Sunday, January 23, 2022

The Funnest of Weeks♡




Hello lovely lovelies♡ 'Tis Sunday again♡ Did you enjoy a pleasant week?? I did. My week flew by in a whirl of birthday celebrations and surprises; and the piecing of the backing of my Hydrangea Cobblestones quilt. Birthdays♡ They are a big deal in my family. Birthdays are always a special event. All stops are pulled out to see that the birthday person celebrates in the way they desire. When my girls were younger they never went to school  on their birthdays. They were treated like princesses for the day. My two girls and I (Pete always went to work......how sad) always celebrated their birthdays however which way they pleased......(well, within reason....=D ). I always said to their teachers that life was too short to have to go to school on your birthday. The girls have fabulous memories of 'wagging' school and enjoying their special day to the hilt. It always involved going somewhere fabulous and enjoying delicious food, worthy of such a momentous celebration. My birthday this year seemed to carry over a few days; morning teas, afternoon teas, lunches, gorgeous gifts, flowers......feel totally spoilt♡ So blessed♡



Between much too many cups of tea in pretty teacups and much too many pieces of several birthday cakes, I actually enjoyed some sewing, too. I stitched the backing of my quilt. I used fabrics from my stash, and also the extra fabrics from the same line of the hydrangea fabric; at the time of purchase. The fabrics are the Cottage Bleu Collection designed by Robyn Pickens; so they all dance beautifully together. At the time of purchasing these fabrics, I had no idea what I was going to do with them, so I purchased 1/2 metre lengths of some of the co-ordinating fabrics. When my eyes first espied the hydrangea fabrics, I just had to have them with not a clue what I would make. Thankfully all fabrics have been utilised, so all's well that ends well.

I stitched together large patches of fabric together in a fairly haphazard fashion. When the stitching of the backing was finished, I then hand stitched hydrangea octagons along some of the seams to add a bit of visual interest. I am that gal who never really over-thinks the backing of a quilt, as to be honest, no-one ever really looks at the back.......do they?? Of course, I suppose those with judgmental, imperious and exacting eyes, who pick up a quilt and inspect the quilting stitches on the back do, but truly, no-one who has walked along the path of life with me ever has. =) They are always bedazzled by the front (at this point my tongue is fixed firmly in my cheek). =D In saying this though, I do try to back a quilt with a complementary fabric, but I have been known to use the odd old sheet or two.



Oh dear, I did get a little carried away with the happy snaps didn't I??!! But, put a camera or in this case, a phone, into my hands and I get lost in a gazillion scenarios of capturing that one perfect short....or two...or three...or...!! But you kinda expect that from me; right???? Who knows, by the time the next birthday swings around again, my enthusiasm for capturing happy snaps will have been curtailed.

Who says that flowers are the prettiest when in a vase?? Certainly not I. Me thinks beautiful gift bags, boxes and the like, are the perfect receptacles for a flower or two♡


Thank you for your beautiful visit and taking the time to have a bo peep at what I have been up to this week. Perhaps this week there will be less cake and a little less tea......but then perhaps I will just keep on partying....as there is still a lot of cake. Wish oh wish I could share a piece or two with you. But I cannot, so it just means me and My Pete will just have to see that it is not wasted. Goodbye waistline.....not that I have one! =) Have a beautiful week. May you bloom a little, each day♡



Until the next time.......




Linking this week to Kathy's, Slow Sunday Stitching, Judy's Design Wall Monday and Frédérique's, Quilting, Patchwork and Applique.


55 comments:

  1. Lovely! And flowers on a quilt will last a whole lot longer than those in a vase.

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  2. Cute, cute, cute.
    Your girls are so lucky to have days off from school on their Birthdays :)
    You look gorgeous in that wonderful garden! What a happy week!
    I especially like that deep purple hydrangea - looks so sophisticated.

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    1. Thank you, Alina♡ It was the happiest of weeks. The deep purple hydrangea is a beauty. Have a great week, lovely lady. Kim Xx

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  3. Lovely tradition in your family being spoiled on Birthday, Kim ! Special days must be commemorated !
    Good memories for everyone.
    Your quilts, flowers and pictures are gorgeous !
    Have a nice week !
    Hug
    Anna

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  4. Oh Dear Kim, Happy, Happy Birthday!
    I like how you pieced the backing, much more interest in it.
    A wonderful quilt deserves a beautiful backing.
    Please, eat a piece of your birthday cake for me, and enjoy. Celebrate life and God bless you. Hugs

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  5. Firstly - Happy Birthday, Kim! Oh, how I wish I was brave enough not to send my children to school on their birthdays, when they were small; their headmistress was very scary!
    I love your pictures, as always, the lovely fabrics you share with us; I really like what you have done with the backing, it is going to be another beautiful quilt. Nice picture of your garden too, how I look forward to summer and you have given me a little taste of it :-)
    Have a good week, xx

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  6. Happy belated birthday, Kim! Sounds like you had a terrific birthday celebration week! I love a pieced backing…so interesting and a great way to use up leftover bits of co-ordinating fabric. I must confess, I like looking at the quilt back to see the label and if it was pieced or not. You have made a two sided quilt…both sides beautiful!

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  7. Your birthday sounds lovely! What a great tradition, to not sent the children to school on their birthdays! I wish I had done that but we did take them out of school for other activities so maybe it worked out evenly in the end.

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  8. I love the green and blue together - fabulous quilt!

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  9. Happy Birthday Kim!. I think birthdays are a big deal also. I love seeing all of those pretty photos. Your pretty backing is a beautiful design element for that quilt.

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  10. Happy Birthday and many, many, many more! Your backing is perfect. There was a time when I was overly fussy with my backings, but not anymore. I'm having fun with them too. I like it that you photobomb us. We are still knee deep in snow and cold and seeing your flowers makes me sigh. Keep snapping away.

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  11. What a good momma! I bet your girls loved having such special birthdays! So great that you got to celebrate all week! The back of your quilt is absolutely fabulous. It seems too good to be relegated to the back of a quilt!

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  12. Happy Birthday Kim.... as in your family I LOVE LOVE LOVE Birthdays for anyone! Glad yours was a blast with lots of tea and celebrations :) I love the backing for your quilt! Doesn't look haphazard to me ...looks lovely as do you :)
    Kathi

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  13. Happy birthday, Kim. I really like the way your family celebrates birthdays. It seems like the older we get, the longer we get to celebrate the special day (s). Your pieced backing is going to be beautiful on the back of your quilt. Fabulous florals everywhere.

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  14. Happy Birthday! Such beautiful beautiful pictures. Your quilts, and flowers, and beautiful flower gardens are amazing. If your blog were turned into a magazine I would subscribe. It would make a wonderful magazine to keep on the coffee table. How do you make everything so pretty!

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  15. Look at you! You are so cute! I am glad your birthday was full of cake and hydrangeas! How perfect! God bless you, lovely and sweet friend! Oh, I do love the hap hazard way! That's my way. xo

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  16. Happy Birthday to you, Kim! I agree, birthdays should be a special day and glad you had multiple celebrations. The backing for your hydrangea quilt is beautiful, a quilt unto itself! I really love those colors.

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  17. Hahaha Kim you are a delight and a belated Happy Birthday to you, I will eat a piece of cake on this side of the pond in your honour. How lucky your girls were to have a Mum like you who let them have a day off for their birthday. I always made a special tea for all my kids birthdays and extended family and friends came round but they still had to go to school their Dad insisted on it. The backing is ideal for your quilt well done you did a great job. Have a great week and enjoy your cake, xx

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  18. So glad you have a wonderful birthday week Kim. Love the hydrangea quilt front and back, they are just what I would like. I don't like do do what anyone else is doing either! Your flowers are gorgeous, and I always love the beautiful pictures! Happy stitching!

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  19. sounds like a beautiful day to celebrate - your hydrangea is beautiful and I bet your girls have wonderful memories of birthdays - I'm afraid no one celebrates birthdays like that in my family in fact at times I wonder if anyone remembers mine! Your cake and flowers are wonderful

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  20. MUCHISIMAS FELICIDADESSSSSSSSSSSSS, telas y flores preciosas y la última foto es la más bonita. Muchos BESICOS.

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  21. Happy, happy birthday Kim, I think you should continue celebrating!! Lovely you made your daughters birthdays so special. I used to get a small fruit cake plus almond and royal icing for a birthday cake, but no staying home from school!! The backing for your quilt is beautiful, hydrangea beauty front and back.

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  22. Happy Belated Birthday! Sounds like it was lovely with cake, teas, flowers, sewing and visits with friends. Even though you have a January birthday, where you live it is a summer birthday! A coordinated quilt backing always looks nice. It’s best not to over think.

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  23. I never went to school on my birthday.... but a birthday in August will do that. My mother would have never let us skip school like that - you must have been an awesome mom. ;-)

    That cake looks to die for! And everything looks so cheerful. Love the backing to that quilt.

    Happy birthday. Many blessings for the year to come.

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  24. Happy birthday, Kim! That is going to be a beautiful backing for that quilt. Is that you in the photos?

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  25. Happy Birthday, Kim! Your family celebrations sound wonderful. I love your pieced backing. This quilt will be another beauty when it's finished.

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  26. Wishing you a most wonderful and very Happy Belated Birthday, I am so glad that you enjoyed many times over celebrating your special day!! Didn't you know that birthday cake has no calories :)
    I love how you have pieced together your lovely quilt, it looks fantastic and like how it matches the front!
    I too agree that you do not need to have flowers in a vase to look wonderful!!

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  27. Wishing you wonderful (belated) birthday wishes Kim .. sounds like you were very spoilt. So wonderful to celebrate with cake & flowers. Your quilt looks beautiful!! xx

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  28. Happy belated birthday, Kim. You sound like you celebrate birthdays the way my family does. Birthdays are a time for a grand celebration. Your backing is beautiful and adore the sneak peaks of your garden. Have a blessed week.

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  29. A birthday hug to you, Kim!!! So glad you celebrated royally and shared it with us. Beautiful necklace from your daughter! Keep on getting carried away with your quilt and flower photos--they are beautiful! Your quilt backing is as good as the top!!!

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  30. Hi Kim
    Happy belated birthday. Glad you had such a lovely time. You can never have to much cake especially the chocolate cake. Thank you for the lovely photos they brighten up the grey days here.
    The back of your quilt looks great very pretty.
    Have a good week.
    Best wishes Kay c xx

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  31. Oh my, what a lovely workroom and your garden is fabulous!!!

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  32. No doubt, the only thing that would have made your birthday celebrations happier was if your girls could have joined you in person. I've been doing lots of pieced backings (well when I get a quilt finished at any rate). It uses up the ever-overflowing stash. And I would imagine that anyone who sees one of your beautiful quilts can't wait to look at the back to see what creative solution you have concocted. Perhaps I will buy myself a piece of cake when I shop this week, so I can celebrate with you.
    Pat

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  33. Happy birthday!! Looks like a lovely day, and much fun with the girls ;) I love the backing of your quilt, very pretty!
    Thank you for sharing your special moments, and linking up ;)

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  34. Ahh, wishing you belated birthday blessings, Kim! I could look at photos of your pieced quilting endlessly, tirelessly. So gorgeous! It looks like a wonderful celebratory week.

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  35. It's always so nice to make the birthday celebrations last a week or so, and why not, it's your special time after all. Happy Birthday for last week, and you got to celebrate it in style with your beloved Pete and girls. The quilt ba king looks wonderful, as does the top, of course. Enjoy the last of the cake(s)

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  36. Oh, dear Kim, I'm sending you bushels of belated birthday wishes and blessings! It sounds like you've had lots of celebrating and merry-making and really, I see no reason to stop now! The month will end soon enough, so just enjoy 'birthday-ing' a while longer! I think the patchwork backing you've created for your hydrangea quilt is perfect! You knew what you were doing when you purchased that fabric....even if you didn't realize it at the time. Again, I wish you many more birthday blessings! Enjoy your BIRTHDAY MONTH! Zenda

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  37. Happy Belated Birthday wishes to the Queen of Quilts!! How wonderful to keep on enjoying and celebrating your birthday all month long. Yes, I would've loved a slice of your cake, and to sing to you. Your backing fabric is so fabulous for that most lovely hydrangea quilt.

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  38. Happy birthday Kim. Your backing looks just as fabulous as the top. A two in one quilt! Those fabrics are so gorgeous. xxx

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  39. I always have to put my head on to remember you are in the peak of summer, love your gorgeous sky blues in your new quilts. Lovely photos, and Happy Belated Birthday---this will be my third birthday under lockdown--who would have thought the last years would be so---isolated. Have lovely summer days and merry stitching! Sandi

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  40. It's so nice to be spoiled on your special day - wishing you a belated Happy Birthday, dear Kim! The quilt is lovely with all the beautiful blues amongst the hydrangeas. The birthday table and gifts are wonderful, too. Can you have too much cake? I think not...Enjoy your birthday week. Hugs xo K

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  41. Dear Kim, first of all the best wishes for you on your birthday... and what beautiful flowers you received. I like this snapdragon... then it's full summer here with us when it blooms :-))) Yes, I'll take summer too, with a summer dress and the wind on my skin, blue skies and a sun hat :-))) have a happy year.
    The birthday cake is heavenly... as are your wonderful curtains you sewed - including those lovely crocheted curtains.
    I wish you a happy time... think of me eating cake... I love cake :-) Hug

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    1. Thank you, dear Viola, for your lovely birthday wishes. Snapdragons are the happiest of flowers. We have quite a few in the garden. Give me summer anytime; so much more agreeable than the chills that come with winter. As for the cake it was indeed heavenly. Well, while you eat cake, Viola, I shall eat some too. Would you believe there is still some birthday cake. =) Kim Xx

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  42. The happiest of this belated birthday, Kim! I couldn't help but laugh when I read your reasoning to the teachers! And that is one great sentiment (would love to see the look on their faces, though :)
    My kids were always eager to go to school as the teachers allowed for a small birthday party with school mates - and that was equally exciting as the party they had later on for family and friends.
    As for photos, I know what you mean trying to get the right one, the perfect one and I am always eager to get a better glance of your gorgeous quilts. And the fabric you have is just heavenly!

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  43. Happy Happy Birthday!!! The way you celebrate sounds so lovely!
    and the backing - Oh My Heavens that is gorgeous!! What a stunning quilt this will be!!!

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  44. Happy Birthday! That cake looks wonderful. All the summer flowers make me smile, we still have snow on the ground from an overnight snowfall at the end of last week - how I long for summer and swimming outdoors.
    That quilt and fabric are gorgeous, I haven't seen that collection.
    Helen

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  45. A very happy birthday to you!! So nice to be celebrated so much:)

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  46. Kim glad you had a great birthday and received many beautiful presents love the necklace and the backing of the quilt is wonderful.really love that last photo of you in the archway with the flowers.we are still in Queensland with our daughter in law who is due to have her baby on Sunday/Monday we arrived at their house last Thursday after being stuck at our daughter house a week or so longer due to her daughter being a close contact.then by Sunday here we all had Covid my son bought it home from work,thankfully we are all doing ok at this stage nothing much which is great.then on to our other sons next week all being ok before we head home.driving so need to be well first.

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    1. Oh Elizabeth, I am sorry that you got Covid, but that is good news that you and your family are doing okay. Exciting news that you will soon have a new grandchild. Fabulous that you are there for the birth. Thank you for your lovely birthday wishes. Take care and rest up, as it will be a long drive home.

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  47. They are always bedazzled by the front...well, well, that's what I always strive for, Kim!! Your pictures are fabulous. I did notice a purple lined with white blossom in a vase on the windowsill. Is that one of your hydrangeas? I'm so pleased that you buy those gorgeous fabrics when you see them. I'm sometimes plagued with a feeling of regret when I walk off rather than buying that (I know.) is a perfect fabric! Bloom, too, Kim.

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  48. happy birthday kim, sometimes it takes a "week" to get all of the celebrating in and that's ok, maybe even better!!

    i am a little confused. i thought the first picture was you, with one of your daughters. then i saw the last picture and i remember that being you. why am i so confused. next confusion, is this a quilt, you talk about a quilt...did you make a quilt and some curtains. i read your words, i don't know why i am confused!!

    i LOVE the fabric and the colors, green and blue, it's so pretty!!

    i'm so happy you were spoiled for your birthday, you deserve it!!

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  49. Kim - happy birthday! You deserve to be feted to the full, and that seems to be the case! The only reason I would look at the back of a quilt is to see who made it! As the creator of a quilt, I think you have the ultimate choice how to back it. Go with your heart, I say!

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  50. Such a good idea to really "celebrate" birthdays. I am happy you had a wonderful celebration for yours, Kim.
    Your photos are so beautiful. More is more and always better, I think.
    The flowers you received are so pretty. And your quilt looks so beautiful. It's always an uplifting pleasure to visit with you, Kim.
    Best Wishes

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  51. Happy Birthday Kim! I'm really glad that you were the princess for your special day (or week!) I love the idea of a fabulous backing but by the time I get to it, I'm so fed up that I just want to quilt it! Maybe one day :-) All the best.

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  52. You are most deserving of a special celebration - and spreading it out over several days just means that much more enjoyment. I (and my waistline) would happily help you eat some of that cake but I'm late to the commenting so I expect Pete has done his level best to help you with that. Happy belated Birth Day wishes anyway.
    Your quilt does indeed deserve a special backing and you've created just that. Just the right amount of embellishment to make it blend so nicely with the front (just in case the curious DO have a peek!).
    So lovely to see a picture of the birthday girl too!

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