Checking things off the to do list ...

Hi friends, this week has been such a busy one, and in the best possible way. Even today I've been working away, and have just managed to get this post started two minutes before midnight! Whew!

I managed to get the owl baby quilt I had been working on bound completely, and today I finished quilting the second owl quilt, this one is a panel with some added borders, so much simpler than the first (which was still a very simple quilt):

I can't wait to gift these two - I won't say too much right now, but I need them for next weekend, so I better get busy with the binding for the second quilt soon!

I also got a start on another quilt top which is destined to be a gift - even though this is a very girly quilt, believe it or not, it's not for little Mary:

I have a bit more time to make this one, so I don't need to panic. The fabric is so sweet, and I'm enjoying working with larger pieces for once. Mary's birthday is coming up soon though, so maybe I should start another quilt for her too? Why not? :-)

And in other stolen moments, I've been putting a few hand quilting stitches in Lily Rosenberry:

It would be so nice to have more time to work on Lily, so if I keep motoring along on the things that MUST be done, then I'll be able to have the time to work on the 'nice to do' things.

And for a special treat, on Tuesday night my Mum, and a friend and I went to the Entertainment Centre to see something we've been waiting excitedly for:

Dick and Angel from Escape to the Chateau were in town on their Dare To Do It tour, and we were lucky enough to get tickets. It was so fabulous and we had seats right up close. They gave a wonderful presentation and behind the scenes tour of their chateau, and we were absolutely enchanted. Ohhh it was just so great! If you're a fan, and they head to your city, do go along. You definitely won't regret it.

I think I should close off here as it's getting super late and I'm ever so tired. But before I go, I want to let you know that I'm way behind on emails, and I plan to catch up this weekend. So I'll chatter soon, big love and hugs!

Gettin' stuff done!

I've been such a busy bee in the sewing room this week! One baby quilt is almost complete, two more to go. I only have the binding to hand stitch down on this one now:

The binding won't take long to stitch down, and then I can get busy on the next one. I've made the top already - I but a border on an owl panel that was living in my stash - so during this week I'll get that quilted and bound too. I was thinking I'd like to try and make a quilt for little Mary's birthday which is in March, so I'll see if I can fit that into the schedule?!?

I also managed to get two more Morrell quilt blocks put together, I am just loving this project!

This applique block needs a little more stitching and trimming, but it won't take long at all.

This pieced block is all finished and ready to go in the quilt top. I did change it up a little - the block in the original quilt had only two fabrics and didn't contain anything as dark as the red that I've used. I don't mind changing things up to make it my own.

Earlier in the week I made macarons again, first of all for Valentines Day, and also to share with my quilting friends. There are only 7 in the picture, but I made 22 in total. Yum!

I did a test while baking this time. One sheet of macarons was baked on a tray with baking paper, and the other on a tray with a silpat. Usually I use baking paper, but no more! The macarons baked on the silpat were so much easier to remove and more evenly baked. I have ordered another silpat, and that's all I'll be using from now on. My macarons are far from perfect, and I'm endlessly striving to get better at them. There is always something new to learn!

That's all I have to share for this week though, this week just flew by, and Friday evening has almost taken me by surprise! So I'll close here with a promise to chatter with you all again really soon! xox

Baby quilts on the way ...

Thank you so much for all the lovely comments on last week's post, I love reading them all. We have such a lovely community of bloggers and readers, it makes my heart happy :-)

This week in the sewing room, I got started on the first of the three baby quilts I'll be making. This one is for my Mum to gift:

Mum found the sweet owl prints in a charity store and gave them to me to work with. They're awfully cute. There wasn't a lot of them, and toward the end, I was piecing the cornerstones together to eke the last pieces out that I needed - but I can happily say that I haven't wasted any fabric. The green diamonds are from a range I bought a while back that goes with a panel and I'll quilt that up next.

I'm absolutely working with fabrics/prints/colours outside my comfort zone, but that's how we grow right?

Next up, here's a block I made up last week but forgot to share:

I really love working on the Morrell quilt, and I'm seriously wishing there were a few more hours in each day to make up the blocks. I haven't made up a block for this week yet, but I'll remedy that tomorrow.

And here is a delightful piece of show and tell:

I had spoken with my quilting ladies about a book I had coveted for a long time as I adored the quilt on the cover. It has been out of print for a long time (it's quite an old fashioned sort of quilt book) and the only ones I'd located were pricey. Well, one of my lovely friends filed this information away and tracked down the book about 18 months ago, and over the Christmas break her daughter brought it over with her from the USA. How lucky am I? I feel so very blessed and thankful for lovely friends <3 <3

That's all I have to share this week, even though it seems like I've had a productive week I don't have a lot to show. Hopefully there will be more next week, so chatter soon!

Sewing room time ...

So this past week I was able to spend a nice amount of time in the sewing room. I got some more hand quilting done - it's slow going so there's never a lot to show for my time, but I'm chipping away at it:

I never grow tired of hand quilting, it's so relaxing.

There was also time to get a couple more of the Morrell blocks put together. The hexie block just needs a little more stitching down, and then trimming:

It's a shame this is the only EPP hexie block in this quilt, it was really fun and a great portable project.

This nine patch was an easy one to complete and I had fun choosing the fabrics:

The fabric with the little fishbowls was gifted to me by our lovely friend Wendy Caton Reed. I just adore it. Wendy sent me a package of darling conversational prints, and I have been holding them for a special project. This quilt is the one where I'll use a few! Thank you so much Wendy, you're such a darling for sharing. 

So that's where I'm up to right now with the Morrell quilt, and my hand quilting. This month I need to put three baby quilts together, so I may have to hold back on the Morrell blocks for a little bit - I'll put my head down and see how much I can get done. Chatter soon!

Babysitting ...

Tonight I'm babysitting, and made the mistake of leaving the completed blocks I want to share in the sewing room. And the portacot with sweet little Mary in slumberland is in the sewing room with them! I don't dare tiptoe in there as she is a light sleeper and will pop up like a jack in the box.

So instead I'll visit with you again tomorrow ... but first I wanted to share a quick snap that I forgot to share last week.

While we were in Noumea, I found the most darling fabric store - Tissus Mercerie Johnston. It was the sweetest little shop, and the man in the store was just so patient while I practiced my French with him. 

I didn't buy a lot, but the pack of fat quarters was sweet, and I'll make a little something for Mary with them. The beads and sequins are the very perfect thing for working on the mmmCrafts ornaments, so I was happy to find them. Believe it or not, it's not easy to find many varieties of sequins here in Adelaide without tracking down dance supplies stores. And the thread snips ... well let me tell you this ... I packed my hand stitching into my hand luggage quickly and without thinking to check the bag. Of course I had some snips in there and had them confiscated at security at Adelaide airport. The lady was very sweet about it of course, and offered to have my old ones held for me until I got home, but they weren't precious so I was fine for them to dispose of them. So when I saw them at the fabric store I had a giggle and brought them home ... in my checked in luggage!

So that's it for me tonight - I'll do some blog reading on my laptop while I wait for Mary to be picked up. I surely don't have any hand stitching with me in the family room ... so I'll chatter with you tomorrow! xox