Antiques Steps..... by request

Quite a few people have enjoyed looking at my cushions from the last post. Isn't it funny when we are looking around all the wonderful blogs there are and we are also looking way into the background of the lovely photos and enjoying the "rest" of the picture too! I know I do! (Or is that just being a sticky beak?!!!)

Well, at least two people were enjoying the background of my cushion photos and were asking about the quilt. Thank you for asking Anne and Ineke.


I made this quilt a few years ago now and it is the largest one todate. I bought it as a kit at a craft show in Brisbane. It is called Antique Steps and is from The Old German Quilthouse in Geelong, Victoria. I couldn't find them on the web, so not sure if they have a web site or not.

It measures 76 x 100 inches. The fabrics are the Antique Flowers range from Lecien. It has 35 different fabrics in it. You only require 15cm of each fabric. I had it machine quilted - I don't hand quilt at all. Too much to do! I would just prefer to get on with the next project. I rarely have more than one thing on the go at one time. Especially quilts! I do however have more than one project in my cupboard - ready to go!

My favourite part was the scalloped border. I just love borders done like that. The worst part of that though is having to make bias to bind the edge. There was quite a nifty instruction in the pattern and was easy enough to do.

It is an absolutely perfect winters day here today. Beautiful outside in the garden. We have just finished to all the little plants with liquid fertiliser. The cold weather has slowed everything down quite a bit, so the warmer weather will be lovely for the garden. I am still deciding wether to prune the roses this weekend or next. The new roses are doing beautifully - lots of new growth already. There is rain forecast for early next week, so I hope they are right with that.

I hope to get a little more stitching done this weekend. It's been enjoyable in the garden so far!

Cushion Love......

This is the most recent finished article from my sewing room. It feels like an eternity since I did the embroidery on this cushion and then it sat and sat just waiting to become a cushion.

It is a Crabapple Hill Studio pattern and comes with a bedding and pillowcase as well. I have stitched the border for the pillowcase and now feel disappointed that I didn't do two and of course have none of the background fabric left.

It was lovely to put together. Two appliqued borders, the buttons and the feather stitch edging and of course the pom poms.

It's new home is in the rocking chair, beside my bedside table.

Over the years I have enjoyed making quite a few cushions. They mostly live in places where the children don't sit very often. Some have even been and gone as they were used outside (much to the disgust of some of my friends) . The latest casualty was made quite sad by the involvement of a rodent - a large one at that!!! YUK!

This pattern is a Bareroots design. I remember really enjoying this one.

From memory this one is Bareroots too. I love Barri's work. I have only done a couple of classes with my stitching and I was very fortunate to do a wonderful two day workshop with Barri when she came to Queensland I think almost three years ago - (note to self - better finish that quilt!!!)

This one is a Candlelight Creations pattern. This lady is "local" and has designed many lovely patterns. This one was stitched all with single thread - it took a long time. I love the border fabric on this one.

Off to finish some housework now and then to plant out some new bits and pieces in the garden. I am then so looking forward to a haircut this afternoon. It's way overdue! It's a lovely winter's day here, cool but bright sunshine. We've had a little rain and some heavy dew for a few mornings, so the plants are looking quite happy this morning.

I hope you enjoyed my cushions.

A Wonderful Week......

Thank you all so much for your wishes on my first Blogiversary! I had an extra surprise this week when I was so fortunate to be a winner over at Rosie's blog. Thank you so much Rosie for your very generous giveaway. This in turn of course sent so many lovely new visitors over to visit me. It is so lovely to meet and visit so many new friends this week.

I decided I wanted to share a little surprise with three of those who were kind enough to leave me a message this week. There are two little gifts made from Rosie's book and another that was inspired from the Sew Pretty Homestyle book.

So with the help of one of those random number generator thingys the following ladies are the winners in my giveaway.

Susan Cahill - message left at 4.29a.m. on 9th July

Ineke from Holland - message left at 4.53 p.m. on 11th July

Lisa from the lovely blog Knitty, Vintage and Rosy - message left at 2.18 p.m. on 12th July

If you could all email me with your postal addresses I will get your little gifts away to you. I will post some pics after the winners get their mail - I like surprises in the mail, so I will enjoy sending some surprises to these ladies.

That was fun - thank you all so much again.

Anniversary Giveaway & A Few Other Things.....

Blogger has not been playing very fairly for me, so I had given up - just about. My last post took hours to load the photos. I had tried last week and nothing would load for me, so I gave up.

So, another go today and here I am!!

My newly painted and renovated furniture came back. I am so pleased with how it has turned out. The couch above was on Nan and Pop's back verandah for as long as I can remember. It was almost black, the varnish was so old. The man who painted it for me sanded it back and then had to put five coats of paint on it. It has an old wire base that is a bit saggy, so I will have to get a board for the base and a new mattress. At the moment I have this quilt on it. I hope to just change the covers around as I feel.

I am thrilled with the hutch. I didn't take a before pic - so just imagine 80's style pine hutch. It has a lovely new moulded top and new shaped base. I also had the very thin ply back replaced with VJ's. The new knobs match the glass ones on the kitchen cabinets. These two pieces are in the same room and make the space very light and bright. My china looks so pretty displayed in the hutch now.

We have had lovely rain here overnight. So some beautiful water in my tanks to water all those flowers I have been planting. I'm sure the new roses will just love the rain. I am still waiting for my mail order to come. The soil will be lovely to plant into when they do.

With the school holidays here we are finally into a slightly slower pace. I have still been working at our bakery but it's so nice not to have to go anywhere in the afternoons. I have been enjoying some time in my lovely little room and even got some stitching done.

Time flys by just too quickly I think. In the last two weeks it has been my one year anniversary in the world of blogging. It has been a lovely journey, with so many new people to visit and chat with. I just love visiting blogs and get an absolute buzz when people visit me and especially when they leave comments. I think back to that first post, wondering if anyone would ever find my blog, let alone leave a comment. Over nine thousand visitors later I am thrilled to celebrate my first anniversary of Eleanor and Ruby.

So in the tradition of blogging Anniversaries, I am having a GIVEAWAY to celebrate.

I have been having a lovely time looking at Rosie's beautiful new book Gift and I have made a little something from it to be part of the giveaway.

A bit of a long winded post - but I just love chatting with all my blogland friends. Don't forget to comment - I am sure you will love the gift.

So, leave a comment here during the next week and on Tuesday the 15th July I will choose a winner. I hope all those lurkers out there who very rarely comment will enter, I would love to meet you!!! Or, of course those people I know visit and don't comment - you can even enter too!!!! You know who you are I'm sure.