Cassilis Quilters Guild

What a lovely day we had stitching at The Plough Inn Cafe, Cassilis. Our hostess Linda made us feel so welcome. The cakes and bread were still warm from the oven, and the minestrone was delicious. The cafe sells art, antique furniture and other quirky bits and pieces too.

Here we are stitching up a storm on the back verandah. Lea, Raeleeand Kylie. It was so incredibly quiet........except for us of course.

Into our own little dining room for lunch, complete with wood fire.

And I did manage to actually do some sewing too. Another Floral Beauty.

There will definitely be more meetings of the Cassilis Quilters Guild!

It was a fabulous start to my weekend. I hope yours is great too.

Susan x

A little road trip

I'm looking forward to a little road trip to Cassilis on Friday. It's a little town of about 350 people, just off the Golden Highway, with one cafe. I will be meeting up with Lea, Kylie and Raelee for some stitching fun. Its about an hour or so drive for each of us. Look out Cassilis!

I think I will take a Floral Beauty block to work on. I am rationing out the last blocks...........I have enjoyed this project so much that I don't want it to end.

Other than that I've been concentrating on quilting my nephews quilt so nothing much new to show.

No photos, but Mr 16 and I went to Art Unlimited at Dunedoo on Saturday. It was a great exhibition of art, photography and sculpture........fantastic effort for a small town.

Hope you have a great week.

Susan x

Some more Floral Beauty

Susan x

Déjà vu

What to do with small favourite scraps? Make some more little 1/2" hexies of course. These are for a surprise project.

Thank you for all the positive comments about the quilting on my nephews quilt. I'm trying to do a little bit every day.....straight lines can be a bit tedious.

Off to soccer this morning, then home to the fire. I hope you find some time to stitch over the weekend.

Susan x

Quilting progress

After basting my nephews quilt on Saturday, I have started the hand quilting. I had planned to use a black perle but it was just too prominent, so black quilting thread it is. Thank goodness for my new Ottlite.......I can really recommend it, especially when sewing with black!

I am really pleased with how the rows look, keeping the geometric style. I will give his mum (my sister) a sneak peek tomorrow.

One thing I have learned from this quilt is that striped and pieced backings can be hard to work with lots of long, straight quilting lines. I started on one side instead of in the middle like I usually would, and so far it's going ok.

We were lucky to get 10mm of rain overnight..........not so lucky to have an invasion of very big moths, some of them were like small birds banging at the windows.

Susan x

Happy Mothers Day

If only every Sunday could be Mother's Day! I am having a lovely day being spoiled and I hope you are too. Thanks to Sharon's suggestion I will be stitching the nights away under my new Ottlite lamp....that doesn't look like a workroom lamp.

After lots of cuddles from the boys and a morning walk with hubby, we all went out for breakfast. Now I am sitting in the sun trying not to fall asleep.

Last night I pin basted my nephews quilt ready for hand quilting.

I love this card made by Mr 16.

My biggest decision for the afternoon will be when to eat the tiramisu made by Mr 11.......and how many servings to have!

I hope you are having a happy and restful Sunday too.

Susan x

Visitors

I had a quick visit from two very special "girls" this week. You can read more of their story here.

The Simple Life blocks have been good for portable sewing.

And I can tick off the May blocks for the traditional nine patch swap.

Back to Saturday soccer today, and it's a beautiful day. They are finally forecasting rain on Monday so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

I hope you have a beautiful weekend, and a happy Mothers Day.

Susan x

If you don't love shirtings.......

..........look away now, because that is mostly what I bought in Sydney. I spent a little bit more than what I had planned but am so happy with my shirting stash now.

From Post Office patchwork, a purple combo for the nine patch swap, and on the right a Judie Rothermel wideback that begged me to buy it.

It was so hard to decide what to buy at Quiltsmith, they have so many great fabrics. More purple for the nine patch swap (and some purple for my stash too). The photo doesn't really do the shirtings justice, they are fine brown, blue and red prints.

A lot of these will find their way into my Floral Beauty quilt. I have used my stash for the majority of it, but it's getting difficult not to double up in the last two rows.

So there goes my fabric budget right out the window. Time to stay at home and sew! Today I have been cleaning windows, so somewhere in my mind it all works out in the end.

Hope you are having a lovely Sunday afternoon.

Susan x

FNWF

I had to forego FNWF for Friday night with hubby. He had been in Sydney all week for work so yesterday I joined him. It was rather lovely driving through the Blue Mountains, the Autumn leaves were so beautiful. It was also lovely to have a leisurely visit to Post Office Patchwork and Quiltsmith.

We really enjoyed Friday drinks at Circular Quay.

And then had an amazing dinner in the rotating restaurant at the top of Australia Square.......fabulous 360 degree views of Sydney and no camera to do it justice!

I'll be back tomorrow with some pics of what I bought.

Susan x

Some more Simple Life

Yesterday was the last day of our school holidays, and it was blissful........a little gardening, some DVDs with the boys, and a little stitching. Hubby is away for the week as well, so lots of stitching getting done in the evenings too.

Two more blocks for The Simple Life.

Loving this beautiful Autumn weather but I wish it would rain. My poor garden is struggling.

I donated blood today. One in three Australians will need a blood donation at some time in their life, but only one in thirty donates. It's really no worse than all the pinpricks I get when I'm sewing!

Susan x