Bear Paws

Who knew they could be so tricky to make

and of course because I want the finished quilt big

enough to fit my bed, I have had to make

extra paws.......

this is what I managed to get done on Saturday (I think it was Saturday)

today I made it into my sewing room about 12:30

which gave me 2 hours of sewing time before the girlies came

home, I am pleased to report that I now have

28 little paw blocks left to stitch

which means I have sewn 72 of the little blighters

but I have run out of room on my design wall for them all lol

and I have run out of some fabric so I am off to

Calico Crossroads in the morning to pick up some more

and collect my kit for the homespun BOM that starts in the next issue

and find some fabrics for the SAL, which starts tomorrow

then I have to collect a quilt from Leanne,

its either Miss I's or Miss S's

then I guess I'll have to do some grocery shopping

and no doubt I will get it all done and have to race down

to school to collect the girlies so I thinking tomorrow will be

a non sewing day for me

and I am so close to finishing block 8 of

Down in the Garden its just not funny

I have the flower centres to stem stitch and

a tiny block of vines to do and its done, so I might

go back and start appliquing butterflies and dresdan plates

who knows what I can acheive over the next 20 nights until

block 9 arrives in the post :)



Hmmmm

I have learnt today that

when making a bear paw block

that you really need to pay attention to which way

the sewing lines are drawn...

Exhibit A

oops the wrong way

Exhibit B

the correct way



sadly this is the 2nd time I have done it lol

oh well the rest are all correctly marked and waiting

to be sewn tomorrow

lol lol lol

Postponed

Thank you Air New Zealand

and

Flight Centre

for making it so easy to be done

mum and dad have postponed their trip to the South Island of

New Zealand until things settle down

I am not sure if it was 'the last supper' invite

for Saturday night

that swung the trip into postponed mode

because until this morning they were still going...

love and hugs to all across the ditch

xxxxxxx



Do you see what I see???

Look very closely at the bottom of the rose bush trunk

or maybe you will see better here

look to the left of the lead

ok so maybe its not his best angle lol

suprise, its Henry on his daily wander out the front

he sits at the front door and meows constantly to be taken out

but when you get the harness he runs, then he realises that if he wears

the harness, he gets to wander with the girlies

Henry is an indoor cat with free access to our deck, the backyard

is where he wants to be but the naughty puppy is there and I don't fancy fence

jumping to rescue him from whatever is hiding in the neighbours yards

so he has to make do with his daily wander out the front.

Harry is to afraid to even try to go out the front lol

the saying is true

Dogs have Masters

Cats have slaves

I am pretty sure that we fall into the

slave category lol lol lol

Fantastic News

This is what Miss Deb had to say in a quick post on facebook

yesterday

Hi guys, at a friends with power. All okay, thanks for love and messages and prayers. Terrifying here at moment, very emotional. Our house and land bit messy but its just stuff.

Darlene and family okay from what I have heard although her house unliveable, they at their bach just out of town safe.

Beth now home with us, got home at 4am ...from Wellington so we're all together.

Post again soon when can. xxxxx Deb

 

what a great message to read

 

Some answers to some questions

Miss  Fiona

I found Berries and Bluebirds at

Quilt Fabric Delights

if you visit Gail Pan's blog she has listed some other

 stores doing this BOM, using different colour ways

Joyful

As soon as I heard about the earthquake I called them

to ask them not to go, unfortunately their travel

insurance doesn't cover earthquakes, so if they don't go

they will lose alot of money

Unless there is a no go warning from the government

they will still be going.

and I will be stressed out for the entire time they are away

Still no news from Miss Darlene,

please say a little prayer that she and her family

are safe and well, and that we haven't heard from her

due to communication issues.

Lets hope today is a much better day for all

A Sad but productive day

As we all know by now Christchurch was hit by a massive

earthquake today.

My heart aches for all those affected and for the families of

those who have lost their lives

I am so pleased to hear that the delightful Miss Deb, Mr Deb

and the little Debs are all fine

but I am waiting patiently to here that Miss Darlene who lives in

Lyttelton is ok too.

Hugs to all the NZ quilty girls across the ditch from us

xxxxxxxxxx

my parents are flying to Christchurch this weekend for a 2 week holiday

if its not kids stressing me out its my

parents.......

as for being productive, I went to the gym......

I started cutting out a new quilt, this one is for ME

using gorgeous fabric from Kansas Trouble Quilters, of which I would like some more

so I can make it big enough for my bed

the range is  'Summers End'

and the piles, lots of piles

and some happy mail, as winter closes in, it is going to be way to cold

to sit in my sewing room for long periods of time, so I am doing another

BOM, lots of handwork to do in the warmth of the loungeroom. Its a Gail Pan design

my first Gail design ever :)

and the gorgeous fabrics

and what the end result will be

I think I might need to stock up on some more

thimble-it thimbles lol

and of course my faithful sewing companion Henry

on the ironing board totally in my way,

so him lol

oh and Miss I's much loved Magoo,

Magoo needs some 'surgery'

he is on the waiting list, I am sure

Magoo will get his operation soon though lol

Summers is alomost over

and I can say that with certainty today

as its only

5.9 degrees C

I knew this day was coming but a few

more warm sunny days would have been fabulous

we are having the sunny days just not the warmth.

I guess I will have to start pulling  out 

my jumpers and jeans

its times like this I almost wished I lived in the tropics

there was snow onMt Wellington over the weekend

what is with that.

on a stitchy note,

Block 7 is done and dusted and Block 8 has been started I collected it

yesterday from the Post Office along with more happy mail.

Photos to come later

right now I need to get the girlies up, fed, dressed and

to school

then I am off to the gym as its seems

I gained a small african over the summer school holidays

then for a walk along the river with a girlfriend.

Have a WARM, happy day :)

Great Stitching weather

Yesterday I awoke to a wet, cold, miserable day (18mm of rain),so whats a girl

to do when the weather is like that

thats right STITCH

I finished off my neglected Block 6 of Down in the Garden

I still have the butterflies to applique on

and then I started Block 7

its taken me all of today which was wet to start with then became sunny but so cold

and a good portion of last night

to stem stitch those horrible little pink flowers.

I have had to dig out my thimble as my needle pushing finger is so sore.

I only have 2 buds and 1 flower cluster left to do tonight, then I will

finish the border and start on the

'Time to reflect' and the lone flower

I also have some dresdan plates to sew........

but I must push on with the stitching as Block 8 will be arriving

tomorrow or Tuesday.

Its finished

Miss E's 2nd quilt top

yippee and today I got some happy mail

Month 1 of Anni Down's new BOM

In my garden

and the fabrics and threads

and this is what it should end up like

I will definately now how to do needleturn applique

by the time this is finished.



Can you hear anything

because I can't

it is soooooo quiet

it is sooooo nice

the girlies were ready to go this morning at 8:10am lol

20 minutes before we actually left

and I have enjoyed myself so far

I have had coffee with a girlfriend

shopped for fruit and vegies

picked up some beef strip's for dinner

had coffee with mum and dad

now I am home enjoying the peace so I am

about to head into my sewing room

and get some more done on the final quilt

12 rows sashed

1 to sash

so close yet so far



Silence is Golden

and as my mum said when I got back to collect the girlies

'no wonder you needed a day off from them'

lol lol lol

I got to have a day off

I went here

to see the 'man of the house' who was in port for the day

it was soooooo quiet, it felt quite strange

my girls are noisy

and very chatty

so today was a little bit of heaven just for the

SILENCE

we got to really talk about what has been happening with his work,

last leave wasn't good, he was sacked, we lived off our savings for a month

but he got this job and today I saw a relaxed, happy man

who is enjoying his job, and I haven't seen 'him' since Feb 2008 

we are in a good place at the moment

and

we have been told there is a 95% chance

 there will be some big changes happening

for our family in the near future, good changes

Fingers crossed please,

he needs this

I think I need this.

Very Slow Progress

on the fourth and final quilt for the girlies

I have 8 rows sashed together

I have 5 rows on my design wall

waiting for the sashing

I am very over these quilts

but I know that if I stop

I won't re start is for MONTHS

so I will plod on tonight

and tomorrow HOPEFULLY

I will just need to stitch each row together

and add the borders!

Otherwise dh is coming into our local port on Tuesday

so the girlies are off to grandma and grandpas for the day

and I am off to see him.

and I am sooooo looking forward to

Wednesday because

school goes back

YIPPEE

I will be coming home to a silent house

and I am going to LOVE it lol

Would anyone

be interested in doing a

Mug Rug Swap??

leave a comment if you are 

3 down, 1 to go :)

At that thought alone is making me smile

Miss E's finished top

its very purple,

very bright

very her



and didn't lining up the little sashes give me some

issues

so as my title says

3 down 1 to go

that 1 to go is being started today.

So happy its rather blah weather too makes for a great

sewing day :)

Its time

again for Friday night sew in.

Go here and sign up if you are keen

I will be working on Miss E's 2nd quilt

the first is almost ready for borders, I have 6 more rows to sew together.

and its looking very bright lol

I will be back tomorrow with a finished top I hope :)

Slow Progress

on Miss E's quilt

I have sewn 6 rows of 6 patcheswith 12 sets of 6 patches per row

and I have sewn 3 rows to the sashing that goes between each block

but lordy I am going to be doing that for days

and

I still have 7 rows worth of 6 patches to sew together

then sew them to 7 rows worth of sashing

and for my efforts I am know sporting an iron burn.......

Miss E loves it and did comment

that I was nearly finished lol



864 and Happy Mail

864, 2.5inch blocks =

the beginings of 1 of Miss E's new quilt

Miss I's finished top both are now with Leanne for quilting

(dodgy photo sorry)

and our happy mail from Darlene

chooks and eggs (naughts and crosses) for the girlie's

I LOVE this so much

and we have all had fun this afternoon playing

and a gorgeous bag for me

Thank you so much Darlene the girlie's and I love it all

and my faithful sewing companion having a rest with his favourite mouse toy

and for the record, Henry does do more than sleep,

although sleeping is his prefered

hobby especially when I am sewing the afternoon away

and I have sawn 2 logs in half to fit in the trailer although I did pass at

dh suggestion  of using the grinder to cut the length of steel in half

I am just to attached to my fingers, hands and legs lol



Stuff

I was wide awake with coffee drunk and the Sunday papers

read by 8am yesterday. so I put on some yard clothes and

headed out the front to load a trailer, with the remnents of

our plumbing issues and dead tree branches.

I then got stuck into dead heading the roses, removing some roses,

weeding and a general tiday up of the front yard, especially as we had

a trailer to load up.

then as I had beens so productive outside I stripped my bed and Miss E's bed

and washed the sheets, but the only thing I HATE about bed changing day is when

I remake all the other beds in  the house and forget about mine,

until I want to go to bed, then I have to make it to get into it

I HATE THAT

I have sewn Block 5 of Aunt Grace

'Patchwork Fantasy'

and made more pinwheels (27 so far)

and I made 25 of these for Miss I's quilt on Saturday

yesterday (Sunday) I sewed them together so

 today I just need to get the borders sewn on and its done

now I have another 2 quilts to make for Miss E's beds.......

I have all the fabric, just need to do it.

Today we are going into town to buy Miss S a book she needs for

violin, Wednesday is book day at school....

and this year

I am NOT covering any books.

and Is till haven't gotten back to Down in the Garden

I have a quilt of my mums here for the binding to be stitched down

1 side to go, I'll get the rest done tonight while the

Underbelly movie is on

ohhhh I love Underbelly



1st Finish for February

Pennsylvania Dutch Sampler Quilt

the backing fabric

and the quilting pattern Leanne did



I LOVE this quilt :)

and Miss I just collected block 5 of Aunt Grace

from the letterbox, so today I will do that and work on

Miss I's new quilt which is all cut out and waiting to be sewn

and its back to Down in the Garden at night :)

I have been asked how I get so much sewing done

well here is how

I have my days organised so that my household chores are finished

mid morning.  Each night I tidy up the remains of the girlie's days

make sure the kitchen, bathroom and living areas are clean before I go to bed.

I don't sleep to much maybe 6 hours a night max, and my days start

at 6am, the washing is in the machine and hung out by 8am

the girlie's are all fairly independent and they have chores to do each morning also.

I am big on organisation and I can't stand clutter, so if I buy a trashy mag, I read it

then bin it, unless its homespun, quilters companion or DUQ

its read then gone.

I garden late afternoon, a little bit each day then the garden doesn't get out

of control (which it is at the moment)

as dh works away from home, my evenings are my time and I quite often sew late into

the night as I don't have anyone here to talk to IYKWIM, when he is here, he has his shed,

I have my sewing room, and alot more finishes come out of my sewing room than

his shed lol lol lol

so its easy for me to get my sewing done.

to be honest I could quite happily be agoraphobic and never leave the house lol

So for me, time management, organisation and being a homebody is how I get it done :)

Caught Up

Finally on the Fat Quarter Shop BOM

Aunt Grace circle of Friends blocks

At the Fair

Goose in the Pond

and 24 4.5 inch pinwheels for the border

I am sure I could make pinwheels in my sleep.

So tonight I will plod on with the binding so I can get back

into Down in the Garden



Some sewing

Last night I made a start on the latest BOM I have

been collecting from The Fat Quarter Shop

'Aunt Grace's Circle of Friends'

Block 1 ~  Flowerpots

Block 2 ~ Cakestand

I have 2.5 more cakestands to make.

I have 2 more blocks waiting to be cut and stitched together

but I think an early night is in order for me tonight

so I will get to them tomorrow.

I also got 1 end and half a side of binding sewn down last

night on my Pennsylvania Dutch quilt while I watched the channel 7 coverage of

Yasi.

I hope you have managed to get some sewing done too :)

Banana's

the day before Cyclone Larry, banana's were selling locally for $1:99

the day after Cyclone Larry tore through Cairns and Innisfail in 2006,

our local supermarket started charging

$14.99 for a kilo of banana's, banana's that they already had in stock

which in my opinion is 100% wrong

my girlies didn't eat banana's for months due to

the cost of them.

Now that Yasi has wiped out the NQ Banana crops

there will be no Tully/Innisfail banana's for a quite a while

so today

the girlies and I headed out to our local vegie shed

where banana's from Tully were in stock and selling for $2.40kg

and we bought 7kgs of those lovely yellow fruits.

They are now in our freezer so we can still eat banana bread and muffins

with real banana's in them.

So if you get a chance go buy some Tully or Innisfail banana's

and put them in your freezer for later use

A sleepless night

for all in FNQ

I have heard from my SIL this morning they are all fine, as far as they know there house/business survived also

MIL and the other SIL in Townsville are 'a bit worse for wear'

and my stubborn old FIL is safe and still in his house lol.

Still waiting to hear from ds.....he will still be asleep

I am exhausted, I finally went to bed at 1:30am only to wake at 4:30 and I have been dozing on the couch every since.

As you would know Yasi crossed the coast at Mission Beach, devastating itand has devastated the town of Tully. Innisfail by some miracle has escaped resonabley unscathed

95% of our Banana crops are grown in FNQ and today those trees are lying on the ground snapped at the base just as in Cyclone Larry.

and for a little bit of good news in amongst the bad news is a baby was born in an evacuation centre last night in Cairns and I believe another in Innisfail.

I am just happy that the family we have there are all ok, houses can be replaced, people can't

So far so good

I finally heard from my boy, his phone is packed somewhere

he has no idea where

he has prepared his house as best he could

and moved into princesses parents house til its over

heard from my SIL, they are all OK

still have power, so all are reasonably happy but very afraid

and with good reason

MIL and other SIL are in Townsville with no power and

as far as I know my FIL has bunkered down at his house

ALONE

stubborn old bugger.

Me I am doing ok

just very nervous and afraid for them all

to what they will wake up to tomorrow

I am getting alot of sewing done

its that or nervous eating

I figure sewing is better for my waistline lol

will update again in the morning

as soon as I know all are safe and sound



Waiting impatiently

for this horrendous time to be over

so what is a girl to do but sew 

I've been working on my Civil War quilt blocks

Block 5 ~ Kansas Troubles

Block 4 ~  Tears for Texas

and my sewing companian Henry cat on his

prefered resting spot the ironing board

I have been glued to the tv, watching channel 7's coverage of the

unfolding disaster, I haven't been able to get hold of ds, and that is concerning me

so I am about to sew the binding onto my

Pennsylvania Dutch quilt and do some hand stitching on

Down in the Garden..

anything to keep my mind busy.

I think it will be a night of little sleep for me until I get

word that ds, dh's family and our many

friends in Cairns are safe and sound

Miss I has her first violin lesson this afternoon she is very very excited today.

and Miss S has her violin lesson straight after miss I.

anything to keep my mind busy.

Yasi, Cat 5 system

and DH and I are both EXTREMELY concerned.

all of DH family live in Cairns, 1 sister lives in the centre of the city, his other sister lives 5 minutes from the city centre and his parents are 10 minutes south of cairns.

and my boy lives in the city too.

Just sent out an sms to his parents saying get on a plane as soon as you can, come here, and one to my boy.

both of us feel helpless today, there is nothing we can do to help any of them except to say a quiet prayer and keep our fingers crossed.

I can say that Larry is why we left Cairns and came home, since Larry I do not cope well with high winds, I tend to expect the worst and hope for the best. Going through a cyclone is THE scariest thing I have ever had to do.

So please please please say a little prayer for all our family and friends who are caught up in this horrendous disaster that is unfolding tonight, they are going to need all the luck they can get.

Cyclone Yasi and some sewing

Way back in 2006 Cyclone Larry paid a visit to Far North Queensland

Larry in action

he rudely took our pool sail, window shades and

our pergola roof and took out a HUGE palm tree

our pool before larry

we got off lighty in Edmonton which is a suburb of Cairns and 100kms north

of Innisfail

at the time dh was away at sea and I was home

alone with 4 year old twins, a 2 year old baby girl

and  17 year old ds

TONIGHT

I am a bit concerned

Cyclone Yasi  is by all accounts bigger and nastier than

Larry and is making a bee line for Cairns....

I sent my boy home to Cairns yesterday.........

so please keep your fingers crossed that he is safe and 

out of harms way for the next 36 hours.

now onto some sewing :)

I did the final 2 blocks for my new

table runner today

and the house goodies I found at Calico Crossroads

a cake stand

a candle holder thingie

and finally my mum has been called up again to head to

Queensland, she is off to Toowoomba and surrounding areas

we just hope she stays on her feet at all times and doesn't come

home battered and bruised like she did last month :)