A grey cobblestone quilt

In between playing with fun free motion quilting for the matjana quilt and Ruby Star Shining for Courtney I've been working on this lovely quilt for my mother in law. 

It's coming along quite nicely. I hope to have it finished next weekend.

Pugs.

are silly

and funny

and cute

and helpful

Sometimes they eat Christmas decorations

everyone should have a little bit of pug in their lives.

matjana quilt draws closer

I've bought the binding.

I've finished the quilting

(sorry about the iphone pic, I seem to have developed a love of my phone and a hate of my camera, this will change. I promise)

I've got two friends joining in the auction. The incredible A Guyra Girl who makes THE BEST socks. I have several pairs made by her and they're amazing. She's kindly offered to donate a pair of bespoke socks. Made to fit your feet. Isn't she amazing?

Emily the Enabler is my darling friend who is a whiz at dying all things wool related. Her fibre and yarns are to die for (see what I did there?). I'm not sure on details of this fantastic donation yet, but I'll keep you posted.

I'm so grateful to know these incredible women. They make each and everyone of my days brighter.

I'm planning on running this auction through my blog and just getting bids in the comments. Is this a good idea? What do I have to be careful of?

In the meantime while we're waiting for this auction to kick off, why not donate some funds?

HST madness

My girlfriends and I started a quilting bee last year. I finished my quilt yesterday.

 

Here's mine in all its eye blinding glory.  It was supposed to have a licorice all sort theme, but that didn't really work. I think it turned out neat anyway.

 

I used a sarong my daughters got for me from Bali as the backing. It wasn't quite big enough

 so I added a strip of the feature fabric around the edges.

Bound with an orange dot, if you know me you'll know this is far out of my comfort zone.

 

I quilted it with a swirly motif running across the width of the quilt.

 

This cute little house print is my favourite.

 

Matjana Preschool

You know those friends of yours that you wish you were more like. My best friend is my hero, I wish I was more like her. She ran away from home at 14 and we didn't see her for years, then she came back into my life and we went on stupid road trips together then she studied and eventually ended up in Swaziland. She's currently undertaking a PhD, with DIAL UP!! I know right. She comes back from time to time and entertains me with stories of her life, some hilarious, some tragic. All in all the girl is an inspiration.

Well, she is one of the founders of Matjana Preschool. That's her in the photo. So as not to be so boring and white bread middle of the road I've become the Vice President of the commitee of Matjana.

The main thing I need to do is to fundraise. I'm going to auction one of my quilts. I just need to finish it first. So keep checking in here, once it starts I need you to pimp this auction too. You may just get a fantastic bargain.

In the mean time, if you're looking for somewhere new to donate to this Christmas why not think of the Swazi preschoolers, or why not Zoidberg. lol.

Super Secret Christmas Present

Here is my latest finished object. 

An I spy quilt for a dear friend. I modified Once Upon a Time to work with 5 inch charm squares. I quilted it in a grid about 3/4 of an inch apart avoiding the I spy squares.

I really like the concept of following the yellow brick road and making up a story as you go along.

It's for a dear friend's children for Christmas. I was going to keep it as a surprise, but she went out like a demon possessed started a quilt for each of her kids. Rather than have her drowning in quilts I thought it best that I speak up. 

Another friend gave me some binding made of different lengths of homespun. The myriad of colours really makes this quilt pop.

 

For the backing I used some Ikea fabric and some Sherbet pips to fill in the gaps. I made a line of I spy squares that goes from one side to the other. 

 

 I hope it brings many hours of entertainment and warmth.

 Thomas "helping" me baste. He's not very helpful.

WIP round up.

My LQS hosted a mystery quiltalong on Saturday. I showed up with my precut strips and sewed and sewed and sewed. Despite my gargantuan effort I still didn't get the top completed. I still have more sewing to do. 

I've also been working on a Willy Wonka costume for Big C's school play. I have 8 Oompa-Loompas to do yet.

A fabulous dress I wore on Melbourne cup day. Yes, that lining is Beverly Hills 90210 vintage sheet. Thank you Jess for your awesome score.

 

 

A quilt that is a Christmas surprise so no further details on it at this stage. Still got to finish quilting and binding.

Quilt for MIL for Christmas. She doesn't read my blog so I'm safe here. Rooftop Garden by Moda. I really like this range. I found them on a trip to Tamworth where I also got to try out the Handy Quilter Sweet Sixteen. ZOMG I am in love. I need to sell my soul, but I will own this machine one day.

A quilt that was made from bee blocks from my favourite group of women. I'm thinking about giving this one to my Dad for Christmas. He can always use the little bit of love that a quilt brings. he's just gotten a new house and a manly blanket would be most welcome I'm sure.

My Echino quilt. Emma got me a fq pack for my birthday and I love it. It reminds me of India. I'd love to hand quilt this with bright pinks. Not sure if I'm up to it yet because it's going to be HUGE. No pics sorry

Bee blocks - annamal quilts. I got purple and green. I had to add a little from my stash as i didn't make the best use of fabric. I really hope she likes them. We're in two bees together this year. New Bee on the Block and Quilting Under the rainbow.

 

 

Wow, I have lots of WIPs. Can't talk, sewing.

Also,

 another foal. We call him Banny because of the bandaid shaped mark on his forehead.