A Baby Quilt

Hello lovely lovelies♡ A beautiful welcome to you♡ Thank you for all your lovely comments last week. My husband and I celebrated Father's Day in the best of ways. Driving through glorious countryside, a perfect sunny, spring day, delicious food and coffee......and good company to boot. Well, me thinks it was excellent company, as for what he thinks......you will have to ask him. =)

I have decided to fashion a baby quilt!! I know!! What am I thinking??!! With two other quilts on the go, (well there were three, but I have finished my flower garden quilt....YAY) I really need to start a new quilt like I need a hole in the head!! But, a teacher at the school where my husband is a chaplain has just given birth to a baby, a sweet little girl; so he asked if I could possibly make a baby quilt as a gift. Why of course I can; just because I have so much time with not much to do. =) Seriously though, a baby quilt is always a delight to fashion, isn't it?? And, it helps that they are small and quick to fashion.

So, a new baby quilt is in the works. The teacher wanted  an Australian fauna and flora theme for her baby's nursery. Also, the nursery is neutral in colour so a lot of pink is not to be seen. Australian animals and flowers with a little girl aesthetic was going to prove tricky.  In my travels I happened upon fabrics designed by Australian designer Jocelyn Proust. She is one of Australia's most revered artists and is well known for her Australia Native Flora and Australian Birds collections. Her designs are spilling over with abstract prints of sweet wombats, echidnas, koalas, kangaroos, parrots, bandicoots, platypuses etc etc. Among the mix are pretty designs of Australian flowers, as well. These abstract and fun designs, will I think, fit wonderfully into a neutral coloured, little girl's nursery with an Australian theme. The fabrics are in hues of peach, orange, pink, mint green, aqua, turquoise, teal, blue and grey, all in varying tones. I can in my mind's eye see mother and child snuggled  under this quilt imagining many an adventurous story where kangaroos, wombats, kookaburras, and all their  animal friends get up to all manner of mischief  and boisterous fun, deep within the Australian bush. There is many an escapade to be imagined, curled up under this sweet quilt♡

But what design will I make?? As I want this quilt to be finished by November, and as I don't have a lot of time, because I still want to work on my other quilts, I thought I would fashion a cot size, QAYG hexie quilt......again! These fabrics will look perfect as small hexies, scattered here and there with not a lot of thought to placement. Each hexie will be bordered by a mint green and white polka dot fabric.  Quick, easy and pretty♡ 

'Tis late Sunday afternoon here. For the best part of the afternoon I have been cutting fabric and batting into the shape of hexies, then stitching the backing fabric to each hexie by machine. I used my little Bernina machine which I haven't stitched on for a very long while. This little machine is a dream to sew with. I am reminded as to why I do not use it more often?? Later this evening I will begin to hand stitch the hexies together and join the other lovely ladies over at Kathy's place for a little Sunday slow stitching. I will be absent from blogland over the next couple of weeks as my husband and I are going on a little road trip to Hobart. A little road trip always means a kit bag  with a little hand stitching, and perhaps a little knitting hidden within. Hopefully when next you visit there will be a lot to show for all that driving through the countryside.

May your day be a lovely one♡ May there be a little magic, sunshine and beauty sprinkled into your day♡

Until the next time..........

A Little Stitching, A Little Knitting; And A Little Spring Dancing♡

Hello lovely lovelies♡ A Sunday morning welcome to my little place♡ Here, Lady Spring is busily dusting the garden with magic, in the form of a host of daffodils♡ She has started to do her thing. And, I must say, doing her thing beautifully♡ Here in Australia when the calendar page quickly turns from August to September we consider it to be spring.  The first hue of spring down here at the bottom of the world is a sea of yellow. The landscape is bursting with the fluffy, yellow blossoms of the wattle trees. Wattle trees, of the genus Acacia, which are the national floral emblem for Australia, are all beginning to bloom in parks, beside the roadside and in gardens. They are the first sign that spring is about to burst onto the scene. Wherever we go in the car, gardens are bursting with daffodils, too. The magic of spring has begun. Yes indeed, here in Australia, if the calendar says 1st September, then we consider winter to be done and dusted. =) I am dancing with great joy about that♡ How about you?? Has autumn, or is it fall.....begun to sprinkle your landscape with those glorious hues that autumn is famous for??

Here in my little place, I have been stitching, but there doesn't seem to be much to show for it. I have stitched more octagons and squares to my cobblestones quilt. More octagons and squares are do-si-do-ing around the perimeter of the quilt.

I have been working on my flower garden quilt, too. The binding strip has been machine stitched onto my flower garden quilt, and I am now in the process of hand stitching the binding to the back to complete it. So excited.......my flower garden quilt is nearly finished. I cannot really believe that this quilt will soon be on the bed in all its floral loveliness. This quilt has taken me on  a very long journey; but a journey which I am delighted I started. To think I began this quilt three years ago, with the notion it was time that I grew up as a quilter; to become a big girl and cross over to the other side, to join those girls who always seem to fashion those amazing  applique quilts, of which one can only wonder "how did she do that?". I wanted to stitch a quilt completely by hand with applique flowers, birds, butterflies and itty bitty bees all over. I wanted to tackle hand applique. Well, let's just say I know a little more about hand applique now, than when I first started three years ago! As for the binding I used the same fabric that I used for the borders; a pretty hydrangea fabric (of course) as I wanted a seamless look. This quilt will be my very favourite quilt for all time. It holds a special place in my heart and the story behind it is precious to me. The story which I will tell in a little while.

This week I have also enjoyed a little knitting. My jacket has not grown exponentially....but growth is growth, isn't it, no matter how small. My friend, Trish (Holly's mother) and I have met a couple of times to knit and drink tea this week, but unfortunately there has been a lot of unravelling of knitted rows where little boo-boos snuck in. Trish is just learning to knit a cable pattern, so a little help in her lapses in concentration has been required. That's okay though, we can wait until next winter to wear our woolly pretties. Let's just say a lot more merriment than knitting  occurred. =)

It is Father's Day here today, so my husband and I are going to enjoy a long country drive, stopping for coffee and cake along the way. A celebratory kinda day♡ We will enjoy the glorious touches of Lady Spring; the wattle trees, daffodils and glorious scenery as we drive up hill and down dale. Why, I think I will knit some of my jacket as we drive along. Truly, it is a gloriously sunny Sunday♡ Then, this evening I will join the other ladies over at Kathy's place and continue stitching the binding on my quilt. I can see a spring photo shoot with my flower garden quilt as the star, in the not too distant future.

Have a lovely day♡ May it be one filled with beauty, love and a little dancing♡ Please take care, lovely ladies♡ I am off to dance with my husband through this beautiful spring  day♡

Until the next time.........