A few little bits and pieces to record of what's been happening around here this week. 

It's been a slow-ish week for me but I have enjoyed a little bit of sewing. They're slow to put together, but I've now made 8 Glitter Quilt blocks and cut up lots of pieces for more blocks. I'm determined to only use fabric in my scrap tubs in a limited palette. If I start to run low, I guess I'll introduce some new colours to keep with the scrappiness. 

Glitter Quilt Template Set on Amazon

The kids are on school holidays and usually they work at their casual jobs through their holidays, but they've both decided to make themselves unavailable and enjoy a few days off before we head away on our family holiday next week. It's been nice having them home.

It's my birthday today. It's a big 0 birthday and I was thoroughly spoiled by my loves. They alway say that they don't know what to get me and I always tell them that I don't need big expensive gifts, but I rather receive things which they've put some thought into. 

Along with beautiful gold jewellery, I was gifted a Glasshouse reed diffuser because I'd like the bottle (which I very much do) and I could use once all of the smelly stuff ran out. A small jar of Moccona coffee because we're going on a cruise and they knows how I much prefer my coffee rather what is available on the ship. Very cute and very thoughtful. I was just going to pour some of my jar into a ziplock bag, but this is much nicer.

My husband has heard me mention that the centre console of the car is great, but huge and deep which makes it very unorganised. He got me a sliding shelf that goes inside of the console to be able to organise things a little better. All thoughtful gifts. Love them!

We had family over for lunch today and I used my new fish table cloth on the dining table. Dad brought it back for me when he was in Portugal last year and I absolutely love the bright and happy coloured fish. I thought they were all sardines, but I've been informed that there are some mackerel in there too. Hah!

I had cake at work on a couple of different days with different work mates which was absolutely delightful. How good are birthdays?!?!

Lemon Meringue Pie

Chocolate Cake with my fave peanut M&Ms

Yesterday, I saw that my Sunny Joy quilt is published in the current issue of Quilters Companion magazine. It's a joyful, scrappy-busting quilt with some 'not so difficult' curves and lots of opportunity to play with colour and value. 

This is one of my most favourite quilts and I'd like to remake it again one day, with a more limited colour palette. So many quilts to make with so little time... 

Image Source: Quilters Companion Magazine

As I mentioned earlier, we head away on a holiday on Monday. We are sailing away on a short cruise, just up to Moreton Island QLD and back to Sydney on Friday. Lot's of family and friends will be joining us on this cruise which should be a lot of fun and I cannot wait to see everyone and enjoy a cocktail or two.

As we all know, a holiday means deciding what craft project to take along. I bought a new sashiko panel at work last week to take with me - I'll eventually turn this panel into a table runner. I thought about using different coloured thread, but absolutely love the indigo and white combination.

I also started another hand piecing project. Again, it's using up scraps. The block is called Propellar 1 and is Postcard Project #9 by Jen Kingwell. These types of templates are great and lots of simple projects can be made with them. I bought this template a few years at a quilt show and finally decided to cut out some pieces and enjoy some slow hand piecing. I have a small pile of pieces already cut and will spend a little bit of time tomorrow cutting some more shapes, ready to stitch up.

These should keep me busy enough around all of the ship activities. Hopefully...