A year of birthdays

Our little quilting group decided not to buy Christmas gifts. Instead, we spend up big on a special dinner to celebrate and share Christmas.

So, birthdays are our special days when we shower each other with gifts.

This year I decided to make the girls zipper bags.

In May we celebrated Jo's birthday. I used French General fabrics and found this fast piecing method in the book, Antique to Heirloom Jelly Roll Quilts by Pam and Nicky Lintott

In August it was Annie's birthday and I chose hexagons for her.

Robyn's birthday was also in August and she is a red and purple kinda girl.

September was Angie's day and she loves the black and white.

I found the tutorial for this technique on the Moda Bakeshop site.

We celebrated the last birthday of the year with Anne last Tuesday night.

She is partial to red and white.

 So that pretty much sums up my year's work.

Unfortunately I couldn't keep up with my monthly Christmas item but there is always next year.

There is always a star under construction. 

Love these little guys.

Another Mill Rose Day

Christmas celebrations have started.

We had our last Mill Rose meeting for the year and it definitely had a Christmas flavour.

Our swap theme was "Red Brolly Designs"and the gifts were of a very high standard as always.

Tracee, who was visiting from WA, joined us for the day.

Sue with her gifts.

Anne, very happy with her choice.

Marina holding her gift very firmly with two hands because Bad Santa is lurking in the background.

Annie with her surprise.

Bad Santa with her "I really want to keep this gift but I HAVE to swap" face.

Is this Bad Santa presiding over an altercation????????

There were no altercations. Each beautiful gift eventually found a new home and here are all the gifts assembled for a photo shoot. 

This was my gift from Rosemary.

This is the gift that I made. A couple of hot pads, lined with insulbright, with their own storage bag. I used templates that were bought from the Blanket Box and the bag is based on a Marg Low pattern. The stitcheries are Red Brolly designs.

Shez tried to be Bad Santa, but her goodness kept shining through.

The day was a lot of fun and we all look forward to February next year.

More photos and explanations about Bad Santa can be found on the Mill Rosie blog.

Keeping busy

More socialising than sewing going on around here.

In late September we visited Linda's barn to see the " All About Chintz" exhibition.

Just a couple of pics but more can be seen here, here and here.

We managed to convince Linda to join us for our annual photo.

Then the following week Marina invited us over for lunch.

This beautifully prepared table greeted us. The company was great with lots of laughter, the food wonderful and not a stitch was sewn.

Earlier this month we visited the North of the Yarra quilt show. This group always presents a wonderful exhibition, good shopping and a very delicious afternoon tea. We caught up with Mel and Christine who helped to organise the show and have lots of photos on their blogs.

We purchased the pattern for this little quilt, which is one of four, in the pattern called Cherry's Hall by the Max and Louise Pattern Co.

And what does every modern girl need - her own memory stick.

And as for the sewing,

there is always a star shining somewhere

and you are guaranteed that I am always playing with scraps.

Another Mill Rose Meeting

Last week started with a lovely surprise in the mail from Gail Pan. I won a magazine on her blog, featuring her very cute Christmas pattern.

Thank you Gail.

Then on Saturday the calendar was marked with "Millrose". So Anne, Robyn and I set off down the highway to the shop with the red awnings.

Lots of familiar faces greeted us, plus a couple of new ones.

The swap theme was Michelle Ridgway's designs and the gifts were of the highest quality as always.

Lots more photos can be seen on the Millrosie Friends page (check the blogs on the sidebar), plus photos of the show and tell.

The gifts were later laid out together so that we could all admire the beautiful handwork.

Of course we enjoyed a delicious lunch and we were priveleged to get a tour of the new retreat that is currently under construction. Photos can be seen here.

Back at home, another Laura's Legacy has arrived and I am now officially two behind, and I was doing so well with numbers 1 and 2!

A Weekend Break

After a very busy month, I managed to get away for a sewing week end with the girls.

I think I was too tired to take too many photos, so this is my meagre offering.

I dragged out my 3 1/2" tea leaf blocks that I sewed together on an overseas trip about 7 years ago. The majority were made from fabrics collected on our trip and were destined to grow into a quilt for my daughter. So, in true Elyte style, they got put away and were occasionally referred to over the years.

With a touch of spring in the air and a meeting of great quilting minds, it was the perfect time to resurrect this project. Keep it simple the girls said, so with false confidence I started to sew "scrappy".

After lots and lots of trimming, I made up a few blocks of 16 and was encouraged by what I saw. I think it will work.

Anne was sewing together her Immigrant Quilt. This was a BOM from Patchwork Charm in Shepparton.

Jo mastered the friendship braid technique and made three gorgeous purple braids.

We celebrated Robyn's birthday on the weekend and this little bag, made in Robyn's favourite colours, was my gift to her.

My next Laura's Legacy arrived and is waiting for attention.

 Always lots and lots to do.

A Special Week

I have been diligently working on my Laura's Legacy 2 so that I am ready for the next one due to arrive any day now. As much as I have grown to love pinks I had to dilute them a little. I think that a pink binding will add the finishing touch.

I celebrated a birthday recently and enjoyed being spoilt by the girls. The lovely gifts were hand made, purchased and baked. 

A lovely little gift arrived from Barbara, a piece of coffee themed fabric and a little house that will decorate my Christmas tree at the end of the year.

 Merilyn sent me a birthday surprise too. I forgot to include a lovely little tin of sweets that she included.

You girls have thrown me a few creative challenges with these gifts, and I thank you both.

And the last surprise was a parcel from my daughter who was holidaying in Europe at the time. Gorgeous fabrics from Amsterdam and a lovely italian tea towel from Florence.

The celebrations seemed to go on for over a week and I felt thoroughly spoilt and a little bit special.

But life goes on and I am normal me again.

Back to the sewing machine ......

Laura's Legacy 2

I have been stealing time in the early hours of the morning trying to finish my first Laura's Legacy quilt. Just a flimsy but it's finished.

This one measures 14" x 16" and I still have quite a bit of fabric left over.

Just in time because number 2 arrived this week - Jacob's Ladder plus a few extras.

Some Theodora Cleave buttons also arrived. These make nice little gifts.

Two weeks ago I bumped into Veronique, who taught us machine quilting a few years ago. She showed me her new Christmas pattern and if you are looking for something festive, this might be it.

There Is Always One

Featured are a reindeer with bling, surfing santa and a Xmas tree with attitude.

Veronique's blog is here and you might want to check out her husband's quilting app "Quilt Wizard". Lots of fun to play with, photographing fabrics, creating blocks and quilt patterns.

Copied with permission from Veronique.