Woo Hoo 'Remember Whoo Loves You' Baby Quilt

is finally in the post and on it's way to baby Max. Loved the whole process of this little quilt, the pattern is very well written and was easy to follow.

Max's Quilt

back of quilt

  

 So tomorrow I need clean up my messy sewing room and get myself organised as we are off on the tilt train to Cairns on Friday night. Look out Harrison, .. Nan n Pop are coming for lots of cuddles, soo can't wait to see our little man who is now a big 3 yr old and to spend some time with his Mum and Dad especially looking forward to DS cooking for me.  lol

hugs

Love that moment...

when you take a break from your quilting to lay it out and you realise it is no longer just a top but nearly a quilt that is starting to look like it might just turn out okay, maybe even a little more than okay :-)

Ready Set Go.....

time to get this baby gift quilted, bound and in the post. Fingers crossed it will all happen by Monday, well that's the plan. :-)

Baby Max's 'Remember Whoo Loves You Quilt'

Baby Max's Quilt

Yep the Blue n Yellow Quilt

 did finally get finished and was handed over to my sister who really loves it, I enjoyed sewing up this pattern and have some pink fabrics earmarked to make another at a later date. Being a special gift I decided to have it quilted by a local LAQ, it was the first time I have had a quilt professionally quilted and I was so excited to see how lovely the all over pattern turned out when I got it back from Kym at PQS. Thanks Kym.

next on my list was a Quillow for my eldest Granddaughter, the poor darling has been waiting for awhile for me to get this done, I finally got motivated and sewed up some blocks ready to try the disappearing nine patch technique and played with some fabrics on my design wall to plan the whole quilt, I think it will be okay now that I have more or less got the layout worked out in my head. Here's a peek at the fabrics I am using.

But in the mean time we have had a new addition to the family. My hubby's niece has had her first bub, a beautiful little boy who arrived a few weeks early so I have put the quillow aside for a little bit while I make his gift, sooo I have been busy sewing up more nine patches, a glutton for punishment I think.

So many quilts to make hope I live to 100. 

 

 

Happy Easter Everyone, have a safe and happy holiday.

Sneaking in a pic of a Dolly Carry Bag I made for No 2 Granddaughter for Easter, at the age of 3 and a bit I doubt she will be checking out Nan's blog so I feel pretty safe that I wont spoil the surprise for her when the mail man has a parcel for her tomorrow.   I purchased the e pattern from here, great pattern, great service.

Woo Hoo getting there.

Made good progress today with my sister's belated 50th birthday quilt, (just a tad late as the event was back in 2011) now with all the blocks finally on my design wall I just have to play some more with the layout of them and then when happy with it all will be able to wizz them up ready to sew the border on.

Now the fun begins

This part could take awhile, lots of playing to do.

oh Boy oh boy, it's been a little while since I posted,

opps....OK quite awhile then. I seem to have been in a bit of a slump since my Mum passed away unexpectedly at the end of March, and it's been terribly hard to get back up and move onto a life without her in it. To all those that have lost their Mum you will know where I am coming from. Moving on is something we all have to learn to do and we each have to do it in our own way.

   I am so blessed to have become good friends over the last 5 yrs or more with the girls from the yahoo C.R.A.F.T  group who made me this fantastic Healing Hearts quilt in memory of my Mum, isn't it just gorgeous, it is called 'Hearts and Kisses' so fresh n pretty. I'll never forget the day the parcel lady delivered it, I cried so many tears from receiving such a wonderful gift. The hearts in the quilt are so special as they were made by the girls in the group from the world over and then sent to Khristina our list mum in Adelaide who chose the rest of the fabrics and designed the quilt to incorporate the hearts, pulling it altogether in this fabulous quilt. Now that's pretty special hey! Thank you my dear friends, you helped me get through a tough time.

Sooo.... there's not been much craftin' going on here but I did manage to finally finish this scrapping page of my 2 grandchildren who were visiting from faraway last Christmas... photo taken in my Mum's yard by my son with his fancy new camera.

  and just the other weekend I had so much fun going to my very first Stampin Up workshop. I think I am hooked, what a lovely relaxing creative day, our hostess Bronwen did such a great job looking after us with a scrummy lunch and she even bought her cappuccino machine and made us all one and I felt very creative making the two cards, a Christmas gift box and a sweet fridge magnet, love learning new crafts.

 

But the best is yet to come, Woo Hoo on Sunday I am off to meet up with some of the girls from C.R.A.F.T at Mt Alford Lodge for our yearly retreat, can't wait, the bestest company, food is deli-sh, accommodation is perfect, views are fantastic, the odd bottle of wine.... oh will be so relaxing and peaceful and to top it off no housework, no cooking etc, oh yes...roll on Sunday can't wait. Perhaps we might even get to do some sewing,lol.

Hope I have made up a bit for being MIA for so long, will be back in a couple of weeks to show off the pics from the retreat.

hugs

Diana

Finished a little project last night

 remember the bear quilt  I made for granddaughter Monique last year.....

well I was able to use up some of the scraps to make her a runner for the top of her chest of drawers......

now don't look too close, the 3 foot rule applies here as I actually had a little go at FMQ on this project.... so stressful, lol.....but once started I had to keep going, lots of points instead of curves but as it will be covered with DGD's trinkets hopefully nobody will notice  too much, it was a good size to have a practice on, hopefully being not quite 3 yrs old yet Miss M won't be too much of a quilting critique'.

hugs

Diana

Feeling pretty good

"Sew Easily Charmed"

this sunny Sunday afternoon.

Finally finished DD's and SIL's belated Christmas gift a "Sew Easily Charmed" quilt and it will be in the post and on it's way to Mt Isa tomorrow. "Hooray at last" I can hear my DD shouting, lol.

The quilt is a pattern designed by my friend Khris, love this pattern, great instructions and easy to S.I.D. After all my procrastinating about how to quilt it I was glad I had chosen to K.I.S.S.

Now I need to start on the wall hanging requested by DD, same pattern but a smaller version in matching "Freebird" Moda fabrics.

Also wanted to ask you that if you have a minute, pop on over to Khris's, Lucky and Dawn's blogs and check out how hard the girls have been working on quilts for victims of the floods. Lucky has also been making and collecting from other generous ladies lots of "Huggles" which are going to the HUGGLE FOR KIDS Flood Appeal  for the Grantham School.
What's a "Huggle" I hear you ask, check out Luckys blog to find out. Such a worthwhile cause for littlies children of Oz.

Hugs

Diana

I should be

machine quilting the lap quilt that is a gift for my DD and her Hubby, but I got a little side tracked with finishing this scrappin page.

Now that it is done I will have to stop procrastinating and just go for it. You see I have this inkling to be a bit more adventurous and instead of just doing the Stitch in the Ditch version I would love to FMQ (free motion quilt for those who aren't quilters) it, but alas I lack confidence in that area of quilting and do not want to stuff it up, so I guess tomorrow instead of just walking past it as it sits on the table looking at me I best put my big girl panties on and just deal with it, or it will be next Christmas before DD gets to put it on her bed. :-).

hugs,

Diana

I enjoy sewing Healing Heart Blocks

knowing that they are going to be made into a quilt, to be given to somebody that needs an extra hug at a time in their life when things are extra tough, as well as being able to wrap the quilt around them and feel the love and friendship we offer we hope it reminds them they are not alone and others are thinking of them when they can't be with them to help share in their time of grief or hardship.

and these 6 blocks I have just finished will be added to other blocks to make three Healing Heart Quilts for Aussie flood victims who are friends and family of members of the "CRAFT" yahoo group I belong to. 

I will post pics when the completed quilts are done.

In the meantime below is a pic of a Healing Hearts Quilt that was made for a group member who recently lost her Mum, it was put together by Marilyn and she's done a fabulous job on behalf of all the members.

Since I have been talking about these special quilts and their purpose I'm going to pop up some pics of some of the other Healing Heart Quilts that have been given to members over time. How talented the ladies are, who give their time and skill to put together hearts of all shapes and sizes into the quilts on behalf of all the group members, there was also a baby quilt made for a young members first bub. 

Pop over here to my Picasa Albums to see them.

hugs,

Diana

What do you do

on a really hot day in the Queensland outback town of Mt Isa.......pack up the kids and dogs and the 4 wheelers and head for the river of course....

 

more pics HERE

On a more serious note I am guessing that most like me, have been watching the TV and seeing all the devastation that the floods have caused in QLD and now also NSW and Vic.
I found it hard to pull myself away from watching as it got worse and worse and then as the cleanup began it brought tears to my eyes and made my heart swell with pride seeing how many willing people answered the Premier's call for help with the massive task of clearing out the mess and helping to get families back into their homes.
There is lots of ways the rest of us who cant physically be there to lend a hand can help out, I have seen many blogs and websites offering so many helpful ideas as well as the Premier's Disaster Relief Appeal. 
In case you are still deciding how you would like to do your little bit I would like to guide you over to two of my friends blogs, Khristina and Lucky where they are providing a few different avenues for you to consider.

And from me personally I would like to say a big thank you to all those who have got in and got dirty to help those in need, you have my utmost admiration and Thank You for making me so proud to be an Aussie.

hugs

Diana

A great big

to all my family and friends......

May this new year bring many opportunities your way, to explore every joy of life and may your resolutions for the days ahead stay firm, turning all your dreams into reality and all your efforts into great achievements.
   I have been busy with family visiting for the Christmas period so have not had time to do any  blogging but thought I'd pop a few pics up to share with you that have been taken over the last few weeks. Jump over here to my Picasa Album to check them out.
No craftin' happening at the moment but have heaps to get busy with in a couple of weeks.
I'm looking forward to getting a few projects finished early in the new year.

hugs
Diana

My November item

for Amanda's Christmas in July Challenge is done. I made a very simple Pinwheel table runner from fabrics that I had in my stash which was my challenge to myself throughout the 6 mths. They really are getting a bit outdated now, but I am happy to have finally used a little bit of them up.
The runner was fun to make as I tried out something new to me, well actually two things.
I haven't done  lot of HST's but decided to try out this Tutorial and it works brilliantly, and for the other new to me technique I just had to try out this clever idea Here, really love how this works and will definitely be using this method on a quilt in the future. Can you see the cute little bit of piping in the binding? Click on the pic to make it bigger.
Don't you just love the www with all these great tutorials out there.

Thanks Amanda for hosting the challenge, it has been so much fun.

Well that's all folks, onto other things now, I have lots of projects planned for in the New Year, but before that happens I am looking forward to having our DGD and our DS and family arriving soon to stay with us for some family time over the Christmas period.

hugs,

Diana

Whoppee Doo.....want to see something special

 

well all you Quilter's out there just need to jump on over to "HERE" to see how the "CRAFT" group surprised the socks off our "fearless leader" as I call her, lol. Not easy keeping a secret from this girl. 

You will never meet a more generous, caring, sharing person than our Khris so we thought it was about time that we let her know how thankful we all are for her Friendship.

The girls in the group made some hearts, donated fabric and money towards this Gift of Friendship and Khris's right hand moderator Sharon from New Zealand was the clever chicky who did all the hard work designing it, sewing it all together as well as the fantastic quilting, no easy task when you work full time with a heavy workload with long days, the rest of us will be forever grateful for the brilliant job she has done on our behalf, she put her hand up for this job with only 3 other quilts under her belt. Thank you so much Sharon.

We have lots of talented ladies in our group and one of them Pam made a great bag for the quilt to be posted in, so Khris received 2 lovely surprises, thank you Pam on behalf of all of us girls.

Now don't forget, pop on over to Khris's blog and check out this OOAK quilt in all it's glory.

All is right with the world when you have such great family and friends like I am blessed with.

hugs
Diana

Loved this poem

that I found over at Vicki's and thought I might share it here for the Quilters that read my blog, guessing they are true words for a lot of us. Hands up if you can relate, lol.

                                                                                

A Quilter is:
 

Someone who assiduously clips coupons and hunts for bargains at the supermarket,  

but buys untold yards of fabric, regardless of price.
 

Someone who pays to have the ironing done, 

but thinks nothing of standing for hours pressing twenty yards of fabric for a quilt.
 

Someone who sees life through the eye of a needle, and that is a very special thing.
 

Someone who is bored silly hearing about other people's dumb hobbies, such as sky-diving, motor cycling or stamp collecting, 

but constantly fascinates everyone she comes in contact with by sharing her quilts and  quilting experiences.
 

Someone who has not been able to balance her check book since March 1979,  

but can figure the yardage requirements for a Log Cabin Quilt and have just enough left over for a pin cushion.
 

Someone who enjoys sewing a quilt, 

but hides the mending until the garments are either outgrown or out of style. 

Someone who cannot see cobwebs hanging from the ceiling, dust balls under the bed or a sink full of dirty dishes, 

but can thread a size 10 needle in the dark.

Anonymous

hugs,

Diana

Awww we only have one more

Christmas Challenge to do before all the fun is over, this month I made some star coasters to co-ordinate with my runner and table centre, quick and easy but will come in handy when we get the wine glasses out for a Christmas drink, well I guess we could use them for a cuppa as well, lol.

Will now need to put the thinking cap on for the last month's challenge...... Mmm now what else can I make that will fit in with all the other bits, oh I think I have an idea forming but I best go check out  Amanda's blog to make sure I am within the criteria for the month.

My little finish this past week

isn't he just gorgeous with those big blue eyes, enough to melt any Nana's heart.

Now I need to get back to the quilt I am working on for DD but I am having trouble staying focused cause any time soon the post man is going to bringing me one of these and I am just a little bit excited...

 

I have already bought a couple of embossing plates so I can jump right in when it arrives, don't you just love having a new toy to play with for your crafting, it truly keeps you motivated.

hugs

Diana

Wish we had Smell a Blog

my Jasmine is flowering and smells sooo good, I have kept it contained in a pot so it doesn't take over the fence between us and the back neighbors but I'm tempted to let it when it looks and smells so yummy at this time of the year.

Not a lot of crafting happened this week, I did start another scrapping page, but am at the stage where I don't know what to do next so while waiting for inspiration to hit me I used some paper scraps up and made these cards, 

can see I have a long way to go before anybody receives a home made card from me, lol, I will keep practicing.

It's a bit like patchwork being able to use up the scraps, and I have finally run out of blue n red scraps for my string quilt so  even though it will just end up being a floor rug for the Grandchildren or the back seat of the car it is a good feeling finally using up the scraps I have been hoarding for all these years.

I have to put the blocks away now till in the New Year when I will add some sashing to finish them. Meanwhile I need to get busy with some Christmas sewing.

hugs

Diana