Wednesday, November 30, 2011

A new generation quilter...

My Gorgeous Girl loves to create, so for her birthday I gave her a jelly roll of Summer House.

This is what she has created...



She has made it mainly at the sewing class she goes to at our LQS. Her lovely teacher, Leonie is able to gently nag her into more even seams..unlike her mother!

Glad to have another quilter in the family as someone has to use up all this fabric!!

Have a great week!

Monday, November 28, 2011

November's Block

As previously mentioned I am in a Quilt Bee called the Travelling Circles Bee. Part of the joy of doing bees is that you learn new techniques and challenge yourself....it's all a learning curve.

Well, the thing I learnt from this month's block is that I am NEVER going to make a whole orange peel quilt.....EVER...

Now, I really try hard for bee blocks. With my own quilts I am sometimes a bit "she'll be right" but I like my bee blocks to be as close to perfect as I can get them.

Well, here is this month's orange peel block...


It goes against the grain to send off a block where the points don't match and there are puckers..but this block was not working for me at all! And I figured if I did too much unpicking then the pieces were going to be distorted and I didn't have any extra fabric to remake it. (as they had all been supplied)

Insert big sigh here.....

But at least it is ticked off the "To- Do" list and now I can move onto the next job (and boy, are there a few!!)

Hope you're having a good week!

Friday, November 25, 2011

Travelling Circle Bee

October was my month on the Travelling Circles Bee and here are the blocks I have received so far..



Any bright sparks out there got any ideas on setting/sashing?? What colours, what styles? Any suggestions gratefully received... I originally thought I would just join them together, no sashing but with the dotty background, the dots are not going to meet up properly etc..which may drive me dotty!!
Thanks...

Rain, rain, rain


"Hmmmm..lots of rain out there"


"Anyone for some raisin toast and a bit of telly?"

There's been a LOT of rain in our region over the last couple of days. Poor farmers who should be starting their wheat harvest! Poor teachers who are trying to entertain kids inside who are restless as it's 4th term here in school.Poor mums who have an endless pile of washing (that's me! )

Maybe because of the rain here over the last couple of days we've had a "visitor" come to live in the garage.


The other news in the family is the addition of these three little ladies. Bringing our chicken flock to six!


Hope you have a great week!
(The little NOM's (yep, spelt like that)are from here.)

Sunday, November 20, 2011

A quilt for Abi

I've been working on a quilt for the 2nd new niece that came into this family in the last couple of months.

This one's for Abi...

(Fabric - Sherbert Pips. I used the leftovers to make the bag for Gorgeous Girl)

Born six weeks early, Abi is going really well (and will need to be a tough little tike as she has two rambunctious older brothers!!)

I still need to lay this on a single bed and probably trim a little as it's so huge. Then I'm hoping to use the trimmed pieces in the backing somehow..just need to put my thinking cap on for that one!

Hope you have a good week

Thursday, November 17, 2011

Photos from around and about.

As previously mention..somewhere, ages ago...I went with my Gorgeous Girl on a school excursion to Adelaide in late October. (quite a way away from rural NSW!)

I loved Adelaide. Every block in the CBD seems to have some kind of sculpture, so there's always something new around the corner. There are also some beautiful old buildings. Here is a couple of pictures..





On one afternoon we headed out on the tram to Glenelg to the beach. It was a gorgeous spot.


And in case you're wondering how you keep track of fifteen 11 and 12 year olds - you make them wear their bright red Conference hats. I told them that they looked like a field of mushrooms...


The kids did a great job with their presentation and had a ball going to other delegate's workshops and the dinners at night.

I unfortunately didn't get to any patchwork shops but did have fun wandering through Rundle Mall.

I was glad to get back to "my boys" and sleep in my own bed by the end of the five days though.

And just to skite, I thought I'd show you Gorgeous Girl's hat that she made for the Melbourne Cup fun at school. Made entireley from bits and pieces we had at home, she had great fun with her glue gun!


Hope to be back soon! Have a good week!

Saturday, November 5, 2011

Same pattern.Two very different quilts!!

Here is my quilt, a kit purchased from Honeysuckly Cottage a long time ago.

and here is the same pattern made up in these great, wild fabrics by Julie at the quilt retreat I went to last weekend.
She's added lots of borders to make it larger.
Isn't it amazing how two so very different quilts can come from the same pattern?? Have a great week!

Thursday, November 3, 2011

The last two weeks...

In my last two weeks I have..
1. Travelled to Adelaide, seen the sights, marvelled at the creativity of 11 year olds at their presentation,slept very little due to not being used to city noises any more.
2. Battled a flu
3. Did a week's household tasks in a slap dash fashion in two days.
4. Battled a flu
5. Headed off to my annual quilt weekend. Laughed, sewed, realised my fabric choice was completely wrong (will show photos later), ate too much heavenly slice.
6. Battled the flu
7. Did the paperwork for the BAS (tax)- boy I hate that job.
8. Battled the flu
9. Spent hours surrounded by samples of carpet/vinyl/laminex/tiles as I try to plan colour schemes for my hubby's new work
10. Battled the flu

Hope to be back later to show photos of lots of the above..not the flu bit obviously (and probably not the tax also), but I first must wean myself off various pharmaceutical agents and catch up on a lot of jobs.

Until then have a good week!