Has anyone seen my diet?

I seem to have lost something. I seem to loose it at the same time every year....my diet.

 It seems to coincide with my desire to make extremely high fat, high sugar desserts around Christmas time. 

This year I made a Red Velvet Cake Trifle with strawberries, raspberries, marscapone cheese etc.

This was accompanied by Honeycomb Ice Cream Cake.

The result seemed to make all the younger nieces and nephews very active.

But the older male nephews and our sons more sloth like.

Strange how young children power on while those twelve and older need the afternoon 'Nanna Nap'.

We alternate year about on Christmas Day. This year we spent the day at my parents-in-law. 

On the sewing front, I have finally finished a library bag for my niece who will commence Kindergarten when school resumes next year.

A chance to practice my free motion quilting and raw edge applique.

Sadly I have not sewn much at all this month, too much happening. But I hope to make some time today and finish a library bag for my nephew.

Hope you have time to sew too.

A Quick Catch Up and Finish It Up Friday

Like everyone, I've been a bit busy and absent from my blog. This weekend is a chance to catch up before launching into another week of choas. I will be brief and tell the story with pictures.

I caught up with the Cassilis Quilters a little while ago.

Lovely gifts were exchanged.

I made some little travel jewellery cases for my friends. Here they are zipped up...

...and open. 

They have a little pockets for necklaces etc. on one side and a place for earrings on the other.

So, I can finally update my OPAM tally for November on my side bar. (Yes, yes, I know we are half way though December). The pattern is called 'Finder Keepers' by Keiko Clark of K Cotton Studio. It appeared in a copy of Quilts and More Winter 2012.

 I'm also linking up to Amanda Jean for Finish It Up Friday with this long overdue post.

Finally a sneak peak at what I hope have to finish ready to take to the post office by Monday...

...just keep working to deadlines at the moment. It's a Christmas gift of course.

Longer deadline for this project...

...have until midnight on Christmas Eve for this  ;)

Love making gifts for little nieces and nephews!

Have a lovely weekend.

FMQ baby wholecloth finished.

I finished my FMQ quilt started at the workshop I attended with Jan Foster from Red Shed Quilting.

It was lots of fun to do and I'm looking forward to starting another one, but the calendar is fast filling up and I think it will have to go on the wish list for 2016.

I love the texture FMQ creates.

Linking up with Amanada Jean at Crazy Mom Quilts for Finifh It Up Friday.

Middlebrook Retreat

We had a great time last weekend and met some lovely new friends. 

Here are some photos from the retreat held at Middlebrook...

Googy Girl made this lovely table runner...

Susan brought along a cute litter of puppies...

Kylie worked on her first ever hand piecing project...

Karleen joined us for the first time...

Julie started her 'Gravity' quilt...

Jenny worked on her Christmas embroidery...

And Fiona was very busy on a mission to finish lots of projects. She definitely won the prize for the most finishes. I thought that Susan could graciously donate this gorgeous mini she finished quilting while she was there.

Strangely enough she was not keen to part with it.

 So, Fiona will have to go with the alternate prize...

the pleasure of our company :) 

I worked on my FMQ project from the Jan Foster workshop I attended recently. Also a little bit on my felt cushion from the Wendy Williams workshop I went to during the holidays.

We missed seeing some good friends from last year, hopefully they will be able to join in the fun again next year. 

Friday Night With Friends

At Middlebrook in the Hunter Valley sewing with friends Friday night and all weekend. Watch this space for an update. The morning after the night before, back into it already...

Jenny

Julie

Susan hiding behind her mini. Watch this space.

Another Block Holder and Violet Washed Successfully!!

I made this block holder for me friend Kylie who celebrated her birthday last week.

It is made with fabrics from the Miss Kate range designed by Bonnie and Camille one of her favourite designers.

So I have five finishes for OPAM for the month of October, equalling my 2015 record from January.  Not a bad effort considering it is school holidays during January. Two quilts, two block holders and a costume in one month. 

I expect to return to my one finish per month average for the rest of 2015.

Finally, great news!!

I washed Violet and I am SO excited. The Colour Catchers performed their magic and the dye did not run into the rest of the quilt!

 

You  might remember the problem I had when the dye ran after trying to remove the water soluble blue marker lines while quilting around the flower above. This photo does not show how dark the colour run was.

I took this flower off before washing and replaced it with the one at the top in the picture below. 

I decided to leave the brown one, use lots of colour catchers and hope for the best. I have a front loading washing machine. I sat on the floor of the laundry like a child whose mum had just thrown their favourite teddy bear in for a wash and watched with baited breath....for and hour!

Slowly the colour catchers turned pale pink...pink... mauve...and then purple. 

BUT, the background fabric stayed cream.

The best part was, the dye that had stained the background fabric around those flowers also washed out. I was SO happy with the result.

Hope you have had a relaxing weekend.

A Legacy From Violet is Done !!

Drum roll please!

Cue trumpets...

Daa,daa, daa, da,da,da, DAAAAAA!!!!!

 My first EPP project measuring about 94" x 97". My friend Julie and I started our own 'Violet' quilts together. We decided not to let the size of a project dampen our enthusiasm for starting something new. That was ten years ago, and it is finally done. It's hot and windy here today, so I had to coax a few quilt holders to with help me with this photo session.

I hand quilted this on my Grace Hand Quilting frame.

So I'm building up the courage to wash it. Anyone who follows this blog will know about the little problem I had with some colour run after squirting water onto some border flowers to remove the water soluble texta lines.

This is where it will be during Summer. So I'm linking up to CrazyMom Quilts for Finish It Up Friday and Monday Morning Star Count at Life Under Quilts.

If anyone has a suggestion as to be a better app for my iPad for posting other than Blogger, I would love to know. Posting from the iPad today due to a really bad computer virus affecting my laptop. Blogger seems to make my photos a bit blurry and I find posting from my laptop gives more options with photo size, font etc.

Enjoy the weekend.

Finish It Up Friday

I forgot to show you a finish from the previous week. DS No. 3 and his girlfriend were invited to a fancy dress 18th birthday party. So they decided to go as Syndrome and Mirage from the movie 'The Incredibles'.

DS 3 has just enough ginger in his hair, although the photo does not show this.

The outfit was made after a couple of trips to the op shop. I purchased a black skivvy and removed the turtle neck, then appliqued a large 'S' on the front after cutting up a white A-line skirt (also from the op shop). The super villain underpants were made from the same skirt. The cape from royal blue lining fabric.

This is the effect we were aiming for.

The boots were the tricky part. I had to make a pattern for these, working in three dimensions is challenging. I lined white cotton fabric with bag wadding. The boots fit over his shoes and attach with a big strip of velcro up the back.

'Mirage' was able to shop on-line for her dress and wig. Being a teenage girl, she had stilettoes in stock.

I was hoping to show you my 'Violet' quilt complete. I am so close. I did finish quilting it on Thursday, so it's sort of a finish. My frame is now empty and I am thinking I might quilt my French General Lumiere quilt next.

The final stitches were made around this flower.

The back.

Another backing shot.

A peak at the front.

Hopefully I can show you the finished item next week.

So I'm linking up with Amanda Jean at CrazyMom Quilts for Finish It Up Friday.

Have a great weekend.