Happy New Year Everyone!!

Wishing all my friends a safe and happy 2010,
may the coming year bring you much love and laughter.

Latest Challenge - Mandala

Our latest challenge from Art Quilts Around theWorld was to make a Mandala. Still being in my black and white mood and because all my B&W fabrics were easily accessible I decided to use them again. I did start another mandala but wasn't happy with the design or colour.


This is my completed design, very simple but I am pleased with it.

Seasons Greetings

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Wishing you all a safe and Happy Christmas/Holiday Season and all the very best for the New Year!

Where the Earth Meets the Sea

The past couple of months have been a little hectic for me. My father passed away, my husband has been unwell and has had a trip to the hospital. Daughter 1 has recently moved house and is now in the Northern Territory for 5 weeks holiday, our youngest daughter has moved all her things home (including the cat) and has now gone overseas for 3 months. Middle daughter is planning on moving house at the end of this month. We already have her cat, I'm just hoping that no more furniture comes home or our house might just burst at the seams.

"Where the Earth Meets the Sea" was the title of our recently finished challenge with Art Quilts Around the World .

I'm having trouble uploading the pictures, will try again later or you can see them and the other quilts on the above link.I've managed to upload these 2 photos, I've given up counting how many time I've attempted to do this.


I've called my quilt Earth/Sea, blues for the ocean, then cream/tan for the sand and finally the browns and greens represent the earth. The glass beads are different shapes and sizes and follow the colours of the fabrics.

August Happenings

August has been a busy month. I've been working on various quilts, finishing existing projects and starting new ones.

These 2 tops are new projects. The brown quilt is a partial stash reduction quilt, I'd bought a couple of the fabrics because they caught my eye.









The baby quilt is one I'm making for my daughter to give to a friend.

I hope to have it completed this week or next. The baby isn't due until November so there isn't any rush.











This Scrappy Autumn Quilt is totally stash reduction, can you tell that I'm rather fond of autumn colours? I do seem to have lots of browns and greens.









Photos of the completed Blue Scrappy Quilt. The backing was pieced from the stash.

It's hard to see but all the fabrics are blue. I've had most of them since I began quilting and this is one way to use them up.

Something At Last!

Weeks ago my friends and I went to the Quilt Fair at Jeff's Shed. I had meant to post about our day out but I am a pretty slack blogger. I purchased a few things, some fq's, books and a new quilting frame. I've finished 3 quilt tops since then. On the frame in these pics is the Scrappy Blue quilt I'd shown last time - well the first I showed you all the first block!

The quilt is now finished and when the weather is a bit better I'll take a photo of it.

Today I mailed the ATC's I made for a Purple & Green Swap, I hadn't been in a swap for ages and it was fun playing around with all the different greens & purples in my stash.

Half the fun of quilting is pulling out fabrics and deciding (or trying to) on which ones to use.

Stash reduction is still an ongoing project and my next quilt is going to be in pinks, probably in a disappearing nine patch.

A Quick Trip Away

It has been a very busy weekend for us. Saturday eldest daughter and her BF came to stay and to collect the Peter Rabbit quilt that I made for them to give to friends.
It was a quilt panel and all I had to do was the quilting and binding. I used the new machine and it was quite a learning experience.

I will be glad after Friday when I've had my first lesson on operating the 'beast.' The machine is great to use but the instructions booklet is next to useless. Talk about trial and error.

As a thank you I was given these lovely iris'. The were just buds on Saturday but when we came home yesterday most of them were open.


Sunday lunchtime Himself and I packed a bag and took off to Lakes Entrance for the night. He wanted to visit Lake Tyers to see the water wheel there.
Some people would think we're crazy driving 4 hours to look at a water wheel. It was fun to get away, go out for dinner etc.

Yesterday we drove home via Yarram instead of coming straight down the highway. It was good to see some other parts of Gippsland.

Forthcoming Visitor

I am still trying to use up the fabric in my stash, it seems to be a never ending challenge. I've made a couple of autumn toned quilts, a few scrappy ones, a green one and now I am working on the blues again. This is the first block of the new project. I love HSTs, you can do so much with them.

Last week was my mother-in-laws birthday. We went to Melbourne to have lunch with her and other members of the family to celebrate her 92nd year.

On the way home we called into the Camberwell Sewing Centre and came home with this little addition to my sewing machine collection. I think it will be lovely to sew and quilt on when I've had a little more time to play with it. I hope to go back to the shop in a week or two for a lesson.

I'd like to introduce Pino. Pino belongs to our youngest daughter. The very same daughter who is going overseas for 3 months, guess who is going to look after Pino????
This is an 'inside cat' we already have a black cat who lives outside, should be interesting when they meet through the window. The 'Man of the House' hates cats, especially cats inside the house. I should be in for a fun 12 weeks.

Connections Challenge is Finished

Words are one way we communicate and connect with each other.



I struggled with this challenge and after 5 or so false starts and thinking about the meaning of the word I decided to make a crossword puzzle.

I looked up 'Connections' in the dictionary and found many definitions and synonyms.

I printed the crossword & grid onto white fabric then attached it to the black background. The other words were printed directly onto vliesofix and then ironed onto the background fabric. I tried various bits and pieces from the hardware store but didn't find anything that I thought enhanced the quilt.

This quilt measures 20 x 15 inches (51 x 38 cm)

Give Away

Just been to visit http://bozzysblog.blogspot.com and Lynda is giving away a beautiful bag pattern that she designed.

What a wonderful prize to win, might just have to purchase the pattern for myself.

ATCs & Foggy mornings

Once again I have been slack with my blogging, nearly a month has passed since I was last here. I haven't been up to a lot in the past month, my Mum come and stayed for a few days and we had a great time together, shopping, going out to lunch etc.

This picture was taken early Saturday morning, not long after sunrise, as the sun was coming up over the hills, the valleys are covered in fog and there was a heavy dew.

I participated in an ATC swap recently for those that didn't go on the SCQuilters retreat in Adelaide. I'm finally getting around to posting pics of the one of the ATCs that I made (forgot to take photos of the other set)and ATCs received in the swap.

This last ATC is the final one from the end of year 'Seasons' swap with my fellow ATWIAQs

Thanks for swapping Robyn.

I've Been Keeping Busy

It's hard to believe that more than a month has passed since I last posted, sorry about that. I have been keeping myself busy with sock knitting and quilting 2 quilts for a friend. I will post some pictures when I finish the binding.

I'd like to introduce Jonathon Jack, for a short time in the years before quilting I made bears. I made a bear for each of my daughters and nieces. After that the novelty of making bears wore off. JJ is the only bear I kept for myself, most people think he is very ugly but I think he has a charm all of his own.

Below are a couple of blurry pictures of the socks I've just finished.

Last week I went away for a few days to Phillip Island. It was one of our sewing getaways. This is the result of 2 days of concentrated sewing. We had most of the blocks cut before we left. The pattern is featured on the front of Homespun Magazine, No. 70, Vol 10 and the pattern is by Keryn Emmerson. A great pattern to use up the stash. The only fabric I had to buy was for the dark cornerstones and the first border. I still have to add the borders.

Hello to all the followers of my blog!

Brave New World

When I first read the challenge was titled Brave New World I had no idea what I wanted to do. After mulling over the theme for a few days I started thinking of depression and how it affects us and those around us. My quilt was going to be based on the blackness of depression and the gradual lightening of spirit when one gets help to overcome the struggle and face a 'bright new world.'

All those ideas went out the window when the bush fires hit our area on February 7th and we had 5 weeks of constant alerts to the fire threat.

Driving around the area after the fires it was amazing to see how quickly some of the plants and tree ferns had started to shoot. After all the destruction these little plants were forcing their way through the ash etc to face a 'brave new world.'

I based my quilt on a photo I took at Drouin West. Most of the quilt was made with scraps left from previous projects.

The construction of the quilt:

Sketch of the photo

Transferring the background design onto freezer paper.

Quilted back ground before adding the insert of the enlarged new growth. The greenery in the small rectangle was free motion machine stitched.

The insert, is double the size of the original and the greenery is made from hand dyed scraps and vliesofixed onto the quilt then stitched, again using free motion.

The final product.

Coming & Goings

Postcard that I made to exchange with Jenni S in a 1-1 Swap

Postcard that I received from Jenni in the same 1-1 swap.

Socks that I have just finished and given to my friend as a thank you for all the nice things she does for me.

What would we do without a good friend that is always there when you need a hand or share your excitement and good news with?

In the Mail

ATWI20Qs postcards and ATC received in the mail. Tulip postcard from Marloes, ATC from Celia both representing Spring.





























Winter Blues from Lynn.

On a lighter note......

Postcard received from Simone ATWI20Q End of Year Swap

Seasons Postcard made by me in the ATWI20Q 'Seasons' Swap
Thanks Lynn for the picture.

ATWI20Q 'Seasons' Swap 'Bushfire Season' made by me.

ATC's received from Chole & Fionie ATWI20Q end of year Swap

ATWI20Q End of Year Swap postcard from Marloes

ATWI20Q End of Year Swap postcard from Linda

ATWI20Q End of Year Swap postcard fromJoy

ATWI20Q Seasons Swap postcard from Marian