Chocolate!

New quilt . . . we're combining forces . . .
shhh - its a gift for a new baby on his/her way!

BLOCK SWAP

Hey Wendy S . . . . well done girl on making your first set of blocks
for our Block Swap!
They look great!
Love the purples & greens working together! Yay!

One Project finished & another one started!

I just love the journey!

So the 'Granny' went the way of a scarf instead!
I wasn't happy with the way the shaping was going on the granny square with the weight of such lovely wool/alpaca - hand dyed, hand spun, country victorian, market bought yarn!
So a scarf was a bit more my style! I do love it!
Its thick & snug for these freezing winter days we're having!However I've been determined to learn how to crochet some more!
Different green yarn . . . more commercial! Dare I . . .
But my granny square has grown quickly into
what I'm hoping will be a great lap rug!Shows what you can do in a night in front of the TV with no husband at home when you're feeling coldy & a baby who went to bed so nice & early!

Block Swap "How to" Tutorial

OK . . . Here's what to do 'swappers'!

BLOCK A: To make 12 blocks
Cut x12 = 4.5" Center Squares in fabric of your choice!
Cut x12 in x4 fabrics = 1.5" x 5.5" Border Strips
Step 1:
Sew a Border Strip to the Center Square, Sew only part of the first seam as shown in diagram! Press the seam towards the Border Strip.
Steps 2,3 &4:
Sew Border Strips 2,3&4, sewing from edge to edge. Press as you go!
Step 4: Sew the rest of the unfinished first Border Strip seam. Press! Yay!

BLOCK B: To make 12 blocks
Cut x4 = 2.5" Four Patch Strips in fabrics of your choice, either 2 or 4!
Cut x12 in x4 fabrics = 1.5" x 5.5" Border Strips
Four Patch: Sew 2 of the Four Patch Strips together & Press. Sew the other 2 Four Patch Strips together. Trim one end, then cut 2.5" sections across, turn & sew to make a Four Patch!Note that it is very easy to do chain stitching at this point!Steps 1-4: As above!

Have fun!Hear are my samples with one of my set of Blocks hot-off-the-press!
Gives you an idea of how this might all come together . . . will be so exciting & intriguing to see what everyone does! xxx

BLOCK SWAP

Last night we had our first Block Swap . . . hooray!
Welcome to Lizzie, Jo, Nicole, Wendy,
Jenny, Kylie & Katherine . . & me . .
. . . we missed you Sam, Louey & Sarah!
All great fun . . . . stay tuned as there will be a TUTORIAL coming soon!

Begining the Square!

"Thankyou" to Pip Lincolne from my own Melbourne town!
Maybe one day soon I will get into your little shop & meet you!
Thankyou for your amazing new book "Meet me at Mike's"!!!
From this, I taught myself just this morning . . . .
while Oscar was back asleep . . . to crochet!
Not bad for my first efforts I thought! I'm going to make a blanket . . . as big as the ball of wool will allow! It is a good sized ball, but I have no idea how far it will take me!
I guess I can always add another colour yarn!
The wool is a blend of sheep's & alpaca! Multi-coloured hand dyed from a lady who I've seen every year for the last few . . . except this year at the Easter Sunday market in Alexandra! Why not this year? We were at the other favourite (wider) river further northward!

So I'm not actually 'officially' doing
"A Granny a day until the end of May" . . . but the square will grow! What fun! I have wanted to do this for a while . . . had tried last year with 'other' instructions but with no result! Thanks again Pip!

Circles

Oh the stories the trees could tell!

All those concentric circles . . . & then the weathering!

More Circles . . . .

I've been reading lots of other creative people's blogs lately . . . one person I'd love to meet in real life is Malka (her blog 'a stitch in dye') & she's from Austin, Texas in the USA! This is one of her Twinkle Circle Quilt designs . . . . & I love it! (I hope she doesn't mind me adding it to my blog?) I think we'd have alot of fun experimenting in a workshop!
You need to look her up on etsy!

OSCAR W

What a wonderful Easter . . . we had stunning weather at the River & it was lovely to share time away with Mum & Dad & friends . . . .
The 4 of us plus Oscar went out to lunch on Monday . . . to the old Port to "Oscar W's" . . . so many years we've been heading up that Northern Hwy & never managed to eat a meal there! Yay we finally made it! & to discover that Oscar W's is named after the last Paddle Steamer built at the Echuca port 100 years ago!
It sank at some point down river & has been restored but isn't in good enough condition to make it back to Echuca!I think its very cool that Oscar Wesley has a Paddle Steamer as a name's sake! & the famous Architect Oscar N is also 100 years old too!

Swapping!

I am really hoping to join this "Spring Swap " . . I love red & yellow and the fact that we are heading into Winter is fine by me . . . little mixed up but since I have two sister-in-laws who hale from the US & therefore family who live there I'm kind of in tune to some degree about what's going on with the seasons . . . at least north/west of Philadelphia!So please, please, please 'the6oclockstitch' please include me!

Riding HIPPO!

Mobile

It seems that my baby boy is growing & learning so quickly . . . I just want to keep him as he is & bottle him so I can remember! Look he's learnt to get up to all sorts of strife! Opens sliding doors in a single bound! Knows that things have switches or dials or flashing lights or move or make sounds . . . such a boy as he loves a ball! Even picks one up & had a go at a throw now! Very cool. We love you Oscar!

Ideas, New Space & a New Vehicle

I have slowly been working out my new studio set up in our garage! I will have heaps more space & won't need to share it with so many other aspects of our lives!

Been organizing my own "BLOCK SWAP" with a few friends & friends of . . . the magic of the 6 degrees of separation! I hoped for about 6 'swappers' but seem to have finished with maybe 14! I am so excited about it all!

Will show off some of our results at some point!
All will be purple & green! Some of my favourites!
I hope everyone will like the base fabrics that I have chosen!
Going to put together a little pack for everyone! Thought I might make a little pin cushion for each 'swapper' in a coordinating fabric! So I've been experimenting! Thankyou to all those wonderful crafty bloggers who put tutorials on the net for all to see & make & do too! What fun . . .
& we're starting with a fabric swap so we can make our quilts from those!

Other new exciting thing . . . our new car! Yay . . . I have my own wheels & they are lovely! So smooth a ride & lovely to be independent again! Shiny sliver of silver!