Weekly Update 21/6

The last stitches were made on Green Tea and Sweet Beans

Ta Da in all its hand quilted glory

And the back

and the fabric I chose for binding

Binding is ready

I've made hexagons, 64 of them for my Amitie Mystery BOM

These girlies turned 14

Their cake, they loved it which is all that matters right

My new mug given to me by an absolutely gorgeous Quilty friend

Blowing out their candles

I've finished 1 hexagon border, only 3 more to go.

The next 2 quilts to be basted, Friends for Christmas and my Scrap Vomit lap quilt

I had to use the boardroom table at the hubster work 

All prepped and ready for me start the hand quilting which will begin as soon as I've finished the binding on Green Tea and Sweet Beans. I'm not using pearle cotton this time, I've chosen to use a verigated brown Signature thread by YLI

Today (Tuesday) I'm taking Miss E and 2 others to referee a PSSA soccer game 1 hr away, the things we do for our kids, Miss E asked was I taking my sewing, I sure am I plan on finishing off Green Tea and Sweet Beans so I can start Friends for Christmas tonight, yay that she allows me to stitch while I watch. 

1 more week of school then it's holiday time, we are heading to Melbourne for a week and we are all looking forward to the break, that means 2 weekends of no soccer, I am so ready for a break from soccer, my feet and hips are so painful after an 8 hour day in the canteen. A hazard of getting older I think, and yes I'm old, the combined ages of my kids is 66 years and 3 months, now that makes me feel old. By the time Imogen finishes year 12 I will have been paying school fees, making lunches and going to parent teacher interviews for 27 years... Which is how old my son will be next year, that's just crazy.

Friends for Christmas

All bar 3 hoof's and a bird (tonights job)

and the buttons and bells

its finished

now how to quilt it..........

oh and tomorrow I will have 2 small quilts to share :)

they just need the binding stitched down :)

Lancaster Centre

The centre of my new EPP BOM

'Lancaster'

is finished

it was finished on Thursday night in front of the tv

while I watched

Midsomer Murders on the ABC

I love that show

today I have a date with Holly Leaves, I want to get them finished 

so I can finish Friends for Christmas.

I am not feeling 100% today, totally self inflicted

so it will be an easy day of hand sewing for me.

Progress

I managed to get my 2 small quilt tops sewn together

yesterday, I started then lost interest, then gave myself

a slap and started again :)

The Quilting Gathering

22.25" x 27.5"

Scrap Squares Doll Quilt

17.5" x 22.75"

of course I still need to quilt them, I'll make a start on

that this afternoon

and last night I stitched the centre of Lancaster

together, tonight I will stitch it onto the

background

then block 1 is officially finished :)

and I can finish stitching down the holly leaves

on Friends for Christmas, only 8 more to go

Still Stitching

 Friends for Christmas, I managed to stitch another

3 holly leaves down on Saturday night, now I only

have 10 more to stitch down before I can sew the 

top together. Luckily Christmas is still

41/2 months away :)

Lots of progress on my hexagons too.

I had 400 hexagon papers arrive in the post last 

week, waiting on the other 600 that I ordered

so I cut up another 2 jelly rolls of hexagons 

and started the long process of basting .

My pile of completed hexagon flowers now stands

4 inches high :)

Its impossible to get a photo of anything on the ironing

board without Henrycat getting in the picture :)

and this is my pile of basted, waiting to become flowers

hexagons (and henrycats tail)

and from the top, there are approximately

80 flowers in this box

and Happy mail Today. I pre ordered this book way back in

April, and it finally arrived today. I can't wait for the weather 

to warm up so I can do some quilting on the 

'Frank, the quilty beast' again, Its just way to cold in the shed

to stay in there for any length on time.

Yesterday we headed off to Bemboka, for Em's last soccer game

of the season. Her team have been on the bottom of the ladder

since soccer started, we were goal-less until Emma kicked her teams FIRST goal 

last month, well yesterday they managed to kick 4, 

1 was dis allowed as it came off

someones arm :(, and 1 was unintentionally kicked into their

opponents goals, so only 2 were counted.

But they got TWO GOALS

its such shame the season has finished as they finally got it 

together.

Next year they will do so much better, we are sure of it.

I've Been Bitten

by the hexagon bug

last week I bought 400 3/4" hexagon papers

then spent 2 days cutting out fabric

and 3 nights basting my hexagons

the old fashioned way with needle and thread

and as of today I have these 

and the container of basted hexies

and the container of needing more paper pieces to baste

today's growing pile of freshly cut hexagons

the jelly roll and a half of waiting to be cut hexagons

and the offcuts of todays hexagons.

I ordered more hexagon papers on Sunday, another

1000, they should be here tomorrow or Thursday 

which is perfect timing as Miss Emma made it into the

school athletics team and we are off to cold cold cold Bega

on friday for the zone carnival. I will be basting hexagons

while we are there.

but I am really unsure of what I am going to make with them,

I have a collection of older range jelly rolls so I am using them

the ranges are Martinique, Beach House, Patisserie and I have

some Garden Party and Astor Manor charm square packs.

If anyone knows where I could get a 2nd charm square pack of

Garden Party and Astor Manor, could you please let me know as I 

only get 4 hexes per charm square and I need 7 for a full flower.

I still haven't finished off the leaves on my Friends For Christmas quilt

so I might take that with me to on Friday.

Fingers in to many pies, is constantly ringing in my ears

at the moment lol

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........

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 :)

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.