End of year wrap up, Part 2

After a week in Toowoomba and some quilting lessons for my sister who I am trying to convert, I flew home and onto finishing some more UFO's.

My sisters completed table runner, a small quilting lesson in cutting, stitch in the ditch, binding and a little hand quilting, not a bad job sister dear.

October...I had my cabin built which I hope to use as a quilting room, actually It was built to hold all my fabric! And I hope to be able to quilt as well in the cabin.

It took 1 month to be painted, as it was raw timber,  and needed 3 coats each of undercoat and top coat.

Now for the electrician.....waiting....waiting.

I painted the inside a soft blue.

I also completed my version of the Springwood quilt show 2012  raffle quilt, "Homage".

I have called mine " Heathton" named after our house and the name is derived from the combination of mine and DH names.

I found this little treasure at a flea market, when I pulled the seat apart to recover it, I found newspapers from 1936. The stuffing was kapok.

A nice read and very interesting furniture.

Nearly completed, being restored, I now need to find a tassel fringe to complete the basket.

I also dabbled with some garden art, from some great op shop finds.

November, I completed this quilt as a gift for my sisters 60th

The label.

Completed a few diary covers

I painted a sign for my daughter in law, added a sketch of their puppy "Knuckles"

December

I Gave my oldest sister Jenny a 60th birthday party, with the help of my sister Esme and brother Peter on the 5th December, a great time was had by all and the perfect opportunity to catch up with some relatives, not seen for awhile.

Memories

And by the look on my sisters face, she was pleased with the quilt

A time to bid farewell to a very busy year, here's to a healthy and happy new year and I cannot wait to see what the new year has in store me.

Great aunt Esme with little Logan, not a bad backdrop either!

My gorgeous grandson Logan who is now 4 months old, time is passing so quickly

Farewell 2015 welcome in 2016.

End of year wrap up

What a busy year 2015 has been and how rapidly the years are passing us by, in no time at all it will be Xmas and then the end of 2015 and into the new year. 2016. I would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and an even more wonderful New year.

My year has been quite productive and eventful with lots of travel and many quilts completed, as well as the birth of our first grandchild, I have a lot to be thankful for. On the work front, changes are being made, in the middle of 2016 NETS will be relocating to Bankstown, a further distance to travel for me, looks like my day will be starting even earlier now.

Let's look at what quilts and travel  I have completed this year.

January I travelled to Japan and visited the Tokyo quilt show.

February, I finished Field of Dreams and Birds in a basket, I picked them up from the quilter in April just in time to be entered into the Springwood quilt show.

Field of Dreams

Birds in a basket.

I traveled April, May and June to France, spent time in Nantes to attend Pour L'Amour du Fil, then onto Paris, England, Wales, Scotland, Spain ,Portugual Morrocco and Abu Dhabi.

Lots of hand sewing with 6 pointed diamonds and tumbling blocks, for my "Heathton" quilt.

I made a panel quilt for my grandson, first of many, his  mummy is fascinated by monkeys. 

June 2015

More monkey's

Pinocchio 

Beatrix Potter

Woodland Creatures.

Many more followed, Woodland Creatures, made for a friend.

July, I finished my version of MSG, Anne Levens quilt, 1740 one inch hexagons and 16 lozenges, quite a large quilt, 2.9 mtrs long.

My red and white embroidered quilt, bought as a quilt top from Houston last year, I had it quilted and then put the binding on, I am delighted with the finished product.

July also saw me finish my version of Chris Jurds strippy sampler.

July, I made a quilt for my niece Nicholle' s birthday, this quilt only took me a week, aptly named

" Henry", oh and can you tell, she likes cats.

August I dabbled with Zen doodling and made a couple of cushions for presents.

August the 15th our gorgeous grandson was born, pure contentment on Sarah's face.

I Picked "Geisha Girls" up from the quilter, I actually completed this quilt in April as well, I had it custom quilted which took 4 months, now bound and completed.

In September I travelled to Toowoomba for Festival of flowers and visited 3 quilt shows as well as spend some quality time with my sister.

To be continued....part 2 coming soon

September happenings

What a busy month September has proven to be, DH and I are busy planning our big adventure for next year, where Paducah, Kentucy will be  another thing ticked of my bucket list. I am busy attending quilts shows, flower festivals and finishing a number of UFO's. Enough to keep me out of mischief.

At present in Sydney, there are a couple of quilt exhibitions on at present, one in the Manly regional Gallery and another in Gymea,in the Hazelhurst Gallery, both are great and well worth a look. Manly has an exhibition of quilts from the collection of Annette Gero, this is a great collection of wartime quilts, mainly made from military uniforms, lapels, wool and intricate hand work. Photos were allowed to be taken for personal use only and not for social media.

Manly Regional Gallery

 Hazlehurst Gallery has a great collection of early Australian made quilts, no photos were allowed to be taken, I did manage to purchase the book, called "Labours of Love", which has photos of the quilts exhibited. Hazlehurst gallery is a great place to visit and have lunch. The quilts mainly from late 1800's were hand pieced or EPP. I have just completed one similar to one of the quilts on display, a quilt made with fussy cut shapes to make a hexagon.The quilt made by Fredriricka Mary Josephine was the inspiration for the Springwood quilt show raffle quilt in 2012, varied slightly with a centre reproduction panel, The quilt was called "Homage"

My finished version of FMJ quilt.

Another quite large quilt, measuring 2.97 mrts by 2.47mtrs. 

Entrance to Hazelhurst Gallery

Cafe and eating area.

 The year 2015 has proven to be a very productive year for me in finishing UFO's and making a couple of quick quilts for gifts to give to family. I have also dabbled into some Zen doodling, which has proven to be quiet therapeutic and created some cushions. Adult colouring books are quite the rage these days, a wonderful way to bring a little calm into very stressed lives.

I am in the midst of setting up a sewing area, rearranging my fabrics so that it can be a bit easier to find my fabrics when commencing another project, as I have so much fabric, I have set myself an amazing task. Whilst doing some tidying up, it is time to purge and get rid of some fabric as well. Windsor Downs annual garage sale is on the 14 th November, so the perfect opportunity arose to have a big clean up.

In the middle ofSeptember, 

 I took the opportunity to fly to Toowoomba to visit my sister and enjoy the festivities with "Carnival of flowers". The carnival celebrates a whole week of flowers, garden competitions, quilt shows, teapot extravaganza, clivia shows and craft demonstrations. My sister and I had a great time attending all the events that the carnival f flowers had to offer.

I will share with you a couple of quilts from the three shows we visited.

Aptly named "Cathederal Windows" all hexagons.

Susan Smith design" Stonefield"

 I had a wonderful time with my sister, touring gardens, visiting three quilt shows, teapot display and arts and craft at Geham.

The Geeham school hall where the arts and crafts display was held.

Me in the grand champion garden in Twoowoomba

My sister Esme, being a wonderful companion and holding her sisters purchases, interesting, seeing I bought a lot of plants and will be flying home .

Well this post has been in the making for awhile, got kinda busy with spring cleaning etc, now we are well into October, time to get a move on.

I will leave you with a photo of my adorable grandson.