A Message from Mel

A while ago I admired a pincushion that Leanne had made. As bloggers do, she offered to send me the pattern so I can make it too. Not only that she sent me a lovely floral fat quarter which will be ideal for the backing and one of her famous cards featuring Mel. I always enjoy reading about Mel's exploits so I am thrilled to have my own Mel card. Thanks Leanne.



Not much else newsworthy to share tonight so I'll give you another sneaky peek at one of the secret projects I'm currently working on. This one is nearly finished - I will be counting it towards Peg's Finish Five challenge.



A couple of days ago I discovered a new Tasmanian blog called If Only I had Chocolate. What a great name .... from reading your blogs I know lots of you relate to that sentiment! Know I do. I'm sure Sarah would love people to drop by and say hi.

Taking Up the Challenge

I have been plugging away at few projects but as they are PIFs and items for swaps I can't show very much. To give me a bit of extra motivaton I have joined Peg's Finish Five Challenge. My projects will most definitely not be large quilts but Peg says that is okay ... a finish is a finish and worth celebrating.

Here is a sneak peek of one of my projects ... though Oliver seems to think it belongs to him. That paw seems to be saying 'mine'.

And another one just to keep you guessing.

Next Saturday I'm doing a 'quilt-as-you-go' log cabin class, so one of the jobs for the weekend is to look through my stash for some suitable fabrics. At this stage, I'm thinking shirtings for the light side of the logs and maybe greens, reds and browns for the dark side. We'll see! Hope to have some more interesting stuff to share soon.

P.S. Sarah is celebrating 100 posts and has a tidy bin like she made for my PIF to giveaway. Pop on over to go in the draw.

Jackie's Giveaway

Goodness me ... two posts in one day! But just had to tell you about the fantastic giveaway Jackie from Canton Village Quiltworks is having.

Here is the prize .... Jackie will quilt for FREE any quilt of yours up to a twin size. She will quilt it with an overall or edge to edge design. She will even pay for the shipping back to you and will provide the batting! The only thing you will need to do is get it to her ... no problem!! For those of you who don't know, she is a Professional Long Arm Quilter in business for 8 years. You can check out her great work here on her website...www.cvquiltworks.com. The giveaway will be open until June 23. She will draw the lucky winner on June 24!

What a fantastic prize. Good luck everyone (including me!)

Cow Art

On Friday I went to Launceston with Harmony Junkie and the kids. On the way we stopped at Ashgrove Tasmanian Farm Cheese at Elizabeth Town to have a look at all the entries in their cow art competition. These first two were particularly quilty looking.





My nephews were impressed with the Anzac cow.





The cows were painted by students from schools across northern Tasmania.







This one called 'Picowso' was our favourite. Note the paisley motifs. Hope you like the cow art - I thought it was something just a bit different.



In Launceston we visited several quilt shops including Esme's where we met Leanne from Lizzie's Page. She has made some lovely samples for the shop and I was lucky enough to see the blocks (circles actually) she is stitching for her Life's Treasures and Pleasures quilt. My major splurge for the day was the patterns for this BOM which I have been coveting ever since I saw Kerry Gillespie's original at the Autumn Gathering in April.

If you are an avid blog reader, you will already know that Lynette Anderson has a giveaway for her new redwork patterns. You will have to be quick as the draw closes tomorrow.

Thanks to everyone who commented on my last post. I will try to reply to everyone personally but as I return to work tomorrow (Grr!) forgive me if I don't manage it. Dear little Oliver had a trip to the vet today. The skin around one of his eyes is inflamed and weeping (.. looks quite yuck) and causing him some discomfort. We got some ointment and the vet was relieved that his actual eye is okay .. no scratches or nasties. Hopefully it will be back to normal in a few days.

Lastly, thanks to Suzie from littlebusybee in Germany who has given me a Make My Day Award. You are very kind, Suzie.

Oliver's Antics

Last night I got out this redwork tablerunner to baste but Oliver had other ideas! First, he just sat on it with his 'why aren't you feeding me' face.



Then he decided it was washing time. I'm glad he's so clean but really!. There's a time and a place!



Then it was playtime .. naughty boy! By this stage, I was 'not happy Jan'. (He's out of focus due to all the wriggling about.)



After all the excitement it was time for a snooze and I could finally get to work.



I did finally get it all basted. This is the fabric I'm using for the back ... Roman Holiday by 3 Sisters. Sorry about the horrible photos - this fabric is actually white though you'd never guess it. Had hoped to quilt it today but rearranged the kitchen instead .. as you do!



Lastly, Sylvia asked for the name of the pattern for the table runner in my last post. Sylvia, it is called Crossroads Table Runner and is from a book called Charmed and Dangerous by Heather Mulder Peterson. The book is published by Anka's Treasures.

A Holiday Makeover

They say a change is as good as holiday and seeing I'm on holidays I thought I'd try a different background. It is a free one from Cutest Blog on the Block. Thanks for the hint, Stina. Couldn't resist this one with ric rac and toile. Hope you like it.
I've been stitching away but unfortunately it's not anything I can show just yet. So here are a couple more photos I took at my sisters earlier this week. This is a redwork stitchery I gave her as a gift - can't remember whether it was Christmas or birthday. I do know it is from the book Simply Red, a collection of stitcheries by Bronwyn Hayes for Country Friends.



And here is the tablerunner I gave her for her birthday being put to good use. My Mum has put in an order for her birthday in September. She wants one in pink, brown and green tones.



And for all the cat lovers, the obligatory photo of Oliver looking cute. I think this might be his koala impression!



If you haven't checked out Chookyblue's blog today, go and have a look at the really cool slide show she has put together of a quilt show she went to. If you look closely you'll even see some of her own work.

My Sewing Angel

Went up to my sisters on Monday. While the kids vacuumed and washed my car, I did some reverse sewing for her. Unpicking your own stuff is horrible, but when it's someone elses 'disaster' you're trying to rescue it's not so bad.

This is one of Kathy's stitcheries I thought you might like to see.

We think it is one of Lynette Anderson's designs. I have an unfinished one lying around somewhere ... just needs to sew the buttons on. Will have to do something about that.

Before I go, here is a photo of George. As a kitten, George lived with my Mum and Dad. He stayed with us when they went on holiday once and never went home! We still had George when Oliver was a kitten ... they used to wash each other. Unfortunately, George didn't hit it off with one of our neighbours so he went to live with Kathy and the kids. As you can see, he is now very contented and comfortable.

PS. The kids did an OK job cleaning the car, so we took them to see Prince Caspian at the movies yesterday.

Naughty Pussy Cat!

Today I worked on Stina's Pay It Forward gift and I'm pleased with how it's coming along. Oliver was on hand to assist. As you can see, he got quite naughty at one stage





Thankfully he remembered his manners eventually. Stitching is so exhausting!



I have decided I will make different gifts for my three girls. There are several reasons for this:
1. I can send them off to their new homes as soon as they're completed and won't have to wait 'til all three are done.
2. I'm quite slow getting stuff finished! Just as well it's a 365 day PIF! (Actually, it's the getting started that's often the slow part - checking through 400 magazines and patterns can be time consuming!)
3. I like to try new projects.

I have had fun catching up on blog reading today. So far checked out all my favourite Aussie and European blogs. Heading to North America, Japan and the UK tomorrow. Found a gorgeous new blog called Kathrine's Quilte Stue in Oslo, Norway. Full of lots of lovely pictures of pretty fabrics and projects by Norwegian designers. The text is in Norwegian and English. I was enchanted.

Also discovered that Bernadette from The Quilting Bee is celebrating 100 posts with a very generous giveaway. You might like to check it out yourself.

This little pile is some fabric I was auditioning today for a secret swap project. Can't say any more than that! It's not my usual palette, but I have some ideas in mind.