My quilt world - Ripe Strawberries!

I've finished the top.. yee haa!

and I've bought a pretty teacup fabric to back it with. This should be finished well in time for Christmas.

I'm really happy with it as I thought it might be really garish and bright and busy, or the feature fabric would be too dominating. BUT, the feature fabric is lovely and really makes the quilt. I am really pleased with how all the colours have worked together.

Next time I post about this quilt it should be the finished item.


Good news is that the US dollar is FaNtaStiC!!! And I'm in a fabric buying spree with a sort of
'kaleidoscope crossed with fireworks' pattern  and a blue quilt planned to be started next year...(on top of those projects that I still need to finish........... e.g..... the Beatlemania quilt...  the lonnnnng and winding road.....)


Until next time.... Kim

In my life - Graham's 50th Birthday

I did make grand plans for this day - and some of it worked really well!

Plan A: Family gathering for a Sunday lunch at Petersons Cellar door. Everyone to enjoy fine food and wine while sitting outside in the sunshine under the trees. The guest of honour to arrive by helicopter, which was to land on the lawn outside the guest house. The flight paid for by the guests as Grahams present.

• Positive:- everyone could come, all Graham's family came from Sydney,  Sean and  Emmy drove down from Queensland. 

• Negative:- Armidale turned on its most miserable weather -- pouring rain, foggy and cold --- thus scratch any idea of helicopter joy flights, or sitting under the trees in the golden sunshine!!!!

• Positive:- The meal at Petersons was moved indoors and the food and service was really lovely. Vi made a lovely cake with a little helicopter on it (the closest Graham got to one all day!!!)

• Negative:- Graham was sick! Later diagnosed as possibly norovirus. He hasn't had a sick day off work for 10 years but he has just had a week off to recover from this. So he didn't feel like eating and was exhausted as he had hardly slept.

• Positive:- he would have been too sick to go on the helicopter anyway, so the weather gave us an excuse to cancel it and he can go on it at a later date-- maybe I'll go too next time!

• Positive:- Everyone seemed to have a really great time and it was really nice to see everyone.

• Positive (sort of):- Our nearly new hot water service broke down five days later - what a disaster it would have been with guests and Graham sick and NO hot water! 

Anyway, below are some photos of the day, don't forget to click on them and they will enlarge for a closer view... enjoy. (sorry link no longer works). 

Until next time.... Kim

My quilt world - Round and Round the Garden

Just thought I would share a quilt that I finished this time last year. It was a wedding gift for Graham's niece Jessica and her new husband Jarrod.

The clothesline shot!

No two fabrics are the same !  I bought lots of fabric squares from ebay and used some from my stash.

Here is a close up of the blocks.

They were married on the October long weekend in 2009 at Manly in Sydney. It was a beautiful wedding despite the teaming rain.

Me looking colourful outside the church..

Until next time ... Kim

My quilt world - I remember you - progress report

Just getting started on a new project --- I'm not going to reveal my plans yet as this is a gift ---- But I just want to tease you by showing you this beautiful fabric I've bought for it...

I have a deadline and hope to finish the top early in the new year.

Unfortunately this means the poor a Kiss to build a dream on has again been laid aside, but I'm still hoping to have that top completed before we go overseas in August 2011 and maybe send it off to be quited while we are away.

So, my current quilt goals are!
1/ finish Ripe Strawberries - and have it quilted, binding on and ready to give for Christmas.
2/ work a lot on I remember you, try to have it ready to quilt early next year.
3/ I also have a smaller version of Ripe Strawberries for me to keep - I have cut out a fair bit of this ready to go and will work on that spasmodically over the next six months.(its a good taking to work project)
4/ I also have another small quilt called Beatlemania which I want to quilt myself. The tops been finished for awhile but I keep putting it aside due to other things, I must find time for that - maybe if I get a lot of night duty!

Until next time....Kim

My quilt world - The Colour of Magic

The traditional hanging on the clothesline shot -- but its too big!

Here are the photos of my latest finished project.

The smaller wall quilt

Way back in the 1990's I was still living at the farm -- 'Coranga' .

It was there that I started making quilts. The first wonderful book I bought was called Scrap Quilts by an American lady named Judy Martin. (This book has now fallen apart through use and is just a lot of loose pages inside the cover).


I fell in love with a quilt in this book called Tennessee Waltz and earmarked it as the quilt I would one day make for my own bed. I was fascinated by the way all these square blocks made a circular pattern-- and I still love designs that form a secondary or surprise pattern...

However,,, Life got in the way for awhile so plans were put on hold. (Now, I have a totally different bed in a totally different house!(with a totally different husband)).

Close up detail of the blocks

But I never forgot that lovely design..............

NOW.... Move forward a few years--

I am now living in town... Armidale........and Mum and Dad were off for their second trip to China - "what would you like she asked" and I said answered "some fabric, doesn't matter what it is or what colour"... I was into scrap quilts, although I had only made a few, and still felt the more colour the better!

Mum came back with lots of lovely Chinese brocade fabric.............BUT, green and purple! how could I mix them in the one quilt... I decided to finally use the Tennessee Waltz design and make the brocades the small sparkling squares in the block.

One of my first purchases from equilter.com was the wonderful red fabric. I also bought a number of Asian fat quarters of fabric on ebay. I resized the pattern to fit my now queen bed.

Sir Terry Pratchett

The name of this quilt is The Colour of Magic - it is in tribute to English author Terry Pratchett and the Discworld.

So many hours of reading delight has he given to me and others!

I have read and own all of  Terry's 37 books and I love the novelty and quirkiness of his imaginary world. (Book 38 is I shall wear midnight, will be out in September ......and I'm sooo excited!!!! --- (Terry has a lot to say about those who use more than one exclamation mark,, I think it has something to do with psychosis)).

Just some of my Discworld collection

I have put pictures of Rincewind the Wizzard (sic) and the luggage on the quilt labels, along with a quote from the book were Rincewind talks about the king colour in the rim bow, called Octarine or the colour of magic - which Rincewind thought always looked a greenish purple.

P.S. If I have inspired you to read a Terry Pratchett book then may I suggest you don't start with The Colour of Magic. Great book, but not for a first timer.

Try instead The Wee free Men, about Tiffany and Nac Mac Feegle, the Pictsies who were thrown out of fairyland for being drunk and disorderly... Or Men at Arms, the first city watch book, with Sam Vimes ,dwarfs, trolls and werewolves, and Nobby Nobbs (who was disqualified from the human race for shoving).

 P.P.S.......In 2007 Sir Terry was diagnosed with a rare form of early onset Alzheimer's... (why does this happen to the gifted and talented.... it is soo sad)... but he started a new chapter of his life, and has become a champion of the Alzheimers & Dementia cause,, appearing frequently on U.K. media and beyond....

And now I've bored you all with my eccentric tastes in literature, I will go back to talking about the quilt.


Its been about 5 years since I started this project, which was originally suppose to be one quilt. I finished the top well over 12 months ago and then I didn't know what to do with it!!!!


It was too big for the bed and I didn't really like it - too much of the cream colour. (and to think I was worried at first that the red would be overpowering!)

So after much thought I decided to rip it into pieces again - I've made a large quilt for the bed and the smaller one is for the wall. I also added the gold border to counteract all the cream.


  And now its finished I'm rather pleased with it - I love the quilting it makes it look very luxurious ..

The quilts in my currently messy bedroom

and.... haven't I learnt sooooo much!--- stick to your dreams/goals -- don't be scared of colour or to take risks -- and I love shiny and golden fabrics... plus, don't use too many exclamation marks..... (thanks TP).

Until next time....Kim

My quilt world - Ripe Strawberries - progress report

I'm still going on the ripe strawberries quilt!





I'm very happy with the feature fabric although I've had some problems trying to get an even center square so that the borders will fit.



I considered trimming the centre, but then decided to do some creative fiddling with the borders. This seems to be working okay.



I should have this top completed in the next couple of weeks - its time to buy the backing and the batting..

Until next time .... Kim

In My Life - Weekend at Copeton Dam

Recently Graham and I went on an adventure with the car club. 11 people and 6 classic cars hit the open road.



There was our Lotus, a Triumph TR6, Mercedes, Riley, Morris and a FJ Holden.



The Saturday was a beautiful clear sky day and we kept the top down all the way (But it was a little cold on the nose!).



We spent the night in the cabins at Copeton Dam. This dam holds nearly 3 times the water of Sydney harbour.




It has only been full once since it opened in the 1970's and currently is only about 6% of capacity. But it still seems to have a lot of water in it! It is a popular fishing and boating spot.

There are Lots and lots of kangaroos.

At night a great BBQ was enjoyed by all - although it was a very 'slow food' type of barbie,,,,,,,,,,,,,







.........with the steaks having to be cooked in fry-pans due to lack of heat!





On Sunday - following bacon and eggs for breakfast - we headed south to Bingara ... It was a little more overcast that day so we put the roof on the car - This was also to stop me going any deafer from the wind noise...



Our goal was to meet up with the Inverell car club and then travel in convoy to the five ways rally. There was a great turnout for a cold day with about 70 cars on display.




As soon as Graham got out of the Lotus he was surrounded by admirers - all wanting to talk about the car ---- and all the blokes flocked over to us when he took off the 'Baby's' bonnet. The poor baby girl is given no dignity!




On our way towards home she got her own back - she threw her hub-cap off on a cattle grid - causing much mirth to our fellow travellers. It was found easily as Karen and John behind us could easily watch its shiny path as it shot off into the paddocks. But, we decided it was safer to go home without it and kept it in the back!

Until next time ....Kim