The wedding quilt was delivered to the long arm quilter today. Here’s just a small peek of it. It wouldn’t be fair to show it off before the bride and groom get to see it would it?

I didn’t think it could happen, but I might be over red and white for a while.

My knitting on a train has come to a halt, but I did manage to get some projects finished. I’m not the fastest knitter and sometimes I’m not organised enough to have things ready when I run out the door so the progress was a little slow.
The year started with some afghan squares made up of leftovers from this fishy jersey. I’d love to take credit for the jersey, but it was a joint effort on the part of my Aunts and Mother. It’s a convoluted story that I just might share one day. Anyhow, there is a small bassinet size blanket to go with it.
Then followed this awesome hat. You can find the pattern here and make a donation to a very worthy cause. We have to leave the flaps undone as Little e untucks her ears playing with them.

There is one last project that I’m still working on. On my last train day, I realised I would have to work another two weeks to get it finished. This wasn’t quite my plan so instead, it’s keeping me company in front of the TV in the evenings.

It’s the only quilt I’ve ever been given and it’s my favourite quilt.

This quilt was lovingly put together for me by the Stitching Sisters. We met every fortnight to sit, sew and gossip. Sometimes we’d have block swaps, sometimes birthday blocks, but always fun.

When I was expecting Little e, they started on her quilt. The only hand I had in it was choosing the pattern and colour. The pattern is based on a quilt in Gwen Marston’s Liberated Quiltmaking. More recently, this block has been used in the bushfire stars quilts. I was sent from the room every time it was discussed and blocks were passed around. While I knew the details, it was wonderful to keep the final result a surprise. I had chosen red and white, but I love the way little shocks of other colours have snuck in and look totally at home.

The quilt was given to me the night before little e was born and is the backdrop of many of our favourite photos of her early days.

I’ve finished many quilts. I’ve made this pattern in blues and fiery oranges. But still, my favourite quilt is on that my friends made for me.

I’ve signed up for the Spring Quilt Festival. While it’s not spring here, I love the idea of a virtual festival. Look out for the button on the sidebar that will take you to a collection of bloggers' favourite quilts. I’m currently putting pen to paper about my favourite too.

The work on the spare room is continuing. We have moved beyond sorting out the two bookcases in there and are now tackling the numerous boxes of books in the garage. The boxes have become an unexpected wonder.

Little e is having a fantastic time with the empty boxes, especially as she had recently discovered “hiding”. It often takes the form of opening a cupboard door and backing inside until her absence is noticed. It doesn’t faze her that she doesn’t fit into any cupboards as this is all about the trying to hide. It’s the fuss that we make looking for her that counts.

As we find books that we really don’t have the space for, they are getting put aside for various destinations. This pile here is destined for interested crafters. There is a distinctly quilting bent to them. If you’d like me to send one or two your way drop me line and I can get it in the post to you. However, given the horrendous postal costs, I’m going to have to restrict this to NZ addresses only. The books are :

“Quick and Easy Projects for the Weekend Quilter” Rosemary Wilkinson
“The Essential Quilter” Barbara Chainey
“Contemporary Machine Embroidery” Deborah Gonet
“Material Women 99”
“Art and Inspirations” Michael James
“Six Colour World” Yvonne Porcella

You’ll have to be quick as they will be off to the second hand bookstore next week if they haven’t found a home.

Yesterday was a whirl wind of crafty goodness. In the space of a day Mum and I took in Craft 2.0, the Quilt Wellington Exhibition and quilt symposium vendors mall.

While there are no pictures to illustrate my busy day, I’ll try to point you in the right direction for some more information.

It was my first Craft 2.0 and I was impressed. We turned up at 10, just after it opened and the place was packed. The craft was fantastic and there were so many new discoveries – Silver Circus, Free Range Baby and Corn Tree to name a few. I even got to meet the lovely Steph of Love Stitches.

The Quilt Wellington Exhibition blew me away. It finishes on Tuesday, and if you have any chance of getting there. I was most impressed with the works of Katherine Morrison. Her works exalt the blanket to a whole new level. While some may argue it’s not what they call quilting, you can find some of her works here to make up your own mind.

I feel I was very restrained at the symposium vendors’ mall. I came away feeling very lucky to have one of the best stores just 20 minutes up the road all year round. There were some new treasures to be found too. As part of my recent felt bent, I ended up with some wonderful kitsets and embellishments from The Wool Patch.

After that busy, busy day, I really need to rest for the rest of my Easter weekend so here’s hoping the weather holds.

I was treated to an indulgent day to myself on Saturday. Almost 6 hours of just me, the sewing machine and a few projects to work on. At the moment everything is looking very red, white and yellow.

The first was Little e’s new curtains. We are in the process of moving her into a new room. I have a weakness for ticking and rick rack, hence the new red curtains. Ticking can be so fickle to work with. It was truly a case of measure twice and cut once. As soon as we manage to get the last of our things out of Little e’s room, I promise I’ll show them. For now, here’s a glimpse of my first attempt at ticking curtains.

The wedding quilt is coming along too, with both the four patches and nine patches completed. Now it’s time to put together the setting blocks.

The day wasn’t spent entirely alone. I have a habit of forgetting to stop and eat when I get carried away and so I had a small visitor and her dad deliver me my lunch and afternoon tea.

We’ve been talking about birth plans in the midwife appointments. These sorts of plans include words that you never think about until you have to have a baby, for example placenta, episiotomy and pethidine. I can think of some nicer plans, involving things that I have some semblance of control over. The plan goes like this:

After giving birth to my beautiful baby, and having that crucial skin to skin contact, I think I might be hungry. I will promptly tuck into some fresh sushi complete with all the raw fish I couldn’t eat while pregnant. I’m sure the sushi bar opened nearby purely to meet this need. This sushi will be washed down with a glass of champagne. Later, I will tuck into a bowl of hot chips with fresh aoli, made with real eggs – salmonella be damned, and maybe some shell fish or soft cheese.

Now that my appetite is sated, I will sleep for many hours without my bladder competing for space with a wriggly baby. The next morning, feeling fully refreshed after the long sleep, I will slip into my pre-pregnancy jeans before leaving the hospital with one darling tucked safely in my arms and the other two at my side.

Is that too much to ask? Ignoring the facts that my maternity jeans had more wear after, rather than during the last pregnancy, I’m not sure that I’m allowed champagne in the hospital and a full night’s sleep is going to be a very long way off.

I think I will just settle for a safe delivery and healthy baby to boot. That’s my plan.