SECRET SANTA HAS ARRIVED

How lucky am I??!! The mailman delivered my secret santa prezzie on Friday but I was in Sydney for my mum's 75th birthday so didn't get to open it until Saturday night when I got back.
I honestly could not believe what was in there - so many beautiful goodies!

• a christmas decoration
• a chook ( I wonder if the blue face is because chookyblue organised the swap?)
• a great bag
• some yummy fat 1/4s
• santa
• a mini duster for my sewing machine
  

Big thanks to http://gypsyquilterdesigns.blogspot.com/ for my great goodies and to http://chookyblue.blogspot.com/ for being santa's elf.

I am making slow but steady progress on my flower basket quilt and hope to post it's status in a day or two.

Take care until then.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Hi everyone and Happy New Year to you all. I hope you had a great Christmas - I certainly did.

I had a week at Forster on the mid-north coast of NSW with my husband, kids and my mum.

While we were there, we had a massive flood back at the farm and neighbours had to rescue Patch and Potch as the person who was coming to look after them was cut off by flood water.

All is good now but we have kilometres of fences to repair and replace.

I will have little time to sew or blog for the next few weeks.

The gorgeous bag in the photo was my secret santa prezzie from our patchwork group.

There was a pincushion inside it that I took a photo of but it is lost in cyberspace -SORRY.

I am off to Sydney tomorrow for my mum's 75th birthday. It takes about 7 hours to drive to Sydney from here so I will be glad when I get there.

Take care until next time.

FLAT BATTERIES

I am sorry that I didn't post last weekend, but I was away on a school excursion. I took 12, 15 year olds to Nambucca Heads, on the mid north coast of NSW, for 5 days. We had a great time on the beach, going to the movies, bowling etc.

No pictures today though as the batteries in my camera are flat and I don't have any spares!!

I have received a lovely secret santa prezzie from Kylie in my patchwork group, and a pincushion from 'The Cottage On the Hill' pincushion swap and can't share them with you. I will get to it later this week.

A Quilt For Me

The girls in my patchwork group have been making blocks for me. The quilt, in blues and creams is for my bed. I provided the fabric and they provided the sewing skills.
The photo shows 4 completed blocks . There is supposed to be sashing between each block - my job is to make 130 sashing blocks and then join all blocks together.
I think it will turn out really well.
The pattern is called 'SCRAP BASKET ROSE' and was featured in volume 15 no.9 of APQ - http://www.apqmagazine.com.au
Well I must go and do a few more sashing blocks - I've only done 5 so far and I should be writing reports!
Take care until next time.

Patchwork Group - The Material Girls

The blocks on the left are for the 10 year old grand daughter of my friend Lorraine who is in the patchwork group to which I belong.

Our patchwork group 'The Material Girls' meets once a month for lunch and a chat, but we don't sew.

Each month one of us hands out a project for the others to do and we return the next month with the finished work.

You might want blocks done for a quilt or some smaller items. Last year they made me wall hangings and cushion covers for my family room. This year they are making blocks for a quilt for my bed.

We also make quilts for charities to raffle. We like to get together at someone's home to do this.

PS Potch is settling in really well, as though she has always lived here. I'd better go and write my reports now as it is the busy time of the year for school teachers in Australia.

Birthday Quilt

Sorry that I didn't post last week, but I was in Sydney visiting my sons as they both had their birthdays. They were born 2 years less 1 day apart. My baby is now 20 and my older son is 22.
Before I show you the birthday quilt, i though I'd include my second attempt at pleated log cabin.
This time I made another cushion cover using one large block. It measures about 40cm square. This one is for me and I have one more to make which will be a xmas pressie for one of the girls I work with.

Here is the quilt I made for my son's 22nd birthday.

It is called ' I Can't Believe It's a Beginner' by Margot Languedoc of http://www.thepatternbasket.com.

It is made mostly with Bound To The Prairie 2 fabrics. I made it at http://www.cottageonthehill.com.au

I think that it is very dark and masculine, which is the effect I had hoped to achieve.