Look what came in the Mail!!!!

This little fella arrived in the mail recently. My good friend, Robyn, who lives in Sydney, made him and sent him to me. We met several years ago, in a quilt shop of all places!!!!!
When ever Robyn comes to stay, she gifts me a lovely home made goodie. This Santa was for a recent stay.

This gorgeous American Santa is also made by Robyn. He is modeled on a santa Robyn brought home from America last year. He was my 50th birthday present from Robyn. l am very happy to have him in my collection.

This Sheep and his blanket was the first hand made goodie that Robyn gifted me. He's been around for a few years now, and l just adore him.

Then this blanket came the next time Robyn visited. All hand made and very much cherished. My sheep wears this very cute blanket at xmas time.
Here they are all together. They are currently residing on a bench in a corner of my laundry. Funny spot you might think,but l get to see and enjoy them almost every day.l cherish these symbols of our friendship, and feel honoured that a friend would spend her time making gifts for me. Thank you Robyn.

l am packing and organising for my trip with my sewing group to Tassie. We leave early Thursday morning. We have a workshop planned for Friday and a visit to Salamanca Market on Saturday. The Hobart Quilt Show also happens to be on, a happy coincidence.
l will be back next week with lots of photos to share form our visit Down Under,
till then,
Thanks for visiting.

Linda.

P.S. Robyn has recently started a blog. Go visit and share in some more of her wonderful home made goodies.

Inner City Inspiration

At our last 2 stashbuster meetings, Jill has been working on this project. Its a small sample of a larger quilt we saw at a recent Quilt exhibition. She has been asked by a local quilt shop to teach it, and so has made a small sample to show them. She was saying how she needed lots of variety of scraps, so when they were all at my house, l brought my scrap baskets out and let her have free rein and take what she wanted. Jill tells me about half this sample came from my scrap basket. l am so pleased she was able to use some of those long collected scraps.


l love the way the pattern changes depending on which way you look at it.

So it got us thinking that we all want to join in the fun. As we are off to Tassie next weekend and are unable to take our sewing machines for practical reasons, we need some hand work. A plan has been made, Jill is making us all templates and we are all cutting fabric. We plan to have a fabric swap while there, to give us all lots of variety.

From a 2" strip across the width of fabric, we should be able to get at least 6 pairs. So we have set an amount to swap each of lights, mediums and darks. We are really looking forward to the challenge.


Here is the original quilt that gave Jill her inspiration. This lady had way too much time on her hands and made hers double sided!!!!
This little fella came for a visit on the weekend. l have had a good look in my bird book and decided he is an Australian King Parrot. Love that xmas coat he is wearing!!!
And this is for Sheila, who asked so nicely, the Lime and Cointreau marmalade recipe.
( see the first of our early jonquils. they smell heavenly) LIME AND COINTREAU MARMALADE

12 medium (1kg) limes
1 1/2 litres (6 cups) water
7 cups ( 1 3/4 kg ) sugar, approximately
1/2 cup cointreau


Slice unpeeled limes thinly, discard seeds.
Combine limes and water in bowl, cover, stand overnight.
Transfer mixture to large saucepan, bring to boil, simmer, covered, for about 1 hour till rind is soft.
Measure fruit mixture, allow 1 cup sugar to each cup of fruit mixture. Return fruit mixture and sugar to pan, stir over heat, without boiling, till sugar is dissolved. Bring to boil, boil uncovered, without stirring, for about 20 minutes or until marmalade jells when tested.Allow to cool for a few minutes, then stir in cointreau. Pour into hot sterilised jars, seal when cold.
Makes about 9 cups.

Anyone want some limes?????

Thanks for visiting.
Linda.

Goodies from the show and Stashbuster sewing.

l spent the day with my Stashbuster sewing pals. We had a lovely day sewing, and planning our upcoming 4 day retreat to Hobart in Tasmania, to take a class with the Quilted Crow Girls. We're all pretty excited about going. Leonie and Dierdre are putting together a workshop and kit for us.

As my machine is still in the shop l took some hand work. l need a sample to send with a quilt to a magazine for publishing. Perfect timing. Almost done!! Just not much stash busted.A new jar of Lime marmalade came home today too. This time it has Cointreau in it. It's delicious on toast or fresh crusty bread.

Here are some of the goodies that came home with me from the show. These threads and hand made kimono's came from the show Janet kindly helped me find. l love the card that the treads are wrapped on, they look so vintage. The kimono's might get framed.
This book was also a good find. It has a lot of more modern quilts, but also a lovely selection of antique American quilts. It's written in both Japanese and English. Sorry ti's sideways, not sure what happened there.

These are the fabrics that found their way into my bag. Only the fat 1/4's were bought at the show. On Saturday on our way home from the city, we had a stop at Quiltsmith. They decided not to have a stall at the show,but held a 20% off sale in their shop. The paisley is needed to finish a quilt l am making for my Nephew who was married back in January.( glad to have that off the list) The large floral l fell in love with and HAD to have and the plain linen/cotton will be used with some Reese Scannell plains that l have been collecting.
This linen by the metre, which will have a monogrammed piece stitched on, can be used either for tea towels or a table runner.
Well that's all for today. l will be back soon with some photos of the project Jill was working on today. Its stunning, and gave us the idea for our next group swap. Stay tuned!!
Thanks for visiting.
Linda.

P.S. Sandra over at Cumberland Island Quilt Chick is having a giveaway. Pop over and say hello!!

Its been a Busy Week

Its been a busy week here at Quilts in the Barn, so its probably a good thing my sewing machine is in the workshop as there has been no time for sewing.
l flew back on Sunday evening from Sydney and its been non stop since then. My time in sydney was well spent with good times shared with friends, old and new. Friday was spent at the Sydney quilt show, and due to Show rules, photos of quilts are not able to be shared.
However l can share this photo of the girls standing in front of this years raffle quilt. Robyn, Gail and Sharon are all members of the Glenbrook Cocktail Quilters, and they helped make this years raffle quilt. l did buy a ticket, and l am still waiting for them to call and say l won!!!!



l was also able to meet with Janet from Quiltsalott. She is a lovely lady and l enjoyed spending time with her and meeting her husband. We had show and tell, and admit to admiring a few things she had bought. When it was time to move on, she very kindly led me to the stall that had most taken my fancy. That's Gail (no blog) me and Janet in the back row, then Robyn (just started a new blog, go visit) and Sharon (no blog) in the front.


My favourite stall holder was my very own local quilt shop, Somerset Patchwork and Quilting, all the way from Melbourne. Karen and her hubby always put on a great display of quilts and samples, and were happy to pose for a photo.l need to take photo of the goodies that came home and will post them soon.

Thanks for visiting.
Linda.

Quilts for Inspiration.

My plane leaves at 7.30am in the morning, so a very early start. l will be visiting the Sydney Quilt Show, spending time with quilty girlfriends and meeting with a fellow blogger, and as Photos at the show are only permitted for personal use, unless we have makers permission, l have the link for this years award winners for you to check out.

http://quiltersguildnsw.com/quiltshow

Don't forget to look at all categories. Even the judges commendations if they are highlighted.

And just to leave you with a photo for inspiration, here is one l snapped last year when l visited Marie Miller Antique Quilts

Thanks for visiting.
Linda.

Pink and blue, Red and Blue. What about you!!

Remember these blocks?
Well, l ended up doing this with them. Still might put a border on it and make a table runner with it.


l had plenty more of those little pink pinwheel blocks, so l kept playing over the weekend. Another favorite color combination is blue and pink. l had a nice pile of blues bought last year on my American odyssey, and so thought they would do the trick. These 3 little quilts are the end result.
Of course, as is my usual habit, l cut way too many blue squares, so had to do something with them, because this whole sewing session started as a way to get rid of those leftovers, so no point having new ones to replace the old ones, right???



This is how far l managed to get before my machine decided she had had enough. So l am making a trip to the sewing machine shop sometime in the next day or so, and have a service and small repair job done.

This quilt will be a queen size, l think. I'm kind of winging it at the moment, not sure if this will be the final setting, or even how large it will be. These are the only pinwheels put together, so even the setting may change if inspiration strikes before the machine is repaired. The pinwheel blocks are 6" finished. Its a nice change of pace to work on larger blocks after all the small quilts. All the blues were collected last year, and are playing nicely with a bundle of conversationals that were sitting in the cupboard. l like shopping the cupboard.

What would you do if these blocks were sitting beside your sewing machine???

l have some important STUFF to do before next week, and maybe my machine knew this. No more procrastinating.

l am heading to Sydney on friday morning, early, to visit the Sydney Quilt show, and spend time with special friends. l will be catching up with a well known blogger, and hope to have photos to share next week.

Thanks for visiting and all your wonderful comments. l appreciate each and everyone of them.
Linda.

Inspiration and Lime Marmalade

Remember these blocks that were awaiting inspiration?


Well, it arrived yesterday in the disguise of my stashbuster sewing group. Cups of tea, banana and cinnamon muffins, and plenty of catch up news,and we got down to work. l gave Bev the challenge of helping DO SOMETHING with these blocks. The fabric was flying, the rotary cutter was running hot. Inspiration was flowing.

This pile of fabric

became this cute quilt.


These cute blocks and fabrics became

This sweetie.

And finally these pinwheels


Became this!

There still more blocks waiting their turn. Its a holiday weekend here in Australia. WE get to celebrate the Queens birthday with a day off work. Its also the opening of the snow season and the weekend we finally move my son into his own home. Sounds good to me!!


It's also Lime season here, and Jill took a bag of them home 2 weeks ago. With 3 tree's, we have plenty to spare. This cute jar of Lime Marmalade came back. In my opinion, its a pretty good trade. Can't wait to try it on some crusty bread.Thanks for visiting.
Linda.