Sunday Stash - The Birthday Week Edition

In the ten days since my last blog post, plenty has been a happenin'!  I shall once again blame school holidays for the lack of posts - and a very eventful week.  And because it is now almost 9pm on a Sunday night, and I have a glass of wine under my belt, this will be a fast and furious post!

These beauties arrived care of The Oz Material Girls.  I DIE over Art Gallery fabrics, and these Poetica prints were a bargain at $3 a fat quarter!  And the random Wee Wander was thrown in for good measure!  I happen to think the Poetica coordinates beautifully with those SJ prints!

April is here - which means a new block for the Aurifil Designer of Month BOM.  I stalked Pat Sloan's blog for a couple of days, and when it was announced I was so excited - I'd never made a bear paw block before!  But now - yes indeedy.  I ADORE this block!

And I happen to think this may very well be one of the prettiest and divine quilts I will ever make!  Now to show some patience until May.....

I managed to whip this baby up for a friend's little man's 1st birthday.  I'm loving these keepsake cushions for gifts!!!

The fire truck is one of Quiet Play's fab paper pieced patterns and was super easy to put together!

I whipped out the trusty Aurifil to do some meandering quilting and then free motioned his name and date of birth.  LOVE!

Now - what else happened this week?  Well, I turned 39!  Wha!??!?!!?!?  Still hard to believe I only have one more year in the dirty thirties.  But that also means I have almost a year to figure out the epic way I shall celebrate turning 40!

My 39th birthday started off a little shaky after Cadyn returned home from the zoo with a dodgy and irritated eye.  Turns out the giraffe that kicked up dust in his face really did a good job.  Birthday eve was spent at the GP and then local hospital, where we were sent home and instructed to take him to the Eye & Ear Hospital in the city the following morning.  So I was woken at 6.30am on my birthday and in the car 15 minutes later for the hour drive in peak hour traffic.  FUN!!!  Turns out the giraffe's dust only irritated what seems to have been metal in his eye - and it had formed rust on his cornea!  So my poor little nine year old sat for ages whilst an eye specialist literally drilled rust from his eye.  Made for interesting viewing!  I'm happy to say after another visit on Friday - he's been given the all clear.  No more zoo visits for the holidays.....

My birthday (week) got better!  I received some gorgeous handmade mail and was extremely excited!  The gorgeous Gina from Party of Eight made me this divine pot holder and tea towel!  I'm still yet to work out how I will ever use the tea towel for fear of it getting ruined!  It is quite literally one of the most exquisite hand sewn pieces ever!  Thank you Gina xxx

Another parcel arrived, this time from my beautiful friend Gemma (Pretty Bobbins).  You've heard me rave about Gemma a million times over, and will probably do so again in coming years!  Gem made me this UH-MAZING cushion cover!!!  Our Wombat Stew gals decided we would do a secret birthday present swap this year, and this is mine!  Hoorah!  That cover was cushioned within minutes and taken over by Bella the cat.  Thank you Gem xxxx

Then, two days after my birthday, my Mum and I ventured in to the city for the Australasian Quilt Convention.  It was again held at the Old Exhibition Buildings in Carlton Gardens.  One of THE most divine buildings I've seen.  It was a great week to have my birthday and the show collide, because my darling Mummy bought me my birthday gifts whilst there!  All the pretty fabrics are care of Mum.  I also bought myself a quick curves ruler (googling myself silly at present!), some new quilting gloves and rotary blades.  A slightly funny story - I asked the lady behind the stall if the black and white was Minimalista?  She tells me no.  I buy it anyway (cos I'm freakin in love with Quilt Jane's latest quilt - which I might add has been left to me in Jane's will!).  Get it home - and whaddayouknow?  It's Minimalista!  Don't tell me I don't know which fabric I'm stalking!

And I also found these dear little deer prints, amongst others.

I would like to give you a full blog post dedicated to AQC like I did LAST YEAR, however, my phone's camera is shite, and although I took photos on my Mum's phone - they won't transfer properly!  Soooo, unless some technological miracle happens, you will just have to believe me when I say it was FABULOUS!  So much talent and inspiration.

Birthday week has just ended this evening, celebrating with my in-laws.  So I shall end my post here by saying - I thank my lucky stars each and every day for the wonderful gift of friendship I have received through my love of quilting.  I am a part of many FB groups, Flickr, Instagram and the blogging world - and have "met" so many beautiful people!  And I feel like a whole other world opened up when I discovered quilting.  So thank you from the bottom of my heart for hanging around! xxxxx

Me - 39.  Chelsea - not quite 11.  Fair to say I'm going to be living up to my name in years to come -
the Midget of the family!

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