Sewing and Shopping

I have been sewing up a storm over the weekend.......that pesky tree skirt now just needs to be backed, quilted and the binding put on...tomorrows job after I get some binding help as its a done a very different way to my usual binding way! Have to finish it the tree is up (much to Henry's delight)

and shopping...

I love shopping especially for yummy patterns.

I took a peek at Quilt fabric delights on Friday afternoon and found some things in my shopping cart!

I bought these

Yummy little pin keepers

and for the girlie's teachers Christmas presents

and then for the girlie's on Christmas morning

and just because I love Janelle's bags

so it was a great weekend here for me :)

DH took the dog fishing yesterday morning they came home without any fish and lost a few hooks and broke the reel.....oops lol, then he took the girlie's to the beach for a swim

today her took them fishing at the jetty and they came home with 1 lil fish, ripped pants and bloody knees the littlest girlie took a tumble :(

A great weekend :)

only 2 weeks and 4 days til my mum and dad arrive

We are excited.

It will be a big sewing week too, I have to finish the bed runner no excuses must be done THIS WEEK!

a big thank you too Chookyblue to for her hyperlink help, couldn't have done it without her :)

I hope you all had a fabulous weekend

A Bit of Fun

**** I'll apologise now for the links I have no idea how you do those hyperlink thingies ****


DH sent me these in an email today

the ball is driving me mad

I won't tell you my score because its just too shameful

http://thedogpaddler.com/RandomUploads/Ball/ball.htm

then there is the parachute

lots of fun

http://www.bassfiles.net/parachute.swf

we have had these ones for ages,

this one is great for the days that you just need take your frustrations out on something, its very therapeutic lol

http://n.ethz.ch/student/mkos/pinguin.swf


and finally the sheep, I love the sheep

http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/sleep/sheep/reaction_version5.swf


enjoy :)

Tree Skirt

I am slowly making progress on the tree skirt. SLOWLY being the word lol



this is why I needed the 10 degree wedge so my V's match up

but I am not to happy with the amount of wastage I'll have to try and make something out of it all I think

and no helper today, Henry has had a hard morning of eating and chasing moths so this is how he has spent his day

and I still have 5.5 piles of strips to sew might be a long afternoon/night

The fabric range I am using is by Moda and will match the table runner perfectly which was my intention all along although I can't have the same backing as the table runner as the skirt needs fabric 2.2 metres wide, so I have a rather blah browny/beige fabric to use but its all good as you won't see the backing AT ALL and it will hide the dirt from the floor really really well. The living area floors in this house is sealed concrete.......awful awful awful, so hard to keep clean and the girlie's track sand inside constantly so I fight a constant battle with dirt and sand and the dead moths that Henry the great orange hunter kills nightly.

I hope everyone has had a great day :)

Its Finished

the table runner that is and is on the table right now! I am very happy with how it turned out.






and here is the finished centre bock of it, I used felt to make the berries, I was going to make YoYo's but I suck at making YoYo's I need YoYo lessons lol.





So today I decided while I waited for the real estate to come to do our inspection that I would cut the fabric for the tree skirt. This is what I had to deal with

Lucky I adore this ball of fluffy fur.

My 10 degree wedge ruler arrived today YIPPEE so I am set to do the tree skirt, need to have it done before Sunday as that is when the Christmas tree will go up, otherwise we have to wait until the following weekend.....

Best dash nearly time to get the girlie's from school then we have to make shepherds costume for the end of the year school concert, which are needed by tomorrow but we only found out about needing them yesterday, I went to the op shop spent $3:50 on 2 tablecloth's so we are set to make them this afternoon

Have a fabulous day :)

My helper

is getting to be a pest....

this is some of what I have had to deal with so far today while I quilt the table runner

when Henry was moved off the runner this was his next 'trick'

can't sleep on it then I'll watch very very closely!

and finally he has given up for now

obviously he realised that if he couldn't get on top under was just as good lol

he is currently asleep on some wadding!

I think I need to make him a lil quilt of his own

at least he doesn't stop me every 5 minutes asking for food, a drink, to play, to watch tv as the littlest girlie does and he doesn't ask questions HEAVEN lol

Have a great day :)

Table Runner

is being quilted today :)

this is what I did yesterday with my hangover lol

and a close up


the holly leaves have red berries but I need to get it quilted before I attach them

otherwise the littlest girlie and I the last item on the list for the big girlies and we picked ds up some shirts.

Opps gotta dash and collect the big girlies for dancing

will edit this post a bit later!

Sick

I am suffering tonight

suffering from

self inflicted illness...read to much alcohol last night

I felt great this morning, well enough to sew the table runner together

all was good until I ate bacon and eggs, which I requested lol

am in the bad books with dh, as we were invited to a bbq and I wouldn't go.

Girlies are exhausted I wonder if it has something to do with a 12:30am bedtime this morning

I am bad......

Will share a photo of the table runner tomorrow.

Did You Know

Irons don't bounce well

On Wednesday morning I was untangling the iron cord and for some unknown reason I pulled the cord, which in turned pulled the iron off the ironing board onto the awful sealed concrete floors we have, the iron then bounced around the floor before stopping at the door. This was the result

oops

So today it was iron shopping day quite sad really as the 'old' iron was only bought Late August.

Ta Da meet the non bouncing iron lol

Then I managed to get permanent marker on the bed runner, no idea HOW so a frantic visit to the LPS for some sympathy and the girls managed to get it out PHEW.

The Littlest girlie and I have been christmas shopping too, we are all done except for dh's present. YAY I do get to have 1 more shop though when I drive to Kalgoolie to collect gumdrops and grandpa from the airport in 3 weeks and 6 days. So exciting I will be able to have McDonalds for lunch LOL for the 2nd time in almost 9 months

Have a great day I plan on getting stuck into the table runner this weekend and back to the bed runner next week I need to find a store with a 10 degree wedge ruler so I can do the tree skirt, anyone have any ideas of an online store that DOES stock these rulers???

Tree Skirts and Table Runners

As I mentioned earlier I decided that we needed a tree skirt so I finally decided on a pattern and here is the fabric's I selected

then I thought maybe a festive table runner would be good hence this little pile

then I left the shop lol

and some machine quilting on the bed runner

Enjoy and thanks for visiting :)

Sorted

Christmas Presents for the girlies anyhow

1 pink scooter

1 purple scooter

1 pink malvern star bike for the littlest girlie whose current bike is way toooo small for her and whilst I speaking of the littlest girlie she is earning to ride her bike WITHOUT training wheels, when I asked her if she was sure about the no training wheels her answer was

'Well I am 5 now' lol

the bedrunner has quilted centres I need a solid day at the sewing machine and it will be done.

I decided that we need a tree skirt today, and I found one on the www so I am about to head to town the my LPS, the post office to send my SSCS off and to collect the girlies from school.

Have a fab day and I'll be back later with some pictures :)

Today is

a no photo sharing post :(

I am hoping to start the quilting on the bed runner. YAY Well after I sew on the last 3 small hearts, I just need to carefully cut my 55 cms off the 2.7 m strip of wadding, I was rather frustrated that wadding only comes in 2.4m width especially when I needed 2.7 metres, but having to buy that much was fabulous as it means I have the wadding now for girlie # 2's blue diamond quilt (just need the time to make it)


Last night while I watched Packed to the Rafters and All Saints I started stitching Little Bluebirds, block 3 (finally) 1 flower stitched too many to go, and to think I have to do 3 more stitchery panels after this one! Girlie # 2 (who its for) asked was it nearly finished and was a bit disappointed that it wasn't.

I decided I deserved a sewing day as yesterday was spent doing housework and mopping floors and I hate to mop and usually will do anything I can to avoid using the mop lol, and washing clothes and sorting out girlie # 3's clothes and room. I even washed some windows!!!!!!

I will be back tomorrow sometime hopefully with photos too.

I hope you have a happy sewing day too

Bed Runner

Here are the pics of the bed runner.




Its nearly 2.7 metres long , finished size is 55cm x 250cm

A close up of the hexagon ring and small heart

Its is all paper pieced and handsewn but will be machine quilted

I have 9 more small hearts to sew on, hopefully tonight they will be done :)

Will be so happy to get it finished.

The binding is the deep maroon/red in the hexagon rings

Oh I bought the wading today and picked up some fabric to start the Red Delicious mystery BOM but MUST FINISH BED RUNNER before I start it

Have a great day :)

Sore

fingertips and backside.

I found the easiest spot for stitching the bed runner together is at the dining table, and the result is a sore butt. I really should get a pillow to sit on lol timber chairs just don't have that much padding.

but top is 98% done.

Will share a picture tomorrow

Lack of Progress & a bit of Progress

The Progress

Yay I am finally up to the applique on mums bed runner. I spent yesterday cutting the background fabric, tricky as the size of bed runner is 240cm x 55cm, glue basting the appliques on then last night I spent hand sewing it on. The hexagon ring is almost completely stitched on outer side, about to tackle the inside of the ring. Sorry for the scrunched fabric

**note to self # 4365 Iron before the next photo***

Lack of Progress

Little Bluebirds is suffering. My *cough cough* reason is I am waiting to do a class specifically on needle turn applique and as chance would have it I am doing one with mum Dec 22 :), but that does not excuse the lack of the embroidery being done, but once I have the bed runner out of the way, look out little bluebirds :)

and the There should Be No Progress Project but oops there is

An Angel Story, these are the first 4 blocks, all need to be appliqued and the stitching done. The 'girls' are for Monday afternoons in the car while I wait for the dancing queens to finish at dancing.

Happy Stitching and have a fabulous weekend :)

When the going gets tough

The tough go shopping!

after yesterdays news and having 3 lil girlie's all saying 'Oh yippee we can go home to our house' (the family home in Tasmania) and the aftermath of disappointment because we aren't (even I wanted to cry because we're not) they are now not happy that we need to move, at least school will be back so it 'should' be a bit easier on the day without them. Oh well these things happen I guess.

I digress sorry

I collected the big girlie's from school as they had dancing, and decided to cheer myself up with a trip to the LPS, where I purchased (used my gift voucher) the fabric for Anni Downs, An Angel Story quilt. I have been wanting to do this quilt for a while and one of next years projects is to do Anni's A Christmas Story quilt and have it ready FOR CHRISTMAS 2009, fingers crossed.

Here are my fabrics, I am using homespun for the angels backgrounds and 15 assorted prints, and the brown (under the floss) is for their shoes and hair. SO today's job is to start stitching :)

My WIP pile is expanding quickly

I have in various stages of completion

1 bed runner for Mum (almost ready to applique the paper peicing onto the background)

2 queens sized quilt 'Stars Above' for master bedroom

3 Little Bluebirds BOM (2 months behind, bad I know)

4 Noah and friends

5 Dear Baby Jane (3 down, 262 to go lol)

6 Sampler quilt (being quilted)

and in the To Do Pile is (fabric and pattern)

1 Girlie # 2's blue quilt

2 Girlie # 3's 'Simply Shabby Chic' from The Quilted Crow, in Hobart.

4 Mariners Compass lap quilt for dh

5 another master bedroom quilt 'State of Grace'

and

I have 2 wall hangings for the girlie's which just need quilting, think I might do the quilting myself.....

ONE DAY

have a fabulous day whatever you are doing, I am going to sew it's an overcast drizzy day here

Stop.....I wanna get off

this ride.

Had a call from the real estate we rent our house through, the house is going on the market this week, so that means we need to move in mid February to another house. I hate moving house with a passion. I did suggest the girlies and I move home to Tasmania and dh rents a batchelor pad here, but that suggestion wasn't well received lol lol I had to try.

Sigh

all is good though as it means we get to move into town :) so fingers crossed for us that we find a house big enough for us and the furry ones :)

Winners :)

the officals,

(excuse the hair, it HAS now been brushed lol)

drumroll please

the winner of a giant pincushion, the pattern and the lil fabric basket is...............

and the winner of a giant pincushion is......

Congratulations ladies.

Can you please email me your addresses and I'll get them into the post :)

and today frustation for me is this

Yes its my sampler quilt, finally getting quilted.

Have a fabulous day :)

Rewind please

Can anyone tell me where Sunday has gone......

I seem to have missed it :)

and because I appear to have 'missed' Sunday its way to late to get the girlies to draw my giveaway winner tonight,

so,

I am about to put the names into a bowl/hat ready for the morning.

AND

because I am running late, I will giveaway a 2nd pincushion,

looks like a girlie will have to be chief bowl holderuperer and the other 2 will be the drawer's.

Makes sense to me

Make sure you check back tomorrow :)

oh and I am truely sneaky :)

I rang mum last week to ask her to go to spotlight for a dress up cape pattern, so she did, and she found a little red riding hood cape. Fast forward to yesterday, she rang me for the required length, it appears Gumdrops has made the cape..

Go gumdrops we do love you :)

YIPPEE lol

Ready to Post

Yippee

I picked up the last couple of things for my Secret Santa present.

After reading Chookyblues post on Swap ettiquette I read the comments and I have to say

Thanks for the ideas, I took them on board and went from there and I hope my recipient is happy.

There is a little bit of this and a little bit of that :)
my book order hasn't arrived and I haven't heard anything about the parcel I sent 2 weeks ago to my stitchers' angel partner......and she hasn't replied to my emails. its frustrating

girlie # 3 had dancing today, we went to the supermarket, had lunch with daddy. We have friends coming for dinner tonight we are having lasagne, salad and garlic bread :)

Have a great day :)

Sad

my niece is expecting her 1st baby!

I found out today.

due May/June, she is having a scan next week.

and I am happy for her but also sad for her

sad because it sounds so familar

I was 17 when I had ds I am 37 he is 19 (20 in 10 weeks)

So I called him and made him promise that he wouldn't even consider having children before I am 50, he promised me he wouldn't.

I get to make a baby quilt now :)

It's a GIVEAWAY kind of day

As promised today is the day of my 50th post (according to blogspot) so you have to leave a comment to go into the hat/bowl for the following goodies

one of these

in these fabrics

and this pattern

and a little fabric basket designed by Pink Penguin and made by me sorry I don't have a picture of it.

You have until noon Sunday Western Standard Time (2pm EST) then I will get the girlies to draw out a winner :)

Have a fabulous day I am off to do some housework (blah)

Love Letters

The girlies all received a postcard from Gumdrops and Grandpa yesterday with a ' we want a letter' request. So they all sat down yesterday afternoon and wrote their letters and did a drawing for Gumdrops and Grandpa to put on their freezer, because magnets won't stick to their fridge.

Here is their artwork

Girlie # 1

Love the way she made sure grandpa had his moustache and that is one of the cats in the background lol

Girie # 2

Girlie # 3

and this is from girlie # 2 also

I think there will be a very happy Gumdrops when these appear in her maill box.

Introducing & a giveaway

my sewing assistant.

My sewing assistant is just gorgeous and never too far away from my side, although my assistant does need to pick his time better for a rest other than when it is time for me to actually sew. He normally sits off to the side but this morning he decided that right beside my machine on top of my project was the best place!

So without further ado

and as promised a picture of my frustration

not the best photo but it is a miserable day here, wet and windy. I cannot wait to get this done.

I am off of to lunch with my gorgeous husband and then to the patchwork shop as I need to cut my backing fabric into 3 and I am too afraid to do it alone, and I don't want to have to buy another 4.5 metres if I mess it up :)

onto the giveaway, my 50th post is going to happen TOMORROW and to celebrate I am going to have a giveawy. Now to be in the running for my giveaway you HAVE TO LEAVE A COMMENT. ( lol it was late when I posted yesterday and obviously at 11:30pm my maths isn't the best lol)

whats the giveaway I hear. A big pincushion, a thread bag and a little suprise (yet to be decided).

SO wait for my post tomorrow and I will have a picture of the pincushion etc then the fun will begin.

Have a fabulous day

48th post

I only started my blog so I could participate in the Stitchers' Angel swap and the Christmas swap. I never imagined that I would still be happily blogging 48 posts later.....

anyhoo

I have had a slightly frustrating day, mums christmas present is doing my head in 100%. I had stitched all the outer bits, and was in the process of stitching the centre pieces together. I finally got all 3 centre bits done except for the pieces that make the hearts, imagine my disgust when I sat down today to finish off the centres only to find that I had used the wrong paper piecing bits, I was trying to use the small jewel shapeswhenI needed to use the large pieces. A few choice words and a trip to the LPS, some unpicking and I am back in business. I have completely finished ONE centre yay me lol. Photo to come tomorrow, but that means I have to re do the other bits that were already sewn togother.

My mum had better like this bed runner lol or it will be on MY BED instead.

Tomorrow is a girlie free day, I have no plans as yet other than dropping them all at school I guess that I should do a spot of housework then I might just sit and continue working on the frustrating bed runner while watching Prison Break, we are up to disc 4 of season 1 and season 2 is sitting here to be watched.

Have a great day whatever you are doing :)

Today

* We picked up daddy from the airport

* went to the girlie's school fete, the big girlie's class painted pots which had herbs planted in them, we managed to get one girlie's pot, the other had been sold :( all the girlie's had a lucky dip, got to play the stick game and I found some books so all was good.

* had our visitors visit this afternoon and I had to go mad at Toni, I gave her all my scrapping gear, all the embellishments, alpha's etc because I wasn't using them and knew I wouldn't use them, well today she gave me a thank you gift, which was a gift voucher to my LPS, totally unexpected and it wasn't needed but what a treasure to do that for me. Now I just need to decide what I need to buy with it.

* cleaned out our chook pen and found some hidden eggs

* took these photos of Henry cat who decided that the egg collecting basket was the best place for a nap this afternoon, how he managed to squash his ample body in the basket still amazes me.

* had a yummy chicken curry for tea, dh did the dishes YAY, watched the horse show on the ABC, and now he has gone to bed as he is off to work in the morning.

* I have nearly finished the first paper piecing heart block for Mum's bed runner, I just need to cut the small jewel shapes out and sew them on, its looking great and I will get a picture of it tomorrow in the daylight.

Not sure what is on our agenda for Sunday, maybe I will get to sit and work on mum present on the quiet....well I can hope :)

Have a fabulous day whatever you may be doing.

Productive

I have had a very productive day at the sewing machine :)

My secret Santa gift is FINISHED (I love it and want to keep it) I just need to wrap and post it to a far away land :)

I have also made a little pincushion and a scissor keeper, now I just need some little scissors to put in it

I bought Anni Downs 'An Angel Story' book yesterday so to celebrate I used her pin cushion and scissor keeper pattern. I do need some lessons on sewing a circle to a strip of fabric I have a few pleats oops but I am impressed for my first go, I also have her A Christmas Story book, the Christmas quilt is on my to do list next year.

Girlie # 3 had dancing and then went to her friends house for a play, I was supposed to do some housework but the sewing machine was calling me louder than the Dyson.....I did do some washing and hung it in the dryer as it rained again. The very naughty puppy Tanis went for a wander this morning and didn't return home until 1:30......then went again while I was collecting girlie # 3....naughty naughty puppy.

The weekend is looking to be fairly quiet, tomorrow we are off to collect daddy from the airport then we have the girlie's school fete, then we have friends coming over in the afternoon so I guess there won't be to much sewing happening but I might get some of mums present stitched together, Christmas is sneaking up on me way way to fast I am so unprepared this year with only the big girlie's Santa present organised. I am thinking cd's, book's and some clothes as for lil girlie I still have no idea.

I am expecting some happy mail this week I ordered 2 Nancy Halvorsen books, Cottage Charms and True Friends I can't wait for them to arrive, a friend has the cottage charms book and I LOVED it, so hurry up Australia Post.

and for a bit of useless info did you know you can buy a tricky little applique foot for Janome sewing machines I bought one and it makes machine applique so much easier, would have to be the best $15 I have spent in a long time :) and will get the rest of the Noah and friends blocks
appliqued so much faster

and does anyone know if Spotlight sell costume patterns??? I am after an easy pattern for capes for the littlest girlie who loves to dress up, might have to get mum to investigate before she comes over in 47 days woo hoo my mummy is coming to stay :) :) :) I miss my mum, hate not being able to call in for morning tea and I have to admit I miss her surprise visits, mum had a key to our house and if you didn't answer the door fast enough she'd just let herself in, I suppose it was good that she at least knocked, I never did I just walk in :)

Hopefully it will only be another 12 - 18 months before the semi trailer and 2 shipping containers appear at our door to take us home, yep 2 containers we don't travel lightly lol.

Have a fabulous weekend everyone.