Wednesday 29 February 2012

Cats are amazing

Not related to quilting.... we moved into our new house 3 weeks ago. One of our 2 cats, Marmite, went missing 5 days ago and tonight was found back at our old house 6km away. He is back at his new home again now and hopefully will stay! J.

Tuesday 28 February 2012

My finished block


I had fun making this block. Just finished in the nick of time. I am a procrastinator. I received the fabric from Karen and am excited to make that one. Jackie -- good luck with your surgery. It is well worth it once you recover!!

Hello All,

I hope this will work, sadly I see that I have not quite managed to hide the scorch mark on my ironing board!! I have taken your advice to make the block slightly larger and will post it out tomorrow-just making the February deadline-phew.
I am supposed to be making Roman blinds for Clare's (daughter) house but she keeps turning up with the three little ones in tow!Perhaps I could make an Easter cone,another project!

Hope the op is a success Jackie x

Looking forward to the next block.

Margaret
Taking a break....

I'm off to the hospital on Thursday morning to have Carpal Tunnel surgery on my right hand which will mean I'll be out of action as far as quilting is concerned for a couple of weeks.  Joanne has very kindly offered to make my block this month and I will be sending her my ideas of how I would have made it myself.  Looking on the bright side, I will have plenty of time to read some of the quilting books on my shelf!  Jackie

Easter Cone


Hi All, I managed to find time to make this Easter Cone for my niece at the weekend. I will send it to Mum and she will fill it with Easter Lindt Bunnies. I really enjoyed making something like this as it's been a long time since I have had time to make something like this. Imogen is so cute, and she will just love this, especially if it has Easter treats in it!

This week has been mad at work and on top of my normal job I was asked to assist with training for the Grads that are doing their senior level professional papers so that took up a good portion of my morning (poor things, I wouldn't want to go through all that again), I also had to do a presentation on "in-work tax credits" (very exciting....not) at lunch time today to 30 people and then Jason and I had our weekly German class from 6pm to 7.30pm tonight. The rest of the week I am going to have to work late as things are piling up a bit. This is a mad time of year for accountants in NZ as everyone's 2011 accounts/tax returns are due to be filed by 31 March 2012 and there are always a certain amount of people who leave it to the last minute to send in their information. 

I received Mum's fabric too today and Joanne is quite right,  they are going to be beautiful blocks! I love the colours, I can't wait to see a block finished. I doubt I will get to mine until next weekend as this weekend I will most likely be at work too, as I am taking the training for the intermediate Grads for their first professional papers and there just isn't enough time during work hours to prepare everything that needs to be done and I don't want to rush their training, I want to be well prepared.

Have a good week all of you.
Susan x

Monday 27 February 2012


Woo hoo, I believe I have just managed to get a photo of the block I made for Susan onto the blog. Off to post it now - finally! J.
I just got your fabrics Karen.  They are wonderful colours - I love them. So looking forward to making your block. It's going to be a fantastic quilt! And I'm lucky because I get to make Jackies block for you also.

We have been having a house designed and built for the past 3 years and finally moved in 3 weeks ago. There is still a lot going on, mainly outside, but we feel a bit in limbo. My sewing room is not yet ready for action but my brain is wanting to get into action. I've got Susan's block made but not yet in the post - but it will be this afternoon just after I have a coffee then get out to do some jobs. J.

Wednesday 22 February 2012

Finally able to add to blog.

Hope this works. In the middle of making block for Susan and have her on the phone as I type. J.

Tuesday 21 February 2012

Who's turn is it??

Hi Vreni
Did you put the list of whose turn it is each month on the blog?
What a brilliant idea!
Thanks very much for that.
Susan

Monday 20 February 2012

Hi

Thanks Vreni for sending me the new invite. It worked this time. I can now add to the blog. I am going to try to get my block done this week. I have really enjoyed seeing the blocks that the rest of you have finished.

Sunday 19 February 2012

Block number 1 complete!

Well I managed to complete the block, and even to upload it to the blog (after repeated failed attempts) but didn't manage to rotate it to portrait!  Hope its Ok Susan, will get in the post this week.  Best wishes
Jennie

Saturday 18 February 2012

My first Block


My first block for Susan is ready to be mailed to New Zealand tomorrow.  I too made it quite a bit bigger, so Susan can trim it to her liking. Now I'm curious what's next.
Hope you are all having a great weekend.
Vreni x

Tuesday 14 February 2012

My block is finished!

I made Susan's block at the weekend and put it in the post this afternoon.  I left plenty of width on the block so that you can centre it as you wish Susan.  Thanks Catherine for giving me a few tips on how to post this blog.  We are off to the snowy Tirolean mountains of Austria on Saturday so will take plenty of quilting with me for the evenings.  Jackie x

Thursday 9 February 2012

Catherine

Just a note about the block I made.  I made it 10 1/2 x 15 1/4.
The reason I made it slightly bigger is when I was reading the book it suggested this so when Susan puts all the blocks together she could accurately trim all her blocks 10 x 15.
I am sure I read it in the book and I was going to quote from the book and now I can't find it.
Joanne also mentioned it in one of her e mails she sent us.
If I am wrong Susan please correct me.
Have fun sewing ladies.

Messsage from Jennie

Hi everyone. Don't know if I am doing this right, but here goes. seeing an image of a completed block has given me a bit of confidence in trying it myself. I've read and re-read Susan's instructions and tried visualising before I get my rotary cutter anywhere near the fabric! I have a non working day tomorrow and the weather here in England isn't good, so I may pluck up my courage and have a go. Everything I've done so far has been with instruction, but I have Wendy close at hand at work to provide reassurance! Hope you all have a good weekend, especially those of you lucky enough to be having warmth Nd sunshine - not that we are jealous of course....

Catherine's Stack of Books

Here is a photo of my "Stack of Books" block. 
I hope to get it in the mail back to NZ tomorrow.
I must admit I was very nervous cutting into Susans fabric as I didn't want to make a mistake but in the end I just got on with it and I must say I had a lovely couple of hours this afternoon cutting and sewing the block. (By the way I had plenty of fabric)
I have added a few black and white fabrics from my own stash so I hope you like it Susan.
I think I have also mastered the blog or should I say my husband sorted it out so I hope it all works
when I hit the publish key.
Thanks so much for all your organisation Susan.
Cheers
Catherine Pollock

                                      

Wednesday 8 February 2012

Blog open to all of you...

Woo Hoo!!! I finally found the "Settings/Permission" buttons (thanks Vreni for pointing me in the right direction) to open up the blogging to all of you. It was pure luck that I literally stumbled across it, hopefully I won't have to find it again as I doubt I can... the teenager in this house got stumped on this one and was no help at all, although I think the lure of the X-Box over persevering with this was too much for him, so one up to me! Yipee! doesn't happen very often!

Hopefully you will all get this and can now blog as you like.  Just a note that we may have to change Wendy and Margaret's email addresses as btinternet seems to be causing a few issues with emails bouncing back. I have made contact with Wendy through her work email but I think I will have to contact Margaret the old fashioned way and write to her requesting an alternative email address.  She probably thinks we are a boring bunch as she hasn't heard a peep from us, then receives a parcel in the mail!  Maybe she will be able to see the blog but then again maybe not as Wendy didn't get the link sent to her for the blog. Either way I hope to have the problem resolved soon so that she feels part of the group.

Margaret, if you read this, sorry about the issue we are having with btinternet but if possible could you send an alternative email address please?