Rainy day quilt

Horrible weather here yesterday-rain and hail all day. So I put together the beginnings of a strippy quilt. This is will hopefully be for my dear in-laws in Scotland for their 50th wedding anniversary. What do you give people who have everything? A quilt!








We had a long drive this morning to choose a puppy. They were only 4 weeks old and so cute we wanted them all. Not very practical in a suburban backyard! So we finally settled on this one.

Now we are having troulble coming up with a suitable name for him. I am quite keen of "Jeffery" but didn't get alot of support!

Oh and this is my friend Jane's quilt which I snapped in a hurry so hence the awful photo. The colours are lovely!

Favourite colour?

I don't know if anyone has noticed but I am slightly obsessed with red and pink. Can't think of a quilt I have made that doesn't feature one or both!
So I just love this bag made by Vanessa.



Would love to put together a quilt using similar colours.

Should I admit that I am an idiot?!

I have had the same rotary cutter since I first started patchwork about five years ago. Somehow I always found rotary cutting tedious, difficult and not very accurate. It was also a bit of a pain in the wrist but I decided I had to persist otherwise everything was just too slow. Imagine my amazement when I realised that I had been putting Olfa blades in a Kai handle. That was the clunking I couldn't get rid of! The most amazing thing is that I have admitted this to the outside world!

While I wait for a new handle to arrive (cheaper than throwing away my 10 pack of blades) I managed to cut out this:

...but it was not easy to put together! Entirely my own fault!
It will eventually be put with lots of other blocks as a group surprise for someone. I had better not say any more!

While on my travels I couldn't go past these Lecien fabrics. The colours are lovely and nice to use instead of flat plains.


Oh and spring has finally come to Melbourne. We have gone onto daylight saving time and our darlings are enjoying the sunshine!

Frosted donuts!

Slight technical hitch with my blog hence the delay!
I received a lovely parcel in the mail from Piece O'Cake. Not exactly a present (I paid for it!) but a treat just the same. It's called a Frosted Donut and consists of finer cottons specifically for applique. Why do so many quilty things relate to food! Jelly rolls, layer cakes! Hmm. I could make a suggestion but I won't!


Thought I would also include a progress report on my latest quilt just to prove I really have been busy, really I have! The red perle has worked well and my hands have adjusted!


Last day of school holidays today. Bit sad as everyone is back to school on Monday!

Having a great day!

Thank you so much for your kind comments. I really needed them! My heating has broken down and while Melbourne is not Europe it is quite cold for us. My toilet is blocked so the boys from the drain cleaners are currently head down in the sewer overflow (well not literally!).
Oh here is my effort at a closeup of my quilt (as requested. I will have a better go when it is finished.


It's called a Hidden Star and sewn using Marti Michell Templates (www.frommarti.com/)a truly wonderful invention which makes it possible to machine-piece that which was previously only possible by hand (for me anyway).
I have also just completed this..


which I am pleased to say is my own creation and not bad for someone who previously avoided all applique!! Lots of fun using my carefully horded little bits of Kaffe! I just wish I could do a better job of photographing quilts.

Well toilet is unblocked, heating still doesn't work but a quilt top is nearly finished and my girls are home from school soon so I'm having a good day!

Quilting with friends

Had a lovely night quilting with friends at the library. Two of my favourite things-quilts and the library. Ours is wonderful, like going into a giant bookshop where you can have whatever you want (well, for three weeks at least)! Unfortunately no photos today as something strange has happened and all my photos keep encrypting themselves (very Da Vinci Code)!