84 down, 0 to go!

84 leaves, 84 yo-yo berries later and  I can say a big

Ta-Daaaah:

Yes...... the quilt top for "Twelve Days of Christmas" (designed by Tita Leach) is finally finished!

It's only 5 years ago that I started it.........

It's off to Adri tomorrow to be basted and then I will quilt and embellish. Joy!

quiet day

It's Monday. Dash-around-quickly-do-housework-then-quilt-day. Normally I would be alone today, but I have Doodlebug company today. He has been unwell since Friday, rallied himself to help out his teammates for the Soccer Gala Day on Saturday (which wiped him completely since they made it through 3 games to go to the final) before collapsing in a little heap yesterday. This morning I was trying to get him moving with not much luck. I found him sleeping in a little beanbag nest by the window, curled up in the morning sun like a cat.

Silent Auction for Medecins sans Frontieres/Doctors without Borders

I know that you are all aware of the humanitarian disaster in Pakistan at the moment.

The sheer scale of it is hard to comprehend. The number of people made homeless is now estimated to be 4 million

 - the equivalent to the entire population of Norway or of New Zealand.

I want to make a contribution to MSF towards their efforts in Pakistan. These courageous aidworkers are helping to provide safe drinking water and healthcare to the flood victims.

This will be a drop in the bucket, but I hope to raise a little cash by auctioning of the following items:

A baby quilt, inexpertly pieced, lovingly appliqued and quilted by me.

Cotton fabrics, polycotton batting

Bids starting at $60 AUD

Pencil roll made from The Hungry Caterpillar prints. Pencils included.

Bids starting at $10 AUD

How to bid:

Submit your bid in a comment with your first and last name (or a nickname -- something you will know!). If you are the first bid, your bid must be higher than the minimum bid, and if you are not first, your bid must be higher than the previous commenter.

If you have a blog, please link to this post in order to spread the word!

Auction ends Friday 3rd September at 8pm AEST

Payment to be organised through PayPal

Also consider making a donation through other agencies such as

The Red Cross

Unicef

World Vision

Caritas

as well as a generous fast offering!

THIS AUCTION IS NOW ENDED!

Can you say a-d-d-i-c-t-i-o-n ?

My name is Mari and I'm a serial quilter :)

(click image to go to Cafepress for great quilting gifts)

I know I'm in good company out here in the quilt-blogging world when I stand up and confess my addiction to fabrics :)   Not just the fabrics themselves, but planning what to turn them into, and then of course the work itself. /happy sigh/

These are the bundles that somehow found their way into my house in the last week:

A lovely layer cake full of cheerfulness

Saffron Craig's "Fields" range with some extra homespuns to keep them company

This 'Fat Roll' from Wyndham Fabrics' Fiona range.

Fat rolls are new to me ( the fabric ones at least!) but this was an eBay bargain I couldn't let pass me by.

And when I didn't buy any bundles, I have grouped some of my stash into bundles for some planned projects:

These lovelies are for a redwork quilt I will be doing after a pattern by Tita Leach. I have to have something to satisfy my need for needleturn now that Butterfly Garden is coming to an end.

And last but not least this bundle that I am gathering for Doodlebug's bedspread:

These are the sketches I have been playing with. (I really want EQ 7..)

Jigsaw puzzle quilt (currently Doodlebug's favourite)

or "Garden Spikes" from here

Accuquilt Giveaway!

Have you seen one of these advertised? Have you wanted one? Badly?

Here is your chance of getting one for free!!!  The amazing Paulette of SweetP is hosting a Giveaway for the Accuquilt GO.  All you have to do is leave comment, and for an extra chance, blog about the giveaway. How easy is that?  I've had my go..... why don't you go try your luck as well.
As a bonus, there is also a tutorial showing how easy the machine is to use, and demonstrating how quickly you can turn your scraps and remnants into blocks once the cutting time is down.

diversional therapy

Today I needed some diversional therapy for a couple of reasons. I suspect I have a dental abscess, and the pain in my jaw is making me feel very bear'ish indeed. Time to retreat to my happy place :)

So I decided to play with my new Marti Mitchell "Strippers" templates and a Moda 'Fandango' jelly roll.

First I made this runner:

Instead of batting, I used a medium weight fusible interfacing. I backed it with a plain seeded homespun.

There was still plenty of homespun and I didn't use the whole jelly roll, so I thought I would make some placemats. There will be 8 in total, but I only managed to finish off 3 before I had to go make dinner.

well - I have to save some fun for later :)

controlled chaos

The Gemstones assembly line.... 

 No finishes this week, just the same WIP's going on. It'll be like the no 9 bus - wait forever for one and then three come along at once....

Does a mini design board count as a finish, though? I did make one of those as you can see behind the sewing machine. I love my staple gun.

gathering gemstones, a new toy and a Kaffe Fassett overload

I have decided that a design wall would make putting the blocks in place so much easier. Being able to stand back and look at the blocks from a distance must make creating a pleasing pattern easier.

In looking at the photo I took, I can see a couple of blocks I will be picking apart and reassembling as well.!!

My new toy arrived this week! A 60 degree ruler... Doesn't take much to make me happy :)

Having cut rectangles for my stashbusting Gemstones quilt using the Kaffe Fassett prints left over from making this quilt plus my other KF stash,  there is still a good amount of KF prints left.

This might possibly be because of the extra fabric I bought to help balance the colours/values etc.

 Funny how that goes......

I have a whole lot of strips now which were perfect for these blocks. I can see another KF prints quilt. How far can I take this? Possibly a scrap quilt as well?

PS - Add "The Big Bang Theory" on DVD and some Toblerone chocolate and it all made for a very happy scenario!

all puffed up

Only about another 60 or so hollyberry-suffolk puffs left to make. I find it curiously satisfying to make them, although I was so tempted to substitute them with buttons. I also find that I am getting the hang of making them and they are getting neater. Woohoo.

Split personality

For some time I have pondered my blog and its mixed bag of posts. Those of you who visit my blog regularly can be divided fairly clearly into 2 categories - friends/family and quilters. There is possibly a 3rd category - those who accidentally stumbled across my blog (Hello! I welcome you!)

With this in mind, I have decided to split my blog, or rather start a new one - over here . So, now you can choose where to visit - "Carpe Quiltem" for my quilting life or "Infinity and Beyond" for my family life. I can't promise there won't be a little cross-posting though!