Spontaneous outing and making room in the quilt cupboard.

 This quilt was one of my first quilts I learnt to make in a class.  It was way back in the mid 90s at a Quilt shop called Quilters Quarters.  This was when country decorating was very popular and this quilt lived on my wall for quite a few years.  It had been hiding out in my quilt cupboard until last week when prompted by our craft themed window at work I decided it was time for it to go.  I found another small quilt that also was an early class piece and took it into the op shop as well.  I donated quite a few ufo's which to start with I wasn't sure if I wanted to part with but after a second look I realised their time had come.  I was very pleased that everything I put in the window found a new home, it's nice to think someone else will find a use for them.

 Recently I've been working on these Ohio star blocks, here's how many I've made so far.  I like the contrast of the black, white and red.  I'm not going to make the quilt as big as the pattern, i'm over little hourglass blocks for the moment.

On Sunday I had a message from a friend in the morning suggesting a spontaneous trip to the country to visit a patchwork shop we'd been wanting to visit for ages.  I like the idea of spontaneity  but I'm not really good at it.  However it didn't take too long for me to ditch my plans for the day and set off.

It was a lovely spring day and we had a very pleasant drive to Ballan to visit Mill Rose Cottage.  We headed straight to the adjoining cafe for a very nice  lunch then  on to what could only be described as quilters heaven.  I'm very glad my fabric addiction is mostly under control, the fabric range was huge but it wasn't just a great range of fabrics there were lots of books and wool and interesting notions as well.  As you can see I came home with a variety of goodies, there's no point driving all the way there and not showing them some support is there?

I first saw the lovely crochet scarf at the shops' stand at the Quilt Convention in Melbourne 2 years ago.   I couldn't resist any longer and as you can see I started crocheting it Sunday night.  I am finding the instructions a tiny bit challenging, I'm sure I'll figure it out eventually.  Some lovely wool fabrics, a couple of threads, needles only one piece of cotton fabric and a patchwork book completed my haul.

On the home front it was Jacks birthday last week and this week it's my Mums turn.  Aleisha has gone to Thailand for 12 days with some friends to celebrate her 21st birthday that was in August.  It's Aleisha's first overseas holiday I'm sure she's having a great time.  Jack is housesitting for his sister so I'm in for another couple of quiet weeks at home.  No excuses for not getting stuck into some projects!

Till next time Happy Stitching

Debra.

String piece finish.

 It's so nice to finish something, here's Harry modelling my latest finish!  Day or night he's on call for any photographic work whether he's asked or not.  I free motion quilted this on my machine, not very well but at least its finished.  The backing was given to me by a friend and is a great match for the front I think.  I found the binding in my stash and really like the contrast of the black with all the brights.  Very satisfying to use some of my stash too.

Here's a better photo of the quilt.  I really love making string quilts and want to start another one soon.  I've got heaps more strings waiting to be used too.

Today was very exciting, I bought myself a new laptop cause I was so fed up with my old one not working properly.  Now I'll be able to get back to more regular posts I hope.

I've had another major reorganisation of my sewing room, this time I took some of my fabric storage out and bought myself a new desk to make more working space, its really great now.  My biggest challenge now is which project to work on first.  I'm still hand quilting my Pink Lemonade quilt, I don't think I'll ever get it finished but I'll keep working on it anyway.

Happy stitching,

Debra.