19 April - We're another year older!

GUESS WHO'S HAVING A BIRTHDAY!

There are not many of us that have a photo taken and we can take our pick on which twin is which! I've never been able to decide whether Catherine is on the left and Annie on the right, or is it the other way round? Regardless, we've had another birthday, although technically Catherine's fell 10 minutes before mine! I remember our mother sewing these dresses - blue with white stripes and little red dogs - I just loved mine with the thin red belt! The photo's were taken when we were about 10 or 11 and still living in Southwold, a little English village on the sea-side and prior to our immigration to Oz

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!

Our patchwork group always celebrate birthdays and Christmas. We have a secret friend, picked in a draw at our Christmas party, and we usually manage to surprise them every Christmas with a handmade gift. Birthdays are ALWAYS celebrated with a cake and a surprise of one kind or
another

The girls in the group have become close friends and
we know and understand each other so well! My
Secret Friend found these beautiful gifts for me

We did find time for some of the serious business of the day! Judy D from Furball Farm Quilting popped in and delighted Lyn with her Star Quilt. It looks just gorgeous and of course, Lyn was delighted with it! Lyn used mostly reproduction fabrics and the dark chocolate border set it off magnificently!

Margret's Japanese print quilt was returned also. The photo here does not do it justice! It is very beautiful in olive greens/gold/brown The quilting design reflects the designs in the Japanese fabrics! Another very happy quilter!

My birthday concluded with dinner at the local Tavern with husband and son, who made a surprise visit down to the coast to help me celebrate! All in all, it was a lovely day!

My Candied Hexagons

Guess how I spend my evenings? Have been doing a couple a night and all of a sudden there were too many to keep under the rug! The fabrics are reproduction and randomly selected from my stash. I made a conscious decision to try and make a quilt without the need to go near a patchwork shop! That was difficult! A couple of the hexagons are not pieced - the fabric was too beautiful to ruin with scissors!

Am making progress with Inklingo as I get more organised with my choice of fabrics and design. Am enjoying the process and am amazed that I have had absolutely NO fabric jams in the printer - probably because I pop the piece into the printer the second after I lift the iron off. I am finding that this way there is no time for the paper to curl and the roller doesn't seem to mind having that warm feeling and probably will enjoy it even more as the weather cools!!

7 April 2010

It has been a quiet week with the weather showing signs of cooler days ahead! Thank goodness! This morning I wandered out onto the verandah as daylight was beginning to show and caught this rainbow on my new Sony camera.

The camera is an early birthday present from MDH with a HUGE LSD screen and all sorts of nick nacks that I'll probably never use. Best of all, it is small and narrow and weighs next to nothing - and it comes in a bright pink zip bag that even I should find difficult to lose!




I've spent a few days mastering the Inklingo technique of printing onto fabric. Beginning to get the hang of it now but find that it still taking me quite a long time and much messing around. It's obvious that organisation is the key and I need to plan a bit before I just jump in ....



Another day spent with the girls! It was Dimitri's day to bring morning tea and as usual it was treat and a half! Although our patchwork is top of the agenda, I have suggested that we are becoming somewhat fixated on food and all agreed that we are becoming spoilt baggages!!!

Jayne taste checking morning tea! Go to it girls!

Practising Inklingo hexagons

Starting to practice inklingo hexagons. Made these three last night.

Have an easy way of storing them flat :)

Lift up carpet
Insert blocks
Drop down carpet

Red Hat Day Out

No point in wasting time when quilts are waiting!

Snatching in a few minutes before I go off to the red Hat Luncheon.

Lyn's BIG DAY has arrived!!!!

Reduction time for Lyn

So excited to win the Easter Bonnet Parade! The poor man was taken by surprise!

Easter Bunny comes to Jayne's Place

Just for a change, the Skinnicinno Girls spent the day in Jayne's fabulous sewing room. There was plenty of space for the dozen of us as we stitched and chatted away.

Guess what we had for morning tea?

One a penny, two a penny, Hot Cross Buns!

Easter Bunny Business was next on the agenda! This was serious stuff as we contemplated the
the delights in store and of course, the effects of chocolate on our diminishing waistlines!
(The Hot Cross Buns didn't count because they are obligatory)

He must have hopped in when we were busily sewing!

I'm wondering whether my Easter Bunny brought me a rocklea road treat -

he did, he did!

Maureen was delighted with the decoration on her bag!

Ah Hah! I think there's another bunny in there, somewhere

Jayne was presented with this elegant compote of choccies!

We enjoyed another lovely patchwork Wednesday, the rainy day completely forgotten.

Thank you Jayne for inviting us to 'your place'. We all just love your sewing room and all of it's treasures.

Brisbane Craft Show

The Brisbane Craft Fair has been and gone. Arriving promptly when the doors opened I was able to enjoy a quick cup of coffee as I looked in awe at the largest hexagon quilt displayed in part of its wonder displayed all around the eating area! It really is huge and with two thirds still in the pipeline it is massive and beautiful. Some of the Gatton ladies were industriously stitching away in the corner and kindly refused my offer of even more. I think they are probably a bit over it by now, but what an impressive achievement! Not having my camera with me, I was permitted to take a photo using mobile phone and will endeavour to add it to this page when I figure out how!

My much anticipated CD's were not waiting for me. Disappointing! I'm waiting for them to arrive in the mail. In the meanwhile I ponder over which UFO to work on this week

Arrived home ready to drop - a cup of tea and an early night did the trick!

Civil War Quilt As You Go Diamonds

It was an experiment before I discovered various jelly roll patterns, which would have made it much simpler. Now I have to decide whether to add borders or to just bind it and move on!

This 1850's UFO has recently been quilted and I'm now trying to track down some of the border fabric for binding!

It was quilted by Lizzie Trainor in keeping with the 1850's style

The flowers were hand appliqued

My French Braid Quilt was made last year with Anne Ferguson of Quiltopia in Maleny. I selected the fabrics from a range by Kaffe Fassett and for me, I moved outside the square!

This has to be one on the happiest quilts I've made - Sol, three years old, really loved this one and wandered around draped in it for ages, despite it being a hot Christmas Day!