There's a Square in There ... Squared

The last two Saturdays I've been able to do a bit of sewing, yay!

I've been using one of my sister Kate's patterns There's a Square in There and I have been wanting to make it for over 12 months. I made the blocks a couple of months ago but I wasn't sure whether I wanted to make a King size or 2 smaller quilts and after playing around with the blocks for a while I decided on making 2.

I never seem to be able to adhere to any pattern in it's entirety. The first quilt is very similar to the original, I just added an extra row to make it a little longer ..... 

The colours in the photos aren't quite right, but it gives you some idea of the prints/blocks. As I put the blocks up on my "design wall" for the second quilt I liked it without the sashing too, so I decided to make them a little different from each other. I also added the extra row with this one too ........

They both still need their borders before they are ready to be basted and quilted.

You may have noticed that I'm really loving green, blue and grey at the moment, but I also really enjoyed making these quilts. Katie you're a genius!!

Last Saturday (while I was sewing), my husband was out fishing with a friend and I was delighted when he came home with a few very large snapper. Normally we like to bake whole snapper in the oven/BBQ, but unfortunately there was no way it was going to fit. We'll be eating fish for a while!

Blogger's Quilt Festival

This is my first time participating in Amy's Blogger's Quilt Festival, so thanks for dropping by!!

I wanted to share with you my latest completed quilt (sorry if you've seen it before), Grace's Prints Charming Single Girl Quilt.

I made this quilt for my darling new niece Grace.

 

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. I love the look of the hand quilting on the pattern, but it is beyond my skill and patience at the moment, so I decided to straight line quilt it at approx 1.5 inches apart to keep it super soft.

I really love how it turned out, especially as it is only my third completed quilt (I have quite a few WIP's though :)

When I purchased this pattern I wasn't sure whether it might be beyond me, but I was glad to find that it wasn't really that difficult and I really enjoyed the whole process, especially the finished product!

So that's it for my entry! If you've stopped by for the first time, I'd love to have you back sometime :)

Don't forget to check out all the other quilt entries at Blogger's Quilt Festival!!

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 :)

Sew ... Australia

I've joined my first bee!! I'm a little nervous, but excited too :)

"Sew Australia" is a brand new bee that's just opened for sign-ups.

12 participants, 12 months, 2 blocks per month.

I've been asked to take the first month (June), so we'll be making String-X blocks using Sherri's fantastic tutorial and Sandi Henderson's Henna Garden fabrics and a bit of Kona Snow & Coal.

If you're Aussie and wanting to join a bee, then this might just be the one for you! It's filling up fast so don't hesitate too long.

I can't wait!!

Fabrics that make me smile today :)

I came very late to the FMF party so I only have a small stash of prints. I got most of them through one of the Qld Flood Auctions, so it's all for a good cause right ;)

My favourite prints are the seeds but I have definately been priced out of the market in getting more so I was happy recently to hear that Denyse Schmidt will be re-releasing some of her FMF prints in early 2012, I hope the seeds will be among them!

 

I'm a bit of a fan of Tula Pink's Neptune line too. I bought a jelly roll when it was widely available and got started on my Joseph's Coat quilt. I haven't gotten very far with sewing down all those petals but I found that the prints became hard to find quite quickly so I was happy to walk into a small fabric shop recently and find this print.

 

I haven't had much of an opportunity to do a lot of quilting in the last week or two, so I thought I'd share where I'm up to with my second single girl quilt. All the arcs are pieced (not yet ironed). I'm just waiting to purchase more of the background fabric to continue piecing the blocks.

I'm looking forward to seeing this one come together :)

A Wonderful Weekend

My husband and I had a wonderful weekend away to to the gorgeous coastal town of Elliston. We were able to share it with some good friends too which was lovely. There was plenty of beautiful scenery and wildlife, lots of walks, fishing, 4wding and a few of the surrounding towns really captured my heart, I could live in Coffin Bay.

Here are a few photos of the long weekend ....

We met these guys ...

 

In Australia we seem to have lots of "big" things ... the big banana, pineapple, merino, crayfish etc etc. Meet the big thongs ....

 

..... and some big rocks (aka Murphy's Haystacks)

Bella had the time of her life swimming, running and playing unleashed on the leash free beach and it was so handy staying in a dog-friendly caravan park ....

At Point Labbat we came across this cute baby sealion swimming in a rock pool .....

 

With these guys hanging around nearby .....

The weather was perfect and coming home I feel rejuvenated and so grateful to live in this beautiful land and have wonderful friends and family and so many other blessings!

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!!

Thanks Amy!!!

Thanks for your kind comments on my last post. Whilst I am really missing my dear dog, I'm also glad he is not suffering. 

I really am a pet/animal lover and I was so excited when I recently won a giveaway from the lovely Amy from Allie Kat Mom. This is what I won ......

It's a Max & Whiskers charm pack and a gorgeous pin cushion made by Amy from FFA 2. Aren't they fantastic! I needed a new pincushion and I am finding that it is just the right size.  

Thanks Amy!

When I received the charm pack I knew what I wanted to make with it, so I headed off to the quilt shop and picked up some coordinates to go with it ....

I'm am just finishing off a couple of other quilts first, but I am really looking forward to getting started on this one!

Farewell My Friend

Today was a very hard day ... I had to say goodbye to the best dog in the world!!

Uzi

22/02/01 - 25/03/11

He really loved going for walks on the beach .... 

Playing games ...

and hanging out with Bella and "dad" while dad worked on the car .....

We'll all miss you buddy XOXO

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!!