A Floral tour

A few of the flowers that are out in my garden at the moment.








Remembering Duncan......

Cheddar Cheese and Crackers top finished.

I finished my CC and C top tonight. There are over 500 pieces in that little top! I love how it turned out. :)
It has been a great challenge for me to machine such tiny pieces....and to try to get my points to match!
Thank you Lori for your clear instructions and especially for your encouragement. :)

Lori has links for pictures of lots of other CC and C quilts here. Lori also had a giveaway where she randomly chose 2 names from that list. I was lucky enough to be chosen. Here is the collection of gorgeous fabrics from Lori that arrived today.

Cheddar Cheese and Crackers Progress

Last night I finished sewing together all the blocks for my Cheddar Cheese and Crackers.
My colour placement is quite different from the original. I am really happy with how this little quilt is coming along. I can't wait to hand quilt it. If you look at this post on Lori of Humble Quilts blog you can see lots more Cheddar Cheese and Crackers quilts.


While watching the Winter Olympics (Go Aussies!!!!) on TV I have been doing some hand sewing on my Waterloo borders. One more side to go, then lots of little circles need to be appliqued on.





On a much more serious note I found this message on the blog of Jane of Jane's Fabrics and Quilts.


Please, make your car a

My Cheddar Cheese and Crackers

I started laying out all the pieces for the Cheddar Cheese and Crackers doll quilt. It took a while to cut everything out and I still have quite a bit of the shirting background to cut out. All the rest of the fabric is ready. Most of the fabric is Moda's Civil War Homefront by Barbara Brackman. The cheddar is a Kona called school bus.

Here is my first block sewn together.



I haven't made anything this small before. Those little squares will be one inch finished! I pieced this by machine......and not one bit of unpicking......yet!!!!!




This rose transformed from a bud to a bloom as the sun shone on it this morning.

Another giveaway win!

I think I must be on a run of good luck! I won another giveaway last week and the parcel has arrived already! This wonderful giveaway was from Diana of Dented Thimble Quilting. Thank you very much, Diana for the wonderful box of goodies!
Originally there were a few more choccies in that package........you know me and chocolate!!!!
Look at those gorgeous notecards....red roses too!!
There are lots of Clover products available here, but I have never seen a Clover seam ripper.
The fabrics are beautiful and I have a project in mind for them. :)
Diana, your surprise package is perfect!!!




Diana also included in package the card above. There are some very inspiring art quilts in an exhibit at the Carnegie Centre in New Albany IN.

This afternoon I have been cutting out lots of tiny pieces of fabric to make Lori's Cheddar Cheese and Crackers quilt. I hope to have almost everything cut out tonight.
Yay....it is all cut out..........photos tomorrow!

The Waterloo quilt has half of the last border done. Progress has been slow for the last couple of weeks, but I hope to get lots more sewing done from now on.

Have a great week, everyone. :)

A giveaway win arrives

Late last year I was lucky enough to win a giveaway kindly offered by Pat of Silver Thimble Talk.
After bit of technical difficulty we finally made contact and Pat was able to post the parcel. Thank you for persevering in trying to contact me, Pat.

This morning the postman delivered a large box.

The cute Raggedy Ann is who greeted me when I opened the lid..................






Also inside is the Quiltmaker 100 Blocks publication I have seen on a few blogs. Guess who has a block in there........................congratulations Pat!!!!!!
Lots and lots of inspiration in those pages!

Pat also included a Moda layer cake......The Caroler by Mary Engelbreit. I have never seen Mary Engelbreit fabric here before and there of lots of delicious choices there! Its gorgeous fabric!!

There are Triangles On A Roll. I have seen these before either, but they came at the perfect time. :) I am about to make a HST quilt....just a small one, but these triangles will make it lots easier!!! Thank you Pat.



Last, but not least, is this wonderful tote bag! Its big and roomy and has the most delicious paisley fabric on the inside. There are lots of pockets on the outside, and below you can see the front section unbuttoned.........there are loops for holding things and 2 clear plastic, zippered pockets. Perfect for putting small things so they won't get lost!


Thank you sooo much Pat. I have already used the bag today. :)


Very little sewing has been happening here lately. Too many other things keeping me busy.
I have plans in my mind for several more small projects and I hope get get a couple of things well on the way to being finished. Another week or 2 and I will be back sewing again....I hope!

Happy Australia Day

Happy Australia Day!!! January 26th is the day the First Fleet arrived in 1788.

The photo above is some euclyptus ficifolia (flowering gum) blossom in our garden.

I went out for a walk this morning and watched the Roulettes doing a flying display not far from our home.
We had a barbeque for lunch and I made pavlova for dessert. yum!!

The Australian Open tennis is on here in Melbourne at the moment. I have done some sewing in the evenings while watching some matches on TV. Here is my progress on the quilt for my sister. Just one more border to go.




Recently my sister gave me a hoya and it has its first flower.

Waterloo progress

Here is a progress photo of the Waterloo quilt. The next round will be appliqued orange peel and slightly larger baskets in each corner. For the baskets I plan to make them a little differently and fussy cut some birds from the Rouenneries linen/cotton fabric Ranette sent to me. I have stitched everything by hand so far. The original quilt is slightly different in the centre medallion and I may add more to mine.



I have started a small quilt for my sister. The red print on the right hand side is the only other fabric in this quilt top. This is again all hand stitched. Lots of large pieces coming up, so it will be quick to put together. I plan to hand quilt this one.

I have all the pieces cut for another small quilt that will be machine pieced. Lots of fabrics in this one! Up until now almost all of my quilts have had lots of different fabrics in them.

I have another small top ready to be quilted.

Its been really hot here today. At one point this afternoon our backyard thermometer read 47 C (about 116 F)!!! It was still 40 C after dinner. All my rose blooms are dried to a crisp! Its been too hot do anything but sit in a cool place and hand piece. Tomorrow we are expecting a cool change, then a week of much cooler weather.........thank goodness!!!

Have a great week, everyone!

SSCS gift has arrived!!!

My SSCS gift arrived today. It was sent by Odette, who lives in Chile!
The parcel took a little longer on its journey, but it was well worth the wait. My Christmas has lasted an extra few days! :)


Inside the envelope were some sparkly wrapped parcels.

Below is the note Odette wrote on the back of the Santa.


Inside the parcels were lots of goodies! The stitchery on that bag is amazing! The cosmetic purse held even more treats!!



The choccies are yummy! I love tea. I drink lots of tea everyday, so everytime I make a cup of tea I will remember Odette. :) The buttons are wooden.....look at that cute teapot!




Aren't the Santas cute!!
The stitchery is sooo amazing here is a closer look!



The bird is beautiful....

Thank you Odette for your thoughtfulness and all the skill, effort and time that has gone into creating these gifts for me!

Thank you Elf Chookyblue for all your time and energy in organising such a successful swap!

The last day of 2009

This is going to be a long post!!! Its been a while!

I have been busy with some sewing over the last few weeks, both hand and machine sewing.
All the pinwheel blocks are together and have been made into a table runner. While doing the machine quilting I have found I am slowly improving. :)


Below is a small quilt that is being made for a gift. While I am building confidence with my machine piecing I am sticking to simple designs. This one still has to be basted and quilted.




I have also made a couple of covered journals. The one below has fabric I have had for quite a while, but I wasn't sure what to use it for. My sister does a lot of mosaic work, so I though this fabric would suit her.

I finished another journal cover which has already been sent. It had stitchery on the front and the design was one by Natalie Lymer of Cinderberry Stitches. Ever since I first saw her cute little birds I wanted to stitch one of her designs. You can see a photo of it here. Just scroll down a bit.

I have 2 more small quilts planned. One will use some fat eighths I have and the other I will probably have to buy one fabric for.



I received some lovely gifts from family and friends for Christmas!!

Below is a pin cushion and thread catcher made by Judi. It now lives by my sewing machine.



The Christmas ornament Judi included in her parcel is too beautiful to put away!!!

Thank you sooo much Judi!!!

Next was another parcel of goodies from overseas. Some of those choccies are already gone! :)


In the same parcel was lots of fabric and a tiny pair of Dovo scissors!!! The scissors are beautiful to use and just the right size for my fingers.


Thank you very much Ranette!!!




The book below is from my daughter. She knows how much I love to sew! :)



Santa was also very generous and left me the camera I used to take these photos with. I can now take much clearer shots and get some good close ups.



I have continued to work on the Waterloo quilt. All the small baskets have been finished now.


Some of the fabric for the border around the baskets is at the bottom of the photo above.


The AQ is coming along slowly. I sewed some more set in triangles last night. After reading Crispy's post about trying different needles for quilting, I decided to try different needles for piecing.

The Jeanna Kimball Sharps are great to use. They are a thin needle with a nice feel through the fabric. The Roxanne applique needles have a slightly larger eye (great for threading when your eyes are not as great as they used to be! lol) and they glide beautifully through the fabric.

The Piecemakers have the smallest eye of those I tried, but they also felt lovely through the fabric. I tried 2 types of Bohin needles. The applique needles were not smooth through the fabric. I used the smallest of the sharps and it was quite good.
The last needle I used was the very first needle I used when I went to my first hand piecing class. It was the clover gold eye applique needle. I still love to use these needles, but I have found I prefer a shorter needle these days.



I sent my SSCS parcel to Tracey B in USA. You can see what I sent her in this post. It is the second last photo. My SSCS parcel is taking the scenic route. Hopefully it will arrive next week. It means my Christmas is lasting a few more days! :)


Lastly I would like to wish all my readers a very happy and safe New Year!! Thank you to everyone who has left a comment, helped and encouraged me and fed my soul with so much inspiration! You all made me feel so welcome in the world of blogging! I have been lucky enough to make some wonderful new friends.

Here's to an even better year in 2010!!