Lazy Sunday

I've had a lovely day; just Eleanor and I here most of the day while James is being towed around by Simon in the bike trailer, much to his delight. I wasn't happy with the borders of my D9P, so did a bit of unpicking and resewing. I just need a tiny bit more of one fabric on Tuesday to finish the top. Tomorrow is a public holiday here, so I can't get it then, but I'm looking forward to a family day!

And here are the photos of the ducklings, and James with a pigeon, from Mummy's camera the other day:

Flashback to my first pets

We didn't have pets before 1985, so this one is mid-1986. We were looking after the 3 adult guinea pigs Socksy (m), Cheeky (f) and Cappucino (f) (in my arms on the left) for friends who were away, and while we had them, the babies appeared (in my sister's arms on the right) I can't for the life of me remember any of their names except Mimi. We kept the babies as our pets, until they were found dead in their cage one morning. They were untouched, but a dog had obviously been at the cage, and we assume they literally died of fright!

Stash building

Today I discovered Hetties Patch. It's a lovely patchwork shop near the Entertainment Centre. I'd avoided going there because 1. it's a fair drive and 2. it seemed to be very shabby-chic, which isn't my stash-style! But it's much bigger than I'd thought and has a great range; plenty of soft colours, but also some brights, plus Amy Butler, Anna Griffin, Prints Charming and Heather Bailey. Amongst other things, I got some of Heather's new Freshcut range, and I'll be going back there for fabrics for Leia's quilt.

Stash update: with this week's and last week's purchases, minus a but I've used, I estimate my stash to be about 611m. After counting it up for this , I said I'd keep track of my additions and see how long it takes to reach a kilometre of quilt fabric!

Yesterday Mummy and I took James to feed the ducks. Eleanor was there too, but slept in her pram through the whole thing. I lost count of how many times James told me "Feed ducks" through the day. As well as the pigeons (some sat on our hands stealing the bread!) there were magpies, the ducks, and 6 adorable ducklings. Joy should recognise where we were; it's right near her place, and I took James and Austy there about this time last year while she was studying!

Snap-happy

I've been a bit quiet. I had a whole day with James at child care and Eleanor sleeping, and didn't do a scrap of sewing! I did, however, spend quite a while behind the camera. I had a bunch of cream freesias and a perfect dutch iris on the table for dinner last night (we had my parents over) and after Lily's comments on my previous post, I got to thinking, and combined the flowers and the quilt for some photos. More importantly, Lily's comments have also inspired a change in my design which I am delighted with, but you'll have to wait until it's finished to see.

Then my darling daughter wanted to play and chat, so I took her out in the lovely weather and snapped away a bit more...

And how is this for a tragic face? She can drop the corners of her mouth further than you can imagine, then the whole bottom lip goes...

A catchy title

Since I have both kids home on Wednesdays, WIP Wednesday just isn't going to happen here. On the other hand, it's just Eleanor and I on Thursdays, and I can usually get something done then. So I need your help to come up with something catchy, 'cos WIP Thursday doesn't have the same ring to it.

I have completed the centre of the D9P with the sashing, and am starting on the borders; the first is the same fabric as the sashing, but about 3" wide.

It was a lovely day in Adelaide. I didn't get outside much, but did take this photo of some of the dutch irises under a weeping blossom tree in our front garden. We have a lovely big garden which is in serious need of some attention, but fortunately lots of the bulbs keep on keeping on without any help from us.

These irises helped sell us the house. They are my favourite flowers, and I had lots of them among the many bulbs I'd planted in our renovated garden in Canberra. We first found our house on the internet, and one of the photos of the house had one of these irises in the foreground. The knowledge that I would be able to grow them here was a good selling point (although the house itself, the rest of the garden, and our own creek helped, too!). These have multiplied each of the 3 springs we've been here with no help from me.

The sound of singing

Sunday night was my first child-free outing since Eleanor was born (apart from quick trips to the shops). Simon stayed home with James and Eleanor while I joined my parents and their friends at an Eric Bogle concert. Luckily Eleanor slept most of the time, and was just ready for a feed when I got home.

Yesterday I took Eleanor for her first immunisations. A malfunction with one needle meant she had to have that one again; as if 3 wasn't bad enough, she got a fourth! So to make myself feel better, I stopped at a few quilt shops, including one at the end of Joy's street, which I haven't visited for over a year. Here is the result.

There are some here for the D9P, but mostly I just couldn't resist them. I did also find some fabrics which might be great for Leia's quilt once I see the fabric she has already chosen.

What sort of cabin should I build?

Here are three options for the quilt I'm going to make with the strips I got in the log cabin swap with the EB quilters. We'll use the quilt on the sofa on cold nights. I think my favourite is the first design, what do you think?

Flashback Friday - Smile!

Here I am aged 6 1/2 in December 1984, and missing a couple of teeth. I remember this, it was at Tusmore Park where we had a family picnic, probably for my cousin's birthday (on the 28th or 29th). And if it was like any other year, my aunt would have made him a cake covered in delicious but hideous blue icing!

Thrilled!

I’m thrilled to bits! I submitted a photo of Eleanor’s wallhanging quilt to Australian Patchwork and Quilting via email this morning, and by lunchtime I had a reply that they would like to include it in one of their upcoming issues! I’m delighted that my design and quilting work is considered worth including, and that it will be published! The editor of the magazine describe it as gorgeous! So now I have to wirite some instructions etc, before sending them off with the quilt and some blocks for photographing. Believe me when I say you’ll know when it comes out!

Show day!

Yesterday we took James to the Royal Adelaide Show. It was a dedicated James day, with my mother looking after Eleanor while we were there. We took James last year to see the animals, but at nearly two, he enjoyed it so muich more this time. He got to pat and even hold loads of animals, including a wedge-tailed eagle!

(That's James' hand at the bottom)

But I think the highlight was a ride on the miniature carousel. Although I sat next to him, I didn't even need to hold him; he hung onto the pole and grinned the entire time. It's a pity the pole obscured his face in the photos though:

He was also fascinated by the poodles. Clipped, puffed and hair-sprayed within an inch of their lives, they barely resembled our two, but every black one was Shadow or Cocoa to James. I think he was a bit confused. We also had alook at the handcrafts hall. There weren't many quilts this year, after some great exhibits last year. But my grandmother took first (the irises) AND second prize (the little bird on the pussy-willow) for cross-stitch in the over 80s category!
To top it off, Eleanor slept from 10.30 last night until 6.30 this morning, so we are all feeling good despite the busy day!

E'nor Wrug

Eleanor's quilt is finished at last, but James had already named it for me. I designed it around some new classic Beatrix Potter prints, and the pale border is a pink Beatrix Potter toile. So here it is

and here she is in the first of her monthly photos on it (note her coordinating outfit!)

While we were away I also managed to make some progress on my D9P EB quilters swap quilt. I have resewn some of the blocks, and am thinking of sashing it; it doesn't seem to be working for me as it is. Luckily my ILs' neighbours up there happen to quilt, because my rotary cutter missed being packed, and I borrowed one for the weekend.

And here's a few photos of James to even things out! Here he is ready to head up to Port Hughes to see Nanny and Pop. And worn out after a day which included a trip in Pop's boat and walks on the beach.

Worth fighting over?

While I was taking a few more photos of the quilt before sending it

this was going on directly below me!

The stand-off lasted about half an hour of Shadow barking and the possum hissing after I gave up trying to coax him out with treats (even chocolate didn't work!) while I fed Eleanor. Eventually I pushed Shadow away with long broom, which gave the possum the chance to run off and up a tree to safety. Neither seem injured!

A smile!

I captured Eleanor's first smile on camera yesterday. She has been treating me to these for about a week, how delightful!
Simon is taking tomorrow off work and tonight we are all heading up to his parents' holiday house at Port Hughes for the weekend. It's our first trip with both kids, and should be fairly relaxing, with his parents likely to relieve us of lots of our parenting responsibilities, and allow me to quilt. Yesterday afternoon while sitting with James dozing on the sofa I finished the binding on Zach's quilt.

Last night I sewed all the squares into strips of 3 for my green and purple D9P. Here are a few:
I'll take it with me this weekend, along with the finishing hand-stitching on Eleanor's play quilt. That has to be a priority, as Eleanor will be 2 months old on Saturday, and I want to start a series of monthly photos of her on her quilt!

My first WIP Wednesday

I have finally motivated myself to finish off Eleanor's play quilt and am stitching the binding to it today, even though I am still sewing down the back of the binding on Zach's quilt. I hope to finish both off in the coming evenings. I don't like having to use James' for her!

Wednesdays are not usually productive days in this house with me and both kids at home. Eleanor tends to sleep in the mornings, but requires holding all afternoon, and James needs constant watching even when he doesn't require direct attention. Unfortunately the study/sewing room doesn't have a window looking out on the lawn, or he could play happily out there. At the moment he's passing me my quilting magazines 2 at a time (he's just learned the meaning of two!). Very helpful!

The other day we caught our first episode of the Teletubbies. Can I first say what absolute rubbish it is? Interminable giggling, hugging and running around without even attempting a storyline. But James was fascinated. Everytime one appeared on screen, he'd say 'sleep-suit'. This is why:

He wears a red or green one of these to bed every night, and Simon's instant response the first night he wore one, was that he looked like a teletubbie. Obviously he's not the only one to think so! This one is a bit loose, but the green one fits the bill perfectly.

Quilt labels

Usually I just embroider my initials and the year into the binding of a quilt, but for a few special quilts I have printed labels onto special printable fabric and sewn them to the back of the quilt.

I made a family quilt with a square for each family member, and the label identifies each square and the reason for the design of that person's block:

Another one is a quilt for an EB friend who lost her son. His favourite poem was The Owl and the Pussycat, so the label has the illustration, a message and the words of the poem:

The other 'proper' label was another quilt for an EB friend who lost her twins, and the quilt was from our parents' group: