Hello

I went away for a few days - in an aeroplane southwards to Melbourne.  There are a couple of little people I needed to cuddle.....

Gosh - I know all Nana's say this - but they are gorgeous.  The older one (5 years) is just like Tigger in Winnie the Pooh and as soon as daylight comes he is bouncing to let us know it's morning! So chatty and great fun. 

 Little one amazed me on his scooter.... can hardly talk (not yet 2) but he knows, shoes, scooter, park..... and if he had his way he would be there all day everyday.

Anyway - coming back meant I sulked for a couple of days... 

At Easter we don't do heaps of gift giving, but I have a Grandie here and so can't ignore it all together.... however, he doesn't like Chocolate....

Hubz and I put all our loose change in this jar over the year.....

I emptied out all the 10c pieces and 5 c pieces..... and added a rabbit!

Counting them out kept him occupied for a while - he got about $16 out of it.... handy little collection of coins!

.. and I have added my border on my big squares quilt.....

I love it and hope I will find time to quilt it soon - getting cool here 

Another block in Gardener's Journal is done.... these fine ladies are off to the Garden Show....

I wanted to use up some long lengths of wadding for the above quilt.... thought I would show how I join it - I know there are all sorts of different ways but this is what I find easiest

I butted the two straight sides and held them together with some masking tape....  I find this is most important to stop any stretching whilst you sew

then slowly stitched with the widest triple zig zag stitch.....

 On my machine it is the one in 05 here....

hardly shows at the end

Do you join wadding?  I don't very often but I seem to have a collection of long pieces that are fairly wide and I needed some wadding for my big squares quilt...

This block of Dutch Treat took me ages, all those tiny curves....

 

Righto, Gotto Go... quilting to do, bag to make...

Christmas Quilt Stitch-A-Long....

Michelle produced this lovely Christmas quilt and pattern book.  I snatched up a copy as soon as I could but good intentions have been kept at bay....

Now is the time to sew a new Christmas quilt....

Isn't it just too pretty?????

This is Michelle's book - as well as the quilt there are a number of other projects in it too.....

... and Guess What?  Raewyn and I are going to host a Stitch-A-Long and we would love you to join us.

Chookyblue has kindly offered the use of the Stitch-A-Long blog so we can post our progress and keep encouraging one another to keep going....  Thanks Chooky -

Wanting to start in May - depending if people need a bit more time to gather supplies ....

Please let me know if you'd like to join.....

Holly Cottage Christmas can be purchased directly from Michelle.... details are in the sidebar of her blog....

Although Michelle did her quilt using Needleturn Applique, it lends itself well for blanket stitch (hand or machine) and there is some stitchery too as well as the piecing of the blocks, which are not complicated at all.....

I have a fat 1/8th pack of Anni Downs fabrics - and bought a bit of extra's for borders and background.... this is what I'll be using....

Taking names now... more details later .....

any questions? 

Righto, Gotto Go... planning to do!!!

a long weekend of sewing.....

These are my latest little houses for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  The colour this month is 'multicoloured' - all those pieces that don't fit clearly into one or another colour.

They really do look scrappy but will fit in fine with all the colours once they are put together....

each beach hut finishes at 2 3/4 x 3 1/2" (unsewn)

I prepped up a new project (since I have been tackling my UFO's so well).  Fabric my eldest daughter got me in the UK a few years ago... so I will make up that Gypsy bag  in them.... rather fun!  I need a touristy bag....

Dutch Treat carries on.  Some blocks take me a week of evenings .. others I get done over a couple of evenings

 Over the weekend I played with these fabrics....

 It's a layer cake of Kathy Schmidtz called 'Garden Notes' and if I could I think I would have bought a bolt of them all.... I just love love love those little prints....

.... I got some metreage in the blue bees for a border - even the selvage is adorable!

The grey sashing and green corner stones are totally different fabrics but hold the colours which is want I wanted....

 the fabrics are so lovely that I didn't want to cut them up so making up big square quilt is just perfect - plus there will be no waste and it will still be a great size for my bed.  

Righto, Gotto Go..... Tuesday means sewing day ....

The last few.....

The last few quilts from pictures I had taken at Dr Annette Gero's exhibition War Quilts at Ipswich Art Gallery.....  the quilts travel around and I think there are others so keep a look out if they come to your area.  She has two wonderful books, one on War Quilts and one on Australian quilts... full of history.

There is an exhibition on at AQC in Melbourne next week including talks by Annette - wouldn't that be interesting.

There is such a lot of pieces in this quilt to be hand sewn...

I was interested in the use of braid to highlight the joined seams (or cover them?)

a little peep at the back so you can see how they join the pieces of wool fabric.

another one with Indian influence of beads and cord...

love a star quilt......

Some information about the exhibition....

This quilt was in a case.... the only one found so far with a label...

More increadible piecing....

this edging just amazed me...... look at all those pieces put together....

minute little pieces....

gosh, gosh, gosh.....

I can't have taken a picture of this one... but it was clearly a kangaroo.... but the story is still worth sharing.....  I can just imagine a home sick soldier in a strange land...

This was a very interesting Wagga..... using the whole pieces of clothing... I have always seen them cut up....

Its very thick - more like a doona.... so it would have been very warm..... mend an make do at it's best...

Righto, back to regular blogging soon... I hope you have enjoyed seeing these as much as I did... and hope you can get to see them in real life sometime...