Caswell Block F3

Raise your hand if you knew I'd find every spare moment to finish the last Caswell block I've been working on! Sleep is overrated right? Of course it is ... so to that end, here is my last block:

Caswell Quilt - Block F3

In my haste to take the picture, I've managed to take a blurry shot and haven't pressed the block well at all - but it's done and I'm just thrilled. I think this may be my favourite block so far. What a wonderful note to end on!

My sewing room is still in disarray, and will be for another week, so I can't get busy doing anything else just yet. Also my sewing machine is having a visit at the Bernina health spa, so even if I could find myself a quiet corner, there's not a great deal I can do.

Before I go, I'm so happy to be able to share some pictures that my sweet friend Janet took of my Montmellick quilt hanging at the AQC in Melbourne:

Now that AQC is finished, my quilt has travelled to Nantes in France with Di Ford-Hall, it'll be displayed in the special exhibit at Pour L'amour Du Fil. I genuinely wish I could be there, but this year it's not to be. I have some lovely friends over there, and they have assured me they'll be sending me lots of pictures, so I'll update you soon.

Well, that's it for me today - I have the last items of furniture to move and then it's time to get busy painting. Chatter soon! xox

Almost Caswell F3

I'm getting so close to finishing block F3 of my Caswell project - and though it's my 25th of 30 blocks, it'll be the last one that I make (for now at least). Stitching time has been so very scarce, so rather than just let time drag on, I thought I'd quickly share where I'm up to with this block:

I'm using quite different colours than the original block, and I'm much happier with how the block looks. The blocks on either side are heavy on purple and blue fabrics, so these lovely pink and red flowers should look cute. I do hope to have it finished in the next couple of days, but there is so much going on right now, I just can't be sure!

One of the things that has kept me on my toes was some drama in the kitchen. I smelled gas in there one evening and after Marty investigated, it was discovered that my gas cooktop had developed a leak. It was too old to be repaired easily, so I was able to shop for a fabulous new stainless cooktop. Once it was installed, the old oven looked tired and worn, so we determined it was probably time to replace it too - and happily that took place late last week, and here's the result:

I'm loving the cooktop, and so far I've used the oven twice with good results, but I've yet to do any actual baking, so fingers crossed!

Some exciting news is that my sweet girl Amy and her boyfriend purchased their first home and moved out over Easter. To that end, we've been busy doing a shuffle at home - Amy's room is being re-purposed as an office, and I'll have my sewing room reorganised and all to myself. Both rooms at this time are almost completely empty (soon to be completely empty - and what a big job it has been) I'm in the midst of painting both rooms and next week they are being re-carpeted. It's exhausting work, but I know it will be worth it in the end. And that's why stitching time has been limited - but there is an end to the hard work in sight.

I'm a little behind again on emails, so I'll catch up with them in the next few days, and hopefully check back on here soon too! xoxox

Caswell Block E5

This block has taken me a few days longer than I anticipated. Not because it's tricky stitching or anything, I just haven't had so much free time lately. In fact, free time has been very hard to come by for some reason!

But here it is:

Caswell Quilt - Block E5
This block was super fun to work on, I really liked putting the big flowers together, and the leaves were a breeze with their gentle curves.

A decision I have made this week is that I'm going to make 25 of the 30 blocks. I've wrestled with it for a while, and I did some sums - I worked out that with the sashing selection I've made, the number of blocks and the applique border I want to work on, the quilt was going to end up just way too long.

It was a tough realisation, because I really wanted to stitch all 30 - but there is nothing stopping me from making the extra blocks later on, and perhaps a few more for a wall hanging quilt or some such thing.

At class yesterday I threw a whole bunch of the blocks out on the cutting table so the girls and I could have a look at them, and I took a picture to share with you all:

They're not in any particular order, so this isn't how they're ultimately going to be laid out, but isn't it fun to see that they're playing nicely together!

Lastly - at guild night last night, I handed my Montmellick quilt over to our Show Convenor for the first steps on it's journey to France. It's first visit will be at AQC in Melbourne, and then from there it will travel to Pour L'Amour Du Fil in Nantes. I'm more than a little sad that I won't be able to see it hanging at either location, but the timing of school holidays will mean that I'll be hanging with Camo rather than jetsetting. If any of my sweet buddies are going to either show, I'd just love it if you could send me a picture of my quilt in it's surroundings. Thank you so much!! Chatter soon xoxox

Update:  I almost forgot - I had a question from a lovely reader that didn't remember to sign their name and their email is set to no reply. They asked what size betweens I use for stitching. Most of you will already know, but just in case you don't - betweens are hand sewing needles, and are sometimes called quilting needles. My favourites are size 8 Piecemakers needles. No affiliation - just a very satisfied customer. I use each needle for ages until it's no longer shiny or gets blunt, I think they're just fabulous. Hope this helps, and thank you for your question!