Nautical …

… but very, very nice! My friend Di B has just finished this bright and breezy cot-sized lighthouse quilt, a gift for a Little Person in her family. (Di B has no blog, so I’ve taken it upon myself, as I often do, to share her cleverness here.) Even the backing continues the nautical theme with sailing boats and lighthouses. Ahhh, can’t you almost smell the sea air!

Beginning to hand quilt my Whirligig Quilt

Heartened by how quickly I managed to hand quilt Candied Hexagons once I put my mind to it, I’ve prepped and tacked my Whirligig quilt and have bravely embarked on another hand quilting journey.  It’s a bigger quilt (see below with applique almost completed), and I do have several other more pressing deadlines before Christmas, so don’t expect a finish anytime soon, folks. I love the colours in this quilt. They’re a complete departure from my usual style, and they make this quilt a delight to work on. 
I intend to relax, ‘smell the flowers’, and enjoy the journey :-))

Would you believe it – here’s yet another chance to win an Accuquilt Go! Cutter!

It was such a moral dilemma. Having stumbled on Corrie’s blog and discovered that she was also having a giveaway for The Most Wanted Gizmo in the quilting blogiverse, I wondered if I should tell you…

But not for long :-))

Off you go to Quilt Taffy, then. Good luck to you. Her giveaway closes on Thursday 4th November at 9.00pm MST (I expect that’s some time zone in the USA).

And if I don’t win the Go! Cutter I sure hope you do!

Keep missing out? Well, here’s another chance to win an Accuquilt Go! Cutter

The Accuquilt Go! Cutter seems to have taken the blog world by storm over the last few months. It seems everyone either has one (and loves it!), or is desperately trying to win one.

If you’re in the latter category – as I am – then you should definitely pop on over to Micki’s delightful blog and enter her Accuquilt Go! Giveaway before 2pm November 5th (Irish time) – as I did!

Micki’s photos of the beautiful Irish countryside around her town, as well as her wonderful quilts (including a version of Sylvia’s Bridal Sampler that is simply divine) have made me very glad I’ve become a Follower of her blog.

Allow me to blow Ruth’s trumpet

Ruth’s not one to blow her own trumpet. As one of our wonderful St Mark’s Quilters she’s a quiet achiever.

However when I saw a Christmas table runner and placemats that she’d just finished as a gift for someone special I really, really wanted to share her beautiful work with you here.

There might have been some gentle arm-twisting, but finally Ruth relented.

No pattern.  She simply did the maths and drafted her own pattern. Clever! Another successful graduate from the “Stitchin’ Mission School of Quilting” :-))

Bowtie Quilt

When a friend recently asked Di B and me if we’d make a quilt for a Very Loved Person we couldn’t have been happier.  After all, about the only thing more fun than creating a gift quilt is doing it in collaboration with a good buddy. 

Wait, I’m wrong. Having a treasured friend halfway across the world joining in makes it even better! Take a look at this blog post by Linda.  Di, Linda and I together made 150 fun and fabulous bow tie blocks on the same white-on-white starry background, and today Di and I started to assemble them (Linda, we missed you!). 

These were Linda’s blocks.

After initially laying all 150 bowties any-which-way on the floor, we stood back, and surveyed our blocks.

  We looked at them through the camera view-finder, and even tried the equally effective but less scientific method of screwing up our eyes and squinting to see the overall distribution of lights and darks and different colours.

There followed quite a bit of this… And a lot of this… …before we were finally satisfied with our layout and were ready to stitch the blocks together.

Oh, did I tell you we set up our machines overlooking this view? It’s been a tough day :-))

I give you….. (drumroll) …….Candied Hexagons!

Comfort stitching.

Not much creative stitching going on here over the last ten days, but there’s been solace in the quiet in-and-out needlework involved in applying a binding – a process I always find pleasurable. 

I have to admit I went a little cold on my Candied Hexagons quilt towards the end of stitching together my hexagons, and I still regret the inclusion of a handful of my fabrics.  However my love was rekindled somewhat when I began to applique those little triangles along the outside border.

There are many versions of this quilt around, all of their designs having their origins in a stunner of a quilt made by Frederica Josephson.  Kim McLean made hers in reproduction fabrics, and Kaffe Fassett’s adaptation glows dramatically.  

  Mine was a version of Australian designer Kerry Dear’s beautiful Candied Hexagons quilt from the now out-of-print Quilters Companion #18.

From start to finish this entirely handmade quilt took me a year, including about 5 weeks to hand quilt it on cold winter evenings in front of the TV.  Very relaxing, and a lovely way to keep warm :-))

In the midst of life

With great sadness, but at the same time great thankfulness, we farewelled my dear father last Thursday.

My mother, sister, brothers and I have felt wonderfully surrounded by the love, prayers and kind thoughts of good friends and family. Thank you all so much. At the thanksgiving service my brother did a  beautiful job of summarising our father’s life in just ten minutes, and for those of you who knew Daddy, or who would like to read about the kind of man he was, I’ve posted this eulogy here on his tribute page. 

Most of all we’ve known the certainty of our loving God’s tender care for us, and I’m convinced it was no accident that Daddy breathed his last only hours before my mother was to have taken him home from respite care to resume the loving, selfless task of caring for him – a task that could well have proved too much for her.

  I’ll leave the last word to my brother…

Dad,

You were an honest man, a funny man, a clever man, a humble man, a loving generous family man... a GENTLEMAN.

We love you and we will miss you but we rest in the knowledge that we will see you again in a better place.

You have run an amazing race, and you have kept the faith. Now its time for you to know in full the rest, joy and peace of God.

Sunshine and rainbows

Our champion over-achiever, Moo, has been busy again.  This time she’s combined jazzy rainbows with Winnie the Pooh, Tigger and Eeyore to make a quilt that is going to captivate a little one.

Have I told you how much I admire Moo for the sunshine she spreads wherever she goes, and for being such a wonderfully willing student quilter?  Yes, I know I have, but it needs to be said again (and again)!

I could tell you how many years ‘young’ our Moo is, but she might kill me :-))

Breast Cancer Raffle Quilt

You may recall this post from back in June, especially if you were kind enough to purchase raffle tickets from me.  I’m pleased to announce that the raffle was drawn at the Paddington Patchworkers’ Breast Cancer Morning Tea today and the winner was ….. (drumroll) ….. Aviva Fox.

Aviva is a wonderfully positive breast cancer survivor, and it’s so appropriate that she should have won this beautiful quilt.

Thank you to everyone who supported our fundraising efforts.  I’m proud to say we raised the grand total of $2,540.00.

Goodbye

Yesterday I lost the best father I could ever have wished for.

We had been gradually losing him over the last few years as Alzheimers took its grim toll, but he still knew us all and took enormous pleasure in family gatherings.

It was sudden. We thought we would have him longer, but our loving God had a better plan and he didn’t have to suffer any more.

He was the gentlest of men, and a gentleman, generous and thoughtful of others - and I loved him.

Goodbye, Daddy.

Fluffing about

Temporarily confined to quarters with a dose of pneumonia, I missed the fun of the monthly St Mark’s Quilters’ workshop today, but Di B’s text messages, emails and photographs have me convinced that I missed a great time.

Look what six enthusiastic quilters, plus a pile of these … (… and a few of these for energy …) …managed to achieve in a day! Just what are Michelle and Moo up to? Clip, clip, clipping away at all those raggy seams. These two new raggy flannel quilts are ready for the wash-and-fluff process. That makes a total of three snuggly, cuddly children’s quilts (so far) from Gillian’s gifted stash of flannels, counting this one that Di B made last month.  Wow! Thank you, Gillian! Thank you, girls! Thank you, Di B for the pics! And thank you, Michaela (apprentice chocolatier extraordinaire) for the chocs! [I notice none were left for me…]

How would you finish this sentence?

My quilting friend Di B is extraverted, generous, kindhearted, tons and tons of fun - and very fond of overstatement! Most quilters would agree that quilting keeps us (relatively!) sane - surely I’m not alone in getting a little antsy if I go more than a few days without some form of stitching?

So when Di had a birthday last week I made her a mug bag that said it all … 

I’m a little late posting about the celebrations, but we did enjoy Di’s birthday lunch on a sunny spring day by the sparkling waters of Sydney Harbour.

New life

Burnished  shoots are topping our hedge,  the air is sweet with perfumed cumquat blossom, the birds nest fern uncurls its fresh new leaves and the rhododendron buds are plump with the promise of spring blooms.

In spectacular fashion the wisteria has been transformed from its winter tangle of bare twigs into a  cascade of purple. But that’s not the only new life growing here. 

Taaa daaah!  Here’s the first picture of our new grandbaby, just 14 weeks gestation and little more than 2 inches long (and already sucking a thumb). 

This little bub is the first for my elder son and his wife, but we’re going to have to wait until “Elvis” arrives next March to find out if The Princess is to have a boy or girl cousin.

I predict a flurry of quilt-making and knitting over the next few months. Heaven :-))