to quilt. Yes, I scrubbed my kitchen floor and got the quilt pinned. It really didn’t take long, it is such a small quilt. So now I have to start the quilting - Nora, where are you when I need you?! Well, it is a small one, so it shouldn’t be too bad. I forgot to take a photo of it pinned, but my kitchen floor is not that exciting, so I guess it doesn’t matter.

I am going to quilt around the flower petals, just not sure which foot to use. I think the walking foot will be too clunky, but am wondering whether the 1/4 inch foot will cause gathering… I’ll just have to experiment.

Other than the normal daily to-do’s, we’ve been watching the Olympics and I’ve been winding DMC onto the little cardboard thingos while watching. Did any of you see the big box of DMC Zamil’s was selling? (Still selling?) Well, once upon a time I bought it…. and now I am finally sorting them out and getting them organized. It will be good to have it done. I won’t need to buy more DMC I’m sure! I really want to start some stitcheries, so it will be nice to be able to easily find the colors I need.

Now to finish off, here is are some photos of Elizabeth and a pony we are minding, and her lamb that she is bottle raising.

I came across this blog one day: Nice People Nice Things, and just LOVED the stitcheries. I also love the way Helen has made it a “quilt as you go” quilt. Perfect for someone like me who is not happy with the quilting part of quilts!

I called Helen at her shop one afternoon and it arrived THE NEXT DAY!!! I’m so impressed. Here is the pattern with its cute little box:

Yesterday I ironed some muslin and cut it into 9″ squares. I only need 6″ squares, but I like to use a hoop, so I made them bigger. I am hoping to start these while I watch the Olympics.

I finished the top yesterday while the kids were doing piano lessons and later while we were all watching the Olympics! Yay!

Now I need to scrub my kitchen floor and pin it !

Cam took the kids to Melbourne to see the football and I got an entire day to sew! Yay! I worked on Christie’s quilt and enjoyed it so much. It would be nice to be able to do this more often,… but I need to be patient! Before I know it the kids will be grown up and I’ll be wishing I didn’t have as many quiet days at home! But in the meantime, this is what I got up to.

I cut the white background squares for the flowers. I had already finished the petals up to this stage:

I had one flower assembled and blanket stitched:

Found some yellow thread for the center and then I had one done:

And eight more to go:

Wanna see the back of the applique?

The front looks better….

I was finally on a roll! I cut the sashing and this is how it looks right now:

Sorry the colors aren’t great, but it is bed time. Do you think I could skip school tomorrow and keep sewing?! Ah, it was a good day! Cam and the kids had a great day too - their team won!

… and I will try to be good and post regularly. I just haven’t been sewing much lately, so there hasn’t been much to tell you in that department. I will also post photos of our house and little farm…. We now have chickens, ducks, a lamb, pony and two cats!

My latest project that I need to work hard at, is a quilt for my sister’s 30th birthday. My sister and her family stayed with us for 3 weeks back in May/June. She found a quilt she liked and we went to the quilting shop to choose the fabrics. She is a blue girl like me, and this is what we came up with:

Here is the fabric with a picture of the pattern:

Isn’t it pretty? And one of the best things is… I think I have enough fabric to make one for me too! Yay!