Meanwhile at home

 Anthology blocks are still being made

My birthday cake made by a lovely lady in Geelong, I asked for a kiwi and silver fern, it is gluten and dairy free and tastes wonderful, has four layers. Thank you to Ingrid too.

The storm that went through last week left us with the top of the neighbours oak tree

and the last remaining branch of the hakea fell off. We have many seedlings growing so in time they will fill up the space again.

We have had some beautiful weather over the long weekend, the boats were out from the yacht club, first sailing day in many months.

A few hexies have been made

I was going to say I have finally finished sewing the green hexies on but looking at the photo I can see some unsewn numbers on the right side...better go and check! Next I need to make 20 hexie flowers to add on.

Here is a slightly fuzzy photo of our new grand fur baby, Tira, she was more interested in having a bite at the camera than sitting and posing for me! She is 12 weeks old and a smooth coat Chowchow. She is just beautiful and has us all firmly under her paw!!

With the lifting of some of the restrictions we have been able to visit and have a visit from the family.

Adam and Beth bought themselves kayaks, so yesterday we all got to have a go

Rilla heading off

Adam and Shane preparing to launch

Adam and Beth and Hank

I wanted a family photo but we forgot at home after a BBQ lunch so tried down at the beach. Sometimes I think the trying photos are more fun than the proper photo!

Shane took a preparation photo unbeknownst to us, Hank was not wanting to sit!! Shane set the camera up on the kayak wheels and then ran!

David's hat blew off just at the wrong moment and I am talking!

Finally, Hank was not sitting, Shane is talking but it is a good photo..

Today is Anthology day so I had better go and get organised, our forecast is for rain, hopefully once the rain comes the wind might ease off.

Happy stitching.

WINNER

 of the birthday giveaway was Fiona of BubzRugz. Congratulations Fiona, the winnings will be in the mail to you next week.

That includes the pattern for this quilt

the bag underneath and one of the jelly rolls on top. Fiona can you let me know please if you would like the batik or non batik jelly roll please.

Thank you everyone who commented on the Giveaway post.

Happy stitching.

GIVEAWAY and a birthday

What better thing to do on your birthday than to have a giveaway and promote another bloggers quilt. 

 I have been beavering away making a quilt from a pattern written by Preeti of Sew Preeti Quilts. Preeti has been an ambassador for Island Batiks this year and has designed and written the pattern for this quilt. Preeti offered to send me the pattern and encouraged me to make the quilt and then blog about it, so here we are!

The Quilt is called Masala Box, is beginner friendly and comes in three sizes,

Baby quilt, Lap Quilt and Queen size Quilt.

I tried to take some photos outside but it is very windy today, the quilt does smell like lavender now though!

The pattern is perfect for pre cuts and scraps.

I made the lap sized quilt and used a jelly roll in batik fabric (no surprise there!!) and 2 meters of white. I think this would look amazing in bright colours and black background.

You can find the link to Preeti's Etsy shop here, to get the pattern.

Now for the GIVEAWAY!

Preeti has agreed for the prize to include a pdf of the Masala Box pattern, plus I will include a jelly roll, you can choose a batik jelly roll or one called Cassandra from the Fat Quarter Shop

Cassandra has 40 colourful strips from the fabric collection, the batik is called Rainbows and has bluey/greens with some lighter colours in there, some fabrics have a touch of gold on them.

Also included is a bag I have made from the left over jelly roll strips, it is approx 24 inches wide and 21 deep. You can fit lots in it. I will also include a few other bits and pieces.

So please leave a comment below and I will put you in the draw.

Hubby will do the draw next Friday.

Very happy to post where ever you are.

Happy stitching.

 

I think it is time

 to do another blog post. The last couple of weeks seem to have been busy, I am not sure what with to be honest. The summer garden planting has started with tomatoes, beans, peas and corn, I think I will add a few more seedlings in another week or so.

Sewing has been happening here in fits and starts, the weather has been up and down, some rain with lots of sunshine and spring days.

I have made a little more progress on Tea and Cake

The green row is slowly growing, this is taking a while as it is a long border to get around and we have been watching a Danish programme on Netflix and I need to read the subtitles to understand what is happening!

I read this book during the week and really enjoyed it

this is the current read and I have lots several hours this afternoon in this book. Thoroughly enjoying it so far.

A nice afternoon for sandwiching

I enjoy the view either way

I have had some great walks down near the board walk it is amazing what you see when you still for a while and take in what is around you

and past the yacht club

some blocks I have been working on, I hope to get the top finished this week, actually this was supposed to be this afternoons job but that didn't happen!!

Over the last week I have made this Minion quilt, it is for an Aussie Hero and will go in the mail once I have confirmed the address. Minions still make me happy!

One afternoon last week I quilted this quilt for one of the Bellarine Quilters ladies, it was too big to wrestle under her machine. I have sewn the ever faithful serpentine stitch on the diagonal both ways. Jan has made this entirely from others scraps, she makes amazing quilts.

Last Friday I went into Geelong to have a look at the Wagga and Quilt display at the Wool Museum

It was amazing the things were used to make quilts to keep families warm, especially during the depression when there was no money and people really had to use what ever they could find.

I didn't get a photo but the first Wagga's were made from flour sacks from the flour mill in Wagga Wagga, very basic but wonderful to keep warm. 

Last weeks Anthology block, slightly wonky I am happy with it

This weeks Anthology block.

I think that is enough for now, are you still awake poor reader!!

I had better make a move hubby is wanting some dinner.

Happy stitching.

FNWF

 and the start of the weekend. Friday night I did some cutting of fabric for blocks

I managed to get them all cut out, nine fat quarters which grew to eleven as I made a mistake on two and had to start again! Possibly not the best time to be cutting! I was a bit tired as a friend and I had driven to Gisborne and back to pick up a quilt Tracee had quilted for me.

Later that evening I sat with my feet up and glued these hexies ready for sewing.

A little view of the Star quilt after Tracee quilted it, Tracee is now operating as Humming Bird Quilting in Gisborne.

Yesterday I sewed the blocks together and then the blocks into rows, today it needs a border added to bring it up to the required size.

I have made a little progress with the Wasgij, found the top border and a few faces are coming together, currently searching for the bottom border pieces. 

I have been trying to walk every day and am seeing some lovely plants in gardens around the area. 

We have had some lovely spring days and some overcast rainy days

It is still good to walk along the beach

This wisteria is going to be stunning when it is fully in flower.

I had better go and get ready for todays walk, the sun is trying to come out at the moment, although I think the forecast is for showers.

Happy stitching.

Last Saturday

 I was up bright and early (for me) and joined in with Chooky's zoom party, the girls had been sewing and chatting for a couple of hours by the time I got there.

It was lovely to sit and sew and catch up with people I haven't seen for a few years as well as the regular zoomers.

People came and went through the day depending on what else was happening.

I managed to attach the last three green and orange hexie flowers and then started on the dark purple fillers. By about 2pm my fingers were sore so I said goodbye to the ladies and went to have a cuppa and a read.

The Minions quilt is finally finished, I have been dithering over this all week!

Here is todays Anthology block

Friday 1st October is World postcard day, so I thought I would have a little play with fabric and stitches on the machine and create a postcard to send on the day. Just needs to have its edging finished off.

Here are all the kids dressed and ready to go

And a few hexie flowers for tea and cake, which I keep calling tea and toast!

Right I have seen a new quilt idea and I am keen to have a go at it before dinner has to happen.

Happy stitching.

 

Hey ho

 In Melbourne and Victoria I am sure it is well known that we can have all seasons of weather in one day.

We had some spring weather that changed back to winter on the weekend and this morning we had an earthquake, I was standing near the couch when the door to the loo started creaking, then the rocking chair started rocking and the house swaying, it was a bit scary! I have felt earthquakes in NZ before now but not as strong as this, and the epicentre was many miles away from here. No damage at all just a scare! I soon got back to the day 😀. I walked down to the PO and back this morning, it was overcast but not too windy thank goodness.

So, what I have been up to the last few days

The first Minions quilt is finished

The kids are all clothed

We have had some interesting clouds going by this week

One evening I caught sight of the full moon just as it was being covered by the clouds

The Star quilt is all together and has gone to be quilted

todays Anthology blocks are done

The squirrels got me this afternoon, I found these bears already cut out, I think they came with a fabric collection I bought a few years ago, I gave them borders and now they are Santa Sacks, they need their draw string, I will get that from the hard ware shop tomorrow.  They will go to Jan Mac once I finish the other Minion quilt and dress the two sloths that came home with me yesterday 😉.

I can smell dinner cooking so had better go and give it a check.

Happy stitching.