Happy the bride that the sun shines on

The Lord couldn’t have given us a more perfect day for the wedding of my son Ben and his bride Sunny yesterday.

The sun shone brightly on an unseasonably warm winter’s day, and Moo and I had decorated the church with sunshine yellow gerberas, lilies and daffodils.

The church bells rang out across the neighbourhood and cars slowed to see the beautiful bride and her attendants walking the short distance from our home to the church for a 1pm wedding.

Just as the Princess’s drawing had promised, love was definitely in the air as her Mummy and Daddy were finally married at St Mark’s.

 

That’s the groom below with his groomsmen. He’s the very relaxed-looking young man wearing the white tie .

I created a romantic garland for the arched church entrance.

 

The ceremony was so moving. Sunny started it: once she began to cry happy tears I couldn’t help mine, and I doubt there was a dry eye in the church as they took their vows.

But the tears gave way to smiles and applause as the newlyweds emerged after signing the register.

More to come

Di

I finished THREE queen-sized quilts in a month!

So, how was your July quilt-wise? I finished three queen-sized quilts.

Oooh, I love saying this. THREE!!!!

Quilting with me is like waiting for the #10 Bus. You wait for ever, hopping from one foot to the other, and then three of the darned things come along together.

Confession time – I might have finished my quilts in a month, but I sure didn’t start them just last month. To be completely honest, two of them have been bubbling away for well over a year, so it was high time for a reveal. Or two. Or three.

Today I’ll show you my first finish, the Whirligig quilt by Australian designer and teacher Sue Ross, who also designs those scrumptious co-ordinates from A Day in the Country.

Apart from machining the background squares together, my Whirligig is entirely hand pieced, hand appliqueed and hand quilted. Now you know why my quilt journeys are more like leisurely meanders than sprints. I’m what you might call a plodder!

Sue came along to Paddington Patchworkers early in 2010 and over three x monthly classes taught us the finer points of making her quilt. Up to this time I had pretty much been a reproduction girl, a lover of muted, dusty tones.

The Whirligig quilt marked a radical departure, for me, from my soft colour-washed florals, and though I still dip into them from time I prefer my florals on the modern side, teamed with clear, crisp backgrounds and co-ordinating hues that make them pop. 

For my Whirligig quilt I delved deep into my growing collection of glorious Kaffe Fassett fabrics.

I pieced the whirligigs after cutting the shapes from plastic templates, and then each finished whirligig was appliqueed to its background, either a fine black dot-on-white or a plain white.

When I started I wasn’t so keen on the floral applique border Sue had designed, but it grew on me and her advice, to use a black and white stripe for the bias vines, paid off, I think you’ll agree. When I took this photo I hadn’t yet quilted the border.

I echo quilted around the flowers and vine in the border, and quilted 1/4 inch inside the seams on the whirligigs, and I made plastic templates from one of the flower motifs and used this to hand quilt the background of the large blocks.

 

I love the look of a striped binding, and this one picked up on the narrow inner border and the many fresh greens, pinks and yellows in the quilt.

It could probably have been a tad stronger in colour, but I think it works well enough. You live and learn.

I’ll try not to leave you waiting too long for the next bus quilt.

International shipping–the sublime and the just plain ridiculous

I just love the convenience of internet shopping. Ebay, Etsy, web surfing, there’s absolutely nothing, it seems, I can’t find somewhere in the world by just sitting in my PJs (or snuggling under the covers) and letting my fingers do the walking.

When it comes to shopping, even though I live “down under” in Australia, these days the world’s my oyster.

Trouble is, sometimes you find a pearl, and sometimes there’s just a lot of grit.

Today I received a package of fabric from Sew Dear, an online quilt shop in Waverly, Iowa, and I can’t praise them enough for their wonderful customer service.  I’d been scouring the internet for nine metres of fabric from April Cornell’s Nature’s Notebook range from a few years back, and was over the moon to see the object of my desire on the Sew Dear website.

A quick email to them before I popped off to bed elicited a warm, friendly reply by morning. Yes, said Deb, she could supply me with my whole nine metres!

My quilt fabric, weighing a hefty 3 lbs, was promptly despatched, via USPS Priority Mail, and arrived on my doorstep this morning, just 15 days later. The shipping cost was a very reasonable US$46.40.

Go Deb, and the staff at Sew Dear!

What a contrast to my experience trying to buy this little item a couple of months earlier from Lightwedge in  Massachusetts .

It’s a KIndle cover, beautifully crafted to look like a vintage leather book, and as soon as I saw it on the Lightwedge website I knew it was the perfect gift for my Kindle-loving husband for our 40th wedding anniversary.

It weighs a feather-light 7.7 ounces, according to the website, but can you guess how much Lightwedge wanted to charge me for shipping?

Sit down first.

US$144!!!!!!!

When I first saw this I was certain it was a computer glitsch, but no. Christina Woods, Lightwedge’s Customer Service person, assured me it was correct. In fact, she told me in her email, Lightwedge’s international shipping starts at US$100.

Stranger still was what happened next. I asked for my gorgeous Kindle cover to be sent (domestic postage was free)to Sarah in Virginia who promptly repacked it and sent it to me via USPS for the very realistic cost of $11.60.

There are questions I can’t avoid asking, but I‘ll resist putting them into words here. I simply want to ask why, if an ordinary citizen can post this cover for $11.60, can’t Lightwedge do the same?

My DH is enjoying his beautiful gift now, and I would really love to recommend you buy one too, but definitely not if, like me, you live outside the US.

This company clearly doesn’t need my business, so they’ll not be getting it again.

Di

Just popping in

Life is rather full for me this week.

Marvelling … at the difference a week makes to the beautiful magnolia in our church garden.

 

 

Arranging flowers … with Di B for the funeral of our dear friend Robyn’s mother tomorrow. Robyn wanted bright colours because her Mum is now in heaven and happy with the Lord.

 

Getting mighty excited … at the prospect of this gorgeous girl’s arrival home for a visit in just a couple of days.

Finishing … this project (all will be revealed soon!)

Listening to … Death Comes to Pemberley by PD James, on my iphone.

Getting fitter … taking late afternoon walks and watching the sun set over the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

 

I’ll be back before too long, but for now, I must run …  

Di

The adorable Mr J

No words necessary

Di

Ruth’s latest quilt (and it’s gorgeous)

Ruth hasn’t been able to attend our monthly St Mark’s Quilters frolics workshops since she moved to another city eighteen months ago. Fortunately she still checks in from time, to show us the beautiful quilts she’s still creating.

Look at these photos of her latest work, made for a friend of hers to match her bedroom decor. I love the sophisticated look of these dramatic colours, and the roses in the border are an elegant touch.

 

 

 

Her friend was delighted with it – and we love your work too, Ruth

Di

And God said, “Let there be light”

And there was!

Outside, at least. The Lord kept his side of the bargain (he always does).

It was a different story inside the church hall though, where technology rather let us down for our monthly St Mark’s Quilters workshop today.

With the overhead lights out of action, but the power points (thankfully!) working we found plenty of other ways to shed light on the situation.

Sarah H did her best to sparkle for us in her glittery pullover.

Kirstin popped in to show us her knitted patchwork squares in sunshiny lemon, spring green and sky blue. These are going to make a simply beautiful baby wrap.

Of course Margaret and Moo always brighten up the room!

And our sewing machine lamps helped to light the way for machining.

One or two of our hand-stitchers might have nipped out into the garden occasionally to thread a needle, but for the most part we managed very well. Nevertheless there were smiles all round when the sun had travelled to its afternoon position, its rays beaming down through the skylight.

Helen

We were an industrious bunch. Oh, I wish you could hear the laughter and chatter that was going on!

Bindings were stitched.

Susan and Sophie

Michaela

Labels were made …

Me

…and sewn onto our Blankets of Love.

Cath

Quilts were pinned.

Perdita’s quilt

New quilts were begun ….

Di C’s quilt

Sue M’s Tumbling Block

… and others finished.

Michaela

 

With visits from our “honorary quilters” (L to R) Matilda, Chester and Evie , it turned out to be a doggone great day!!!!

In the same way let your light shine in front of people. Then they will see the good that you do and praise your Father in heaven.

Matthew 5:16

Di