Friday Night Sew In.

Well, after many Friday night false starts, I finally managed to sew during FNSI.  I can't tell you how food that felt.  As they say, the best laid plans.... and all that.
Anyway, nothing stood in my way tonight and I sewed.  DVD's in the background- managed to get through 2 movies.  The original Fame from 1980, and then the re-make in 1990.  I remembered the series from the '80's , it was fairly light hearted.  The original was anything but, and put a sombre tone on the night until the remake.  Then finished up with some tried and true West Wing.  I love watching things I've seen before so I don't have to watch or listen really, just noise in the background.
Anyway,  I managed to make a dent in the blocks for Roll Roll Cotton Boll , the mystery by Bonnie K Hunter from November last year.

Thank goodness I got some time in on those blocks, they've been taking over my sewing table since November.  Couldn't pack them up because I was "going to work on them."  LOL.

Then to finish off the night, a little light hand sewing.  My "Anna" quilt by Karen Cunningham is slowly getting somewhere. 

Fourth border is under construction as we speak.  Then its some more applique on a lovely large border and finished!  Sounds good in theory.  should take me to Christmas.  LOL.

Well, off to make a Cup of tea and survey the damage that was my kitchen.  After 17 years of on again off again renovating, I can almost start to make out the light at the end of the tunnel.  Currently have no kitchen as such.  DH is plastering the walls before laying some lovely floorboards.  In about a month the nice kitchen making man will turn up and put in my new cupboards and  benchtops.  Roll on installation is all I can say.  Thanks goodness I've got sewing to do!
Gorgeous Autumn day here, hope your weather is equally kind.

Well, the first part of this little hexagon quilt is finally finished.  Little pieces, lots of sides, lots of stitching.  This is the centre panel.

I really like the blue background.  It's a bit out of my comfort zone, I usually use something in a cream/ tan/coffee colour.

Have I told you that all those hexagons are 1/2"!!  LOL.
I've decided that I hate pulling out the basting threads.
So, on to the next bit- the coffin border.  I think this will go a bit more quickly.  It's just straight hand piecing.  The centre is surrounded with a border of these shapes, 3 deep. 

Then a wide border with a little bit of applique, and a final small border.  And it's finished.
Thanks goodness. because it's taking all my effort not to start 1 of 2 new projects that are calling to me like Sirens. 
I have the pattern, and all the fabric and threads to start the mystery quilt in "Vignette" magazine.  And I am also following and salivating over a free mystery quilt designed by Esther Aliu called Hearts Desire. Esther's quilt is all applique- my favourite, and the first two months worth are lovely.
It's taking all my strength to just look at the fabric for each of these projects and leave it where it is on the shelf. 

I've received Issue 2 of Vignette yesterday.  Imagine my delight to discover that there is a blog dedicated to the mystery quilt that is in each issue.  great to see what everyone is doing , and look at the very different fabrics they're stitching.
If you're very quick, Perri is running a give away of fabric on the blog.

Yes, I have the fabric for the mystery. It's gorgeous- light  and bright.   It's "set aside"  (LOL)  ready when I finish a couple of other things.
Oh Dear!

I've been working on sewing the little 1/2" border hexagons around each of the blocks that I'd completed in my earlier post.  It's quite therapeutic- not hard to sew, just lots of it. And lots, and lots!  Who knew there were so many edges on a hexagon!  LOL. 

I'll be glad when this centre is finished so I can move on to the coffin borders.  I've started cutting them out, but haven't jumped to that yet. 
This quilt will come together quite quickly once this and the pieced border is finished, Yayy.
I ordered some templates for fussy cutting 1/2" hexagons and 1 1/4" diamonds from Kim Bradley at
Kim Bradley Creations. 

They're the cutist little things.  I was telling my DH about my gorgeous new little templates when his eyes lit up.  He loves my yellow quilting rulers, and I've been looking for a small one that is metric for him to use in his shed.  Well, turns out that Kim Bradley's DH will make templates to order.  A quick email and "Bobs your uncle", yellow rulers on their way here.  Dave did a wonderful job on the rulers and was extremely obliging.   I'm the best thing since sliced bread according to my DH.

Oh, and we welcomed a new member of the family 2 weeks ago.  She's gorgeous, and fitting in very well.

Daisy is about 18 months old, and a bit of a mixture of Jack Russell terrier, Pug, and a bit of Dachshund I think.  Very friendly and best of all- toilet trained all ready. 

Gosh, doesn't the time just fly by when you're not looking?
I've slowly been working on some more of my Summer School project.  I'm getting quite used to stitching 1/4" hexagons together.  I've finished the 9 centre blocks, these will be stitched onto a centre panel, and now I'm moving onto the border of coffin shapes to go around the centre panel.

I received a copy of Vignette recently.  Besides lots of eye candy, it also has some lovely projects.  I was particularly drawn to a mystery block of the month.   I sourced the fat quarters of "Sweet Broderie" by Rosalie Quinlan, and some Lecien Basics fabrics.  The quilt has embroidery in Cosmo threads on linen intermingled with the blocks.  Today I received my parcel of threads from Gum Valley Patchwork near Warrnambool.
Such lovely thread, such beautiful colours.   Lucky me, Linda even popped a couple of extra threads into the parcel.

The colours in this fabric are so fresh and yummy.

Just to bring me back to earth, I've actually been spending quite a bit of time altering school uniforms for the start of the school year.  What a waste of good sewing time- taking up hems!  LOL.

Slowly moving on....

to my new projects.
I've been working away slowly on the centre blocks of my latest project- "Anna" designed by Karen Cunningham.  I didn't get stressed at all whilst away at summer school, thinking that I had to get great amounts of sewing done in 4 days.  We had 2 projects to start, so I just took it easy and in "Summer Speed", stitched my way along into the 2 projects at a leisurely pace. 

 I just need to make some more 1/2" hexagons to join these 9 blocks, then I can applique them to my centre fabric.  Feels very therapeutic, just sitting quietly sewing hexagons.
I love summer holidays.  The kids are home, no rushing, no activities.  Well except for the weather.  We've just started having seriously hot summer weather.  I think yesterday reached 40 deg C, and today was slated for high 30's.  I've been hibernating inside with the air conditioning.  The rest of the week is looking like mid to high 30's too,  I'm not complaining- it is summer after all, but school is about to start this week, a nice warm welcome back for the kids!
Besides the obligatory dentist visit and hair cut appointment before they go back, I've also been having fun today covering school books.  Oh dear- it takes so long, and if I get myself stuck to a book again I'm going to have a quiet drink in the corner. LOL.

Two boxes full,but no good novels for me!  But I do love the smell of new books and stationary.

A busy time...

has been happening around here lately.
It's summer school holidays, but unfortunately the weather isn't really co-operating.  The DD's are enjoying sleeping in, in the mornings and so am I.
It's the time of year when the fruit trees go into production.
I have a young apricot tree that loves to produce lots of beautiful fruit.  Apricots usually ripen all together although this year with the milder weather the fruit has ripened over a longer period.  However, I have managed to make 7.5 kg of apricots into jam in the last few days.

A taste of summer all through the year.
I recently went to the annual Summer School in Wodonga run by Patchwork on Stonleigh.  Although the actual classes ran from January 7 to 16, I attended from 13 to 16th January.
This is the third year that I've been, and I'm very sorry to say that it will be my last.  The local shop which runs the school-"Patchwork on Stonleigh"- is closing shortly.  A fantastic little store run by very friendly and knowledgeable ladies, their closing will leave a huge hole in the availability of soft reproduction fabrics and a perfectly eclectic mix  of others.
I chose to take part in a class with Karen Cunningham from Sydney.  A lovely teacher who designs reproduction English style quilts.

Those little hexagons are 1/2", sooo tiny.  This quilt is throw size so I'm hoping it will actually get finished this year. 

I also took part in a class with Susan Smith.  A lovely teacher who is so giving with her knowledge and expertise.

This is so sweet in the flesh, so to speak.  Soft colours.

The top block, minus its centre, took nearly 5 hours to cut out each piece then hand piece it together!         The square in a square block needs another round of triangles, but was so quick to cut out and sew in comparison.    I also picked up a pattern of another quilt that I've loved for quite a time.  No pics of that yet, but soon.  A little bit of handwork to keep me busy!