This Is It!

Tomorrow is the big day! I'm all packed, and I've got my shopping list ready, and tomorrow I'm flying to LA! I'm a little bit nervous and a lot excited, and I'm lucky enough to be flying on the new A380 (below). I've got a list a mile long of things to see and do, and there are at least four quilt shops on that list.

I've spent my last day at home doing a bit of sewing (Mini Wild Thing blocks), and a bit of gardening (just tidying up so my Mum can look after it), and freezing lots of vegies (the last decent batch of broad bean and snow peas) so I've got plenty to last us for another few months.

I'm going to be away for four weeks, but hopefully I can do the occasional blog post along the way. Otherwise, I'll "see" you in four weeks hopefully with some awesome photos, good stories and a lot of new fabric!

4OT

Finally, after months of waiting, I can reveal the finished 4OT quilt that I made way back at the start of the year. I made it for my sister's 21st birthday, which was yesterday, and the quilt has been happily received. Therefore, no need for me to keep it hidden!

Some of the quilting detail:

A peek at the back; I ended up using a cream thread on the front and a blue on the back, and I'm very pleased with how it turned out.

I also whipped up a couple of cushions out of the left over squares and strips, and used the left-over backing fabric for the backs...

On another note, tomorrow is the deadline for my lighting giveaway, so if you are an Aussie and would like a $100 voucher to buy the lighting of your choice, check out this post.

Lighting Giveaway

Good lighting is a very important factor if you're a crafty person, whether you are into quilting, stitchery or even drawing. I'm very lucky; I have my sewing machine set up in the dining room in front of two very large windows, and I get good daylight for most of the day (though not so much today apparently). Unfortunately, others don't have this luxury.

To solve this problem I'm having a giveaway! Buyster Lighting have generously offered a $100 gift voucher for one of my readers to select the lighting product that best works for them. They have a huge range of products to choose from, so there is something to suit everyone.

So here's the deal. To enter, all you have to do is leave a comment for this post. But please note, this giveaway is only open to Australian readers, as Buyster only ship within Australia. So send all your fellow Aussie bloggers this way! The giveaway closes next Wednesday the 11th November at 3pm. I'll be drawing the winner, who I will then put in touch with the lovely people at Buyster. Good luck!

This giveaway in now closed; the winner is Renee :-)

Bumper Harvest

Despite the crazy weather here (hot days, wet nights), the vegie garden seems to be doing well. After almost pulling the cauliflower out in disgust just over a week ago, they finally started to produce heads, and I picked the first one yesterday. Very pleased!

I also picked a huge batch of broadbeans this morning, though I don't have a pre-podding photo as it seems to have disappeared somewhere between the lens and the memory card....very odd indeed! The podded product will have to do, but trust me that they were lovely big green pods, and filled a huge colander.

I'm in the midst of another 5 day weekend (yay for Melbourne Cup Day), but I only just got into a bit of quilt stuff yesterday...cutting 320 2-1/2 inch squares which today I've cut in half (on the angle) to start piecing Mini Wild Thing. Thats 640 pieces!

It's been a slow start, but the first few blocks are coming along...just 72 to go!

BOM5

Thanks to everyone for the positive comments last post; greatly appreciated!

Not much has been happening here in the last week; we've had a run of hot, humid days, followed by thunderstorms in the evenings. Not very conducive to sitting at the sewing machine under layers of quilt! Some of the lightening was spectacular though, and worth sitting awake in the middle of the night to watch.

My only sewing progress this week is the mystery BOM block 5; its pretty cute! I'm loving how much fabric I have left over from these blocks...hopefully enough to put together a scrappy quilt later on.

It's now only two weeks till I head to the USA; for the last couple of days I've been planning how to visit as many quilt shops in Las Vegas on my free day as possible! I want to go (at least) to The Christmas Goose and Quiltique, and possible one or two more if I can. The plan is to hire a car for the day, and brave the whole "driving-on-the-wrong-side-of-the-road" thing. I've heard the outlet shopping malls are worth a visit too, so I think having a car for the day is probably a good plan.