Where Has the Year Gone????

There has been a lot happening since my last post, which has been way too long ago so I have created some collages of shots taken throughout the year.   

Margaret Sampson George Exhibition in March was unbelievable!  Her students are so talented and it was pure joy looking at all these works of art.

April was a very special month.  We commemorated the 100th Anniversary of Gallipoli and the ANZACS and I had the honour of taking my father to Melbourne to march with his grandson and his Squadron from WWII.

I had a lovely couple of days in Sydney in June.  I went to the Sydney Quilt Show, finally got to visit Quiltsmith, had a couple of devine dinners with  Nic and Brooke, and a bit of shopping in the heart of the city.

I made this quilt for Brooke's birthday in August out of lots of bright fabrics - not like me at all but I'm so impressed with how it turned out, I want to make another one!

I haven't really got a lot of Show & Tell.  Most of my sewing time has been spent working on Stonefields ( top right)  I have about six more hexagon flowers to go and then I can sew on the final two borders and it will be finished.  I have had to be very strong and try not to start anything new until its finished. 

There has been a bit of baking going on this year.  Michelle made me a profiterole cake (complete with Sparklers) for my birthday and my dear dad turned 90 in November and was most impressed with the Ginger Fluff Sponge that I made for him.  There have been several pavlovas made over the festive season too.

 

 

Our Christmas breakup for the Aspect Sewing Group proved to be once again a feast of Show & Tell from some very talented ladies. 

Of course the real feast was very good too!

One of the most important days of the year was Evie's birthday.  She turned two this month and she is the most precious little girl, we love her to the moon and back xox

 I can't believe Christmas has come and gone already and I hope everyone had a great time with family and friends.  For the first time in a very long time, we went out for Christmas, to my son's home and it was really really nice to sit back and relax for the day.

Buddy and I want to wish you all a very Happy, Safe and Prosperous New Year and hopefully won't be too long between posts next year.............

Sue-Anne xox

Continuing On .....

From where I left off

 I think one of the most exciting things I have done this year is attend a Margaret Sampson George (MSG) class.  I came away with my head spinning of wonderful "elements" like rabbits and Margagons.  Above is my "wheel" which will one day turn into a quilt, when I can settle on what I want to do - so many options!!!

If you ever get the opportunity to attend a MSG class, I 100% recommend it.

  I have also made another bag.  This is a pattern by Shelley at Skellywag Sewing School.  

I finally finished "Soot & Ashes", I love handquilting straight lines with sulky thread.

I have added another couple of borders onto Hertfordshire but have now come to a standstill until I cut out all the fabrics for the next pieced borders.

I'm still working on St Neot's and getting closer to finishing it.  The photo doesn't do it justice, it is so pretty with lots of the French General Pom Pom de Paris range.

Most of my sewing time has been taken up with Stonefields BOM.  I have been trying to keep up to date and so far so good.  Fingers crossed I continue........

I've been to Sydney a couple of times this year and in April I went to see Strictly Ballroom.  We stayed at Coogee and whilst there saw the filming of "Wonderland".  It was quite interesting and a LOT of mucking around just to get one small scene filmed.  I don't know what the locals think of them taking over half their beach on a regular basis.

We celebrated Buddy's 8th birthday in June.  He was sick for two weeks with a cold and boy was he miserable!  I'm pleased to say he is back to his old adorable little self again.

This little cherub has been taking up a lot of our time too.  She is just the sweetest little girl and is now six months old - where does the time go???

Here she is with her daddy (our son) last weekend on a trip away.

I went to the Melbourne Quilt Show on Thursday.  What a day that was!  We caught the train down and because of "signalling" issues it took six hours from the time we got on at Wodonga till the time we walked out of Southern Cross Station.  We also had to be back earlier than normal at the station so it didn't leave us a lot of time for shopping.  I did have a quick wander through a couple of arcades in the city before heading to the quilt show and just had to stop and take a photo of  Hopetoun Tea Rooms window.  If I went in, I may never have come out!

I did make a couple of purchases at the quilt show but really didn't have too much time to ponder, probably a good thing  money wise (will leave me with more to spend in Sydney!)

I took some photos of quilts but not all of them, and will share a couple that caught my eye with you.

Boston Rhapsody by Janet Holland

I love the centre of this quilt

Alexander Henry by Margaret Ryan

Whimsical Whistler by Shelley Kelly

Baltimore by Sylvia Grant

The Gift by Helen Hayes 

(in memory of her mum)

I didn't get the name of the lady that made this quilt but I loved it.  It is an Ann Daggs reproduction and I really love the colours that the maker has used.

This is the Melbourne Wheel and it looked really pretty lit up with a changing colours light display.  I worked out that the travel time was as long as if I drove to Sydney and back in one day, all for 4 hours at the quilt show and shopping.  It was good fun in the train though as lots of us knew each other through our love of quilting.

Sue-Anne xxx

What Do You Do When It's Too Hot To Do Anything?

I pulled out my box of Klosjes (It's amazing what you find when you clean out the cupboard) and joined them all together.  I will put a couple of borders around it and call it finished.

I pieced some blocks together for Hertfordshire.  This will be the next border on from the little hexagons.

Start a new quilt, this one is called Stonefields by Susan Smith.  A very large quilt with lots and lots of beautiful handpieced and appliqued  blocks and hexagon flowers.

Of course, why start one new quilt when you can start two!  The Chapman Coverlet, based on the original at the V & A Exhibition in Brisbane, also by Susan Smith.  

This is the centre for the Chapman Coverlet, an antique piece of fabric I bought at Quilts in the Barn last year.

I haven't actually started a third quilt yet, but I am amassing quite a large pile of fabric for a particular quilt which I am going to try and NOT START until I finish something else! 

Of course, when you are amassing fabric, there are always other pieces of fabric that have to come home with you - these are from Threadbear yesterday.  We had our first CAG meeting for the year.  Unfortunately there are no photos today as most of Show & Tell will be on display here:

If you can get to this exhibition, I'm sure you will not be disappointed.  There will be lots and lots of beautiful appliqued quilts for you to feast your eyes upon.

Beautiful little Evie coped just fine throughout our worst summer that I can remember.  Nothing like a full belly to relax our little cherub.

Thankfully it has been a little cooler this week and hopefully we have seen the last of the extreme heat.  Now all we need is some rain please.

Sue-Anne xxx

(Lesley - took me all afternoon to try and remember how to change my header photo, hope you like it xxx)