Countdown to Christmas top finished and more

I had a late night sewing session last night and managed to get my Countdown to Christmas top all sewn together! I love how it looks and I just had to keep stitching till it was done.  Hopefully there are no bloppers there because I was stitching way past my bedtime! Lol

The quilt will finish at roughly 32 by 40 inches, depending if I add a narrow border before the binding.

In my last post I mentioned L'ucello was having a shopping event. Well, I went and I was lucky enough to win one of their prizes. I chose this book...

The book is aimed primarily at a beginner, but it has a variety of projects. I have been crocheting since I was a slip of a girl and there is plenty in there to inspire me.

I also purchased the fabrics under the book. They are from Mas d'ouvan and had just arrived in the shop. I also found this one, also from Mas d'ouvan.

All these fabrics have a polished finish, similar to the Dutch Chintz fabrics, but are they are finer. I haven't tried hand stitching with any of them yet, but I will let you know how I go.

Late last week I had another trip to support the local economy and headed down to Amitie.  There I met Cathy (Cabbage Quilts) and Andi (Patch Andi). Cathy and I had a lovely stroll around the shop and I came home with a selection of red fabrics.

 In my last post I had a little sneak peek of a small project I was making. This little purse was a birthday gift for a friend.

I found the pattern in an old issue of Quiltmania. Several of these fabrics were recent purchases from here.

Our Friday sewing group has been issued with a challenge. We were each gven a little stack of fabrics and a pattern (all the way from Houston, USA!) to make a rug mug.

Mine is a flamingo, hence the colours! Wish me luck because it is foundation pieced and I am waaay out of my depth with that technique! I am looking forward to learning something new!

It is supposed to be summer here in Melbourne. Three days ago it was close to 38 C (100 F), today it is closer to 11 C (52 F) with heavy rain, thunder and hail! The perfect weather to stay at home and stitch!

Swooning Southern Belles top finished and more...

Tada...

 

Swooning Southern Belles.

I finished the top this morning and this afternoon the rain stoppped long enough for me to get a quick photo. Lots of Liberty and Liberty Lifestyle fabrics in this quilt.
I named the quilt after the blocks I used in the quilt.

Now to baste, quilt and bind it!

On the hand applique front I have a Roseville Album block completed.

All the pieces are prepared for the next block; the last of the nine centre blocks.

No photos of Jane Pizar progress this time, but I have the circle appliqued to the background square now.


This stack of delicious fabric from Green Fairy came in the mail this week.

Josephine by French General.  

Many of these fabrics will be used in Jane Pizar.

Here are some of my favourites:

 Look at the bees!!!!

Today I had a wonderful day with Cathy, Deb, Merran and Wendy (Instagramers) and a quick hello from Emma and Sarah.   We met at Amitie where, after lots of chatting and admiring lots and lots of fabrics, I chose these fabrics to come home with.

 I plan to make a quilt for my son (hence no floral fabrics! Lol) The quilt I will be making is pictured in the header of Cathy's blog.

After working up an appetite over fabrics we had lunch before going home.

We have been blessed with some wonderful weather earlier this week.
Here is another peek of spring time in my garden.

PS.  I am now in Instagram. Look for mjnorindr. Drop by and say hello! :)

Quilters meetings

One of the best parts of having a blog is meeting other quilters from all over the world. One of the extra special times is getting to meet quilters in real life. I have been lucky enough to have 2 get togethers over the last few days. Both times there have been bloggers and non bloggers present.

On Saturday Cathy organised a day out at Amitie.

Here we are: Melissa, me, Deb (no blog) and Cathy. Merran left earlier, so unfortunately I missed getting a photo of her.
(Amitie currently has a sale till June 30th.)

This is what I brought home from Amitie...

The print fabric I will use for broderie perse onto the fabric below it on the left. At the moment that fabric is a little light, but if you look at the small fabric swatch below the words "International Quilt Study Centre" , that is what the background will look like after it has been tea dyed. A pretty good match! I also bought some more DMC thread.

These are small pieces of fabric for future use.

The fabric on the left is a viole. It is wonderfully soft and has a lovely sheen. Next is from Simpler Tymes by Jeanne Horton, a Kaffe Fasset shot cotton and the last fabric....hmmm not enough information on my piece of the selvedge to identify it. :(

After Amitie we drove down to Patchwork on Central Park.

I came home with a couple of solids from there.

A very pale blue and a white.

Next it was lunch time! All the chatting leads to an appetite!

Around the corner from Patchwork on Central Park we found  Our Kitchen Table. Great food and great coffee!

Notice the pretty saucer...well look at what they did with the matching cups!!

An amazingly beautiful light fitting!

And more imaginative decor....there was a bowl or two of quinces and a vase of onion flowers to see, as well as the cabbage flowers on Cathy's blog post.

There will definitely be more visits to Our Kitchen Table.


The second get together was the inaugural meeting of the Mornington Stitch Group at Cathy's home. Nine quilters sat and stitched, ate and drank well, laughed and chatted together during a lovely evening. Unfortunately my camera skills were sadly lacking last night, so I don't have any photos to share. Present were Kathy, Julie and Deb (non bloggers) all friends of Cathy's, Kay and her friend Liz (no blog) , Emma and Michelle. It was great to meet the ladies I had never met before.  I am really looking forward to our next meeting at Michelle's home. (Michelle has a couple of photos on her blog)

I feel quite lucky to be able to make lots of new friends through blogging,  both online and in real life. We all share a love of fabric, stitching and creating! It can't get much better than that!


All photos taken with permission...and no brown paper bags changed hands.