Unsewing

Today has seen me unsewing. A lot. And it's not because I made a mistake. It was because Big W (a discount department store) made a mistake. Quite some time ago now they stopped selling flannelette nighties. In my world that is a mistake because I love flannelette nighties! I have had nightie discussions with real life friends and have come to the sad conclusion that I am possibly the last flannelette nightie wearer on the face of the earth. Apparently, wearing a nightie in bed and being comfortable is a talent that not many can boast of. (Trust me to be talented in a completely hidden section of life!) Anyway, I was perturbed when my nighties disappeared from Big W, but not distraught. I had a lot of nighties and knew it would be a long time before I ran out of them. Now I have run out. My last surviving nightie has started falling apart. The fabric that is, not the seams! So today I started unsewing my nightie so I can make a pattern from it and make some more. (It is sooo comfortable! I did discover a flannelette nightie in Best and Less last winter, but it was not comfy at all.) So this was what my day looked like.

Oh. And there was some of this today too. (It was a cold morning here in Melbourne!) Mr 18 sporting his beanie he knitted when he was 13.

A sewing sort of weekend

It started out with me getting these split 9 patches out of hibernation. I sewed them sometime in 2009 or 2010. There were 272 three and a quarter inch squares. Now half of them are together, and back in the box. I just need a little break from them because they are entirely too small to be sewn together!

Next up I made a grandchild sized bunny hat. I'm not entirely happy with this colour, but it was all I could produce at a moment's notice. I think I have discovered a severe deficiency in my fabric stash people! I need a metre or so of every colour of polar fleece for just such emergencies. (I mean whims!)

And I also did a bit of stitching on these doilies. Of course there was also shopping, baking, cooking, attending church and choir practice and all the other usuals. I'm amazed I had time for any sewing at all! How was your weekend?

The Anzacs

Today we remember those who lost their lives in the defence of our nation. Anzac Day was First observed on April 25 in 1916 and was to remember those who had perished at Gallipoli. As time has gone on we have included others who lost their lives in different battles and different wars. There was a time in the 1970's when the day was not very popular, but theses days there are many well attended dawn services held around the country. The traditional Anzac day march becomes more and more popular each year too. So today I am thinking about those who died whilst defending our country. Those who served but didn't die and had to live with the memories of war, and those who were left at home whose lives were changed forever by war. And I have been "loving the house". (Cleaning)

I'll leave you with a photo of some tissue paper flowers I made yesterday in preparation for a class I taught at Young Womens (church youth group) last night. We made dozens of flowers (for a set) which turned out wonderfully!

So cute!

Today I have finished the thread pouch and it is soooo cute!

I read through the instructions several times, but still had no idea how it was going to come together. (Am I the only one like this? It takes me ages to be able to visualise something!) I just kept sewing and then the pouch appeared!

I love it! I feel like making lots of pretty pouches for all sorts of stuff now!

Stitching

 I have been thinking for some time now that I need some stitching set up to take with me when I'm out waiting. Perhaps I have put it off because I haven't had to do much waiting of late. Yesterday I got out the threads and pattern I bought from Marg Low at the AQC. The pattern is for a pouch to keep your four Aurifil thread spools in. Such a pretty and clever idea!

So I traced the stitching design and began stitching. I hadn't realised just how much I miss stitching when I don't have any on the go.

I am going to stitch a little more today. And maybe start on those chair covers I talked about a week or so ago. I am hopeless when doing anything I haven't done before. I have to think and think about it and it's process, and then I avoid doing it. Why? Maybe because it might be hard? So maybe I will make those chair covers this week. Maybe.

Saturday Markets

We regularly go to two Farmer's markets nearby. Today was the Wheelers Hill market. (Next week is the Monash Uni market) We buy fresh fruit and veg and bread and enjoy looking at everything. Today it was a little foggy. Well, today at the market we bumped into people we know! That doesn't happen often, because we don't know that many people here.

Next up we went to the Finders Keepers market near the city. It was full of beautiful handmade & retro things and we were completely inspired!

I was most blown away by these JukeCases. Vintage luggage with speakers in them. Just plug your iPod in and turn it on! You can check them out here.

Oh. And I bought some hand printed fabric. Trust me to find some fabric!

Housework!

Sorry for the swearing people, but that's what I have been doing today.
Housework.
The only fun thing today has been watching my kids knit this arvo.

Oh well, sometimes that's how it is. I have sorted out my sewing room bookshelves (which hold crafting books of every kind and music books - we keep the piano in there!) today. Another step closer to getting my sewing rooms completely set up. That has to be good!

Look at this!

 Much excitement at my house! (OK. Not from the teenaged population.) Just imagine you are a quilt under my machine. Look at all that space! Yes! I got a table for my machine to sit into (look at all that flat space I have to quilt on now!) and it matches up perfectly to my old table (seen at the back of the photo with all my stuff on it) just to make quilting big quilts possible! Of course I haven't tested it out yet,(Mr 18 has only just finished building it and Mr 11 has only just finished recycling the box it came in.) but I'm optimistic that it is going to be the perfect quilting solution!

Quilt's eye view

quilting heaven

I am so glad I went to AQC last week because that is where this idea was born. And I'm so glad that I had been quilting the days before I went. I saw a Horn sewing cabinet display which had a similar set up and I thought it looked like a great idea. The saleswoman saw my lit up eyes and I think she saw a sale, but I didn't need a Horn solution because I never need to pack my sewing up. (I have two rooms, dining and lounge room, at my disposal here. My family are very good to me.) In the corner of the display I saw a small table with "my" sewing machine in it and inquired about it. When I got home I chatted to my Bradley about the table and then forgot about it. He didn't though and popped into our local sewing centre and ordered me a table. I thought the one at the show was a great price, but he got an even better price and today he picked it up. So, quilting heaven is here. So glad because I am itching to quilt the humongous Kate Spain "Good Fortune" flimsy I pieced in January. Sorry, just about done showing off now. Must go catch the post!!! (Shhhh! It's a secret!)

Shhhhh! Finished, one quilt.

The colours are much pinker in real life I think.

A blue with white spot back.

Lucky Mr 18 is 6' 5" tall with ape arms. (Those are his fingers in the photo above) Well, it's finished. I thought the binding would be quick (I machine bound it) but it seemed not to be so quick today. I will be posting it off tonight, it is a secret gift!  Glad to be finished it, and glad to have an old project dealt with! Must get something up on my sidebar to record my finished projects and remind me of my goals for this  year.

Yesterday.....

I worked on the sewing room some more. Today I will be sewing. I also managed to make a HUGE banana cake (I didn't double the mixture, it was just huge!)

So, sewing today. How good does that sound?!

Cheerful...

A foxglove I grew at the last house.

I thought I might just get my sewing room finished today. It's close, but not done. It has been a cheerful day though. I managed to put my pinboards up and pin up my favourite things to look at. (No, not on pinterest! A real life pinning!) Very cheerful! I visited with friends Margaret and Merle for two hours, lots of chatting and laughing! And I got a letter from Molly. It is so very cheerful to hear from her! I don't think I could have had a better day. So on this cheerful day I thought I would show you a photo of a foxglove I grew at the last house. Flowers are just so cheerful, and I find flowers I have tended and grown myself to be the most cheerful flowers of all.

It's a rearranging kind of day here.

I had hoped to get my sewing room rearranging done over the weekend, but it was not to be. The rearranging had a domino effect that took longer to effect than I thought.

Before the rearranging I just had one of these cupboards. The second cupboard was in another room and had games and toys in it which I managed to find other homes for. (I am a miracle worker!)

I sacrificed some table area for the storage. (I have a lot of stuff. Good stuff!)

This side of the room is looking amazing! It's the other side I'll be working on again tomorrow.
*sigh*

Some more quilting.....

I managed to finish the quilting on Friday.

The back

The front

Just binding needed now and then I can move on to a new project. I'm thinking chair covers.

It's quite a blaze when you turn 18.

Eighteen candles make quite a blaze as our son discovered. It was a fun night with his choice of dinner and a treacle gingerbread cake to support the blaze. And of course, it was once again inside out pants day, which he instituted on his birthday many years ago. (So if you saw someone wearing their trousers inside out chances are they are related to my son! Most of his siblings join in.)

Quilting and a little AQC

I am seven eighths of the way through quilting the second quilt. It is so close to being finished, but I am done for today. The headache I had earlier in the week has knocked me today and I am giving up on the day.

This is some of the quilting in progress. Oh. And I popped in to the AQC for an hour or so today. I managed to visit with Jane and Vicki from the Patchwork Apple and to catch up with Marg from Marg Low designs. Really that's all I wanted to do there. (There were so many people there! Not my favourite thing, crowds.) I also managed to pick up a brochure for Mill Rose Quilting at Ballan which is definitely the next shop on my "to visit" list.

Quilting

Yesterday I managed to spray baste two quilts. I was most impressed with myself because I did it relatively easily and usually basting is anything but easy for me. Hopefully this means I am getting better at basting. I hope so, because I am so keen to have more finished quilts at my house and basting is such an essential part of the finishing process.

Today I quilted. It took me forever to get organised etc, but eventually I began. Then, just before dinner was ready I finished! (I did start on a small 80cm x 80cm quilt to "practice" on!)

Free motion quilting in swirls.

Not perfect, but I'm pretty happy with it! Next up, the quilt of my goal for this week! (Can I do it?)

Sewing a little

Today went quickly! Breakfast, the traditional Easter egg hunt, and a little sewing took all morning. Church filled the afternoon and a headache has filled my evening. I'm just about to head off to bed again now, but thought I would share the quilt I am working on at the moment with you.

It is a very old work in progress that I decided to finish. (One of my goals for the year is to get some old projects finished or recycled!) I bought this fabric years and years ago at the patchwork apple. I think I went straight home and sewed the nine patches and then it just sat. I have been putting them together (it should be a flimsy tomorrow sometime) and then I will spray baste it and quilt it. There you go. A goal for this week!

Yes, I sewed the other three blocks!

This evening we played Articulate. We had so much fun. After all of that laughing I decided to hit the sewing room and finish my do. Good Stitches blocks for April. And here they are.

The quilter this month is Annabella of Life's Rich Pattern. She wants to make two quilts for the charity Siblings Together in the UK which you may have heard a buzz about on the Internet over the past couple of weeks. (You can read about the charity here at Lily's Quilts.) I am so pleased to be finished these and will be posting them off to Morocco as soon as the post office is open again after the Easter break. Hmm..... What's next?

A little inspiration...

... so my Bradley and I went to drop some kids off at the basketball (to watch) this morning and then decided to go to the National Gallery of Victoria for a little inspiration. This is what we saw.

Some beautiful buildings (not the art gallery!), and then, I was able to add to my series of roadworks photos. I've decided that my first photography exhibition will be my roadworks series. Hey! I must really like them because I am often showcasing them here on my blog! So why not an exhibition? Here goes:

It was my first trip to the art gallery here in Melbourne. (Sad I know. I don't get out much. My sewing room has an awfully strong gravitational pull.) I saw lots of beautiful paintings and just felt like I should rush right home and paint. With paint and threads. It was a lovely day and now I'm going to sew.

do. Good Stitches April block.

I had planned to make four of these blocks today, but this is as far as I got. It seems I am on a go slow at the moment.

I am using scraps for these blocks and it seems to take me ages to decide which should go with which. That's the point behind this charity bee actually. You endeavour to use your scraps to make two blocks out of nothing that the quilter then turns into a quilt to be donated to charity.

You can go here to check it out.

Stuck on You

I joined Marg Low's "from me to you club" earlier this year which means that I get patterns sent to me through the year. This is my second pattern.

I love Marg's patterns and this club is tailored for me. Each pattern is a different gift which will hopefully help me prepare for my handmade Christmas!

Crazy Patchwork Top

Yes! I finally did some sewing. I made the crazy patchwork squares early in March and now they are together.

They are for my March do. Good Stitches. Yes, I am running a bit slow, but it should make it in time.

I will be sewing again tomorrow. I'm not sure what. I am looking forward to the Easter weekend and am planning to work on my Some Kind of Wonderful quilt which has been sorely neglected. Hopefully I will get some rhythm going with that this weekend!

It's April

It's April. I am so surprised that it's April. I don't think I have finished with March yet! Had a pretty ho-hum day today. I'm hoping tomorrow will be better. This photo is for my Rose. When she was younger she had a dead bird photo collection. (Who am I kidding? She probably still does even though she's 21!) She found them fascinating. This is a bird I discovered last week on our front lawn.

Of course I had to take a photo and send it to her! (Old habits!)
So, this is my April. What's yours like?