I fell in love.....

.....with this gorgeous quilt, from the current issue (107) of Quiltmania.....

It is called 'Brinton Hall', and the minute I saw it, it really was one of those 'I love that so much' breathtaking moments, and I do just adore it - but, sadly, let's be honest here LOL, at the rate I sew it would probably take me about 15 years to make it..... 

It is going to be published in 2 parts, so I am anxiously awaiting the next issue.

Nevertheless, as much as I love it, I decided I absolutely could not start it until I had finished a few other things first, and given my sewing stuff a good sort and tidy.....

.....only to find myself on Friday saying to my lovely friend Gabbie, hey, let's do THIS quilt together..... *insert rolling eyes*.....

Gabbie was at my house on Friday, and while we were looking at some things on pinterest, she saw this Kim Diehl quilt and loved it, and I remembered the pattern had come out in one of the American quilt magazines some time ago, which I just happened to have....  I dug it out to give to her, and of course, as all good friends do, I offered to join her!

As it happens, I have been looking at Kim Diehl quilts a lot just recently and had literally just the day before started a 'Kim Diehl' board on pinterest.  I love her designs, but I really love how she uses colour, and puts colours together.  

So it kind of felt a bit 'meant to be'..... particularly when Gabbie realised she had the same magazine
at home too! 

I think we will break it down into sections and do a bit each month, a bit like a block of the month, so hopefully there is a good chance it will get done.....

In the meantime, I have started playing with the layout of my hexie blocks, and I am having fun.....

xx

fridays.....

Apart from the obvious reason, Friday is my favourite day of the week. It's the day I go to sit n sew at my LQS, a couple of times a month it's either FNWF or FNSI, and I usually meet up with my sister or a friend 

for coffee or lunch.

At sit n sew this week, Gabbie shared her amazing and beautiful quilt she has been working on. I LOVE this, the colours are beautiful - and I have claimed first dibs on it if she ever gives it away!!

This week Gabbie was also working on her small quilt which is in gorgeous colours too.....

I have been working on my pincushion kit which Sue kindly sent me - perfect 'Tania" colours, thanks Sue!

Unfortunately progress is VERY slow going as my hand is still quite painful, but I will get there in the end.....

Hopefully at some point it will look something like this -

Last night of course was FNWF which I spent trimming my hexie blocks so I can start putting them together

...and starting a small secret project involving these,,,,,

~

A little while ago I joined instagram, and while I haven't put much on there, I shared these photos of some things I have loved doing recently -

...a fun visit to Typo after my last oncology visit

I just LOVED this 'fox' calendar so it came home with me - aren't the eyes amazing!  And it goes from Aug 2015, right through to Dec 2016

a fun coffee date with my gorgeous niece...

a freezing, frosty morning spent tucked up in a warm bed with a snuggly puppy and playing on pinterest

... and reading this book which I am really enjoying.

Hope your Friday was fun, and I wish you all a fantastic weekend

xx

fnsi results....

I had a lovely night, making some progress on my hexie quilt - another three blocks done, with the hexie flowers sewn onto their backgrounds.

Apologies for the not so great photo ~

My little floral dish did have some chocolates in it....... temporarily lol.....

I hope you had a great night too

xx

the party has started.....

First of all, huge thanks to Chooky for inviting us all to a wonderful weekend of sewing and partying.  Isn't the cyber quilting community a wonderful place!?  SO many ladies coming together from their own homes to connect with other like minded sewing- and craft-aholics.

The party has started here... Today I am working on some gifts - so no pictures till later in the week for those - and hopefully a small Christmas wall hanging that I am at least planning on turning into a flimsy today.  Some tracing on the light pad is also in the planning department.

Here I am, all set up and rearing to go lol -

Working on my first gifty project -

A cup of tea and something yummy to accompany some hand sewing -

This is my favourite tea cup which I often drink out of - but I have even bought out the saucer to celebrate this momentous occasion, lol!

And here is one snoozy little puppy, wondering what all the excitement is about!  No supervisor here, Sue!

I hope your day is going well - and if you are partying with Chooky too, I am so pleased to be sewing along with you!

xx

mill rosie friends ~ september 2013.....

Our third get together for the year, meeting at the gorgeous Mill Rose Cottage in Ballan (as we always do, hence the name of our group, the Mill Rosie Friends), was soooo much fun, as always.

Mill Rose gorgeousness 

There were (I think) 16 ladies this time, and much laughter was enjoyed, sharing of crafty doings, eating, drinking, and having a wonderful time.  There was a lovely swap of designs made from Michelle Ridgway patterns, and although I had opted out this time, once again some of the ladies had made really beautiful swap gifts.

such beautiful and generous swap gifts

Some time after our last get together, Sue, Marg, Tracee and myself saw a mug rug book, and as we knew how much Shez loves mug rugs - NOT - we bought it for her, and also each made one of the patterns out of it.  It was a fun and cheeky joke, and Shez played along so well.  Sue and I laughed so much our faces were hurting in the end, and I think everyone else really enjoyed our joke.

doesn't Shez look thrilled....

After lunch we had our usual session of  show and tell.  My goodness, these ladies are talented; we saw some of the most beautiful crafty makes, and were very inspired by these lovely and clever ladies.

Elyte's gorgeous minis - I LOVE mini quilts

just a few of the amazing and beautiful show and tell items

We all again indulged in a bit of retail therapy - actually I don't think it is possible to leave Mill Rose without buying anything - and I was very happy with my purchases, some William Morris fabric and some taupe, red, and dark blues I am collecting at the moment for a couple of future projects.

a William Morris fat quarter bundle, very cleverly presented

All too soon our lovely day came to an end; but we are soooo looking forward to the next one in November.

Thank you ladies for such a wonderful day xxx

fnsi september '13.....

Well, I did have a lovely evening, enjoying my first FNSI.....

I started earlier in the evening before dinner, quilting, trimming and machine sewing the binding on this mug rug for Shez ~

After dinner, with FNSI now in full swing, I hand sewed the binding down.  I must admit, I love this; this pink floral is some of my most favourite fabric ever.  I might just have to make one for myself!

Next up was sewing these hexies for Sue ~

Sue was asked to repair this quilt below for an acquaintance, but it has turned out to be a HUGE job, which has now gone on for a very long time.  She is on the last stretch now, but it has become a bit tedious, so I have been helping her out a little with making some of these hexie flowers using 1/2" hexies.  I actually really enjoy them (in fact, I can see a 1/2" hexie flower quilt or two somewhere in my future...), so these were sewn on Friday night.

and lastly, I made these hexies, ready for glue basting and sewing at our Mill Rosie friends get together tomorrow - more on that to follow.

I really enjoyed my first FNSI - it will definitely be in the diary from now on!