Sunday, February 23, 2014

A few of my favourite things.....

 This week I have been organising my projects so I can release them as patterns, this cushion was my very first design and its about to become a paper pattern. I'm so excited. I just need to work out a cover page with the help of my son who is a whizz at computers. where would we be without our computer nerds.
 In April I'm going to Melbourne to the Australasian Quilt Convention so I made myself  a bathroom bag from my Cath Kidston  fabric, I bought a book ages ago that  had a CK bag kit with it and I never made it so I cut it up , added a zip and made a little pouch complete with sew on label.
 I'm all caught up with my Fat Quarter Shop BOM, this is block 8 and the quilt is looking so pretty. I must take a photo of all my blocks together.
 I have been spending lots of time in our garden, we have had no rain so I'm watering all the time. I bought quite a few packets of bulbs to plant soon, I love growing flowers, I guess you already know by reading my last few posts that are about my flowers. They give me so much inspiration for my Stitchery designs which you will see very soon in a magazine. More on that later.

 This is one half of my Zinnia garden, I do love these pretty little flowers.
 This cosmos just popped up among them, its cute to,

I think thats all from me for now, have a wonderful week.
Downton Abbey starts tonight, I can't wait. I've got my stitching all ready.

Sunday, February 16, 2014

Sunday night already.

 Why do the weekends always go so fast, Probably because I try to fit in as much as I can. Family, time, cooking, housework, gardening,  baking and of course some sewing. Yesterday we had a fun day at Sarah's beautiful  Patchwork shop,  I belong to a special Bonnie and Camille club, we all bring our projects we are working on and its  either with the B and C fabrics or a B and C pattern. We have a great time.   Today I finished a project that has been sitting around for too long, its a cushion to go  with a little quilt thats still a W I P . I do love these colours.
 I even got brave and put in a zip, Its not perfect but I'll keep practicing.
 I have some exciting news to tell you, I have been published again in Patchwork and stitching magazine, this time its a quilt, It was such a joy to see my designs on these pages, The photography is always exquisite.
This quilt was made with 100 charm squares. I had so much fun working on this one. I say that with all my projects and I guess that when they are your own designs its kind of extra special.
So do you like it? I sure hope so.

Well I'm going to sit and relax for awhile with my stitching before its time for bed.

Have a wonderful week.

Saturday, February 8, 2014

Sewing with friends

 I achieved so much sewing last night, I finished off the final 6 blocks for my Kansas troubles scrappy quilt, all the blocks are made from squares and half square triangles, so much fun to make and once I had everything cut out they came together so quick. I ordered some black sashing from here and that arrived yesterday so I'm set to start putting it all together.
 Here are a few of the blocks layed out, I didn't have enough floor space to lay out all 30 blocks.
 I also got the binding sewn down on my new little vase mat, its so cute. Made from those mini charm squares and quilted down the middle of each seam with a fancy stitch on my sewing machine.
 We have so many zucchini in our garden that I was running out of room in my fridge so I thought if I made a few cakes I could freeze them and the boys can have them in their lunch box for school so I made 2 walnut and zucchini cakes, they taste so good. Kind of like sweet bread.
 This morning I went to visit my dear friend Sarah who owns Patchworks Plus quilt shop. Its a beautiful shop. I bought this beautiful bundle of fat quarters called 25th and Pine by Basic Grey, Its a christmas range and already I know what I want to make. I can't wait to start cutting.
 I do hope you will forgive a few more flowers pics from my garden, I do love taking photos of my garden, its fun to look back on . My favourite flower is the good old Zinnia, we planted over 30 packets of seeds and the display is so pretty. Here are just a few.
 I was thrilled how this photo turned out. My photography skills are improving alot.


We also have some sun flowers planted in another area of our garden, these are so sweet and happy. Full of bees to.

So there you have my Sewing results for another night, hope you all have a wonderful weekend and you find some sewing time.
If you would like to see what everyone else got up to click here.

Thursday, February 6, 2014

Friday night with friends,

 Tomorrow night is sewing with friends night again, if you would like to join in go here and sign up.  Its lots of fun, the next day you get to see what every one else got up to.
 I love summer time in our garden, all my favourite flowers look so lovely, here are my orange lilliums, aren't they stunners. Such a bright colour and smell so nice.
 Pretty gladys as well scattered here and there amongst other plants.
I do like these pink Lilliums to, I have lots of these ones. They grow so well here in Tassie.

Well I had better get ready for work, have a great day and  I hope you join us for Friday night with friends.

Sunday, February 2, 2014

Sunday sewing..

 I have had a very productive weekend in my little sewing room, I made these 2 union jack blocks to make into cushions, they were a delight to make in such fresh, pretty colours.
 I just need to do a bit of quilting on them and make the cushion inserts. I'll share them again when I get them finished.
 I also made some lavender pillows, this block is from my pincushion design that was featured in the Patchwork and stitching  magazine this month. Isn't it so cute. it smells wonderful to.,  I think these would make great gifts.
 During the week I bought some printed linen, its so soft and should be fun to work with, it was one of those purchases where you have no plan for it but you want it anyway, I think a bag would look nice.
 On my desk I had heaps of ready to sew dresden plates that I was sick of looking at so I sewed those up, now they are ready to be appliqued onto the back ground.
I have to share with you my beautiful Glady flower that I picked from my garden yesterday, its perfect, no marks on it or anything. My garden is still blooming with all our summer flowers, soon I'll be thinking about planting some bulbs.


So thats what I have been up to all weekend, I am also working in a secret design for a magazine, so maybe I can share a few sneak peeks as I progress.  Have a wonderful Sunday.

The big 5 0

 Well its been a very fun week for me. Last Saturday I turned 50. It was a fun day of celebrations followed by a wonderful dinner with 30 ...