Hanging in an empty night

All finished, quilted, labelled, bound and photographed!  At last!

 Close up the colours are brighter, as you can see below.

 The back, with the extra piecing not as obvious as I had feared.

 A panel of stars was inserted to make the backing wide enough.

 The title, "Hanging in an empty night" is a line in a song written by a friend, Cathy Miller.

One of the first quilting books I bought a long time ago, and still a favourite, is "Star Quilts" by Mary Elizabeth Johnson.  It's wonderfully inspirational and, although I have never made any of the quilts whose instructions are in the book, my collection has a few star quilts including this one.

Last weekend the final stitches were taken on the blocks to make "Gumballs" from a pattern in McCalls Quilting way back in 2008.  I laid them out on the spare bed (AKA the design bed, I still haven't gotten around to getting a design wall) to see how they looked.......and I love them, they are just what I hoped they would be!

A bundle of blue/teal/purple fabrics was won in a giveaway on Linda's blog a couple of years ago, and when those fabrics arrived I looked at them......pondered......looked again......added a few more blues from my batik stash, and some orange and gold for contrast.......and this is the result.  When we return from our holiday those blocks will be joined into a top.  The colours make me think of flower petals floating on a tropical lagoon.......getting a bit fanciful here, folks.  I'll try not to let it happen again.

Next Wednesday we will be hitching up our little caravan, climbing into the car and heading south to Canberra to see the family and no doubt marvel at how much Young Euan has grown, and to enjoy the folk festival and some Canberra shopping (Canberra is the Medium Smoke so there is more choice than here) before going east to the south coast, then back to Canberra for a few days before returning home.  This week I found out that there will be a craft show in Canberra on our last weekend there, how fortuitous is that?

When we come home the repairs to the house can start.  The insurance company has finally approved a builder to fix the kitchen cupboards and replace what seems like several acres of floor tiles, after which the new carpet can be installed.  Once that is done we may - gasp - have to visit the Big Smoke to purchase replacements for the furniture which was damaged by water, then our books and treasures can be unpacked again.  I miss my books so much; all my sewing and quilting books are packed, nearly all my music books, nearly every cook book......a few favourite fiction books......my own library, built up over a long time.

While we're away it may not be possible to comment on blogs because we will have limited internet and we will probably have exciting things to do, places to go and people to see.

"No lady worthy any gentleman's regard will say "no" twice to a suit which she intends ultimately to receive with favor.  A lady should be allowed all the time she requires before making up her mind; and if the gentleman grows impatient at the delay, he is always at liberty to insist on an immediate answer and abide by the consequences of his impatience."

Well, I didn't say "no" at all.  Not once.

Enjoy your days!