Civil War Quilt - nearly finished

All the blocks are together and now all I have to do is add the final border (with mitred corners!) and it is done. This has been a fantatastic quilt to make. It has been easy with little effort and a great result - thanks Barbara Brackman!! It is a bit hard to tell from this picture but it gives you a bit of an idea.

Of course this picture is after I fixed the error you can see here in my assembly of the quilt:

Gorgeous Melbourne

 These are some great Red Hot Pokers - I just love the colours, they are growing near the new 'Volcano' actually it is not so new now so all the water tolerant plants have grown to full size and are thriving.

This is a view across the lake. Sadly there is quite a lot of algae growing there at the moment but the notices indicate that this will improve in the coming months. It still looks pretty good to me. What do you think? The black swans didn't seem bothered.

 This is the side/back entrance to the Children's garden - I just love the details in it. This entrance takes you to the wonderful vegetable patch. The vegies looked great too - they didn't have any ripe tomatoes either, so I didn't feel so bad about mine!!!

Just look at this! Yesterday was a very pleasant day, warm but not absolutely sizzlingly hot so a walk in the Botanic gardnes was called for. I can not believe how lucky those of us who live in Melbourne are - such beautiful and varied gardens all in one location just a tram ride from Glen Huntly!!

Aubergines!!

Yes, I have finally been succesful, I have grown some lovely little elongated Aubergines. I was watering the pots they are in yesterday and I noticed that in amongst the foliage were several long slender Aubergines. The plants have been very vigorous but I wasn't sure we would get any fruit - how wonderful. My tomatoes are plodding along but I did not achieve the family gold standard of producing a ripe tomato by Chrsitmas day. This standard was set by my dear old mother and I have only been able to achieve it twice before.

Now comes the fun part!

I have completed all but the remaining block from the Barbara Brackman's Civil War Quilt, which Barbara has been posting each week. Now the real fun starts as I have to decide how I will put the quilt together. It has been a great way to do a quilt as each block is different and scrappy so there is no way to get bored. I am hoping by the end of the day the quilt top will be all but finished. I'll keep you posted!!

Hopefully I will have a picture for you later today! Wish me luck!!

How gorgeous is this?

This is a metre of the most beautiful fabric that I got from the new shop in Moorabbin called 'The Quilter's Patch'. It has a real vintage, French look about it. The  Quilter's Patch will have a website but it isn't active yet. They are at 9/3 Tuck Street, Moorabbin 3189

Quilt back from Desley's

Desley has done another great job on my quilt. I have nearly completed the binding, I will be able to show it to the people who gave me the kit soon !!

The consequences of tidying up!

I decided I could not put off tidying the sewing room any longer. It was with trepidation that I finally ventured up there and was confronted with so much mess I did not know where to start - I am not exaggerating! Anyway, the consequences are that I have found many things that are 'almost' finished and I really need to decide whether to finish them or just cut my losses and get rid of them. This is one I will finish - it is so much closer to be being finished than I thought.

Circle Game

This has arrived and all I need do is organise myself to make them up. This is a BOM from Amitie. I love the broght colours and unexpected combination of colours and paterns. I promise I will post a picture as soon as they are made. 

Thank you for the Cup Cakes

Last week two of my lovely sewing friends came over to pend the day sewing. One of them (she knows who she is) made these fanastic Cup Cakes. Aren't they cute? Her daughter sourced the decorations, don't they make the cakes look lovely and festive.

Trees

How lovely is nature? I often think how lucky we are to live where we do and to witness some of the most magnificent views of nature in the bush. It was such a lovely morning for a walk up to the back of the block. Look at this:

A new project

What do you think about this? I reckon this might be fun!!! I have done a similar quilt with Sue Ambrose who works at Somerset Patchwork but the one I have completed previously is in a different colourway and I particularly liked this one on the cover of Quiltmania.

Children's Rose

How absolutely beautiful is this rose? My firend Michelle has this rose growing in her garden so when I saw it I was very keen to have one myself. What do you think?

Hope Quilt

When I left my job last year I was very spoiled by the staff and one of the lovely gifts I received was the Quilt for a Cause Hope Quilt tin with all the pattern and all the material to make the Hope Quilt. I am on the final stages of completing it, here it is in pieces ready to be sewn together. The tin alone is the most lovely thing.

You can see that the strips are just lined up but it gives you an idea of how it might look by the end of the week when it will be finished!

Fun at the Applique Society

Yesterday was a lot of fun as I went to the Applique Society Meeting at Castlemaine. This is organised by Megan who works at Threadbear. We had a wonderful time and Corliss of Threabear provided wonderful door prizes and kind gifts for attendees as it was the pre Christmas meeting. It is so inspiring to see the fabulous work that everyone does. I was just hand piecing but there is work done by the people who attend that is mind boggling. I didn't take any photos but there was lots of show and tell. Here is my lovely door prize and some of my piecing:

Strong winds in the Country last week

We went up to our place in the country over the weekend and found this:

We were lucky as the house wasn't damaged but there is  a very big mess to clean up!! No doubt the local snakes will be lurking in amongst that lot too.............

Picture of Georgetown in Baltimore

This is a wobbly photo of my quilt after it has been trimmed. I had to interrupt my 17 year old to ask him to come away from his computer game long enough to hold the quilt up. He was reluctant to say the least! Never mind that he should be studying as he is in the middle of exams!!

I am very pleased with the finished outcome so far, but ofcourse, I have yet to add the binding. This is one of my least favourite tasks and I have not cut the bias so it might have to wait a little longer to finally be complete. I went down to show it to AnnMaree at Primitive Patches as this is where I did the class. They are closing down soon and I will miss visiting there very much. I have known AnnMaree about 17 years now and she has always been the most friendly and kind person anyone could want to know. I will miss the shop but mostly I will miss the friends I have made there.

Phascogales

We have a new clutch of Phascogales in our roof in the country. We have provided the mother with lovely nesting boxes but she still prefers the roof space. This is a picture of one of the babies coming out to feed at night.

Georgetown in Baltimore quilted

If you go to Desley's blog you can look at the lovely work Desley has done on my Georgetown in Baltimore quilt!! I am, as always, thrilled with her work. It is always exciting to go and collect my quilts from Desley as she makes them sing! She also quilted the apple core quilt for my daughter's car. Bec was thrilled with the finished quilt and now has it over the backseat of her car.

 You can also see how comfortable Clancy, our old Cavalier is at our place in the country. He has pride of place on the couch, and he loves to snuggle up in the cushions near the quilt.

 Over the long weekend I purchased this lovely wire art as I thought it would look great on the kitchen walls in the country. What do you think?

Delicious wool for socks & a beret!

Look what arrived from Violet Green!!! Don't you just love them. I plan to knit the beret for my daughter with the aubergine coloured wool and then I'll make myself a pair of socks with the pink. I am going to use the casting on from the toe method which Michelle Yeo told me about. It will be fun, fun, fun!!!

Charles De Gaulle rose

Here is one of my favourite roses which is now blooming in the back garden. Not all people like the mauve roses but I have a particularly soft spot for them. What do you think?

Pine Burr/Feathered World without end Blocks

I am making also making some blocks using a pattern which Michelle Yeo is currently designing. Her blocks and quilt will be very different to mine as her colours are not like these. It is done using freezer paper which allows for very accurate points and I need all the help I can get in that department! What do you think?

More Civil War Blocks

I know I should be focussing but I am just enjoying Barbara Brackman's Civil War Blocks that I can't help myself! I have now completed number 41 and am up to date. I love this as it gives me the chance to do something different every week with some potential for using up my stash (I wish!!) I have done more than these but they are a sample of what I have done to date.

Finally finished

This is my Georgetown in Baltimore quilt. It is finally finished and at the quilters..............I have to say it took a lot of discipline to finally finish it but I am glad to say it is finally with Desley, who will make it look great. This photo does not have the final border added but it gives you a good impression of how it looks now. It isn't quite square so I hope that this won't too noticeable!

Tawny Frogmouth

Hi, look at this lovely male Tawny Frogmouth sitting on his nest of eggs in a local tree!! Apparently the male sits on the eggs during the day light and the female minds the eggs after dark. It is wonderful to see such fabulous wild life in the suburbs isn't it!

Barbara Brackman Civil War Blocks

Whilst I should be doing other things I have been making these blocks from Barbara Brackman's blog. They are great fun and quick to make.

The borders are almost complete

This is one of the borders for the 'Georgetown in Baltimore' quilt which is almost finished!! I have finally finished the Apple Core Quilt so that is one off the list and I am hoping to take both of them to Desley the week after next. It will be good to get them finished especially the 'Georgetown in Baltimore' quilt. Sadly the Apple Core quilt was for my daughter's first car, which she wrote off last week. Very fortunately she is not injured, neither was the other driver but is was a nasty shock anyway. It is so good that she is OK.

A Chirpy gift from the US

Look at what the Postie brought me today!! Isn't he just lovely? When I was in Philadelphia I admired the Cardinals in my cousin's garden (together with the chipmunks too) and it would be fair to say I was a bit fixated on them! Anyway, today I got a parcel in the post and here is a picture of my newest and super fantastic Christmas tree decoration - yes, a Cardinal!! I have the best family!!!

Nearly there

Yes, I have only 4 more rows and the apple core quilt top is finished!!!!

The third year running

This is my Cattleya Orchid and it is the third year in a row that it has flowered. The first year I bought it was in flower and I had no hope of it ever flowering again as I thought they needed a hot house environment. Not so! Last year it had 5 flowers and it looked pretty clogged up in the pot. So I divided it and I thought I had killed it - but no, one is flowering at least and though the other plant doesn't look too flash it hasn't turned up its toes yet.

New York Subway fabric

How cute is this? I couldn't leave the City Quilter in New York with out some of this - I don't usually buy novelty type prints but this one was too good a souvenir!

Fabric - what else?

I didn't go crazy buying fabric when I was away. These are my additions and I promise you I could have filled a container with fabric but I was a good girl and kept it to a minimum.

These are fabrics from the US and England. I bought the lovely book on Chintz fabric at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

Apple Core Quilt

My daughter has her first car, this has been a long time coming and she now has a little silver Holden Astra that she calls "Bertie''. The conversation went something like, 'Bertie needs a rug or something for her back seat' of course I then offered to make a smallish quilt for Bertie. I was organised enough to cut out all the pieces for the quilt when we went away but of course I did nothing whislt we were travelling. So I have tried to get a wriggle on over the last weeks since I arrived back. This is my progress so far. It is a bit wild but Bec chose the fabrics herself.

Steampunk!!!!

I had never heard of Steampunk before visiting the Kew Steam Pumping station. It is an interesting fusion of art, creativity and machine parts. I can't really say I understand it but it looks great. If you are interested you should google 'Steampunk' there is heaps of information about it on the web.