Retreat

Last weekend I spent 3 glorious days sewing, being fed and watered as well as enjoying brisk walks with friends. The Kilmore retreat was at Toolangi and everything was wonderful. I managed to sew two more AHHHH's pictured here along with the pen , pincushion and pins that we were given as a gift on the first night. What a great gift .. as per usual I had left pins at home and I love using pincushions now. The pen was a bonus and helpful for doing the cryptic crossword on Saturday morning!

2.5" squares all trimmed and ready to go. Thanks to Dianne for the use of her Bloc-loc ruler which made the squaring up sooooo much easier. I am going to invest in one of these at the next show. These are the off cuts from....

... these ( but see below really) This is how the blocks will look when sewn together. This is for DD1 and her man  when they get married in 3 weeks time. I aim to get the guests at the wedding to sign or write a message for them and then I will sew it into a quilt.

These are the blocks all half square triangled off if you get my meaning. Just have to iron on freezer paper so it makes for easier writing. Thanks Marina for that tip.

I also managed this quilt which is for someone special who has been a huge help to DD2 in the past 3 years, but especially in the last month. Now to the quilting of it! Crosshatching is the way to go I think

Amazing what can be achieved when you don't have to cook meals, do laundry or generally do housework!

EPP linking

So today is the linky with Anthea at Hibiscus stitches. For the link see the post below.Here is the second part of the centre or maybe it's the third. Anyway this with diamonds added became....

...this and then another section with diamonds became ...

...this. I have been away on retreat and got the diamonds on both of them. Mind you I discovered I was missing a diamond so couldn't continue. Luckily I found it when I got home.... and so I was able to join them to make....

...this and when one, two, three and four are joined you get......

...Ta da this. The centre is complete. I now have to get the 1.5" elongated hexie papers for the next border ready. Have to find a shop that sells them!!! 

I also have been doing some of my AHHHH's and here they are.. The ones I did on retreat will be shown in a couple of days as I did manage to do a fair bit of sewing... just not as much as some people, but hey it was a very relaxing few days away from the stress of my everyday world.

Miss Elizabeth

This is the first panel of the centre of Miss Elizabeth. I am very happy with the way it looks despite the fact that there are blue hexies next to blue hexies. I have already got the next panel done and the diamonds that join the two together are in place. It is going to be a very time consuming quilt but I do love it and work on it any spare moment. Great way to use up scraps ... and thanks to Rosalie for some of hers!

Am linking with Anthea at www.hibiscus-stitches.blogspot.com.au for her piece yourself together EPP party.

Fireworks

This weekend along with about 14 others( not sure of the exact numbers ),attended a quilting workshop. The name of it was "Fireworks" and although I had seen the basic picture I had no idea what I was letting myself in for. Anyway with a very patient teacher, Fay, to guide us through the process of template making ,drawing a foundation and then adding peaks this is what I came home with. I especially love the bottom right one. The top left has some of the panel that we started with and I was lucky that others in the class let me have some of their fabrics.

I will have to make some more blocks to keep what I learnt  my head, and to use the fabric I bought, but not sure when that spare 5 minutes will show up. It certainly was fun after I had stopped stressing about fabric placement.

 I have been working on Miss Elizabeth as well but that will have to wait till I link up with Anthea in a week or so.

AQC a little late

At AQC a couple of weeks ago, I did white glove duty for two hours and got to see some amazing quilts. As I got admission free I spent up big. Ha ha not really, I bought Liz Stanway's latest" the Honey Drippers" and a Cherry Pie design "Miss Elizabeth" ( for obvious reasons)

Here are the first two rows of 22  hexies put together for the centre panel. Chooky Blue and I have decided to work at keeping each other going and the challenge before today was to get those rows together. Done.

I have something like 130 of the coloured ones ready to go,all of the cream ones cut out and the green diamonds are now cut out of the fabric nestling on the box. Need to see what the challenge will be for the next link to Anthea's EPP.

I said that I needed 8 more AHHHH's to complete the other quilt... well here are two done and the others waiting. I actually need 13 but hey that will happen.

This was one of them... spot the obvious mistake! This is now correctly sewn. 

ANZAC Day

I am not an Aussie or a New Zealander and I am not up with how to put up a photo of poppies etc but may we never forget the sacrifice so many made 100 years ago today to keep others safe.
I know of two people actually in Gallipoli attending services over there, and I am sure it will be a very moving experience.
Laet we forget.

The AHHHH's are coming together.

This is the first AHHHH quilt top that I have got together. I love the way it has turned out so far. I aim to put a small black border and then the Batik around as a larger border and then I may just ask my lovely quilter to baste it for me so I can have a go at quilting it myself.

Stand to the side and this is the left overs from the first quilt. Got a bit confused sewing them together which is why the top ( side) has the red hexie in there. It will all be good in the end. I have to make some more so I can get it a bit bigger but eventually I will have two quilts with my beautiful AHHHH's in them. Just waiting on Tonya from Hillbilly Handiworks to send me some more. All ordered just things from USA take a while. 

I have linked with PYT at Hibiscus-stitcheswww.hibiscus-stitches.blogspot.com

Off to put some more together.