Polka-Dot Girls

I have finally finished by first block of Bronwyn Hayes' Polka-Dot Girls quilt. I am so happy to have found a group who are making these gorgeous blocks so I am going to have lots of fun whilst working on this delightful quilt. I only get the weekends to work on my quilting/stitchery so I try to make the most of every minute. I have become quite the 'weekend hermit' and I can't quite believe this but I don't even want to go shopping anymore (except for more fabric, threads etc.). I am going to work on my applique quilt today and listen to one of my favourite Agatha Christie stories.

Baskets, Berries & Leaves

I have finally finished my first block of Jan Patek/Alma Allen's quilt Baskets, Berries & Leaves. Hand applique has always been my great love and it was wonderful to get back to doing what I enjoy the most. Only eleven more blocks to finish along with my stitcheries, the calendar quilt, the star quilt, the butterfly's garden ..... etc. It is a pity I have to go back to work tomorrow as I have enough to keep me very happily occupied for the next few years at least.

Great reads

Over my holidays I have had the chance to read some wonderful books. Here are my favourites:

• The Sugar Queen – Sara Addison Allen
• The Glassblower of Murano - Marina Fiorato
• The Chatelet Apprentice - Jean Francois Parot
• Bad Lands - Selina Rosen and Laura J Underwood
  

I am currently reading The Private Patient by P D James - I must admit I have a huge crush on Adam Dalgliesh, well actually Martin Shaw who plays him in the BBC adaptations.

I have also been buying (again) from Amazon,
Patti Culea's new book - Creative Cloth Explorations: Adventures in Fairy-Inspired Fiber Art
Mixed Mania: Recipes for Delicious Mixed Media Creations and
Mixed-Media Self-Portraits: Inspiration & Techniques.

"I cannot live without books." Thomas Jefferson

"It is with the reading of books the same as with looking at pictures; one must without doubt, without hesitations, with assurance, admire what is beautiful." Vincent van Gogh

HAPPY READING

Block 9 Star BOM

Here is Block 9 of of Judy's (Patchwork Times) Star BOM.

I am only going to make a nine block quilt instead of thirteen so I am not making all the blocks. It is great being on holidays for two weeks as I have managed to catch up and here is block 6.

THANKS JUDY FOR YOUR GENEROSITY IN SHARING THESE WONDERFUL PATTERNS

More additions to my favourite things

When I was in New York visiting my son I saw this fabulous seguro espiritual in a shop in the East Village and here it is on our lounge wall - thanks Richard for your wonderful gift. I have placed the candles in front of the Saints who look after safe travelling, success in business and the Virgen d Guadalupe who will protect my family.I also love to collect postcards and here is a fabulous one that Justine and Andrew sent from Paris.

Adding to my collection

I love silver thimbles and I have collected quite a few. I was so thrilled to get a gold thimble from my husband for Christmas. It was made by Simons of Philadelphia, USA and has the name Morcy engraved on it. I am unsure how old it is but it is truly beautiful and I shall always treasure it. I try to use my silver thimbles when I am quilting but I don't think I will use this gold one - I will just look at it and love it.

That Suki girl

We have been looking after Justine and Andrew's gorgeous ragdoll cat 'Suki' whilst they are overseas. Here she is looking very thoughtful and beautiful. She has been such a lot of fun and it has been so nice to have a quilt buddy and I will miss her when she goes home.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Happy New Year to our son, Richard, in New York and Happy New Year to our daughter, Justine, and son-in-law, Andrew in Paris. Wow! New Year's Eve in Paris and New York.

I had a wonderful 2008, Richard came home for a visit from New York with his absolutely lovely girlfriend, Ann.
I got to spend time with my two children in Sydney which was just the most wonderful time for me.I can't forget a photo of our wonderful son-in-law, Andrew. We are so happy to have Andrew as part of our family.
HAVE A WONDERFUL, HAPPY, PROSPEROUS AND EXCITING NEW YEAR AND MAY ALL YOUR WISHES COME TRUE.
Love Mum XXXXXX

Polka Dot Girls

I haven't had much time for quilting lately but I have enjoyed myself working on my stitcheries. I have finally started on my Polka Dot Girls by Bronwyn Hayes and I am having a great time. I love Bronwyn's work and it is a delight to stitch. The block isn't finished but I just wanted to show a photo of this lovely lady in her garden. I can't wait to start on the next block.

The possum

Every night we can hear the possums on our roof. They always make us smile when they arrive as it sounds like they are wearing 'army boots'. We managed to get a photo of one of the cheeky possums and here she is enjoying a piece of apple. I just love this photo!

I love Country

I love Americana and with our son living in New York I feel I have a good
excuse to indulge my passion. My husband took me to this most fantastic
of shops "Country on Tamborine". It is just filled with the most incredible
collection of all the things that I love. I couldn't help but buy a 'few' things.
I love angels and I just couldn't leave this gorgeous girl in the shop so she
had to come home with me - isn't she just gorgeous!











I also love crows and houses and the American flag so here are some photos of the other things that I just had to buy.

Block 5 Star BOM

Here is Block 5 of Judy's (Patchwork Times) Star BOM. I decided to change the fabrics for my blocks so here are Blocks 1 and 3 in my new colours as well. I hope to get Block 2 and 4 finished very soon.

Block 3 Star BOM

Here is Block 3 of Judy's (Patchwork Times) Star BOM. I am going to make my blocks using my bright scraps keeping the blue as the background. I just love stars and orange so I will try and have a bit of orange in each block. I have so enjoyed seeing everyone else's blocks and all the different colour combinations. Thanks Judy.

Rosalie Quinlan's Love Is

I have been making a effort to finish my Love Is Stitchery wallhanging.
This morning I cut all the blocks to size and got all the strips ready to piece
and cut into 1" square strips. I just love this wallhanging and I am so glad


that it won't be long before I can hang it on the wall. I have also taken a
photo of my Friendship Braid quilt. I love this quilt as it has lots of my
favourite things in it - chickens, hearts, Elvis, Betty Boop, stars, country,
brights.
I also took a couple of close ups.

Butterfly Garden

I love quilter Leanne Beasley's work and I couldn't wait to get started
on her beautiful ButterflyGarden BOM. I brought my sewing machine into the lounge so I could watch the Olympics. I had a great time this morning sewing with my new machine, watching Australia win Gold in the swimming and piecing Blocks 1 and 2 of my BOM.
I have finally finished piecing the small blocks and now I can start to applique the butterflies, hearts and flowers. I received my Sweet Land of Liberty BOM yesterday from Buggy Barn in the US. I am so thrilled with this quilt as I love American themes and naive style quilts - this quilt has it all. I have also joined a pincushion BOM which will start next month so I am looking forward to posting photos of my pincushions. As I was putting my sewing machine back in my sewing room I realised that I had not posted a photo of my new bookcase. I had planned on using it for all my books but as usual I had to display some of my favourite things as well. So it ended up as two shelves for treasures and two for my favourite books. I couldn't take a photo in my sewing room without a photo of my barbies. I (and my friends) have rescued these barbies from op. shops - I just love them all.

New quilt and new BOM
I got these absolutely beautiful Japanese fabrics in a kit from the Quilted Kimono. The quilt is called Hanashi II and it is just gorgeous. I am so looking forward to making this quilt and it will give me a chance to practice my machine quilting with my new Bernina. I just love BOMs and I have started a new one "The French Collection" from the Quilters Bazaar. It has beautiful stitchery blocks depicting scenes from a French village and the hand made and hand painted buttons are just delightful. I just wish there were a few more hours in the day.

New Visitor and some old friends
As well as all the birds and possums that come for a visit we now have a new new visitor. Here is a photo of the brush turkey who sometimes passes through. We are very thankful that he hasn't started to rearrange our garden yet. Here are some old visitors, the gorgeous galahs who make me smile.

Yum Cha
I had a fabulous time last weekend going for Yum Cha at the Golden Dragon Restaurant in the Valley. This was my first experience of Yum Cha and I just loved it. I went with a friend who is from Singapore so I left everything up to her. The tea, a mixture of Chinese tea and Chrysanthemum flowers, was a pure delight and the variety of food was incredible. I loved everything but my favourite was Siu Mai (steamed pork dim sums).

Sydney Trip
I had fantastic time in Sydney visiting our daughter Justine and SIL Andrew. The weather was great, not too cold and blue skies, and of course Sydney was her glorious self. My favourite Sydney icon is the Harbour Bridge and I was so happy to see it again on our way to the Rocks. We did lots of shopping including a visit to the Queen Victoria Building (just glorious) and lots of markets including Paddington Market. I bought lots of kitsch things, an asian good luck money box cat, a felt angel from the Phillipines, a matryoshka doll, some bookmarks (of course) and my daughter bought me a tiara that I can hang on the wall. I have a thing lately for crowns and tiaras. We ate lots of fantastic food - a delicious meal at an Italian Restaurant in Burwood and a wonderful home cooked Italian pasta dish cooked by Andrew who is a wonderful chef - Buon Appetito. As you can see I just love Italian food. Thank you Justine and Andrew and that Suki girl (their gorgeous rag doll cat) for an absolutely wonderful time. Great place, great shopping, great food and more importantly great company.

My new Bernina
Here is my gorgeous new 440QE Bernina. She is an absolute dream and in her honour I am calling her 'la stupenda'. I have been practising my free-motion stitching this morning with the BSR (Bernina Stitch Regulator) - my stitches are now all even and it really is so amazing. I haven't got around to trying out the other quilting stitches yet nor the decorative stitches. I feel I am in sewing machine heaven - I couldn't ask for a more wonderful machine that does more than I could ever need. I will be writing more about my sewing machine adventures in the coming weeks.