Civil War bride ready to quilt

I wasn't intending to quilt it right now - the top was folded away while I focused on a few hand applique projects, gardening, daughter's wedding prep etc. But it caught my eye in the sewing room yesterday afternoon...and before I knew it it was prepped!

... I thought I'd just see what wadding I had left - and found a collection of large off cut strips. In a 'twinkling' four pieces of wool were stitched together - just zig zag on the machine.

Wadding strips - edges butted together, not overlapped

Large zigzag across the join

Then I just thought I'd see if there was a chance of a backing fabric lurking in the stash. I have a shelf of "less liked" fabric that I rummage through for backings, especially for a quilt like this which will probably be hung and the backing never seen. Well ...found something straight away! 

So then, in another 'twinkling', I had it layered on the floor. Can you see the wonky edges of the wadding - all odd strips stitched together? yep ..I'm no perfectionist as long as it lies flat.

..and while it was all laid out there I thought I may as well pin it. I can imagine you snorting but it only took a couple of hours from "spotted in sewing room" to basted and in the hoop. Amazing what you can do when you're not actually meaning to! 

It feels good to have another hand quilting project and I'm going to enjoy a few hours of outline quilting all that applique. 

My Wheat and Woods design is progressing - all strips and corner blocks stitched together into a square. There was quite a bit (understatement there) of trial and error so I'm relieved to get to this stage. 

I'm planning a wide outer border - with more applique and broderie perse. More trial and error coming up for sure! 

Spring is a busy time in the  garden - just ask my two friendly garden helpers - Bill and Ben the Blue Tongue Lizards 

basking on warm concrete

gardening duties

rushing off to more gardening duties

Can you see the blue tongue?

They are pretty relaxed about sharing the garden with me,  and work hard at gobbling up pesky snails but I do wish they could manage a pair of secateurs or a weeding tool. 

This is breeding season for these much loved Australian creatures so I'm guessing I should be more correctly naming them Bill and Belinda. 

My daughter's wedding preparations are ramping up (for the end of November).

I have been anxiously growing these succulents for months - favours for the guests. There was a serious set back in the frost and snow here but they are now thriving indoors in a sunny spot - phew. 

There's also been a lot of collecting of decorations and table cloths. 

All the flowers are to be sourced from my garden (no pressure) so I 'm doing all I can to keep the plants happy. White iceberg roses, ivy, maples and silver foliage plants will be the backbone of it, and I'm hoping for a variety of salvia flowers too. Fingers crossed for no nasty weather events to create garden havoc!