Happy 82nd Birthday FIL :o) !!

We had a lovely day, despite the weather being a bit dreary, and I'm so pleased to tell you ... we gave FIL his quilt and he loved it :o)!!This is him with my MIL ;o) ... happy smiling faces!! We also managed to get a pic of most of the family ... unfortunately DD2 was at work so she's not in it, and my BIL is taking the photo - so of course he's not in it either !!left to right we have DH's sister Deb, MIL Rowena, Me, neice Kate, FIL Keith, nephew Matthew, DH Darryl and neice Nicole. Looking at that pic I'm thinking it would have been more even if I'd swapped places with Deb ... I look so short!! Hang on ... I AM short LOLOL ..... AND I have heels on!!!!

We decided we simply don't all get together often enough so we're going to remedy that ... all of us are having dinner very soon at the local club, looking forward to it :o).

FIL wasn't the only one to be getting pressies today. Look what my lovely DH bought for me!!!

Isn't it fabulous ... and that cleaning head has a motor too, oooh I just can't wait to use it :o)!!! (Ok, if you didn't notice that the last sentence was simply DRIPPING with sarcasm ... then I'm just saying it wrong ......... Gee thanks Hon!!!)

Must Dash .... I have some cleaning to do, apparently ............... ;o)

Finished!!!!

I can't believe it ... I finished it. This has to be the quickest I've ever made a quilt, talk about a deadline LOL. I started cutting and sewing on Sunday and I just finished putting the last stitches in the binding this morning!!AND I'm actually ahead of time :o)!!! I'm so pleased with this quilt ... I'm really hoping FIL will love it too. It's nice and lightweight due to the bamboo batting (a dream to work with!!!) and the size is just right - about 50" x 50". I made it quilt-as-you-go ... a big timesaver :o).Another BIG bonus is that most of the fabrics were in my stash ... just had to get a bit more for the borders.We'll give it to him on Saturday when the fam come over for a bbq to celebrate his 83rd birthday!!

Yay, another May finish on my OPAM list :o)!!!

Lotsa Stitching!!!

It's my Father-in- law's birthday on Thursday and we were wondering what to get for him. My SIL suggested a throw rug for these cool winter nights ... well, as a quilt-maker I couldn't bring myself to buy one, so with a whole week (lol and a very optimistic attitude) to make it I set about hunting for the fabrics from my stash. I found some gorgeous garden themed Maywoods that I've had squirreled away for a few years ... perfect!! He loves his garden!! Here's what they became ...I didn't realise I had so much of the panelled fabric, so it also became the backing :o).....DH wasn't keen on the fabric I had chosen for the border so I popped out after my quilting class yesterday and got some more ... he's right, I think this will look better than what I had :o).Not a very good piccy - I wish you could see the quilting better, but I've done leaves and vines on the border - I'm enjoying practising my free-motion quilting lately, such fun!!! I'm using the lighter weight bamboo batting and it's just a dream to work with. The family will be coming for lunch on Saturday so I've got loads of time to get it finished LOL. Hope he likes it :o).

*

As I mentioned before, I went to a quilting class yesterday - it was loads of fun!! We had a choice of 3 projects to choose from and this is the one I chose ...I've never done a round quilt before, never used a 10 degree ruler either so this was all a fabulous learning experience for me. Our teacher, Jan Phillips , was terrific ... she never missed a beat with us all doing different projects .... we had such fun and I can't wait to take another class!! Here's a pic of some of the girls hard at work ... sorry it's a bit dark. That's Jan in the white shirt in the middle of the pic. And here's me with Jan ...that quilt behind us is another of the projects that we could have chosen to do. And here's my table-topper ... well, half of it LOL.....I've stepped right outside of my usual "box" with these orientals ... and I have to say, I really do like them :o).

What have you been sewing this week???