The Tulip quilt is finished, and it only took two nights of sewing. That's a lousy photo, but Mereth had a quilt on the big design wall, so I just snapped a quick photo as proof of accomplishment.

I started this pattern after seeing one on Cathy's Sane, Crazy, Crumby blog. She's made so many amazing quilts over the years, it's worth taking the time to go through all the Quilts Finished  tabs at the top of her page. Lots of inspiration there.

Cathy made her Tulips with a square and two HSTs, but I used a chisel shape and a HST. 

It eliminated one seam, which made the blocks quicker to piece, and I got better accuracy. The blocks were far more likely to measure the required 9.5" when I pieced them like this.

The little squares of plain fabrics came from my charm square stash. A lot of collections have some solid or mottled plain fabrics, which I don't really use.  I sorted out all the solid squares and used a lot of them in these blocks. I like being able to utilize things that would otherwise sit in my stash for decades. I can't say years, because they've already been there for years....

I'm in Adelaide again, it's exam time for DD Seonaid, so I'm babysitting those boys. Thomas is a Great Big Boy, there's so much running, jumping, wrestling and climbing. But there is also pushing and hitting and teasing, so we have to teach him manners to go along with all the energy and activity. He's targeting Finn mainly, and there are some epic battles. Finn might only be 20 months old, but he's big, and he knows how to look after himself. I think Thomas is going to be severely challenged by his little brother.

Finn is talking, he has a huge vocabulary, but his main phrases are 'Give Back!"and "Go Way!" and 'Mine!!" All courtesy of Thomas trying to dominate him. We read books every day, and he points out animals and trees and cars, he knows all the names. He's a very clever little boy, much more advanced at this age than the other two were.  He's going to keep us on our toes.

All three girls are going through some amazing growth spurts, they insist on comparing their height to mine every time I visit.  The 10 year old is only 3"shorter than me now, and the 7 year old is up to my nose. Luckily Isla is still my little girl, but one day soon she'll be too big to sit on my lap.  I'll cry when she has to sit next to me instead.

Investigating a millipede

Thomas screams and runs away if they come at him, Isla picks them up and takes them outside, and Finn swats them into oblivion. Says something about all their personalities.