Baby it's cold outside

The whole eastern coast of Australia is in the clutches of a cold snap, so I thought it would be a good opportunity to divulge the Hot Fudge Sure Fire Method of Keeping Warm.  It's really very simple.  Keep moving.

My local quilt shop is having a sale this month so I practised what I preached and moved rather rapidly down the highway to the store.

That sure got the heart racing, and we even managed to reach home before the violent storm hit our part of the city.

Now that the blood was pumping, I felt the need to cut out and pin the final feather of the first block in my appliqué quilt.

This is a long-term project, but one I am thoroughly enjoying.  And so long as I don't look out the window, the colours fool me into thinking that it is really warm outside.

The Plan

At my age, making New Year's Resolutions is probably pushing my luck.  Besides, they are never easy to keep and I always end up guilt wracked at not achieving my goals.  However, I have a plan.  It's an open-ended plan, so no pressure to complete by a certain deadline.

I visited my local fabric store on Saturday to help formulate my plan.  I always feel so much better when I walk out of a quilt shop with a bag containing some fabric, no matter how modest. These three fabrics are the beginnings of what will eventually be this:

It looks like a wall hanging, doesn't it?  

Wrong.  It's a king size quilt.  Yes, I like a challenge.

 Kim McLean is an Australian quilter and designer and I have long admired her creations.  After discovering this blog I was inspired to dip my toe in the water and get back to what I really love, quilting.  I am waiting on a shipment of Kaffe Fassett Fabrics to arrive, including 7.2 metres of background fabric, and then my plan will be put into action.

I am writing this with the full knowledge that my sewing room contains unfinished quilt tops in the dark reaches of my fabric cupboard.  I have at least one from each decade.  

Who can forget the mad frenzy whipped up with the resurgence of Baltimore Quilts of the early 1990s?  My five completed blocks are too precious to see daylight and/or I am waiting for one of my daughters to take up the challenge.  Not going to happen.  

In the meantime, I am having a lovely time filling in orders for heart garlands on my Etsy and MadeIt shops in time for Valentine's Day.  Or weddings.  And at least they are finished products.