Tessellation

It's been so great to spend some time in the Pink Room during the last couple of weeks.  I have a box of cut out quilt tops and have finished sewing some together - they are all smaller quilts with large pieces so didn't take long to sew up.

A few months ago I bought a layer cake, Moda "Whisper Muslin Mates", from Karen plus some yardage for background, borders and backing.  I was able to cut out two quilts:  "Dream Big", designed by Camille Roskelley (Thimble Blossoms) from her "Simplify" book -

and "Framed" from her "Simply Retro" book.

 
Another quilt I had cut out was "Clambake" also designed by Camille.

I cut out too many blocks, so only needed to cut another 12 to have enough to make the cot-sized version, which is included in the pattern.

Recently I dropped off these four quilts plus the two pink cot quilts to a new-to-me quilter and on Monday she sent through photos of the two pink quilts.  I'm picking them up this afternoon and hope to sew on the binding over the weekend.

Jenni's birthday quilt arrived back from Sarah last Friday and the quilting looks fantastic!  The quilt needed a design to off-set all the triangles and points and "Squares All Around" was a great choice (along with the aqua thread).

Sewed on the binding on Monday and stitched it down while watching tv.  I'm so happy this one is finished and with how it turned out as "Tessellation" was a real challenge for me to make.

On Friday nightI was looking through one of my fabric boxes to cut some more 5" squares for my B&C version of "Snippets",

came across some half-square triangles and had a light bulb moment - made some hourglass blocks with them and "Scrappy Stars" was underway (another Camille Roskelley design).

We've just had a long weekend and it turned out to be a busy few days.  Saturday had a lovely time catching up with Lynell and Wendy - Robyn couldn't join us because she was in Canberra awaiting the arrival (on Saturday morning) of her brand new grandson and on Sunday Mum, Jenni, Kurt, ChaCha and I had lunch at the Audley Dancehall and Cafe - such a lovely place and loads of space for little ones to run around.

HRH

Last Friday Sarah sent through some photos of "Tessellation", which she had just finished quilting.  It looks so wonderful and I'm very much looking forward to it coming home.  The quilting design is "Squares All Around".

Very busy weekend with little ChaCha staying over for 2 nights.  We washed the car, vacuumed the sewing room floor (ChaCha wearing my high-heeled orange sandals as one does to vacuum), folded washing and a few other jobs with lots of playing in between and then entertained visitors for dinner (the guests brought dinner - they can come again!).

There has been some sewing and 4 quilt tops are ready to go to the quilter this weekend.

The backing fabric for the Kaleidoscope and Dresden Plate cot quilts is so cute.

On Friday night I started sewing "Clambake" pieces together.  This quilt goes together very quickly once the layout is sorted and it was together by Sunday night.

I had cut out too many pieces for the lap-sized quilt and, after cutting out another 12, had enough to make the cot-sized "Clambake" as well - this went together in 3 hours!  Will definitely use this pattern again.  The fabric colours are showing up much better in this photo.

After months of preparations and very hard work (by others) we had lots of excitement at work yesterday.  Our main foyer was used for an event where HRH Prince Andrew, The Duke of York KG, was the special guest.  He was a guest of the University for the whole day and going by the photos in the local newspaper, it looks as though he really enjoyed his visit.

The event MC was also a VIP - Adam Gilchrist (legendary Australian wicket keeper/batsman) is a University Ambassador and such a great person.  He spent ages with the school students attending the event and enjoyed playing with the virtual reality equipment.

Last night Michael sent through a photo with the caption:  "Bikie gang terrorises locals" -hilarious!

A Birthday

Jenni turned 30 on Saturday.  The family met up for lunch to celebrate with Jenni at a terrific restaurant (Jenson's in Kareela) and we had such a wonderful time (there might have been a glass or two of Prosecco as well).  Gulli and ChaCha were so excited to see each other - just delightful and they kept all of us entertained.

One of Jenni's presents was in this parcel:

 

Not-finished Tessellation Quilt (designed by Allison Glass) and made using some of Allison Glass's beautiful fabrics, 

  

along with Moda Bella Solids and fabrics from my stash.  The quilt was started at Easter at the Stitching Girls' sewing day but was pushed aside again and again until I ran out of time (bad mumma).

Finished sewing the quilt top last Thursday night, wrapped it up for Jenni to see on Saturday and yesterday it was posted to Sarah for quilting.

It is a large wallhanging/lapquilt size.

The purple rainbow wool knitting is finished but not sewn up and I've started knitting up some Bendigo Woollen Mills "Bloom" wool in Rust colourway for some tiny newborn baby outfits for a friend who's going to become a grandma shortly.  The colours might be a bit strong but they look cute in these designs.

I'm collecting fabrics for another "Medley" quilt, to be made late this year or early next year.  I think there will be more than enough to use in the quilt.  This quilt is for a friend and she chose the turquoise fabric lower left and we've been adding co-ordinating fabrics.

After all the foundation piecing in Tessellation, I'm very much enjoying chain-piecing some Kaleidoscope blocks for a pretty cot quilt.

Out and About

No sewing for a while but there has been lots of going out.  On Saturday afternoon Mum, Lynell, Robyn and I went to see "Kinky Boots".  It's a fun musical and Lola is just sensational.  A kind stranger took a photo of us at the boots.

On Sunday Robyn, Lynell and I met up with our friend Wendy.  We all travelled around Europe together a long time ago and it's always great to catch up with Wendy.

Gulli's scrappy block jumper is ready to sew together and I've started one for ChaCha.  The couch arm is a good landing place for the knitted pieces.

Last year I bought 14 balls of Bendigo Wool (mostly Luxury 8 ply) for Peta's blanket and scarf and I've been trying to use them up this winter.

There has been some crochet happening at lunchtime and I'm almost ready to put it all together.  Was pretty happy with my bird even though it's a a bit larger than I envisaged.

This rainbow wool has appeared in my Instagram feed a few times and I caved and bought some for ChaCha next winter.  Not sure what I'll be making with it

or the multi-coloured wool below.  The purple is for ChaCha's scrappy block jumper bands and sleeves and the two balls of grey are for something for Gulli for Christmas.

Some sewing from the weekend before last - started something very different for me to make and it will be taking up most of my sewing time for the next few weeks.

Easter Break

Easter this year was pretty much perfect - lots of time with the family and friends, such great weather along with a break from work, lots of cutting out and some sewing.

The Spiegeltent has been in Wollongong and I went along to see Paul Capsis, a fabulous cabaret artist, with Jenni, Paula and Tania.  Good Friday was spent at Karen's place for a sewing day with Karen, Paula and Rhonda.  I was working on a new secret project.  This is all I have to show for my day's efforts:  I am definitely not a fan of foundation piecing but will persevere with this one (maybe in June).

Afterwards, I went to see "Their Finest" - such a wonderful movie.  I took Mum to see it on Monday and she thought the movie was so authentic, having lived through The Blitz in UK during WWII.

Saturday I picked up Gulliver for a sleepover at Nanna's - we had lunch with Jenni and Kurt The Favourite and a visit/play with ChaCha on the way home.  Easter Sunday all the family came for lunch - was so lovely to have everyone together around the table and that night I went back to the Spiegeltent with Lynell, Robyn and Paula to see "Velvet", a fabulous show - the best part was the hula hoop guy.  So entertaining.

Easter Monday was spent in the sewing room - I had cut out a jelly roll quilt called "Zen and the Jelly Roll" - very quick to piece.

The whole quilt top was together by Tuesday morning.

Wednesday was another trip to Sydney and a quick visit with my sweethearts and on Thursday my girls came to visit.  Friday night ChaCha came for a sleepover.

One of the quilts I cut out during the break was for a Low Volume Log Cabin Quilt:

It's great to be using up so much of the stash and loads from my scrap drawers.