And Phebe is finally done!

Squeeeee! I'm just thrilled to report that I've finished working on the Phebe quilt top. It has taken 11 months to get to this stage, and here it is:

It's another big one, I can't lay it out fully anywhere in the house - so I'm sending it on to my lovely longarming friend Lizzy to baste for me, and then I can get busy with the hand quilting.

Here is a close up of one of the sides:

There are so many different fabrics to look at, my eyes are skipping all over the place seeing new things. Can I share a secret with you? When I first started putting the final borders together I was really unsure about whether the fabric I used in the large triangles was the right one, I felt it might have been too dark. I love it now though, and I'm so glad I purchased it on a whim from Hetties Patch.

This week has been a busy one - I had Christmas in July with my sweet Thursday quilting class - I made them little quilted mats, refreshed a Christmas pattern for them, and make yummy cupcakes. I didn't remember to take a picture of the mats etc, but may be able to snag one from a friend, but here are the cupcakes etc:

Isn't the Nutcracker in the background a cutie? Manuela bought it on her recent trip to Germany - after seeing her pictures I don't know how she showed restraint - I definitely would need extra luggage - the German Christmas stores are amazing!

Lastly, a quick apology, I haven't responded to comments from my last post just yet - and there are some I can't respond to as the email addresses aren't enabled, so a big hello to Lin McQ, Marie, Melody A, Randy Tangen and lvkwlt - I appreciate you all stopping by! Chatter soon everyone! xox

Almost, almost ... getting reaaaalllly close ...

I really wanted to have my quilt top finished by this evening, and I'm so very close, honestly I am ... There is just one side of the star border, and then the little spacer to go ...

I just dumped the quilt on the floor in the sewing room and haven't straightened it up properly so it looks a little jiggly wobbly, but you can see it's coming along. I think I will do a little unpicking though - the top of the star block in the very corner doesn't meet with its neighbour nicely enough for my liking so I'll sort that out tonight.

As soon as the top is done I can hand it on to my lovely long arming friend Lizzy to baste for me, and hand quilting can begin in earnest.

In other news - yesterday while out shopping with Amy, we wandered into an antique store and I found a lovely piece to add to my Masons Vista collection:

Isn't it pretty? I've never seen a '3 section relish dish' in the wild before so I had to bring it home with me. They did also have a dinner plate, but I left that behind because at $55.00 the price was too steep - and lets be honest, the 20 plates I already have are plenty!

Well, that's it from me, hopefully the next time I check in with you all I should have this top completely finished - fingers crossed!

Almost there ...

Oooooh, look at me go! I'm getting so close to finishing this quilt top, I feel like I can almost touch it! The last little skinny border was stitched in place on Tuesday evening, so here's where it's at now:

I haven't laid it out on the floor very well, and the light coming through the window in the sewing room has washed it out a lot, but I simply couldn't wait to share it with you all!

Basically, all that remains is the final border with pieced stars set on point. 56 stars are required, and I've made 13 of them so far - I need to get my skates on and get busy piecing! Chatter soon!