Busy Daze

Or should I say haze... that is what this last week has been. I blinked, and it is gone, and in the meantime was very hazy.... Last week I started with a sore throat that turned into an exploding head (well, it felt like it at least) and blocked up nose and cough, etc, etc. So, I have been surviving. I haven't done a nine patch for the day since last Thursday, but this is what I got done before that:


I also managed to do the tulips before I got really sick, so that is Harmony Village done until July, wow, I am ahead on something! That makes me feel a bit better!



We went to the inlaw's for the weekend and I got totally spoiled. I just stitched and rested and slept and relaxed while my dmil did all the work.

Today is Daniel's 15th birthday! This child, my first born, is such a blessing to us. He has a servant spirit, always willing to help, cheerfully performing his chores, and just being a delight to us. I can't believe the years have flown by so quickly since he was first placed in my arms.... a cute red haired bundle. I pray that he will continue to grow in grace and become a godly young man. Happy Birthday Dan!!

And now we have to go into town to spend his birthday money.... :) I'll be dropping by Spotlight just to have a little look and maybe be tempted by something I "need"! My parents are visiting as well to celebrate his birthday, so we will meet at the shops and have a nice dinner together later tonight. Busy days, yes, but happy days too. Hopefully I will get out of my daze soon and enjoy these precious days :)

Chookies, Chookies everywhere!

My goodness! You'd think it was spring here! We have three mother chooks and two more sitting on eggs. So much for lots of fresh eggs everyday... but, I have to admit, the chicks are just gorgeous! The photo above is of Silky with her three. The other two also have three each - I must take some photos soon.

One of our hens has decided to go clucky under the meter box. Last time she hatched 7 chicks on the woodpile. She obviously doens't like the conventional method of using the laying box in the hen house. In her defense, the two laying boxes were already occupied by two other clucky ones.

As many of you know, I love my chickens. For my birthday this year, my sister made me this gorgeous card:
Isn't she clever? I work with fabric, and my sister works with paper, and does wonders with it I have to say.

And now with all the chookiness around me, I need to finish The Buffet and start on Fowl Play. Oh, and I happened to come across this too: The Hen House. Oh dear, what a shame, another new project to do......

Op Shop Finds and Some New Starts

I love going opshopping, especially when I can find things like these magazines for 20c each! Just in case I need something else to do, you see :) There were a lot of Homespun ones which is great since I don't have many of those. I've often picked up the Handmade or Patchwork & Quilting for $2 each, but this was just too good to ignore.

I went to the doctor's yesterday to get some more happy pills to keep me happy.... it took almost two hours of waiting for a five minute appointment. I forgot to bring a book, so I quickly ducked into Big W and did what any other sane person would do - bought a crochet hook and a ball of cotton. I got white cotton, 4ply, and a 2.50mm hook to add to my collection, and used the time wisely to start a new project:

It's going to be a table cloth topper thingy... you know.... to put on top of a table cloth in the middle.....

Today I tidied the house, did heaps of ironing, and snuck in my first block for the "One a day Quiltalong". I am going to use the same light blue for each block, with the other four squares a different color. Here is my first one:


Why am I starting something else again???? Because this is only one a day and I have lots of 2 1/2" squares that need to be used up. Imagine that, using up scraps! And it didn't take long to make one ninepatch. I am not "catching up", however. If I miss a day, I've missed it. I'm not too fussed about how big it is going to be. I just like the idea that even if I have a busy day, I might be able to sit down for 5 minutes and at least get one block done.

Now, I really must not start anything else new until I finish some more things.... :) I will be good, I will be good....... at least I will try! I forgot to take a photo of the apron I finished for Mum for Mother's Day. Must ask Dad to do that, and then I can at least post one finished project. That makes up for one of the new ones I have started, doesn't it? I think so :)

Hope you are all having a great week!

Harmony Quilt Blocks

I have been around somewhere... I've had a week of concentrating on house and homeschooling. I guess that does have to happen too sometimes :)

Before this, however, I did manage to get the May and June blocks done for the Harmony Quilt. July is up now so I need to tackle that and then I will really be ahead!!! Wow! What a feeling!

Here are the "windclouds": (they are supposed to be windmills, but I thought they were clouds..)

They are very light, but when I put them with the other blocks they do look good, and when you are looking at them in real life instead of a dark photo, they look better :)

After the windclouds I did the falling leaves:

I wanted to clear some floor space and lay all the blocks out, but haven't quite managed to do that. I will sew the tulips (next blocks) and then try to find a sunny spot to take a photo of them all.

In the madness of life, I also decided to play a little.....

I started a disappearing nine patch.

From this:


To this:

I bought the blue floral fabric with Tracy on our camping weekend back in March. It was $5 a meter and I bought two meters knowing I'd find something to do with it :) The other fabric was from the souk (I bought a bolt!) and matches perfectly. So, frugal as well as fun :)

AND I started on a quilt for Cameron... I shouldn't have started something else new, I know, but poor guy, he pays for all this fabric and I haven't made him one single quilt.....

So, I dragged out some "guy" fabric from Evelyn (my wonderful quilting teacher and friend in Riyadh), and made a start..... Since I hate checks and stripes because I can never get them straight, I decided to do a crazy patchwork and started with a stack and whack or stack and slash or whatever you call it. And I also made a few spider web blocks:


It is a start anyway. Notice with the spiderweb blocks - they DO NOT MATCH... hrmph. I tried unpicking, but it still didn't work, so I came up with a cunning plan to fix it later on.... you will have to wait and see :)

And so, that is all my sewing news.... back to school and housework now....