A Big Finish

I did it

I finished my version of Brinton Hall, 

I did make some changes in the 2nd border and again in the 7th border.

It's a beast of a quilt, measuring in at 94" square, 

it's all handpieced although I did machine sew the borders on 

and I machine sewed the square in a square blocks on the 7th border.

My next project has begun, another quilt with hundreds of hexagons 

that are 3/8" and 3/4"...........

Confetti by Irene Blanck, so far I've stitches all the small hexagon flowers and 

I'm working on the hexagons for the diamond border, 

I'm using 2 Tula Pink ranges, 

'True Colours' for the big hexies and 

'Eden' for all those itty bitty ones

3/8" hexies are so small

The finished flower is 2" across 

Saturday morning I had 4 centres left to stitch in

Today I made these teeny diamond shapes

and basted even more itty bitty hexies.

I am feeling the urge to work on Auntie Greens Garden again, 

I haven't touched it since March....... 

maybe I can work on both AG and Confetti,

Brinton Hall

designed by Leigh Latimore

finished size 94"x94"

started 19 Sept 2015

finished 18 Nov 2015

Photo Heavy

I've made 'A Kittens Tale' for Lynette Anderson Designs,

it was a bit exciting to see it hanging in her booth

at last weeks Quilt Market in the US

I decided my life wouldn't be complete without making this amazing

quilt, its called 'Brinton Hall' and was in in issues 107 & 108 of

Quiltmania, designed by Leigh Latimore of Australia

So I had to start prepping for our upcoming trip to Tasmania

then I started basting 400 hexagons and stitching them into rosettes

I achieved a huge amount of basting on the drive to Melbourne to catch

the Spirit of Tasmania

of course this is the reason why we went, my daddy

and his bride 

and this was Brinton Hall 2 weeks ago,  so.many.hexagons

then it was onto the clamshells, there are 8 blocks of

clamshells, each block has 50 clamshells

and a finished but yet to be trimmed to size block, 3 more

to make

this baby of mine turned 12

then I went on a road trip with one of my favourite peeps to 

Galong, for a quilty weekend 

with this amazingly fun lady, Irene Blanck and Heidi

Heidi's and my progress after the first day

and this is where we were Galong Monastery

and Brinton Hall progress from last week, I'm working on the final border

3 clamshell blocks to stitch, 8 square in a square blocks and 8 I have no idea 

what blocks because a couple of the blocks in the quilt have tested my patience,

Last Monday night there was an incident down our driveway, which resulted in the

suicide death of a man, who drove off the cliff, 

something I hope and pray never happens again

RU OK needs to everyday

then the next day someones dog fell over the cliff so its owner decided he

would climb down to get the dog then found he couldn't get back up 

so I had the Westpac Rescue Chopper land over the back fence

 great photo of our house

Surprise

so after the weeks events we took off camping for the

weekend, fishing, binding, clamshells, card games,

monopoly, no phone reception, no emails, just family

time, it was fabulous and we are heading off again

very soon in the camper trailer

I managed to get 3 sides of binding stitched down on this quilt,

which took me 3 years to finish, its a huge 107"x87" 

quilted with a Baptist Fan, edge to edge design by

Heidi, modelled by Henry

Monday I had some happy mail arrive in the shape of

600, 3/4" hexagon papers and 600, 3/8" hexagon papers,

while at Galong I bought Irenes gorgeous book, Focus on Appliqué

and in her book is a fab quilt called confetti, I am making mine out

of Tula Pink's 'True Colors' and 'Eden' ranges 

of course one needs a hexagon project bag so I made one on Tuesday

completely out of my head (lol)

Ive tweeted it a little bit, and added a closure strap

but its working well 

I had a massive purge and sorted out my sewing room

I sent 3 huge bags to the High School and almost as

much to the tip, but I love it and its so easy to keep tidy now

its sorted it and re-jigged

this naughty puppy is having some issues with arthritis and his back leg

Ive jumped onto the 1930'3 farmers wife bandwagon

I have several prepped and pick it up when the mood strikes,

 mine will be a blue and white quilt

the first 4 blocks, I have around 10 made and they are all

hand pieced.

Still Around

Life sure does get in the way sometimes, we've finished up the 2015 soccer season, Miss I played in her first rep soccer tournament her team placed third, which was a fabulous effort considering the team only had 4 weeks of training before the tournament, Miss E and Miss I have since trialled for the 2016 rep soccer teams and both made it, guess we will be heading of to Goulburn and Nowra next year for the next round of tournaments.

I'm still involved in the admin side of soccer, and I'm still on 3 different committees, all to do with soccer, 2 are a once a month commitment, the 3rd is a tri monthly commitment but one that always takes me away from home.

Miss S is playing summer netball, both big girls have jobs, 1 at the local Chinese restaurant and the other at the fish and chip shop.

We travelled home to Tasmania in September as my dad got married, it was great day but I still shed a tear but he is happy and as far as I am concerned that is all that matters at the end of the day, and his new wife is lovely and they are very well suited.

Miss E has been having some issues at school with being bullied and being isolated by her so called friends, I prefer the term mean girls, mean to the point of her walking out of class, out of the school and arriving home at 10:30 in the morning, I was livid that the school had no idea she was gone, we have had some things put in place for her for when the nasty bitches decide its time to start on her again and fingers crossed it all settles down and she can finish the year in peace. We made the decision to move her and Miss I to our almost local private school from 2016. Miss S will stay where she is at she is happy and will stand up for herself.

I've been busy sewing away, although I seem to be doing more hand piecing than machine piecing, I went of a quilty retreat with some fabulous girls, I did an Irene Blanck class, if you ever get the opportunity to take a class with Irene you must do it, she is a gorgeous fun lady.

I'll pop back in the next few days and share some photos, because a post without photos just won't do