Finally

I have a chance to update the blog

last post I was at home after the family bought me

home from our camping trip, well, I put my big girl 

panties on and re joined the family that afternoon and

after the initial shock I am happy to say

I had a nice relaxing time away

we went fishing

we all caught fish, some more than others (me)

mainly flathead and 2 bream

and the pelicans enjoyed the fish frames

I came home to a package at the PO for me,

I won a prize on Lynette Anderson's blog

I made her 21 000 comment.

I just need some time to sit and stitch it

and the next Lancaster package

this was delivered to me as we were driving out

the driveway the day we went away

and lots of Tail Feathers progress

Block 4

I don't fancy needle turning those little dots, so do you

think satin stitch would work

Block 5

Block 6

that means I only have 3 blocks left to stitch and lots of 

log cabins to sew

The girlies went back to school yesterday, YAY

and I have decided that I will attempt to cook something

yummy for their lunch boxes, today they took pizza scrolls

tomorrow they will get a slice of banana cake with caramel

icing and a bacon, cheese and zucchini muffin

if anyone has some yummy recipes to share I would really

appreciate it.

its hot

and I braved the intense heat this morning to make 2 thread

catchers for the SAL, one for me

and one for Sophie

once they were finished I headed out to the lounge

where the fan is and continued work on 

Lancaster

I have one side completed

and hopefully by bedtime I will have another side

complete with flowers.

Did I mention its been really hot??

Be Still My Beating Heart

I have a little stitcher in the family other than 

myself.

Sophie has jumped in with both hands and feet

and has amazingly made 26 smaller yo yo's for her monkey

in 4 hours, 

 and she has needed zero assistance from me

other than to be shown what she had to do.

As of tonight she has her very own needles, scissors,

reel of cotton and a nifty little case to keep it all in

Imogen was making the large yo yo's but was

quickly side tracked so Sophie has taken them on too

Henrycat has spent a good part of today sitting in this

position trying to work out just how he can sleep on

Homecoming Lane now its hanging on the

wall

Is anyone one else doing 

Photo a Day for 2013??

I downloaded a fabulous app for my phone

called project 365 and it was free

and yesterday I got a new clothesline

this one winds up and it's straight too

and a nifty basket holder that hooks on

really its the little things that excite me,

you should see how excited I get when

new white goods are entering the house

and Lancaster progress, after being ignored while 

Mum and Dad were here, I got back into it last night

and finished off the vines, tonight I got to start all those

flowers and leaves....

We are expecting 30 degrees tomorrow which is rather warm for

our little town with zero sea breeze to cool us down, so I am thinking a

trip to the beach is in order once we have the housework done, then

home to hide in the cool of the house, and work on 

Lancaster and Sophie will no doubt make even more yo yo's

(this monkey better be worth it lol)

I am taking part in the 2013 Stitch A Long again, just waiting for the

Red Home book to arrive in the mail (hopefully tomorrow) and I will

finally get to make some thread catcher baskets, Sophie is definitely

going to need one ;) 

and as soon as the sign up call goes out I will be doing

 OPAM again, good way to make sure I don't get sidetracked

(like Imogen did)

I am not sure what my 'thing' for 2013 will be

2011 was the year of the UFO

2012 was the year of Stash Busting

2013 will be the year of..........

Its Clean Up time

my Christmas creating over the last few weeks has

left my sewing room looking more like a

bomb site than a place to sit and sew 

and enjoy the space.

See what I am faced with

pins, cotton and who else knows what under my sewing cabinet

my cutting table, which I can use ONLY if nothing needs to be cut

larger than a 4" square

even the floor below my design wall

and my computer desk, I can't get to the ironing

basket so that is piling up on the chair too

the empty lindt chocolate tins need to be binned, they were

for the girlies Christmas gifts for their teachers.

its not even organised chaos...sigh

The final 4 blocks of mums quilt... 1 done 3 to do in the New Year

because

month 5 of Lancaster has arrived, so I will be working on this

until all the appliqué borders are complete

4 more big sleeps until my mummy and daddy arrive 

(hence the big clean up lol)

and this morning I had the awful job of

telling dh that his uncle had passed away in the early hours

of the morning. 

I have kept him home from work (compassionate leave)

and sent him to golf.

We won't be attending the funeral but have flowers on the

way, there really isn't much else we can do from here.

RIP Uncle Lloyd.

The world lost a true gentleman this morning.

Lancaster BOM

I am slowly but surely keeping up with this BOM

and here is my progress so far.

month 1 & 2

I have one corner of clamshells to appliqué 

here is month 3's progress

and this is what I am currently sewing another row 

of diamonds and triangles

and I must thank Sharon who has given me lots of assistance

with this pesky BOM, I must say this is not one of the designers

easiest to follow patterns....

I have been battling a nasty headache for the last 2 days,

so there really hasn't been very much hand sewing going on, but my headache 

is finally starting to ease up so I will be back to stitching in front

of the tv tonight.

and

my SSCS recipient will be able to stalk her postman

as my gifts are going postal in the morning all the

way to .......................................

Whales, Clamshells and More

As promised, here are the photos of

what I am sewing, whales and more!

The whale shots I have had to crop so you can see them

they were a fair way out and I obviously need a bigger

zoom lens for my Canon

The pattern I bought at the Quilt hanging

its all foundation pieced, love it

block 1 of  'mum's quilt' this is actually my block

I will collect hers when I am home next next

that it will look like finished, I have to make the 9 centre blocks 

and the triangles for her. 

3 more block for Erin's quilt

and clamshell progress, they are rather fiddly things..

not sure if I actually like making clamshells

so there you have it, thats whats in my sewing pile at the moment!

I'm Still Here.

Now that school has gone back .....phew
and dh is back at work after his 2 wks on the golf
course

life is returning to normal and I am sewing again

I have a little Christmas list to finish making

I have made the next blocks for 'Erin's Quilt'

I have started making blocks for a quilt that mum gave
me the pattern for, we were living in WA at the
time and I have been quilting for 6 months, so I have
been hanging onto it since 2008, but I do have a
good reason for starting it, she has asked  me to do all
the needleturn appliqué on her quilt, as its the last
grandchild's quilt (she has made 8),
and she is unable to do any
hand sewing these days due to issues from one
of her Chemo drugs. So I thought I would start mine
to get back into needle turn appliqué.

I have also started block 2 of Lancaster, it only took
2 weeks to arrive from Qld! Not happy Jan at all
so at my monthly sewing day today I cut out 60
clamshells and glued the fabric to the papers, and started
stitching mums quilt.

I have made my main SSCS gift, it just needs the final
touch and then I need to make the ornament, but I need some
wool felt for that, hoping I can get some while I am home.

I went to a quilt hanging on the weekend, and I bought a
pattern and sewline glue pen and refills, even thought they
had 35% off all fabrics and books, that was my
only purchase :) such restraint

Last Wednesday my baby girl turned 9,
sometimes I wish she still was that gorgeous, chubby
little girl who loved Dora the explorer.

Why do they have to grow up??

we have had email issue due to setting up a T-Hub 2, blogger
has changed my primary email address and won't let me change
it back...........

oh big excitement is last week I was able to do a spot of whale watching
from our yard, amazing creatures.

So I will be back tomorrow with photos of whales, sewing
new quilt, clamshells, Erin's quilt.

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

Photo's and Stuff

I admit to being rather slack in keeping up with 

any BOM's that I sign up for........

I tend to collect them until I have all the

blocks then have a big sewing week/s of

completing them, even though when a new one arrives

I tell myself that I AM GOING TO KEEP UP.

I am currently collecting

Tail Feathers

Civil War Journeys

and in completed just needs to be sewn 

together form is

Aunt Grace's Circle of Friends

Monday I had happy mail in the form of a 

Sue Daley EPP BOM

'Lancaster'

so far so good I have started block 1, and will stitch it

each night in front of the tv until its done.

look at all those clamshells.........

see progress is being made on block 1 :)

the background

then I also have to finish this little quilt which has been 

waiting for what seems like years to be finished

the foundation pieced blocks and the sashings

that is todays plan of attack, to sew it in to a top

it came with the backing and binding and I

have enough wadding to finish it :)

then I need to keep up with my small quilt of the month

quilts, this is the next one to be done

the fabrics have been selected from the scrap box

and then I will have another  5 to be caught up 

no pressure AT ALL!

and look what I grew in the garden

and I also managed to get 2 out of 3 orchids to flower

love this one its a pale yellow/green

and the last flower on this little one

the naughty puppy is lying in wait for some 

unsuspecting tourists to walk out the front

once he sees them he will bark at the them then race

to the back fence to continue barking forgetting

he can't actually see over the back fence to bark 

and no post is complete without a photo of

Henrycat, who is keeping an eye on the dog :)

I best get off the computer and start sewing hadn't I.........

before I am distracted by something else