Small Quilt

On Thursday I decided that I should make something with the Fat Quarters that I received for my birthday last Novemeber.

A couple of months ago I bought the book "fat quarter small quilts' by Darlene Zimmerman. I really like the quilt "Cinnamon Pink" and at a finished size of 14.5" x 18.5" it is the perfect size for the top of my 2 tables that sit next to my lounge chairs.

I picked out 3 fat quarters from my birthday stash and made one top on Thursday for one of the tables. Another fat quarter will be used for the backing.

I will have enough material from these 3 fabrics to make another one for the other table.

I was really impressed with my effort on Thursday.

Tuesday's Treasures

My Tuesday Treasure for this week is my Doll Collection. I started collecting dolls from all around the world as a young child. I have over 60 dolls from all over the world and they live in a cabinet in my lounge room.

Many of them are from countries that I visited as a young adult and they remind me of the great times that I had in each country. I have quite a few from England which I collected on my visits to my Grandma in Essex when she was still alive. They remind me of the time I had with her and what a kind, loving person she was.

Two of my favourite dolls are my very 1st doll, which is an Aborigine, and a Chinese doll that my brother gave me.

The Aborigine was given to me by my Aunty Min when I was quite young and had belonged to her. Aunty Min was my favouite great aunt and I remember her as a very special person.

The Chinese doll was given to me by my brother, Robert, when I was a teenager. Robert died a number a years ago so it is good to have some lovely things to remind me of him.

My family and friends have also bought me back dolls from their various travels overseas. Even my son knows to bring Mum back a doll when he travels. He has bought me back ones from Thailand, USA and Vanauta. I hope I get one from New Zealand when he goes there next month.

Go over to Clare's blog and see other Tuesday's Treasures.

Tuesday's Treasures

I know I am a day late but as the saying goes "Better late than never".

I have decided to join Clare's Tuesday Treasures.

I forgot about yesterday being Tuesday as I hurt my back at work last Friday so am off work for a week, on medication and back to seeing my physio again. I have a chronic back problem so the injury at work has exacerbated this injury. It will be better in about a week or so.

Anyway, that got me thinking today what I treasure most in life. I came up with the 2 most important people in my life, My son and my boyfriend.

My son is 24 and is always there for his Mum. When my back is bad or I'm sick he wants to do things for me like getting my shopping, medications etc. He has made me a path from my front door to my letterbox. He might not want to mow the lawn, wash up or do other things and complain about them but is always there when I really need him.

When we went to Thailand last year he filled his bag up with all my buys so that I didn't have to carry a heavy bag home. He even let me go on the back of his scooter for 2 days and visit every temple on Koh Samui. Not many 24yr old son's would do that for their mum.

Now to my boyfriend, Treasure. I have spoken about him in the past, doing my vegie garden, making my Spa room etc. Apart from all those things that he has done around my house he is always there to do any housework that I am unable to do and will listen to me when I just want to talk.

I am so glad that I have these 2 very special people in my life. They certainly are my most treasured people.

Flannel Quilt

I have finished the top of my flannel quilt. It has turned out larger than I was going to make it but will be great to wrap myself up in on a cold winter's night watching TV.

I didn't have a pattern so I made up my own .

I cut out 6.5" squares of 3 different fabrics. I then cut out 2.5" strips from 6 fabrics. These I used to frame the squares.

I then joined 6 of these blocks together to make a row. I joined the 6 rows together and then added a stripe border. I mitred the border. I was worried about this being difficult to do but it proved very easy. The border looks very effective being mitred.

I am going to make it into a reversible quilt so now have to design the back.

I haven't sewn in flannels before as they can be hard to buy in Qld. I really enjoyed sewing the flannels and will definitely use them again.

Back on the Farm Block 2

The second block that we decided to do is "Pigs in a Blanket". I did all the preparation at home over about 2 weeks. I cut out the pieces (they were bigger pieces this time, which was good) then I had to make the pigs up.

In class I put the pigs onto the background fabric, wadding and backing fabric.
Next came the quilting. I was really nervous with this as I didn't feel confident with the little bit of quilting that I had done on block 1 so I hadn't finished it. Chris (our teacher) gave me another lesson on the quilting and so tentatively I began. I couldn't believe it as it was looking really good. I ended up staying at "Buttons and Bows" all day and got it finished. I just have to sew the eyes on the pigs.
I was so impressed with myself that I can't wait to finish quilting block 1 and start on block 3.