Feeling like xmas

Joy patch and her daughter Jess
Baking up a storm of mini puddings. YUM


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Christmas Stocking

Australian Patchwork and Quilting have just been kind enough to run a new pattern for me in the October edition.


My friend subscribes and sent me a photo of the first 2 pages.
Am totally flattered by the huge 4 page spread.
Advent Number Button sets can be purchased at your local patchwork shop, online, or wherever my patterns or buttons are sold. They are $49.95 for a set of 25 buttons.
The top of the stocking has two pockets built into the dark strips so you can put your Christmas cards in them.
I was really happy with the stocking and am looking forward to adding it to my Christmas decoration collection.

A jumble of bits and pieces

The last week in Toowoomba has been very busy so just thought I would share some snaps on what I have been up to


My stand at the show


I feel like I took everything I owned LOL


Mums cute little cottage in Toowoomba that we signed a contract to sell this past week.


The quilt I made for my sister and her husband, on the bed with the cat using it the most LOL


Mike eating strawberries in 'orchid heaven'


One of the tiniest orchids in the place. I am totally obsessed with little things


The fabrics I am using to make myself a computer satchel- that's if I don't run out of strips and fabric first LOL


Mum at the park with her two dogs and the millions of fabulous flowers.

Baby button rings

Went to a market this morning and found this wonderful stand and the young lass allowed me to take some snaps


Here are her details and check out the gorgeous display of her wares


Tiny little rings sitting in tiny cup cake pans. Ooh they were so cute and the setting up of the display took as long as making the gorgeous little rings.
How sweet!!

Gregs first block completed

A couple of days ago I told you about Sue Daileys son in law making his first paper pieced block



With a donation from yours truely we moved him onto the needle turn step



Tongue was still in 'stitching position'



With such large 'man hands', how he got the stitches so small is still beyond me!!



Centre block down it is not hard to see how happy he was and we were all thrilled that he was even having a shot at it.



Hand quilting was the next step after he had made the lttle corner pieces and by now, Sue (who is teaching somewhere overseas) was trying to convince him to start working on samples, but there was to be no UFO's for this man!!!



Tongue again in place, after a very quick demo, Greg was into it...



The block was quilted in no time flat!



And all was finished....



(We then made him pose for this shot as he was too tall)
But with some help from our neighbours stand and a bit of rotary cutting help from me, the block became a finished project



A cushion for his Mum back in Canada we were told



Now you'd have to be impressed with that surely!!!!
Go Greg!
According to Sue and Shannon, Greg will now be their principle demonstrator at the shows LOL so watch out for our next 'Ricky Timms' of hand piecing!!!!
Thanks for all the laughs and well done Greg for being such a great sport and giving quilting a shot! I am sure your Mum will be very proud of your cushion if you can bare to part with it!!

Floral beauty

A picture tells a thousand words. And I was fortunate to leave the quilt show early enough to go and see some of the flower gardens yesterday.
I hope you enjoy the beauty as much as I did.....





All I wanted to do was stitch when I was looking at these beautiful wonders of nature..





The colors were inspirational.








Colorwash quilts and stitcheries kept buzzing through my brain.





The photos go on forever so I hope you have enjoyed this small collection of 'art and craft of a gardener'. Let's give thanks the floods are over and the people of Toowoomba are given this glorious gift from nature to balance things up a bit....

Marilyns Mayhem

Marilyn has the local shop in Toowoomba with the Phaff dealership. Of course we just have to compare notes on which machine is our personal favourite.


Don't you just love the colours of these rasant threads on Marilyns stand


I really loved this photo for the colors and textures.


Of course I just had to pester Marilyn today and whilst doing that found this little box of pincushion bargains for just $1.50. Great ideas for kid sewing kits.


Above is a picture of my Mum's fan quilt display at the quilt show. Mum has spent ages hand painting all the insert panels in the bed head.
An amazing quilt when you consider Mum is not much more than a beginner and made the quilt from a pattern in a magazine.


Had to post this photo of Mum. Just had to be a kid and take her photo while she had a mouth full of sandwich......

It's a man's world

Well we all know that some of the best Quilters in the world are men, so let's all celebrate and welcome a new Quilter into our world.


Please note the position of his tongue as this had been a critical position of his sewing posture for some time when I took this photo.... LOL


Greg is the son in law of Sue Dailey (who is world reknowned for paper piecing) and yes this was his very first piece of quilting.


His stitches (and I am totally serious!!!) were so small I could barely see them and he put this together in very poor light as well.
I have donated a fat quarter to Greg so we can show him tomorrow how to stitch it to the background and make his first patch into at least a cushion.
So watch this space and help cheer Greg on as the week at the Toowoomba Quilters Quilt Show continues until this Friday.
I am sure if you need any tips on tiny stitches and you come to the show then Greg is your man to ask for advice.

Toowoomba Quilters Exhibition

Well I am back on the road again


This time at St Ursulas College on West Street in Toowoomba.
The highlight so far has been listening to the the magnificent Quilters Robyn Ginn opening the show last night and talking of her fabulous quilts and travels.


With a passion for story quilts and the women who make quilts, her talk was just so wonderful.
Robyn was kind enough to let me take some close up photos to share with you.
The photos below are closeups of the quilt behind Robyn in the above photo....


A love of colour, hand work and needleturn, no machine touches the quilts.


Her love of scraps and embelishment is a wonder to see.


All the detail is hand embroidered


The train that travelled through Chinchilla where she grew up


The boyfriends home out on the farm


The township


The detail is amazing. Such tiny stitches....


Clouds and sky and all tiny hand quilting.
For those that need to know what wadding she uses- Hobbs Heirloom, 80 cotton 20 polyester.
And yes she is available for teaching!