Darcy’s Girls

Another get together with Judy and our friends was arranged for Monday. We discovered we all loved Jane Austen and have decided to call ourselves “Darcy’s Girls”!

We met at Sue’s home; she knows the way to a quilter’s heart

and her home has lots of quirky bits…….

and pieces

GJ has found these old initials, appropriately “GJ”!!

Cathy had a visit to Amitie on the way

and showed us her beautiful Flower Garden quilt, which she’s quilted Kantha style

Sue treated us to a wonderful lunch

and a show and tell of some of her latest quilts

Then it was on with the stitching while we solved the problems of the world!

with a bit of box envy

and picture envy!

Such an inspiring group of talented women!

Meredithe x

PS The Steampunk half blocks are finished!

Woolly Bits Class

Thank you all so much for your birthday wishes – I had a lovely day, which, as you can see, turned into a weekend of celebration!

Sunday heralded an early start, and a drive up the highway to Millrose for our Woolly Bits class.

There are changes afoot at Millrose, new doors

old/new walls

new rooms being decked in fabric finery

and the usually abundance of fabulous fabrics

We had our class in the new classroom, where there was some lovely show and tell to start the day; Jan K’s leopard is finished

as is Joys’s latest woolly bits bit!

A wide variety of choices for lunch

ensured we had enough energy to prep and stitch all afternoon; I actually achieved quite a bit

and so did the others

(for those who are wondering, the Flower Bed Blocks are a ring-in; Charmaine arrived to her class a week early, so she joined us!)

Then afternoon tea arrived, and to my delight

(thanks for the pic, GJ!) another slice of birthday cake!

This one was a flourless orange cake – yum! – and as it had been Charmaine’s birthday the day before, we shared the blowing out of the candle, and went halves in the cake. The rest of the class were treated to cheesecake

so we were all spoilt!

Ah, it’s always such a lovely day on Woolly Bits Day! Thank you Sue and Lizzie!

Meredithe x

Saturday Stitch Sisters

My goodness! I’ve had a very busy – and very lovely – weekend. It started with Stitch Sisters on Saturday where, when arriving at Miss R’s home, we spotted Rainbow Lorikeets sitting in the bird feeder made by Miss R’s husband

Did you see the pigeon in the tree? There were spiky haired pigeons on the roof too, so I went a bit overboard and took lots of birdy pics!

Inside, Mrs Mac has started a new machine pieced quilt, based on the postage stamp theory, but accidentally rectangles instead of squares – I love it!

There have been two new additions to her clan too, with a grandson and a granddaughter born in the last three weeks, so Mrs Mac will be making bunny rugs

and a quilt

as well as a crocheted rug for these new little folk.

Helen has started another appliqué block – just to see how the fabric looks!

and Sue has started putting together her blocks

It was my birthday on Friday, so Miss R kindly made a cake, with candles, and i was sung a happy birthday song!

a super delicious lemon cake with passionfruit icing!!

Yes Anne, it was scrumptious – and stop licking the screen!

More tomorrow, Dear Peeps………..

Meredithe x

PS There was Steampunk-ing happening………

Class show and tell

Wednesday

Sue 3 has two more blocks made

a hexagon panel laid out and stitching started in class

and Sue has put together her appliqué and sashing blocks too……

……now to work out the next step!

Jenny has fabric for a new project

and cute shoes that almost match!

Jenny started cutting and even did some sewing in class

Carole brought along a crocheted shawl she made a while ago

and Deirdre enjoyed (at least I think she did!), a hand quilting lesson

Thursday

Josephine’s blocks are coming along nicely

with lots more being cut and prepped

I haven’t shown you Jane’s stars for a while

she’s been working diligently and has a nice pile of them now

Lorraine has two of her six sections hexied

Peggy was sewing round and round in squares

to make half square triangles which trim down to this

Sue 1 stitched her Tulip block and was wearing a necklace to match!

Fiona had done some homework so we could start to lay out her appliqué

Chris’s stars are coming along nicely

while Lisa got to lay out her blocks

which will have a narrow border of the background before being bound in this stripe

meanwhile, she’s working on these stars.

Meredithe x

Steampunk last gasp

Over the weekend I was quite productive!

Karen had a new range of fabrics in last Thursday, “Shirts and Ties” by Judy Rothermel, so I chose a few for some of the 7 half blocks for Steampunk.

These, along with some others from my Fabric Library, were prepped ready to go…..

and already four are done!

And just look at what is currently on the table…..

shop bought roses and the last of the meagre hydrangeas for the season.

Meredithe x

At the Kettles

The Golfer and I have had a flying visit to The Kettles, helping them out with a few bit and pieces. It’s terribly dry around central Victoria, that real end of Summer, thirsty ground, tired plants, beige hillsides against brilliant blue skies look. Ma Kettle tells me they haven’t had a day under 30 degrees since 4 February, and the storms/rain seems to skirt around them.

They have managed to keep some flowers and plants alive with judicious waterings, like these plants around the back garden….

and these in the undercover area…..

Their lemon tree is still producing

even if Pa Kettle’s tomato plants are on their last legs

but look at what they have yielded

(and we have some to bring home with us!)

Meredithe x

Friday stitching

Stitching was here at p and c this week, and we had a few lovely surprises during the day!

Miss Clever Clogs Helen has worked out a new way of using the Hoshi Stars template set to create a Star of Hope

Unfortunately the photo doesn’t do justice to the colours – sorry Helen, but I love the block! (Ask at your LQS for the template set.) I’m going to make one soon and share the method with you.

On the way, Helen stopped at Craft Haven and picked up these lovely prints

Helen is also still loving her appliqué

Mrs Mac’s borders are coming along nicely, and she’s experimenting with another little block

Our first surprise (well, I knew about them all, but a surprise for the girls!!) was a visit from Louise. The inside of Louise’s sewing bag looks intriguing.

Oh, her sweet little Liberty dresses.

Next to arrive was Maree, fresh from a machine appliqué class with Emma Jansen. Look at what she made!

Quilting still to be completed and shouldn’t take Maree long to do it. While chatting with us, Maree made another Maru block

In amongst the sewing, chat and laughter, the last surprise arrived in the form of quilted quilts from Heather!

Only showing you the backs at the moment – once they’re bound I’ll do a reveal.

By the end of the afternoon I had finished the centres for the remaining twelve full Steampunk blocks,

so I was a very happy girl.

The Hot is upon us again, so no binding this weekend, instead I’ll be prepping the seven half blocks for Steampunk. Sooooo close to finished!

What are you up to this weekend?

Meredithe x