A Walk in the Park

Plan C is all finished; quilted, bound and ready to use. Thanks for all the comments about the binding.

I've also finished the central block of the BOM. As yet I haven't decided if I'm quilting the red border or not...I'm open to your thoughts and suggestions.

I've quilted the first of the sashing; stipple for the green section, and a matching flower-type design in the centre of the stars. I'm leaving the star points unquilted.

I finally upgraded my camera yesterday; hopefully you can see the difference! The macro function is just amazing, particularly for taking pics of flowers.

Warming Up

It's been so long since I've done any quilting (as opposed to sewing), that I'm suprised I hadn't forgotten how! I've had the 2009 Mystery Bom sitting basted and waiting for ages, but haven't had the time until now.

So I did a little warming up, quilting my Central Park Plan C Schnibble. 30 mins and I was done! Though my Janome seems to be having a few speed issues...

I'm after suggestions for the binding too: I'm thinking either the purple dandelion print, or the blue and purple flower print...thoughts?

Update: I've chosen the blue and purple flowers. Photos coming soon!

Plan C in Central Park

A couple of afternoons and this little Schnibbles is done. I'm totally in love with the Central Park fabrics, and look forward to making a bigger quilt once I have a bit more free time.

A New Friend

I seem to have made myself a new friend lately, and while I sit at the dining table sewing, the juvenile Magpie sits on our outdoor table and sings for me.

I've finally found a little time to do some sewing for myself; between uni and market stuff, there has been very little of that lately. But with only one day of uni left before the Easter break, I've got a little more free time and I'm making the most of it!

The Plan C schnibbles has been on my mind for a while, as has Central Park...the perfect project to work on in my spare time.

Raffle Winner

The raffle has come to a close. Thank you for all your entries, and your donations. We had 25 entries, with donations ranging from $5 through to $1000!

The random number generator has chosen number 5!

Marg said...
Thank you so much for your help, I live in Queensland but wasn't affected by the floods, I think we are all blown away by how generous the quilting community have been.My receipt is #3220416

There will be a wrap-up of our donation totals over on Toni's blog later tonight, so head on over to see all the good work you've done.

And if you were still interested in Schnibbles, you are welcome to 10% off using the code FLOOD10 from now until the end of January.

Raffle - One Day to Go

If you haven't already entered the flood raffle, you have one more day to get your entries in. The raffle closes at Midday tomorrow, 26th January (Australia Day!).

Don't forget to also hop on over to Toni's blog to view the master list of raffles still running.

Blissed

Today is the second last day of uni, all my assignments are finished, and I've finally lined myself up a casual job for the summer.

And I finished my Bliss/Short Story quilt! I used a blue floral for the back, and one of the pinks for the binding.

Ups and Downs

It's been one of those weeks where things aren't quite going the way I'd hoped...

My lab missed out on funding for next year, so my job will finish up when I go on holidays, barring any money suddenly appearing....and I've re-strained my back, so my physio is working madly to fix it before my big trip....I went shopping today for stuff for dinner, forgot to by something that I needed, and got charged twice for something else (and didn't realise till I got home)!

But, on the up side, my mystery BOM package finally arrived, and I've almost got the block together. And I've finally got the borders on Imagine. My cauliflower plants have finally started to produce heads (I almost pulled them out last week). And the roses in my front garden are looking pretty fab.

Yellow standard; the flowers are always a bit floppy, like it hasn't had enough water...

Gorgeous bud...

...which opens up to this!

Another yellow rose

And another of the gorgeous standards along my front path.

Till next time!

A Little Ray of Sunshine

As the weather warms up, I find myself spending less time at the sewing machine, and more time outside pottering around in the garden. As a result, progress on Imagine has been a bit slow, but the centre is finally done, with only the borders left to do. I have never made such wonky, non-square blocks in my life, but it seems to have come together ok (with a bit of not-so-gentle easing).

My vegie garden has finally started to be a bit more productive; I pulled up my first carrots on the weekend, and I've just picked some peas and broadbeans for dinner. The snow peas have gone nuts, so I've taken to just picking them off and eating them while I potter around the garden.

I've just taken a banana cake from the oven; it smells divine! It's meant to have passionfruit icing, but I think I'm going to make lemon instead, as I've still got plenty of those hanging on the tree!

To make this cake, cream 125g butter with 3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar until light and fluffy. Add 2 eggs and beat until combined. Then stir in 1 1/2 cups SR flour, 1 tsp mixed spice, 1/2 tsp bi carb soda, 2 mashed bananas, 1/2 cup sour cream and 1/4 cup milk. Pour into a loaf time (15x25cm) and bake at 180 degrees C (160 fan-forced) for 50 min. Cool in tin for 5 min then remove onto cooling rack. Ice as desired.

Today is the first day of a five day break from work...hopefully I can start getting into Simple Abundance in the next few days....only three weeks of work to go!

In the Meantime...

My stash of Simple Abundance hasn't arrived yet; the shop I ordered from it still awaiting its delivery...so in the meantime, I'm occupying myself with other projects.

I thought I'd start Imagine, the Schnibbles kit I won from Carrie a while back. I've got everything I need, including plenty of backing left over from Catch a Falling Star, and batting from Sassafras.

I've also been spending a lot of time in the garden as the weather warms up (or at least, brightens up, it's quite cold today). Daylight savings makes it easier to be outside later too.

My snow peas finally flowered, and there are little peas all over the plants; they got so tall they are now visible from the street, and anyone walking past can quite easily help themselves...

The gorgeous fruit blossoms have now turned into little apricots.



The broad beans are finally appearing; if I'd known how big the plants were going to get, I wouldn't have planted quite so many!



My dwarf beans have sprouted; they're quite a bit bigger than I expected.


The corn plants have sprouted too...


And my favourite, the lavender that is in bloom all around my yard; the bees are loving it, but they don't appreciate being disturbed!