Happy Easter

Happy Easter to my friends who celebrate, I hope you have a lovely weekend. Because of the extended long weekend, I forgot what day it is and here I am posting on a Saturday ... better late than never!

I managed to get quite a bit of sewing done this week, I quilted and bound the cot quilt for Mushroom Chu-Chu, and I'm thrilled with the results:

I used the serpentyle style quilting stitch that I'd used on some placemats earlier in the year and it was so speedy. After I marked all the lines and basted the quilt, it only took about 90 minutes to get the quilting done. Colour me happy! In fact I'm so pleased with this quilt that I'm contemplating writing it up as a pattern. It's just perfect for prints you don't want to cut up too much.

And in piecing news, I'm making moves toward catching up on the reproduction mini 9 patches - I made these ones during the week:

I'm calling these week 11, though they bear little resemblance to the originals. They're not very scrappy and quite blendy too TBH. At the time I made these, I still had weeks 5 through to 10 to catch up on - but yesterday I worked on week 5 though I haven't taken a picture yet.

This afternoon I'm contemplating breaking out the Morrell quilt project and potentially putting a block together. I'm not sure if I've made any blocks toward that project this year? It got put aside when things got busy for me and other projects bullied their way to the front of the queue. My version of the Rajah quilt also met the same fate. It's waiting on me to open that project box and finish it up. I don't think there it a lot to go, but I'm not sure.

Anyway, that has been my week in the quilting room/ladies lounge, how has your week been? Chatter soon xox

Decision made ...

Whew, this week thankfully saw a return to something like normality. Though I'm still a little low on energy, I could spend the day with sweet little Mary, get some work done, and catch up with my sweet quilting friends.

And also, I was able to make a decision which had been eluding me for a little while. Mary's little sister (who she has named Mushroom Chu-Chu) will be arriving in the not too distant future, and though I'd purchased some pretty fabrics, I had no clue what I wanted to make with them. That is no longer the case! Here are some pictures of the completed top - I just finished it this afternoon:

I had originally drawn up this pattern and made the quilt about ten years ago - I'm not sure what I did with the original quilt, but it's a really nice one for a print you don't want to cut up too much. I really like the sweet little possum print, and I may go back to the store and find some more.

If I get really enthusiastic, I'll get the quilt basted this weekend and maybe start quilting. I'm not sure what quilting style I'll use, but I've been toying with using the serpentile quilting stitches like I did with a couple of the placemats recently. 

In other news, it was lovely catching up with some of the Chookshed quilters on Zoom last weekend. Next time I must remember to have my laptop charger with me, I always get low batteries much faster than I think I'm going to. The ladies I've met are all lovely, and it's so fun to hear all the chatter.

That's all I have to share for the moment, fingers crossed I have a bunch more to share with you next week! *hugs*

This past month ...

Whew! I didn't mean to let almost a whole month pass by before I posted here, but that's what happened! The first two weeks are easily explainable, my parents and I travelled to New Zealand on a RC cruise. It was just lovely, and I'll share some pictures:

We flew to Sydney the day before, so we were able to explore. There was a ship in port, but it wasn't our ride, this one was pretty fancy:

We always stay in The Rocks, so on the day we simply have to drag our bags across the road to the overseas passenger terminal. This means that there's always lots to see, and the view from the roof of our hotel is pretty spectacular:

On Wednesday 21st, was our day to board, and this is our chariot. Though this picture was taken in NZ (I think Wellington) as I forgot to take one on boarding day.

We've travelled on the Ovation before, and always love it <3

This was my room, a balcony cabin on deck 8, my parents had the room next door, so we had the balcony opened up between them, and also the adjoining door unlocked, it always makes it feel more spacious.

Day two at sea and a lovely lunch at Jamie Oliver's Italian - a tradition now, we always enjoy it so much!

I'll share a sprinkling of my many many photos, and try to recall where I took them ...

Our first stop - Picton NZ. So pretty, and I may or may not have bought a long necklace of the most lovely pearls from a darling jewellery store here. Can't prove anything ;-)

Two days later in Wellington NZ, we jumped on the gorgeous vintage hop-on hop-off tram and toured around the CBD.

The driver narrated as we travelled around, and we learned all about rebuilding efforts in the city, I have so many picutres if you're interested. And I was fascinated also by the beautiful interior of the tram, which we learned was about 100 years old.

The next day in Dunedin, also such a beautiful place. This is the train station - stunning in person. While in Dunedin, we stumbled across the most darling vintage store - Two Squirrels Vintage. I could have purchased every single thing in the store, but settled on this beautiful vintage apron and sweet little set of beads:

On our way home we travelled through Dusky Sound, Doubtful Sound and Milford Sound, all simply stunning!

And on the last sea day while heading home, we did a fascinating tour of the kitchens and a yummy brunch. We definitely never went hungry.

Before we knew it, it was time to start heading home - it was a long day travelling and I was really glad to finally be able to sink into bed. The next morning I didn't feel right, and took 'that' test, and sure enough was positive. First time ever for me. Next minute I received a message from Mum having had the same result.

The past two weeks have been spent largely resting, and with very little energy, I'm just now starting to feel like I'm getting back to some normality. In moments with energy, I've been baking - Pantry Mama's Sourdough Discard Loaves, one with rye, and one white:

I've been painting heads for my Etsy store, this is the second lot I painted for orders after I got home:

And for the last picture of the day, a little fabric delivery that arrived while I was away:

Darling fabrics that I'll be able to use in my Morrell quilt when I get back to it. And speaking of quilts, this past month I've done virtually no stitching - the only thing I've really had energy to work on since I've been home is a little hand quilting. I hope to remedy that soon, as I'd love to get a quilt made for the new grandbaby that will be here before we know it!

Well, that's been my month, apologies for the radio silence, here's hoping I have the energy to get back to my posting schedule going forward! Chatter soon xox