It's a hit!

I gave Mum her quilt last night for her 60th birthday. She loved it!









And I could finally tell her about my quilt blog, now she has her quilt!

Waters of our minds quilt

Well its finally finished! This is the quilt that I saw on the wall when I walked into Sewco, that inspired me to get into quilting.

I've made it for Mum's 60th birthday which is on Wednesday (so she hasn't seen it yet, sssh!). I made it in batik fabrics in colours of the sea, which she loves. It also represents the mind and our subsconscious, in honour of Mum's wisdom, spirituality and her career in social work.

I used Matilda's Own small circles plastic templates and freezer paper to make the circles (all 42, not that I was counting!!).



Borders on:



With circles on the border:



My wonderful teacher Lyn from Sewco was kind enough to do the stunning echo quilting in a King Tut varigated thread:



Finished! I just love the colours in the sun:

Mystery project revealed!

In my last post I said I was doing something with the Macintosh roses fabric that I found via the Find Fabric service on Sarah Fielke's website Sewn.

Here it is - a table runner for my sister in law!

Quilty times

After the sentimentality of my last post, I succumbed to my perfectionist tendencies and have passed on Mum's birthday quilt on to my wonderful teacher Lyn, who has kindly offered to echo quilt it. It took me almost an hour to unpick the mistakes I had made before I handed it onto her - I think it was the right decision! I have a lifetime to learn how to quilt, and I want this one to be perfect.

I had an exciting moment on Saturday. The residents of a nearby street had all arranged to have garage sales on the same day. The first house we visited had a pile of patchwork magazines for sale out front. Turns out the woman is a quilter! She has invited me round for a cuppa, to talk all things quilting! We have both been wishing we had someone in the neighbourhood who is also into quilting. Yippee!

I got to properly test out my Birch mini iron yesterday at Sewco, at my Sylvia's Bridal Quilt class. I also bought a cutting/ironing board I have had my eye on for months - perfect.



I have some yummy new additions to the stash:

Thank you to my friend Michelle R who sent me these gorgeous fabrics for my birthday! My mind is ticking over with ideas!



I bought this gorgeous Liberty print a few years ago. It's been with a friend who was going to make it into a baby sling for me but now its back!



I mentioned in a previous post about wanting to make a quilt inspired by Charles Rennie McIntosh's roses. Last month I saw this most gorgeous quilt by Robyn Ginn at the Toowoomba Quilt Show. I was lucky enough to meet her and have her tell me all about the quilt.



She said she was inspired by this roses fabric, given to her by a Scottish friend.



Detail of her tiny log cabin roses:



On a mission to find a similar roses fabric, I posted a request and uploaded a pic of the roses fabric to Sarah Fielke's fantastic website Sewn, which has a fab free service called Find Fabric. Less than 24 hours later I had received an email from Elkabee's Fabric Paradise in the States, saying that they stock this whole range of fabric for only US$8.25 a yard! Two yards of it arrived last week.

I also found the gorgeous fabric on the right to go with it at Spotlight yesterday. My head is full of dreams about this new quilt.



I have a few more to enjoy finishing first though - Mum's, Jo's, one for Paul for Xmas and a mystery project using these freshly washed fabrics....

Out of the mouths of babes

More quilting advice from Lily this morn. I have been struggling to decide how to quilt Mum's birthday quilt, ever since I finished the top and basted it on Saturday night. (So very Libran of me!).

My generous teacher Lyn from Sewco offered to echo quilt it for me, in perfect concentric circles. (I tried on Sunday but it looks terrible).

Or, I can quilt it myself in imperfect spirals, waves, etc.

I asked Lily for her advice this morning, and she said that I should do it, because then it will be filled with more love. And she should help because then it will be filled with even more love!

Put that way, it doesn't seem like a choice, really!

Jo's Quilt Gathering

As I mentioned in a previous post, I am coordinating a baby quilt for my dear friend Jo.

A group of us got together at my house on Sunday to work on our squares. Thank you so much to the wonderful Michelle Steel who introduced us to the exciting world of vlisofix. (I for one am no longer afraid of applique!!).

Some pics of the afternoon:


Jo & Cas hard at work.



Glowing Anna.



Bec, Saf & Michelle.



Jo & Julie.



Nic's square in progress.



Cas at work.


Julie at work.


Beautiful Jo.



Jo at work.



Kirsten's wearing her square on her heart, with the Home Midwifery Association logo.



Me at work.




Finished squares:

Cas':



Anna's:



Jo F's:



My square, the Maternity Coalition logo:



Jo S's:



Looking forward to seeing everyone else's finished squares!

Additions to the stash and a new project for Lily

We made an emergency dash (read: any excuse for a visit to a new quit shop!) to Peppermint Stitches at Toowong today - what a gorgeous store! I highly recommend a visit. The woman there gave me a bit of iron-on interfacing to mend the nick in Mum's quilt top (thanks for the advice, Michelle!). So of course I had to say thanks by picking up a few fat quarters! I love the babushka doll print, it will go with the fabric I have left over from Lily's quilt. The pink one is Lily's...



A welcome addition to her stash!



These are Sarah's birthday present to me. She has the same fabrics and she has set me a challenge to make something out of them too. Can't wait!



I picked these up on Sarah's birthday quilt hop on Saturday from the Patchwork Tree at Alderley.



Lily did some sewing on my machine tonight while I started on the final six circles for Mum's quilt. She made me this quilt!