Olivia's quilt 'Pretty in Pink'

I can't believe how fast I've sewn Olivia's quilt. I have sewn all the blocks together and have now started the first boarder. Having the fabric already provided and cut into squares saves so much time. I love the minke fabric used in the quilt - especially the rich deep pink colors and the softness of the minke fabric.

I am waiting for an operation on my hands. I have been diagnosed with 'severe carpal tunnel' syndrome which is causing me quiet a bit of pain, especially at night and aching in my hands and arms during the day. Since Christmas I have been finding it increasingly hard to sew as my hands go numb but I've kept sewing as much as I can. I have to have both hands operated on but will have the right hand done first as it's causing me the most grief.

It will be so good to have the operation however it will mean that I wont be able to sew for a few weeks afterwards which I am not looking forward to.

Olivia's quilt started

With Sarah's quilt top finished I have now started on Olivia's quilt.

I guess I can say that I officially started it on Wednesday when I took the material squares and cardboard backings with me to the Australian Open and sewed the material onto the backings.

I nearly finished sewing all the pieces onto the cards while watching three centre court games -

Svetlana Kuznetsova V Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Kim Clijsters V Tamarine Tanasugarn and finally Rafael Nadal V Lukas Lacko. It's the first time that I have taken my sewing with me but each year I have wished that I had as it's a long day sitting and just watching the tennis.

I finished off the last few pieces last night and plan to start sewing them together in rows while watching the tennis on television this afternoon.

This is the first quilt I have made using a kit. After always selecting and cutting material myself it feels a bit like I have cheated on this one as all the work of cutting has been done for me. As I loved the material in the kit, some of which would have been harder to buy separately I decided to buy it this time. This quilt uses a new range of fabric called 'minke'. There are blocks of pink, white and deep pink interspersed throughout the top. Minke is a very soft fabric with a velvety feel to it and has little bubbles on it.

A pattern for Olivia's quilt

I've decided on a pattern for Olivia's quilt. I've had a pattern in mind for a while which has different blocks of stitchery with either bears or Sunbonnet Sue with sayings embroidered on each block. Each block is surrounded by a border and then smaller blocks of different fabrics.

In October last year I was showing Ruth the pattern I had in mind and she suggested that I might be able to use some stitchery blocks that her mum (my sister, Sue) had made. The stitchery blocks are all different Sunbonnet Sue designs with kittens. They will be great to use in Olivia's quilt. The stitching of the blocks is so neat. I hope I can do them justice and make a special quilt for Olivia.

I'm not sure if I'll add embroidered sayings like in the pattern and if I do, if I'll embroider sayings onto each block or make separate blocks of embroidered sayings.




Some of the sayings from the patterns are:

• A friend is one of natures masterpieces
• True friendship is a knot that angels have tied
• Friends catch your tears as you fall
• Friends are the most important ingredients in the recipe of life
• Friends are Angels on earth
• Friendship is the greatest gift of all
• Friends leave foot prints on our hearts
• The language of friendship is not words but meanings
• Friendship is music to the soul
• Friendship is the thread that ties hearts together
• Friendship is like a sheltering tree

The sayings are really nice so I'd like to include some but I'll decide when I start making the quilt.

I've been knitting Olivia's cardigan to match Sarah and Hannah's. I had hoped to have Olivia's cardigan finished already but it's been so hot lately with the temperature into the 40's last week and 30's this week that I haven't knitted or sewn much at all lately.

Recently I was given a magnifying lamp by a lady I met on a website called 'Freecycle' . I've been looking at getting one for a long time as using a magnifying glass helps seeing the small stitches when sewing my quilts. It works really well so I'm pretty pleased to have been given the lamp and can't wait for the cooler weather to come so I can get back into sewing again.