Molly and Me and Baby Makes Three

Another Block Finished

I haven't done very much stitching since my last post as I was really ill with flu.  But since my recovery I have completed Block 2 of my Sue Ross BOM through Material Obsession.  I am totally loving the wild colours in the fabric the girls send me as they really appeal to my inner 'wild child'.   I must say that I totally freaked when I first saw the block that was to be done as I'm such a hit and miss kind of a girl.  However by treating all those bias edges very carefully and thinking twice before taking every step, I've managed to pull it off.  I'm quite chuffed with myself!

Something to Show...Finally!

It would appear that I've done very little for quite a long time, but if you know me well, you would know that I've been quietly plugging away at many different projects and eventually three of them have come to a close.  I'm actually very happy with each of these quilts and the pillow.

But before I go on, I must tell you all what a truly fabulous short stay I had in Brisbane earlier this month.  I caught up with 3 of my besties which was so wonderful!   I stayed with the lovely Lynette who took care of me so so well.  Lynette had me eating out for every single meal which was divine as a special treat (I still daydream about those fabulous waffles for brekky Lynette...when I'm not daydreaming about the amazing breakfast we had, ostensibly celebrating Fathers' Day.)

On day one we visited our friend Karen's beautiful quilt shop The Quilters Store, now at Salisbury.  And there we met up with Julie D. who came all the way from Ipswich...thankyou so much for doing that Julie!  Talk about a gabfest before we got around to doing some serious looking at the fabulous merchanise.  My tiny brain just wouldn't stand still with all the excitement, but I did manage to bring home quite a few lovelies from the store.  It was so lovely to meet again with Karen's daughter Leah who is looking so wonderfully well now following her kidney transplant. This was followed by a calorie laden lunch...yummm!  And this in turn was followed by an evening spent with Lynette's friends at their regular Friday stitching evening.

Unfortunately Karen was on holidays when we visited her store, but we had already arranged to visit her at her holiday home on the North Coast.  Karen was busy sewing up shop samples and we saw some of the most fabulous ideas for using honey buns.  I'm definitely going to make some cushions very soon.  It was soo good to catch up on so much news from Karen too.  I really don't think any of us has changed one bit...still fabulous, only looking younger :)

Next day was Fathers' Day.  And following the fabulous brekky, it was off to Carindale.  We spent 6 hours there till we were finally thrown out at closing time.  But several pairs of should were bought, not to mention Christmas and birthday pressies.  Lynette and I had a ball!

Monday saw me flying back home to Hobart...how beautiful it was to fly over my new hometown.  And as soon as I hit the ground I got busy putting the bindings onto the two quilts that I'd just had quilted by Maree Kennedy.  She did a wonderful job on my little quilts.

But first, here is the cushion I made for friend Barb's birthday gift.

Next is a little lap quilt I have made for my friend Susie...I hope she likes it.  It has very cute little embroideries on it.


And last, this is my version of a quilt designed by Kerrie Gillespie...I made it completely from my stash and I love it.

Sue Ross BOM

When Material Obsession announced their new Block of the Month by Sue Ross I was very intrigued.  It promised blocks with all sorts of techniques that would most likely be new to us.  And as I am a huge fan of the wild colour combinations that come out of Material Obsession I decided that I would love to join in the fun.

When the first package arrived in the mail and I saw what the first block was, I quickly wondered if I had bitten off more than I could chew.  But launched into doing the block and it was a most enjoyable process.  I'm really looking forward to seeing what the later blocks will entail. 

So here is the result of lots of angst, nail biting and self doubt...tadaaa!

Big Foot Lives Here.

A little while back my daughter Andrea and Son In Law Joel came to stay at my place while their new house is being built.  Could take a while as the local council is still sitting on their plans.  Anyhooo, we are all getting along just fine, as are our assorted dogs and cats...4 dogs and 3 cats.

Joel has a very fetching pair of slippers that he likes to wear around and which scares hell out of my cat.....

Understandable really, isn't it.

Also, I bought fabrics from the Wonderland range which I adore..so lovely and bright.   I've begun working on designing my own quilt with it.  I guess what would be the sensible way to do it would be to draw up a pattern.  But I'm just winging it and sending up a little prayer now and then that it will end up looking okay.

Shortage of space is the main problem at the moment, with nowhere to spread the quilt out.  I guess I'll end up sticking a sheet up on the wall in the hallway so that I can see where I'm going with it.

Then I shall probably have to book a day at my sewing machine.  Andrea is learning to sew on it at the moment and rather loves the novelty of it.  Sooner or later she will have her own machine though.  I'm awfully pleased that at least one of my daughters is learning to sew.

I've Been a Slack Tart

I know I've been a slack tart, cos my adoring fans keep telling me so!  So just to keep you happy for a little longer here are a couple of photos of the quilts I've been working on lately.

The first is one I call the Yoyo quilt for obvious reasons.  I've really enjoyed working with these lovely fresh, bright colours.  Not so enjoyable is sewing on all those yoyo's...in fact I'm thinking it now has all the yoyo's it's going to ever have.

And the other little quilt is one I started after The Gathering last year.  It is quite unusual and I guess I was attracted to it cos I love anything with circles on it.  I used fabrics out of my stash and they've all gone together quite well I think.  So far it is only a top, but I have a new craft table arriving soon, so then I can pin it up and quilt it.

We've had quite a bit of rain the past few months, but today is the first day that it's been heavy enough to prevent me and the dogs from going walking on the beach.  The dogs aren't taking it well, and come to think of it, I feel as though something is missing from my day too.  Hopefully tomorrow we can go again.  And tomorrow Rhyll will be arriving from Canberra for 5 days of holiday in Paradise.

My friend Susie has told me about a delightful little restaurant at Cygnet called Lotus Eaters...so I have made a booking for tomorrow for Rhyll and I to go and enjoy a delicious meal.   I must say, when Rhyll comes to visit, we do go and find some lovely eateries, and always find time to drive to Peppermint Bay for one of their absolutely, fabulously divine muffins.  I guess that will happen on Sunday or Monday.

And next week I go Mecca.  Others may call it the Quilt Show at Darling Harbour, but for me it is Mecca.  Well really, it is mini Mecca...Big Mecca would have to be Houston or Paducah.  Obviously I haven't grovelled at the Alter of Fabric sufficiently for the Grand Poobah to grant me a visit to one of the Big Mecca's yet.  But it WILL happen!  Hopefully while I am still walking :)

Now, I need to go and do a teensy bit of unpicking to get the binding right on my Yoyo quilt, and then I can get on with playing with an even newer quilt that I have on the boil just at the moment.  I'm so attracted to the lovely bright fabrics around these days, so I bought a Layer Cake of Wonderland by Momo, plus some yardage, and now I'm kind of 'designing on the run'...I hope it turns out okay.  When I think of all the patterns I have, why on earth would I decide to design my own???   No...don't answer that!

Update on projects

I haven't actually made a whole lot of progress on any of my current projects, but I did start a new one which I am loving making.  It is a hexagon quilt, but I am using the Inklingo method which is incredibly accurate and fast.  No more fiddling around with papers.  Just put the fabric through the printer and there you have a heap of hexies all beautifully marked on the back of the fabric, ready to cut out and sew along the lines.  A lot of it can be sewn by machine, but I prefer to do it by hand.  But it only requires a running stitch instead of the usual whip stitching.  You can tell I'm enthused can't you! 

So I've just completed the inner part of a quilt for my bed, and here is a photo for you to see.  The inner part is diamonds, and the outer part will be circles of all different shabby colours.

Way back before I started on the hexies I completed block 5 of Breast of Friends.  I'm terribly behind on this project which I also love, but remind myself that it doesn't matter as I have the patterns and the fabric, so can get it done in my own time.  So here is Block 5 which took me absolutely ages to complete!

Cute isn't it!

I thought that I might continue on with Breast of Friends for a while now, but no, I, Myself and Me have decided to do some work on another of my projects that I started a while back.  I only have the borders to do, so maybe I'll just get this little quilt completed now.

I ordered some fabric from Hancocks of Paducah today...jeez I love that store.  If I do one thing before I shift off my mortal coil, it will be to visit that store.  Anyway, the fabric is Momo which I fell in love with when I first saw it, and have been trying to resist ever since.  Well today I weakened, and spent a bit more of Mr Rudd's money.  I know, I was meant to shop in Australia with it, and I have done that for the most part, but this time the USA gets a bit, and heavens knows, it needs it too!

My other news for the past little while is that daughter Rhyll came to stay for 3 weeks of holidays which was just lovely.  We took some short trips, and did daily walks on the dog beach and that three weeks just disappeared so fast!

And in a few more short weeks, I will have my younger daughter Andrea come to stay.  Along with her husband Joel, her 2 dogs and 2 cats.  I have a tiny house, but I'm sure we will all fit in nicely.  I have been busy moving furniture around and re arranging the bedrooms so that everybody will have their own little space.  And there is also the studio out the back that is going to come in handy .  Might need a bit of heating out there though!   We don't know how long the kids will be here, it's all up to the Melbourne City council who so far, have taken almost a year to approve their house plans.  Still waiting..ho hum!  Once the plans are approved, it will be another 3 months while the house is built.  Fortunately Joel can work remotely.

Gone to the dogs

I know!  It's been eons since I last posted.  Life has been busy, but not 'that' busy!  I put it down to the fact that Miss Molly totally objects to me sitting for too long at the computer.  Now that I have realised why I am being so tardy with replying to emails and entering rivetting news on my blog, I shall endeavour to ignore her, and get on with my computer life.

Of course I shall cover the dog news first!

While my friend Susie has been away, I have been having her puppy Labradoodle named Olly (Ollie?) over the play a few times a week.  The three dogs go absolutely nuts for several hours and then they all collapse in a heap.  They are so much fun to watch, but I'm exhausted when play time is over.  So first there is a shot of the dogs hard at play.

It took me a really long time to get a photo of Olly's face as he moves so fast.  But finally I got one slightly fuzzy shot of his very cute face.

When all the play is finished Molly puts a lot of effort into relaxing.

And to cap off a perfect day, I finally was able to take an absolutely gorgeous photo of Ebony where you can actually see her cute little face.  Because she is black, her photo's usually make her look like a lump of coal.

Block 3 Breast Of Friends

At last I've finished Block 3 of this gorgeous quilt.  This block seemed to take me ages, until I remembered I did take a week out to sew dog coats for the dogs living in the Victorian bushfire areas.  The poor things have had to sleep outdoors since the fires and it's getting a tad chilly up in the mountains.  Barb and I made 8 gorgeous coats between us, so by now there will be 8 lucky dogs feeling a whole lot warmer at nights.

Today my car is being serviced, so as I am stuck at home I might as well get going on Block 4 which is totally different, but enjoyable.

The dogs are totally disgusted because, of course, they haven't had their usual romp on the beach...how do you explain to a dog that occasionally the car needs to be serviced.  When I delivered the car I announced to the mechanics that the Yaris Sandpit was all theirs...one look on the back seat and they understood!

It's been a big week this week.  Once a year a person diagnosed with diabetes, no matter how mild, is sent for a battery of tests which measure progress of the disease and its effects on feet, eyes etc.  A total pain in the ass, but there is no getting out of it.
And on top of that, I had a mammogram booked for this week as well.   But so far the news is all good, and if anything my results seem to be improving with time.  So that puts a nice smile on my face.

A Labradoodle Kind of Day

Yesterday I took the girls off to the beach as is usual.  Beautiful day, the kind that just makes you feel glad to be alive.  Unfortunately there were no dogs on the beach.  Up and down we went with not a sign of another dog or it's master.  Huge disappointment written all over Molly's face.  So I figured we could do another lap of the beach and maybe somebody would come along.  We walked right up to the far end of the beach, and when I looked around I could see that there was indeed another dog on the beach.  And then another.

As the first dog and owner approched I saw that it was Toffee and her owner who we had met the previous day.  Toffee is a medium sized labradoodle and much darker brown than Molly is.  But a gorgeous dog and there was great excitement as the two played.  Then along comes another labradoodle and his owner.  This one was Charlie and he was a cream colour and slightly smaller than Molly. It turns out that Molly and Charlie have the same mother.  Well those three dogs (plus Ebony in the mix as well) had themselves the BEST time!  All the way down the beach they cavorted and leaped as only a labradoodle can do.

By the time we reached the end of the beach Molly was actually showing signs of weariness so I slipped on her leash and we headed back to the car.  Ebony has special priviliges (which she gave to herself) and doesn't get put on the lead until we reach the carpark.

As we were crossing the little walking bridge to get across the little river to the car, I came across yet another labradoodle.  This time a cream puppy.  I didn't look at his owner until she spoke and said hello to Molly, and asked if I remembered her.  Of course I did.  A couple of months earlier she met me in the carpark...she had been waiting for me.  She told me that she had just had to have her beloved dog put down and she just wasn't coping without a dog for company.  She said she had really fallen in love with Molly and wondered where I had gotten her.  So I told her, and we had a long talk and then I wished her well, and we parted.

She said she went home and looked up the Labradoodle website and saw that there was this little cream male for sale, the last of the litter.  So off she went up to the north of Tasmania to go and look at him.  And fell in love.   He is absolutely gorgeous and I have to say I wanted to snavell him away from her myself.  She has named him Olly...I guess she named him after Molly... as Molly had taken up such a huge chunk of her heart.   And she is just loving life with Olly so much, she was talking to me about whether she would be doing the right thing in getting another puppy which would arrive when Olly is 6 months old.  I told her to go for it...labradoodles adore canine company.  So as we parted, she was off home to look up the website again.

And this lady, whose name I still don't know, is now such a very happy woman.  And I just can't wait to watch Olly grow up, and then to see his new little buddy.

So yesterday felt like such a very special day...I loved it.  And I really must ask Olly's owner what her name is the next time I see her.

Breast of Friends Block 2

This block seemed to take me ages to complete, but then I did trip off to Melbourne to visit my daughter Andrea and her husband Joel and grandpuppies and grand kitties.  Didn't take my sewing with me as I needed a break from it.

We visited the Melbourne Zoo where Joel took some fabulous photos with his new superdooper camera.  We went into the city one day looking for beads to fuel Andrea's new passion, all things beading.  Unfortunately we only found one shop which was so overpriced that we just walked out.  I found Cleggs and bought 2 metres of a gorgeous burnout fabric to make a skirt.    On another day I bit the bullet and drove in the Melbourne traffic to Eastlands (what a hero hey!).  But it was fine.   Deliberately didn't go to AQC as I didn't want to be tempted to spend money, but have seen many photos, and perhaps I really should have gone along.  The building is amazing, and so were the quilts.  There is always next year.

I was fascinated when being driven around by Joel, with his little digital map thing with the lady telling him where and when to turn.  When I have a few dollars to spare I want to get me one of those...I reckon I would be able to drive even in New York with one of those things :)  Fabulous idea!

To go away, I had to leave the dogs with a puppy minder.  They aren't a large kennel which I would have hated using, but more an attachment to the local dog groomers establishment.  To say the dogs were happy was an understatement.  So now I shall be happy to leave them there any time I need to go away.  Or even if I want to go out for the whole day.  My princesses aren't used to being home alone, so I'll be happy to pay a few dollars to have them babysat.

So finally, here is Block 2

 

It looks all wrinkly in the photo for some reason, but in reality it looks fine.