the quilt is coming along beautifully, and i will post about it soon, but before i do that i absolutely have to tell you about what i did yesterday.

i was lucky enough to be invited to the launch of rosalie quinlan’s new book, ‘gift’:

it was a beautiful afternoon, held at glen harrow gardens, and rosalie was a most gracious ‘woman of the moment’, taking time to chat to all her guests, and sign copies of the book:

the sumptuous catering was done by the incomparable marg hesterman, and rosalie’s unbelievably talented husband neil played guitar and sang for the guests. there were open fires to keep us cosy, pitchers full of wildflowers to admire, and the atmosphere was relaxed and celebratory.

but for me, the best bit was getting to see all of rosalie’s beautiful designs made up and on display:

embroidered gift bags

little angels

how sweet is this little bunny?!

pinwheels and angels

it’s so inspiring to see the work of truly talented and creative people, and rosalie is among the best of them. i admire her deeply, and not least because she’s using her creative talent for a bigger purpose - a portion of money from the sales of ‘gift’ goes to the national breast cancer foundation. i take my hat off to her for doing something so tangible and meaningful to raise awareness and help find a cure for a disease that has touched the lives of so many people.

‘gift’ is a gorgeous book, bursting with fun and creative patterns to try - i am glad it’s holidays so i can spend as much time as i like making them up!

i have a big scary exam coming up in less than a week, and i have been studying solidly for ages. it’s gotten to the point where i simply do not want to look at another book! unfortunately, i have to keep studying up until the exam, so i have come up with a marvelous compromise - i am re-listening to recordings of all my lectures while i sew. as a result, my quilt is coming along famously!

on saturday i finished my 100th block:

then my partner and i went up to visit my mum for the afternoon. she laid a sheet out on the floor, and we all gathered around to arrange the blocks into a satisfactory configuration. it took ages (we kept having to walk away for cups of tea and slices of cake!), and everyone pitched in - even pip the cat!

there were a lot of conversations along the lines of:
“see that one with the gingham edge? you’d better move that one - there’s too much red there.”
“yes, and if we move that, we can put this one in it’s place - but the gingham can’t go here either, so we’d better find a spotty one…”

it was such a collaborative, challenging and enjoyable task, and i know that when this quilt is finished i will snuggle up under it knowing that my whole family had a hand in bringing it together. that’s precious.

oh dear. i can feel an obsession developing…

i’ve managed to cut all my fabric to the pieces specified in the pattern:

and i have begun sewing them into squares. here is my very first square (i am immeasurably proud of it!):

it seems like this whole process has taken over my brain. i’d fight it, but it’s too much fun!