Mary Poppins

Mary Poppins is one of my favourite musicals.  There is so much to love about this show - the dancing is so fantastic, great singing.  T was very excited for "Step in Time" and the tap dancing was brilliant.  Everyone is the show was outstanding.

First saw this musical in Melbourne in 2011 - Mum, Elizabeth, Jenni and I had a lovely few days trip.  This new version of the show is even better I think.  Wore my pink shoes.

After a couple of weeks of no sewing, I turned on the machine over the weekend and have commenced sewing "Blueberry Kisses" blocks together.  This will be a fairly large quilt when it's done.

Received a parcel from Sarah (Patchworks Plus) late last week containing to two quilts.  The small version of Pretty Birds

and another quilt that is a present so can't be shown yet.  Black fabric sure catches threads and dust.  I'll need to spend some time with the lint roller.

Also received a fat quarter bundle of Camille Roskelley's new fabric range - "Nantucket Summer".  So many pretty fabrics.

I have plans for two quilts using the blues - the greens can go into the stash.

Mixed Bag

I seem to be jumping from one project to another these days - suits my state of mind.

A few weeks ago I cut out the pieces to make "Blueberry Kisses" blocks.  The quilt consists of cross and nine patch blocks with scrappy sashings and posts between the on point set blocks.  The cross blocks were sewn up over a few days

and also the nine patches

along with the scrappy setting triangles.

A friend saw these photos on Instagram and asked if she could buy the quilt but she would like it much bigger than the pattern size.  So, more cutting this week.

One of my dearest friends moved to England over 40 years ago to attend the London Cordon Bleu Cookery School, met her husband and has lived there ever since.  She became a grandma for the first time 10 days ago.  I had a pile of squares cut from Jocelyn Proust fabrics and some teal solid in the cupboard - perfect for another Bradley Street quilt to celebrate the little baby girl's Australian heritage.  A very quick quilt top to put together.  It's going to Jenny today for quilting.

Feathers is another customer quilt.  FigTree Fabrics suit this design very well.  The customer chose the border fabric.  The quilt, along with Electrolite, is now with Karen for quilting.

I am slowly making a quilt for Little H - Dinosaurs designed by Elizabeth Hartman.  Boy there's a lot of cutting out with these blocks.  The pattern is so well-written with very clear diagrams and the blocks come together easier than I anticipated.  This Brachiosaurus is my first dinosaur.  There are four types of dinosaurs in the quilt and six blocks of each type.

There has been a fair bit of lockdown shopping over the last few weeks - mainly fabrics for quilt backings.  I've been looking for some more storage boxes for The Pink Room and came across these from Ikea.  The smaller boxes are the perfect size to hold a fat quarter bundle.

The larger boxes are too long to fit into the wall units but they fit very well under the cutting table.

Looks like the wall units need a good sort out next but first I have a "secret-sewing" cot quilt to make for a special baby born on Tuesday.

Kaleidoscope

The binding on "Kaleidoscope" was stitched down last week.  This quilt pattern is from Emma Mary Designs and I loved it as soon as I saw it on Instagram.   The fabulous backing is a fine cotton and so lovely - would make a beautiful top.

There are 200 different floral fabrics in the quilt top.

Jenny, AngelCake Quilting stitched Bauhaus Baby on Kaleidoscope - it's a lovely design against all the triangle points.

Karen, Quilting on the Coast, will be visiting this week and is bring my Hourglass a Day quilt

along with a fat quarter bundle and bolt of new Bonnie and Camille fabrics - "Sunday Stroll" - I have plans for these fabrics.

Shining Brightly

"Shining Brightly" was cut out in August 2019 and finished on Tuesday night.  This is a Thimble Blossoms design and has been made using Bonnie and Camille's "Early Bird" range - not my favourite of their fabric ranges but it looks good in this quilt pattern.

Jenny, from AngelCake Quilting, quilted it with Baptist Clams and this design looks great in all the white spaces.

Karen, Quilting on the Coast, has been busy working on a few of my recent finishes.  Two cot quilts:

"Crosswalk Charm" table topper

"Aviatrix Medallion" (excited about this one coming back)

and "Lemon Meringue"

Lots of binding over the next few weeks - think I'll ask Mum to sew down the bindings on the cot quilts.

All the various components are finished for "Checkerboards and Stars"

and Thursday night I sewed a couple of rows together.  FigTree and Co fabrics are so lovely, especially the neutral colours like the text fabric in the checkerboards, the spot in the sashings and the taupe in the sashing stars.

Over the past few weeks I've done a lot of internet shopping to re-stock my stash.  An Instagrammer had a destash of Alison Glass fabric and low volume backgrounds, so I was lucky enough to be able to buy a fair amount of what she had for sale.  I finally caught up on a sew-along that started in January (I'm only 6 months late) to make Jen Kingwell's "Gypsy Wife" quilt.

I've also bought 2 more Jen Kingwell Collective patterns to make (one day).  I love these designers' way of putting such a huge variety of mis-matched fabrics together - they look so fabulous.

Working from home and the office during the last couple of weeks.

Little Sweetheart stayed over last night and I'll be spending tomorrow with Gulliver.  Dinner and trivia with friends tonight, so it's turned into a fun weekend.

A Visitor

Karen came to visit yesterday afternoon and brought some new fabrics for my FigTree collection.  This is the next quilt I'd like to start - my version is going to be scrappy and multi-coloured.  The taupe floral is for the inner border between the nine-patch stars, the spot is for the sashings between the star blocks and the text is for the background of the checkboard blocks.

Karen took 5 quilts home with her for quilting, including Aviatrix Medallion.  So happy with how this quilt turned out and am looking forward to seeing it finished.

The backing is from Spotlight.

Since finishing the Aviatrix Medallion quilt top, I've been making good progress on "Long Time Gone".

Flying Geese Blocks

60 Degree Blocks

The Quilt Top so far

The blank spaces in the quilt top are to be filled with Pineapple Blocks and Checkerboard Filler Blocks.  There are 16 Foundation Paper Pieced Pineapple Blocks to be made and I made a practice one out of Bonnie and Camille scraps

before making the first out of my Alison Glass fabrics.

Pineapple Block

Recently I've made some Pineapple Blocks using Marti Mitchell templates but, for me, the foundation-pieced blocks turned out much better.  Either way, they are fiddly to make but they look terrific.  These blocks are 5" finished and the strips are 1/2" wide finished.

Angel of Mercy

I can't remember if I started "Angel of Mercy" in 1996 or early 1997 - I know I was stitching it for Elizabeth's 18th birthday, which was September 1997.  It wasn't finished for her 18th birthday but was finally done and at the framer a couple of days before her 40th birthday in September this year.

This is a Lavender and Lace design.  Such a relief to have it finished and given to Elizabeth.  All that needed to be done was to couch down the halo rays - embarrassing to say the least.

"Basket Case" was finished recently.

I used the voile/lawn fabrics from "Smitten" and "Little Snippets" for the backing - these are such lovely, soft fabrics.

Karen quilted it last week

and dropped it off yesterday.  Hope to sew on the binding in the next couple of days.

"Sweet Escape" is ready for quilting.  I made the blocks a few weeks ago and put them aside for a little while before I felt like sewing them together.

I love this "Scrumptious" floral for the baking.  Karen will quilt this over the next while.

Little Sweetheart's "Elsa" dress is finished - photo was taken before Mum did the hand sewing.  This was a dress pattern I used for Elizabeth probably 36 years ago.

I have a few cot quilts to make for some of Jenni's friends.  Jenni asked for a Rainbow Quilt and sent me a photo of what she liked.  I bought a bunch of Kona Solids from Sarah and they look pretty wonderful.  I'll get around to sewing these blocks together after the Christmas sewing is done.

This zig-zag fabric for the backing with have a rainbow row of blocks through it.

Another of Jenni's friends loves natural, earthy colours, so I thought "Safari Life" by Stacy Iest Hsu would be a great fabric for her baby due next year.  This is ready for quilting.

Love this animal print backing too.

A few months ago I stitched out some machine embroidery designs and cut out some rectangles from my stash of "Guess How Much I Love You?" fabrics - this cot quilt top has turned out to be very cute.

Pretty green backing.

Had a fair amount of wool left over from making the sloth so I knitted a little vest in Fisherman's Rib for Jenni's friend's little boy.

Next ten stars are made for the "Hide and Seek" quilt-along.  Such a great way to make a quilt having a goal for each week.

A couple of weeks ago Mum and I went to see "Judy" - loved it, although I felt very sad when I came out of the pictures.  Mum had told me many times about Judy's sad life and how she was ruined by the studio system.  Renee Zellweger is magnificent.

Friends and I went to see "Ford v Ferrari" on Sunday night - this is an action-packed movie about the development of a Ford racing car to win the Le Mans 24 hour race in France.  Very loud movie but a good story, inspired by true events.

Next weekend is our annual trip to see "Schools Spectacular" - just Mum and I going this year - it's always a magnificent showcase of young talent.  And then the girls and I are going on our annual epic Ikea trip on Sunday.  Always fun.