Catching Up

I have had a very long break from my blog. Time has just rushed by on me.
The best and the most exciting thing to happen since my last post was the arrival of my grandson Oliva John. Oliva is now 4 months old. I think he is the cutest little fella on this earth. (all you grandmas know what I mean)

 

 

 

For the last few months I have been on the road with Pauline And Rob. We have been to Melbourne, Canberra, Sydney, and Brisbane plus many, many places in between. I got to go to all the states quilt shows and saw so many lovely quilts.

               
Checking out the new vans in Melbourne while P and R have there van in for a service.

I got to met Carolyn Konig and to visit her wonderful shop. Had a good look at all Carolyn's stunning quilts. Beautiful hand work. Carolyn has a new book and a line of fabric out now.

Pauline can't help her self. Just had to have some of Carolyn's fabrics. Me, there is no evidence to say if I got any or not.

All hooked up and ready to head out. Leaving behind the lovely Canberra weather. Our next stop Sydney then on to New Castle.

Had a few free days in Sydney and got to catch up with family plus do a little sewing. Once we arrived in New Castle we had 2 free days so finished up the small quilt for Pauline. We had a lovely van park right on the beach. Sewing by the sea side, heaven. Couldn't of asked for a better spot.

One the way home I got to spend a little time with Megan Mykel and Oliva. He has grown so much in two months.

September Pauline and I went over to New Zealand for the Stitches and Craft Shows. What a great experience. Thank you Pauline. We got to met lots of lovely quilter, sewers and crafters.

                                          Few of the quilts on display that took my fanny.

The second half of our stay was in Christchurch. Still lots to be fixed and rebuilt but it is still a stunning city.

                                      Lots of wonderful Art work every were in the city.
   

Novel water fountain we found in this great little coffee shop. Wouldn't you love one in your sewing room.

Well that's about it for to night. Court up and filled in a few months. Not a lot of sewing got done but I sure had a good time and got to met lots of wonderful people see lots of stunning quilts from all over Australia and NZ.

The months have slipped away on me. It is all ready June and I have just realized that it has been a long while since I up dated my blog.


First up my lovely friend Jan S has had 2 Exhibitions in the month of May. One at Goombungee and the second at Gallon. Both Exhibitions were wonderful. Very clever lady.




 Crows Nest patchwork lady's had a day trip to Gatton to check out Jan's Exhibition. Every one was very impressed.

                                                            Jan with her leaf quilts

I have been trying to make my way through my UFO's  This one was a Mystery Quilt I started with Laurene and Lorain from the American Quilters magazine. The name of the quilt is "Rainbow Rotini" but I don't think that name goes with my quit. Will have to find a new name. Any ideas ?

 

Brake between UFO's and made this happy quilt. I won the fabric for "Jerry's Owl Quilt".

 

This Is the Back of my flower quilt. Lots of old fabric on the back.

I started this quilt many years ago, as you can see from the fabric. Very pleased to finish this UFO. The pattern is from a Aust Patchwork & Quilting magazine. The name is "Liquorice Allsorts". The flowers are all Hand Applique. I put it together quilt-as-you -go.  Used all the left over fabrics on the back.
Another empty box. Goodie goodie
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                                                        Circle Play Class

 I had a Circle Play class at Crows Nest. Had a wonderful lot of lady's in my class. We only had one day so the lady's learnt the technique for the blocks and got to make a few of the blocks up. Every one had lots of fun.
 Cant wait to see what all the quilts look like from this class.

                                                     Happy sewing until next time

Baby News

The first part of the year has been every exciting. Doug and I found out we are to be grandparents. What wonderful news. So most of my sewing has been based around babies and toddlers. Lots of new ideas since I was a young mum. The hardest is what to make first.

Found this cute little pattern for a change mat. Just had to make up 3. Its a great gift idea. I'm also a great Aunt so can't have too many gifts on hand. The mat folds up to this lovely bag.

Found all my Eye Spy fabric (and that was a bit of a job when everything is still packed from moving house)  Made a quilt for my great nephew.

This is the backing for Chase's Eye Spy quilt. I had to use up all the left over fabrics.

 The second Eye Spy quilt was made for a little Girl. A colour wash, light to dark. I still haven't put a very big dint in the eye spy stash.   Boy oh boy why have I got so much eye spy fabric.

I have had this Pattern and the pink fabrics in a box for many years. It jumped out at me a few weeks ago so I had to make it up. The pattern only had the 4 large blocks but I thought I would like it a little bigger so added the half blocks around the edge. Why you ask? Because the full size blocks would have been way too big and I didn't want to add borders or small blocks.

Sorry the photos are not the best. 

 

The second exciting news is that I have this wonderful new Baby Lock Evolution to work with. What a fantastic machine. If you have a Baby Lock you will know what I mean. They can do so much.

 
After a few weeks of playing and getting the hang of what I can do on the Evolution (and I have only just scratched the surface) The first project I made was this little bag. Cute.

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How I have a the Baby Lock Evolution I can whip more baby gear for Megan and Mykel. Lots of fun sewing ahead.

2 Patterns to start the year

 

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. We had a very quiet time with family. It is always great to spend the holidays catching up with everyone.
The new year has started and the first thing on the agenda is getting my two patterns out there. They are all done and just waiting to go to the printer.
Jane and I had a fun day trying to be photographers, or I should say I was, Jane was doing a pretty good job. ( I was the set designer!)

Circle Play is my first pattern. I have been teaching this as a class for a few years now and have been repeatedly asked for the pattern so now I can say I have one. This pattern also has a curved template set to go with it.

The second pattern is "Blue Diamond" I love this quilt. It looks good in so many different colour ways. Plus it is a great way to use up a bit of your stash.

Del had a busy day helping Jane and I. She was guarding the quilts, it's a wonder she wasn't laying all over them.  All the photos were taken in Pauline's garden.

This is the first "diamond" quilt I made. This one is a little different to the blue one.

        My two "Circle Play " quilts. The wind was working in our favour for this photo.

 

Jane the budding photographer. ( I only have a few snaps of Jane and every one she has a camera in hand).

The last few weeks we have been very busy sewing. One afternoon the power went out for 6 hours. In the first 3 hours we got to catch up on a little rest, bookwork, reading and cleaning up, that was enough for Pauline. She got Rob busy setting up the generator so we could get back to the sewing machines. Spotlights and all. No stopping this lady.  We were sewing by spotlight and had tea by candle light, what could be better.

Rob and Pauline are back on the road, Jane and Gerry are busy in the office and I am off to Melbourne for a few days.
Happy sewing until next time.