The first of the quilts finished for the 3rd of June 2011

In our family, all our birthdays are crammed into 2 days in June and 2 weeks in September/October. This year my DSIL (Darling Sister in Law) Petro, had her 60th birthday and my DS (Darling Sister) her 50th Birthday both on the 3rd of June.

Logistically we had to make decisions around Pretoria, Portarlington and Cape Town. We landed up in Cape Town for the weekend to spend some time with Petro (DSIL)

Petro was thrilled with her quilt. For me, it was a bit of a challenge to work with the browns and muted greens, but I learned a lot about the importance of contrast to keep a quilt from being boring without using psychedelic colours.

And yes, if you wondered: it is Petro that is holding the quilt. The one that turned 60. Amazing woman that looks 40.

We had a splendid time in Cape Town. Spent some time with Kenneth and Kirsten as well and ate too much, as always. Johan and I went to Kirstenbosch on Sunday morning, photographing the beautiful winter gardens. (Confetti quilt or two from that photo session) I also took some very beautiful pictures of birds for a realistic appliqué quilt of common South African birds... Some of the patterns are now available for download from here