Progress

I managed to get the quilting finished on the kookaburra quilt and the binding on last night...marathon effort!!

This afternoon after doing the domestics I decided to do some quilting on this panel that has been sitting awaiting attention for quite a while

Now , after dinner, it has the binding on and I am relaxing on the couch!!

Happy sewing.

Today

I have been up to Mill Rose at Ballan with Shirley from the Seachange Quilters. We both volunteer for Aussie Heros and another volunteer Sue, who lives in Ballan, and who, I found out comes from nearly the same place as me in NZ, organised the day.
We had a talk about fabric from Sue Bartleman, who owns Mill Rose, where and how she buys etc which was interesting, then we chatted about what we do. Two if the ladies there had just been to the extravaganza weekend in Canberra for Aussie Heros and it was interesting and moving to hear their stories. We had lunch in the Cafe, which sadly was not very nice, then back to the shop where we had a talk by an Army major who was a recipient of a quilt when he was in Afghanistan. Then we had a talk from the mother of a quilt recipient, that was an eye opener too, her daughter is a photographer in the Army.
Mill Rose is a beautiful shop and there are always beautiful quilts on the walls and shelves

a collection of volunteers

Sue thanking Sue

the Liberty room

this quilt drew my eye

the roses are just starting to come out in the garden

we found these shoes in the garden...no owners.....off with the fairies maybe?

this young man is the son of the Army Major, who wanted a photo with the half feather he found.

another lovely quilt

here is Andrew with his quilt, the request was with his son in mind (front)

and the back..it was great to hear him tell us how he felt when it arrived.

Happy quilting ladies showing challenge blocks we had made. A group of ladies walked behind Liz who was taking photos for us , one pulled a face!! Hence the laughter. The challenge blocks were to represent the town/place we came from, which will eventually be made into a quilt.

this quilt had just been finished by the two ladies holding it, it will go in the mail very soon, front,

and back.

and a wander thru the fabric rooms

and that was not all the fabric!! It is a treasure trove.

I managed to come out nearly unscathed!! I admired the black and white quilt and the pattern is in this book, so I weakened and brought it home with me. The penguins I couldn't leave behind and the other little bits will be good for leaves and stars!

I had better go and get some dinner, and an Ouzo I think tonight!

Happy sewing.

Progress

I have been sewing away today in between, washing and walking the dog and sitting in the sun!! It has been a beautiful day today here. I am happy to have made progress on the Aussie Hero quilt

Happy with the progress,  now for the sandwich!! But maybe that will happen tomorrow!!

Happy sewing.

Today

has not gone as I had planned, nothing drastic, I had planned a day of sewing and as yet have not managed one stitch!! But the washing is done, the carpet is clean, the dust has been moved around, the Supervisor has been to the vet and has had a needle for his arthritis and survived.

We had a stop at the beach on the way home to recover!!

My birthday celebrations continue, I am so lucky, today in the mail there were more goodies 

 this cute card from Jenny, and how true it is!! Woops, I have accidentally deleted it, will have to go back to the tablet and find it again!!

Second time lucky!!!

This lovely bunch of goodies came from Michelle

And these from Anthea

These wonderful people must have known I am doing a class next month and need green fabrics and other fabrics I can add to them, these are perfect.

I also have some beautiful fabric from Asta but that is on the other camera so will have to add that later.  Now it is later!!

Love the pin cushion and threads too.

I stitched the flowers down yesterday and had planned to get to the leaves today, but maybe that will happen tomorrow! !

Off to find that other photo!

Happy sewing.

Chatting and sticking

Shane stayed with us overnight so this morning, after he got up, we caught up on his life, well as much as he tells his mother!!!
This afternoon I have been placing and ironing pieces onto the next Aussie Hero quilt

This will form the centre of the quilt, the request was for kookaburras, gum leaves and nuts...now I have some sewing in front of me!!

Happy sewing.

Happy day

Today (Sunday) is the day I get to open mail that has been sitting on the dining table, tempting me for a while!
I am in the Fat Quarter Birthday Club, organised by Cheryll over at Gone Stitching.

 This is what I have been looking at

and now they are opened

thank you Fat Quarter Club ladies, here is beautiful fabric for me to play with!

My special present came from Jeanette

this beautiful sewing kit, the stitching is so fine and delicate

and inside has an unpick, scissors, pins, tape measure, look at the beautifully stitched needle on the left and unpick on the right. Thank you Jeanette I love it. The notebook and fabric will be much used too.

Marg gave me a beautiful ziper pouch with hand cream and some fabric, Marg actually gave me this a week or so back as she is currently away and it has been sitting saying open me for days!! I was strong and resisted!!

Donna gave me this beautiful tea pot and hand made card, they are both very beautiful. Thank you Donna!!

The boys have been here today, Adam arrived this morning and we had a BBQ lunch, he gave me a beautiful bunch of flowers and a bottle of ouzo!!

As Adam was deciding to head home Shane arrived with a bottle of gin!! (Can you see a theme developing here??)

So special to have us all together.

Some serious soldier painting happening on the back deck, now they have disappeared downstairs. 

Hubby bought me some parrots to go on the back deck, quiet ones luckily!

Our lovely friend Ingrid came over on Thursday, she went shopping with hubby and came home with the orchid and desk plant for me and then,

gave me this tin, which goes with

my other tin!! I have been so lucky this birthday to have heard from so many lovely friends, thank you everyone, I have had the best day.

Happy sewing.

Saturday

was Guild day, we had a members market day and I have to confess some fabric made its way home with me...very hard to resist fat quarters at $1.00 each! There was some great show and tell today

love this gollies quilt, so much to look at and many hours of quilting in the plain areas.

this quilt is made from a jelly roll and is being donated to a woman who fund raises for cancer research. I like this pattern a lot.

Love this owl quilt made for a grand nephew.

This quilt started with the clamshells and grew from there...maybe I should say shrank from there?? Lol!!

Really like this purple number too.

this was the fabric that just had to come home with me!! They will becomes little stars one day.

Happy sewing.

Retreat day 4

It is the last day today....we had a bag ladies photo taken

Maxine, Barbara and I all very happy to have the bag completed!! This is the second one Maxine has made, Barb is now thinking she might make another one, I am thinking I will definitely not make another one!! 😆😆

A change in the weather came in the morning

Lyn made these blocks, she was getting used to her machine and did a great job.

Love the wall decorations here.

This beautiful quilt decorates one of the couches in the house.

I did some more on the row by row challenge and have the hearts and applique row done, alos the houses. I didn't cut enough fabric to finish the square in a square.

We had a left overs lunch of sausage rolls, salad, bread rolls, slices, buscuits and cheese, followed by the last of the lemon tart and chocloate cheese cake. No one went hungry this week!!  Heading home this afternoon.

Happy sewing.