Camden Quilt Show

The weekend after the quilt retreat Sandy, Lois and I headed to the quilt show in Camden, lots of beautiful quilts on display....and lots of goodies to spend your money on too!!

Another lovely day out with like minded friends.

Lots to tell!

Has been a lot going on here, so have a few blog posts coming up.

First on the agenda is the quilt retreat

 Yes back at The Cottage On The Hill at Nundle. 

Unfortunately I didn't take many photos but if you go to some of the other girls blogs they were better photo takers than me!

But I did take a pic of the quilt that I was going to make, in more 'me' colours, and a pic of some of my progress with the Dresden plates 

It was very cold overnight in Nundle with lots of ice one morning....even on the inside of the headlight protectors!

Show and tell of the quilt top I finished just before retreat

Dinner with friends

The quilters!!

Backrow - Jenny, Robyn, Trish, Lea, Bronwyn
Front row - Chooky, Me, Jules & Ronnie

And one more pic of the peaceful outlook from the cabins

It is amazing how a bunch of people can get on so well when they only get to see each other once a year, or even meet for the first time.
Thank you too all these beautiful girls for a great weekend!! Bring on next year!!

Anita
xx

A start on the painting

The new house needs a good paint inside, not sure if it has ever had a repaint in the 12 years since it was built!
And there are also some interesting colours!
The boys rooms are this horrid gold/orange colour!

The uni students room even has this "feature" wall as you walk in - comes with a royal blue shelf as well!

I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder!

So we have started in this room, is now a nice green/blue colour. My attempts to have it painted a nice neutral beige fell on deaf ears and this was his choice of colour. 

It does look really nice now all the woodwork has been painted white. A new bed is on order and some white blinds......and I think it will look really nice. Well ...........when we get rid of the parquetry flooring and get the carpet laid lol.......but that won't be until all the bedrooms are painted.
Trainer Tim's bedroom is next on the agenda.....but not until September when we have some leave from work.

Take care,
Anita
xx

Beauty

A couple of weeks ago we headed into the city and took my parents to lunch at this beautiful old hotel...The Grace Hotel. 
Smack bang in the middle of the CBD, this hotel has been restored in its original art deco style, being built in 1920's.
Some stunning features...

Oh 

Oh and the lunch was delicious too!!

While I am talking about lovely old buildings here are a  few more snaps from our walk around..
The Strand Arcade

And 

Take care,

Anita
xx

The quilt...

I have been persisting with the quilt that I posted about the other day. No response from emails to the quilt designer so have just made some adjustments. 
As I could not get the pieces out of each Jelly Roll strip that the pattern said, I have had to leave on some of the selvedges. Fortunately French General has nice selvedges! 

And some of the blocks will be scrappier than they were meant to be...

 

 

Oh well, once it is all together and quilted no one will know LOL

Take care,
Anita
xx

Almond Butter Choc Chip Cookies

 

I have been experimenting with some recipes lately....looking for some nice snack foods that are healthy. Aiming for grain and gluten free, which these cookies are. There are so many recipes out there once you start looking - don't you just love Pinterest!!

http://kateshealthycupboard.com/gluten-free-recipes/almond-butter-chocolate-chip-cookies/

These cookies were delicious! The uni student son (who does not do healthy) said these were the nicest thing I had made since using "all those weird ingredients"!! I guess that was a thumbs up LOL

Take care,
Anita

Trying to sew

I am going on a quilt retreat in a couple of weeks so thought I had better dust off my machine and check it is running ok. As my sewing stuff is still in storage I don't have much to play with, but I thought I would get back into the rhythm with this cute baby quilt kit I bought at the quilt show.

So I cut it all out only to find that I needed to iron on stabiliser to the back of the minky fabric, which of course I don't have. Not sure what they mean by stabiliser...interfacing maybe?

So I packed that away and today after doing all the saturday chores i got out the only other fabric I have here, a gorgeous French General jelly roll. 

I decided to make this quilt.

http://www.modabakeshop.com/2010/11/awesome-lap-quilt.html

I started cutting away only to find that the measurements don't seem to add up! I can't seem to get the amount of pieces out of each strip that she says. I have read all the comments re mistakes and still can't get an answer. Will keep cutting and try to adapt. 

Very frustrating as I don't want to waste some of my precious French General!!

Hugs,

anita

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