from little things

From little things big things grow. I know you are all singing along - this is the name of the new fabric line designed by Sarah. She is having a giveaway to celebrate its arrival. Now it won't be in shops for a while so here is your chance to win some.

Not much

I have hardly done anything crafty over the last couple of weeks - knitting a jumper for Kate but even that is going slowly. Over the next couple of weeks that will change as I have lots of sewing to do, as I make Harry Potter costumes for the 30th birthday/house warming at Kate and Graeme's. Also a new outfit for a wedding in early October.

Kate, Graeme and Lily finally moved into their new home at the end of August. Grandma has been doing lots of Lily looking after so mummy and daddy can unpack and go shopping for new appliances and furniture. I even had a phone call over the weekend to come round and play with playdough so that her parents could put some Ikea furniture together.

Our home is quiet with half as many people now living here, we are slowly reclaiming space with Steve still to move back into the study, Chris mostly moved back into his bedroom and me to finish sorting out my space in the rumpus room.

Where to start

OK so it's been a while.

I have been crafting a little, stitching some, buying fabrics Patchwork Heart at Penrith had some lovely half price fabrics, but mainly not accomplishing anything major. Where to begin - after 14 months of having DD1 Kate, SIL Graeme and now 2 yo DGD Lily living with us they finally have keys to their new home and will move in over the next couple of weeks. I will miss the evening kiss and cuddle after she has had a bath and the grandma where is Big and Little Ted (my bears, as in Playschool bears).

I will have a sewing room again even if it is part of the rumpus room and space to leave tops on the floor as I piece them together.

So what have I been doing - Hunter Hill quilt show was on last weekend Di and Sarah both wrote about it. The Camden Quilt show was the first weekend of the month and it was up to its usual high standard. Munaiba wrote about it and has lovely pictures.

I do have photos somewhere but haven't downloaded them yet - told you I have been slack.

We drove to Melbourne in July down the coast, stayed in Eden on Thursday night and then drove onto Orbost, Lakes Entrance and finally reaching Melbourne to meet DD2 Elizabeth who lives down there as she finished work. We stayed at a wonderful serviced apartments on Punt Road, we went to TGIF for dinner in Chapel St and I was glad we had to walk back to the car I was full.

Penrith played Melbourne (rugby league) and the Quilt show was on what great timing. While Steve and Elizabeth spent Saturday morning doing father daughter stuff I spent 3 hours wandering around looking a Victorian Quilt Show - there were some lovely Winding Ways quilts that caught my fancy, they were stunning. I also took the finished bag (Rosies bag No1) that I bought the kit for at the Sydney quilt show, from Indgo Niche. It was the first time she had written a pattern so was please to see it turned out OK and was easy to follow.

We won't talk about the footy!!!!!! the stadium is cool.

Sunday we went to St Kilda markets, met Elizabeth after she was finished at church and had lunch in a really nice cafe in South Melbourne, wandered around the shops and headed back out to Docklands where church is held in the pub of an evening. Left Melbourne Monday morning driving through much of the country that was burnt on "Black Saturday" - I love the area around Kinglake, back roads and lunch at Beechworth at around 3pm is always the nicest possible way to drive back to Sydney.

In the middle of June, did you go to the Sydney quilt show - I did with my friend Clare. We both bought fabric and kits and admired the quilts, wondering if either of us would ever be THAT good. Saw my SIL Jo with her walking buddies.

So in my last post I showed you a couple of quilt tops, Lily got hers finished for her 2nd birthday, although I am still not sure there is enough quilting in it - I hand quilted it with yellow, purple and orange Cotton Perle.

I will download those photos and show you my finished projects and maybe even the fabrics I bought on special. I will try to blog more regularly and remember just what else I have been doing.

I know I did do quiet a bit of work May and June - in store demo work, but I've not had any the last month or so. I do need to go find something regular 20hrs a week.

Until next time

Sue

Some Quilts

Some tops that I have pieced and just need to finish.

This is a close up of the front, the picture above is the back, a completely reversible quilt. This was last years class with Barbara Gower that I did for my beautiful darling grand daughter Lily. She will turn 2 in June and I really want to get it finished for her.

A picture of the front taken in the sun, just to show how bright it is, a stripy drunkards path.

A pattern out of Jelly roll quilts by Pam and Nicky Lintott. It is on the lounge room floor ready to be pin basted. The picture above is the corner turned over to show the back. This is a quilt top that has recently been finished and I would really like to get it completed.

I Won

Kelly over at IHAN had a month of giveaways to celebrate. I won some beautiful pins from the Just another Button Company. Thanks Kelly for a great gift and a blog that is always fun to read.

Oh where has the time gone

I'm so late where has the time gone.
I finished these last month for the OPAM that Peg and Kris are hosting. The cardigan was in an Australian Womens Weekly back in May 2004, I have actually knitted this up before and liked the way it looked. Why do you finish the back, a front and half a sleeve and then put it away?
If I knew the answer I would have no UFO's to finish.

The scarf was a new project with wool bought at Craftexpo when it was on at Homebush. The wool is from the girls at Lush Yarns it was in their $10 bin and there were 2 hanks. It was lovely to knit with and the pattern is a feather and fan variation found on Ravelry.

Finished cardigan and new quilt blocks

The first 2 blocks of this years class.

This is the detail of the band which was knitted separately and then sewn on, the front band was also knitted separately. I was supposed to be pick up stitches on the cardigan and knitted sideways but I decided to do it the other way and yes they are three quarter sleeves, I think maybe they should have been slightly shorter but I still really like the way it turned out.