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Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Another OPAM finish !!!!!!

Just a quick post as time is just flying by in this household. Scott's 40 th birthday is next week and with trying to help him get the house in order and trying to finish a couple of quick quilts for his 2 boys, life is a bit hectic at present. Tom will be down next week for his Dad's birthday and I wanted to make him a warm quilt to take back with him. Of course, I made him a quilt when he was younger but haven't got around to making his brother Jake one as yet so I decided to make them both a no sew cuddle quilt. Jake (6) has been asking me of late when I am going to make him a quilt and thought I might have the time to make him one while he was at his Mum's for the school holidays because I didn't have to look after him. Funny how kids minds work sometimes. The quilt is made using fleece material and is just a matter of laying a square top and backing piece together, removing selvages, then cutting a 5" square from each corner and cutting 1" by 5" strips along all sides then knotting them together. I have finished Tom's, he loves green so used green/brown camouflage fleece with a brown back. It feels so warm and cuddly especially with the weather so cold at present. Hope he likes it. Jake has the same fabric except in his favourite colour, blue. Hope to finish Jake's by tomorrow. These quilts are great and I am thinking I might have to make a few more. I got the seal of approval from my cat Oscar as I had big trouble removing him from the middle when I was trying to turn the quilt to cut the sides. Maybe I need to make a smaller version for him but then he probably wouldn't want to sit on it if he was allowed to. A big thank you to Cyndie from our quilt group for bringing hers in to show us. Quite a few ladies from our group have made them for their grandchildren as well.
Cheers for now......

Friday, June 25, 2010

Blocks, Stitching and A Day Out

Not too much done in the quilting department this week. My quilting group had our third birthday so we headed off to the coast on Monday to visit a quilt shop and also have a celebratory lunch. We had a great day and I managed to find some In The Pink fabric by Buggy Barn that I have been collecting to use in my Breast of Friends quilt (Homespun magazine last year) when I get around to making it.
I have been working on my stitcheries for The Gardeners Journal Stitch-a-long. Doing 2 blocks this month to try to catch up. Still have a bit to do before next week.
Block 11 of Love is......
Block 9 of my Jelly Roll Sampler. Am starting to run short of the dark colours so am glad we only have 3 more blocks to go.
I have been busy of late helping my eldest son tidy his house as he turns 40 on the 6 th of July and is having a small party to celebrate. This week I decided to clean out my grandson Jake's room. He has this hanging on his door, a birth sampler I stitched for him after he was born. I brought it home to give it a bit of a wash and iron. It's hard to believe that he will be seven at the end of the year. Perhaps its time I made him a new hanger for his door as he has well and truly outgrown this one. He keeps asking me for a quilt so will have to put that on the agenda as well.
Well, hubby wants to use the computer and is hovering in the background so I will say goodbye for now.....

Sunday, June 13, 2010

Day out at Wintersun, Blocks 7/8 Jelly Roll Quilt

I have caught up with my Jelly Roll Quilt Along blocks. Here is Block 8 (first one) and Block 7. I am really loving these blocks and am very happy with how they look. Can't wait to see it together.

We set off yesterday morning early to travel to the coast about an hour away to go to Wintersun. It was pretty chilly with our first frost of winter still visible on the ground. Wintersun has been on each year at Coolangatta for the last 13 years but sadly this year will be the last as it is going to move to northern NSW next year. It is a car show where the cars are parked in the streets which are closed to traffic. It has a rock and roll theme with bands dotted throughout the area and rock and roll groups dancing to the music. A short parade of vehicles and trucks carrying the groups is held during the morning. Below are some photos of the day. The number of people was amazing and by lunch time, you could hardly move.

Izzy Dye and band performing on the stage.

Parade float.
Of course forgot to take photos of the group floats which were very colourful.

Above is a car my hubby liked. I asked him if he would like to restore it? No, he said, just like it the way it is. He still surprises me sometimes. Not my cup of tea though.

Lots of different cars to look at.



The crowds in the main street. Another car my hubby liked.


We liked this one. Chris is looking to get another car to work on soon. This is a 34 Ford Tudor. Has more room than the roadster which we are looking for although I still like the Ford Victoria model, it just depends what is available when we go to buy one.

Well must go now as I want to repot some plants and Chris has just come back from the shops with the potting mix. Still cool today and a bit overcast so really don't feel like going outside. Good day to stitch.

Monday, June 7, 2010

Finish at last.......

I haven't had a finish in a long time so it was nice to complete one on the week-end. Lately, I have had lots of family issues happening which have had to take priority over my beloved hobby. Hopefully as time goes on, things will begin to settle down and I will again have the time to teach myself to use my quilter and finish some tops. In the meantime, I have been working on smaller projects which I have found on the net. I've managed to keep up with making the blocks and doing the stitcheries on most of these. Below is Block 10 of Love is ....... next one due out on the 10 th June so completed just in time.

I am still working on the Gardeners Journal Stitch-A-long blocks as I find I enjoy doing these whilst watching tele at night. I love doing stitcheries and seem to always gravitate to patterns that contain them. The remote control holder is my finish. I used a Joy Patch pattern which uses some honey roll strips. The fabric is called Essence by Sandy Gervais. I love the pattern and it was quite quick to do once completing the stitchery.

I took it to my quilting group today to show them and forgot to iron it again before I took the photo so sorry for the creases.
I bought the Essence panel that goes with the honey roll so am going to make some place mats with that and the rest of the roll. Place mats cut out, now all I need is more time to sew them. Well that's all from me for now. Hope to see you visiting again soon. Leave a comment if you have time, I love reading them.