Dancing Grandma's Progress

I have been quite productive since arriving

home last week, although I haven't had the urge

to uncover my sewing machine all is not lost

as I have a teeny bit of sewing mojo.

So my progress so far

Dancing Grandma's all in a row (border 1, 3 more to make)

Border 2 (3 more to make)

RHS of border 2, I have to make 3 more

hexagons for this side

LHS of border 2, 3 more hexagons needed here also, my hexagons

are a bit smaller than what the pattern asked for, but I had these on

hand, so apart from the background fabric, it will be a complete 

Stash Buster of a quilt when its done

Tuesday I took on the task of cleaning up my sewing

room, I had left it in such a mess, and it was rather sad to 

see what it looked like when I came home

and the other side

and what's on my design wall,

* the centre block for Aunt Grace's Circle of Friends,

* NYB blocks for my patient dh, almost 18 months to get this far

* centre diamond for my hexie quilt (in a snaplock bag)

* border 1 of Dancing Grandma's 

under the pink pin magnet, is Henrycats sleeping spot, on a 

pile of leftover batting

I have a box of orphan blocks on its way from my dad, inside

are some reproduction fabrics of mum's, hurry up Mr Postman

and speaking of my mama, she is hanging in there, has some depression,

is having major breathing issues, so her dr has banned all visitors and 

she still banned from talking to anyone as it affects her

breathing. 

I am in a good place now I am home, and as awful as it 

sounds, I am just waiting for 'that call', I know that its not going 

to be far off :(

Scraps!

Do you keep ALL your scraps of

fabric?? You see I don't keep them

I throw them out because I KNOW that

I won't use them. The only scraps that I do

keep are those that are at least 4" square.

I am asking because I went to my monthly sewing group 

yesterday and took some NYB blocks to work on

foundation piecing does waste alot of fabric,

but to me those off cuts are not worth keeping,

and I cut my fabric for foundation piecing so there isn't

alot of waste.

Well one of the ladies wanted my scraps which I 

happily gave her, but really how can see use

a scrap of fabric that isn't even 1 inch ....

to me that is just weird, she said she will bring

something in made of scraps to our next

meeting so I guess I will find out then!

Am I the only non scrap keeper out there???

Speaking of my NYB, I haven't had the time to actually 

sit and sew for any real length of time, as this week

because

I am a solo parent! 

and I don't like it

The husband is in Victoria for the week on a course 

for work, and my lovely daughters have decided 

that this week all niceness has gone out the window 

and they have been shockers.....and it's only day 2

but we are very organised, dinner, dishes and showers

are done before 7pm, lunches are pre packed and on the bench

each night  except for their sandwiches & yogurt 

So that makes me think my lovely husband is the leader

of the chaos that happens each morning while we try to

get breakfast, lunches & chores done...

But I do miss him, its very quiet once the kids are in

bed and its just Henrycat and I left up, so we (henry and I)  have been in

bed watching tv by 9:30.

will be back in a couple of says with the NYB

blocks I am working on :)

and please tell me whether you are a scrap hoarder of not

Revisiting an Old Friend

Waaaaaay back in February 2012 I found

a quilt along that I knew was just right for me.

It was a

New York Beauty quilt along

and in keeping with my usual practice

I jumped in feet first, printed off all the templates & got sewing,

then we moved house and all the blocks I had

made got put into a tub until after we had moved.....

Fast forward to May 2013 (today) I pulled out

those blocks I had made, re printed the templates

got the fabrics out and again jumped in 

as off 10 minutes ago here is my progress

but before I could get sewing the NYB I had to get some

Bee Blocks out of the way

and I got some happy mail delivered too

this luscious book arrived today

a big thank you to Sharon, who told me where she had

bought her's as I could only find it at

Amazon or Fishpond, and I prefer to spend my $$

in oz if possible

and this baby arrived on Monday

I bought this one direct from Sarah Fielke 

So thats been my day in a nutshell, I am off to make

a coffee and have a look at my luscious new book :)

Keeping Busy

Its 'D Day' today, Mums results of her

fine needle biopsy are being delivered at

3pm

I am very very nervous today

So I have been keeping myself busy sewing

I have finished my 12" mini swap

I have done some work on

(In RANDOM photo order) 

my C.R.A.F.T swap

and my SSCS with Chookyblue

my Mrs Martins Angel Swap

My Lancaster BOM, still working on Month 2,

month 3 is here waiting

and my shopping, well the shopping I could find

from my trip home

This gorgeous book from

'The Needlewoman'

in Hobart

and the Batiks for dh NYB quilt

from

'The PatchWorks' in Hobart

I think I just need to find another stitchery book

and you will have seen my shopping.

I need to buy some wadding desperately, I have used ALL

my scraps, so I will be heading to Merimbula 

tomorrow so I can fix that issue.

and

 for the first time EVER, I have not finished my SKoW quilt

before the cut off, I just need to quilt it, but have had

far to much on my mind to even consider getting it done.

Its on my list of things to finish over the school holidays.

Is it 3:30 yet???

Happy Easter

Good Friday we attempted to go fishing in dh work boat

sadly the fish also had a long weekend and were

nowhere to be found :)

Saturday Em went to her friends house, we had a potential buyer

of this house come through for a look and then we decided

we really needed to have a good look through our 'new house'

before we moved in, so Imogen came with us and we went

for a look, it's alot roomier than we realised, we planned who was

going into which bedroom, discovered that there really is nowhere for

our current fridge to live inside the house, plenty of room in the garage

for it, so came home via retravision to buy a new fridge

this is what we decided on

and this is what we currently have, although ours is 9 years old

 the girlies woke up to find the

easter bunny had been to visit and spread little eggs

all over their bedroom floors.

they enjoyed a breakfast of chocolate and hot cross buns

hubby and I had bacon and eggs and coffee.

Yesteray afternoon saw us visiting friends for an Easter drink, before

heading to a bbq with other friends, it was a late night

we didn't get home until midnight.

and today we decided to have another go fishing, we caught

enough for Henrycat to have a fresh fish feast.

I need to start organising myself this week to shif next week.

We get the keys Thurday morning, that will give me 2 days to

get everything bar the furniture over to the new house and

unpacked. The removalists are booked for the 21st and we have

a few friends with utes and trailers hepling out too, the only payment

they requested was beer and a feed at the end of the day,

that I can do.

I did get some time to sew on Saturday afternoon, I sewed up the last

of the hexagons for my Kaleidoscope Hexagon Quilt, now I just need

to finish stitch the centres on, and I have 2 small blocks to make to be

up to date with my hubby's New York Beauty quilt

and my mama, she is still in hospital, still hooked up to

an IV of antibiotics, she has had 2 or 3 blood transfusions and

in our daily text told me today she is very bored lol

she must be feeling better. Hopefully she will be home

tomorrow or Wednesday,

I hope your easter was as fun filled and as full of good times

as ours has been.

NYB progress

Last week I stuffed one of the New York Beauty blocks

really stuffed it

so I asked DH to print me off another copy and then discovered

that the original blocks had all been printed the WRONG SIZE

they were to small.

After thinking about it ALL NIGHT I decided to redo all

the blocks I had done the correct size

ta da the correct size blocks

This one is now complete with 4 blocks

This means I am up to date and ready to sew this weeks blocks, and my

stash of Batiks is shrinking quickly

I got back into my Hexagon centres last night, still have the final 25 to

sew together but the end is in sight.

and today I got some happy mail

Season 2 of Lark Rise

Thank you all so much for the lovely comments on my last post.

we LOVE skype and so does she lol

and its only 15 days til we get the keys &
19 days until the removalists arrive :)

NYB progress

Slowly but surely I am getting caught up on my

New York Beauty quilt along blocks

I am still 6 behind :( thanks to a major

stuff up with one block that needed

to be remade....

this is week 1's blocks

week 2, not sure about the brown block I think it disappears and just

looks like a plain brown block, Agree??

Week 3, so far

and all together

not sure what the final layout will be, I have another 6 blocks before the

NYB quilt along is finished, thats another 24 small blocks to be made....

hubby likes it (so he says) I guess that is the main thing!



Be still my beating heart

Miss Sophie had a girlie-friend come and stay on the weekend

Miss Emma was at her girlie-friends staying over

so I thought as I was minus the chatty, attention span

of a gnat girlie it would be a good time to introduce

Sophie and Miss E to stitching

designs were picked and traced

cotton floss was selected

needles were found

and voila

Miss Sophie and her first of many stitcherie's

meanwhile I have continued to sew hexagons

I have made the required 123 hexagons plus a few extras

as I want straight edges not the jagged edge the pattern

has

I still have 25 more to sew but they are all cut out and tomorrow

I will sew them up ready for their centres to be stitched on at night

I am hoping to get back to sewing Miss K's granny square quilt

tomorrow and I need to catch up on my New York Beauty

as this weeks block came out today and I haven't made last weeks

yet.

there is lots of sewing on my agenda this week, plus a farewell bbq

here on Saturday for one of hubby's work mates who is

moving north to another Port next month

(as soon as she is gone we get to move into the House on the Hill)

 it will be a stitching free weekend for me!

The pressure the pressure

and we are still having tv issues, tv man is supposed to be coming

today to see what he can do........emphasis on

SUPPOSED lol

and we are down to 1 child this weekend as the big girlies are

off on a scout camp, 2 whole nights of peace :)



Sidetracked.....

But I did finish Em's quilt before I got sidetracked

see

I finished it late last night, folded it up and popped it into

the linen cupboard, after she went to school today I put it on her bed

she was very suprised this afternoon

My Pies and Tarts all finished

1 block left of my New York Beauty I was supposed to do it today

but this is what sidetracked me,

a little quilt,

Civil war Basket Quilt

all I need to do is stitch the binding down......

I love it and can't wait to make the next one :)

I joined Katheen Tracy's Small Quilts yahoo group

this is March, I am waiting for a book to arrive so I can

make January and February's quilts...

Hurry up postman!

Getting my haircut tomorrow and in the afternoon I wil get the last

NYB block done.



Progress Reports

Progress  Report # 1

I went and spoke to Imogens teacher yesterday and

I am thrilled to say that my

sensitive, gentle, quiet little bean took it upon

herself to speak to him, without me there

he has spoken to 1 of the boys concerned

and still needs to speak to the other, in a hurry

because she told me today he and another 2 boys

were bullying her again today, so she went and told

her teacher again, hopefully there will be some

consequences this time.

Progress Report # 2.

I am offically EXCITED actually beyond

EXCITED

we are moving house.....to the other side of town

to the House on the Hill

the Harbour Masters house becomes vacant next month

and we are moving in.

YIPPEE

Progress Report # 3

I am still sewing down binding on

Em's quilt, it seems to be taking soooooo

much longer than any other quilt

but I must keep going, I promised dh

I would have it finished before he gets home on

Thursday

He is at The Australian Maritime College

doing a refresher course in the Ship Simulator

lucky bugger is staying at my mum and dads too

Hopefully the binding will be finished tonight

tomorrow I will share a photo and share the next

New York Beauty block I did today.



New York Beauty

Block 1 is finished

I am not sure about the black I think I should have used a

darker Batik but I am happy with

how its turned out

Bring on block 2



Surfs Up

& its raining again

 the naughty puppy is loving it, he is  inside today!

I had to get a few things from the supermarket, so I took my camera

and drove to 'our' beach, a 300m walk from our house

this is what I found

no beach left, we walk the naughty puppy here each day

(if its not raining) and I watched the waves wash over

the embankment taking dirt back with it.

this is where we take the girlies swimming, usually its very calm and protected

and hubby dives around that rock thats poking out

then I went to Aislings Beach

the surfs up

another of hubbys dive spots

no beach at Aislings today either

I am heading to my sewing room today to finish my New York Beauty blocks

then sew some more Granny Squares.

Hubby is going to help me load my Pies and Tarts onto Frank at

lunchtime, I would like to make a start on that today too.

luckily it is PERFECT SEWING weather :)



It got the better of me

mind you it doesn't take too much to sidetrack

me :) and its not like I don't have anything else I should be

sewing

but this quilt along has sucked me in

so I dug out my batik fabrics

these are the patterned

these are the solids

I just hit the motherload of Batiks, hiding in my stash were 4

bali pops, Bali Pops are Robert Hoffmans answer to jelly rolls

2.5" strips of lots and lots of batiks :)

the following 3 photos are the remaining 3 parts of block 1, all prepped

just waiting for the copies to make it home

and 1 part of block 1 is finished (3 more to make), dh is printing  off some

more copies for me :)

and when its finished I hope it resembles this, because this is the

quilt  I dh likes and this one is finally going to be for us him

(picture sourced from here)

I think 2012 is going to be my stash busting year, everything I have made

has been from my stash, I hve only had to buy backing fabrics and wadding

go me.