Monday

Typical spring weather here, up and down.  Thursday we had a nasty Southerly come through, bringing snow.  It was proper snowing up at Mum’s place and really cold here.  The hill road was closed, so Ian had to catch the train home , and then he missed the morning train back on Friday morning.  Bummer.  Then we had a lovely fine weekend.  Sunday we were all out playing tennis in the paddock, and relaxing in the sun.

There were a few interruptions from the water boy

Who lost his clothes part way through the game.  Can you tell he’s enjoying the warmer weather?

It was good fun!

I’ve been trying to get all my quilting bee blocks done before I go to hospital.

For Rachel, cottage bee, september.  Great fabric choice, and her tutorial for this block is great.  Loved making this.

This one is for Montserrat – live piecefully bee – October

She asked for something traditional, so I went log cabin. I tried something harder, but couldn’t make sense of the pattern.  Oh well.

I enjoyed making Rachels’ block so much that I decided to make use of some of my scraps.  This is destined to become a mini quilt for a the wall. It’s about 16 inches square.

I ‘ve finished the last jumbo log cabin block for my park slope quilt, I just need to get a bit more fabric for the sashing and backing.  I’m not so great at planing ahead for my quilting needs. I tend to just get the main fabric, and then have to hunt about for solids and backings to match.  A good example of this is the NZ quilt I’m making for our bed.  I got all the blocks made last week, and have been able to do the vertical sashing, but have run out of fabric for the horizontal sashing. The local shop won’t have any in for a another week either.  I haven’t got backing fabric either as that’s going to cost about $50 that I don’t have.  So there won’t be any pics of that quilt till I have the sashing finished.

Thanks to the change for daylight saving Cam wasn’t up until after 7.30 this morning. Yay !!!

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A few blocks and some finished quilts

Things have been very hectic, the 6.30 wake ups are NOT fun. Roll on daylight savings (this weekend) and the school holidays (next week).

We have a new calf, I was going to do a “name the calf” giveaway, but her health has been up and down since we got her, so I’ll wait to make sure she survives a few more weeks before I do that.  At least todays she’s having a good day.

We are having a bit of leftover winter, we’ve had fresh snow on the ranges, and it’s freezing today.  The fire is back on.

Well, I better go and work while the boy is at Pre-school.

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Nice fabric!

One of the great things about Quilting Bees is getting to work with fabric that you wouldn’t normally choose.  I nearly always go for bright fabric, so getting fabric in more muted earthy tones is a nice change.  Carmen sent out these fabrics for her month in the Live Piecefuly Quilting Bee.  The fabric line is called Tranquility, which I think is a Moda range.  The colours are just gorgeous.  Carmen sent heaps of fabric and for once I had a few solids that went well with the fabric, so I ended up making her 3 blocks.  Sometimes when you are having fun you just can’t stop.

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Nothing much to say……….

I feel like I should be posting more family stuff, so friends and family can see what we’ve been up to, but I have to say what a boring lot we are!

Nathan and Lilly got an extra day off school on Friday.  I had an appointment at the hospital, and I knew I wouldn’t be home till about 5pm, so I had no choice but to take them for the whole day.  Nathan isn’t legally old enough to stay home by himself, and besides he’s only 13, I know what teenagers get up to when unsupervised. Lilly is too young to be home too.  They were pleased to get a day off school.  We visited Matt and took him out for lunch.  I was glad I had taken Nathan and Lilly, as I think the kids have all missed him, even though he’s only been gone a couple of weeks.  The flatting seems to be going ok.  I took in supplies of meat and eggs, but forgot the beanbag and mail.  Doh!

After that I had a pre-op appointment at the hospital.  Signing consents and having blood tests etc, as I go in for my Hysterectomy on Oct the 6th, which is only two weeks away.  I don’t know how I will cope being away from my sewing machine and computer for 4 or 5 days.

The garden is growing well.  Peas are doing great, and the broadbeans have finally come up, hope they are not too late, as Ian and I love broadbeans.  A few tomatoes have sprouted in the woodshed.  Our brussels sprouts didn’t do so well though.  They just didn’t head up properly   Maybe not enough water? 

Here’s a few pics of yesterday.

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Heather Ross Mermaid Quilt

Ok, this lovely has been received by it’s new owner, so it’s now safe to post pics.  This was incredibily hard to get good pics of. The back is white, with just the stippling as decoration, so I was too scared to take it outside to take pics.  I love how this has turned out!!!!!

Maree has taken some fantasic pics of it in it’s new home.  Go on over and have a look

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Blocks, presents and Happy mail

So, where to start?  A bee block?  Made this one for the Mish Mash Bee……………….

Sara sent us all a piece of vintage floral fabric and requested Hexagons, I’ve never paper pieced before, so I went the cheats way and made a snowball hexagon.  I would like to have framed with more of the red and cream, but I had run out of the red   But the rose pink does match the colours in the block.

I’ve started making some Jumbo wonky log cabins out of my leftover Park Slope.  I had enough left for almost a whole quilt top.  I’m swapping some with my seaside swap partner Maria, for some more Heather Ross that I can’t get here, so I thought I had better decide how much of the Park Slope I was going to use and how much I could send.  Here are the first two blocks…. They are 19.5 inches square.

I finished my nine patch quilt, finally.  It only needed binding.  I’m pleased with the final result.

It was my birthday on Saturday.  Nathan and Lilly both bought me charm packs of fabric (so did Ian, but his hasn’t arrived in the post yet), Mum made me this gorgeous fabric wall hanging and birthday cake, and Ian bought me the Topp Twins Untouchable Girls DVD, as well as making me a divine dinner and dessert.

Lots of happy mail in the last two days.

My friendship bag swap arrived.  It was from June in Arizona.  She was incredibly generous, and sent not only the bag, but a pattern for some wall hangings, 9 fat quarters and a card with a quilt on it.  So awesome!!!! Thanks so much June.

This morning my Summertime mini quilt arrived.  It was from Sara in New York.  Wow, Sara tells me it’s her first swap.  I was so lucky to have her as a swap partner, the quilt is just stunning.!!!! Sara, I love it.  Thank you so much.

I have finished the Heather Ross mermaid quilt, but can’t post pics till it’s been received.  So might have pics of that to share tomorrow.

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A new quilt top

I saw this quilt over at Amanda Jean’s, tutorial over at Moda Bakeshop, and decided that would make good use on my leftover Heather Ross squares, which I wanted to make into a wee boys cot quilt.  Super easy.  I just need to add a border or two, and then it’s almost done.

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Garden update

Opps, I forgot about doing the garden update.  The weather has been cold the last few days, today is the first day in a week that we haven’t had any frost.  I’m glad that my seedlings are still safe in the woodshed, though the corn is looking a bit sad

Check out the frost on the cabbages (which have failed to grow into anything decent this year).

The upside to frosty mornings is the lovely warm days

The nasturtiums have come up…

And the corn………..

We’ve planted corn 3 years now, but only had a good harvest the first time.  Here’s hoping for a repeat of season one.

Gherkins, beans, coriander and cucumbers……..

My peas have come up in the garden.  No broadbeans yet though.

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Crafty stuff

I decided that I should update with 2 posts instead of 1, that way the pics will load quicker if I do one now, and one in the morning. So a sewing post first then.  I’ve been doing a fair bit of sewing in that past week or so.  I finished the cot quilt I was making.  I’m really pleased with this one.  I love the subtle colours.

I di make it a bit bigger than I had planned, as often happens when working without a pattern, however it will shrink a bit when it’s been washed.

I made Cam some PJ’s.  I’ve had the flannel here for ages, so decided it would make nice pants.  Cam is a funny size at the moment, size 2′s are too small, but size 3′s are always too big in the waist, so it was easier to make them than buy them.  I did buy the top (on sale) and just added the applique, because I didn’t have any fabric suitable.  I made 3 pairs of pants, but could only get one top, so I’m going to hunt in my re-purpose clothing pile and see if I can find any t-shirt still in good condition so I can make him another 2 tops.

I’m making a couple of quilts with Heather Ross prints, one on commission and one with what’s left in my stash.  I managed to make a cot size quilt out of the offcuts.  It’s a bit more subtle colourwise than I’m used too, but quite good colours for a baby quilt..  I got the top done on Sunday…

I got the quilting finished today…

I decided it needed a wee bit of Jazz, to liven it up a bit. Check out the back …………… Yes it is that blinding in real life.

Now I just need to decide on a binding colour

I have 3 quilts on the go this week.  So the sewing machine will be working hard. 

Cam got hold of my small thread scissors the other day.  Instead of snatching them away I let him have a play with them, I guess he will only cut himself once.  I’m going to call him Mr Confetti, he spent about half an hour cutting up my scraps into very tiny pieces, all without incident.  Doesn’t he look pleased with himself?

I’ll be back tomorrow with a garden / spring update.

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Hang in there…

regular readers

 

I will be posting soon.  Got lots of pics ready to load. Just need to get some work done first, and enjoy a bit of sunshine and time to myself while the boy is at Preschool.

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