Noah's Quilt

I have really enjoyed the last week and a half that I have been able to spend with my family in Sydney, especially meeting this new little guy, Noah!!

He is the sweetest thing and such a good baby!

His parents didn't find out whether they were having a boy or girl, so I made this quilt in gender neutral colours to match the cushion and softie I made for my sister Ellen's baby shower ...

It has 648 little squares in that little cot size quilt!!

I only got the quilt top completed before he was born, so once I knew they had a boy I picked out a more boyish backing fabric ... I love those elephants!!

I did straight line quilting approx 1/4 inch away from the vertical seams.

And here they all are in his cot. I'm glad it fits so well.

And here's one more of Noah at approx 4 weeks ( he's now 5 weeks old). His clever mummy made the raggy quilt he is lying on.

WARNING: DO NOT READ ON IF YOU ARE SQUEAMISH!!!

This photo is for posterity :)

You know how I said that Noah is a really good boy? Well even a really good boy can't be good all the time ;)

His poor mother copped it during a nappy change. She has now learned to change him super fast!! YUCK!!

Welcome Noah!!

My little sister Ellen recently gave birth to a beautiful and very big bouncing baby boy named Noah. He's 11 pounds and 2 ounces (5040 gms), ouch! Unfortunately I haven't been able to give him a cuddle yet as they live interstate, but it's been lovely seeing photos of him and the family. I was so happy to see some photos of him taken with the gifts I sent for Ellen's baby shower ....

Isn't he just so precious?!! Congratulations Elle, Regan & Ella!!

I cannot wait until I get to visit!!

My Wonderful Mum!!

This is my Mum & Dad!

(Aren't they a good looking couple?!)

I thought since it is Mother's Day I would share a couple of things that I love about my Mum!!

She is friendly and caring to others that she might not even know. I remember when I was a teenager my Mum had just picked me up from my piano lesson and as we were driving home we saw this older woman staggering on the footpath. My Mum immediately pulled her car over to check that she was ok. It quickly became very evident that the woman was intoxicated (she'd been through a lot of hardships recently) so my Mum gave her a lift home to make sure she was safe and not at risk of getting hit by a car and that there was someone home that could look after her. She is always thoughtful of others and has a friendly smile for those she meets!

She is a fantastic Mum to all seven of us kids (and our husbands/wife and grandkids etc). She is always there for us. When we were growing up she seemed to have boundless energy and I am still amazed at the amount that she can accomplish in one day!! She is a wonderful example of the mother I hope to be like one day!!

She is a wonderful cook .... I miss her food!

She is a wonderful example to me of standing up and doing what is right! I can not think of a time when I was growing up that she did not encourage me to live my best life and do the right thing. She and Dad are now serving a mission for our Church and I am so proud of the fearless way that she has gone to a foreign country where she speaks very little of their language to serve and teach the people there. Thanks Mum for being so AMAZING!!!

To all the Mother's out there today ... HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!

In my opinion, there is nothing more important than your role of being a mother :)

Meeting Grace

This weekend I have been blessed to meet my darling new niece Grace. She is so small and snuggly and just devine. Here she is at 10 days old having a cuddle with her Mum Kate ......

 Isn't she adorable?!!

And of course a special girl needs a special quilt, so I made her this ......

The rings are made with mainly Prints Charming fabrics and a few solids, the background is Moda Bella Solid in grey and I used Denyse Schmidt's "Single Girl" pattern. I pieced the back with more Prints Charming fabrics and a soft polkadot cotton voile.

Here she is having a kick on her quilt. Look how tiny she is!! So cute!!

Well I found it hard to stop there ... I was really enjoying sewing baby things so I also made a baby change mat from one of Joel Dewberry's Aviary fabrics and a soft butter coloured chenille. It was so easy to make and I used this tutorial from Cluck Cluck Sew. It matches Kate's baby bag.

It has space in it to hold some nappy wipes and a couple of nappies (diapers) too ......

I also had fun making a couple of bibs, one for the week days and one for Sunday :)

The one on the left was made using a great tutorial from Sew She Sews. The back is also made from a snuggly soft chenille ......

It was wonderful meeting Grace and I can't wait for the next cuddle!!

What I've been up to lately .....

I haven't blogged much of late because life has been very busy ... but good!

Recently I was privilaged to attend my little sister Erin's wedding ...

My dear parents have just left on a mission for our Church in Finland, and while I'll really miss them over the next 18 months, I am really happy for them and am so grateful for the wonderful example they are in my life!

I've really enjoyed hanging out with family over the last few weeks .....

I've also done a little bit of sewing too :)

I've finally decided on the background fabric for my single girl quilt. It's Robert Kaufman's Quilter's Linen in grey. Thanks Katy for the idea! Now I've got lots of catching up to do ....



I have had some issues with the thread tension of my sewing machine when using my walking foot. So on a recent visit Kate generously let me use her machine to finish the machine quilting on my That Girl Quilt-a-long quilt. I just have the hand quilting in the white borders to go and I'll be done ....

I've also been working on a few other projects, but more on them later ....

I've had a minor operation this week, so I haven't sewn much in the last few days. But I'm really looking forward to a long weekend of spending time with my husband and a bit of quilting. 

I hope you enjoy your long weekend!!

Happy New Year!!

I know I'm about 6 days late but I wanted to wish you all a Happy New Year. I hope that 2011 is wonderful for you and your family!!

So I thought I'd share a little about what I've been up to of late.........

I went to Sydney for my brother Matthew and his beautiful new wife Freja's wedding!

Even though it rained and stormed that afternoon when they were having photos, they still had big smiles on their faces and their ceremony was very special.

Here are my parents and siblings and I.

& here are some of my handsome (and very cheeky) nephews.
.........................................................................................................

I was feeling a little under the weather in early December and so I didn't do a whole lot of sewing but I did manage to get a couple of Christmas presents made for family.

My mother-in-law finally received her "Pine For You" Christmas quilt.

Her favourite colour is purple and so she loved this quilt. I had originally started to hand quilt around each tree but I wasn't happy with my stitches (they seemed to not always go through to the back) so I unpicked it and I was happy with simple stitch in the ditch around the blocks and borders.

I was pretty happy with how I pieced the 2 back panels .... the seam is almost invisible.

I have a few other things to show you but I didn't take photos before I gifted them. So I'll ask the new owner to send me some photos so I can share them with you soon.

Holiday Fun: Part 2

 ......... Kate and I didn't get to see each other for our birthdays so on the trip we were finally able to exchange birthday gifts and look what I got ....

Kate was so generous to share some of her Munki Munki stash! I have never owned a single print before so you can imagine how excited I was to receive these. They are so adorable and I must admit that I have spent a little bit of time just staring at the pretty bundle!

If you want to see the the cards and potholder I made for Kate, have a look here .... They were fun to make. I'm so glad that she liked them.

On Saturday I met up with 3 of my sisters that live in Sydney/NSW and their families and we spent the day in Sydney. It was such a beautiful day weatherwise, so we spent some of the time in the Botanic Gardens which is right on the harbour with views of the Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge. The kids played and climbed trees and the adults sat and chatted. It was a perfect gelati day.

I then went to my sister Rebecca's home for a few days. While she still lives close to town, she has the most beautiful country home on an acreage and I just found it so relaxing. Every window had such a pretty view. On Sunday I got to catch up with some lovely old friends at Church and hang out with my littlest sister Ellen. We all went to the movies together on Monday to see the Social Network which I really enjoyed.

On my way home I was able to spend a day visiting with my parents, my grandmothers and other siblings.  I love having a big family!

I also got to go the Craft and Quilt Fair for a few hours. Check out my loot ....

I am wanting to make a green and blue quilt, so I think these jelly rolls will be just the ticket.

I picked up a few more Emperor's Garden prints by A Day in the Country (I didn't have these 3) to finish my spiderweb quilt.

I had a wonderful time ... now back to the real world!

Holiday

I'm in Sydney having a great time with my sisters. I've really enjoyed some quality quilting time with Kate and some R&R with some of my other sisters, their husbands and my nieces and nephews.

Anyway, these are some of the fabrics I've been playing with ........

I'm having too much fun to blog regularly ..... but I hope I'll have lots to share when I get back. Catch you soon :)

P.S. To all the robbers that may think my home is an easy target. Check out this post ..... and my husband is home too!

Flooding

My husband is in Moomba (approx 7 hours drive away). On this map red means roads closed due to flooding .... I suppose it means he isn't coming home today :(

What is with this weather?? It is supposed to be Spring!! It was 30 degrees (86 degrees fahrenheit) on Sunday and today it is currently 9 degrees (48 degrees fahrenheit) and really windy and rainy ... crazy!!

Anyone own a helicopter (or maybe a boat) I can borrow??

Sisters

Recently I entered a giveaway over at Mary of Mary on Lake Pulaski's blog.

Mary made some lovely aprons for her 5 sisters and herself using an Attitude Girls panel and she generously offered to make an apron for the follower with the most sisters ... and that was me!! Yay!!

Check out Mary and her sisters and Mum here and check out some of her beautiful quilts too.


Like Mary I have 5 sisters and also like Mary 3 are older and 2 are younger....



Here I am (far left) with 4 of my sisters earlier this year. My baby sister wasn't in this photo because she was a little bit busy ....

Don't they look stunning!!

I also have 1 wonderful brother that is getting married later this year, bringing yet another sister into our family :)


One of my sisters has done her best to even the score with a great bunch of boys

Thank you Mum & Dad for giving me a wonderful family YOU ARE AWESOME!!!

I can't wait until December until we are all together again XO

P.S. Thanks Elle for letting me use your photos :)