Giveaway at Sugar Spun Quilts

Head on over to this blog, Sugar Spun Quilts. Vicki is giving away lots of prizes, 5 in all to celebrate her 405th blog post. Make Life Sweet jelly roll, 3 lots of fat quarters & charm squares plus yardage make up the giveaways. Drawn on 5th December. I would love to win the Sweetwater jelly roll. I have some of their Authentic fabric line and it is just lovely. Just click on Sugar Spun Quilts and the link should take you to the website. Have fun and good luck if you enter.........

At last. a finish...

Here is my Verandah Views hanging finished. I am really pleased with how it looks. Thank-you to Cheryl from Willowberry Designs for this wonderful BOM design given freely on her blog . I have had many friends comment on how lovely the stitchery designs are. I used Aviary fabric from one of my favourite fabric designers 'Three Sisters' and I think it compliments the stitcheries perfectly. I will have to find a special place to hang this.

I have also finished Block 11 of A Tisket A Tasket from Bunny Hill. Only one more to go. Below is a stained glass block that I completed a few weeks ago. I forgot to take a photo but was able to get one last week at quilting group. Everyone at my group did one and they will be put into a quilt by one of our members, Robyn who taught us how to do the stained glass technique. Not sure at this stage what will be done with the quilt but a decision will be made when it is complete. My block is of Sturt's Desert Pea. Each block is of an Australian native flower. They should look lovely together. This block was quite a challenge as it had many little pieces. Sorry about the block looking creased, should have pressed it before taking the photo.

Well, must get back to it as I have lots of things on the go at present. See you next time........

My quilting room

Here are photos of my quilting room. It is almost a year since half the garage was transformed and I transferred all my quilty bits from the house to my new blue room (hence the name for my blog was born). What a marathon that was. It was hard to believe all the things I had accumulated since quilting became my passion but it did give me a chance to discover things I had forgotten I had bought and tucked away for when I had time to do them. Of course, even in retirement, there is still never enough time.

This is my John Watts quilter which I have been looking at and pondering over for almost a year. I have about 6 quilt tops to finish but keep putting it off. I am going to have to bite the bullet soon and just use it for the purpose intended and not as a storage area for unfinished projects.

Oh how I love my new Bernina. Had it for a while before I used it, how silly was that. I just love the needle down function, blanket stitch and the fact that I can sew at half speed which makes it so much easier when you are stitching fiddley things like quarter inch bias tape.

I have been busy working on my projects but haven't got much to show at present. As you can see in the photo above, I am quilting my Verandah Views quilt and just have to add the binding to that. If you read my previous post, I went with the red border for A Christmas Wish and it is in the handquilting stage.

The computer is doing funny things so will close this now so I don't lose this post but be back soon with more finishes, I hope. Cheers for now...........

What to Do?

I can't believe I haven't blogged for so long. Time just seems to be slipping away as we get closer to December. Need to start Christmas shopping soon as usually by this time of the year, I have most of it done. Trying to think of what to buy is the hardest thing for me this year, I don't know why, just seem to be out of ideas. Hopefully, I will get inspiration soon.......

I've been working on A Christmas Wish BOM by Gail Pan this past week. Have finally stitched all the 2&1/2 inch squares around the blocks and am about to add my last border. I have 2 choices of material, either a red floral or a plainer green stripe, both already used in the quilt. I thought I would go with the red and bind with the green but now, I'm not sure. Laying it out on the bed makes me think the red is just too much and when asked, my hubby said he thinks so to. 'Too busy' were his exact words. Below are the photos I took of the top laid out on both fabrics. I think I'm leaning towards the green. Watch for an update or if you have an opinion, leave a comment which will be most welcome.

Here is my Bunny Hill finish for October just in time for November's to arrive. Halloween seems to be catching on here more every year. My grandson Josh had a couple of friends over to his place and by the looks of the photos (sorry I don't have any) had a pretty scarey time. I could only recognize him by his red hair stitcking out from his mask. Good costume Josh.

This photo is of my grand-daughter having her first driving lesson with my son. She drove up from the Gold Coast. It took me back to when my boys first started to drive. Not a pleasant experience for me as I was quite nervous sitting beside them. Luckily we all survived, me especially. When it came the time for my daughter to get her licence, she opted for an automatic one and I had a manual car so no lessons from me. Phew!!!!!

Well, that is all from me this time. Great to see the rain here in Queensland, just need a bit more. bye for now..........

Back Home from Quilt Camp

We had a great time on our weekend at Boonah, a rural area about an hour away from home. We stayed at a place called The Outlook which has a lovely big room where we can set up our machines and just sew. Even though we did our own cooking, we still had plenty of time to devote to our projects as we were only rostered on to prepare one meal and cleaning up afterwards was a combined effort and completed in no time.
As you can see by the photos below, I managed to get a fair bit done amid all the eating, laughing, talking and joke telling. My daughter's quilt top now has the borders on it with of course, the quilting still to come. I am quite happy with how it turned out as it is the first time I have made a quilt without using some sort of pattern so it was a bit of trial and error at times. My Verandah Views wall hanging is ready to quilt and I also got a fair bit of A Christmas Wish stitched together but forgot to take a photo so next time I am in my quilting room, I will take one.

Kym's Quilt - Sophistikitties.
Verandah Views.
By the time I got home, I was pretty tired but I just love going, it is such a fun weekend. Our next one is in March, I'm planning already.........

Getting ready for Boonah Camp / Oscar

This little fellow is my cat Oscar. He is usually perched on my knee helping me with my stitching but last night he decided he was just tooooo tired to help so he sat on the arm of the chair, covered his eyes and slept. I must say, I got a lot more stitching done then I usually do. We inherited him as a kitten after some kind soul threw him out of their car as they were driving along the highway and he just happened to sail over my son's car bonnet. He luckily survived his ordeal and has turned out to be lovely natured puss.

I am getting quite excited as this week-end is our quilting camp at Boonah, the second for the year. Eleven of us will head off on Friday morning for the 3 day camp. I have a few things on the go so will just take them along to try and finish some off. I have completed the stitchery on my Mistletoe Madness quilt top so hope to get this basted together ready to begin hand quilting when I get back. I also have more borders to go on Kym's quilt, A Christmas Wish quilt and my Beach Days quilt (photos in previous posts) so am sure this will be enough to keep me busy. I always think I will get such a lot done but we usually do more talking and laughing than anything else so in the long run, we all come home feeling great and that's really what matters.

OPAM Prize!!!

Yesterday, I received the above parcel in the post from Kris of Tagalong Teddies. My name was picked as the winner for the September draw. How exciting!!!!!! I had had a very busy weekend looking after my darling energetic grandsons and so this was just the pick-me-up I needed. The picture above is what I received. A pattern by Candlelght Creations, a notepad, a sharpie pen and an angel wooden tag . Thanks Kris and May Britt for organizing this. It has definitely helped me in trying to decrease my long list of wisps. Still have a long way to go though, just have to stop starting new projects if that's possible.