Summer at Aster Manor

Also known as Summer Wind; quilted, bound and already in use. The new name reflects both the pattern name and the fabric line.

Bella helped out with a marathon hand-stitching session, and I got it finished up last night. The pink backing can be seen in this pic.

But after several days of beautiful weather, I woke up to rain this morning. So instead of a nice lying-on-the-lawn photo, the best I can offer is a couch-drape-with-bad-lighting photo.

Next up, I need to quilt Port-de-France before I start another new project...the funny thing is, I can't actually think of what quilt I want to do next, which is just odd!

Summerwind

A day spent hunched over the sewing machine, and the final two borders added to Summerwind (or more correctly, Summer Wind).

Pattern: Summer Wind by Miss Rosies Quilt Co

Fabric: Aster Manor by 3 Sisters for Moda

Not the best photos due to fading light; the unfortunate downside to this time of year!

Off to AQC tomorrow, a good chance to see what new fabrics are around, and get a good idea of what prices are about.

A Little Reveal

Because I know you are all dying to know the name of my quilt shop, I can finally reveal the name! After a minor hiccup requiring a second preference, we are going to be called....

Bella's Patchwork!

Logo is being fixed up to incorporate the slight change; we were going to be Bella's Quilt Cottage, but there is already a store in Melbourne called Bella's Quilts and Things (they sell doonas....). Finally making progress anyway. Have an appointment tomorrow to organise a web page, then I just need to get it running and get my stock in!

In the meantime, I'm being a quilting procrastinator. I'm piecing quilts, then adding them to a to-do pile, and moving on to piecing the next quilt. This is not how I normally work, and it's not going to be pretty when I have to start quilting the pile. The only reason I'm putting it off is because I can't be bothered to go and buy batting. Pathetic, isn't it?

Anyway, I've started on Summerwind, a Miss Rosie pattern that seems to be quite popular lately. Both Camille and Nicole have done Wuthering Heights versions, and they look great! I'm doing mine in the divine Aster Manor. I found the cutting instructions a bit of a nightmare, but I've now pieced the centre medallion, so I'm on my way!

And because no post that mentions Bella would be complete without a cute photo...we got a "cat cube" the other day, and she has taken to it like a duck to water. This cat does not like being cold!

Rain Delay

I had hoped to post of Wild Thing with her borders on today; however, Melbourne's lovely weather had other ideas! We had one of the biggest storms in ages, the weather bureau said it was the worst kind of storm cell you can have.

I was at a local shopping centre when the storm hit; the sound of the hail on the glass roof was deafening. We dashed down an escalator under this glass roof, with the warning "watch out for hail stones"! Then out in the main part of the shopping centre we saw a huge crowd gathered. Being curious, we moved closer, only to see a huge volume of water wash into the centre. We were on the upper level, but downstairs we could see water flowing in as well. People were taking their shoes off to get past the flooding, and several people were landing on their backsides. Many of the stores were flooded. And that water was cold!

The hailstones were huge, almost the size of golfballs. Many people have hail damage to their cars (we had ours under cover fortunately), there are leaves and branches everywhere, my zucchini plants have been flattened and the tops of my tomato plants were "decapitated".

A few photos from a facebook group that's been set up:

Hopefully I can get you a quilt picture soon; in the meantime I'm starting a quilt with Aster Manor.