November 14

Hello lovely friends. I was trawling through photos on my phone and thought it really was time to check in with you all. I think I have a few interesting ones to share.

But before I get to that, I just wanted to say how wonderful it is to see our lovely friend Teresa from Fabric Therapy posting again. I missed her lovely humour and wonderful work, and I don't mind confessing that I was worried. But there she is with her delightfully quirky applique and I'm beyond thrilled to see her again. Hi Teresa! xox

During the last month it seemed like I got a lot done, I get forgetful what I've shared here, as I've often popped a few pictures on Instagram - it's so much quicker to share there. So here goes:

A lovely friend of mine experienced a terrible loss, and my quilter brain immediately wanted to make her a quilt to wrap her in love. I used some favourite fabrics and this was the result. I can't talk about it too much, it's too sad, so I'll leave it at that.

The little cutaway HST's and scraps meant that I could make up this small table topper, so I gifted this to her too a bit later on.

Another DJ block, B5 - Hot Cross Buns. I tried so hard to get the points of the applique diamonds really good and sharp - some are better than others. There haven't been any more DJ blocks since this one - I'm definitely flitting from one thing to another at the moment, and I'm quite enjoying not having any particular deadline right now!

Some friends and I took a day trip to Victor Harbor and visited with lovely Penny at Pennylane Patchwork. I had never been there before and absolutely LOVED it! Here are my purchases on the day - I really had to restrain myself as I had set myself a limit of $200 for shopping, and came in just under the wire. There was no proper reason for me to have set a limit, but I find it really easy to buy SO MUCH and I know that there are fabric and notions purchased long ago and they are crying out to be used!

Here we have a little decorating I did in the hallway for Halloween. My darling friend Norma made the sweet little crochet pumpkins for me. And you see the Halloween table topper from a few years ago on the table there.

For the first time ever I put a couple of decorations outside. I saw someone on Instagram who had made up these light up pumpkins - I'm sorry I don't remember who it was, you know how it can be when one is mindlessly scrolling. You take a garden solar light (the kind where the top of the light looks kind of like a hat) cut a hole in the top of the pumpkin to fit the light but hat sits on top of the pumpkin - a small hole in the bottom of the pumpkin if you want the spike to poke through. Set the pumpkin with it's little light inside in the garden for the day, and in the evening watch it light up. I was thrilled with the result, and it was really inexpensive. This year we actually had a couple of trick or treaters which is unusual for our street!

After the spooky season passed, I set the hallway back to it's usual state:

Next came Melbourne Cup day, and I decided I wanted to make a pillbox hat to match a pencil skirt I had sewed earlier in the year:

Oh my goodness I was absolutely thrilled with how it turned out. I purchased the pattern from Elsewhen Millinery - the pattern very easy to follow with great instructions. I did make a couple of alterations because of the thicker fabric that I used, but it's about 98.7% exactly as written. Here is a link if you're interested in seeing the wonderful patterns this designer has for sale: Elsewhen Millinery.

On the next Saturday we had a dinner party with lovely friends. I took this picture before we learned we would be having extra guests and added the extension table. I love to use my Spode Byron dinner setting it's so much fun that the cabbage pieces add something a little different. I do have enough side plates to do the job, but the contrast is cute. We had a really great night and I left the cleanup for the next day. When that job was complete it was time to ...

... put up the Christmas tree! The Adelaide Chistmas Pageant had rolled through the city the day before and for so many local folk that means it's time to start decorating for Christmas. I would normally have done it on the Saturday but dinner party preparations meant that I was a bit too busy. There is a big gap at the bottom of the tree which I've since filled with a large pick including berries and poinsettias etc. I only noticed it after I'd taken the picture from this angle. Isn't it funny how pictures often reveal what the naked eye can't see. And I've used my favourite Dresden Plate Tree Skirt. I think I'll make another someday, maybe with a red toile fabric and coordinates. It's so much fun being able to change things around on a whim.

So that has been my past month - thank you for sticking with me if you've made it this far. It really has been quite busy and I haven't had many opportunities to check in, neither here nor on Instagram, but I hope to post a little more in the lead up to Christmas. Hope you're all well, and chatter soon! xox

October 8

I've just been looking through my phone trying to find photos from the past month - hard to believe it's been that long since I was here - and I'm amazed that I don't have many to share with you right now. But here goes:

I made some more of the star blocks, I really love these. I hope I can get 200 made before the end of the year, but time is running out! I'm going to dig into my conversational prints again, they really sparkle don't they?

And if you thought I wouldn't be able to leave this stitchery project alone, you'd be absolutely right! I learned about Derwent Inktense Pencils and thought it would be really fun to do some shading. I added some additional run ray lines in there too. But I really must put it aside. This is going to be my project for travelling when Mum and I holiday in Europe next year.

More rows have been added to my crochet blanket. It's a slow work in progress as I really only work on it while I'm 'watching' F1 with Marty.

While my Lily Rosenberry quilt was at the show, I put my Dear Jane quilt on the wall in the lounge nook. Seeing it again inspired me to make up a block or two - this one is block A9 - Cabin Fever. Can you believe I started the 30's Jane project about 15 years ago? You can't rush art my friends :-)

I've made another block since, but I haven't taken a picture of it yet.

Last of all I wanted to share this skerrick of fabric which my lovely friend Maryanne shared with me. Won't it look absolutely lovely in my Sarah Morrell quilt? I can't wait to use it. Thank you Maryanne!

That's it from me for now - I know I have a few things I can take pictures of over the next few days - I think I'll have a finish on a special project tomorrow. So I'll chatter soon!

August 12

Heavens, it has been almost exactly one month since I posted here. It genuinely doesn't seem like that long!

I've been in a bit of a sewing slump since my big win at the show, and it's not the first time that's happened. It always goes away, and I'm already feeling more motivated, but there hasn't really been anything of note created.

I did manage to put a little something together to celebrate Christmas in July before that month disappeared completely:

This fabric stood out to me while shopping before Christmas last year:

I can't remember the name of the range, but I think I've since seen it around, and I thought it would look good combined with my Halloween Table Topper pattern. I'm super happy with how it came together, and will definitely use it when the season comes around.

Also recently, my lovely friend Norma has been teaching me how to crochet. I kind of knew how to crochet already, but I didn't know how to follow a pattern, so I've been working in stolen moments on this zig zag blanket:

My photo isn't great, so you can't really tell that the yarn is a pretty purple in addition to the soft pink and cream. I only seem to workk on this when I'm keeping Marty company while he watches on F1 races/practice etc. They're on hiatus at the moment, so I probably won't pick it up again for a couple of weeks.

And for the last picture which is somewhat quilt related - one of my prizes from the quilt show was a voucher from lovely Jeanie at Kookaburra Quilts. I had a lovely time shopping on her site, and here is what I bought:

Very useful things, and lovely fabric - I think all from Devonstone collections. Thank you Jeanie for your incredible generosity!

This weekend just gone, Camo wanted to check out a somewhat new Lego store that had opened nearby. I wanted to see it too, so I was absolutely happy to go. I loved their little photo corner - Camo flatly refused to have his picture taken there. My how times have changed!

And this collage on the wall was so impressive - the store attendant showed me where a piece was missing, not stolen but it fell out and was lost when it was installed. I don't think I could find the spot again if I was asked, and I'm certain you won't see it in the picture! But here goes:

I've loved Lego since I was a kid, and it's always tempting to buy a kit here and there. There may or may not be a few pieces in my sewing room ... can't prove anything :-)

Well, that's it for me friends, not a quilt heavy post, but hopefully I'll have something more exciting to share soon! xox

May 25th

Hello friends, I'm watching the Monaco GP with hubby, and tapping away on the computer, so decided to pop in a quick blog post while I can. Since I finished Lily Rosenberry, I've been dabbling with a few different projects at leisure and will share a couple of bits and pieces with you now.

First up, I finished another block toward the Morrell quilt:

Lots of applique and reverse applique in this one. The little arrow shapes are a treasured fabric from deep stash and I only have the tiniest piece left. How I wish I could turn back time and find more of it!

And because the quilting stand looked so lonely in the sewing room, I've put the white wholecloth back in it, and even put a few stitches in here and there.

I used to think that this wholecloth would be gifted to Amy on the occasion of her wedding, but given that she recently had her sixth wedding anniversary, it's no secret how that went. To be honest I don't think it's something she'd use, so I don't need to rush to finish it.

And here's a little project I finished on Friday evening - a decoration put on hold while I made every effort to finish Lily Rosenberry:

I really do love the felt ornaments from mmmCrafts, I am getting ready to make some more very soon.

And the last project for today - a little lost applique piece I found while working on a big clean up in the sewing room:

I'll make a few blocks and turn this little piece into something nice. I don't remember what I had in mind for the applique strip, but it's too pretty to put it aside again.

Last of all for today - I saw some darling fabric on someone's socials, and was determined to make some mine. It's a pretty Jane Austen print:

I have a decent chunk of it now, and will find a lovely project for it sometime ... 

That's it from me - thank you for sticking with me, and chatter soon! xox

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year lovely friends. Goodness, a lot has happened in the last three weeks, isn't it amazing how hectic life can become in the lead up to Christmas?

The tree was decorated early of course, which you've already seen, I love to take pictures of it - and I'm always sad when it's time to take it down. Usually I wait until the 6th, but I may do it a few days early this year, I feel ready to have less clutter around.

I've been babysitting, finishing up with work for the year, making up Christmas gifts, and all the other things I'm sure everyone else has been working on. I can share the gifts I made for my sweet quilting friends:

I thought I'd taken a photo of the table toppers but I can't see it right now (only little videos) but there were 18 smaller versions of the table runner I made recently. They're super cute.

For Mary and Hazel I made felt ornaments from the 12 Days series - Colly Bird for Mary, and Partridge in a Pear Tree for Hazel.

In the last days before Christmas I finally managed to get a gingerbread house made, I was struggling a bit with motivation this year, but finished it on Christmas Eve.

The house ended up on the coffee table in the lounge nook, and Marty put some pieces of Camo's old Thomas train set around it. There were dinosaurs on standby during construction in case of collapse due to my haste. 

You can see in the last couple of photos that the house has already started being nibbled on - and now there isn't a great deal left of it. I have an odd photo that I took across the room on Xmas Eve, you can see how large the house actually is:

We hosted 16 for lunch on Christmas Day and had additional visitors for the evening. Then on the 27th we visited with friends for Friendmas, I had fun working on a vegetarian starter course for that. It was a great evening with lovely people. And then we went out for dinner on New Years Eve, followed by drinks at our place and then wandering to a local viewpoint to watch the fireworks. This has been a lovely festive season, and now we can rest a little and take it easy on our holiday break.

One of my favourite Christmas gifts was from Amy. She found a toothpick holder which belongs to my Masons Vista china collection. I had no idea such a piece existed, what a wonderful find!

In the Betwixtmas, Amy and I put a puzzle together. It was a lovely gift from my dear friend Lyn who I used to work with:

Isn't it a fun puzzle? It was gifted 12 years ago, and I can't believe that we've only just made the time to put it together. Thank you so much Lyn - Amy and I (mostly Amy) had so much fun completing it.

Last of all, a little quilty content. In a few stolen moments I put some of my Tiny Nine Patch Challenge blocks together - I used a different setting than most people on Insta used. I didn't get far before being called to other things, but I can do some more with these in coming days. 

I had a delivery of a few fabrics suitable for broderie perse - I'm still very anxious about the Morrell quilt broderie perse blocks. I just need to put my nerves aside and just make something. I'll do a lot of learning as I go hopefully.

Last of all for this long post ... are you still with me? ... here is a little hand quilting I've been working on today. I hope I can get Lily Rosenberry finished this year. I'd love to say 'fingers crossed' but that will make it super hard to quilt! :-)

Well, that's it from me for tonight. Thank you for reading this far if you've managed it. This year I hope I can do better with my posting schedule, and also do better responding to messages. Apologies if you've messaged me over the last month or so and I haven't gotten back to you.

Happy New Year lovely friends, and chatter soon!