Aussie Hero Quilt Finished.

This is the first quilt for 2016. This request was a big one, Hot pink, pineapples, toucans, pepperoni pizza, cupcakes, unicorn and rainbows.

My Christmas.

 Christmas Dinner.

Christmas Pudding.

Boxing Day Breakfast.
All at the magical place of Hill End.

http://www.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au/visit-a-park/parks/Hill-End-Historic-Site

Aussie Hero Quilt Contunued.

4 pineapple blocks have been done. The corner blocks will be quilted blocks and the green gum fabric will have applique toucans. The rainbow will be added to the unicorn middle block, all the requests on the quilt.

Aussie Hero Quilt Continued.

3 more quilt blocks made. Cupcakes and Unicorn.

Aussie Hero Quilt Request Continued.

2 quilt blocks done for the Aussie Hero quilt request. This is a fun one indeed, The request is for Pepperoni pizza, unicorns, rainbows, hot pink, cup cakes, toucans and pineapples.

Aussie Hero Request.

Aussie Hero laundry bag. A quilt will be made to go with this, A fun challenge too. Request is as follows, Laundry bag, Hot pink, toucan and pineapples. The quilt is just as colourful too. More on that later.

Aussie Hero Quilt Finished.

Another Aussie Hero quilt finished. I surprised myself when I got another one done. I did not think I could do it with all the Christmas stuff I needed to do, but I did! This one is due to be posted in January so it will be lovely to get it in the post this afternoon. Yesterday was my daughters birthday and on that day is when I go around to my favourite shops and hand out my hand made gifts to thank them for all the lovely service they have given me throughout the year. A very fun day indeed.

Meggie And Tilli.

 Tilli is sleeping in her pram.

Meggie approved quilt. The blocks have been joined, now to put the rows together then bind.

Aussie Hero Quilt Continued.

Working on the plain blocks now. The request for this quilt is Ford Mustang, fishing, boating, beaches, diving, playing cards and darts. All the blocks represent each of these interests.

Aussie Hero Quilt Blocks Continued.

 These are the quilt blocks so far. A mixture of applique and drawings coloured in with textile markers and sewn lines over the outlines.

Tilli and Meggie getting in on the act. Lovely!

Sewing Machines, Aldi Specials.

 This is a Janome DC2050 computerised sewing machine.

Aldi has the same machine branded as Stirling DC2050. The model is exactly the same, even the booklet instructions. If you are in need of a good machine, this is great value this week at Aldi.

2016 Aussie Hero Quilt Started.

This is the start of my next quilt for Aussie Heroes. This one is due in January, the first one of the year. Things have slowed down for the moment as now my husband has retired we are tackling household jobs so I do not have as much time as I have had. Fixing taps, painting the house etc.

A Very Special Lunch.

Yesterday I had the most wonderful experience. Meeting one of my Aussie Hero recipience and his lovely family.  He wanted to thank me personally and so we had lunch in Eltham coffee shop next to the library. To hear how uplifting these gifts are for them first hand is truly humbling. A day I will remember for a very long time. Thank you for your service. What a lovely family!

Something Different.

 I had a phone call last week, a friends friend was downsizing and had these clowns for a charity she is involved with. These were the finished ones and she had some cut out to sew along with some other dolls and clothes. She is unable to do them so I have said that I will take them on for her. Clowns actually freak me out, but as it is for charity I will have to get over it. I have 8 of them to do.

This is what I am doing today, Making pouches for the Aussie Hero playing cards I bought a week ago.

Spotlight Fabric Shopping.

On facebook a friend told me that her Spotlight had dressmaking and quilting fabrics reduced to $2 a metre, so I went out today to see if my local had the specials too, They did! All their orange sticker fabric are $2 a metre. This is the lot that I bought, Some oddments but most of them are 3 metres of each. I spent a whopping $195 and when I got home I added up the original prices and that would have set me back $881 saving a total of $686. Now that is a good shop!
  That is not the best bit though! Chatting with other customers in the queue I was able to hug a mum of an Aussie Hero quilt recipient, I gave her 2 hugs, one for her and one for her daughter. The quilts mean so much to them.

A New Washing Machine.

We have a new washing machine! After so many years of having a top loader that did nothing except for spin and everything having to be washed by hand, the spinner just stopped working, Had someone come out and tell us that it would not be worth fixing we browsed the internet, chose our model, went to the Good Guys last night and bought one. It got delivered today and fitted and the old one taken away. Happy days indeed!

Aussie Hero Quilt Finished.

Aussie Hero quilt request finished. This request was for purple, pink, flowers and dogs.

Quilt In Progress And Kitties.

 Meggie and the quilt blocks so far.

Tilli asleep in the pram.

Aussie Hero Quilt Request.

Aussie Hero quilt request. Purple, pink, dogs and flowers.
Originally I was going to have a break from making quilts as I was not well, Now I am feeling better I feel I have the energy to take on another one. These are the colours I am going to work with.
If you look closely you will see that the green and white fabric is doggy, I will be using this for the leaves (applique) the pink and purple fabric will be flowers (applique). Quilt as you go blocks.

Sewing And Crochet.

 I have cut out all the pattern pieces for the cat purse I blogged about in my last post. This one is going to be donated to the Christmas party raffle for A.C.D.A. Grey wool outer and cream textured inner. I think that the more conservative colours will make it a wider appeal

 This is the colours I will be making my bag out of.

I am really enjoying Tunisian crochet at the moment. Another baby blanket in the making.
This is the link to the You Tube video tutorial.  
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkuB1Aln1v8

Making Gifts.

 I have been out of action for a little while, Just pure exhaustion to tell the truth, I have had to get myself back on track. Making small thank you gifts for Spotlight and Savers staff for all the lovely service this year. Getting my sleeping pattern back to normal is a slow process.

This is a delightful free pattern for a kitty bag I plan on making for myself, this is the link.
http://cholyknight.com/2014/10/24/kitty-purse/
I will be making mine in purple.

Aussie Hero quilt finished.

Aussie Hero quilt finished. The request was for black and orange family and pets names. The middle block has the family names on that it that I have blocked out using Photoshop.

Aussie Hero Quilt In Progress.

All the blocks have been sewn and quilted and are are now ready to put together. With the magic of photo shop I have erased the names on the blocks.

Cats And Quilts.

 Meggie is helping me today. Blocks in progress.

Tilli is sleeping in the felt in the top shelf of the wardrobe. Very comfortable.

More Shopping.

This arrived today, I bought 1000 sewing machine needles for $50 free postage on Ebay. That makes each needle 5c each. This should keep me going for quite some time.

Shopping.

While I was out today with my husband doing the weekly shop, I keep my eye out as always for things suitable to put into the Aussie Hero packages. This is what I bought today, Crossword puzzle books wrapped $2 each and the cards are plastic coated full sized for 2 packs for $2. This should keep going for a while. Each parcel will have either a pack of cards or a crossword book added to their parcel.

Laundry Bag.

Laundry bag for the quilt before last, I forgot make one, Not a problem though, it just means she gets two parcels.

Last Aussie Hero Quilt For This Year.

This is the last Aussie Hero quilt I will be making this year. The request is for Orange and black and the family names. They have  black cat and an American Staffy. I have made some simple shapes and will be appliqueing them down on a white background.

Charity Makes Round Up.

This is the time of year when I am gearing up to make all my Christmas thank you gifts for all my friends. Those in the cloth doll club Christmas Party (ACDA). The staff of Spotlight South Morang, the lovely people in the Post office and the staff of Savers for all their lovely service through out the year. (about 150 gifts to make).  So I have done a round up of all my charity makes this year and I am happy with my progress. 54 quilts and 45 laundry bags for Aussie Heroes, 4 hobby horses for our local child care centre, A doll for a school in NSW. 12 sets of hats scarves and mitten sets for the homeless.

Aussie Hero Quilt Finished.

Another Aussie Hero quilt finished. BZ means Well Done.

Aussie Hero Quilt Continued.

 This time the blocks measure 15 inches. They are joined together with no sashings on the front

Just on the back.

Next Aussie Hero Quilt Started.

This is the next Aussie Hero quilt started. Tilli is helping!

Aussie Hero Quilt Finished.

Aussie Hero quilt finished. Request was for beach, blue and the word Mer 2015.

Ready For The Next Step.

All blocks are ready to be put together in rows and columns. All the thongs are facing inwards and the balls on the outsides.

Aussie Hero Quilt Continued.

This is the quilt so far. Last lot of blocks to make are the shells blocks. There will be sashings with this quilt, blue on the front and sandy colour on the back.

Aussie Hero Quilt In Progress.

 This is my next Aussie Hero quilt in progress. The theme requested was blue and beach. This is a quilt as you go quilt. All the fabric has been cut. 4 blocks with applique thongs.

 4 blocks with shells. I will add the stitching on the shells fabric sides down then cut the shells out and blanket stitch them onto the blocks. 4 of these.

 2 of these all over quilting in bubbles.

 1 of this block. this is the centre block and will have words on it.

4 of these beach ball blocks.

This is them all together.