Light Fittings

Today I had lunch with my dear friend Karen, and we went browsing in a couple of favourite homewares stores. I've been looking for some light fittings for my lounge and dining rooms, and today I found some that I'm pretty sure will work beautifully in our home. What do you think?

I've always loved these Tiffany style pendants, and didn't know exactly where I'd be able to find one. Recollections have recently got them in, and I'm hooked!

Here is a close up of the one I'm loving ... I just need to convince my DH that he's in love with them too! :-)

Masons Lamp

Hi there friends - I need you to put your detectives hats on today. This is my own personal 'Can you help' moment. :-)

For the longest time (probably 15-20 years) I've had this lovely Masons Lamp, and I don't think I've ever known what the pattern is called, so I was wondering if my dear sweet blog readers might have any clues. I thought for a little while that it may have been 'Blue Mandalay', but after googling that pattern, I've found the lamp to be different. Ideas anyone? I'd love it if someone could help me figure out what it is!

Oops - I shopped again!

I'm a few days late, and more than a few dollars short with this post - but better late than never, right? I had the best time shopping at Hettie's Patch on Friday, they have so many of my favourite kinds of fabric there, it was hard to know where to begin and end!

I'll just launch right in with my purchases ... A jelly roll and two charm packs of the French General 'Panier De Fleurs' range - it's just beautiful, and I'll be there with bells on when the yardage arrives in September. The jelly roll is destined for use with the Short Line pattern I purchased a little while back - can't wait for that :-)

Also in the picture - other assorted French General yardage, and the most adorable conversational by Judie Rothermel that I hadn't seen around before. A spool of YLI hand quilting thread (I'd hate to run out mid NI quilt) some trapunto yarn that was on sale - great for one of my wholecloths. And last but not least, the cutest little mug - love those little Babushka dolls on it!

Doesn't seem like that much when I lay it all out and write about it, but my bag was heavy!

In other news - I'm still keeping up with my one block a day quilting on my NI quilt - and I'm just loving how it's looking so far. I have to confess, I'm still not interested in working on anything else - I'm inspired! Chatter soon :-)

Still quilting ...

I've been quiet, but very busy quilting away on my Nearly Insane quilt. It's so hard to show good pictures of progress, but trust me, there is plenty :-)

So far I've managed to quilt up one block each day, I doubt I'll be able to keep up that momentum, but thankfully I have plenty of time to complete this task.

It's really fun to revisit each block while it's being quilted - and the stitches add such lovely dimension to what was a flat (but not boring) quilt top.

I'll reposition the quilting hoop shortly, and then I'm going to dash out for a quick visit to Hettie's Patch. They have some of my favourite quilting thread in stock, and we've run out at the shop. It's always nice to visit other stores - everyone sees the same Reps, but always buy different things - I predict I may just have to bring a little more than thread home with me :-)

This could take a while!

Thank heavens I love to hand quilt, because this is really going to take a while!

I've quilted five blocks now, and I'm just about to start on the sixth :-) It's not easy to see in the picture, but you can get an idea of where I'm heading with the quilting pattern. There is a four petal flower in each block, and a circle surrounding each block in the sashing strips.

Marty will be away this weekend, so I'm hoping to entirely cocoon myself and get lots and lots of stitching done - it has been so cold lately that quilting is just the perfect activity to keep warm. Chatter soon! xox

Busy, but not blogging ...

I have been such a busy bee over the past couple of weeks, but I have been very naughty not sharing my adventures with you. So, here are a few pictures to fill you in on what we've been up to:

For the Easter long weekend (five glorious days) we headed on over to the family beach house, and spent some q-time in the sun. The weather was just lovely, and as always the kids had a blast.

Amy and her boyfriend catching a few waves.

And Camo has clearly had enough of Dad taking his picture :-)

On the last day of the school holidays I took the kids to the Zoo. We're members there, so we really should go more often. It was so much fun to see the Pandas. Fortunately for me, the kids were happy to pose to make up for my lack of fabulous Panda shots.

Lizzy has done an amazing job of basting my Nearly Insane quilt for me, so I've started on the hand quilting. This is not going to be a quick job ... I see many days and nights of quilting ahead of me. Thankfully, it's one of my favourite parts of the whole process :-)

And here's where my Masons Vista collection stands to date. Do you love the 'new to me' cabinet? It was made for my Grandparents for their wedding, and as part of their paring down process, my Dad kindly brought it down from their house and gave it to me. I love how it fits in perfectly with my decor. That's my Grandmother's picture in there - a sweet snap of her in the 40's. Isn't she gorgeous? xox

And in other quilty news, on Friday I had a really fun play date with the lovely ladies Claire and Val. Such a nice day, and we hope to do it again soon.

Well, that's it, you're all caught up now - I hope I don't leave it so long next time :-) xox

Just a quick note ...

... to let you know that I haven't fallen from the face of the earth!

So much has happened over the past week or so, and I promise to share pictures soon. The kids are just finishing up school holidays - back to school on Tuesday. We spent Easter over at the beach house - I even managed to take my sewing machine along. I've been piecing and quilting when I have the chance ...

... and most recently I've been doing a little rearranging.

Good times :-)