2007 in Quilts

Taking Helen's lead, I thought I would finish the year with a summary of the quilts I have completed this year.

The first was one of my favourites, Seaside, a cot quilt for my first niece, Zoe:

Then a cot quilt for Charlie, son of one of my EB friends, using Paula Nadelstern's Puzzle quilt ideas:

The next quilt was rather sad; a memory quilt called Angel Stars for one of the mothers in my EB Parents' group, who lost both her twins:

Next were a couple more cot quilts. For my cousin's baby Angus:

And one for a colleague's baby Joshua, born only 4 hours before Eleanor, and across the hallway from us in hospital:

Next was James' big-bed quilt, Snow in the Jungle:

A quilt for Eleanor's room, to be revealed after its June 2008 publication in Australian Patchwork & Quilting Magazine :

Another cot quilt for a friend's 2nd boy, Zach, Oriental Dragonflies:

At last a quilt for Eleanor to play on and named by James; E'nor Wrug:

A Disappearing Nine Patch made as a swap with the Essential Baby Quilters; Where Did the Irises Disappear To?:

Yet another cot quilt for an EB friend having her 2nd baby, Hannah; Sunrise to Sunset:

And finally the rush of 4 play quilts for Kellie's children just in time for Christmas.

I also set myself a challenge with the Essential Baby Quilters to finish remaking the king-sized hand-pieced quilt I made in 1998-99, by the end of this year. I only have to finish the quilting and binding, and will be taking it with me to Simon's parents' holiday house at Port Hughes tomorrow. I think I will get it done.

I have a handful of quilts already in mind for 2008; most urgently 2 commissioned quilts for a couple of little girls' first big beds. Stay tuned!

I hope 2007 was a wonderful year for you all, and that 2008 is happy, healthy, and (you know who you are, girls!) full of babies and sewing!

Merry Christmas!

James and Eleanor have been to see Father Christmas.

After James' enthusiasm, and talking about it for days, he got a bit shy, so we sat nearby for 15 minutes watching and waving before we went closer. Luckily that was all I had planned for the morning! Of course, by the time I was paying for the photos, he was right into it, and ran into another child's photos! Eleanor was rather tired, but was quite content to sit there!

The "Father Christmas Tree" is up.

And here are a few photos and a quick update.

We got our Jolly Jumper back from James and Eleanor's cousin, and Eleanor loves it.

James decided he'd have another go, too!

Eleanor has discovered her feet, and loves playing with them.

She also likes standing (although usually needs holding).

She continues to be very smiley, and laughs a lot. She even enjoys James' enthusiastic cuddles.

And James is still being James, learning new words at an incredible rate, and parroting us repeatedly! He's also using some correct grammar (i.e. "Mummy's driving the car", instead of Mummy drive car"). His biggest thrill is to collect the mail, then sit on my lap and 'drive' from the gate to the carport.

I have wrapped most of the presents, and am just waiting on some Trash Ties for a couple of people. They have only just been released, and have been in hot demand, so my fingers are crossed they make it to Australia by Christmas.

Happy Holidays!

DIN Surprises Revealed

The lovely Kellie (who has now updated her blog!) received these quilts for her children today, so now you can see them in full:


Butterfly carnival:


Blueberries & Lime:

Cabins in Queensland:

Sun, Sand & Sea:

Piled ready to send (yes, those are quilting novels to the right!):

Just in time

I've been so busy madly trying to finish quilts for the last few weeks, I haven't had time to blog them! Would you believe I finished 3 quilts in a little over 12 hours? Admittedly they were all well progressed, but I still quilted 2, labelled 2, and did the bindings of all 3 in that time! Thankyou to Mummy for looking after James and Eleanor for a few hours during the day to help! But now the last Christmas quilts are on their way across the country, hopefully to arrive in time given the expense of Express Post! But because they're presents, even after the long wait you will only see teasers until they are received!

DIN Surprise 4:

DIN Surprise 5:

And my latest additions, bringing the stash to 658m:

Eleanor is 5 months old!

So here is the next monthly photo of her on her quilt:

And here's why I was so busy a few weeks ago:

Who said spas were relaxing? The older boys are watching the television. What does one watch from the spa? Play School of course!!!

I have all but completed 2 more DIN Surprise quilts; they are quilted and are labelled with my initials and the year, and are awaiting some child-free television time to stitch the back of the binding down by hand. I blogged a peek of one the other week, and here is as much of the next as you'll see until after Christmas:

I have cut all I can of the next DIN Surprise; I'm just waiting on a fabric in my latest eQuilter order to fnish the cutting and start sewing, but here is the palette so far:

And now I must get back to the sewing table...

Eleanor Update

It has been over a month since my last update. A long time in a baby’s life! Eleanor is now heading towards 5 months, and doing beautifully. She is still a pretty easy baby.She can now roll from back to front (although I have only seen the evidence of this, not the actual movement yet!) as well as front to back and can creep forwards about half a metre. During the day she sleeps on her tummy, and when she wakes we find her on her back, chewing a sheet, or doing this:

She doesn’t seem to be putting on much weight, but still has plenty of cute baby chub! We had friends visit from interstate this week; baby Zach is 5 weeks younger than Eleanor, but outweighs her by almost 2kg!Eleanor is starting to enjoy standing (while we hold her of course!). I remember James did this much earlier; we couldn’t keep him off his feet! She is also getting more balance in a sitting position, but is a way off sitting alone just yet.She also loves to be bounced; either on our laps as a game (which elicits delightful giggles) or on our shoulders, calming her for sleep. My fitball lives in the sitting room and gets a lot of use for the latter. She still likes to lie and watch us move around about her, especially James’ antics, although is happier still if I’m chatting to her at the same time. She also likes to hold her little toys - and moves they straight to her mouth. She's very dribbly!Eleanor is getting used to frequent cuddles from James. He loves to smother her (sometimes literally!) with kisses and cuddles, but gets a bit carried away about leaning on her, pushing and generally being a boisterous 2-year-old. She is very good about it all and puts up with a fair bit of rough play before the bottom lip wobbles, tembles and falls! Here he is changing her nappy!

We took her with us to a wedding reception a few weeks ago. She wore her first real dress and looked adorable, but wasn’t too keen on the crowds of people – although they loved her!