgundy zips)

and a Work in Progress bag for Sarah

 

 

as she celebrated a big birthday last week.

Some of the girls working away on Sunday

The girls threw a surprise party lunch for Sarah and me with presents, cupcakes, bubbles etc.  So lovely.  A few necessary purchases from Sarah for our upcoming class with Camille Roskelley (and a couple of extras)

and a photo of the girls from our on-line group who were there on Sunday

Me, Vicki, Sarah, Leanne, Razzy and Cathy in front

Great fun weekend with such wonderful friends and a bit of sewing thrown in as well (no progress shots of my bag yet).