Re-arranging.

I think you are either the kind of person who re-arranges their home constantly, or not. I used to think that I spent so long re-arranging our rooms because we just didn't have enough space. I had to keep re-arranging because my space just wasn't working. Now I just think I like to change things up. So this month I have been changing things up in our living room. We have an L-shaped lounge/dining room which has to have many uses. It is the sitting room, tv room, the music room, the sewing room, the library, the making room and the art room. It's quite a lot to fit in one room, but so far it seems to be working.

fabric on the shelves

I haven't been doing the re-arranging on my own. I have had lots of help from my kids. This is alpha and omega (the beginning and the end - the oldest and the youngest) helping me set up this Besta as a tv bench. 

Now, where to drill the hole in the back?

I'm still pottering around getting the room set up. Hopefully I will get it all done this weekend so that I can get back to sewing!

Getting Older...

This getting older thing is interesting. Last month my Bradley finally gave in to all the cajoling and went to the optometrist. He has been wearing chemist shop glasses for some years now for reading (we both have) but all of us at home were sure he was seeing less and less over all. He was most surprised when the optometrist gave him a prescription for both reading glasses and long distance glasses and suggested he get multifocals. He came back to the office with the said prescription in hand, denying the need to wear glasses full-time and throughly aghast at the price of multifocals. Of course, I took him back there the next day and we chose frames for his new glasses. We picked them up a week later and he loves them. He is still being surprised by how much he can see now.

Flowers last June

My Bradley was resistant to getting glasses, but he is really finding them helpful. Earlier this week when he was out walking he came across some guys trying to break into a car. His first thought was to dissuade them from breaking in (He's a salesman. He spends all day trying to persuade people!) which, moments after he started speaking, suddenly seemed like a very bad idea. They were not to happy with his intervention and began to approach him until one of them noticed that he had a dog with him. The presence of our dog did far more to persuade the men to change their ideas than my Bradley had been able to. As they drove off he was able to get their number plate which was helpful when he made a police report. When he recounted the story to us later we all thought that he wouldn't have been able to see the number plate clearly had he not got glasses. 

Had you asked him a month ago whether he had trouble seeing things in the distance he would have said no. And that's the thing with getting older. It creeps up on you. You hardly notice it at all until one day you look in the mirror and you're old. 

Doing things that make you happy

I read in the news this weekend that a Harvard Professor has said that people resist doing things that will make their life happier because of feelings of guilt. They don't hire that cleaner, or outsource their washing and ironing, or hire that lawn service because of feelings of guilt. Guilt about the money they are spending or guilt about being "dependant" on others and not looking after themselves. Buying time would mean they could spend more time on pursuits that would bring them happiness, but they dismiss it because of those guilty feelings. It's something to think about!

I am back in the sewing room today. I managed to sew last Sunday afternoon and I decided to make it a priority to get back there again this week.

My Sewing Corner

Terrible light in that photo, but that's how it is this weekend. It's hot in Melbourne and I have the curtains closed to keep the heat out and the cool we have generated in. Last August I did a class at Amitie Textiles in Torquay and managed to pick up some fabric while I was there. (It's a talent!) I didn't have a plan for it. Last Sunday I dragged it out and just started sewing. At the end of the day I had a picture in my mind of where I wanted to go and I NEEDED more fabric. All week I have been dreaming of going back to Amitie to get more fabric, but today I decided that what I really needed was to think about things differently. So today I am pressing on with the fabric I have. 

My blocks made last week

I'm sewing more regularly than I have in a long time and it makes me really happy! I'm sure more improvements can be made to increase happiness. Like blogging more. I really enjoy writing my thoughts and feelings, and I really like having this record to remember things by. Here's to sewing more and blogging more!

It's been so long!

It's been so long I'm not sure I even remember how to do this or even if there's still anybody out there who will read it. Not to worry. I have been busy writing in a book two of my daughters made for me for a #decemberdaily which has been so much fun! And I now have access to a computer - so blogging again makes sense to me. Not sure if I will get to adding photos to this post. This computer has no idea that I regularly take photos. We'll see how it goes.

It's 9pm on December 27th 2018. It's that time of year when I start thinking about how the year has been, what has happened and how I want 2019 to be different. Why is it I always want the next year to be different? Was this year so bad? Well, it wasn't wonderful. And I guess I really want wonderful.

This year was too busy and too full of things I just didn't want to do. (I'm such a whinge-bag!!!) I acquired a full-time job which involves loooooots of time and lots of worries. I don't know what this year holds. If you had asked me last December if I would be working full-time in twelve months time I would have told you you were crazy, but that's exactly where we are now, so who knows?

The photo above is my most recent sewing project. There haven't been many this year and that is something I want to change for 2019. We now only have four children living at home and the four are now all adults. It's the weirdest thing. For so many years (about 34) we had a kid or kids living here at our house, and now they are all grown up. Of course, they are all still my kids! And we are living in Melbourne again. Last time I posted we were living in Adelaide. Things do change, just maybe not the things I want to change!

Let's see if I can post something else here without a period of years passing.

This past week.

I have been so busy this past week. Mostly I have been busy procrastinating! (As I do!) My daughter's sister-in-law was married last weekend and one of my granddaughters was a flower girl. She had her two eldest of her four nieces be flower girls which left two little girls without a fancy dress so my daughter offered to make dresses for all four girls. Four dresses is quite a lot and I offered to help. Jess did all the cutting out and the basic sewing and I did the finishing. This is my granddaughters at their fitting.

My daughter and her three lovelies

She loooooves this dress!

And we had two birthdays. Well, four if you count extended family, so there were lots of birthday dinners to cook and go out for. This is my baby who turned 15. Fifteen!!! So strange to have no little kids at my house. We had little kids for so long. 

Lighting the sparkler on his cake

 Oh. And at one of those birthday dinners we ate some of the broccoli I grew in our backyard. It was delicious! 

I'm hoping to get more sewing done this week. I have been English paper piecing ever since I last blogged, but it doesn't look that different! Perhaps I will do some quilting!

This Goes With That...

It's spring! Isn't this a lovely blossom tree? I discovered this one Sunday morning and took a million photos (well, about twenty or so, almost a million, right?). There were lots of bees admiring this tree too.

A million years ago (everything today seems to come in multiples of a million) I joined the Patchwork Apple's block of the month club for Sue Daley's Pies and Tarts quilt. In the true tradition of block's of the month I still haven't finished it despite working on it for years. (I think the top is finished. Possibly. I'm thinking about it and considering it.) I really loved the look of the Pies and Tarts so when I heard that Sue Daley had released another block of the month and that Hettie's Patch were running a club for it I was in! I was keen the first month, and then my interest tapered of slightly completely. (Also in the tradition of block of the month clubs!) This quilt is a hexagon quilt with a difference. The difference being that some of the hexagons are built from other English paper piecing shapes. I was looking for a handwork project to do a couple of weeks ago and dragged it out of the cupboard and have been working on it ever since.

I think I was inspired somewhat by the show and tell at Gum Valley Patchwork's Stitch in Spring. A lovely lady by the name of Vicky had made a couple of beautiful hand stitched hexagon quilts which just took my breath away. Of course, her hexagons were smaller than this, but I'm still claiming her as my inspiration! (These are 2 1/2 inch hexagons - that's the measurement of each side) I've decided to alternate a "built" hexagon with a solid hexagon in the hopes of getting this finished some time in the next decade. (Vicky's huge quilts were completed inside a year each!)

In other news I have been gardening. My boys built me raised garden beds following a design by Jess and now I have food happening in my garden! This is a teeny tiny broccoli that I photographed yesterday. Today I have some lettuce to plant out and I'm hoping to pop a bunch of seeds in at the same time. Wish me luck!

Finishes

Friday! My how the week passes! I sat in front of the computer on Monday morning to write a blogpost, and now it's Friday! (I haven't been sitting here all week - it just feels like it!) So, here's my Monday blogpost about my finishes from last week.

My first finish was a chevron quilt I started last year when we were living in North Adelaide. My daughter Jessica quilted it for me and I finally bound it!

I used a Bonnie and Camille diagonal stripe to bind it. It made really lovely binding. I bought a metre of this fabric from Lenora at Elm Grove Patchwork in Nullewarre Victoria. I made it all up into binding and used it for the two quilts I finished last week.

This is the chevron quilt up close on my clothesline after being washed. I love the quilting that Jess did for me.

The second quilt I finished was my beehive beauty that I assembled from the blocks I was sent by my swarmies. I joined the Instagram bee run by Alyce at Blossom Heart Quilts and I chose the double star block designed by Christa at Christa Quilts I love how it turned out. This is me quilting the quilt. Even though I did a lot of straight line quilting I did it all free motion. (Hence they are wonky straight lines, but exactly what I was looking for.)

Quilted, trimmed and ready to bind. Did I mention that I love this binding?

I backed this quilt with a Denyse Schmidt fabric. It looked awesome with the binding too!

Here it is on the clothesline. Wet and scrunched up from the washing machine.

And here it is in it's intended place above my bed. Yeah. I'm not much into making my bed. Perhaps I should have cropped that shot? Oh well. I love it. I love the colours and I am thrilled with the quilting. Next up I have a couple of quilts in various stages of finish that I want to use on my bed. One is together as a top and the other is blocks. It will be a while before I get to them I think. They will be big quilts and I need to do some more quilting practice on little quilts before I start to quilt them. If I'm looking at them every day I will want to love the quilting on them!

clothesline view

Stitch in Spring

Friday morning I got up bright and early because Loz and I were off to Stitch in Spring held each year by Linda White from Gum Valley Patchwork. It was the second time I had been and it was as much fun the second time around. The tutors this year were Gail Pan and Helen Stubbings. I managed to work on projects from both of them over the weekend.

the view from our window

Linda's shop is in a little place called Cooriemungle in Victoria, but she holds Stitch in Spring at the Lifesaver's clubrooms in Port Campbell. Port Campbell is on the Great Ocean Road not far from the Twelve Apostles and it is a very scenic and beautiful setting. Loz and I stitched at Stitch in Spring on the Saturday and spent Sunday stitching at our accommodation. Last year we did the touristy thing on the Sunday and headed out to the Twelve Apostles, London Bridge and other geological coastal features. This year we told ourselves that we had already done that and stayed home and stitched. I think what really happened though was that we were both tired and just needed a rest, so Sunday was a lovely restful day for us.

progress on Sunday night

This week I have a huge to-do list of sewing. Sewing is what really makes me happy so having a huge to-do list is the best for me! I have things to finish for our home which makes me feel really cheerful. One of the best things about meeting and knowing quilty people in real life is that their homes are an inspiration to me. Loz, Shay, Claire and Val all have beautiful quilty homes. As soon as you walk into their homes you can tell a quilter lives there because their quilts are on show! I guess its more than just quilts being on show. Anyway, that's what I want my home to look like. This week I am keen to get my beehive quilt finished. It's going on the wall above my bed. It's about the last thing to do to "finish" my room. (Well, I am keen to get new quilt covers for my bed, but that's probably not necessary!) I am hoping to get all of our rooms "finished" over the next couple of months because in December we will have been here for twelve months - a milestone - and it would be good to have everything organised and pretty by then! I am also working on some quilted cushion covers and I have a couple of ottomans that need recovering. I'm going to take a leaf out of my daughter's book and make a quilted cover for my ottomans. She made one for hers and it is so lovely! 

In case you were wondering I gave up on posting from my iPad. After the two successes I had last month I couldn't get it to work again, so thats why I have had so much time between posts. Now I have a computer set up in my sewing space and I am good to go! Hopefully I'll be back this week with some finishes. Wish me luck, I have to get to the sewing machine!

Hoops!

I love to stitch, or embroider, or whatever you call it. When I was younger I used to say I'll learn to embroider when I retire, but the opportunity presented itself before then so I took it. I find handwork really relaxing. I also like the look of machine free motion embroidery. I often think one day I'll try that. I'm not much into trying new things. Earlier this year I joined a swap on Instagram. A hoop swap. (Are you in love with Instagram? I love all the pretty pictures there!) I decided to make a pretty hand stitched scene for my partner and that was that.

I also tried a crocheted covering for the hoop. I had pinned this on Pinterest ages ago and was thrilled to have the opportunity to try it out. I don't usually try these things for myself. I have to be "pushed" into it! After the swap date had come and gone I got a message on Instagram asking if I could be an angel for someone who had sent a hoop, but not received one in return. I was happy to do it and felt the pressure of a self-imposed deadline. It was sad that this person didn't have a hoop and I wanted to make one as quickly as possible for her. So I began to consider making a free motion embroidered scene for this second hoop. (Quick, right!) With a little hand embroidered embellishment. This is what I came up with. 

It was so much fun to make! I also crocheted a hoop cover for this one (It was easy to do!) and I really loved this one. I liked the first one, but the second one is my favourite. I (almost) wished I kept it. I figured I could easily make another for myself, but I haven't quite gotten around to it yet. I am keen to try some more free motion embroidery. Hopefully I'll try it again soon.

Such a long time!

I went to a class at Hetties Patch last weekend and ran into someone who I had met years ago and she said she used to keep up with me on my blog, but I don't do that any more. I was a bit stunned because I often think about blogging, but I never quite get there. Part of it is fatigue (I moved three times in thirteen months!) and part of it is not having access to a computer to blog on. I have my iPad always at the ready but have found blogging on that difficult. So today I woke up and thought, that's it! I love this blog and the record it is of my doings I'm just going to try harder to use the iPad and be done with it! So here I am blogging. Weird, huh?

I lifted some photos from my iPad for this post. This is my Sue Daly "Pies and Tarts" quilt in progress some months ago. Actually, now that I look at it closely I see that this photo was taken in the townhouse we lived in for four months in North Adelaide. That was immediately after we left the farm. The best thing about the farm was it was in the middle of nowhere. I loved the quiet. And not being able to see anyone else. I loved the Kangaroos I could see every day around the property and I loved the "big sky". And the worst thing about the farm was it was in the middle of nowhere. It was a 25 minute drive to the bus stop and I had to make that trip twice a day with my two university girls. It was too much! So we moved almost to the centre of Adelaide which was in direct contrast with the country experience. I loved it! We could walk everywhere! A free bus into the city took off two houses away from us and we really loved it there. We "did" so many more things there even though we were only there for a short time. Everything was in walking distance. The Botanic gardens, the zoo, the city, museums, the art gallery etc. Trying to park your car was a nightmare for us and visitors, especially when there was an event on at Adelaide Oval because they have more onerous restrictions during events, but I did a lot more walking there! We were sad to leave that location, but really felt like we needed to move closer to our grandkids and so we are living in the Adelaide Hills now. We moved here eight months ago (so long now!) and I STILL have things in boxes. Sigh! Anyway, I have been sewing and making and I intend to keep sewing and making and recording my life here at "Rosemary Hill" even if it's just for me to read and remember! 

This photo shows more progress on the Pies and Tarts quilt. It's officially huge these days and I am busy practicing my free motion quilting so that I can do a better job on this beauty. After all, 

It's a journey.

This is what I have been working on over the last month. "Aunt Bettina's Parlour" by Quilted Crow Girls Designs. I started it I can't remember when at a class at Hettie's Patch earlier this year. I am enjoying hand stitching! It's all very relaxing and fun.

This year is all a bit of a blur. Every year I am amazed at the beginning of every month to realise that another month has flown by. This year it is even worse. We left Melbourne last November, but it seriously only seems like a month or two ago, not the eight months it really is. I miss Melbourne a lot. Well, the place a little, but mostly the friends I made there. 

When we moved back to South Australia eight months ago we decided to do something different. Why not? We decided to move to the country. We are just renting so this would be an opportunity to see if country life is for us without too much of a commitment. Our current home is on seven acres, and is on a dirt road. (Can't get more country than that!) When we moved in we couldn't see any houses from our house. We are surrounded by paddocks. Paddocks that are full of rabbits, foxes and kangaroos and also cattle and sheep. Now we can see a house on the hill opposite our hill. It is in the process of being built. And do you want to know something funny? In the tradition of South Australia (it's a small place people) we know the people building the new house. They will move in in the next month or two. What are the odds that we would know them? In Victoria not great. In South Australia, pretty much even. 

This is our backyard. So, after eight months, how do we like country living? So-so. There are some things I love. Like living in the middle of nowhere! And some things I am completely sick of. Like living in the middle of nowhere! I love the quiet. (Well, except for the cows and sheep. Boy are they noisy!) But I am sick of having to drive 20 kilometres to the bus stop to drop kids off. (I know that that is not really a long drive, but it seems long to me!) Sometimes I make the 40km round trip three times a day which is crazy, but necessary. So I'm hoping to move again when our lease is up. Where to? Right now I have no idea. 

We moved back to South Australia to help our daughter. She is one of the most brilliant and capable young women I know. Always has been. She does have a huge challenge though, her son has special needs. Without the regular support of extended family this special boy's challenges were overwhelming for her. As he has gotten older, and bigger, the challenges have grown too. So now we are nearby to help. We have him come stay at our house one day a week each week. This gives her a break and an opportunity to do something other than look after him. He has behavioural problems which are really hard work. Of course, he is still wonderful along with it. Last month was a big month for him. His doctor prescribed him medication. His mother has resisted this course of action previously because she wanted to try every non-invasive way of helping him first. This was the next step. He has reacted really well so far and we hope this will give him a chance to learn and practise better behaviours. 

This is him helping his sister last week, which seems an ordinary thing but is quite amazing for him. 

So, I am still here. Working on sewing projects, babysitting my grandchildren and watching kangaroos in my front yard, in the side paddocks and on the other side of the hill. I have many new projects floating around in my head. I have attended a class and improved my free motion quilting somewhat, and I am contributing to a market that my girls are doing this month. Oh. And we built a tiny house. 

I finished this quilt. Finally.

I thought I would never finish this quilt, but today I did it. I started it back in August 2013 and thought it wouldn't take long. Do I always think that? I love it. I love the fabric. I love the circles. I love the flowers. I love the quilting. I quilted circles around (and in some of) the circles, pebbles in all the frames, and a large free motion flower in each of the "empty" circles.

In other news, my friend who I gifted this quilt to two years ago (I was surprised that it was so long ago when I looked back through my blog, it seems like the other day.) passed away last week. She lived across the road from us in Melbourne and it's a little bit heartbreaking that I couldn't just walk next door this week and attend her funeral. (We used to live next door to the church her funeral service was conducted in) The last time I spoke to her was in a paddock here. I missed her a lot. We had lots in common and thought the same way about lots of things despite a 25 year age gap. Just looking at the photo of this quilt reminds me of life two years ago. It was such a good time!

I finished it!

Last Friday night I crocheted like a demon and finished this rug! It's hard to believe that it took me so long to blog about it, cause here it is Friday night again.

Every week is so busy at my house. We have two girls at Uni this semester. They are back into it this week after a teaching break which means lots of trips to the bus stop. We are twenty-five minutes drive from the bus stop so there is lots of driving. One of the reasons we moved back to South Australia was to be with our grandchildren more and we have our grandson sleep over every Sunday night. That means that Monday is a very busy day here. This past Sunday we had our grandson and his two sisters sleep over. They don't like to miss out so occasionally we have them stay over too. They are so much fun!

It's so nice to have a finish! I am still working on the Anna Maria Horner quilt. I'm keen for another finish. I have a pile of quilt tops just begging to be finished so I see a lot of quilting in my future!

Sewing room

Last November we moved house. This week I managed to do some quilting, the first for six months. I don't think I want to move house ever again. It took me so long to get organised. I'm not sure why. Ok. I say "organised" loosely. I'm not really organised completely yet, but I'm now organised enough to sew. We have just one living room in this house (the last house had four) and I have had the furniture arranged every way possible! Look at my photos for the latest!

Oh. And you can see the quilt I am working on in the first shot. I began quilting it last year in Melbourne, and it's nearly finished now. Here it is.

So I'm sewing again. And hopefully finishing some things too!

It's getting bigger!

When we first moved back to South Australia in November last year (seems just like the other day, but it's months ago now.) I didn't have any sewing or handwork unpacked. My crochet I was working on had to be left behind in Melbourne and packed a month or so later by my Bradley. Still haven't found it yet. (The last boxes to be packed were not labelled and were all full of random items.) I knew before we moved that I had too much stuff, but I know it much more now! We lived in a huge house in Melbourne and the house here is tiny! Anyway, back in November I had nothing to work on, so my first day here I popped to the new local Spotlight (it's tiny and has so little choice, my last local was ginormous) and bought some yarn and a crochet hook and began crocheting a rug. It's getting bigger, but isn't a good shape yet to finish it off. I recently bought second balls of all the yarn (had to go to two Spotlights to find them!) so that I can finish it. It's big enough now to keep my lap warm as I crochet. It's autumn here and becoming cooler so it's more enjoyable to crochet now. Can't wait to finish this rug! 

Still here making things!

Have you seen "Frozen"? We haven't seen it yet. We tend to wait until movies come to DVD to see them. It costs so much to go to the movies, and we choose to spend our money on other things. Like fabric! Nevertheless, Lily17 trawled the net to find out what "Frozen" characters looked like. Apparently this is Anna. Lily17 was Anna when she went to a "Frozen" dance on Friday night. She made the costume herself.

My sewing area is getting more set up and I even did the appliqué on Lily17's vest above. I am crocheting and working on a hand appliqué I started at a class at Hettie's Patch. The class was with the Quilted Crow girls from Tassie and I couldn't resist attending because I met the Crow girls in Tassie last April and loved their wool appliqué. 

That's my wool appliqué hanging on my new pinboards set up in my sewing room come living room. So much has happened since I posted here last. Lots of birthdays. (I turned 50! How weird is that?) And other happenings. I hope to post again soon. 

Stitching

I bought a magazine and it had an article in it about kantha. It is a traditional Indian method of reusing worn fabrics. A way to make them good again. They would take two worn fabrics and stitch them together with decorative running stitches to make a new, stronger fabric which they could use. Of course I didn't find worn fabric, I got some perfectly good fabric out from my stash! Then I started stitching. It was so much fun! I am planning to do this some more. As soon as I get my sewing space better set up. Want to know what I did with my pinboards? Check out this post at A Making Life!

making and unpacking...

Christmas? Nah, it's not on my horizon at the moment. We are making and unpacking. I seriously can't contemplate getting ready for Christmas until my sewing room is unpacked. I know I don't have long till Christmas, but my mantra always is "It's not Christmas Eve yet is it? Well what are you worried about?" Perhaps there will be no gingerbread men or houses this year, but that will just make them all the more exciting next year, right? That's what I'm going with. I hope you are having a lovely time preparing for Christmas and I'll just get on with this unpacking.

Sewing this week. For a market next week.

 See, there has been sewing happening at my place this week. Proof. Evidence. Photographic evidence even.

But it's all Picklesticks' (Jessica) sewing. Not mine. Want an animal mask for the small people in your life? If you're in Adelaide come to the Jazzy Christmas Market at Unley town hall Tuesday from 4pm to 9pm and buy one, or like Picklesticks on Facebook and check them out there!

There is also this sewing going on. Lily16 is sewing a red and white Christmas dress. The blue and white print is a dress she made a few months ago. She loves it so much she is making a Christmas dress just like it.

Oh. And this is my contribution to making this week. Pop stick Christmas trees. They are supposed to be painted. Any minute now...