Continuing On .....

From where I left off

 I think one of the most exciting things I have done this year is attend a Margaret Sampson George (MSG) class.  I came away with my head spinning of wonderful "elements" like rabbits and Margagons.  Above is my "wheel" which will one day turn into a quilt, when I can settle on what I want to do - so many options!!!

If you ever get the opportunity to attend a MSG class, I 100% recommend it.

  I have also made another bag.  This is a pattern by Shelley at Skellywag Sewing School.  

I finally finished "Soot & Ashes", I love handquilting straight lines with sulky thread.

I have added another couple of borders onto Hertfordshire but have now come to a standstill until I cut out all the fabrics for the next pieced borders.

I'm still working on St Neot's and getting closer to finishing it.  The photo doesn't do it justice, it is so pretty with lots of the French General Pom Pom de Paris range.

Most of my sewing time has been taken up with Stonefields BOM.  I have been trying to keep up to date and so far so good.  Fingers crossed I continue........

I've been to Sydney a couple of times this year and in April I went to see Strictly Ballroom.  We stayed at Coogee and whilst there saw the filming of "Wonderland".  It was quite interesting and a LOT of mucking around just to get one small scene filmed.  I don't know what the locals think of them taking over half their beach on a regular basis.

We celebrated Buddy's 8th birthday in June.  He was sick for two weeks with a cold and boy was he miserable!  I'm pleased to say he is back to his old adorable little self again.

This little cherub has been taking up a lot of our time too.  She is just the sweetest little girl and is now six months old - where does the time go???

Here she is with her daddy (our son) last weekend on a trip away.

I went to the Melbourne Quilt Show on Thursday.  What a day that was!  We caught the train down and because of "signalling" issues it took six hours from the time we got on at Wodonga till the time we walked out of Southern Cross Station.  We also had to be back earlier than normal at the station so it didn't leave us a lot of time for shopping.  I did have a quick wander through a couple of arcades in the city before heading to the quilt show and just had to stop and take a photo of  Hopetoun Tea Rooms window.  If I went in, I may never have come out!

I did make a couple of purchases at the quilt show but really didn't have too much time to ponder, probably a good thing  money wise (will leave me with more to spend in Sydney!)

I took some photos of quilts but not all of them, and will share a couple that caught my eye with you.

Boston Rhapsody by Janet Holland

I love the centre of this quilt

Alexander Henry by Margaret Ryan

Whimsical Whistler by Shelley Kelly

Baltimore by Sylvia Grant

The Gift by Helen Hayes 

(in memory of her mum)

I didn't get the name of the lady that made this quilt but I loved it.  It is an Ann Daggs reproduction and I really love the colours that the maker has used.

This is the Melbourne Wheel and it looked really pretty lit up with a changing colours light display.  I worked out that the travel time was as long as if I drove to Sydney and back in one day, all for 4 hours at the quilt show and shopping.  It was good fun in the train though as lots of us knew each other through our love of quilting.

Sue-Anne xxx

What Do You Do When It's Too Hot To Do Anything?

I pulled out my box of Klosjes (It's amazing what you find when you clean out the cupboard) and joined them all together.  I will put a couple of borders around it and call it finished.

I pieced some blocks together for Hertfordshire.  This will be the next border on from the little hexagons.

Start a new quilt, this one is called Stonefields by Susan Smith.  A very large quilt with lots and lots of beautiful handpieced and appliqued  blocks and hexagon flowers.

Of course, why start one new quilt when you can start two!  The Chapman Coverlet, based on the original at the V & A Exhibition in Brisbane, also by Susan Smith.  

This is the centre for the Chapman Coverlet, an antique piece of fabric I bought at Quilts in the Barn last year.

I haven't actually started a third quilt yet, but I am amassing quite a large pile of fabric for a particular quilt which I am going to try and NOT START until I finish something else! 

Of course, when you are amassing fabric, there are always other pieces of fabric that have to come home with you - these are from Threadbear yesterday.  We had our first CAG meeting for the year.  Unfortunately there are no photos today as most of Show & Tell will be on display here:

If you can get to this exhibition, I'm sure you will not be disappointed.  There will be lots and lots of beautiful appliqued quilts for you to feast your eyes upon.

Beautiful little Evie coped just fine throughout our worst summer that I can remember.  Nothing like a full belly to relax our little cherub.

Thankfully it has been a little cooler this week and hopefully we have seen the last of the extreme heat.  Now all we need is some rain please.

Sue-Anne xxx

(Lesley - took me all afternoon to try and remember how to change my header photo, hope you like it xxx)

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

I cannot believe how fast this year has gone and in just a few short weeks, we will be welcoming our first precious little grandchild into our family.  We are on the home stretch now and I CANNOT wait!

I have finished the first quilt, something to take to the hospital to use straight away.

It is hand quilted and I even did a little appliqué on the back.  

I have finished my tulip quilt.  

I have also finished the next frame of Hertfordshire, 48 little hexagons.  I miss doing them now they are all done......

I have also made a little bit more progress on St Neots, finishing all the hexagons.  I think I will tackle the appliqué that runs across the top of the quilt next.

I'm off to CAG tomorrow so I'm sure I will have lots of Show & Tell pics to show next post.  I have started playing with Instagram, I am loving it.  If you want, you can follow me on there.  Just click on the button on my sidebar.

One final thing, I have prepared this post on my iPad using the Blogger app, so fingers crossed it works ok????

Sue-Anne xxx

Finally a Finish!

 I actually have a finished (for me) project to show you!  This year our Saturday sewing group has a challenge to complete a quilt made from 1930's fabrics and I am very pleased to say mine is DONE!  

 Since my last post, I have been on a couple of adventures.  I went to P!NK  in Melbourne and spent a couple of days with my best friend.

 Two weeks later I went to Brisbane with the girls to visit the V & A Quilt Exhibition at the Queensland Art Gallery.  What a fantastic experience to see up close and personal all those famous quilts - absolutely stunning!

There were no photographs allowed in the gallery but I did take lots of photos of this little guy who was sitting near us at lunch.  He was soooo cute, his colours were amazing and he was quite friendly and not bothered at all by all the people.

We had a short stopover in Sydney on the way home and my son met me there for lunch.  We both had our first ever "Krispy Kreme Doughnut".  OMG they are so nice!  Lucky there isn't a shop at home, but I did go back and get some to take with me so that Howard could enjoy the experience.

 I felt compelled to make a new bag to travel with and this is it.  I had started making another one in red and white linen but whilst looking in the cupboard for something else, I found this fabric and knew that it just had to be made into this bag.

 I took a class at Avonleigh Country Quilting to learn how to put together these cute little Applecores.

And another class with Shelley learning how to string piece and make her "Wendy's Tulips" quilt.

I have been having fun with hexagons and dabbling in a little bit of Fussy Cutting.  These are for Hertfordshire.

And these are for St Neots Band Sampler.

If you are in the area, don't forget about Quilts in the Barn!  it promises once again to be an outstanding exhibition and all proceeds go to Breast Cancer Research.

 It's a very lazy Sunday in our house today and its been so long since I did a proper blog update, it has taken me all afternoon to download and upload photos, update the laptop because its been so long since I've turned it on etc etc.      I took these photos of Milo and Buddy at lunchtime when I started this and now, 4 hours later, they are both in the same position!  

Sue-Anne xxx