My first Elephant Parade

In my last post, I mentioned that I had started the Elephant Parade by Sew Fresh Quilts for the newest member of our family - great-nephew Archie :)

Lifetime quilt #14 :)

You can see the card I made on my cardmaking blog  HERE

Thank you for visiting my blog today - I hope you have a good day - any day doing something you love makes it a good day ;-)

Doing what you like is freedom. Liking what you do is happiness.

the highs and lows of life :)

I was quite sad and despondent after the death of my friend Dianne.  As Secretary of the camera club, I took on the task of producing a memorial book, so that all the members of the club who could not attend the funeral were able to at least pass on their condolences to the family.

I knew I had the PERFECT fabric for this project - butterflies and green :) but it took a little while to find it - the sewing room looked like a bomb had hit it when I was finished LOL

I also found the perfect fabric for the inside cover :)










(the beautiful bicycle image is created by Eva Katerina, puchased from Design Cuts)

The Service was most beautiful and it was most certainly the largest funeral I have been to in recent times - there was easily 300 people there!

I took this photo just as we were leaving the service - can you see the baby?




My next sewing task is to finish a quilt for my niece who went into labour early and gave birth to a lovely baby boy - Archie, a brother for Lucas.   I made a quilt for Lucas HERE and HERE this time, I thought I would try something a little different for the new baby.

Back in 2015, I was most taken with Elephant Parade by Lorna from Sew Fresh Quilts, and downloaded the instructions with the intention of following along, but life got in the way and I didn't seem to have time.  The new baby was all the impetus I needed to pull out my fabrics and start cutting.

This is what I have done so far :)



Isn't making something new just the best thing for lifting your spirits?

Thank you for visiting my blog today - I hope you have a good day - any day doing something you love makes it a good day ;-)

Doing what you like is freedom. Liking what you do is happiness.

Baby Quilt | Lifetime Quilt #12

I have been working on a quilt for the new great nephew, and now that it has been given, I can reveal all!  LOL







I have been playing with FMQ and am slowly improving :)



Linking with Cat Patches NewFO linky party - a new finished object :)  started and finished in December 2014.

Thank you for visiting my blog today - I hope you have a good day - any day doing something you love makes it a good day ;-)

Doing what you like is freedom. Liking what you do is happiness.

FNSI - show and tell

I got to spend some much needed time in my sewing room on Friday night - thanks to FNSI - Friday Night Sew In hosted by the lovely Wendy.

I tried my hand at some FMQ (free motion quilting) - still need HEAPS of practice, but I am getting there :)  I am making a baby quilt for the newest member of the family - Great Nephew Lucas :)

I'm off to visit the other 48 FNSIers HERE

Thank you for visiting my blog today - I hope you have a good day - any day doing something you love makes it a good day ;-)

Doing what you like is freedom. Liking what you do is happiness.

Baby Quilt | Lifetime Quilt #11

I am in 'holiday prep' mode and have been busy crossing things off my check list  :)

I fly to Brisbane on Friday for a Crafty Weekend with my CraftMad friends :)  then from Monday, I am staying with a friend and having a girly holiday, starting with a trip to Australia Zoo for my birthday  :)  Crafting, Birthday celebrations, wining, dining & shopping and catching up with some old and very dear friends ........... how good is that?!!!!

I have been able to spend some time in the sewing room and made a baby quilt for my husband's niece - I actually bought the fabric shortly after the pregnancy announcement, but took a while to decide on what to make, and then took a while to actually cut into the fabric ........ at $20.00 per metre, I wanted to be sure of what I was doing.

I posted about my fabrics HERE in May 2014 - I actually started cutting on the 19th September 2014 in preparation for the Baby Shower on 28th :)

initial layout - not really what I wanted

this is next layout - I prefer this one

here it is - a complete flimsy

basted ready for quilting

then I experimented with quilting lines (on the PC)

straight down and across

in the ditch

cross hatch

I ended up doing one line of diagonal quilting and not cross hatching it :)

the obligatory quilt binding roll photo :)

the backing was Peter Rabbit

opening quilt :)

it will fit perfectly with the nursery ..... such a relief!

the card I made :)

I am so excited about my holiday, I just hope I get everything finished in time :)  I have completed my Swap Co-Ordinator duties for the Christmas Block Swap, Halloween Block Swap and Fat Quarter Swap.  I need to bake some goodies for Mr Fixit to take to work on Thursday for his birthday, and make sure I have a few things in the freezer for him to have while I am away.

Thank you for visiting my blog today - I hope you have a good day - any day doing something you love makes it a good day ;-)

Doing what you like is freedom. Liking what you do is happiness.

I am going to be...........

a Great Aunt again :)  this time with my husband's niece, Lauren.

I mentioned I would love to make her a quilt and asked if she had any ideas yet on the colour of her nursery - she said 'yellow, grey and white' .............. hmmmmm, very modern :)

So I went out and got these

and I am now working on the layout .................. I am thinking Calico Puzzle block

with the yellow squares forming the main pattern and the pinwheels in grey & white forming the secondary pattern  :)

will make up a few sample blocks and see how it works out ............. stay tuned!

Thank you for visiting my blog today - I hope you have a good day - any day doing something you love makes it a good day ;-)

Doing what you like is freedom. Liking what you do is happiness.