Tender Moments

I promised a sneak peek of my new BOM, which is called Tender Moments and Im happy to say that Block 1 is complete, despite fighting a back problem all week:

I love the Grandmothers Flower Garden Block. I'll be using all of my favorites.

Lots of piecing, which i love to do!!

And a fair bit of stitching! Tender Moments is all about those little things in life we take for granted, yet the things that mean so much!!

Stay tuned, Block 2 is on the way!!!

Garden Journal Stitching

In order to begin the stitching on my new BOM, I had to finish off some of my Garden Journal stitcheries first:

These a just little filler ones. I love "Woof" the dog, he is too cute! Only 3 more of these stitcheries to do and I can start to construct the quilt but it may take me awhile as Im enjoying stitching the BOM at the moment (should have some sneak peak pics soon!).

Sally from The Country Quilter has just started a blog. Pop over and welcome her to blogland and have a look at some of the designs for the Summer Garden workshop!!

Happy Birthday Cohen!!

Our little man turns 6 today!
Happy Birthday Sweetheart!!

We hope you have a wonderful day and enjoy your party! Thank you for the enthusiasm, the energy, the laughter, the love and the sheer joy you bring to our family!! Mum, Dad and Maddi love you so much and we are so proud of you!!
Big hugs and kisses xoxoxoxo

Dear Jane

I was having an email conversation with Tazzie last night about Dear Jane blocks. She had just posted some of hers (which i loved) and there r also so many other amazing ones in blogland that motivate me. She gave me a "hot tip"......there r some that r quite easy and u can make ur tally look healthier. Dare i do that, im such a methodical person, things must be done in order (thats why there are numbers!!), will i get stuck with all the hard ones at the end???:

Heres M-10 Simple Simon, C-3 Rayelles Fence, A-6 Uncle Homer and A-8 Florence Nightingale:

Plus F-4 Old Windmill, D-13 Field of Dreams and L-1 Windows Pane.

I gave in, this afternoon i needed something to distract me, ive worked hard all week on my new BOM and i just wanted some "me time" at the machine. I had fun but im sure looking forward to working with 6" or 12" blocks in class tomorrow.....so many little pieces in the Dj's.
Now my 1 little block will no longer be lonely in the box, yet i had forgottten what it looked like:

A1-Pinwheel Gone Awry

Im on my way!!
Have a great weekend!!

Jelly Roll Flimsy

Im loving this pattern at the moment. Im thinking of buying a couple of Jelly Rolls and making a Queen Size Quilt for my parents for Xmas:

My only varition from the original pattern was to make a 2" square border and make the final borders 4". Ill get the backing and wadding tomorrow, and then i can quilt it!!! So many open spaces to practise my stippling!!!
I have been playing with my new BOM fabrics, how could i resist???
Hope ur day has been productive too!!!

Sampler Classes

Yesterday was the first class for my Cottage Sampler and it was a fantastic day!! A lovely group of women, lots of sewing, laughing, chatting and compulsory shopping. It was wonderful to watch them create using such a wide array of fabrics:

Kaye chose some gorgeous William Morris fabrics and some of the Moda that i used in the original.
I love the fabrics that Dot chose. The picture doesnt do it justice, they r stunning and we picked some muted greens which r just going to work wonderfully!!

Pat chose some Lecien fabrics, which im just loving at the moment (more on that later!!)

Faye (the only brave one so far to attempt the 6" blocks) chose these Modas, i love this range!!!

And Sally chose Tiddly Winks!!! (Ok we did dare her lol) They actually look great!!! None of us would have picked this but its working really well. Cant wait to see this finished Sal!! A couple of people couldnt make the first class, so im looking forward to meeting them next week.....cant wait till Saturday!!!.
Back to the Lecien fabrics, I chose the fabrics for my next BOM quilt. These r from the Antique Flower Collection Range:

Ok im missing a BLUE (my first choice is always blue) but ill survive lol There is one Moda in there too, it works well. This will be a WISP but im eager to get started straightaway!!

Hope you enjoyed your weekend also!!!

Summer Garden Workshop & Jelly Rolls

Tonite my project for the "Summer Garden With Creative Women" Workshop is finished:

Designs and patterns are all written up, now i just have to wait patiently for February!!! I had all intentions of handquilting it, yet it is far to hot here at the moment, so i chose a contrasting quilting thread called "Soft Sunlight" and i meandered it..........and the thread casts soft highlights, just like its name suggests!!!!

So onto my next project!!!! Les and the children gave me, as part of my birthday gift, a Moda Jelly Roll (Climbing Jacobs Ladder) and i just love these (i think ill buy a heaps of Jelly Rolls and just use them as decoration in the studio lol):

I brought some contrasting fabric and with the help of Anne Ida, ive cut it up (sob, sob) ready for a quilt top:

Im almost ready!!!! Now i probably wouldnt have picked these colours for myself but i love the intensity and im having fun working with it!!! Stay tuned!!!

I was very lucky to receive the blogger award.......You Make My Day, from Susan, Anne Ida and Christine!!! Thank u so much...............:

Blogland, MAKES MY DAY!!! to all those who comment, send me an email or an SMS ( or those who just ring me lol) and to all those i read religiously (and prob dont comment as much as i should).........u make my day!!!

So now i get to share (and i dont like singling out, cause i LOVE so many blogs!!):

Debi: I am in awe of what u achieve, u r an amazing quilter and an amazing woman!!!
Michelle: i never leave ur blog without learning something!!!!
Elin: I love u, i love ur fabrics and i love ur SBS!!!!
Kristie: U r such a sweetie, thank u so much for ur encouragement!!!
Jenny:U r the mum we all want to be, thnx for inspiring me everyday!!!!
Leigh (Cinnamon Sticks): girlfriend, u make my day!!!! Cant wait to meet u in Feb!!!
Georgie: I love ur company!!!U r a great friend!!! We need more coffee!!!
Vicki: Keep following ur heart, luv hearing from u!!!

Classes tomorrow!! Need sleep!!!

Four Seasons Swap

And the Season is Winter!!!.......... it was a bit hard to come up with a Winter theme when its sooooo hot down here, but after seeing Jeanne's gorgeous snowman quilt, i wanted to make a pieced snowman!!!.......except i didnt have a pattern.

So "Roman" the Snowman (his name is significant to where he is heading), just grew as i cut and pieced:

Ok, in my defense, i have never made a snowman, in my life (my one experience with snow wasnt that great!!!!).......his hat does look like it has built in earmuffs lol.... but im assured by Anne Ida that they r needed in the cold weather!!!!

I just hope that my cute and colourful snowman brightens up the day of my swap partner!!!

I also want to share a couple of my favorite Summer photos, so far (photography rapidly becoming my second favorite hobby). Firstly my DH stopped on the side of a busy highway just so i could snap pics of these:

There is just something about haystacks that i am attracted too!!! Look at those colours, greens and golds, my new favorite!!!

And this is a special shot:

How gorgeous is my son??? He was just looking out his sisters bedroom window, to say to me the words that every Mum wants to hear.................."Whats for dinner Mum???"

Preferred Block Size??

The classes for my "Cottage Sampler" start on Saturday and i am really looking forward to them. We have a nice group of 8 women, 6 hours of quilting( and a bit of time for me to shop for the fabrics for my next BOM quilt).

It was requested that i make the Sampler a King Size Quilt, which meant increasing the 6" block size to 12". Writing the pattern once was time consuming but ive mananged to achieve the request:

Hmmmm, im wondering about the 12" blocks!!!! After doing the sample blocks, i definetley prefer the smaller blocks. Id rather make more, to make the quilt bigger, but thats just me:


Now i have two patterns available and i will share photos as the women progress through their quilts. I may be proven wrong, but a 6" block is my personal favorite!!!

First Project of 2008

What is a girl to do when her dear friend Anne Ida sends her some fabric for her birthday?? Well of course at first u "play" with it and admire it........then u cut!!!!

Arent those greens amazing??? And that cream background fabric is adorable!! You cant tell from the picture but the border fabric is different to the fabric used in the blocks. All i added was the blue and gold Moda fabrics. Thnx again sweetie!!!

I chose the Weathervane blocks, basically cause the template was still on my cutting table and i quilted it with an all over meander (just to keep in practise!!!) Looks great against the Jasmine....so what did i make it for???

From late November till the end of March we live in our patio. Its a great, cool place to eat, read, stitch, play games or entertain!!! Its where i fill my pots and window boxes with pretty flowers all year round and where we can relax watching the birds in the bird bath, whilst listening to the gentle sounds of the wind chimes. Sitting there, long enough, made me realise, we need a tablerunner:

I think it works well.....exactly what was missing!!! Now what about that wooden bench ??? lol

Speaking of that gorgeous green, remember these??:


Just weeks ago, these were so tiny.......now there r ready for Apple Crumble, eaten outdoors of course with our new tablerunner!!!

Summer Stitching

At the end of the year I like to draw up a list of UFO projects, in the hope I will finish them. Im pleased to say that in 2007 i did get quite a few completed..........but i did add some more!!!

One of the projects i added was The Garden Journal Quilt by Annie Downs. I had about half of the stitcheries already complete so ive have been working on a few more, whilst enjoying a well deserved break with the family:

I love the simplicity of the designs. They r fun to stitch and i think they look great!!! The fabric is from the Moda bundle i brought a few weeks ago and it will be used for the final borders of the quilt. I have also cut the squares required for the final assembley:

These r all from the same Moda range and i love them!!! I still have a few more stitcheries to go and hopefully it wont take me too long.....i cant wait to see this all together!!