Sunday news....

At the moment my weeks seem to be just going by in a big blur. We've had a lot of things on with school, and doctors appointments in between. I am starting to yearn for a bit of hibernation time... or at least time at home! I think I will have to make next term an activity free term.... hee hee, how do you think I'll manage that?! Oh well, I can but dream....

So, let's see what's new around here... I did actually mange to do a bit of work on the Natural Wonders bom from last year - amazing! I got two more blocks done, but haven't taken photos yet, so you'll have to wait and see. I worked on them while Elizabeth was doing her patchwork class. Here is what she is making in her class:


It is going to be a cushion. I swear this girl will not be able to get into bed at night, the amount of cushions she is going to have!

Progress on the Round Robin is going slowly but surely. I managed to get both borders 5 done and added:


I do like the way it is turning out.

Birthday season has begun. Daniel turned 16 and Elizabeth made his cake - Top Deck, yum:


Matt's birthday is next and then Elizabeth's, all in the space of three weeks.... It is nice to have a teenage daughter that enjoys cooking and wants to make her brothers' cakes though - it gives me a break :) I think I'd still better make her cake..... I did suggest the boys make it, but she was not impressed :)

Next on the project list is my finished Christmas notebook to use for the Early Bird Christmas Crafting Challenge. I took photos along the way and will put up a tutorial on JJ's soon, just in case anyone is interested. Here it is all done:


Last but not least, I am working on another project, learning a new skill... more on that tomorrow, but here is a hint:


Oh, I also signed up for the Make a Bag Sew Along... why not.. it goes well with the Christmas challenge....

Well, I think we are all caught up with the news from my part of the world... now I'd better head off to bed - it is 11.30 pm, waaaaaaay past my bedtime!!!!!

Has another week begun?

I think so... I think it is Monday, and I was going to have a busy day, but the doctor's visit got cancelled in the afternoon, so I got to stay home and relax. I am going to have to go into town way too many times this week, so I am glad I could stay home today.

So what's been happening here?

Our neighbour's cat had kittens:


Do you have any idea how hard it is to take photos of black kittens with their black mother? Here is one of the newborn balls of fluff in Elizabeth's hands:


Mama cat was happy to be petted and have her babies cuddled. She even let the dog lick them - amazing!! Oh how Elizabeth and I would love to take one of them home when they are old enough.....!

In the sewing room, well, actually I haven't spent much time in the sewing room, BUT I have been playing with quilts.... You see I forgot to tell you what I got for Mother's Day... I forgot because it didn't arrive in time for Mother's Day, but I did get it last week, and oh it is soooooo much fun!!!!! Can you guess???? I got this:


I know EQ7 is about to come out, but I figured there was much more info and tutorials about EQ6 around and I'd be happy with it. And I am! It is fantastic! I am having so much fun playing with it, downloading fabric collections from the net, ... now if only it would make the actual quilts... hee heee. Well, where would the fun be in that?!

I had to get ready for a class I was teaching on raw edge applique on Saturday, so I used my new program to make this simple beginners applique block:


Once it is done and I am organized, I will put up the pattern for free on JJ's.

I also slowly worked away at the Star Ribbon border for the Round Robin quilt. I am got the first one on tonight, and hopefully before bed I will get the next one on:


So that is about all the news from my corner of the world... Oh, one more thing.. I joined this:


An Early Bird Christmas Crafting challenge hosted by Judith from Creative Studio. Just what I need to motivate me to get started on Christmas gifts :) Head over to her blog and see how you can join in too :)

Fruit of the Spirit Block 5 - Goodness

Go here to download the next block!

An act of goodness is of itself an act of happiness.

~ Maurice Maeterlinck ~

Saturday Night

It's Saturday night and I am home sitting by the heater, rugged up with a couple of quilts, trying to get warm. Had a lovely day at the homeschool conference - all went smoothly, thank goodness, and there was lots of encouragement to be had. I bought the speaker's book, so I am looking forward to reading a bit more in depth about what she spoke on.

I was tempted to bring some stitching with me, but thought I'd better behave myself and be a good hostess instead :) But that's ok, I did do some sewing on Friday while I was resting....

I dragged out my basket of scraps:


And made these string blocks:


I really want to make a quilt out of these, before the strings challenge runs out :)

Then I worked on the third border of the Round Robin.. yes, I am very behind... but I will get there :) This is how it looks like so far:


I think I like it :) Maybe tomorrow I'll get to work on the next border...

Oh, after I get out the next Fruit of the Spirit block :) What with being sick and running conferences I forgot.... bad me.... hmmm... now which one was next again? You'll see soooooon!

Quilting, Ironing and New Fabric

So on Mother's Day I did end up sewing all day :) In fact, I worked on one of the charity quilts I brought home the day before. I started on the small one first, pinned and quilted it:


Here is a close up of the quilting (dont' look too close!):


The binding was quick and easy, just trimmed and folder the backing and then used a decorative stitch to secure it:

One down, one more to go.

The quilt group buys a fabric pack each month from Keepsake Quilting, and this month was florals. I picked these two pieces on Saturday:


Pretty aren't they.... not sure what to use them for, but they will come in handy one day I hope...!

I have also been washing and ironing fabric because the mice got into it at the old house. On the weekend I ironed a pile of purples:


Now to make space on the already full shelves...!

I can't believe it is the middle of the week already. I woke up this morning with a very sore throat and blocked up nose. Yukky. Hopefully I'll get over it soon because I am organizing a homeschool conference on the weekend... no cuddling cute babies, I'll have to stay well away from them!

Hope you are all having a great week and don't catch my cold!!!!

Mother's Day is Sewing Day

Yes, if you are me, then Mother's Day = a full day of sewing :) And a lot of relaxing :) It is lovely to have children old enough to cook breakfast in bed and do the dishes and cook dinner and ... and... and... all those years of training are paying off!

I'm still not quite sure what I will be sewing today... catch up on boms, start something new, finish quilting some tops.... hmm, I will figure it out :)

I finished Betty a few days ago, and turned her into a cushion cover:


She really needs some flowers around her.... next time.... for now it was fun playing with her.

Yesterday I went to my local quilt group. We meet on a Saturday afternoon, once a fortnight. I only just joined up after we moved to this little town. It is a lovely, friendly group of ladies. They do quilts for charity, and I thought I'd better pull my weight and help out. It turned out that they had plenty of tops, but needed them to be quilted, so I brought two home and will probably work on them today.

I'll have photos of them soon too... but for now I think I'd better get out of bed and start sewing or else I won't get anything done!!!!!

Happy Mother's Day everyone!!!

Another Busy Week

I thought we'd get back into a routine this week. My computer is better, the internet is working (shhhhhhhhh.... don't want to jinx it!) and school is back in session. How I would love to just be able to sew all day, but hey, that is not real life, is it?!

Still, got a few things done while the net was down. I helped my nieces make stitcheries and then turned them into little cushions. Here is Emily with hers:


I've also been working on Betty, and am nearly there. I traced Billy and need to get started on him too. I think I have yet again started too many things :)


I also started working on an applique Betty, in a pretty dress. I am really just playing around. I will turn it into a cushion for Elizabeth's bed (which is getting rather full of cushions.. oh well!). This is how she is looking so far:


She's quite cute, isn't she? In the midst of it all I had a brilliant idea for a quilt with Billy and Betty... oh to have more hours in the day!!!!

Yes, I need more hours, because I also got this in the mail the other day:

It is from Vickie, all the way from Humpty Doo - wouldn't that be just the cutest place to live? Cute name anyway :) Why did she send it to me? It was a RAK prize - Random Act of Kindness! Isn't that such a sweet idea? And how did she know I like blue... ?!

Thank you Vickie!! Now can you guys help me decide what to do with all those pretties? Maybe a bag.....

Well, I think I am going to head off to the sewing room now. Hope you are all having a great week :)