Sidetracked

Its been a chilly weekend here, and today its blowing

a gale with the odd shower of rain, but that means its

perfect sewing weather!

I became sidetracked on Saturday, sidetracked away from

Friends for Christmas.

Sidetracked by English Paper Piecing.

When the girlies and I came to visit dh here last year

for 10 days I forgot to bring any sewing

so dh took us on a drive to visit Mandini Needlecraft

at Tura Beach, where I found the EPP papers and pattern

for Sue Daley's, Antique Sampler Quilt,

picture from here

so I bought it and some japanese indigo fabrics and

happily stitched my days away while we were

here, of course when we returned home to Tasmania

life got in the way and it was tucked away for another day

I pulled it out on the weekend, stitched a few of the paper pieces 

together, prepared some backgrounds and here is where I am up to 

with the EPP side of it

The stitched on to the background blocks

the to be stitched onto the background blocks

and the needing backgrounds to be made

and in my little box are 3 blocks to be basted and stitched together.

I also have signed up for a new block of the month

from here

and here's what I will be making

love love love it, so I need to get my thimble on and get the

last of the leaves and hooves stitched onto Friends for Christmas,

get the last of the EPP blocks stitched and onto their

backgrounds and make a start on all the needleturn 

blocks, so I can be ready to start stitching

Vintage Rouge as soon as block 1 arrives 

no pressure at all :)

Toasty and Warm

Our wood heater was installed yesterday

it was so nice to wake up to a warm house

after 2 weeks of a very chilly house

it certainly pumps out the heat,

and from the deck this morning, its a bit overcast here

and progress on my Friends for Christmas

Block 4, Three Wise Penguins, 

they still need their crowns, and the end

one needs his arm, beak and a star stitched on

Block 5, Racing Reindeer, 2 need feet stitched on

and blocks 2,3 &4 stitched together, now I can do the missing

penguin arm and star, and stitch the last 2 branches down on 

the tree block

Block 6 is a work in progress, it is by far the biggest block

but should be complete by the end of the weekend.

Today I am sitting down and stitching in front of the tv and fire,

I have picked up a nasty cold and am feeling very very blah, so

it is a full day of doing not much for me.

We had a win

Finally the powers that be have decided that

they will install a wood heater for us,

I have picked the one I want, dh has organised quotes

to purchase and install said wood heater, but now we

wait for someone to pull out their finger and make it happen.

Its been 1 week since the gas heater died, 1 very cold week

as dh left for work I told him to ring the heater supplier

and book the installers, especially if he wants me to 

'get off his case' 

As I reminded him he sits in his office with his heater on

while I sit in a freezing cold house and it is freezing

in here the temp gauge doesn't get about 14 most days

He had better come home with a day and time at lunchtime

or there might just be a minor major tanty being had

tonight.

So what heater did I choose

this one

doesn't that look lovely and warm, now we just need it to actually

be in the house keeping me lovely and warm!

Not much sewing happening here, I did a tiny bit of foundation piecing 

yesterday and now have 2 more little blocks to FP then I can get the

little quilt together and finished. I did stitch some reindeer legs

down on my Friends For Christmas, block 5, and I made a mess

trying to pick fabric for some little quilts which I still haven't done :)

We have friends coming for dinner tonight, and Miss E has a 

birthday sleepover tomorrow night, and at some stage we are 

heading bush to collect some firewood.

Hopefully I will get some stitching in........

OPAM Finish

Yep, I have a OPAM finish

I found a pile of 4 patch orphan blocks

when I was cleaning up yesterday

they were left overs from my yummy

'Summer Stomping Group' bear paw quilt

so I sewed them together yesterday, added borders

this morning and then quilted it,

machine sewed the binding on and down

and viola 

the naughty puppy has a warm quilt for his bed

he has been told though that if I find it in the middle of

the yard I will confiscate it, and he will be back to sleeping 

on his manky old doona!

I wonder if he took any notice.

Before and After ~ the big clean

I have spent the past 4 hours purging, sorting and cleaning

up my sewing room

the before photo's

and the afters. No more cane baskets, everything is in

plastic tubs so i can see what I have, all the tubs have 

been labelled with what is in them, and I turned the

cupboard around

the tub with the yellow handles is my

Anni Down's quilt fabrics, some of these were used in my

Some Kind of Wonderful and A Christmas Story quilts, and they

will next be used in 'The Simple Life'

even the little shelves next to my cutting table had a going over

I am oh so organised at the moment

and this basket, well its full of fabrics I won't use

sometime over the next few days I will bundle them up and 

have a 'share the love' giveaway. There is some Melly & Me fat

quarters and lots of spots and bits and pieces. So watch this space

and the heater repairer has just left, with bad news for us

our heater is not economically viable to repair......so he is going to

pass the bad news on and include a quote for a wood heater :)

can you keep your fingers crossed that we get a wood heater...

we want a woodheater 

Back to Normal Posting.

Thanks everyone who left me a comment to say they were

still reading my mundane day to day goings on.

MWAH to you all.

My freshly painted bedroom love the brightness of it

paint is Antique White USA, 

ceiling before it was treated and painted

ceiling after

no heat in the house means very foggy windows

this is our Masport Fire Genie gas heater

not to sure where the genie went to and I wish

our genie would come back 

and this is our power guzzling temporary heater

which only takes the chill off the room

The kids are back at school (yay) I have done the housework,

mopped the floors, been to the supermarket and now I am about to

do some major sorting of my sewing room.

I can feel some purging coming on......

then I should really sort the fabric tubs that are stored

in the garage....

Have a fabulous day :)

Is Anybody

Still reading my little blog??

Somedays I wonder why I keep blogging

but then I remember why I started, and that was

 to keep a journal of sorts of my quilting 

journey and that of my life

My hubby tells me that I am like and open book

ask and I will tell..... anything

I blog the good and the bad, Henrycats shenanigans

and the girlies going ons not just my quilting

But thats just me, I have no secrets.

 I am just curious to know if anyone still pops

by and has a read! 

Leave me a comment if you do please

That being said, school goes back tomorrow

YIPPEE my first silent day in 2 weeks

hopefully the gas heater people will make an

appearance though and fix our broken down heater

we have been heater-less since Friday and 

its been very very cold in our little house.

Our bedroom has been repainted and we have moved back in

its so much brighter now. 

I have almost finished block 4 of

Friends for Christmas just have 3 crowns, a star and

a penguin arm to stitch down and today I prepped block 5

ready to start stitching tomorrow hopefully

that means I have 2 blocks to go and it will be 

finished :)

Oh big excitement is Emma's soccer team scored their

1st goal for the season on Sunday and most amazing of

all was that Em scored that lone goal, she was so very excited when

she got home on Sunday after her game and could wait to tell

me :)

I do at some stage have to plant some vegies in our

vegie patch, and some ground covers and we were given

a Hills Hoist clothesline on the weekend, 

in return for sewing some cub scout badges 

on to a shirt.

I love our new HUGE clothesline

The Tree

Yay I am on a roll with Friends for Christmas

block 3 'The Tree' is done and dusted

the 2 lower branches will be completely stitched down once 

all the blocks are joined.

Block 4, 

'3 Wise Penguins'

is ready for me to start stitching tomorrow.

I think once this Christmas quilt is done, I should

start on the 'to be quilted' pile as this

will be flimsy number 3.

but I can't decide on my next needleturn project it will

either be another Lynette Anderson design

The Pond House 

or  Anni Down's quilt from 

'A Simple Life'

the quilt is on the cover of her new book

having said all that 

I think I will do The Pond House as the patterns

have been here for AGES and Anni's book has only

been here for a week :)

Have a happy, fun filled and warm weekend

and I hope you get time to sit and relax and stitch 

the day/night away :)

Three Friends

I am so glad the weather is cold, then I don't feel

guilty for being inside by the heater stitching

Last night I finished block 2 of Friends for Christmas

'Three Friends'

and I was also able to stitch down 'The Tree' on

block 3. Lots of little bias stems I think it took me

3 hours just to stitch the tree.

I am almost out of freezer paper, so I have ordered some

online as it wasn't available locally

and some of my favourite stitching needles

Clover Black Gold needles, quilting size 10, 

I can't wait for them all to arrive.

My big sewing lamp has died and I am having to use a tiny daylight desk lamp

so I am ordering a new one next week, from the same online store 

I am getting my freezer paper and needles from.

I am happy though from my box of freezer paper I have managed to get

a few quilts that I have needleturn appliquéd they are 

Berries and Bluebirds 

Homecoming Lane 

In my Garden 

Friends for Christmas 

A Gardeners' Journal 

and

Some Kind of Wonderful

I think I have a needleturn appliqué addiction :)

I hope its warm wherever you are :)

Friends for Christmas

 Block 1 is stitched and I started on Block 2

last night.

I am really starting to love this Christmas quilt.

Flying Santa

Thankfully there are only 6 blocks to stitch

but the are big blocks with lots of detail.

here is a picture of what it will look like once its

complete. 

I bought my patterns and fabric from the always

lovely Pauline at 

Calico Crossroads

Well the painter will be back today to do the second coat 

on the ceiling and walls, so pleased I chose

Antique white USA for the paint, 

it looks amazing and the room look

so much brighter. Even though Sophie's new bed is 

amazingly comfortable, I am looking forward to sleeping

in my bed tomorrow night and so is Henrycat who

has had to squeeze in beside me as Sophie's bed is only a

double.

Boyd goes home today, which means I will be able 

to plant the plants that are on the outdoor table and 

know that they will still be planted tomorrow, I think

our naughty puppy has enjoyed the company but is

ready for Boyd to go home.

Its a cold day today so we plan on staying inside in the warmth

the girls are putting music on their iPods and I am going to keep 

stitching Friends for Christmas.

Have a gorgeous day whatever you are doing, hopefully

like me, you might get some stitching in :)

Happy mail

I got some happy mail in the post today

The Simple Life by Anni Downs

there are some projects in this book that are high on my to-do list

and

Scandinavian Rose, by Rosalie Quinlan

these stitcheries will be my take away projects

so it might take a while to get this quilt made 

Happy Mail how I love thee

Homecoming Lane

When I went home in February I bought home a 

BOM that the always lovely Miss Pauline of

Calico Crossroads put away for me, it was

Homecoming Lane, by Gail Pan

I finished the last of the needle turn on Friday night and

spent yesterday and today sewing the blocks and then

sewing the top together

last night I started work on my next night time sewing 

project, 

Friends for Christmas, by Lynette Anderson and I have made 

more progress than this photo shows, block 1 is

huge, 10.5" x 42.5"

Thursday the girlies and I went to Bega to collect

our new glasses and popped into Big W

Sophie and Imogen came home with 

hot pink sneakers, I really wanted a pair too

but couldn't get my foot into a pair of 

kids size 5, so I am hot pink sneaker less :( and Em

chose purple canvas slip on's

Miss Sophie and her glasses, I love them

mine are far more sedate and yay I can see properly 

again

and we have been dog sitting for the last week

meet Boyd, he is a special needs dog

he is stone cold, deaf as a post

but he has occupied the naughty puppy

although he does like to dig, and chew things :)

but as he is only 1, I guess its to be expected, Boyd goes home

on Tuesday

and tonight Imogen got out of the shower and 

informed us through her sobbing that, and I will quote her

'I bumped the shaver in the shower and look what happened'

dh and I did laugh, bless her, it was very very funny

I have the ladies from my monthly quilting group coming for 

morning tea tomorrow, and the painter man is coming too

at 8am...... so we have packed up my bedroom and moved

into Sophie's room, hopefully I will be back in my bed

Wednesday night.

Other than the mundane day to day jobs,

the girlies have helped me make some changes in my

sewing room, hanging some little quilts up,

sorting repro fabrics into 

little pieces, bigger pieces and fat quarters and beyond.

Moving out

Yep we are moving out......of our bedroom

the roof has been  leaked and we have a rampant  mould issue

8 weeks of waiting for approval

several phone calls,

a plumber,

a cleaner,

and an email with photos

approval came through yesterday the words

'OMG fix it now' were uttered

so we are finally getting our room fixed

Lucky Sophie has a new bed for us to sleep in

and best of all I got to choose the paint

Antique White USA, I love that paint.

I have some happy mail in the post, so as soon as

it arrives I will share.

I love online shopping :)

Unintentionally I made....

Sophie and Imogen double bed sized quilts for

their single beds.

Its been a week of bargain hunting for me,

on Facebook there is a local buy,swap,sell group and

I have paid no attention to it before last week.

For a grand sum of $100 we bought the girlies this

a 12 foot trampoline for the huge sum of $30.00

and it does have all the springs attached

Hubby and Em went for a drive yesterday to collect 

Sophies new bed which cost us $70.00 and

included an exceptionally clean innerspring slumber-pedic

mattress

Ta Da, complete with her quilt which is a perfect fit

she loves it, I adore it and as soon as the weather

warms up I will spend a few days, sanding it back then 

re staining it.

Saturday night we had friends join us for drinkies and dinner

so we got a chimnea to have on the deck on cold winter

evenings, it was a fabulous night with lots of laughs, lots of chatter

and possibly lots of alcohol consumed.

Sophie and Emma had an all night movie night at

scouts last night, there obviously wasn't much sleep had as both girlies

went for a nap about 2pm and still haven't surfaced.

its school holiday time for us, I plan on getting some neglect machine sewing

done, perhaps start a new project and having daily sleep ins. Later in the week the

girlies and I are off to Bega to collect Sophie's and my new glasses and to get some

stitchery backing as this week my copy of Anni Down's new book should arrive, and

I am waiting on season 3&4 of Lark Rise to Candleford to arrive from the ABC shop.