Christmas

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
The family - don't they look a happy bunch

wordless wednesday - photos from Vietnam

New technology

I think I have worked out how to blog from my Ipad- there is an app!!!! - Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Croydon

A new quilt

Waiting for fabulous Far far Away fabric to arrive from America to make a variation on this quilt with grateful thanks to Fresh Lemons for the Lemon Squares pattern. It is perfect for fabric like this

It is my second commission - a Christmas present for a little girl - and little girls are sadly lacking in my circle of friends so I am very excited to be making a quilt with such gorgeous little girl fabric.

Back into the swing

Back from London and Vietnam and feeling like my lovely holiday was a dream. Work is very busy and I have been sadly neglecting both my blog and sewing. But I feel that now is the time. I cut out pieces for a new Amy Butler Lotus mini quilt - just for fun. And trying to wok out how to blog on my new Ipad. There does not seem to be a button to attach photos and what is a blog without pictures. So I will persevere - any suggestion will be great fully received.

In London

In London and have remembered how much I love it!!!!

A first

Well lots of firsts. First time I have blogged on my new IPad- it really is a wonderful thing
First time I have blogged from Vietnam
First time G and H have been overseas
First international family holiday for us all
And later today first time G will br fitted for her first bespoke gown in the fabric and dressmaking capital of Hoi An
First time I have ever experienced typhoon like weather-it is scary rain
First five star luxury resort we have stye din as a family
And many others.........

Another finish

A quick look at my latest - a quilt made of June's Backyard - designed by me for my friend Suzy and she loves it!!

And look how lovely my irises are

A little break

A little blogging break as I am not sewing but planning and booking and working to finish everything before three glorious holiday weeks in Vietnam with the family and then 10 days just for me in London seeing old friends, relatives and fun stuff !! can't wait. And back to the stampede to finish for Christmas - another year .........

Spring - beginnings

Out in the garden today I noticed that the mulberry tree was beginning to burst with small leave and fruit - not long now - here's to sunny days

Some things finished - some things started

Got some photos to share- finished the lovely quilt for G with the fabric that her bestest friend Suzy bought for her in the holidays - Suzy and her partner Pete are wonderful adult friends for G and love her and indulge her in such a fantastic way I am blessed that they are part of her life. I have been designing and playing with a quilt for Suzy using June's Backyard fabrics and am very happy with the pattern. First one I have done on the computer with the little patches of fabric colour downloaded from a website.

a 

 

And now to reveal G's new quilt with kitty cat fabric and red toile - works a treat and all designed by my gorgeous 13 year old

Still here

Still here - stil thinking about sewing more than actually doing sewing but still happy to think and plan - Is that OK - I think so!!!

Lizard

Does anyone else have a problem with pets getting in the way of their pinning??

A winters day

Happy to be home - playing with my blog layout ( again) sewing and finally photographing my latest quilt very happy -  and my Beatles mad boy is too.

Beatles and the Chook

Bliss

I am on holidays for five days and today find myself at home, in the pouring rain, with no children for a few hours - now ....  what to do?

I think I know!!!!!!

Kitty News

My darling girl just spent some time with friends Suzy and Peter who love her and always seem to enjoy her company. And during a visit to the Kirkaldy Quilt Shop in Strathalbyn ,G designed her own new red and black quilt, The staff translated her pattern in to a custom quilt and today Suzy brought me the fabric all ready to sew with a pattern with instructions. Very impressive for my 13 year old - she must have been watching me - Another quilt on the to do list - which is great fun for me. Thank you Suzy.

New for Suzy

I had promised my dear friend Suzy that I would make her a quilt and on a recent trip to Mt Macedon she bought a wide range of the June's Backyard fabric from Mt Macedon Quilting. Lovely pinks and black and a challenge for me to design something that she would like. I used my computer to design a pattern for the first time and emailed it to her for approval. She loved it and today when she visited and saw the half finished quilt on my design wall (make that my floor) - we played around and got exactly the pattern we wanted. A joint effort and lovely outcome - now for the sewing.

Cousin completed

Finished my first baby quilt for my father's,mother's,brother's,daughter's,son's son!! Peter Dixon born in April.

New for Lou

A birthday present for my Sister in Law - looks so nice in her house in Port Willunga.

A New Quilt for a Cousin

Spotlight sale with 20 % off gave me the opportunity to buy fabric for a new very distant cousin in the UK.  My first baby quilt - it has lots of aliens for a little boy. I hope his parents like it - and when I say distant my children share a great great grandmother with him !! - still blood is blood and I love the opportunity to make a quilt for someone who will use it.

Mid Winter Night

Tonight is the longest night of the year - it is chilly and dark but at least we now know that it is all uphill from here. Had a quiet family weekend of sewing and eating and playing - very nice. Had a lovely family dinner on Friday night with Alan's family which included three birthdays - one on them my sister in law Louise was the recipient of my latest quilt - the Angle Poise - very happy with how it turned out. And she had a big bag of Ikea fabric that she no longer needed - so lucky me!! and by the end of the weekend we had six new cushions and a table cloth -got to love a quick project!!!

Sunday Stash

Collecting the sky Amy Butler Lotus prints from where ever I can - why do I only find I love fabrics after they are out of print!!

Back again

A whole month without  a blog - too busy and the computer never seems to be free - we are planning a new set up in the lounge room - may be that will help - any way lots of thing happening- nice long weekend - four days off and  a bit of sewing - Gina had a great school project to make a model of an animal cell and she decided to make a cushion - all my memories of mitochondria,  nucleus and vacuole come back - and a fun project as well!!

Triangles

I am working on a quilt for my sister-in- law for her birthday using the Material Obsession triangle Ginger Quilt pattern from the first book - such fun with a right angle triangle  ruler and strips - it is really like magic

.

Happy Anniversary

My blog's birthday - happy birthday to me -kept it up - lots of fun - way better than a diary
Cheers

Me in Melbourne in May 2009 the trip that started it all!!

Melbourne moments

Images from the Australian Quilt Convention - May 2010 and in particluar the fantatsic exhibition of small quilats from the 12 X 12  exhibition - dont you just love the Frieda Karlo????

Happiness is a blog!!

My sad little blog - there are never any photos - it seems so hard to get them from my camera to my blog - maybe one day I'll work out a system - but what I do love about my blog is using it to remind me of this amazing journey I have been on in the past year from complete novice - to complete novice who can manage to finish a quilt or two or even ten !! Very happy about that.

And for the best info on what I  did this last weekend - which was go to the Australasian Quilt Convention in Melbourne have a look at Theresa and Kay's blogs because they said it all - so much more eloquently than me - we had a great time - you can see the smile on my face. Thanks for a great day girls!!

For Jenny

When I got the call that my best friend Jenny's father had died I was in Hettie's Patch - so rather than get a bunch of flowers for her a made her a quilt. She wrote last week to say how much she loved it - the gorgeous Alexander Henry fabrics a=designed themselves and I had my first go at leaf quilting - and I am quite proud of the results.

For Jo

My first log cabin finished for my friend Jo - I hope she likes it - it sort of looks like a paintbox- loved putting it together and using up lots of scraps!!

Fiddle faddling around!!!

At Sew and Sews last Thursday night I couldn't settle on a task - Theresa had brought some lovely Amy Butler fabrics and I was just plain jealous about how they looked !

I had my First Log Cabin to quilt but didn't have the energy, I thought about finishing my Lazy Katie but couldn't find the fabric strips I had cut and I was supposed to make a Greek goddess costume but my goddess model was missing!! so I asked Theresa if she had any ideas about what I could do with this.....

Five bags of bits

Of course she knew exactly what to do and had eight blocks done in no time. So when she left I had a go and it worked -  so I have another new quilt on the go - my Bits and Pieces quilt from very scrappy scraps.

                                   

                                  

and then I found some white material and I am on my way

Holiday memories

Holiday snaps - so busy now that it seems like a dream - but still a place I love- Fraser Island that is

Broken Free

I have always been one for finishing something before starting on the next - not a good trait for a quilter. But I have broken free - last night I abandoned Lazy Katie and cut and sewed the first two blocks of a proper log cabin - my first  hence I am now working on My First Log Cabin - inspiring name hey!! but lots of fun pulling fabrics from my stash and scraps.

All my strips ready to go

My first three blocks - 13 to go!!