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.

Cushions

Here's a photo of the cushion I made for Heather for Christmas. I also made one for my mother in pink.

PS: Heather sent me this photo of the cushion I made.

Sarah's quilt top finished

This week I finished the top of Sarah's quilt sewing on the last border and the binding.

It looks great - I love the color and the chenille fabric.

I have not used chenille before but it was easy to sew by hand. My lounge chair and floor were covered in bits of chenille as it came off the cut edges. Even Charlie had bits of chenille fluff over him!

I am not sure how I will quilt the top yet At this stage I'm thinking of sewing around each block but this may change when I start the quilting.

From 2009 to 2010

I can't believe that it is now January 2010.

Looking back on the last 12 months 2009 has been an eventful and busy year.

January 2009 was the start of a new year but it also was the start of a new phase of my life.

Life changes

On the 26th January I meet Richard and Andrea, Siobhan and Harley Kitchen. I had previously given things to Andrea on freecycle (toilet paper and a calendar!) and it was from a posting I made on the cafe in regard to Alpha courses that I came to meet Andrea and her family in person. I was invited to dinner where I also meet Harley Kitchen again. I'd meet Harley when I was in High School in Bendigo in 1977. We chatted over a lot of things and at the end of the night I was invited to go to their church, TLC on Sunday. I went and have since met lots of people and have made new friends.

Going to TLC has made my life busy again and I'm enjoying the people and church. I've been able to meet a lot of people through the dinner groups and Brink.


Over the year I have had the usual ongoing health issues as well as being diagnosed with a condition causing me to loose my peripheral vision, a fracture in my right foot which still hasn't healed and only one hospital admission for an infection.

I've been working two days a week and continued studying part time although I ended up deferring my second semester subject because of my health.

I am not sure what 2010 will be but hopefully it will be a good year. I am hoping to have surgery to fix my fractured foot and am hoping that my sight does not deteriorate too much more. I start back at Brink and studying in February.

Craft

This year I have concentrated on making quilts but have also made a few other things during the year. I love having lots of things on the go and love finishing things off and giving them to the person I've made it for. Here are the projects that I have worked on in 2009:

Finished projects

• cushions for mum and Heather
• doggy hats
• stitchery for Nance
• Jake's curtains
• Sewing knitted squares into blankets
• Olivia's 'Settler girl' knitted cardigan
• Jake's board shorts

Nearly finished

• Jake's quilt
• Hannah's quilt
• Sarah's quilt
• Lachlan's knitted vest

Jake and Hannah's quilts have the batting and backing on are ready to be quilted. I am up to sewing on the last boarder on Sarah's quilt and still have the front of Lachlan's vest to knit.

My aim for 2010 is to finish off Lachlan's vest and have Jake, Hannah & Sarah's quilts finished so that they are ready to be entered into a quilt show in September. I am also hoping to have Olivia's quilt finished but since I haven't started that yet I am not sure it will be finished by September.

Jake, Sarah, Hannah & Olivia's quilts

I am loving making quilts for all of my great nephew and nieces.

Last year I have mainly concentrated on making quilts for my family. I have completed the tops of both Jake and Hannah's quilts and have started the quilting of the circles on Jake's.













Sarah's quilt is looking great. I am sewing on the chenille borders and have the backing material and batting ready to put the quilt together.









I have cut out the cardboard templates for Olivia's quilt and I brought the pattern and material as a kit the fabric is already cut into squares. I have had to make a slight adjustment to the size of the squares so that I can stitch the material more easily onto the templates. It's amazing the difference 1/4 of an inch makes!


I am waiting to find a pattern for Lachlan's quilt so hopefully I will be able to find one soon and start his quilt by the end of the year.

A friend of mind has asked me to exhibit the quilts in a show in August. I am not sure that they will be completed but they can still be shown if they are not.

Postcards from Paris - Block of the month

I am really excited - I've decided to make a block of the month quilt called 'Postcards from Paris'.

I've never made a Block of the month quilt and have been wanting to make this quilt for a few years now so the other day I decided to order the blocks and make the quilt. My mother is giving me money toward the first block for Christmas and I'll also put some money I received from my brother and Heather for Christmas towards another block.


I get the first two blocks in the second week of January and can't wait to start.

Doggy hats

Over the weekend I made 14 doggy hats to sell. I make them for the lady who owns a pet grooming shop. She cuts Charlie's hair and sells all sorts of things for pets.

The hats are easy to make and once you get into a routine you can sew quite a few in one afternoon. As I hadn't made any hats for a while I made a variety of colors and sizes. I get paid $10 per hat.

The money I get from the hats will go towards my quilts and mostly to help pay for the 'Postcards from Paris' block of the month quilt I am going to make next year.

Charlie is my model trying them on to make sure the sizes are alright. He must be getting used to trying hats on now as he doesn't try and pull them off anymore.

Nance's stitchery finished

Sometimes I feel as though I have so many projects on the go and don't finish anything so it's nice to say that along with Jake's curtains I have also finished the stitchery that I was making for Nance.

Nance is a lovely lady at the Church I have been going to. Her hugs are renowned and she seems to always know when you need one of them.

Nance saw this stitchery at Yarra Junction and thought it was funny. I decided that it would be an ideal thankyou present for her so went back to buy it and made it up for her.


Thankfully she still liked the stitchery when I gave it to her last week.

Jake's Curtains finished

A few weeks ago I finished Jake's new 'pirate' curtains. I'm really pleased with how they turned out and making them has given me the confidence to look at making curtains for my home.




I made curtains for my last house - a mammoth job as the lounge room windows were floor to ceiling and along the length of the lounge room wall. I've wanted to make curtains since I moved in to my unit 8 years ago but have kept putting it off remembering how much work the last lot I'd made had been. I've now added curtains to my list of things to make next year.