On Wednesday we will be driving down to Adelaide with my Dear Brother and Sister-In-Law; they have been here for a three week visit, and it's just flown by. They will be celebrating their 42nd wedding anniversary that day, and are shouting Mereth and I dinner at their favourite hotel. We'll stay the night, drop them at the airport the next day, and then hopefully see the latest Harry Potter movie before we come home. That's the plan, anyway.

Because we have to miss two days of work we thought we'd better work all through the weekend so we won't be behind in the quilt schedule. We had a quilting marathon on Saturday and Sunday, Millhouse ran non-stop. While one quilt was quilting we prepped backing and batting for the next, it was like a factory here! We got four finished, and a few more ready to load. They were all very big quilts, and it feels good to have them over and done with.

We had the DB and SIL over for tea on Saturday, chili with all the fixings, and then Mereth and I went back to the workroom and worked till about 2.30am. Dolly slept in her bed under the table, giving lots of sighs of disapproval that we were up so late. "Can we just go to bed Please!!"

Mereth slept over, and was up disgustingly early the next morning to start Millhouse stitching again. I'm just glad we don't work like that all the time. Dolly thinks we're nuts to spend so much time working that machine.

A little while ago I came to a painful decision, and cancelled my Judie Rothermel fabric club. I loved getting a FQ of every fabric she released, but honestly, do I need anymore? These are four drawers full of FQs and some associated yardage, and there are another 4 or 5 stacks in various other places. I decided that I have to make a dent in this lot before I join the club again, and I can just buy individual pieces as they are released.

This book of Mereth's has some lovely quilt photos, and I've had this quilt bookmarked for years.
The fabric mix is perfect for my Rothermels, so I spent Saturday night cutting 3 1/2" strips from my FQs. It was very satisfying to actually cut into them, and I just love how the fabrics look together. I can't wait to get started on this, but I'll be strong-willed and finish the ninepatches first. I love having a new project that inspires me to sew in every available moment, and this will be one. I might have to sneak some of these in as leader-enders when I finish the nine-patches.

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Mereth and I have had a very busy fortnight, and I've only just caught up with all my work. And of course blogging was pushed to the very bottom of the list; I wish I could rattle off a blog post every day, but I never seem to get round to it. Sigh...

Last week Mereth and I hosted a fun day at our hall, with 17 ladies from the Burra quilting group attending. No photos, because it never occurred to us till it was too late. Our hall seemed rather small that day, but we managed to fit in. We had coffee and chocolate biscuits and Mereth and I showed a selection of our scrap quilts and the bushfire quilts. My goodness we all made some noise, but we enjoyed ourselves too.

On the weekend we travelled down to Clare, an hour away, so I could teach a QAYG worksop to 11 ladies. We covered 7 techniques for blocks, and three border methods, and it was a lot to fit into one day but they did wonderfully well. They have a lovely workshop space in the Bowling club, and we had a great time with them. The people are the best thing about teaching, I always enjoy meeting such lovely ladies.

We spent Sunday working on the friendship quilt for one of our Patchwork Group members, who has been struggling with health issues for a while. She should have received it by now, and I hope it makes her feel better. There are messages to read, and some beautiful workmanship to admire, and it will remind her that we are thinking of her.
Of course Meredith's doesn't count, as she only drew it with a Zig pen. She should really have stitched over it, shouldn't she? It's not fair that she got all the drawing talent. And I am NOT pouting. I've so got over that. I hand quilted around the edge, so it has some stitching after all.

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Winter weather has arrived,and it's cold and chilly,just the way I like it. We have had the most amazing June, with temperatures so mild it was unnatural. July has reverted to normal though, and I think twice now before I go out at night. However, it's Wimbledon time, and my TV reception is so bad I can't pick up the channel, so I have to go to Mereth's place to watch it. I should just sleep over and be done with it.

I actually subscribed to the live feed on their site and so I can sit in my own bed and watch it on my laptop, while I knit on my current sock. The video is a bit jerky in places, but it's definitely worth it. I love technology, I never dreamed of such developments when I was a teenager watching Wimbledon.

I've been busy as usual, but all boring stuff involving reams of paper and making pattern packs for orders, and cleaning house and endlessly searching for things. Why do things vanish as soon as I put them down? Once upon a time Iwas able to blame the kids, but I can't do that any more. As a friend said, when there's a tissue in the pocket of something you put in the washing machine, there's no-one else to blame it on.

Our Patchwork group are making a quilt for a friend who has some health issues, and really needs the warmth in this weather. Plus the good thoughts that will go into the making of this quilt will be much appreciated I'm sure. It will be a reminder that we are thinking of her.It will involve some embroidery in the blank centre squares, which will make me dredge up my almost forgotten stitchery skills. I've been admiring friends' stitchery quilts for so long, I think it's time I started one of my own and this will be a warm-up for it.

At our night group Sonia showed us what she's been working on. She is smitten with yo-yos, and has made over 100 with the large Clover yo-yo maker. They are seriously gorgeous, and I can't wait to see what they become. They are perfect stitching for the evenings or while waiting at sports practice. I am working steadily away at my collection of smaller ones, but these big ones just beg to be used as embellishment on bags or quilts. They look simply delicious.

Yesterday I sat at the machine and sewed until this top was in one piece. The centre blocks started out as a pile of donated samples from Elaine, at the patchwork shop in Jamestown. These are not my colours at all, but someone will like it, and it used up everything. The border fabric is from a bolt that was sent to us in error, a fabric order gone wrong; just goes to show that everything has it's place, given time.

While Mereth was quilting in the workroom I babysat Dolly. She doesn't like this cold weather one little bit, so I made room for her on my sewing chair. She snuggles up behind me and snores the day away, toasty warm and content. I know she's spoilt, but she deserves it for being so good. And her days of being a lapdog are numbered; toooo big now. Friends have been telling me tales of fullgrown Labradors and Dobermans who still behave like lapdogs; thankfully Dolly won't get that big,but she's certainly an armful already.

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