Some blocks finished & a welcome visit

Here is my grandson, Tom. He was down for the week-end visiting his Dad so he came over to see us and have a swim. His hair is getting quite long but he is not keen on getting it cut just yet. We were so happy to have him visit as we haven't seen him since the beginning of January.

A Friendship Star : Block 1

I follow a blog called Piece n Quilt. Natalia Bonner is a long-arm quilter and also a designer of beautiful quilts. She has designed a free BOM which started on 9th February. The logo is below. If you are interested, check out her blog, I really love her designs.

The following 2 blocks are from the Layer Cake Quilt A-long. Am so far behind with these blocks. I have blocks 3-7 to do with another block due tomorrow. I have found it difficult to choose fabrics as the layer cake I chose, Basic Grey's Fruitcake has lots of similar patterns. Today, I have sorted out some layer cakes for each block so now all I have to do is make them up.
Block 8 above and Block 2 below. Sorry Block 8 is a bit blurry.

This is block 5 of my Gardeners Journal Quilt. Just 4 blocks to go now before I can put the top together. Quite a bit of stitching still to go though. I am glad I joined this Stitch-A-Long group as it has meant I will eventually get this quilt made which I may not have done without the encouragement of so many lovely ladies.

Well, it is getting late and my stitching is waiting for me, so cheers for now ............

Boonah Quilting Retreat

Above is a photo of our group taken on the verandah of our accommodation at ' The Outlook' Boonah. Two of our members who couldn't come for the weekend joined us on Saturday for morning tea and lunch.

We hold our Quilt Retreat twice a year in March and Oct/Nov. We arrived early Friday morning and returned home Sunday before dinner. All who attended had a great time as usual, enjoying each others company and sharing our knowledge and skills with those who needed it. Sewing, stitching, quilting, talking, laughing, staying up late and of course lots and lots of eating which included our Happy Hour each night was the order of the day.

We each had to make a place mat to take along so that we could use it to brighten our table on camp. Below are some of the one's made by myself, Jan, Nancy, Clare and Viv. Will show some more next time.

Below is what I did at camp. I started a Stack & Slash Quilt which several others in the group made also. Cindy, who joined our group early this year, kindly taught this to us. I used aqua and brown colours and am using a star fabric, used in the blocks, for the second border. I didn't have enough of any of the browns to use for the first border so couldn't do any more until I buy some. I also did Block 19 of my Love is..... quilt and the first block of the Layer Cake Quilt Along. I am using a layer cake called 'Fruitcake' by Basic Grey which is a Xmas line. I also started a bag using the two leftover blocks from the stack & slash quilt and will add a photo when I complete it.

Well that is all for today. Hope to post again soon. This weekend we are off to a Hot rod Camp at Yamba so my quilting will be on hold until after that. Our little yellow Model A roadster has been cleaned and polished ready for its journey. Have a great week everyone..........

Blog Buttons.

Have added two new buttons to my side bar. The first one is a Layer Cake Quilt-Along similar to the Jelly Roll one I did earlier. It is again run by Konda from Moose on the Porch Quilts and starts on 2 November. Blocks will be made available every two weeks and will be by a different designer each time. Pop over to the blog to see what materials you will need to have by November or to read more about it if you think you might be interested. It is a good way of learning how to use the different pre-cuts that are on the market today.

The next button is for Simply Christmas where Kerryanne of Shabby Arts Boutique hopes to encourage us into putting handmade and hand-baked back into our Christmas giving. This will run from the beginning of October until Christmas. Pop over to her blog and check it out. Kerryanne has also provided lists that can be printed out to help you get organised and will have a give-away each week. The gift for the first week is a hand painted Christmas folder with the organisational lists already in it.

OH DEAR, so much for not joining anymore things........