Progress and mail

There is so much work in this tiny Red Home pincushion. This is where I'm up to.

And look what came in the mail today.

I have joined the Vintage Sampler club at Carolyn's Quilting Room and this is my first mail out. Sixteen 10" squares and a block pattern every two months. This month features 1862 Battle Hymn fabrics, and many of them are quite divine. I'm building up my civil war stash for a future masterpiece.

Check out my spoilt little dog, who was "missing" at bedtime last night. Cheeky girl.

A busy week for my family next week, so hopefully a quiet weekend.
Mr 11's Tournament of Minds team won in Orange last weekend, so they are off to the University of NSW for the State finals next weekend.
And Mr 15 is competing at Olympic Park for state athletics. Maybe I can sneak in a visit to Quiltsmith................

Have a great weekend.

Susan x

Tonight's progress

The housework can wait til tomorrow. I have appliqued the house on my little Red Home pincushion tonight.

The instructions said to do the stitching before the appliqué, but I have done it the other way round. Which do you do first?

Rather stupidly I have cut it out before the appliqué and stitching, so I hope the shape and size doesn't change too much. I'll see how it goes.

Susan x

Not a lot happening

Things are very quiet in blogland. And I really don't have much to tell myself. I love this little box that my friend Ann-Marie gave me for my birthday, complete with some Valdani thread and shell buttons.

I have been a fan of Kate Knapp's quirky sketches for a long time, and have quite a few of her books. This one is from a set of little cards.

Sorry to rub it in, but it's Friday for me today, so hopefully I'll have some sewing to post in the next couple of days. Maybe some little hexies sewn together...........

Susan x

Oh dear......

I have been resisting this for so long..........

One little baby 1/2" hexie. My first, and I am in love.

25 baby hexies, getting ready to be part of the Red Home pincushion, by Natalie Bird. I think I can blame Marina and Elyte for tempting me a little too. There are some other little hexie projects waiting in the wings as well. I think I am hooked.

We have been to Orange today for Mr 11 to take part in Tournament of the Minds. It was freezing, and the patchwork shop was closed, but his team went really well.

Hope you have a fun week.
Susan x

WIP's

The problem with being a hand quilter is that there is always a quilt top waiting to be worked on. I am continuing my French General love affair, so thought I should pull out the top I made with precuts and get on with quilting it. Just quilting around the appliqué and along the borders, so it shouldn't take too long.

I finished the birdbath block of In Full Bloom. The last month has arrived, so only a couple more stitcheries to do before putting it all together.

Off to make some biscuits and caramel slice, then I'm going to ignore some pesky house jobs, and sew for the afternoon.

Hope you're having a lovely day, and keeping cool or warm, depending on where you are.

Susan x

Outside my window

We have lots of kangaroos, but it was so beautiful to see this mother and Joey outside our window when we woke up today (sorry it's a bit blurry).

They are so cute when they are only just big enough to get out of the pouch.

A happy start to the day.

Susan x

Birthday goodies

It was so much fun opening the packages from the Secret Sewing Sisters, for the birthday fat quarter swap. I think I am well on my way to a nice stash of reproduction fabrics. Thank you girls.

My dear sister sent me an Elk brooch, in red of course.

The final month for In Full Bloom has arrived so I'm off to catch up on some stitching.

Have a great week.

Susan x

Wow

Well my mystery weekend has been amazing, hubby will be in the good books for quite some time. The view from our room at the Shangri La Hotel in Sydney was mesmerizing. I could get used to this kind of luxury.

We ate some amazing food, did some shopping, and just really enjoyed being together in an incredible location.

We stumbled across some places of special interest to stitchers. The Button shop in The Rocks was like a candy store for stitchers.

And hubby found Stitch Bar on the internet so we just had to check it out. This was the entry............

Down a dark stairway to a bar made from over 30 old Singer machines.

Home today, exhausted, relaxed, and happy, to this pile of goodies for my birthday. Thank you to the Secret Sewing Sisters for the birthday fat quarter swap. I'll show you what's inside later.

Back to reality tomorrow. Hope you have a happy week.

Susan x

Some downtime

I won't be around for a few days because hubby and I are escaping the kids and heading off to Sydney today for three whole nights.
Not only has he organised his parents to come and stay with the boys, but the whole weekend is a mystery to me. All I know is that we're staying somewhere in the CBD - it has been driving me crazy trying to figure it out.
It happens to coincide with my birthday, so I think it's going to be a pretty special weekend.
He said I could take some stitching...........

Hope you have a good weekend too.

Susan x

Project bag

A while back I decided I could make The Simple Life project bag WITHOUT a fabric pack. Well I managed to find what I needed in my stash, and set about figuring out the instructions. I am not going to complain about it being fiddly, because I think I actually like fiddly projects. I seem to be drawn to them.
The pieces had been sewn together for a while, so on the weekend I only had to add the interfacing and buttons.......

I'm not sure how well the woven wool will wear. But I do love the fabric for the drawstring bag.

It's a cute little finish, that will be very useful for a small project.

Susan x

Happy Saturday

We are having a lovely day at home, even though it has included a bit of housework. It's just nice not having to go anywhere.
I think this is a better Partridge in a Pear Tree than the smudged one from a few weeks ago.

Hubby has picked some of his mandarins. How cute are these little guys? They are really sweet and yummy, but very small.

I have had my first live chat online with another blogger today - feeling very tech savvy.
And then I also realised that it's my first blogaversary today. I have learned so much and made so many great new friends in one short year.
Thanks for reading my blog, even if you don't comment, it gives me a thrill knowing that somewhere out there lots of people love their sewing as much as I do.
The fire is going, the roast is on and it's time to stitch - it doesn't get much better than that.

Susan x

After the Stars Quilt

After being so focused on finishing my Stars Quilt I plan to get back to some of my other projects on the weekend.

Yesterday and today though are all about music exams for two of my boys. I took Mr 13 to Dubbo for his trumpet exam yesterday. He was not disappointed about missing a day of school. We went to Spotlight to get some fabric for a cushion for his Yr 7 textiles class. I was a bit surprised - very black and white.

I couldn't leave this on the shelf, navy on white.

I haven't sewn clothes for years and years, but I have been wondering whether I should get back into it. Some of the dress patterns were 40% off, so for $12 I got two, a skirt and a dress. I figure at that price it's not the end of the world if they don't get made. I might end up looking like I'm wearing a quilt.

A saxophone exam for Mr 11 today, and then a blissfully empty Saturday in front of the fire I hope - shhhhhhh don't tell anyone.

Hope you're having a fun week (and keeping warm).
Susan x

It's finished

I have a BIG finish to present, so I hope you don't mind if it comes with a story.

Back in 2008 I was reading Anni Downs blog and I saw this picture.

It was the Blackbird Designs stand at Houston, and I just loved the look of the quilt in the background. I saved the photo away in my ideas folder, and thought, maybe one day.

In January 2009 I was at home with the kids for the holidays and desperately needed a new hand piecing project. Hmmmm..... I could draft my own 8 pointed star easily enough, maybe I'll make a few of those and see how it goes. Well I got a bit carried away, I used a bit of almost every fabric in my stash, even the ugly ones, and ended up with 128 star blocks. I did buy some fabric for the plain squares for variety.

Fast forward three and a half years, and my Stars Quilt is finished. I had to get the boys to stand on the trampoline and hold it up high for the photo.

Every star and every square is hand pieced, and the whole thing is hand quilted. The binding was sewn on by machine, but stitched down by hand. It has been an absolute joy to have a project I love so much always waiting to be worked on in the background (although the quilting got a bit tedious towards the end).

It measures 96" square ( or 2.4m), and this is how it will look on my bed tonight.

And this is the first quilt I ever made, which it is replacing (although hubby isn't convinced).

Thanks to everyone who has enquired about my poor pricked finger, it is looking forward to a rest for a little while.

Sweet dreams.

Susan x

Binding bought

Suffering from a head cold today, so probably not much sewing.
While I was in Bathurst yesterday, I spent a lovely half hour at The Home Patch with Deb. After trying quite a few different options I went with my first choice for the binding. It's not as bright as it looks in the photo.

It was so nice to wander around the shop with a friend, even if it was only for a short while. Thanks Deb.

Hope you have a great weekend.

Susan x

Woo hoo

256 squares quilted. I have finished hand quilting my Stars Quilt. I can hardly believe it's done. Now I just have to choose the binding fabric.

Happy, happy, happy Susan. X