A review of 2006 in quilts completed.

Well with 2006 nearly at a close, time for some reflection of the year that was in the quilting land of Helen. I did actually start up this blog to inspire me to do more quilting. Not too sure if I accomplished that as I have strayed off the path a few times sewing clothes for the girls. Have enjoyed that though, hopefully 2007 will bring more of that and more quilting!

Here's some projects finished in 2006. I haven't included any clothing, cushions or projects that I worked on with other EB quilters, just stuff finished by myself.

Below is the largest quilt I made for the year, given to close friends of Daz's for their wedding present back in February. The first and only quilt I have had professionally quilted, it looked beautiful close up. The blocks were completed at a one day workshop on stacking and slashing.



Below is a quilt finished in April for my best friends DD who turned 2. The flower blocks are based on a Jan Mullen pattern. Actually the same pattern I am a third of the way through doing a quilt for our bed, queen sized. But this one is toddler bed sized. And yes, the border strips are supposed to be wonky!



Below is a quilt finished mid in the year, but I didn't get around to catching up with the girlfriend it was for till her bub was 4 months old! Opps! And I was so proud of myself as I finished sewing the binding 2 hours before we got the SMS that he had been born! I love the cyan blue in this one.



Below is one of my favourites. The colours are just beautiful. Think the plain hot pink inner border sets it off. And I was extra careful in all my cutting as it was a present for one of the girls in my EB November 2004 group, so I wanted it to be perfect!



Below is a quilt made for one of my online EB Buddies. She had a girl in May. Lots of pinks and purples, it was a lovely one to make. I was quite chuffed as she emailed me recently to say everytime she has it in her DD's pram it gets admired.



This one below was for another EB buddy on the birth of her DD. I had hand blanket stitched these flowers when I was in hospital giving birth to Milly, so over 2 years ago. They have been sitting in the UFO pile waiting to be made into something.



And I have saved my very favourite for last. I made this for Milly back in June I think. The little squares are 2.5 inch blocks, used up a lot of scraps. She snuggles under it every night. The label on the back says simply, "Milly's Chook Quilt, made by Mummy".



Happy New Year everyone. Bring on 2007!

Christmas is Over!

Well at last Christmas is over. Its not sewing related, but thought I'd share some picts of the big day. I am glad its all over for another year. It has been a bit crazy with all these bauble writing hours, thankfully that is all over. They haven't asked me back for next year..... Christmas Day was a bit of a rush around in itself. We had lunch at my parents place with my family and then rushed down to catch the 2.30 ferry over to Rottnest to spend a few days with Daz's folks. *phew!*


Anyway, here's Milly starting off the day opening her stocking pressies. As you can see Daz is "helping"! They woke at 6.30 on Christmas morning, not too bad I suppose. Just seemed early as we were up till 12 that night wrapping pressies! My Mum made the stockings a few years back from one of those pre printed panals from Spotlight. She quilted them with gold thread, they look really great, just the right size too.

And here's Grace holding up her Christmas dress that she's just unwrapped. I felt bad as I didn't get around to making the girls anything special. Oh well, next year maybe? I think the expression on her face is priceless, it says "Okay Mum, the dress is great, can I open some more presents now??!"


And here's the girls racing up and down the back patio with their new toys. Grace loved her scooter, that was a big hit. I think the trike is still a bit too big for Milly, her feet don't stay on the peddles, she'll get the hang of it. I'm thinking I'll be pushing her too and from kindy to drop Grace off and pick her up a lot this year, so lets do it in style!

Hope everybody else had a lovely day on the 25th too. Merry Christmas!

Sewing Mail!

The mailman was good to me yesterday! Two sewing related parcels. My EB Secret Santa Paula sent me the above goodies, all the way from New Zealand!! I was most excitied, just come home from a 9 hour shift at work and kinda clashed with another one of the girls in my department so was feeling a bit over it all. Daz tried to get me to put it under the tree as it was all wrapped up but I told him no way! So I now have a lovely selection of material for my stash and some ribbon and 2 zips. The purple stripey print I think I'll make some "comfey" pants with for winter for the girls as its nice and fleecy on the other side. The hot pink peice is a great size for backing for a cot sized quilt too. Thanks again Paula, you spoilt me! :)

And also recieved an envelope from the lovely AJ. Sorry AJ, I know you signed your real name on the card, but you'll always be AJ to me!! Two patterns for Christmas Tree skirts. Hopefully this time next year I can post that I have actually finished one! I'm thinking of the strippey one to make. And also some sweet hair clips for the girls and AJ, you must have been watching me wander the other day around Target as I was looking for some of these magnetic frames they had advertised in their catalogue and couldn't find anything, and here you are sending me some! Thank you, such a great idea.

So I ate my tea last night feeling very warm and fuzzy at the thought that I recieved two lovely parcels today from girls I have never meet in real life but have become friends through EB. Its amazing. Thanks AJ and Paula! :)

Free Motion Love Hearts

Feeling quite stoked with myself as last night I actually got to do some sewing. That in itself is such a rarity these days. Still working on this mystery quilt. Decided to get a bit adventurous and do some free motion quilting. (Is that the correct term?) I usually just stick to sitch in the ditch which I have done in this one, but thought I'd just put some love hearts in the corner of each block. Hope it shows up okay in the photo. They are a bit wonky in places but sewn with love.

Pingu Island

Had a lovely time on Monday, ditched my regular Real Life Mothers Group girlfriends to hang out with my Essential Baby Online ones! Ann and her family were over from NSW for the week so together with Tanya and her son Max, we all ventured to Penguin Island! Although Grace decided to call it Pingu Island. The kids had a ball, chasing around the giant lizards, playing on the beach. As you can see, both girls totally crashed on the way home!

A relaxing day, lovely to finally meet Ann after chatting online with her for nearly 2 years. Its an amzing thing this internet thing.

Family Santa Photo!

We have had another Santa photo taken, as you do!! Worked on Sunday and Daz brought the girls in to work to pick me up, and Santa isn't that far from where my bauble card table is, and it was quiet so we decided to go say hi to Santa. Milly wouldn't have a bar of him this time, so Daz and I had to get in the shot too. Turned out okay, I actually like it better than the other one. Think I might use this on our Christmas cards instead! Please note Grace is wearing a skirt I made! Shock, horror!!! :)



Thank you too for all your lovely comments on the video Daz made me from my last post. It really meant a lot to both of us, thank you! Glad to share the awwwwww tears around!

You are my Happiness

*sigh* After 5 years together DH still can suprise me with bursts of romantic jestures. Work for me has been frantic the last few weeks and time together has been lacking for us. I keep telling myself its only for a few more weeks. Last Saturday though he made me this DVD, a compliation of the last 2 years of Milly's life. Put an Alex Lloyd track to the footage (my favourite singer) and it was just a reciepe for tears as I sat on the couch and watched. Brought back a flood of memories about Milly's birth and how my baby has grown up so quickly and how we are starting to think about having another. Have a look for yourself if you like. Its a snippet of our life.

You are my Happiness

Ho! Ho!

Well I thought I'd get a bit creative this year and take a shot of the munchkins and print out our own Chrissy card. Great idea Helen but leads to the question, what to wear?? So, while walking past Cotton On For Kids last week I noticed these fire engine red singlets, bit of a ruffle on the sleeves for the bargain price of $9.95. So picked up a size 2 and 4. Then, over the weekend, Mum gave me two huge garbage bags of scrap material for Grace's kindy (doesn't start till Feburary next year but thanks anyway Jules!) and I rummaged around and spotted a bit of white with red polka dots and thought, hmmmmm, lets make it jazzy with some Ho Ho applique! Quite pleased with them, all finished in less than 24 hours from starting. Seems like I never get anything actually finished these days so that felt good. They look cute. I'll match it up with some white shorts and a Santa hat and hopefully wolah! Cute Christmas Card photo??!

More US co op fabric.

*sigh* Had the most lovely suprise in my mail box after coming home from work on Friday. Well not really a suprise as I knew it was coming, but it only took 8 days to arrive, how fantastic is that?! A parcel with 3 yards of fabric from the latest co op. Both Timeless Treasure fabrics, I love their designs. The photo of the green spotty doesn't do it justice though, its lovley. Now just to find some time to sew. Would like to make Grace some more twirly skirts now the weather is hotter.

Have wondered too why I haven't had any comments lately, the lovely Andrea let me know I had some weird members only setting message popping up. So I think I have fixed that! Please post a comment so I know I have! LOL