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.

This time last year I had a list as long as my arm of things to do. The list had been revised, cut and added to a number of times. However, the last thing always remained the same – have baby.

I was 9 months pregnant and we had moved into our house only 10 days earlier. There were boxes everywhere. I was just beginning to adjust to not being at work and saw each day as having an infinite capacity for fitting things in. The midwife even obliged by saying she thought this one would be late. There was a lot to get done before this baby arrived.

So this time last year I had a few things to get done and I was busy. I baked 40 chocolate chip cookies, unpacked some boxes, sewed the binding onto the grandmothers fan quilt and pieced the small checkered boarder on this round robin.

The quilting group I belong to in Wellington had been working on the round robin quilts for about a month. We each had 4 weeks to add a boarder and pass each piece on.

I didn't think I would be making it to the next meeting and really didn't want to let the side down so I had to make it to quilting. The small problem being, I didn't live in Wellington any more. In fact, Wellington was now over and hour away with a rather large hill in the way – the infamous RIMUTAKAS.

My parents were very accommodating and only let me go to Wellington on the condition that I went with my brother and stayed the night at my Aunt's. My husband was not too impressed but saw that I was being my usual stubborn self and let me go.

So, I made it to quilting, took some of the aforementioned cookies to share and had a great evening.

As I was leaving a friend commented that you know you are due to have a baby when the nesting urge kicks in. Apparently she got rather irrational, accused her husband of some dire things only to be told by him that she was nesting. When she went into labour a few hours later, she had to concede.

I smugly thought to myself “I am not nesting, I'm always like this.”

You can see where this is going.

At 1am I woke feeling a little odd. After returning from the bathroom, texted my brother, who was at his girlfriend's place, to get him to pick me up. I texted my dearest to say I was heading home.

Darling brother hastily picked me up, after telling his girlfriend that I was a little home sick and started to drive me home. I optimistically thought of all the midwife had told me. You know it can be up to 2 days after the first signs before giving birth. Make that 8 hours in my case.

That trip over the Rimutakas would have to be the eeriest drive ever. From the foot of the first set of hills there was not a car to be seen in any direction. When asked if I was ok and if there were any contractions, I had to say no all the while staring at the clock and counting the minutes between them.

I was dropped home and a few hours later took off to the hospital.

I can't remember many of the details, but distinctly recall my dearest eating the last of the cookies while in the final stages of labor at 8am, later that morning.

If you had asked me that day, I can only say I was glad I was prepared.

If you asked me today, I might, just maybe, admit I was nesting. And of course I would have to add

Happy First Birthday Little E.

There is a saying that the cobbler's children go without new shoes. I think there may be more than an ounce of truth in it. I have still to make little e a quilt.

I might be living proof of this saying in more ways than one.

My father is an electrician and has always been determined that he can and will fix anything that breaks. As children, this was a source of great amusement. After visiting Uncle Michael, with his modified toaster that really bounced the toast like in the cartoons, my brother and I wanted one too. Not to be out done by his electrician brother (it runs in the family) Dad set out to make one too and of course take it one step further. The toaster bounced even higher.

I think Dad was aiming for our waiting plates.

However, Mum wasn't as impressed and the toaster was reinstated to a bit less than it's former bounciness. That toaster was fixed a number of times, as was every other appliance in the house.

It finally went walk about one summer holiday when friends house sat. When Mum was asked if there any suitable payment, she knew exactly what she wanted. Out of Dad's earshot, she said “Make the toaster disappear”.

We got our new toaster and it popped just like every other toaster. Not much else was said on the matter for a few years.

However, when Dad found that old toaster hidden in the back of the shed – it was carried high like a trophy. That toaster even managed to live another day as it was placed carefully in the box of items to go flatting.

Our washing machine was very much the same story. I think we will save that one for when I finally get a quilt made for little e.

In the meantime, she isn't going without by a long shot My Stitching Sisters friends made this wonderful red and white quilt. It's the first time that I have been given a quilt and it feels amazing. As, you can see this quilt has been with little e since the beginning.

While I was able to choose the pattern and colours, I was carefully sent from the room as everything went together. There were hushed tones as people discussed the quilting, the boarder, the fabrics. It was presented to me two weeks before little e's arrival, when I was at the “whole world is uncomfortable” stage of pregnancy.

Like the toaster being repaired every time with love, this quilt was stitched with love and it shows.

I picked up the four patches quilt a fortnight ago. The binding is done it's just the label to go.

Word has it, not all of the quilts are finished so there won't be a grand unveiling this week. However, stand by for a mini unveiling, when I get the label done.

I find New Years resolutions inspiring but often unachievable. Before Christmas this year, I had to tidy up my sewing space to make some room. As I gradually stacked up the projects that I had started, but still had to finish, it was looking a little hopeless. I resolved there and then to make a good go at reducing the stack.

When I first started quilting I was diligent about finishing one project before starting the next. I think this lasted until I decided that I was going to hand quilt a top. Needless to say, that top is still in the process of being hand quilted 4 years later. As I talked to fellow quilters I was introduced to the term UFO, Un-Finished Object. It was spoken of in hushed terms and often referred to something hidden in the bottom of a cupboard somewhere. Some people announce with pride that they have no UFOs and others look on in envy.

Earlier this year I was introduced to the term WISP – Work In Slow Progress. It's a term that conjures up a slow thoughtful process from which you are allowed to take a break while you look for inspiration in other things. No project becomes a millstone that must be thrown off in order to progress, but rather an item waiting patiently for the right moment. In January of this year my UFO pile was rechristened as WISPs. The projects are sitting patiently.

Taking one project a month for the first 2 months has seen the Frocks progress from 3 blocks to a completed top in January. The backing is going to be a summery cotton with a soft flannel lining. Something I wouldn't have thought of a year ago but very fitting for a quilt of summer dresses. I had something lined up to tackle in February, but the Four Patches nudged in. It was their time.

The Four Patches began as a swap with the quilting group I belong to, Stitching Sisters. Each fortnight we would make 10 Four Patches, take them along and leave with a mixture of 10 different ones. Some of us started out with an idea as to what we were going to do with them others like me waited to see if inspiration hit. Sharon keeps us organised, so it is only fitting that she started on this with a plan. She required 260 patches which had us swapping for a year, from July 2006 to July 2007. In January this year, the gauntlet was thrown down. We will be showing the 10 + finished works at the April meeting of the Quilting Guild.

I have been putting the pieces together in a type of Jacobs Ladder. The top last saw work in November last year when I was trying to decide between the two layouts below:

It has been a busy week for me. Upon hearing about the deadline, I booked the top in to be quilted, while it was unfinished, and thought nothing more until last week. Amid a flurry I managed to get the outer blocks all sewn together and the top complete. On Saturday the top was delivered to Quilter's Lane, backs, patterns and threads chosen in a bit of a flurry. After that I could relax.

While having a celebratory Hot Cross Bun at 10 o'clock Cookie Company I spotted an awesome jersey that looked like one I had seen before. I was initially unsure if I should say hello, admitting hat I had been reading the Heart Felt blog but not yet posted a comment. The kid in the jersey was playing Little e's favourite game, Boo, over the back of the couch which solved the dilemma. It was a pleasure to be able to meet Janelle.

I will be taking a short break from the WISPs while the Four Patches are being quilted. I am thinking of getting some smaller projects started so that I can approach the next WISP refreshed.