Three down, one to go ...

In stolen moments, I've been chipping away at the Montmellick Di Ford mystery. I'm still humming along on border number 5, and the finish line for this part is growing so close:

Just one side left to go, and I can get busy putting part 6 together. Part 6 includes a pieced star border, and then a final border print. If you haven't seen it, you can check it out on the Quilt Mania website.

But before I get busy on part 6, I'm going to spend some time sorting out the sewing room, it's getting kind of messy and I find it hard to sew when I'm edgy in my environment. I may also have to send some of my fabric out into the world. I have Way. Too. Much. Fabric. Not sure I ever thought I'd say that!!

Alrighty, I have some chores to take care of, then it's back to the appliqué, chatter soon!

A spiderweb production line :-)

First up, if you thought I might be tempted by more Christmas Nutcrackers when faced with them at the store, you might be right ...

However when you're faced with a group of them like this ... can't prove anything ... right?? :-)

Ugh, just noticed that my fern needs a little 'greenhouse' time. It's amazing what you pick up in a photo but can ignore in real life!

But back to the quilty component of this post: This past week I have been producing spider-web place-mats at a rate of knots!

Here we have a gratuitous 'while quilting' photo. I have to say that even though I'll never have mad photography skillz, I'm enjoying my new iPhone and the pictures it takes a good deal better than my old one. Though this 6+ is huge in my small hands!

I made three different colourways - these ones are largely reproduction fabrics. The eagle eyed among you will recognise one of the red fabrics from my Farmers Wife quilt.

These ones using some of the Jinny Beyer fat quarters that I won (I think last year) at our guild show.

And these ones using more of the Jinny Beyer fat quarters. Though they scarcely look different from the previous picture, there are subtle differences :-)

All the Jinny Beyer mats have used Jinny Beyer fat quarters as the backing, so I've made a bit of a dent in the pack I received :-)

Here are the mats ready to head off to their new homes. I'll be passing them along today, and only just finished them yesterday - I always manage to cut things close to my self imposed deadlines!

Not sure what I'll work on next, probably get busy on the Di Ford mystery again, but the rest of the week is looking pretty chaotic. I'll check in when I can! xox

Catching up ...

On Sunday last week I was finally able to visit with my quilt at the Guild Show. Because the DH is away, I had to take Camo with me after he was done with tennis training. To sweeten the deal for him, I promised to take him to Krispy Creme afterward. I probably shouldn't have given him that information before we went to the show ... the whole time we were there I was hearing "Can we go now ... Can we go now ..." *sigh*

I managed to get a few happy snaps, so here's a close up for you:

During the week I had a call from our wonderful FOQ organiser Bron, she had the happy news that my quilt is one of those selected to represent South Australia at AQC in Melbourne in April. Isn't that just the best thing? Really the cherry on my sundae :-)

I've been busy during the week working on a bunch of spider-web place-mats, and I'll share a picture with you in my next post. I probably could have done so today, but this girl of little brains just forgot to take a snap or two.

But I did manage to take a few (a very few) pictures on an outing yesterday! Shay, Amy and I ventured to Costco!! It only opened here in Adelaide on Wednesday for the first time ever, and as soon as the schedule allowed, we were there with bells on! Definitely check in with Shay at some point, as I know she'll write a much more descriptive and humorous post than I'm capable of :-)

You all know my love of Nutcrackers, well, we weren't in the door five minutes and this guy was tossed into the trolley:

He's so much nicer than this guy that we saw later on:

According to the box, he's 1.9m (or 76") tall, and at over $400.00 he was definitely too rich for my budget right now. And if I'm completely honest, I don't think he's as cute as the little 32" guy we purchased :-)

Throughout the whole shopping trip, I was having doubts about whether I should bring the Nutcracker home, I don't know why, but it just seemed so extravagant! Now that he's in place though, I'm just so glad I bought him:

I'll have to take another pic so you can see how they all look together. Now that I've had a grizzle to some of my friends about Nutcrackers being harder to find this year, I'm seeing them in a few more places, but I'll have to restrain myself ... I really need to save some money for my vacation next year.

I skyped with Linda during the week, and I'll be booking my airfares shortly - DH will be booking some annual leave so he can holiday with the little guy while I'm away, it's all looking good!

Next week is my birthday, and for the first time ever my DH is going to be away. I have a couple of celebrations planned with friends and I'll be going out with my family too, so I won't be feeling lonely which is nice :-) I was chatting with the Hubster the other day telling him that I don't want a bunch of presents also because of the upcoming vacation, but he assured me that when he gets back, regardless of my desire for a minimalist birthday he'll choose me some new beads for my Pandora bracelets. He knows how much I love them and how the beads have special meaning for me depending on where they came from and who gifted them to me, isn't he a honey? :-)

And for the very last thing, here's a random picture that's in my phone from the other day, thought I'd share it:

I was trying to work out if I wanted to do any more Christmas decorating in the front rooms, and I've decided I'm going to leave them be for now. I need to tidy away those messy cords, and neaten up the quilt rack. It's amazing how you don't notice those things in real life, but in a picture they stand out like crazy.

Well, that's it from me for today, I'm going to get back on to the spider-web place-mat production line, so I'll check in really soon!

More Excitement!

A big thank you to my sweet friend Bridget - on two counts!

First up, she's at the Craft Fair today, and visited with my quilt. She snapped some pictures for me, as I'm just not sure when I'm going to get a chance to go there ...

My goodness it's a big quilt, and I have to say that I'm feeling quite proud that it's hanging nice and flat. It's a tough gig attaching a border to such a heavily pieced quilt, and Lizzy's amazing quilting was the icing on the cake :-)

And a gratuitous close up so you can see more of Lizzy's fantastic quilting. A ribbon for her, and one for me too :-) Sue Garman's pattern is just wonderful - and it was a delight for me to put the quilt top together - albeit a good deal faster than I anticipated I would.

I'm just so thrilled that my quilt did so well, I really hope I get an opportunity to visit with it before the show ends on Sunday. 

And the second big thank you for Bridget: She knows my love of Nutcrackers, and my boundless enthusiasm to fill my home with them during the Christmas season ... well, she found one and gifted it to me:

He's front and centre there with the gold crown and green glittery legs - isn't he so very cute? I only have seven large Nutrackers (and about eleventy small ones on the tree) so it's not much of a collection really, but I really like them and see more in my future. There's one in Myer that's about a metre tall ... and at $100 is a little rich for me ... but trust me, I'll be there with bells on if he's still around in the post-Xmas sales!

Last of all - I'm waiting on a special parcel today - I may or may not (can't prove anything 'till they arrive) have ordered some shoes at around midnight on Wednesday. It's all for a good cause ... Guild's 20's night:

Source

These will be perfect with the outfit I have planned - a red sheath dress with a black lace overlay, and a feather headband with a red rhinestone. Should be super fun. She shoes are Diana Ferrari's Lamour, and I purchased them from Birdsnest. I'm sad to say that they were the last pair. I think it was serendipity that the last pair they had were my size - they were meant to be :-)

**Just as I was typing this, the doorbell rang, and they have arrived ... OMG, they are beautiful!! Happy days!!**

Well, that's it from me, I have work to do in the sewing room today, and a bunch of chores to do, so I will chatter soon! xox

Thimbleberries Limited Edition Porcelain Stocking Ornaments

Just a quick note for my Thimbleberries loving friends out there - I've just created an Ebay listing for my set of Thimbleberries Porcelain Stocking Ornaments.

They just don't suit my decor any longer, and I know someone out there has probably been hunting for these for ages, you just don't see them around any more!

So, if these are something you're looking for, go ahead and check out the listing: Thimbleberries Limited Edition Porcelain Stocking Ornaments. Happy Shopping! xox

Gearing up for Christmas ...

Yesterday was the day of the Christmas Pageant in Adelaide, and that means one thing in this house ... it's time to start Xmas decorating. I think my children may riot if the tree didn't go up on pageant day, and fortunately this weekend they were just a little preoccupied, so they didn't mind that I was a day late. But here it is ... long term readers have seen it all before :-)

There is still a little tweaking to do - some filler ribbons etc, but we're pretty much there. Just need to get busy with the rest of the decorating now. You know, break out the garlands, the nutcrackers etc ...

Amy had the fun quote of the day ... "The tree still needs to be pyramid shaped, it can't have any tumors". I'm super fussy about decorating the tree, and it seems my apprentice is learning well :-)

And because we're starting to get into the Christmas spirit, I've pulled out a few FQ's to make some spiderweb placemats to give away - I have a number of them to make this year, I hope I can manage them all.

A while back I won a whole pile of Jinny Beyer FQ's in our guild show, and I will use these for some of the spiderwebs. They're not Christmas fabrics, but the colours work don't they?

Hopefully I'll get all the strips cut and sewed tonight, and then I'll cut the wedges tomorrow. Better run, chatter soon!

Excitement!

I have the most exciting news: I learned at the Guild presentation night last night that my quilt placed first in its category - Open Traditional Two Person. A big thank you to my sweet friend Lizzy, firstly for quilting my top so well, and secondly because I pinched this photo from her Facebook page :-)

Hopefully I'll be able to visit with all the quilts at the show next weekend and share a picture of the ribbon with you. And huge congratulations to all my prize winning friends! xox

Montmellick-ing ...

Okay - someone needs to tell me where the past week or so has gone - because I have no clue! I know I've worked - done chores - we're at tennis 6 times in a week - and I guess taking care of the house and fam ... but other than that, I just can't account for what I've been up to.

I can share that in spare moments I've been working on the Montmellick appliqué. I'm almost caught up now :-)

All the broderie perse is finished now, and I've done one side of the appliquéd petal shapes. Oddly, it isn't easy for me to find scraps of red in my stash - I know I have some French General bits and pieces, but I've put them aside for the tumbler project that I'm hand piecing. Maybe I'll have to start cutting into yardage at some point - oh the horror!! :-)

See the red paper pieced hexagons in those corner pieces? The flower shape in the margin of the photo is actually larger than the one closer to the centre of the photo. I thought it would be nice to make the flower shape on the larger square fit it better, so instead of the 1/2" hexies, I used 5/8" hexies. I probably could have gone to 3/4" to take it to the margin of the square, but after making all the hexies I was too lazy to change them :-)

I'm looking forward to the next instalment of the magazine coming out. Quilt Mania is a bi-monthly magazine and I've lost track of which month it's issued, but I feel sure it must be soon.

I have paperwork, housework and shopping on my agenda today - so I don't think there will be much stitching happening. Chatter soon! xox