Reading Room Quilts for Aussie Heroes....

I haven't made an Aussie Hero quilt for a while but I still am joining in. They put out a call for some house blocks. The directions were on the blog.
http://aussieheroquilts.blogspot.com.au/2017/03/the-reading-room-quilts.html
That's easy. I said I'd make 2 blocks... well they are in the mail now...
They wanted them made with something Australian or a novelty in the door space. So that's what they got...
A kangaroo with joey.

 Cute foxes peering out the door

If you don't want to make a full quilt they do a block of the month program. They give a tutorial for a block each month. When they get enough blocks of one design they organise someone to assemble the quilt. So you are still able to help out if you want....
http://aussieheroquilts.blogspot.com.au/p/tutorials-quilts-n-blocks.html

Missing knitted Premie beanies

I noticed that in my last beanie post I forgot to add some photos so here they are.
From my friend Christine.

Her Mother-In-Law, Barbara made these in 8 ply.

And another friend Anna posted these ones too. These are made with 4ply.

What a great variety. I'm sure the hospital will be happy...

Doing something about the heat.

It has been extremely hot here over the past month or two. We are still trying to sort out what changes we need to do and want to do. Working out shade blinds was a challenge without it costing a fortune.
We have the sun on our back lounge windows in the morning and our bedroom late afternoon. Our house is rendered so it isn't easy working out where the bricks are or the mortar so you can get the screws in the right place. So this is what we decided.

 We bought some rods, spring fittings rolls of shade cloth.

Cut them into different size widths. 20cm wider than each window.

Sewed the edges and pockets on top and bottom.

Now look at the results. The black shade cloth matches the house nicely..
Fitted into the windows out side they don't look out of place. Boy they make a difference inside though... we are happy. They were easy to put up and can be taken down at any time. We will store them in the shed over winter..

Look what was in the mail...

My lovely friend Sue made and posted me this gorgeous gift. She is very talented and always does a great job with what she makes. Very kind and thoughtful.
A project bag... So handy to pack a project and take to sewing group meetings. The clear pockets make it so easy to see what's in there. It measures 12" x 16" closed up. Quite large.

All wrapped up in a bright fat 1/4... pretty blues and purples.

 All closed up. Beautifully quilted. Oh so clever.

 Needle threaded, quick unpick, heart pins, marking pens and a great little mini screwdriver set...

Perfect for glasses or your bobbin screws.

And then to my surprise was this gift delivered to my door.

A yummy gift from my friend Jo..

 A beautiful rose, chocolates and a bottle of bubbly..

Now for some birthday goodness

I recently had a birthday. I kept it very quiet. With adjusting to working full time, coping with the heat, catching up with family my blogging and sewing time was pushed to the back. Anyway, I am catching up.

Here is my daughter giving me a cuddle and wishing me happy birthday. We caught up for the weekend and she took me to the movies in Benalla.. We saw " 50 Shades Darker" and were so enthralled with it we didn't realise the time had gone so fast. Just loved it...

I came home from work and had an unexpected visitor sitting in my lounge room. My brother decided to motorbike ride for seven hours to surprise me, join us for dinner, stay the night and ride home the next day. I was very happy as this was the the 3rd time we have ever been together for my special day. Once was my 21st, then my 40th and this one. No it wasn't an "0" birthday. Just with everything that has been going on with us lately it was special for us.. Thank you Graeme. Very much appreciated... he also gave me a little gift for our zen garden too...

 A beautiful "cousin itt" & red cactus

Here is the gift from my daughter too. I wanted to stock up on some toiletries for my travel bag an work draw. She thought I was strange. Anyway she got me what I wanted and more. I had run out of perfume so she bought me . My favourite and another beautiful selling one.

I also got this lovely little purse. It is great if you are just going out for tea and don't need all your cards. It has space for a few cards, some cash and your phone. So compact. She gave me an orange one for Xmas and I liked it so much she got me the yellow one too.

My gifts continued to come in the mail...

A great finish for me...

This weekend is International Quilters Day celebrations over at TheQuiltShow.com with Alex Anderson and Ricky Timms. Watch over 200 episodes for free this weekend only. IF YOU CAN GET ON & THE SITE DIDNT CRASH. They have extended the free viewing for another day.

 I did manage to watch about 12 episodes while I sewed, sewed and sewed. I caught up on finishing some blocks, taking photos of things over the past two weeks and sat down to do a heap of posts...

I have been working on a lovely quilt for a special lady and it's done....
This is the design I have decided to do on my friends quilt. I do not have to draw or follow lines. I am using rulers...

Thanks to Anita from https://hillside-quilting.myshopify.com/pages/about-us For teaching me how to use the Westalee rulers. I had trouble setting up my machine and getting all the needles and thread sorted out. Anita was very patient and helpful. I won't hesitate to use these more often.

Can you see the clam shells coming together. I am only doing 4 arcs. Yes, there are a few mistakes but for my first full size quilt using the ruler I am very happy with the results.

 I have finally finished all the clam shell quilting. Can you see my set up watching The Quilt Show in the background. Now to go on with the white sashing area with stippling and then to attach the binding. I enjoyed using the Westalee ruler for this but boy, this quilt was heavy. I haven't really done much quilting in the last year so I worked slowly on this one...

Here it is on a queen size bed. I think it will fit a king size single ok. The binding is machined on the front all ready for my friend to hand stitch the back down. She quite enjoys it.

Even better than FNSI

I had linked up with cyberland for FNSI BUT PLANS CHANGED......
I had a friend come to town. I met Annie a few years back at a retreat in Ballan. I then met her on a few occassions at our blogging group meet up. I am no longer a member. People change, times change. Annie and her friends were passing through so we caught up for dinner and a fun night... Of course the stage was set for photo time.. They were walking and I was driving so the empties weren't mine.....  Thanks for the good night... it was a laugh as usual.

If you want to see what the sewers did have a look here...
 http://www.sugarlane-designs.com/2017/03/happy-st-patricks-day-fnsi-link-is-up.html

I have been busy celebrating my birthday and having lots of visitors and going away. Now I am back home. I have a lot of posts to catch up so I will be doing that tomorrow..

More knitted beanies.

I have some great friends making beanies. It's overwhelming the help I have received.
My friend Christine and her MIL Barbara got together and made these. Aren't they sweet.


These were made by my friend Maxine's mum. Our local hospital now has enough tiny beanies so we passed them on to the Northern Hospital in Epping. The smaller one would probably fit a 20 week premie. How tiny is that..

These are so tiny

Tree of Christmas Cheer for Slow Stitching Sunday

Many years ago I was lucky enough to go to Toowoomba with a friend to meet up with another friend. We spent the weekend sewing together and joining in on a great weekend called. GIRLS DAY OUT. There were a few designers there and we were lucky enough to get some soon to be released patterns. Over the weekend we really didn't get much stitching done but we did have a great catch up time.
There were the designers Lynette Anderson, Anni Downs from Hatched and Patched and Natalie Bird. We were given the usual goody bags filled with kits, patterns, fabrics and threads.
This Tree of Christmas Cheer was by Anni Downs.
So I dragged it out again and got stuck into it...

Where I started today

I have completed the stitching and then worked on the appliqué. It is very cute... All pressed.

Stitching and Applique done.

What it will be.

Now I just have to get the rest of it done.

I have had another fun day Slow Stitching yesterday and joining in with Kathryn and friends for

https://kathysquilts.blogspot.com.au

182 Solstice sewing with friends

This Friday night I am sewing away with my cyberspace friends. Here is what I'm up to.
My summer/winter solstice block is done. I am loving these colours. Thanks Mari. This was a quick and easy 12" block.. Block number 10.

I also managed to get the last Dear Jane block done for this month. 2 weeks before the next meeting date. I had a bit of fun with this block. Totally not done the same way as anyone else. My centre square is done like the 3 d Bow tie method. It is like a little pocket under each of the angled edges in the centre. Then the cream pieces were squares folded in half and sewn onto the background square. Next I turned back the folded edge and stitched down making a curve. Like the Cathederal windows. The centre of this block has a lot of fabric and thicknesses but it worked out very good.

M 13

Linking up with all the gals over at Cheryll's. FRIDAY NIGHT WITH FRIENDS.
https://stitchingcubbyhole.blogspot.com.au

Sharmaynes hexie.....

Well Sharmayne. You should have your little package by now. Sharmayne from
http://countryfragrance.blogspot.com.au COUNTRY fragrance Blog has been working on her special tablecloth for a few years. She asked if any of her followers would stitch their name, blog and where they are from onto a pretty background. The size was to fit a 2.5" edged hexie. I made one for her back when I was living in Lancefield.
https://jobutterfield.blogspot.com.au/2016/03/splendid-sampler-block-4.html
Now that we are regular followers of each other's blog I thought I would do another one for her from my new town. I moved sat year and blogging has been the one constant which has helped.

The job I am doing now has just started long  1 hour lunch breaks. Too long to just sit and too short to really go and do anything. I prepared this block so I could take it to work and stitch through my break. I think it will be pretty.

And here it is ready to post. ....
Oops.. looking at this photo the last letter looks like an "e" but it is an "a"...
I kept it simple with a pretty design from Jenny of ELEPHANTZ designs.
http://www.elefantz.com

Hope you like it Sharmayne and that your table cloth is growing..

Quilt top is finished

It has been a good journey making this top.  I had it all planned then my friend wanted it a bit bigger. Extra borders were needed. That's easy just add some more fabric. Luckily I had extra white. Everything was enough. Just needed to recalculate.
Straight sashing Borders are getting sewn.
I had to add the white and another pink border to bring it up to a bigger size quilt.

I'm very happy with it..

Extra sashing borders are on.

Piano key borders using the leftovers are on. It's a great size.  69" * 95".. I'm happy.

Design no 2 looks lovely with borders