Two Quilts and a Blanket.

 I have been pin basting quilts and quilting them every spare chance I have as baby sitting is full time and tiring but very enjoyable. These two quilts were made by members of my Quilting Group and will be donated to Odyssey House and Peter Mac Cancer Centre.

 I have also been crocheting Granny squares and had enough to add to the squares donated by Linda A. (UK), to make another blanket for New Guinea. Every little bit of spare time can help to make a difference in the lives of others.

Many thanks for your ongoing support.
Hugs, Jan Mac 

More Donated Quilts for Peter Mac.

 Unbelievably I have received another parcel of beautiful quilts these 2 were made and donated by Ann G. of NSW and tgey will both be perfect to be donated to the Peter Mac Cancer Centre. Ann is also very generous with her support of my quilt projects and has sent many beautiful quilts.  The parcel had the address incorrectly written so it toured Melbourne for a few days, I think, but it did make it here safely.
  The first quilt is a lively feminine quilt with beautiful appliqued vases and flowers.

This lovely large quilt will be perfect for a male patient at Peter Mac and it's in lovely shades of blues and browns.  It's always hard to get enough larger masculine quilts so this will be perfect. Every quilt we make and donate always brings comfort and a warm hug to the recipient and I wouldn't be able to donate so many without your help. Thank you all so much for your support.
Hugs, Jan Mac 

Thanks Again Linda A.

The lovely Linda A. has continued to crochet every piece of wool in sight while she enjoyed her holiday in New Zealand and will soon be flying back to the UK. Luckily postage costs have been much better for her from NZ as she has sent several parcels of blocks for my quilt projects.

Linda sent 8 QAYG blocks and must have used all of her fabric scraps as well. She also sent 8 crocheted Granny squares and they will soon be used in blankers and quilts.  Thank you so much for your ongoing support Linda. You really do make a difference to the lives of others.

I had to share a photo of our beautiful grandson, Jake, who us the light of our lives.  He needs to sleep more though so I have a little time for other things like quilting. Lol. He's also teething at the moment and learning to have solids so there's lots of introducing new foods, textures and tastes, and lots of cooking as most processed foods contain too much sugar. Life is busy and fun but I must admit that I am looking forward to sleeping in on the weekend.
Hugs, Jan Mac 

The First and Last of Many.

 I was very relieved to finally finish off the last baby quilt for one of my nieces. There were 6 babies born in 6 months on my Dad's side of the family and it was a busy time with selling and moving, so I am very happy to have finished the last baby quilt for extended family. That is, the last for now. It probably won't be long before another baby is on the way and I am still working on Jake's appliqued Woodlands theme quilt, so I had better keep working on that one.

 In the meantime we started looking after Jake full time from yesterday as our DD went back to full time teaching. Yesterday was a big day as she has meetings afterwards but he was an absolute pleasure.  He's such a happy boy and he is easy to keep entertained at this stage. He slept well too so, although no quilting happened,  we did have a lovely day.
    I hope to get some quilting done as we get our routines established and will probably have to quilt at night again.

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Hugs, Jan Mac 

Three For Now.

These 3 quilts were all made by members of my Quilting Group, Australian Quilters Association. They will be donated to the organizations we support who help the needy and those in need of comfort.

As you can see some of the tops have fabric which is a bit dated as they have been stored for some time. I've been working hard to get these older tops finished so we can work with newer fabrics and let's face it, they aren't of much value sitting in the cupboard. I think we have come to the end of the older tops now and the pile of newer tops will be next in line for finishing. Today was a day for rest and some hand sewing as I have an annoying head cold and don't feel like wrestling quilts today. I hope to have more finishes to share very soon.
Hugs, Jan Mac 

The Grannies Shine.

 While the Commonwealth Games are on here in Australia I have been busy crocheting Granny squares as well as joining them together into blankets for Medivac patients in New Guinea. The first blanket was made from squares donated by Linda A. from UK/NZ. Linda has become addicted to making them and has been crocheting up a storm. They are so colourful and will be loved as well as keeping

patients warm.

The second blanket was made from squares that Linda A. also made as well as some from me.  I like to make them while watching TV as I can make them without watching what I  am doing, unlike sewing. The Games are still on for a week so I hooe to keep going with them, and after that I will be making them while the AFL football games are on.
Many thanks for your help with these Granny squares, Linda. It's been a huge help to get more blankets made.
Hugs, Jan Mac 

Business As Usual.

 The QAYG quilts never get old. My DH has seen more than a thousand quilts and he always comments on these quilts. He says they always look good. I like to use a dark and plain fabric for the joining strips but use what I have in the stash to get some variety and decrease the stash. Some of the older fabrics work well too.

 This quilt was made from 12 inch blocks and I made a few more to make enough for the quilt.

These quilts will be donated for the people of the highlands in New Guinea and 3 more beanies have been added to the pile. I must do a tally of what we have made so far.
Hugs, Jan Mac 

A Day Off.

 On the spur of the moment I decided to take a day off and go into the city to spend the day at the Australasian Quilters Convention. It's held in a beautiful heritage building, the Melbourne Exhibition building and it was a lovely sunny say to walk through the surrounding gardens.

 Some of the quilts on display. I try to credit the quilters but didn't always remember to take a photo to note the maker. The Royals was a series of 3 quilts by Sarah Fraser from Tasmania.

 This was the Best of the Best for Victoria last year and represents the retina of the eye. The workmanship was incredible. Each state has an entry for their chosen Best of Show and then the Best of Australia quilt is selected. This quilt was made by Sugy Kim and won Best of Australia tonight.

 Deb Louie was teaching this technique and I love the pieced background and the colourful petals of the flowers.

 Fabulous hexagon quilt, made using 3/4 inch hexagons.

The last 3 photos are of 2 of Willyne Hammerstein's fabulous work and she was teaching 4 days of classes. It was fun catching up with old friends, seeing quilts and buying some fabric and quilting books. The only thing which would be better is if there were antique quilts on display too.
      I really enjoyed my day off and it was so easy to just take the train in instead of driving for 2 and a half hours. Now that we are living in Melbourne the opportunity to attend these events, using public transport,  means that I should take advantage of easy travel. I'm putting my feet up tonight but will be quilting again in the morning.
Hugs, Jan Mac 

Oh My Goodness.

Jo L. of Qld sent this enormous parcel of donated items for the various quilt projects that we are currently running. Jo sent these 5 fabulous quilt tops which I will finish ASAP. I love the puppy top which will go to a child having treatment at the Peter Mac Cancer Centre.

This lovely top is so large that this is folded in half. I will divide this into 2 tops and finish them for Peter Mac.

Jo also sent a large pile of QAYG blocks which will certainly help to get more quilts finished quickly.

 These two quilt tops are a lovely mix of blocks and they will make lovely quilts to gift to Peter Mac Cancer Centre.

This last top is so large that it is shown folded in half so I will divide this one too and make another 2 lovely quilts to donate to Peter Mac.
Thank you so much for trusting me with finishing off your lovely tops, Jo. It makes it much quicker to get quilts finished and donated when I have so much support. I feel very blessed to be able to work with you all to bring comfort to others in need.
Hugs and grateful thanks, Jan Mac 

Look What Arrived.

Linda A. from UK/NZ has been crocheting non stop and has sent another 26 crocheted Geanny squares to be made into blankets for the highlanders of New Guinea. Now that the Commonwealth Games are on I will be joining these together as well as making more squares so the blanket tally will rise.
   Linda said she's enjoyed making these so much that she's almost addicted. I love that something shd is enjoyjng will bring so much joy and comfort to others. Aren't we lucky to be able to share what we love. Thank you so much for your ongoing support, Linda. I will start joining these tonight.
Hugs, Jan Mac 

More Generosity From Western Australia.

I am overwhelmed by the generous support of my blog readers and friends. A huge parcel of 80 QAYG blocks has arrived from Stephanie D. in Western Australia.  Stephanie is a very productive quilter and has also made and donated lots of quilts and QAYG blocks to my quilt projects as well as to her own. She uses lots of scraps of fabric and batting from her quilting to make QAYG blocks for me and it's a great way to tame the numerous scraps of batting and fabric we seem to accumulate.
     This large pile of blocks will soon be made into quilts to donate. Thank you so much Stephanie, and my other supporters for all if your generous donations and support, together we can make a difference, one quilt at a time.
Hugs, Jan Mac 

Making Progress.

 This first QAYG quilt was made from larger 12 inch blocks and I  made a few extra to match those on hand, so that it would be a larger quilt for New Guinea.

 This donated top is lovely with Australian wildflowers and will be a lovely quilt for the Peter Mac Cancer Centre.

 This donated top was a simple idea but so pretty with lots of lovely floral fabrics.

The floral fabrics were just cut into squares and it's made a lovely quilt for Peter Mac. The fabric we have available to us is so pretty that even simple quilts can be stunning.
   I'm still working my way through the donated tops and plan to get busy with more QAYG blocks too so there will be more finishes to share soon.
Hugs, Jan Mac 

Easter Blessings.

Good Friday was a special day for us, not just for religious reasons but also because it's DD, Stephanie's birthday, 12 months since my Father died, and we picked up Stephanie, Paul and Jake from the airport. Jake was a bit shy for about 20 seconds and then he recognized us and his face lit up. He has certainly grown in 5 weeks and is now 7 months old, has 4 teeth and is just speaking his first words, "bubba".
     We held a birthday lunch for Stephanie on Saturday and it was such a blessing to have the family together with Jake chuckling and trying to crawl. I also finished this cross stitched piece for Stephanie's birthday and was relieved to have it done in time for her birthday, having missed their first wedding anniversary and Christmas.  I'd forgotten how long cross stitch takes to finish but I did enjoy working on it and I really need to finish off some more cross stitch UFOs.
    I have been quilting more tops to share with you and have started working on the last 2 cot quilts. I really need to get them done as well as sort out the sewing room but we have been putting flat pack cupboards together for the laundry so the tidying will have to wait. It will be good to have more cupboards for storage and get more boxes unpacked so I can feel a bit more organized. At least I'm in a good pattern for working on quilting more tops.
  I hope you are all enjoying a peaceful Easter and taking some time to reflect and just breathe.
Thanks for stopping by.
Hugs, Jan Mac