Friday 28 October 2011

more of the same...

Not much but this happening, for a few more days anyway...
All the flowers are quilted....


One short border and 3/4 of a long side are done..


I have quilted in the thin green border along the white lines of the check. Made it easy to follow and forgiving of any crooked stitches too as they are hard to see.
I am quilting close to the edge of the butterflies then doing a meandering trail from each butterfly to add some quilting to the cream border. Hopefully all the 'hooping' hasn't stretched the edge too much. I can't wait to put some binding on...but I shouldn't jump the gun now.



These lovely fabrics arrived this week to add to my jelly roll and few fat quarters of Rural Jardin. They are from Le Petite Ecole and one is a rural Jardin. I am going to add to these slowly and then decide on a project to use them for. I think they would make great hexagons.....
Speaking of hexagons my adopted flower garden top has gone to the quilters and won't be back till February as the shop closes over Christmas. I can't wait.

Hope you have had a lovely week
Weekend here we come!
Have a good one.
cheers
Marina


Friday 21 October 2011

Life is beautiful


Here are some pics of my life is beautiful quilt. Ready for binding. But you know that will have to wait till Quiltober is over!





 I am really happy with the quilting. It finishes it off nicely.




this is the quilting design. The open spaces are where the circles are appliqued on.

Had a great catch up on my quilting last night. I can't believe I am down to the last 20 or so. One thing I did forget was the borders and quilting around the butterflies hopefully they will quilt quickly. So close now I can count how many are left.. Somewhere along the line I have miss counted how many I had done and the completed number is more than I thought.
 Lots to Happy dance about!!

20 flowers to go- 84 completed
4 leaves to go- 27 completed


Have a great weekend!
marina

ps. and it's ok my quilting arm doesn't look like this now! 




Thursday 20 October 2011

new shoes and childhood memories.....


Meet Crissy She was made in 1969 by Ideal, holds her age well I think. I don't know how she has managed to maintain that girlish figure either?
A work friend and I were reminiscing about our Crissy dolls. We both didn't have our original dolls but had bought replacement ones.
My mum bought me mine about 16 years ago at a doll show as she knew I desperately wanted one.
My friends doll had the original orange dress. This pic shows what a new Crissy looked like. Isn't she gorgeous.

My poor girl has a homemade replacement that she came to me with. As for the shoes.... They arrived yesterday with thanks to 'evilbay'. I think she is rapt to have her original shoes. Now to find that dress......

In case you are interested in a quilting update....

71 flowers quilted
26 leaves quilted

I didn't get any done the last two nights but roll on the weekend and I will get stitching....
Tomorrow I will pick up a quilt that has been machine quilted. Life is beautiful will be coming home after two months at the quilters. Can't wait to pick it up.
I hope to drop off another top to the quilters. It is a beautiful hexagon quilt that I adopted from Nicki from plushcat. The quilt was made by Nicki and started when she was 14. (so it is about 20 years old.) She wanted to rehome her quilt top and I was lucky enough to give it a home. I bought some fabric for the backing so it is ready to go.I don't think I could face hand quilting this one as well so machine quilting it is. Here are some pics... it was hard to photograph as we have strong winds here today.
I just love it!!

this is the backing fabric I chose on the right. Thanks to Sandi at Crafty lady.


Happy day!
Marina

Sunday 16 October 2011

fresh vegies and a surprise gift....

Well Quiltober definitely makes for some boring blogging.
Before I go on here is the latest tally.. No quilting Friday or Saturday night so I will need to get going tonight.

56 flowers quilted
22 leaves quilted
there have been a few lovely stitchers joining me for Quiltober they are
Fiona from bubz rugs
Sheila from Sheila's quilt world
Narelle from Pins and whiskers
Marg from country quilts and dolls

Happy quilting everyone.


Yesterday morning Hubbie and I went to my mum's to help get some garden beds ready for tomato planting, which we did as well. She has quite a few beds but just needs some help with the manual labour.
For our efforts mum gave us some fantastic fresh vegies from the garden.


Yummy fresh beetroot, carrots and peas. I cooked up the beet greens and we ate them in salad too. 
Can't beat home grown.

A lovely little envelope arrived in the mail this week from Bev at Kainga Happenings.. She sent me a surprise milk jug doily. It is just gorgeous. I love the little tag too, so cute.
 I have a bit of a thing for milk jug doilies and it has lovely blue glass beads, so perfect for me. It will be right at home here and has found a jug to sit on straight away. Thankyou so much Bev.


off to Kilmore quilt show this morning! Looking forward to that..
Hope you have had a crafty weekend!
marina

Wednesday 12 October 2011

Quiltober progress....




Time for a quiltober update.....

47 flowers from a total of 104
17 leaves from a total of 32

and we're not quite half way through October!
It is hard concentrating on just the one project but I am determined to get this quilted. It is enjoyable revisiting each flower and seeing the fabrics one on one. I don't think there is one fabric I didn't enjoy using. 
Then there will be the binding.... that's another story. 
Bindvember perhaps?
Cheers
Marina

ps Alyssa's quilt was very well received and a big surprise.


Sunday 9 October 2011

Versatile Blogger award.....

Lovely Barbara at Diamant has awarded a versatile blogger award to me...
I am versatile! Just like a salada..
Thankyou Barbara and I love the reason why you did pass this onto me.
I am required to share 7 things with you all....
This is difficult, what to say and what to share about myself.
Here goes....
1. I love to laugh and make others laugh. I think laughter is the best medicine. I have a bit of an odd sense of humour but luckily my children and hubby do too. I love it when we all make each other laugh.
Laugh till you can't breathe...
2. I don't like dishonest people and people who are cruel... I can't wait or Kharma to get them!
3. I love the Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter movies and books but my kids say I take it too seriously when I complain that there are differences with the books. I do love the books just that little bit more than the movies.
4. when I was at high school I used to practice mirror writing with a pen in each hand. The left hand mirrors what the right hand is writing. Maybe I should have paid more attention to what the teacher was saying. Needless to say I haven't found a use for it in real life yet.
5. I love dogs and can recognise most dog breeds. I am interested in dog psychology and why dogs behave the way they do. It is very interesting. I think the worst thing we can do is to humanise our pets and their actions. They are dogs and will always act like a dog- they will always act according to their instincts and nature.
6. The most important job I have done and loved the best is being a mother. Hopefully my children will understand this when they have children of their own.
7. I love thunderstorms and lightning. Mother Natures fireworks.


Well that's enough trivial information about me...

Barbara nominated blogs that were her 'desert island blogs' that she just loves to visit each day so I would like to use the same criteria.
I would love to nominate the following blogs and if they want to take up the award then that would be great, if they would rather not that is ok too.
Fiona- Bubz Rugz.
Narelle  from Pins and whiskers
Teresa All things Vintage
Nicki from Mrs sew and sew
Carrie from A passion for Applique
Tracey from Mistea Crafts
Elyte Tea fabric and other things
Lorraine the balancing Kiwi
these are all blogs of people that I have been following and that have been visitors to my blog, some since I started blogging. I look forward to visiting them in blogland.
So feel free to take up the award if you wish. You are all wonderful Bloggy friends.  Thanks again Barbara for the award.

No photos to share at the moment.....
I have kept to my vow of quiltober and have been solely working on quilting my hexie quilt. I have quilted 35 flowers and border leaves altogether so far.
Stay tuned for the next tally....
Hope you are having a lovely weekend
cheers
Marina






Wednesday 5 October 2011

Quiltober

I am dedicating October to Quilting in the hope of making a dent in a few flimsies.
So far so good.  I started quiltober a little early (last month) by getting going on hand quilting my Sweet nostalgia stitchery blocks. There were 5 to go at the start of October and they are now done! I popped the quilt in the wash last night in the hope of getting out a nasty stain on one of the stitchery blocks. It didn't work so some extra embroidered leaves have solved that problem. 
The christening quilt is done and I am so happy with the result. I just love looking at it and I know it will be well loved. Bliss fabrics are just so beautiful!
Two Christmas mats got quilted this week and they just can't wait for the 25th to be shown off. Hopefully the binding will be on by then though. They were the patterns I received from Michelle as a giveaway on her blog.
The next big quilting project will be to get some more rows done on my Hexie flower garden quilt. I have quilted two rows so far. I don't even want to count how many to go....... slowly, slowly!
So roll on the photos...





I found the gorgeous backing fabric at Spotlight, it was the last metre on the bolt. I so wish there had been more.... It is so sweet.
Here are my mats. 


(this one needs to be sewn and quilted but just wanted to show it as well)

While at spotlight I also spotted this lovely christmas print.... Guess what I have in store for this, a hint: there will be some fussy cutting...


sorry for the pic heavy post just love to look at all that bliss!
cheers
Marina
Anyone else up for Quiltober?

Tuesday 4 October 2011

Swap received......



The postal Gods smiled favourable yesterday and Peta's parcel arrived at her house too! You couldn't plan it to happen that way, could you.
These are the goodies that I sent to Peta. She was as happy with her parcel as I was with mine.

F festive hanging
R rotary cutter holder, rose cards
I inspirational words
E embroidery threads (not in picture)
N notebook, nourishment
D doilie, decorative pin cushion
S stitchery holder, scissor fob
some vintage buttons came in handy

the pattern for the stitchery keeper came as an extra pattern with the Down in the Garden bom. It's a lovely design and lovely to stitch.

 

I definitely need to make myself a rotary cutter keeper and one of those stitchery keepers.......
Happy swapping!
marina




Monday 3 October 2011

Swaps are great!

This morning I came home to a wonderful parcel on my front door.
My friend's swap parcel from Peta had arrived!
It was full of crafty loveliness.

F- for fat quarters, R- ribbon, I inspiration, E embroidery threads, N needle case and needles, D decorations, S small button bag and buttons


these decorations will be a great addition to my homemade Christmas decorations!
Thanks so much to Peta for all these wonderful gifts and to Khris for organising the swap again this year!
Big hugs to both of you..
cheers
Marina

Time is flying....

 Seems like my blog has become a little neglected again, this doesn't mean a lack of crafting though. Progress has been achieved on most...