Busy month : Holidays

This is what I have been up to for the last few weeks. My son sold his house so it was all hands on deck to help with the packing up. With lots of offers from family, numerous boxes were packed and stored, the house and yard were cleaned and tidied and the house was ready for hand-over on time.
Scott and my grandson have moved in with us for a while, so this weekend has been spent setting up their area and finding room for all the bits and pieces they brought with them. Below are some photos of Jake with his new bike. His Dad finally put it together this morning and he has been riding it around our yard most of the day. He had a couple of spills but seems to have the hang of it now. Our old dog Cain has been enjoying running around after him.

Also, I did manage to spend an hour in my quilting room today so that I could add borders to my Tis the Season June blocks. I have traced the last three blocks so I can take them with me on holidays. We leave on Wednesday for 3 weeks in California. When we booked the trip in January, little did we know that the trip would coincide with the house sale, but luckily it has worked out perfectly. Well must close as I still have lots of packing to do and checking of my long list of things not to forget. I am taking a laptop with me so am hoping to blog about our travels while we are away. Hope it goes a lot better than tonight as I have had so much trouble with posting my photos. So bye till next time...........

Nancy's Bag, Tis the Season Blocks

The above bag holds fond memories for me of my darling Mother-in-law, who passed away just before Easter this year. When we were visiting several year's ago, Nancy asked me if I could make her a bag to hang from her walker to put all her bits and pieces in, so I made her this one. She loved it so much that she asked me to make another one for her friend. A great confidence builder for a relatively new quilter at the time. Thank-you for your love, support and friendship over the years. We will miss you very much. RIP Mum.

Here are my May Blocks for Tis the Season Stitch-A-Long. Have had them finished for a while so thought I had better add a picture. I have completed the next block for June and have two more traced out ready to stitch. We are heading off to the US on the 15th of June for three weeks so need to have these done before I go.

Until next time .............

Tis the Season Blocks

Below are the blocks I have done so far for the Tis the Season Stitch-A-Long. I am using a Crazy 8 Honey Roll for the block sashings and some yardage for the borders. This is how the layout of the 5 blocks is looking.
Below are blocks 4 & 5.

Blocks 1,2 &3.

Just a quick post. Cheers till next time.......

Happy Easter, Some finishes for April.

HAPPY EASTER TO ALL

Hope everyone has had a lovely Easter as we have. This morning we enjoyed brunch with our family. Our grandchildren were excited that the Easter Bunny had paid them a visit and left lots of eggs in their nests.

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Below are some finishes for April:
This is a wine bottle gift bag made with 2.5 by 5 inch rectangles of Bliss fabric. It's quite a bit of work so not sure I would make it for this purpose again. I have been trying to think of another use for it so if you think of one let me know. Here I have put a coloured glass bottle in it.
At the last camp I attended, many of the ladies had made these small ironing boards for use next to their sewing machines. Great for when you are doing lots of piecing with seams that need to be pressed before the next piece can be added. On the back-side I glued a small cutting mat for trimming and on the top, I used 2 layers of underlay covered with a layer of fabric. All I need now is a small iron and I'm set . I found the folding table in one of the cheap shops.

These two bags were made using a pattern I found on the net. This is quite easy to assemble and has three pockets on each side made when the handles are attached. I added a suffolk puff and button for trim to each.

Well, that's all from me. Till next time......... Happy stitching

A Few Camp Photos

Last month I was lucky enough to attend two quilt camps. The first one was my quilt groups' camp at Boonah. I had a great time but was very slack with taking photos this time. I was going to take every one's projects on the Sunday before we left but we simply ran out of time. I taught a bag class on the camp and had two bags at various stages to demonstrate how to put it together. I finished one bag on camp and completed the other one after I got home. I have some finishes for April so will include the photos of the bags in that blog post. Below is a photo of everyone enjoying a meal at the camp. We seemed to do lots of eating, laughing and talking but did get quite a bit of sewing done as well. The next camp I attended was at Tamborine Mountain. The theme of the camp was Log Cabin Fever. I also had a great time as I caught up with some lovely friends from NSW's as well as the girls from the Beaudesert Quilters group. This camp goes for 4 days. Below are my friends Chris and Liz.

Here we are enjoying Happy Hour.

Along with log cabin name tags made in the shape of hearts, we were also given a log cabin chook pin cushion to take home as a reminder of the camp. All made by Sue W, the camp co-ordinator. (36 made in all). This was our table of chicks.

Below is my very first quilt which happens to be a log cabin quilt. This quilt began my journey into the wonderful world of quilting.

My friend Liz's quilt.

Chris's Log Cabin Bag. This bag would be great for a week-end away as it is huge.

Chris also won the place-mat challenge with her Cab In Fever mat. A very original concept.

Another place-mat.

Saturday night show and tell brought forth some beautiful work. These quilts being just a few of them.

In all a wonderful week-end. The next one will be in late August and I am already looking forward to it. Well must go, will be back soon with some finishes. Bye for now........

OPAM finishes for March

Last day to show my 2 OPAM finishes for this month. Below is the challenge place mat I made for the Cabin Fever camp I have just attended at Tamborine Mountain. The cabin fabric I had in my stash fitted the theme so only needed to purchase fabric for the border (didn't make much of a dint in my stash though). I have a few photos to show from my March camps but will leave them for the another post.

Here is a little thread bin I made to go with my remote control holder. I do most of my stitching in the lounge and the cut threads seem to end up all over the floor so hopefully this will be an end to the problem. I love these little bins and so easy and quick to make.

Be back soon ............

It's Mad March again !!!!

March is always a bit crazy around here. I have three week-ends in a row away. Last weekend we had the High Altitude Hot rod run to Toowoomba. We had a great time as usual. Due to all the flooding in January, we were not sure if it would go ahead, but luckily they got lots of last minute entries (147 in all) so the Toowoomba Hot rod club decided to go ahead with it. We went for a tour of the Cobb and Co museum on Saturday followed by games and lunch in Queens Park. Dinner and dancing at the showgrounds on Saturday night and the show and shine in the city on Sunday. As I haven't been out in the car for a while, it was nice to spend time with Chris and catch up with our rodding friends.

My friend's daughter, Holly, who won a top ten trophy with her T-bucket and me of course.

The show and Shine in Margaret St (our 1928 roadster). Below the Cobb & Co museum, well worth a look.

A few weeks ago, Helen from Hugs and Kisses asked if anyone would volunteer to stitch a block for the GREAT AUSSIE SPIRIT flood and cyclone relief efforts. These blocks are to be made into a quilt and then it will be raffled to help add funds for this worthy cause. I was sent this lawnmower block and the thread to stitch it with. I added some red fabric from my stash to be used around the block. I am looking forward to seeing the finished quilt when Fiona from bubz.rugz puts it together. She sent me an e-mail when my block arrived and now has over half the blocks so hopefully it won't be too long.

Well that's it from me for now. This week-end is my quilting groups camp at Boonah so more photos when I return from that. See you soon.........