Shop Reorganisation

I have done a bit of reorganisation of my shop site.  I have divided the BOM programs into their own category so that all the patterns for each quilt can be found on the one page.  This should make it easier for you to purchase parts of a particular quilt if you want.

The way I have set it up may be problem as I create more quilts as there is only a limited number of categories but hopefully etsy will have a few more improvements by the time I need more space.  They have been continually improving how the website works and I am glad I took the leap to create an individual website through their tools as I only have to maintain items in etsy and my shop website mirrors what is their.  

A great recent improvement is that you don't have to become a member of etsy now to purchase from my shop site which should be helpful improve sales.  www.seabreezequilts.com.au

So check out the shop and let me know what you think.  Remember tomorrow the final block of Bee Inspired will be taken down and be available for purchase only so download today for free.  

Post Xmas ARRH

Been in a bit of a post xmas funk, I think I'm just winding down from a busy year, both at work and a bit of stress on the home front with extended family.  DH keeps asking what I want to do each day and I just want to do nothing and go with the flow for this week as least with no plans attached.  He struggles with this concept... I'm struggling with the concept of getting up before 9 this week at least I'll probably have to pull that back next week.  

Christmas evening Grange Beach, this picture doesn't reflect the number of people that were there at 8pm at night.  Behind us towards the Jetty there were lots of family and friends groups having a wonderful time in the cool air.    I don't blame them Xmas day was 40C it was probably high 20's when we hit the beach which was magical.

We had reasonable warning that Xmas day was going to be extreme so we cooked the Turkey outside xmas eve on the WebberQ.  It turned out perfect and there were no complaints about it being dry and we picked a good ham.  DH family can be quite brutal about Xmas lunch... don't get me started on the argument about having a cold lunch and how it isn't trying.  One day someones going to get slapped big time 😈 but the family is dealing with the slow mental decline of my MIL so I will cut them some slack.

My xmas present to myself was a fitbit 2 which I am loving.  I stopped wearing my original fitbit when I battled depression 18 months ago as I was struggling to get out of bed to walk and then the side affects from the meds were a bit full on first thing in the morning and the rest of the time I was just making excuses.  Its taken me a couple of days to get my walking count up but I have managed and exceed the 10,0000 the last 3 days.  And although I was initially scared about the sleep monitoring as I know don't sleep well and rarely sleep a full night I have been surprised how much sleep I am getting... might be a bit different when I have to get out of bed before 9 though.  I'm also increasing my water intake which I know has been a problem recently and its easy to document how much a drink quickly on the app.

DH has been building a gym for the kids over the last 12 months and it is pretty much finished and we installed a treadmill just before xmas and we have all been using it. Them to run me to walk I think it maybe a while before I get up to running (if ever I've never been a runner).  We already had a weights machine from when we first moved in together 25 years ago and its still does the job.

Maestro is building up his left arm and although it is still slightly smaller I think only family would notice now.  It only a couple of weeks until we go back to the surgeon hopefully he will give him the all clear to resume karate.

Mo is running daily and is tinkering with the idea of going vegan for a while.   She was getting a bit of flack from school about how thin she is and the fact that the first thing she does when someone hands her packaged food is reads the label.   DH has voiced his concerns but as I explained to him she does eat 3 meals a day (he and Maestro never have breakfast), she doesn't eat a lot of processed food and she listens to her body.  She knows what excess sugar does to her and since she has been cooking all our meals she now eats a bigger variety of food and tries more stuff.  If we can get her to stop baking cakes we would all be healthier.  I'm hoping exploring the vegan thing will mean she has less time for cake baking.

Fingers crossed with a bit of hard work we will be healthier and fitter in 2017.

Gearing Up for Xmas

Mo has been taking over the kitchen again, this time to do a cake for my MIL's 87th birthday.  If I had of been home I would have gone a got her a proper cake board for better presentation but it tasted good and looked pretty spectacular.   MIL was only remotely aware that it her birthday but I think she enjoyed the cake.

While I was in Melbourne I took a photo of the window of Hopetoun Tea House.  I usually walk past the line up to get in when I'm in Melbourne at Christmas and never get a good look at the window display.  This time there was no line so I could take a photo.  I sent it to Mo and says maybe she can try and get a job here when she grows up.  I think I would prefer if she just opened her own version in Adelaide than move to Melbourne though.

Celtic Tree of Life Block 5 ready for download

Head to the Celtic Tree of Life Page for the latest Block download.  If you have missed out on any don't forget you can purchase the blocks from my etsy site at www.seabreezequilts.com.au.

I will need to get my act together over the next few weeks because I plan to start designing the centre block.  As this is the largest block in the quilt it may mean that the lead time may be a bit longer but I will keep you informed as I start working it out.  Once the centre block is designed I can figure out the final two knot blocks and all the fun of how I will put it all together which I have to tell you is pretty much in the air at the moment.

I'm heading to Melbourne tomorrow for work Xmas do.  I will be slotting in a bit of Xmas shopping in the morning and then join the Melbourne office for some serious eating and drinking.  

The School Year is Ending and the holidays are nearly here

Maestro finished school last week for the year.  I can't remember finishing year 10 this early.  Mo had 3 days of school this week and today is preparing for her end of year presentation tomorrow then has 2 days of excursions and nothing much next week will finish up on Tuesday.

Mo went off to her formal dinner dance last Friday and had a great time. She said all the older kids kept saying she was cute (she hates that) and she got twirled around the dance floor but one of the year twelves who presented her with glow stick glasses.  I have been forbidden from showing a picture of her on any social media but she did look lovely in her dress.

The same day was our Wedding Anniversary so we ordered Maestro a pizza and headed down to the end of the street for dinner by the beach.  It was nice just the two of us out to dinner having a conversation about stuff proving we can still do that without the kids.  We even got a perfect sunset.

I've finished Block 5 of Celtic tree of Life.  I probably should be starting the next block early so that I can get a jump on the centre block which will be block 7 but I haven't yet maybe on the weekend.

I signed up for Sarah Fielke's next BOM (I know I'm an idiot) I don't know when I will be going to get time to do it.  But there are video's involved and an interactive group so I got sucked in and there is no fabric included so I can use the stash.  I also signed up earlier for Jen Kingwell's new BOM but I'm only getting the templates for that.  I'm a sucker for templates got to have them all.

I haven't been fabric shopping in forever and I don't think my stash is suffering I am sure there is enough fabric there for at least a few hundred quilts.  I am collecting one of MO BOM this year and I have started the first block  but I am not liking the plain background fabric they have chosen, though I love all the appliqué fabric they have sent.  So I'm thinking about changing it and starting again.  

Bee Inspired Putting it All together

The final piece of the puzzle is up ready to to download.  I hope you have enjoyed the quilt and I'd love to see your finished quilt when it is done.

As always pattern will be up for a month and then be available to purchase from the shop.

Enjoy.

Liberty Love Quilt Top Finished

Love the way this one came out.  Its single bed sized and the set in triangles are a bit bigger than they needed to be so the centre floats in the border.

Also I was extremely anal and have my directional fabric facing the right way all around the edge of the quilt and I may have even fussy cut the set in triangle squares so that the pattern pretty much lined up all round the edge.  This did mean that there was some unpicking when I got it wrong but I'm so happy with the outcome I don't care about the extra couple of hours it took to get it together.

There will be a pattern at some point.  I plan to quilt it during the Xmas holidays.  Will have to look out for some suitable backing fabric soon and order in some batting.

Hibernating maybe

I feel like I've been hibernating, the other week I signed up for a trial of kindle unlimited which has become available in Australia and it has been my undoing. I've been reading quite a number of books for free and I think I will keep my subscription up.

We seem to be very busy on the weekends even though Mo is playing tennis on Friday nights instead of Saturday so I don't know exactly what we have been doing.  The only answer I can come up with is stuff.

Our pool turned green over the winter as we lost both the chlorinator and the pump, and hubby has been spending a lot of time trying to get things clear.  This week we dumped another lot of chemicals in and it seems to have done the trick and we finally got the filter working properly after a few false starts.  If its hot I am sure there will be kids in it this weekend.

I wanted to spend much of Saturday in my sewing room and didn't manage to get there until 4pm  Liberty love is coming along and after some unpicking.  I like my directional set in triangles to be all the right way and discovered I had used the top triangles on the side of a single bed quilt.

Here it is so far.  3 corners are done so I'd say it was ¾ finished.  I'm thinking of using my walking foot to quilt it, but I will probably chicken out because I find it so boring to do.  The large grey square should have something formed really needs to special quilting.

The last photo is a close up of the border fabric and I have made the triangles slightly bigger to the centre of the quilt floats.  Hopefully will have it all finished on the weekend and get a picture of it on the clothes line.

Celtic Tree of Life Block 4

Block 4 is up on the Celtic Tree of Life Page ready to download.  Remember if you have missed a month you can purchase them in my shop.  I've also updated the image to include block 6.

Distinct Lack of Faith in my Abilities

Mo was asked to a formal dinner for school by a boy.  The high school she goes to has a baseball program and they have an awards night and everyone in the program is encouraged to invite a "date" from school.  A few of her friends are going and its a lock in so we have said yes.  Now we get to the hard bit.  What to wear?

Last year for her year 7 graduation we had a dress that we had bought at the end of the previous summer it was perfect.  She has grown a bit since then and although it fits it is a bit indecent in the length department.    So last weekend we went shopping, in total I think she tried on 20+ dresses we did sort of find one but I probably would have had to have done some major alterations in the front for her to be comfortable wearing it.  She is kinda at a difficult stage too small for the smallest women size (which was a 6) and most of the girl dresses are a bit short when they fit.

By lunch time I'd had enough and told her that if I had more time I could have made her a dress to which she screwed up her face I also informed her that I didn't need the stress of it at this time of year.

I explained to her that I used to make my own clothes and she said some of the things I had made for her were a bit slap dash.  Mind you all the slap dash things she had referred to were various costumes I had put together with no warning and limited time for some school event the next day.  

Still anxious to get a dress we had lunch and a bit of a rest picked up DH and headed to Harbour Town.  We ended up finding a dress, slightly shop soiled and at a bargain price in a size 4 ladies.  DH took one look at it and said buy it though she was still unsure (as it cost less than $50) I told her we were getting it anyway every other dress we had tried was $100 plus and didn't look nearly as good as this one.  I really didn't have another 4 hour shopping trip in me to head to the city.

The dress  came up beautifully with a wash, we worked out what we needed to alter to make it fit better which should't take to long.  

My worry now is that this dinner thing might be an annual event, we lucked out this time but I can't guarantee it will happen again so I think the next thing on my list is to brush up on my dress making skills.

I told her today that I might invest in a small dress form for her and I have purchased a couple of Gertie's Ultimate Books she still wasn't convinced that I would be able to make something she would be happy to wear.  

I told her that a handmade dress won the Melbourne Cup Fashion and I got the reply "Mum you didn't make the dress".  I then reminded Mo that she has 5 smocked dresses (featuring hand embroidery) and a beautiful heirloom finish in her wardrobe.  She says "Oh Yeah" and gives me a bit of a smile.

That might have done it.

Block 6 Bee Inspired

Instructions are up for Block 6.  Next month will be putting it all together.

Amazing Girl

I really worried about Mo going to High School this year,  I knew Maestro was more than ready for high school when he went into year 8, but she really didn't want to leave primary school.

But she has flourished and has had straight A's all year.  I came home to a letter from the School today to say that she would be receiving an Award for Excellence at this terms award ceremony which would be above and beyond the subject awards she would be receiving which we were told of last week.

School doesn't come easy for her, she puts in the hard work and studies for every test and puts in effort for every assignment.  She works hard for what she has achieved in her first year at high school and we are immensely proud of her.

Maestro had surgery last week on his elbow, there is a small divit in the joint but the surgeon says that it should scar over and be almost as good as new.   They cleaned out soft tissue damage and he is on the mend and he can move his wrist without pain now.  The surgeon was impressed with the amount of movement he had back in the arm just 8 days out from surgery (it was probably the playstation as that is the only exercise he has been doing for a week).   Keeping him from doing to much for 6 weeks may be an issue but he has been clear to resume riding and light exercise.  No karate till he is given the all clear in January but things are looking up finally.

Block 4 of the Celtic Tree of Life is nearly finished, just critters to add, and maybe I will get a couple of months ahead.  See below the progress.

Block 4 Sneak

Thought I'd give you a bit of a glimpse at block 4 as I will start to pull fabric today.

Of course colours are no indication of what will be in the finished block I just pull random colours together when I am drafting that I like the look of on screen.  This will be available on 15th November.  

Dancing Dragonflies

Dragonflies are probably my favourite creepy crawly.  We have quite a few visit our yard in the summer months around the pool so that had to feature somewhere in this quilt, actually I'm surprised they didn't turn up last year in Flowers for Alison.

Well here the block.  If you want to see the progress of the block at all check out my instagram because I took lots of shots while I was working on the central spirals and I will do so again while working on Block 4.

If you've checked out the page recently you will note that the next block I have drafted is down on the bottom row.  The corner blocks are pretty much set in stone though I haven't drafted the right bottom corner I'm still thinking about that one.  Once the top and bottom row are done I can give serious consideration to how the centre blocks will come together.

So head on over to the Celtic Tree of Life Page to download the next instalment and I hope you enjoy.  Remember to email me if you have any questions.

School Holidays

The day job has been a bit of a nightmare.  Our network was down for a whole week because our router failed and we weren't a high priority to get it fixed on the very week that is our busiest for the year.  I had to work from home which is normally ok but it has been school holidays and also with the rain our internet was a little bit patchy so it was all fun and games.  There was a point last Tuesday that I quietly (maybe not so quietly) had a bit of a meltdown from the stress of it all.  Luckily I was home and the kids went out for a few hours and let me just melt down without an audience.

I think I'm nearly caught up though I still have a monster pile of emails to file and paperwork to scan.

Liberty Love continues, I think I am probably half way through piecing the blocks, I'll do another pile on the weekend and I might be able to start working out how big the quilt will be.

Block 3 of the Celtic Tree of Life is finished, and I have drafted block 4 which is ready to stitch.    I will write the pattern over the next couple of days and have it up on the page to download on the weekend.

Maestro is having surgery on his elbow on Monday.  The prognosis isn't good, the Specialist thinks that there may be little they can do to fix the joint.  There is a slim change that there is debris in the joint that they can clean out and smooth the joint but he didn't sound too optimistic that there hasn't been permanent damage to the elbow and he will always have problems.  So our fingers and toes are crossed.

Liberty Love

I'm determined to make more quilts while designing and making the BOM.  This is the first one that I am tackling simultaneously.  I collected the fabrics last years using the Strawberry Thief's Liberty Club to collect fabrics as well as additional purchases of fabric that I really loved.  I haven't counted how many fabrics will be in the finished quilt but there are probably close to 50.

I have toyed with the idea of joining 4 of the 6" blocks together and putting those on point but I think just joining the blocks in single on point rows will be more effective and having small set in triangles of one of my favourite fabrics will do the trick.

The reason these blocks got put away a few months ago is that I was having trouble joining piecing the blocks my machine was eating the fabric.  The dove grey Frou Frou fabric is a similar weight to the Liberty Tana Lawn and is going mean a lovely soft quilt but piecing was proving to be problematic.

My friend Helen who is my machine guru suggested maybe change of needle or a single hole plate.  I purchased the single hole plate and it is amazing.  I think I will probably continue to use it for all chain piecing in future.

I always chain piece 9 patch blocks in vertical rows, keeping the threads attached and then stitching the horizontal rows.  This way you don't need pins to keep the blocks in place and it becomes incredibly quick to stitch a block.

I think I'll just continue to do a pile each day until all the blocks are done.  I have about 150 blocks trimmed ready to stitch.

I'm Late, I'm Late for a Very Important Date

Yesterday I had this little voice saying in my head I had forgotten something.  It wasn't until I hopped in the shower this morning that I worked out what that something was.  Sorry guys completely forgot to upload the latest pattern for Bee Inspired.

All fixed now, though.

Head on over to the Bee Inspired Page and its all there for you to download.

If you are from Australia you probably know that little old Adelaide and in fact the whole of the state has been hit by some wild weather this week.  Luckily we are far enough away from waterways so we were affected apart from the complete blackout of the state on Wednesday night.  I was driving my son to work when it hit, so I dropped him off and headed home not realising how much was affected.  Got almost home and had to turn back and pick him up.  In all I spent 1 ½ hours on the road in some pretty scary rain, and flooded out roads along the sea front.  Finally got home and just battened down as much as we could and had an early night.  

Today is a beautiful day but apparently there is more water heading our way in the coming week. 

Reading Binge

Been on a bit of a reading binge lately.

Things are a bit stressful on the home front, my MIL dementia has ramped up the last few weeks and my BIL who is her full time carer probably needs more help but will not ask/accept help unless it is forced on him and DH won't push the issue.  They are a very stubborn family.... Work is really busy at the moment as well.  Books have been my escape as well as stitching.     

I have been enjoying Audio books as well and I usually am listening to a different book to the one I am reading at the moment.  I find great to listen to in the car on the way to work and I also listen to them at work when I need to tune out and just do lots of mindless tasks.  I prefer to only get books that I have read and enjoyed and I find take in more of a given book if I listen to it as well.  A lot of books I have on my kindle a reread over and over again they are kinda like old friends that I am happy to stay with for a while.  Yes I am becoming a book nerd or rediscovering my book nerdishness before kids I always had a book in hand.    Probably need to download some classics as well.

One of my favourite authors Penny Reid is releasing a new book in October, to mark the occasion she has one of her PA's making Beard Science (new book) inspired Avatars.   Of course I had to have one... I've changed my Facebook picture for a while.  Penny's books a fun and quirky and the lead main Character in Beard Science is much anticipated by Penny's fans.

Penny's PA is also hosting a read along on Facebook for the 2nd book in her Knitting in the City series "Friends without Benefits".   I joined in their first read along for Neanderthal Seeks Human back in August and it was great fun so I've signed up for the 2nd one.   Its a great excuse to read the book again.

LH Cosway also has a new release coming soon and one of her early books Six of Hearts is available for free on Amazon at the moment.

I couple of months ago a joined a group on Facebook for male romance writers where they interact with their readers.  Men write romance a bit differently to women, and I have been working my way through the authors reading some of their books and discovering who I like and adding to my favourite author list.  A few of the authors are Veterans and their books give insight into the issues these guys face coming back to civilian life.  I prefer my novels to have a decent plot, sometimes humour and hopefully a happy ending but that isn't always necessary.

Celtic Tree of Life Block 2 Celtic Knot

I'm amazed at the number of people who have looked at the Celtic Tree of Life pattern page.  Thank you and I hope you stick round to see the quilt unfold and join in making it of course.

Block 2 is up on the page so head here and download your copy.

I've been working on Block 3 here's a sneak peak which I have been sharing on my instagram and Facebook page  so if you want to keep up to date on the goings on join me there as it gets updated more often than the blog.

Don't be scared by the scrolls they are easier than they look and I love the way a solid piece of fabric turns into an intricate design when its all cut away and stitched.

Feeling Inspired but don't have the time

I've hit the busiest time of year at the day job.  The last 2 weeks have been UGGH, I'll be doing some work from home today if my internet behaves.  Most of our work is very time specific with deadlines coming up almost everyday and I had to cover for someone who is on leave interstate doing checking off spread sheets and of course the boss had his own deadlines that I had to stop for.  We decided that at least if I stuffed it up completely I won't be asked to do it again.... fingers crossed.

I really want to get out into my sewing room  .... maybe i'll get a chance on the weekend.  Last year I concentrated on Flowers for Alison and really didn't work seriously on any other quilts but I think I might need to branch out this year and work on other designs.  Block 2 of Celtic Tree of Life is finished and I will start on block 3 shortly.  The new pattern will go up on the 15th.

We headed to the Royal Adelaide Show this weekend firstly to check out my quilt and the competition.  We spent far to long in sideshow alley ... I may have had a tantrum  when we were just wandering around aimlessly not making a decision about what rides they were going on.  I really hate the noise and the crowds of people.  As soon as I could escape I went back to the Craft and Handicraft display and looked at the other Exhibits.

I have just picked up my new saddle chair which was purchased at the AMQF and I'm testing it out at the computer desk which is a bit low for it, but that won't be an issue at my sewing table which is higher. Its pretty comfortable to sitting and I can feel that my posture is correct naturally on it fingers crossed it will enable me to work longer at the machine.  

I have been dabbling with Sue Cody's new BOM Gelato Rose which came last week from Material Obsession.  To be honest I sometimes struggle with other peoples instructions sometimes, so I am just going to do it my way.... I can hear my friends say what else is new.  It is supposed to be quilt as you go but I don't think I can be bothered with that after quilting Flowers for Alison I'm up for anything quilting wise on the machine.   Now I'll have 3 other hand sewing projects to do in front of the box at night with Jen Kingwell's Butterfly quilt and this one as well as Celtic Tree of Life.

Bee Inspired Block 4 is up ready to download

Tulip Vine block no 4 of Bee Inspired is ready to download from the Bee Inspired Page.  Enjoy.

A big week in quilting

Last Thursday after dropping Flowers for Alison at the Adelaide Show Grounds for judging the Royal Adelaide Show Quilt Show I headed to the city to attend the AMQF and join in a class on a Sweet Sixteen.

The class was with Helen Godden, it was hands on and a great afternoon of just stitching on the machine.  It was probably a bad idea because it has made me want a Sweet Sixteen even more but DH tells me NO, personally I don't see the problem in a little more debt.  Here is a picture of finished product.  All I can think of is how easy it would have been to quilt Flowers for Alison on the Sweet Sixteen, but then again with the thin batting and voile backing the sandwich wasn't that heavy but it would make quilting lot easier.  Oh well I'll keep dreaming, just have to sell a lot more patterns and one day I might be able to get one.

I headed back to AMQF to the Vendor's Mall to make a few purchases.  Aurifil thread was 50% off for participants so I purchased a nice bundle of colours for appliqué and piecing.  I also purchased a saddle chair for my sewing room.

Judging for the Royal Adelaide Show Quilt Section was conducted on Saturday and results were released yesterday on the website and Flowers for Alison received 3rd place in the Machine and Hand pieced quilt Machine Quilted section.

I have been stitching the first Celtic Knot block for the current BOM.  There is a hell of a lot of stitching to do but it will be done in plenty of time.

Maestro had another specialist appointment about his elbow this morning after having an MRI on the weekend.  The bad news is that there is damage to the joint from his break and there may be debris in the joint as well.  The Orthopaedic Specialist said we have 2 options to wait and see if things improve or to have an arthroscope of the joint straight away.  He said it was up to Maestro about what he wanted to do.  There is a chance that the surgery could cause stiffening of the joint, and therefore Maestro has decided to wait and see and return to his sports and monitor how much pain there is and if he can put up with it and revisit the surgery down the track.  Personally I would have done the surgery straight away as there is a chance they can fix the joint when they go in and it was only a small chance that the surgery could cause problems to the joint but it isn't my body and he can put up with the pain.  We have another appointment in 3 months.  Not the news we were hoping for but at least we have answers to why he is still having pain.
  

A Note about Block 2 Celtic Tree of Life

Initially I was going to try and use an 18mm Clover Bias Maker for this block.  I tried it out on the weekend and it just was too hard to curve it round the knots.

To tell the truth I never have had much luck with the larger bias makers usually I struggle to get a nice bias but I thought that if I used some starch I would get it to sit right.  The bias came out ok but it was just too hard to make the acute bends that the knot work required.  The good news is that if you made my quilt last year you will have the 12mm bias maker in your stash which I am currently using.

I am going to have to work on the template more and may have to resort to hand drawing it to get it done for you, but that's my headache.  Now back to the ironing board to get the knot in place.

Home Again after a Short Break

We headed to Melbourne on the weekend.  The boys went to an AFL game at the end of the Season apparently the worst game they could have picked for the round oh well.  We did the Victoria Markets and the DFO, checked out Luna Park at St Kilda and some more markets by the seaside there.  Then on Monday we headed to the Aquarium and some more shopping with the boys at the DFO.

On Sunday I needed a bit of a break from all the family togetherness and headed to Making the Australian Quilt Exhibition.  It was interesting to see the different styles on display.   Many of the quilts were very naive, though the crazy patchwork were probably my favourite for the embroidery.  The quilt below was truly amazing and the satin stitch looked like it was done on a machine.

I'd like to thank all the new people who have found my blog and are downloading my new BOM I hope you enjoy.  

I'm Early Lets hope this continues for this BOM

As we are have a bit of a short holiday this weekend I was worrying about getting the first block up in time.  So I've sat down this afternoon and got all my shit together and written the pattern early for you.

Block 1 of the Celtic Tree of Life is up ready to download.  So head to the page and get your hands on the patten.

I haven't done any more design work on the rest of the quilt yet but hopefully I should be able to get back to that over the next few weeks and you will get more of an idea of what the centre of the quilt will look like.

If you need advice or want to ask questions just leave a comment and I'll get back to you next week.  I hope you enjoy the first instalment.

Details of 2015 and 2014 BOM can be found here  these patterns are available to purchase from my shop at www.seabreezequilts.com.au.

Block 1 is coming together nicely

I'm in the final stages of stitching Block 1 of the Celtic Tree of Life.  There was a bit of fussy cutting for the butterfly wings which I'm really loving.   

I haven't been happy with some of the placements of the pieces, throughout and I have found that it is best to continue needle turning the whole templates.  Press the appliqué and then unpick.   This means that you don't need to needle turn the piece again and stops the wear and tear on the edges.  An already turned and pressed piece is supper quick to reposition and stitch.  

The day for release is officially the 15th but it will be the 16th as we are going away that weekend.  

In other news Maestro broke his elbow back in March and he returned to Karate after the Drs gave him the all clear and has been going to a physio every week for about 2 months to get the strength back but he has been complaining that it wasn't getting any better Physio told him to have a break from Karate to see if it improved it didn't.  So physio sent him for X-rays and the news is the break hasn't healed.  We kinda don't know where to go to from here and we are just in holding pattern at the moment.  

Block 3 Bee Inspired is up

Head over to Bee Inspired Page to download.

All finished and a final photo

If you want to make this quilt you can purchase the patterns from my website www.seabreezequilts.com.au

I hate binding

This chore has finished, I hate sewing down binding but I can't bring my self to machine stitch it and I'm to much of a control freak to get someone else to do it.  But its done, the hanging sleeve isn't quite sitting right so I will be restitching that tonight and weaving in more threads.

I really want to wash this baby so I can get it hung and take some decent shots of the finished quilt.  It might happen on the weekend.

I've started stitching backgrounds for 2016 BOM so stay tuned for more details.

Marathon Quilting Event has ended

I finished quilting Flowers for Alison last night.  I've been a bit quiet the last couple of weeks have had a couple of health issues and ended up with the migraine of all migraines on the weekend probably courtesy of the marathon quilting that I did on Saturday to get the borders finished combined with a sinus infection.

I'm hoping to start the binding this afternoon and fit a hanging sleeve as well.

I took this photo to show the drape of the quilt.   This quilt is quilted within an inch of its life and in the past that has made my quilts quite stiff until they have been washed a few times and even then they were never soft.  Not so with this quilt it drapes beautifully.  I used a cotton voile on the back which is finer than quilters cotton and the batting I used Quilters Dream Cotton Request and I think I've found my all time favourite batting.  This is a big quilt and it folds up to the size of a pillow it is light and I can't wait to have it on my bed, but first I need to get it ready for a show.

Once the hanging sleeve is in place I hope to find a space big enough to photograph it fully so watch this space.

Celtic Tree of Life

There is a pic of the design so far on its own page which you can find here.  

So check it out and if you are thinking about joining in start looking for fabrics for backgrounds and some brights for the appliqué.

As you can see from the picture below the grey's range from light to dark.  I'm not really worrying about how dark they are but I have probably steered away from black but there are a few dk grey's in there.

The Celtic Knots will probably need to be on lighter greys as I will need to be able to see the outline through a lightbox in order to transfer the design.

There is another link to the grey's I've picked on the Tree of Life page.  

Bee Inspired BOM Block 2

Block 2 of Bee Inspired is available for download on the Bee Inspired page.  If you are new to my page and you want missed out on last months pattern you can purchase it here for $3.