I'm an applique addict.

When I'm away from home on holiday, I have plenty of time to ponder which projects I'll tackle when I get back. This was the one I was wanting to play with, the stars and sprigs. I've done two new blocks this last week and I enjoyed every single stitch. Applique is usually on the top of the list, I never get bored with doing it.

I made a few star blocks as well. Here's the progress shot,  it's looking mighty fine to me, I love it!

These ones were my practice blocks that I did before I settled on doing the quilt in Westminster fabrics.I'm sure the orphan blocks will come in handy some day. Gosh, that sounds like a seaoned hoarder talking.

My thread carrier is a bit large and cumbersome to cart around when I go on holiday or to my stitching group so I decided I needed a smaller, more convenient option. These prewound bobbins fit the bill operfectly. I wish I had got them a long time ago. I got these three sets from Piece O' Cake along with the donut to store them. You can also get them directly from Superior Threads. The thread is a  quality 50 weight, two ply and they perform beautifully for applique.

All 36 threads in the three sets fit in the donut, so transportable!

On an unrelated note, this past week, I decided to start up a new sourdough bug for my breadmaking. My new pet project.

I've never had a problem making an initial starter before but this one is being stubborn and lazy. It's showing slight signs of life but is still pretty dormant. I even put it next to a bowl of grapes to tease it into gathering more wild yeast spores. That didn't work so I draped some grapes over the top of the jar, lol.

A member of the family was a baker and he happened to stop by today and he gave me a couple of tips to try. I added some bread improver and some rye flour to give it a boost. I'll give you an update next time but so far I think I spy some shy bubbles under the surface. Because it is a living thing, a lot of bread bakers give a name to their sourdough starters. I think I shouild call this one bubbles so it doesn't get a complex about being a runt at the start of life.

If you want to obtain a starter, try asking at a bakery that bakes sourdough, they're usually happy to sell you some. I know Bakers Delight in Australia will. I'm not a fan of the really sour chewy bread but I love the milder flavour so I will adjust my baking to accomodate my tastes.

You can get a whole lot of information at Breadtopia.

I'm back with stash

What a great three weeks away,  I love being around my family since I have none in Australia.  It's good to be back and just in time for Valentines day, I hope you all had a wonderful day with your loved ones.

I had one small bag I bought back that was just filled with goodies from the quilt shops we visited. The fabrics are expensive in New Zealand so it was mainly fat quarters that I bought. Feel sorry for them paying $32 per metre for Kaffes. My American friends will be gagging at that.

Some red and whites for my nearly insane quilt which I'm vowing to get back to.

I couldn't go past this wool kit. I'm such a sucker for a kit, I really should tame that beast as I tend to put them away and not get them made. It's a vice I'm trying to curb but I wanted to try it out and a kit is better than buying a stash of wool. See, I justified it, lol.

Romantics, not my usual purchase but oh so very Marie Antoinette that I have a plan for.

The fabric at the back is a Valorie Wells that is perfect for the coloured pencils I want to play with. The linen at the front is a Japanese Echino.

The rest of my purchases were for general stash enhancement that will end up in scrappy quilts or for making small things. Now I think I had better make plans for culling some of my really old fabrics I won't use, I've run out of storage space and I've started taking over the spare room next door to the sewing room.

A quilt finish and a shop visit.

I couldn't be happier with my first quilt finish for 2010. Thanks to Lori for this wonderful doll quilt project. I love it, imperfect piecing and all. I even ran out of background fabric and substituted a few squares of another fabric.

I had a couple of days staying with my sister and brother in law and got a good session of hand quilting in which enabled me to race towards the finish line. For your info, I used a non fusible pellon for the batting to get a thin look and I'm quite happy with it for a doll quilt.

While I was on my mini retreat away from the little ones, I had a play with the camera around the garden. A couple of figs were ready for eating off the wonderful old tree in the yard. I had to add the house across the road, I was enamoured with the view of it peeking through the shrubbery.

I mentioned the quilt shop we discovered in Riverhead, Auckland called All Things Patchwork which specialises in designer fabrics and as promised, I took my camera. On the first visit, the battery had run out, on the second visit, the card had been left in the computer. I had to do it, I needed to go back a third time just so I could share with you. If you must know, I enhanced the stash on each and every visit. That will have to wait for next time, there are lots of photos.

You just know there are good things to come when you get to the entrance of the shop and spy this fabulous covered day bed and Kaffes on the opposite wall.

A better view.

Now I have this urge to upholster some old chairs, can you blame me?

A few of the bright, cheerful quilts just hanging around.

Along with the butterflies, dragonflies..............

flowers.............

dollies..............

and cushions which are offered as a beginners embroidery class at the shop.

Take a closer look, (you can click on the photos) these have been hand embroidered to compliment the fabric designs with one strand of embroidery thread all by Jo Dixey.

We were drooling over all of Jo Dixey's pieces including these embroidered pieces.

This one is a wonderful rendition of a pair of breasts, so clever!

We did go to another shop which specialised in Japanese fabrics, taupes  included. I didn't have my camera so I can't share but I did  get this fabulous book by Keiko Goke. I saw an exhibition of her quilts some years back and was pleased that they were included in the book. I purchased a small kit for a needlecase too, in wool which is a new thing for me to try.

I'm back home in a couple of days time so I'll show you my small  healthy stash enchancement then.

A doll quilt

I'm switching styles here, onto something a bit different. I finished piecing and basting the Cheddar Cheese and Crackers doll quilt from Loris blog before I came on holiday. I thought it would be a good idea to have a wee hand quilting project to do in found time. There is very little of that happening here, I forgot how little people can be time suckers.

Have a little look at the top right hand corner, see the humility block? The four patch got turned and it wasn't deliberate but I thought I would leave it as a humility thing, like those odd quirky blocks in the antique quilts we sometimes see. You know the story, of how this may have been done deliberately because only God is perfect? As if we humans could make anything that could be perfect.

I admit it, I couldn't stop noticing it so I unpicked it and switched it back to how it should be.

Some hand quilting has been done, enough to see how it's going to look. The grid in the cheddar blocks is a half inch apart and I've tried to follow the same quilting pattern as the original full sized quilt. I like the idea of putting a flash of red with this one and will probably bind it in that colour, again same as the original.

Thanks Lori for sharing such a wonderful project. I love it.

I haven't had time to visit a lot of blogs sorry, but hopefully will catch up when I get home. Tomorrow DD and I are off to visit the patchwork shop we discovered last week to get a fabric fix and while two little ones are in preschool, it's a good chance to have a grown up day. I promise I'll take my camera and share since the lovely owner said I could take photos of anything I wanted.

Fairy, Flower and Blossom

In a land far far away, well really it was across the ditch, in the land of the long white cloud where Kiwi's roam, three little dollies were hiding,  Fairy, Flower and Blossom were trying to hide their Kaffey goodness.

In their attempts to hide, Fairy, Flower and Blossom were startled by three little girls with very loud voices.  They fell from their carefully selected hiding place (what little girl would put their hand in a bougainvillia!).  Their cover was blown!

A feeble attempt at obtaining another cover was tried......the paper doll disguise was not the success that Blossom thought it would be.

Fairy tired to convince the others to run from the loud little girls. Blossom and Flower knew that the gig was up. Surrender was the only option....

Flower found that being help captive had its up and downs, being used as a pillow was not nearly as bad as......

Being given to this monster, saliva baths! nuff said.

Photos by Quiltsalottt

Guest writer, Sew Stitched up.

Dolly pattern by Jo Dixey.