At last I can tell you!!!

Ages ago I wrote a post about a secret project I was invited to take part in. The post included a photo that showed nothing really...

But I did include a photo of the thread I was using...lovely Cottage Garden Pansy...

I can now reveal that myself and a heap of other bloggers from both Australia and overseas were making blocks for a quilt to celebrate Sheryl Scholte's ( Shez) 60th birthday. Fiona from Bubz Rugz was the organiser and Fee chose the Polaroid Block for the design. ( Shez loves taking photos so this choice was very apt. ) 

Here's my block...the border around the 5 inch square is white...the greenish tinge is from the ruler the block is sitting on. 

All the blocks were posted to Fiona, who took on the huge task of joining all the blocks and then quilting it. Backing, sashing and wadding were donated by some lovely ladies in this group. Communication during the project was via a closed Facebook group...we were so sneaky! 

From Fiona, the quilt was passed on to Michelle Ridgeway who did the binding and then delivered the completed quilt to Shez in person. And that handover was today. We were able to watch via a live stream set up by Karen Saw...clever girl!!!

I've brazenly stolen photos from the Facebook site so you can see the quilt at the various stages...

Flimsy...

Pinned ready for quilting.

A closeup of the quilting...

Closeup of the binding...

The label made by Michelle...

Wrapped up...

Parcel disguised as some 'Show and Tell'...

Shez on the left, admiring her new quilt. Holding the quilt on the right is Michelle and Karen is just behind the quilt. 

It is an amazing quilt; each block is so unique and all were stitched with love for our special friend Shez! 

Some generous people...

I sometimes joke that I have some 'out workers'...friends, family and sometimes complete strangers, who hand over items to me which they have made or collected from others. These items are for Knitting for Brisbane's Needy, who then distributes to those in need.

A few weeks ago, DH and I decided that it might be a good idea to take a load of these items up to 'headquarters' rather than wait for the next knit and natter...and besides, the load was too much for Mitzi Micra, my little car. Parts of Queensland and the Northern Territory have been hit by cyclones in recent weeks, so there has been increased demand for the items that K4BN distributes. 

Here's some of the items that DH and I were able to hand in, thanks to the generosity of 'my out workers'....

From Marlene in Tassie...

Marlene describes herself as a 'gatherer' for the group, but she also makes a lot of things too. The teddies are mostly dressed in ponchos crocheted in indigenous colours...beautiful!

From my sister in law...15 baby and children quilts...

All beautifully made using lovely bright fabrics.

In a big surprise, I got a phone call from a lady who crochets a lot of beanies for K4BN, and she said she had some knitted blankets for the group. These blankets had come from the Oncology Unit of the local private hospital. Patients and others are encouraged to knit squares and these are then sewn into blankets for charity...and K4BN was chosen to get this lot...absolutely amazing!

I also draped all these blankets over my old cane lounge to get photos...

And I got back to work and finished joining squares and weaving in all the 'ends' to finally make 15 blankets...all from donated squares. ( a few squares made by me...but only a few) The collage shows 16 but I repeated one photo to fill all the squares! :-)

Thank you also to Helen Mc, Toni Mc and Irene N, for the items you've given me to pass on to K4BN. 

The unexpected places you find quilts...

On Tuesday afternoon I attended the Breastscreen clinic at Chermside for my biennial mammogram. It's a pretty quick, streamlined process these days but I had a few minutes in the waiting room as I was a little early. That's when I saw it! A Calendar Girls ( and one man, Mr December!) style quilt...and what a smile it brought to my face!
I took some photos with my phone but as the quilt is behind glass the photos have a lot of glare...

 I took a closer photo of Miss October, as with that knitting she is doing and that rather buxom body...I thought 'she could be me'! lol

 I've tried to find information online about this quilt but without success...but I will keep trying.

Ten Years...

In late June, DH and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary. Compared to many of our friends, who are these days celebrating 40+ wedding anniversaries, I guess we could be classed as newlyweds! Lol. But considering I never expected to remarry as I was quite happy with my life, it just shows 'that you never can tell!'. And I can say in all honesty that it has been a wonderful 10 years!
So this year the bridal party from that ceremony in 2004, went out to lunch; DH's younger brother had been his Best Man and, his cousin, and also my best friend for over 30 years, was my bridesmaid.
Then and now photo...

My BiL and SiL were on 'grandparent duty' that day, so young Ashleigh had to tag along...she was so beautifully behaved...in the photo below, my BiL had left to go an pick up Ashleigh's brother from school...

Interestingly, my marriage to DH linked 2 branches of the family back together...a split had occurred 2 generations ago but no one knows the reason. For example, DH's branch had stayed in contact with one great aunt but  Pamela's side of the family did not, so her generation did not know a significant part of the family...they do now though! And conversely DH's family did not know the branch of the family in the US...they do now... :-)

Sitting between cousins who 12 years ago didn't know the other existed...

I love the view out of the windows at Eatons Hill Hotel...

Now over 10 years ago my friend and I purchased some fabric featuring hydrangeas and her plan was that she was going to make DH and I a quilt for a wedding gift. Time was her enemy so plans changed and the quilt was to be a first anniversary present....you know where I'm going with this don't you? A week before this year's anniversary, my friend and I went shopping for some homespun to complement the 2 fabrics that we already had...my friend was now determined to make this quilt in a week! The original pattern that she had selected with lots of pieced blocks was discarded in favour of sewing a series of borders around a large central panel of hydrangea fabric.

Thanks to a wonderful quilter at Taigum, the pieced top, batting and backing were dropped off on the Sunday, when I also chose a design for the quilting. The wonderful Toni had it all quilted and ready for Pamela to collect on the Wednesday. My friend then sewed the binding on this huge quilt and had it ready and waiting when we met for lunch on the Thursday! Phew....

The quilt is huge and so warm...well worth the wait as it's so special! And I can still see why Pam and I fell in love with that fabric all those years ago.