Swan Lake, Klosjes & My Favourite Annual Visitors

I have been working this week on Swan Lake and finally, after a major hiccup due to me not reading my class notes properly, I have the borders joined together - Yay!!!!

I have also been making some more hexagons for the 2nd border and the one above is my favourite for this week.

Due to my monumental stuff up, I have only completed two Klosjes this week.  This brings my total to 69 and I am going to make at least one more tonight so I reach 70!

The Currawongs have arrived this week.  I think they are a little bit early but I am thankful that they have returned.  There was a mob of them in the trees around our home and I love hearing them call each other in the mornings.  They are fascinating to watch and they seem to perform a relay amongst the trees with each other.  I think the one drinking out of the bird feeder is a young one because he is a lot greyer than the others.

The weather has finally turned and we have had lots of rain in the last 24 hours,, which our garden desperately needs, and it is perfect for spending the rest of the weekend inside stitching.  Wherever you are I hope you are having a lovely weekend too.

Sue-Anne xxx

Klosjes, Buddy & Winton

Klosjes reporting two days late! 

We headed off to Winton on Saturday to watch Nic drifting and I took a sewng bag full of prepped Klosjes and hexagons.  It was a beautiful sunny day and thought it would be perfect sitting in the sun sewing.  Guess what!  I didn't even open the sewing bag.  I do this ALL the time, I think I will get heaps done but NO, it never happens.  So yesterday, I sat in my chair for most of the afternoon stitching Klosjes so that I could show something for the week.  I have made 6, bringing my total to 67.

Speaking of Winton, we took Buddy along for the day.  Here he is sitting trackside.  When we first arrived I thought I had made a huge mistake bringing him.  He was terrified of all the noise and his tail was down and he wanted to go straight back to the car.  After a little while he settled down, but I wont be putting him through that again.  At least I got lots of cuddles with him as all he wanted was Moi, his mum.

We sat in the perfect spot, near the end of the straight as the cars start heading into a sharp corner.  We saw three smashes, all of them in front of us and the picture above was the worst.  Thankfully no drivers were injured but the damage to their cars was heartbreaking.  They put so much time and money into getting the cars right for drifting.  Nic didn't have a very good day - he had tyre issues, but it's all a learning curve for him and he will know better next time.  They had 85 cars entered and most of them travel up from Melbourne as I believe Winton is the only track in Victoria that will let them Drift.   It is certainly very exciting to watch.

And here is my little boy all tuckered out after his big trip to the races!

Sue-Anne xxx

Quick Finish & Inspirational Blogs

I was needing  a bit of a "Finish Quick Fix" and when I saw Jan's new little quilt, I knew this would be perfect.

After a couple of "black" purchases, and a little dive into the stash ....

This is the finished little quilt.  It took very little time to make, once the fabric choices were made and I have a piece of Blackbird Designs sampler print in black somewhere in the stash that I will use for the backing.

The internet is a very dangerous place for me.  There is so much to see and be inspired by.  I have been mesmerized by all the beautiful work that is being done by my Dutch blogging friends (which are listed on my blog list), and in particular, a quilt called Pockets of Posies by Anni Downs of Hatched & Patched.

With a click of the mouse and a couple of pushes on the buttons of the phone, I finally weakened and ordered the pattern. 

10 little packets of goodness arrived today.

Sue-Anne xxx

Better Late Than Never

I have finally got around to doing the post I was going to do all day yesterday.  I have cut out some Dollies for Swan Lake and will start to applique them this week.  I still need to cut out and attach the arms and lots of other little pieces to fill it in.  A huge task ahead of me but one that I am looking forward to.

I have made 5 Klosjes this week, bringing my total to 61.

I received this huge parcel in the mail on Friday from Elizabeth.  I was very lucky and won a giveaway on her blog.

 

This is what was inside the wrapping.  Lots of wonderful threads in all different colours, lots of patterns and lots of pink and blue fabric that was especially chosen for my hexagons.  I feel so overwhelmed by your generousity Liz.  Thank you so much.  I have already used a couple in my Klosjes and have cut out several to cover hexagons.  Liz's blog is wonderful and please go and say hello.  She does the most amazing needlework and has some yummy recipes on there as well. 

This is a photo of my Mum and Dad.  We celebrated Mum's 80th Birthday on Saturday night in Benalla.  We had a wonderful time out to dinner with all the family, and it was so nice to have a meal with our 3 children, they are so busy living their own lives that it is hard to get them all together at once.  Of course we ate far too much, and the Mississippi Mud cake was divine.

Hope everyone has had a good weekend.

Sue-Anne xxx

Show & Tell and a Kitchen Mishap

This is Helen's quilt that she made for her son's 18th out of brown and blue reproductions.  It is called Walnut Hill and is a pattern from Patchwork on Stonleigh.

On Friday we helped Michelle make a quilt for her parents' 50th wedding anniversary.  We managed to get all the stars sewn, then attached the sashing strips.  Michelle finished it off over the next couple of days and sent us progress photos of it. 

The quilt was made using an old 3 Sisters range called Wuthering Heights and she was lucky enough to find meterage for the border.

This is the Disappearing 9 patch from last post.  It is my mother's 80th birthday on Saturday and I made this for her.  The binding is stitched down and the label has been signed by all the kids and attached to the back.

Our eldest son, Christopher celebrated his 26th birthday on the weekend.  I decided I would make him a giant cupcake.  I have a special tin to make it with and it requires a double quantity of cake batter.  The above picture is how it looks.  I chose to make Chocolate Ganash icing to put on the top.  This pic below is the end result.....

I was worried about burning it and decided it was cooked (it looked like it was) and stupidly I didn't stick a skewer in to check.  I thought there was something amiss when it took a while to lift out of the tin.  To my horror, there was a massive hole in the centre of the bottom layer and it wasn't cooked all the way through.  I had already used a whole packet of chocolate for the icing, so I decided to cut up the cooked bits and ice them with the ganash.  This was at 4pm and as I was about to put the roast in the oven, I didn't have time to make another cake.  Thank God for the Cheesecake Shop is all I can say.

The weather has been really cold but beautiful sunny days and we have been sitting outside in the afternoon to warm up with the sun.  This is my guard dog Buddy.  He was concentrating very hard listening for the dog next door, ready to chase him up and down the fence line with his ferocious bark!

Milo, on the other hand, was quite content to lay in the sun and have a rest.  This photo was taken with my iphone.  Turned out pretty good I think.

Sue-Anne xxx

Swan Lake, Klosjes & Happy Mothers Day

This week has seen me working on Swan Lake.  After seeing Dancing Dollies at the AQC last week, I was inspired to really get into it.  This is one section out of nine.

I have finished appliqueing the stars and most of the hexagons.  There is more to add but at least I have made a start.

Whilst looking through my little pile of hexagons, I discovered that I needed more blue so, off I went to Patchwork on Stonleigh and came home with some more beautiful fat eighths.

This is another pattern I purchased at AQC from the girls at The Quilted Crow.  Have I mentioned this is one of my favourite stalls to visit each year.  They have the most wonderful wool and they are the nicest girls.  It arrived on Friday in the mail and I made a start on it yesterday.

This is another project near completion.  This quilt is a gift and Rose from Pandora Quilting had it ready for me to pick up yesterday.  I now have to attach the binding and will show you a photo of it all laid out when it is finished.  It is a Disappearing 9 Patch.  Can you see the dragonfly quilted in the lower left hand corner?

And last but not least, my Klosjes report for the week or should I say for the fortnight).  I have made 6 more little darlings, bringing my total to 56!

I would like to wish everyone a Happy Mother's Day.  I hope your family spoils you all with chocolates and no cooking dinner tonight!!

Sue-Anne xxx

More AQC & a Package in the Mail

Here are some more pics from the AQC

Kim McLean was the featured artist and her quilts were magnificent.  This one is called Lollypop tree.  The colours are so vibrant!

The Rosebuck Quilt Redone 2001

Turkish Tiles

Stars & Sprigs

All Of Kim McLean's quilts were magnificent and I was so grateful to see them "in the flesh".

This quilt is called Trinity Hall by Susanne Cody, another famous Australian quilter.  I loved this quilt for many reasons, one of which is how she has displayed the beautiful toile fabric in the centre.

I loved how Susanne Cody used little hexagons for her initials in the quilt.

I am just starting to get into fussy cutting and I found it interesting how quilters can see something in a piece of fabric that will create a stunning piece of applique like the flower above.

Ancient Watercourse by Gloria Loughman.  This quilt was the Rajah Winner in 2009

These are my purchases that I came home with, the most special being the V & A Museum book.

And this yummy parcel arrived for me on Tuesday.  I won a prize from Mayleen.  She had a guessing competition on her blog regarding an old hexagon quilt and I won!  Thank you Mayleen, it was great fun.

Well this has been another mammoth post for me.  Some people (Howard & Nic!) in this house have been watching far too many U Tube videos and as a result have used up all our download credit and we have been slowed down.  It has taken nearly two hours to upload these photos but not to worry, I have been stitching some of Swan Lake while waiting.

Sue-Anne xxx