Relaxing

Marty and his sentinels. I wonder what was so interesting outside?

Piecing - Scrappy Style

Yay for school holidays! More time on my hands = piecing on my own projects. While watching the men's final at Wimbledon the other night, I made up more green/cream nine patches. I had made 81, but decided I'd like 100. So, you see the results in the basket. I'm no closer to deciding what fabric I'll use for setting squares. I'll stew over that for a little longer.

Today and yesterday I pieced away mindlessly. Do you remember this top I made a little while back? Well, I finally finished the pieced border. I made up 44 nine patches, and a couple of little extra bits, stitched them all together, and the wonderfully scrappy border is the result. Ohhh, and I also moved two of the larger squares - there were two red/pink squares placed closely together, and I decided I just couldn't live with it. I should have known that would be the case.

Here's a close up of one of the corners. I love the result. It's very busy - and definitely a stash buster ... if only it reduced the stash a little more visibily. There will be many more scrap quilts in my future.

I'll have to get busy with some quilting tonight - much as I'd love to continue piecing, work beckons for now.

Yes!

I am SO excited to finally have this top finished, and I just love how it looks.

Even though it's the same pattern as my original Starstruck quilt, it's amazing how different it looks with the blue triangles rather than the original red ones.

I'd love to get right into the quilting, but first I'm going to busy myself cleaning the sewing room - it really needs a good vacuum, and I should cut up some of the scraps that need to go into the boxes - they can build up so fast.

In other news - later in the year Marty and I and our friends Kath and Andrew are planning to travel to Hong Kong. Yesterday Kath and I found a great deal - tickets are reserved, and tomorrow money will change hands. So exciting - it's really happening! We can't wait :-)

Starstruck Again ... or not!

In my 'big scheme' of quilts, this one is taking FOREVER to put together. The middle has been assembled, but I had to put it aside for various reasons.

I've just taken it out to attach the pieced border, and discovered that I have neglected to make four of the quarter blocks that go in the corners. So, tonite I'll make up some more blocks, and if I'm really good, I'll be able to attach the border.

Or, you'll be reading about it again in a couple of weeks :-)

Today was the last day of the school term for the kids - and because I don't work in school holidays, the kids and I have two weeks off! I have great plans of getting things done, and my Mum is taking the kids for a mini-break to the beach too. I'm very excited to have lots of free days to spend with the tiny people.

Prue's Quilt

I've just finished quilting on Prue's quilt. It's VERY cute, and I love how she's put it together.

It was such fun working on the feathers in the border and giving the flowers dimension. As I get more confident, I'm looking forward to exploring more 'filler' options. All in good time ...

In other news - my website has inexplicably come back to life. However, my ISP won't be hosting anymore come the end of September. Something I'll deal with a little closer to the date.

Also, there is some interest in the thread I used the the runner from the last post - I'll take a picture of the spools when I remember and post about them. I just don't know what the thread is called - so, stay tuned!

Runner Complete

Last night I finished stitching the last of the binding in place on my version of Jenny's runner. I made this project up using a 'Sturbridge Village Greens' charm square pack.

On Monday, this will go in the mail as a gift for one of my precious friends. I'm really thrilled with how it's turned out, and I may just make one for myself sometime.

The quilting is done with a cute gold thread, a thread that's rapidly becoming one of my favourites.

Jenny's Runner

My dear friend Jenny made this runner recently, and I just love it so much! I really enjoyed quilting on it too.

With her permission, today I have started putting my own version together using some of my precious Sturbridge Village Green charm squares. It is destined to be a gift for a precious friend.

I've just completed the centre part, so I have now only to put the narrow and outer borders in place. I hope to have the top finished tomorrow, and I'll then share a picture. Yay for a little piecing in my life :-)

Birthdays and Big Days

The past week has been entirely frenetic - I'm exhausted just thinking about it. First up it was work, work and work, and then Saturday was Cameron's birthday. The tiny man is now 7 years old, where did that time go?? On Saturday evening we had a family/god-parent party, which was just lovely, so nice to catch up with special people.

And then on Sunday was his school friend party. This years selection was bowling - always a great choice! Our little guy had a great time with his friends, and really didn't want his day to end.

Tonight we had a big night out, and big sister Amy was very envious of our fun (she had to go to netball training). It was Auskicker's night at the Crows Shed. Lots of fun for all aspiring AFL players, and lots of opportunities to meet their heroes. Here is Cameron with Andrew McLeod, one of the superstars of the Adelaide Crows.

Little man is in bed now, and I really don't think I'll be far behind him. Hopefully next time I check in I'll have something quilty to report ... I sure hope so!

Website

Just a quick note to let everyone know that my website is currently down. Apparently web hosting is something my ISP just doesn't feel like doing any more! I'm hoping to have it back up and running this week sometime.

I've been contacted by a few people trying to locate some of my patterns, so if you're looking for something, just let me know and I can make it available in my Etsy store in the meantime.

x o x

Pauline's Quilt

This is Pauline's quilt, I handed it back to her today. It's called 'Happy Days' and it's a Mum's Moment pattern. I just love this quilt, and I've seen several from the girls at the store. Pauline has made hers up with scraps left over from her own projects, and also the bits and pieces from buddies who have made up this same quilt - a very fun way to make up a memory quilt.

One of these days I'll make one for Amy - she's requested one of her own several times. I'll just have to wait for those 'spare moments' that are so few and far between. Amy has requested hers to be made up in purple and green only. It's a decor thing.

Quilting

Isn't it lucky I'm not a photographer for a living? :-)

I've been quilting on Betsy's quilt, and thought I'd share the border with you. For the second time ever, I'm doing some feathers with a curvy spine. For me, this is ground breaking!!

I'm really having fun, and that's what it's all about, right? :-)

Finally!

It has taken so much longer than I thought it would, but I have finally finished the blocks for my 'Starstruck Again' quilt.

If I'm a really good girl, I'll get some of the top assembled tonight, and then I can get busy thinking about how I'd like to quilt it.

There were a couple of the blue fabrics that I ran very short of, so I scrimped and saved and pieced some components just like quilters of yore. Don't you think little elements like that add to the interest of the quilt??

Birthdays Approaching!

There are several family birthdays to celebrate this month. Notably, our Camo turns 7 on June 20, and also, our cousin's little man William turns 1 next week. Camo has many quilts of his own, but I have yet to make one for William - so yesterday I quilted up this cute Paddington panel to present to him for his special day. Cameron has declared it cute, so let's hope it's new owner will feel the same way.

On a completely different note, I've been meaning to post about this for a few weeks. I recently received a lovely gift from my Grandma (my Dad's Mum) - it is a lovely tea set from her collection. She knows my love of pretty china, and thought I'd appreciate and love this set. It's English made, by Gray's Pottery, and a Susie Cooper design from the 20's. Mum tells me that this is just a taste of the pieces and that there is more to come my way - how exciting! Grandma knows me well, I just love it, I'm such a fan of the Deco period, so how could I not. Thank you so much Grandma, love you to bits!

Quilting and Stash Enhancement

Recently, I may or may not have pressed a few buttons at a couple of my favourite quilt fabric stores. From Hancocks of Paducah, I selected the fabrics in the above picture. And on backorder one of the Moda Scrap Bags. I can't wait to see what that's like :-)

From Z and S, the fabrics above arrived a few days later. I'm sure it's quite obvious that I'm a reproduction-fabric girl.

Just a few minutes ago I finished quilting on my friend Jenny's table runner. It's the most darling thing, made with a charm pack and a little yardage. I had fun quilting on it, and can't wait to get busy on another project.

I'm almost done working on the super secret item I've been working on (it's a gift) so, very soon I'll be returning to my regularly-scheduled-blogging :-)