A Couple of Finishes.

 The photos aren't great as the daylight was fading but the cot quilt still looks cute. Marg. C. from my Melbourne quilting group, makes the cutest cot quilts with all sorts of designs. So far she has produced quilt tops with dinosaurs, baby animals and teddy bears. Marg hand buttonhole stitches around all of the appliqué pieces and she said that she loves to make them as long as she doesn't gave to quilt them. I'm more than happy to team up with her and get them quilted and bound. This one will probably brighten the days of a child in foster care.
      I've also used the hot days we've been having as an excuse to crochet blanket squares, while cooling in front of the AC and fan.this blanket will be going to Impact for families affected by domestic violence. I've also made progress on the aero plane cot quilt and hope to get that one finished in the next day or so.
Thanks for stopping by.
Hugs, Jan Mac

More Fabulous Donated Blocks.

Jo B. has donated 27 beautiful QAYG blocks and they will make a fabulous quilt for the needy. The blocks are 12.5 inches in size so they will go together quickly. Thank you so much for your lovely donation of fabric, batting as well as hours of time. I hope to show them finished as a quilt very soon.
   I never tire of working with these beautiful QAYG blocks as even ugly fabrics play nicely.
Hugs, Jan Mac

Another Special Delivery.

On tonight's TV news they said that the jobs of mail delivery personnel are at risk as we are all sending fewer letters now that email has taken over in popularity. However the parcel delivery is maintaining similar numbers as previously, and in some cases, thanks to EBay, parcel delivery has increased.
    Delys R. from Western Australia is ensuring that Australia Post still provide a service as she has kept them busy with another parcel of 20 beautiful QAYG blocks. Many thanks for your continued support with the quilt projects for the needy, Delys. The quilts will be a real comfort to them.
    I'm hoping that I'll soon have more finished QAYG quilts to show as my production gas dropped a bit due to working nights, extremely hot weather, a depletion of QAYG blocks and the pressure to make two cot quilts for new babies in the family.
     Tomorrow will be recovery day from working nights but I hope to get busy with them again soon.
    I hope you are enjoying some cooler weather, Delys, but I doubt it. Many thanks for your generous of blocks which has given me hours of your work as a bonus.
     Now I can't wait until Autumn arrives but the forecast is predicting more hot weather. I was thinking of moving to Tasmania for cooler weather but the drive is too hard and their internet connection was slow, last time we were there.
   Enough of my whining now. I'm off to bed. Night everyone.
 Hugs, Jan Mac

A Busy Postman

Wow another large parcel has arrived from Stephanie D. of Western Australia. Stephanie crammed the parcel with 35 beautiful QAYG blocks made from donated floral fabrics and added green strips for joining the blocks. She also added 50 QAYG blocks made from specific colors such as all green in a block. Wow, Stephanie your sewing machine must have been smoking! I can't believe that you made all of those blocks while we are having an extreme heat wave.
    Many thanks for your generous donation. You have given me hours of your time and these blocks will all be made into quilts ASAP.
  Hugs, Jan Mac

Puddling Along and Another Special Parcel.

 I have two nieces who gave both recently had babies and I am behind with making and delivering their baby quilts for the new arrivals. One of the families are waiting to leave for New Guinea where Dave will work as a pilot for a medical evacuation program run by their Church's mission programs. As they had a boy I wanted to make them a quilt with planes to acknowledge their service to the people of New Guinea. I was lucky enough to find some lovely fabric featuring planes, which I'm using for the alternate blocks. I also bought a set of Perspex templates for the plane blocks. I still gave to finish the blocks, add borders, machine appliqué his name, quilt and bind it by the end of the week. No pressure then!
     I've been spending more time crocheting more squares for blankets as I can do that in front of the AC and fan without over-heating as much as when I quilt. I have finished putting one blanket together and almost have enough squares for a second donation blanket. Then I think I might put that away and get back to making more QAYG blocks and put them together. I've also been spring cleaning and donating lots of books and glassware we never use as well as going through my linen cupboard. Now that our children have left home, we don't need as many sheets etc so I'm donating them as well. We're getting very hot weather again this week so the cleaning out of cupboards will cease for now.
    Today I received another special parcel of fabric, odd blocks etc from Lorraine B. of Melbourne, which will all be used to make some more quilt tops and QAYG blocks. Many thanks for your donations to help with my quilt projects for the needy, Lorraine. Every donation helps to make life a little better and brighter for those in need.
     I hope you are all getting some time to stitch and stay cool as well.
Hugs, Jan Mac

QAYG and Building Blocks.

 Paid work has been very busy for the past week and there hasn't been time or energy for much else. I have been making more QAYG blocks and crocheted squares so I can build up my supply of blocks to make more quilts and blankets. I finally had time to make another QAYG quilt before I worked last night and I have half a crocheted blanket put together and more squares finished to add to it. Even little increments of time can add up when working on just squares here and there as time allows. I never tire of making the crocheted blankets or QAYG quilts and plan to have some more finishes to share soon when I have recovered from my lack of sleep.
     I also found these donated blocks which I need to stitch around to secure the fused pieces for appliqué. I don't gave enough of the joining strips so I think I might alternate the blocks with pieced blocks instead of sashing. It will make a cute kid's quilt once I work out what I want to do to finish them.
I'm off to sleep most of the day away and recover from working last night.
Hugs, Jan Mac

The Scottish Diaspora Tapestry.

 I took a 2 hour road trip to Albury last week to see the Scottish Diaspora Tapestry. It isn't coming to Melbourne and I am very grateful to the lovely Michele Hill for writing about it on her blog,williammorrisandmichele.blogspot.com.au
     It consists of 305 embroidered pieces which depict the travels of Scottish people where they developed new communities around the world. I saw 100 of them and they are planning on rotating the collection as there wasn't enough room to display the 305 pieces at the one time. The collection is on display at the Albury Library until Feb 24th. and admission is free. If you are unable to see it when it shows near you, it can also be seen online. The embroidery used varied stitches to depict different features such as the gold on the Bendigo piece and the Tartan or checks on their clothes.
     I even saw some panels which represented The Netherlands and Germany and each piece told some of the history of the Scots who settled in each area.
    It was well worth the drive to see it and I combined it with my shopping of more yarn for the crocheted blankets I make for the needy and homeless.
Thanks for stopping by.
Hugs, Jan Mac

A Special Delivery From Western Australia.

It has been a very busy week with no time for blog posts so I'll have to catch you up on events this week. Today I received a large parcel of beautiful QAYG blocks from Maria W. of Western Australia. Maria has been very busy sewing and sent 20 blocks 12 inches in size and 2 in 10.5 inch size. She also sent binding strips cut so it won't take me long to put them together.
    Thank you so much Maria, you have given me a huge gift of time as well. I do hope it helped you to clear some scraps out and make room for more fabric. Lol
    I took a road trip on Thursday and took the opportunity to buy a large bag of yarn from the Wangaratta Textile Mills to make more crocheted blankets. I love to use up lots of small scraps to make them nice and bright with different colored yarns. It's hard to believe that I'm working on blankets for winter when we are having a heat wave but our air con has been broken for the past 4 days and I wanted to sit in front of the fan. Thankfully it is fixed now so I'm hoping to get some more quilting done before I'm back on nights at the end of the week.
 Stay cool. Hugs, Jan Mac

A Special Delivery From UK/New Zealand.

Linda A. is one of my blog readers from the UK and she also spends time in New Zealand. She has been a long time supporter of my Quilt Projects and has donated quite a few QAYG blocks over the years. This year is no exception and she has posted another parcel of 19 blocks, some are in the larger 12.5 inch size and the rest are 10.5 inches.
       They look fabulous and will "play nicely" with the blocks I have made too. Thank you so much for taking the time from your holiday to make and send more blocks for my Quilt Projects to help the needy. I hope you are enjoying a lovely New Zealand summer as well.
 Hugs, Jan Mac

There Should Always Be Time For Quilting.

 On Monday I drove to Melbourne for my Melbourne Quilting Group's day meeting. There is always a very happy buzz at the meetings where we all catch up with friends after our Christmas break. I'm a member of the Gift Quilt Committee and often quilt tops that members wish to donate. We had over 100 tops on hand mid way through last year and the pile has decreased to less than half that number which means there are many people we have helped with donations of quilts.
       When we returned Monday afternoon I decided to immediately quilt another top, as I had brought home another pile of tops to be finished. I don't mind doing them and they go quite quickly if my machine is co-operating.
       Today I've been tidying my sewing room but also quilted two more tops for AQA, my Melbourne group. I was going to leave the binding but it didn't take long to bind all three quilts as well as the quilt I received from Delys R. of WA, earlier this week.
      I still have many of my own tops ready for quilting but there is no rush as we will be away this year when two of my group's are having Exhibitions, but I must fit them in before I lose momentum with finishing off my own UFOs and not just other people's. I've also started sewing more QAYG blocks as I want to make another delivery to Impact in April.
       I seem to be busy most days but even if I only gave a spare hour I can usually quilt a top or make a few blocks, as long as I don't waste too much time on the computer. Lol
Hugs, Jan Mac