Back to School

Well it is hard to believe that it is the eve of the beginning of the school year for 2010. It really seems like we were just breaking up for Christmas. While we had cousin Meghan visiting, we put all back to school preparations on hold so it has been a bit of a mad rush in the last 5 days to make sure everything was ready. Today the shed became the PERFECT place for covering this lovely stack of Text Books. On the right is the pile for Number 1 Son who commences his final year of High School (HS): Only 5 subjects this year....but a lot more pressure. The middle pile belongs to Number 2 Son who is entering Year 10 and the tallest pile on the left belongs to my baby girl who joins her brothers at HS this year. WHEN did I get old enough to have 1 child working and 3 in HS?????!!!???? Sigh.....trying not to think about it.

I have spent this evening giving the Shed a good tidy. (While I watch the Men's Final of the Australian Open) I have to teach my first class for the year on Thursday evening and I need to get the lesson ready! So a nice tidy work area is essential. Not sure I am entirely ready for the year proper to start.....but it will start tomorrow whether I am ready or not. I hope that once all regular activities kick in I will be able to remember to blog.....give me a kick up the butt if I don't.

BFN

Day 7 - Meg's Quilt

I put the final stitches in the label at about 10.15pm.........going to bed now!! LOL

Day 6 - Meg's Quilt

Stitching, stitching...MADLY STITCHING.....be back tomorrow with a picture of the finished thing....only handstitching the binding and a label to go......YAY!!!

Day 5 - Meg's Quilt

A no picture post again tonight....only because I forgot to bring the camera out to the shed with me today and I am too too tired to go in and get it. LOL

It has been a frustrating day all round.....personal drama's that I will not bore you with and frustrations at the machine as well. After promising myself to keep this quilt simple, recognising that a simple plan was the only thing that would get it done on time: I broke my own rule and thought I would try a bit of decorative stitching for the quilting over just straight stitch. It is a technique I use on my bags all the time. Well it was a total disaster.....I think that it was the weight of the quilt dragging through the machine and the design was not stitching out nicely at all. Really it was quite deformed and looked WEIRD! I had only stitched about a meter of it before I decided to switch back, but unpicking that meter took almost 2 hours....uugghh The design you see made it tricky!

I was determined to get back to where I had planned to be by this evening anyway, and have done my best to reach that milestone but I have come up just short. I wanted all the quilting done, and given a clear run I would have....I have now just called it quits for the day with the whole center now quilted in a 3" grid. Tomorrow I just have to quilt the borders.

New plan is to be working on the binding by lunch time. I have a birthday party to go to on Tuesday so I do really need to get the bulk of it done tomorrow.....FINGERS CROSSED heading into the home stretch!!!

Day 4 Part 2- Meg's Quilt

It is basted.........And this pic includes the actual girl that the quilt if for!.....LOL She LOVES her quilt and has been fascinated by the process. You can also see her choice for border fabric, I wanted a nice soft green but you cannot argue with the girl!! It is her quilt after all. So bed now, tomorrow I quilt!

Day 4 Part 1- Meg's Quilt

After a frustrating day of TRYING to get to the sewing machine, the borders are NOW ON!! Just have to stitch the backing together then baste. I hope to be quilting in a few hours.

Day 3 - Meg's Quilt

Nothing to show today ladies. We have purchased the borders and backing and I have cut the borders and bindings....will be sewing tomorrow. Was out and about for most of today as I predicted AND then had 4 extra's for dinner. (More nieces and nephews but local ones) My sister and her husband returned around 8.30 but it was nearly 10 before they left. (Cameron White was on 92 and my brother in law REFUSED to leave till he had gotten his century....in fact in the end they didn't go till we had won the match!!!! LOL)

See you later on today with more pics.......tis way past my bed time now.....LOL

Day 2 - Meg's Quilt

What a day!!!! Had coffee with a friend that I have not seen since before Christmas. Spent around 4 hours at the local pool with my sister, a girlfriend and 9 children!! Shopped for and cooked tea......and THEN this evening I have managed to get the quilt top all together!!

You can just see the 2 fabrics that I am auditioning for the 1st border. I will make the decision when the light is better tomorrow....but the girl herself likes the buttery yellow....and I am tending to agree with her. The purple seems to spoil the softness of it and I feel the softness of the colours makes it is just delicious!!

So, so far......on track!! Got a big day of shopping and movies tomorrow, but NEED to sneak in a trip for borders and backing. Don't want to be caught short with nothing to do tomorrow evening!!!

Day 1 - Meg's Quilt

Strips are cut and sewn, ready for pressing and cross cutting. Keeping it simple, simple seemed like a good idea given the time frame. Have only worked on it this evening as we did a little shopping etc today. And have also be bought a little undone by not all of the fat eighths measuring the same....ggrr...but it is one of the things I love about patchwork...making it up as you go along. LOL

Got there by a whisker......

I wanted this bag finished today.....and HOPEFULLY the time stamp on this post will prove that I did......NOW for the quilt. (After some sleep of course!)

Madness has taken over.....

...as it often does when it comes to quilts.....LOL. I have my niece, Meghan, visiting from Tamworth. And I have decided TODAY to make her a quilt to take home. I floated the idea the week before she came (didn't I Lissa!!), but wondered if I was mad.....Made the happy mistake of visiting Lily Patches today.......and there was this lovely fat 1/8th pack on special AND it was colours that Meghan liked. So I guess the decision was made for me. I HAVE to finish the black and white beauty FIRST....(it is so close) and plan to start the quilt tomorrow. I have to have it finished by this time next week....do you think I can??????


Will keep you posted.....

ANOTHER sneaky peak........

I have FINALLY finished this one......I am threading up in black now......should I start stitching tonight or go to bed?????????????

Another sneaky peak........

So you know I went shopping at spotlight the other day....for haberdashery NOT fabric.....I SWEAR!!! But I spied this and it just had to come home. I am not quite finished sample 1 but this evening I had to cut out sample 2! I cant wait to stitch it up. I will be a good girl and put the final touches on the first sample, I promise!! But that is a job for tomorrow. Right now, I am heading to bed. Last night was the hottest night we have had on record apparently and I, along with many others, slept very little. It is currently 16.3 degrees, 24 hours ago it was 34.9 degrees.....that is almost 19 degrees difference.......almost hard to believe. SO I am off to bed.....to the sound of gentle rain on the roof and the rumble of far off thunder!! DELICIOUS!!

BFN

Just a quick update.....

....the motivation & inspiration I was seeking I have FOUND and in spades. I had tried to avoid a trip to a fabric shop, you know use what you have at home first......but I HAD to go to spotlight today to buy some rings, and a quick trip past the quilting fabric was of course unavoidable. AND this afternoon I have almost finished sample 1 and have fabric for 2 more versions if I am so inclined....and I am sure I will be. More pictures tomorrow......night night.

Sneaky Peak........

.......I am slowly plodding away on this project, very very slowly. Just cant get my head in the game. I did think if I showed you something, you might nag me into getting a move on. So here is SOME of what I have been working on......I am well pleased with what I HAVE completed and I can see it finished clear as anything in my head but motivation has escaped me! Sigh.....help me PLEASE!!

I think that is better.......

........what do you think?? The text is still not exactly what I wanted and the picture is HUGE. I will keep working on it and see if I can make it better.

Trying to..................

make a new header and it is not working right.......ggggrrrrrr.

Did I ever show you.......

the Waverley Quilt all finished?? It is not quite done, truth be told I would like to quilt it a little more.....but I was not happy with what I was doing, do decided to stop. I am pleased with the over all look of it, as usual the picture does not do it justice. I found another top I need to put a border on today. Once that is done I will have 4 that need quilting...not sure if I will do it myself yet. Got to practice more on my Bernina. Catch you tomorrow!

Today......we gardened!!

You know it is funny, I always say that I am not a gardener. But as I prepared the pictures for this post I am wondering if maybe, just maybe I need to change that perception of myself.

We had a lovely sleep in today, and then yummy bacon and eggs for brunch at about 11.30. Was planning to sew all day, but husband floated the idea of a trip to the garden supplies place. We have needed to remulch, and do a bit of a tidy up around the Shed. It was forecast to be a lovely cool day, so I figured why not. Here is what we have been busy doing.

This is before..............



.........and here is after. I have to still get another couple of pots to go either side of the one that is already there. We want to fill them with strawberry plants as we seem to be able to keep them alive. We are learning what works for us......and doing more of it.



This next photo is looking up the yard from the front, can you see the shed just peaking out on the right?? Today we put the little river pebbles around the pavers, a job that has been waiting to be done for YEARS!! We also put new mulch around the olive tree and in the bed down the left hand side. We have had several lots of plants in there over the years but the dogs trash them as they bolt to the fence to bark at the people on the bike track. Not sure what to try in there that they will not kill again. Also notice the 2 square pots with our thriving strawberry plants. Husband picked almost a punnets worth off them yesterday.And finally some treasures from the front yard. The rose is on the scruffiest of bushes you have ever seen, and today it produces THIS an almost perfect bud. I am a little surprised by the colour as I thought this was a Black Beauty, but it is amazing just the same. The Daisies hold a special place in our hearts. They came from the Garden of my husbands grandmother who passed away a couple of years ago. She had lived in the same house for most of her 93 years and these flowers filled the front garden. I commented on them once and the next time my in laws came to visit, Mumma sent with them some cuttings from her garden. They didn't flower last summer and I honestly thought we had lost them, but here they are in all their glory. Even though Mumma is no longer with us, and her house has just recently been sold, they are a living reminder of her and the wonderful times we spent in her home.

So NOW I can spend the evening sewing, and that gives me something to talk about tomorrow .... are you proud of me! 3 Days in a row!!!!!

BFN

Getting closer.......

I have been working on this one for awhile, so long in fact that I lost the fossile fern fabric that I had cut ready for the borders. Soooo I had to find more but of course it took time and I lost interest in finishing it. (As you do) I am planning on doing some more designing before the school year starts. (As I am less busy and can while away days in my shed on my lonesome without having to run off all over the place) So I dug out this quilt to get my head back in the game so to speak. It has certainly whet my appetite and as soon as I have written this I am planning of whipping up a sample.....I have had the husband chained to the computer this afternoon drafting the pattern for me and I need now to get the method in my head for the writing process. Will be back with a sneak peak of that new project soon........BFN

Happy New Year...........

....I thought it was about time I updated my blog. It has been a while and what better way than to welcome in 2010! I had a lovely surprise as I opened up my shed this morning, I have a little basket of succulents on my verandah and somehow I have grown a flower! I am not much of a gardener so I certainly cannot take any credit, LOL but I did take the picture.....does that count??

I hope to be a little more diligent with my posting this year.....note I say HOPE! WE will have to see how that goes. I will be back soon to show you what I have been working on today.