Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Quilting

I'm just freewheeling around here, but it's fun, and I quite like how it's coming up.

Not long now, and this one will be finished. Looking forward to moving on to the next thing :-)

Monday, November 26, 2012

Indeed?

Apparently someone thinks it's okay to sleep on the dining table. On my quilts! Why Gracie, why??

And especially naughty to be on my favourite French General quilt, made by my friends Donna and Gerri in the USA. Love my quilt! :-)

Sunday, November 25, 2012

A new favourite ...

Even though I put up the Christmas tree on Pageant day, today I put up (almost all of) the rest of the decorations. Including a new one I picked up early this year:

It's by Johnson Bros. and it's called the Friendly Village Lighted Church. I picked it up in April this year when Mum and I were in Melbourne. We visited Harbour Town and found a Royal Doulton DFO. I had seen this sweet little church in a department store before Christmas last year and really coveted it. But I hesitated at the around $100 price tag and sadly walked away. So, when I saw it at the DFO for $29.00 I was just thrilled and snapped it up. I know I'll be enjoying this little treasure for years to come.

And in other news, this evening I'm pinning a quilt before I head to bed - there will be quilting aplenty on the agenda tomorrow.

Saturday, November 24, 2012

Keeping Busy ...

It has been such a busy week for me - kid stuff - family stuff - and trying to keep on top of the chores, which seem to be piling up at an alarming rate. I've been feeling like I'm only getting the 'have to do' stuff done, and not much of the 'fun to do' stuff. So yesterday I was determined to change that.

I did a little baking. I made these cupcakes. And my goodness they're tasty! I will confess that mine don't look much like theirs ... I'm no perfectionist *lol*

I think I must have used larger patty pans than they did, because I didn't end up with the same numbers as their recipe, and I also had to bake a little longer. Despite that, they are still moist and super yummy. And the house smelled divine while they were baking. There is even real vanilla in the icing, though Camo thought I must have gotten dirt in it *lol* I'll definitely put these into the regular rotation.

In fabric news, I have been in love with a fabric collection - and I've wanted it so badly that I could almost taste it. It's the French General Favourites! And I had a few snippets come into my posession this week. Ohhh, I'm in love:

And though my fabric shopping has slowed down a lot, when I do, I've been slipping a reel or two of Aurifil thread in with my purchases. I could be in danger of becoming a thread snob - it's wonderful for piecing, and for quilting too. As I run out of particular colours in my old threads I'm replacing them - not unreasonable? :-)

Last of all, I've been working on some little gifties for people. This is the second of many. You've seen this pattern before, I've used it a lot:

It's fun to practice my quilting on these small pieces. Hopefully I'll get more adventurous as I go along. I'm finding that Pinterest is a wonderful reference to see how people are quilting their projects, and for picking up ideas for filler quilting.

Well, that's it from me, I'm heading back to the sewing machine. Chatter soon xox

Monday, November 19, 2012

Sneaky Peek :-)

I'm having fun working on this quilted item. It has been really time consuming, and it just kills me that it's a secret squirrel project! No big deal to share just a little ... but it'll be six months before I can show you the whole thing! It can't come around soon enough!

Winner!

A  big thank you for your lovely comments over the past week - I'm way behind with my emails and will catch up soon.

And congratulations to Kathy Lancaster who's name was drawn as the winner of the paper piecing patterns. Kathy, I haven't been able to contact you as you come up as 'no reply' in the comments. Would you mind popping me an email with your details. Thank you :-)

I hope to check back in this evening with a sneaky peek of what I'm working on ... let's see how I go :-)

Saturday, November 17, 2012

Show and Tell

On Thursday while I was working at the shop, one of Lyn's quilt group members Pauline, dropped in with the most delightful show and tell.

She has been working on the Insanity quilt for two years now (along with a hand pieced Dear Jane) and has recently finished the top. If you haven't heard of the Insanity quilt, it was in the Australian Patchwork & Quilting magazine a few years ago. It's English paper pieced, and made with 1/2" hexagons. That's a serious commitment to hexagons!


I just love love love it, but can't imagine it'll be something I will take on any time soon. I do have a few friends that have started however, and I know they're loving it.


I was surprised to see upon closer inspection that Pauline hasn't used 30's prints in her quilt, as it has that look from a distance doesn't it?

Seeing Pauline's quilt makes me want to get back to my hexagons again. I have some deadlines to work through first, and then I can play. I'll have to be content with pinning hexie quilts on Pinterest for the time being. Chatter soon :-)

Friday, November 16, 2012

Well, this week flew!

Is it just me, or did this week not seem to have as many days in it?? I'm sure I promised to share a couple of pictures earlier in the week, and here it is Friday evening? I must have blinked and missed it!

Anyways, here are most of the things I picked up at the craft show last weekend. Not pictured are the rotary cutter and little light that I got - they've been put into use already :-)

This first pic shows what I picked up from Patchwork by Sea - the little brother and sister to the iPad cover I made up a little while back. There is a cute purse, and an iPhone cover. I can't wait to make them up. They're just adorable.

 And at Somerset Patchwork and Quilting's booth, I did a little shopping, even though there were SO MANY things to tempt me. I had to show restraint, as I know I have a fairly full year ahead of me in terms of projects.

From left to right, a set of clam shell papers and a template. A template set for a Lemoyne Star (with cute fabrics). They finish at four inches, so I think they'll be a fun hand piecing project. And last of all, just a few 30cm pieces of fabric that tempted me. Because I need more fabric ... seriously ...

There are a couple of things I'm still kicking myself that I didn't purchase. I wish I'd gotten the little house block from the same range as the Lemoyne Star. I may still call and order it. Also, there were these cute little totes for only $5.00 that a few of my friends picked up. I have no idea why I forgot to go back and look at those. And last of all, I SHOULD have gone to check out Reece Scannell's booth - I'll have to try and visit with him next year in Melbourne.

Well, that's it for tonight - don't forget to comment on my last post if you're interested in the paper piecing patterns. I'll check back in soon! xox

Sunday, November 11, 2012

Quilt Show & A Little Giveaway!

Today I had a lovely day at our Guild's quilt show again. It's always lovely to catch up with my buddies, pore over the beautiful quilts, and of course, partake in a little retail therapy.


One of my dear friends that I caught up with today is Rachelle Denneny. She was the very deserving winner of the Best of Show award this year with her Golden Ivory quilt. My pictures do it no justice, but you can see that it is simply spectacular! I'm just thrilled for her.

You can see some of the amazing detail in this close up picture. It has gorgeous gold work, amazing fine stitching, fabulous trapunto ... I could just go on and on. Thank you so much Rachelle for allowing me to share pictures xox

And now for the little give away that I briefly touched on earlier this week. I received these patterns with an order last month from Patchwork with Busyfingers. They are just delightful, but I know I'll never get around to making them, so I've decided to send them on to a new home. If you'd like them, just leave me a comment, and I'll draw a winner on Sunday evening next week. They're patterns for the English Paper Piecing technique, so if that's your thing, you'll love the patterns. Have at it friends!

Tomorrow I'll check back in and share my purchases from the quilt show. Chatter soon :-)

Friday, November 09, 2012

My Quilt - The Farmer's Granddaughter

Today I visited with my quilt at the Guild show. I was just so thrilled to see her hanging with her ribbons - one for me, and one for Lizzy.


I did do just a little shopping at the show, but I'll remedy that and have a serious look around on Sunday. Other than meeting up with so many of my friends, my favourite thing today was meeting up with Karen Styles of Somerset Patchwork and Quilting. She is just darling, and so very inspirational - the Mrs Billings quilt I'm working on is one of her designs, and she has so many more that I covet. I could just ramble on and on :-)

I'm all tuckered out though, so I'm going to take a nap on the lounge ... I'll check back in soon!

Tuesday, November 06, 2012

Stormy!

My goodness, it has been just over a week since I've posted. It's not for lack of anything newsworthy, I guess I've just been a little disinterested. My bad ... I promise I will do better later this week ... cuz I've had a little surprise. I got a call tonight to let me know that my quilt has won something in the guild show. How fun!!! I have no idea what it could be - I suspect it has placed in its category. So when I visit the show on Friday, I'll be sure to let you know.

It has been stormy in Adelaide over the past 24 hours, and my clever husband managed to take a great picture of the lightning - there was so much lighning!!


Isn't that something else? Just huge! Marty takes great pictures.

Though a little loud and scary at the time, this was nothing at all like the terrible storms that have ravaged our friends on the east coast of the USA, my heart goes out to everyone suffering in Sandy's wake. I can't even imagine what you're all going through.

Well, this is just a quickie post - I'll check back in on Friday, and then on the weekend I have a little something for a giveaway, so I'll chatter soon! xox

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