Scrappy Star Quilt

Not much sewing this week so I thought I'd show a couple of my collections.I love my pink depression glass collection.  The pink glass  isn't easy to find so its always exciting to get a new piece.

I wanted to change the quilt on my quilt hanger.   But first I had to remove everything off my sideboard and then dust.  Then rearrange and put away some of my things.  I keep telling myself I need to downsize but then I'll see something that I can't live without and my  collections end up a bit crowded.  It sure looks nice when its dusted. 


I love the scrappy reds and creams in this quilt.  Scrappy quilts are definitely my favourites.  Need to stop buying full fabric ranges cause quilts in one range aren't the quilts I like to make.....Need to stop buying fabric altogether.  One day.





I also can't resist a cruet set.  I'm partial to any cut glass or crystal and I've got a few of these now.  They remind me of having dinner at my Grandparents house when I was a young girl.  My Grandmother had a little dish with salt and a tiny little spoon to use with the salt, a very novel idea.  Then there was the dish of butter curls, haven't seen them for a long time.  Does anyone curl butter any more?

I have some of my seed beads stored in the little shakers.   Aren't they cute?

Some more progress on my crocheted hexagons.  I think I've got about 5 more rows to do.  It seems to have taken more time to make than my granny square rug.  Its still fun though.

I did get a start on my first applique border for my jubilee quilt.  Might manage a photo next time. 

Bye for now

Debra.

Cupcake Party

Hi there, I had a very enjoyable afternoon today.  Harry and I were invited by a friends daughter Emily to a cupcake party to raise money for the RSPCA.  

 It is the first time Harry has met another Spoodle,  after a wary introduction  they were soon running around playing and having a great time.   That's Harry on the left and Max on the right.  All four dogs had a great time running around playing.  It was very entertaining, they were all very cute to watch.

Max didn't want to share the water bowl with anyone else.  Isn't he adorable?  On the right are Bailey, a very handsome Cockerspaniel cross and Sparky, Emily's Pugalier.  Sparky sure lives up to her name, she's non stop run run run.

Here are the lovely cupcakes Emily made for afternoon tea.  I had a chocolate choc chip cupcake it was delicious.  I never met a choc chip I didn't like!

One of Emily's friends wins the award for most interesting pet, she brought along her six month old Ferret.  She was really quite cute, if a bit hard to photograph in her cage.  She couldn't come out of her cage cause Max got really scared when she first arrived and barked for about 15 minutes.

 At one stage Harry fell into the garden, he might have been pushed....

 Last night I finally got the last 2 sides of the inner border sewed on.  What do you think?  It's only taken me about 4 months to get this far with this border.

This morning I had a very exciting time.  I was checking out my facebook page and saw that Bonnie Hunter had her webcam on and was streaming live while she sewed.  I'm sure everyone is familiar with Bonnie and her Quiltville site.  She has only been streaming live for a week and I didn't know if I was ever going to see it. 

Yes, I am a total quilt nerd!!

I spent the rest of the morning watching Bonnie sew while I sewed along as well.  Luckily I had trimmed more of my string blocks last night so I stitched the white and black corners onto them.  Here they are on my design wall below.

The absolute highlight of my morning was when Bonnie had a break for a few minutes I sent her a comment on her Quiltville blog.  When she came back and stopped stitching for a few moments she read out and answered a few of the comments.  I was watching when she read my comment out!!  It was so cool and so amazing.  I'm in my sewing room in Melbourne Australia and she's in her sewing room in North Carolina America and she's reading out loud something I wrote minutes earlier.  The internet is awesome!!!

I just love her scrap quilts and her whole quilting philosophy.  She is incredibly generous with her ideas and has a lot of fabulous patterns you can use on her website.  I got her latest book in the mail last week and there are a few quilts calling my name.

Must go now, I think bed is calling my name.


Bye for now,

Debra.

Busy week

Hi there, here are some of the pages from the photo album I made for Aleisha's birthday last week.  She was such a beautiful baby, but I might be biased!  I was very happy cause she really loved it.  It was so much fun to do and brought back so many memories of those years.  I really can't believe it was 20 years ago, the time goes so quickly.  I've got plans to do a few more albums in the future.

 

 We had a very nice dinner out at the local Mexican restaurant with my parents.  I even had a Wicked Woman Margarita! Yummm.

My week has been very busy, I usually only work 2 days but have worked 4 days this week.  I'm always happy to get some extra work, helps pay my fabric debt.hahaha

I brought this great cat scratcher/play centre home this week.  This is Dougal inside the cat cave and Ruby investigating, they seemed to enjoy playing and scratching on it.  It fits in a corner of the kitchen perfectly.    You can tell these guys aren't spoilt at all can't you?

Here's Harry after a visit to the vet to get his sore paw fixed.  He is quite fond of lying with his head hanging over the edge of the couch.  He is such a sook but he did behave very well while the vet did his examination and while he got his paw bandaged.

I took him back tonight to get the bandage cut off, I decided I'd rather the vet did it.  Harry was very patient and stood still while it was cut off and his foot seems back to normal.

I've eased up on crocheting for a while cause my little finger was starting to get sore again.  I have done a few more leaves on my applique borders, and finished a few more string blocks.  I'm hoping I might get some stitching done over the weekend.  I might have more to show you next time. 

Happy Stitching

Debra.

Show and Tell Journal

 This fabulous journal was made by a friend of mine who wants to remain anonymous.  She's very camera shy but gave me the go ahead to show her work all the same.  I think Ms A has done a brilliant job with the journal.  It uses lots of vintage pieces that she has saved over the years and some she has been given or bought online as well. 

Every page is full of interesting quirky pieces.  The family photos haven't been added yet so it isn't finished but it will be a wonderful family keepsake when it is.  It would be hard to choose a favourite page, there are some great old photos, pockets to put things in, old envelopes and tickets.  Lots of work to put it all together which Ms A has done beautifully. 

 I did love the photo on this page of the two ladies out shopping, with the caption above it- shop till you drop.  That's one some of us can relate to!! 

I think its great to be able to have a go at lots of different creative projects and this type of mixed media is very exciting.  Finding the time to do everything is our greatest challenge don't you agree?

On my design wall are the blocks that I have made so far from my leftover strings.  I like them so far, I cut a selection of white and black prints for the corners those big black spots really stand out don't they?  Next time I'll show you some photos of the photo album that I made for Aleisha's birthday.  I finished it early which is quite an achievement for me.  It was fun to do I sure hope she likes it as much as I enjoyed doing it for her. 

Happy Stitching

Debra.