Post Christmas wishes.

Just where did the days before Christmas go?

Its a commonly asked question.

They disappear in a daze of preparations,

 gift wrapping, cooking and socializing with family and friends.

 

l would like to thank all you lovely readers who think

 l have something to say worth reading.

Quilting brings such joy into my life and l love sharing my adventures with you all.

l have met and made so many wonderful friends through quilting and my blog.

Wishing you all the joy of the  season. Stay safe these holidays.

After all there is that ever growing list of quilts to make!!

 

A few special gifts to share.

This one came in the week before Christmas.

Even the card is cute!

Thank you Kathie! Just might hand quilt this one.

 

 

A few days before Christmas,

a dear friend gave to me - 12 Christmas Cookies!!

 

Almost to cute to eat!!

 



 

 

And now l am preparing for my annual sojourn

 to Sorrento for the month of January.

So its cleaning out the fridge, making sure the washing and ironing

are up to scratch,  packing all the left overs to be enjoyed another day, cleaning the house

and packing all my sewing stuff to take with me.

l have several different groups of women coming to join me for sewing

retreats during the weeks ahead, and l want to be sure to have

 plenty to work on. Several more birthday quilts top the list,

and maybe a few PHD's ( Projects half done! ) Thanks to Francoise for that one.

l love using it. Makes me and all my quilting friends sound so smart!! LOL

 

l hope to be able to post from Sorrento.

 

Thanks for visiting.

Linda.

 

 

 



Gourmet Cheese and an antique quilt!!

A huge thanks to everyone who played along.

And l learnt that THERE is recipes for Tuna and Chickpea Patties,

 though that was not what l was making.

 

l have been taking cheese making classes this year and having tons of fun.

 The most recent one was on making feta, gourmet feta and yogurt.

So when a free day presented itself l made a big batch of

 gourmet feta to give as gifts this Christmas.

 

 

Here it is all dressed and ready for giving.

 

Here it is in its natural state before l made balls with it.

 

 

Here is a cheese platter l was able to present to guests recently.

All 3 cheeses made by me.

L-R Cheddar, Camembert and Blue.

Maybe my guests were being nice, but they all seemed to enjoy them

and there was none left at the end of the night!

 

 

 

Remember those antique quilts in a box l mentioned recently?

Well, here is a few pics of one of them.

The fabrics are so bold and cheerful.

 



Here you can see they left me a clue, Grandma's dress.

 



 

 

Grandma's dress again. She had a nice wardrobe.

See how she pieced some background to make them fit.

 



l love this block. Again clues. Getting to the bottom of the scrap basket here.

l count 3 different shirting backgrounds and 3 fabrics for the basket.

And even some pieces are pieced!!

 

 

 

And so to the winners of my pattern.

Jenn was on the money guessing feta cheese, but she had insider info,

 so sorry Jenn,

 No pattern for you!!

 

Christine, Haley and Jill all suggested cheese, and while they didn't guess exactly,

 l am feeling in a generous mood, so l am giving all 3  my pattern.

Can you send me our postal address's please

 and l will get your copy in the mail ASAP.

 

Thanks again for playing along. l love a good mystery.

When l come back next time l have another mystery for you.

 This time its an antique quilt. One from the box!!

 

 

Thanks for visiting.

Linda.

 

 

 

 

 



Fabric, quilts, A Barn and a Giveaway!!

My email is back up and running thank goodness.

My, how we have come to rely on the technical world!

After my DD's successful shopping trip,

l took a few girlfriends back the next week,

 and these fabrics below are what came home with me.

An early Christmas present to myself.

 



Have found just a little time for stitching. These paper pieced,

soon to be half square triangles are for  a swap l am

 doing with my Sorrento Sewing group. No plan, but enjoying

the simple stitching required. An evening in front of the

telly to remove the papers coming soon!

 



 

l am using Edyta Sitars Triangle Exchange papers.

 They are quick and easy to use. About 5 minutes to sew a page,

about 5 more minutes to cut them apart and your ready to

 remove papers. The best thing l like about them is they are so accurate.

No more trimming each square to the correct size.

And no waste!!

 

 

My Sorrento Sewing Group  had an evening out recently to exchange christmas gifts.

Yep! You guessed it. Mini Red and White Quilts!

 

 

Here we are with the quilts we each took home.

Sandra, Margaret, Chris, Me and Jill.

 

Anne and Bev.

These are done in secret, so no one knows what anyone else is making.

 l love that they are all different.

 

 

l have been meaning to show you a gift two special friends gave me recently.

This gorgeous tin barn!! Those girls so get me!!

Its just perfect to take my hand stitching in when we

 head up to Castlemaine for Applique Group.

 



 

 

And as its Christmas, l thought it time for a giveaway!!

 

The first person to guess correctly what l am doing in the photo below will

receive in the mail a copy of my Infinite Variety Revisited  pattern.

And if no one can guess, l will draw a name at random.

l will check in and see how the guessing is going, and give a hint or two if needed!!

Good luck everyone!!

 

 

 

Off out for dinner with some friends who belonged to the first

ever stitching group l started.

Too many years ago to think!!

 

Well, thanks for visiting.

Linda.

 

 

 



Fabric and frustration!

Somehow l locked myself out of my email address.

l have contacted mail2world  many times in the past 72 hours since l did this.

 l have only had automated responses,

and even that took 48 hours from the start of the problem.

All my email contacts are held at that email address.

 l have no way of contacting anyone whom l normally stay in touch with through email.

Its far from life threatening, but l feel l have lost

contact with the world and all my friends.

 

So if you are reading this and know we sometimes stay in touch,

 l do have another email address you can contact me on

till the problem is resolved. That is, if a real person ever gets back to me!!

 

quiltsinthebarn@mail2world.com

 

l would love to hear from you, especially if you have tried to

contact me in the last 3 days and been told me email is invalid.

 

l sent my daughter fabric shopping for me yesterday. This is a first for her.

 The shop l wanted to visit is 45 mins from my home,

but only 10 mins from my daughters. So l sent her on a mission to buy

 backing fabric for a quilt. Armed with a picture of the quilt and instructions

 of how much to buy, a flurry of messages and photos

 prevailed during her visit to said shop.

This is what came home.

 

 

See those top 4 fabrics? They were on the bargain table.

Now you know we pay a lot more for our fabrics here in Australia.

On average $20 metre.

Well, those 4 fabrics were being sold out for just $2 metre.

No, that's not a typing error.

 $2 metre.

l think l can see some pink and brown quilts in my future and

l think l will be sending my daughter fabric shopping more often!! LOL

P.S. The bottom stripe is the fabric she went for!!

 

Off to prepare that backing!!

 

Thanks for visiting.

Linda.

 

 

 

 

 



A few finishes.

Not much sewing happening here the past week or so.

l and some of the girls did manage a few finishes while sewing

 at Sorrento recently,  so thought l would share them.

 

This is one of my finishes.

Called Caramel Fudge, its a kit l purchased from Den Haan and Wagenmakers

in Amsterdam earlier this year. You can find the kit for this quilt here.

Its a combination of reproduction fabrics and dutch chintz fabrics.

 

 

 

 

This one is for my Niece Tegan. An 18th birthday quilt, she turns 19 soon!!

"Better late than never" is a motto l am using at the moment.

l used pink and purple reproductions, teamed with a plain white.

This design came from a girlfriend, and she is not sure where she first saw it,

 so no pattern available that l am aware of.

 

EDIT! While doing some research online ( quilting of course)

 l came across a blog that had a tutorial for this design so adding the link here.

 

 

  

 

This was a quick quilt stitched for a great Nephew, who turns 1 this week.

Fun and quick, a split nine patch.

 

This is a quilt Sandra completed.

Also a kit, the name slips my memory at the moment.

 

 

Jill was working on a group project.

This is her contribution to a block in the box.

 

Margaret was working on a long term hand piecing project.

These blocks are very cute! And remind me of starfish.

 

My sister joined us for sewing for the weekend,

 and managed to complete her first ever quilt.

Made for her daughter, this is a design l had published several years ago.

 Its a super easy for beginners quilt, that she had no trouble with.

The fact it took 2 years to complete is completely beside the point!!

 

Here she is with her second quilt, well on its way to completion.

Lets hope this one does not take 2 years!! LOL

 

Well, that's all for now. Just had a box delivered, and inside are

 some new antique quilts, so l am off to play!!

 

 

Thanks for visiting.

Linda.