Quilt top!

Dallin's 18th quilt

 I finished putting the borders on this quilt top last night. I figured I would wait for daylight to photograph it and as you can tell from these photos there is plenty of daylight today! (Well, it has been pretty overcast and the sun popped out right at the moment that Maxim - Mr 18 - was available to hold it up for me! It is dark again now.)

without the lights in front of it

Dallin is a friend of my kids' and drawing a block for this quilt was a part of his surprise 18th birthday party. It has turned out to be a good size (73" x 54") and I am hoping to stretch and baste it today so that I can finish it off and give it to him! So that's now five quilt tops waiting to be basted. I think that tells you that I am not yet over my basting phobia! Must go practice basting!!!

Button cakes.

Sophie's new Ikea domed cake stand, isn't it pretty?

Yesterday Sophie (Miss 26) baked chocolate cupcakes. And since I am now awesome at making buttercream icing (see this post) I whipped up some icing to go on top. (Seriously, my buttercream icing is delicious!) She also whipped up some fondant buttons to decorate the tops of the cupcakes. We are so into sewing here! Which brings me to the sewing activity for today. We went to Spotlight to partake of their 30% off sale. We went early, but it was still busy. We did get lots of fabric for a small amount of money though so all good! (For those who still have my "not buying anymore fabric" affirmation ringing in their ears, most of the fabric was Sophie's. - Yep! Another excuse!) So glad to be home now though and finally getting into the sewing room for today.

My sewing room...

I had Cath (check her out here) suggest that some of you might like a look at my sewing room, so this is the sewing room post! I love my sewing room. So much so that it has really taken over quite a large portion of the house. My sewing room is in what "normal" people would call the dining room. We do have a large eat-in area in our kitchen that we dine in so I figured this dining room would make a good sewing room!

the "sewing" side of my room with the door to the kitchen

the other side of my sewing room with storage paxes and computer centre

view from my desk through to the loungeroom

this cupboard of patterns is in the loungeroom, oops!

oh, and I do have these fabric cupboards in the entry

but it is a big entry!

and this is where I love to sit and work

I think I am quite envious of other people's pretty sewing rooms. This is a rented house so we aren't allowed to change much here at all. (Not sure if that varies in other places or not?) I just want to reassure you that I'm not really into apricot curtains. They just come with the house. I'm not sure how different this room would look if it was my house. Maybe it would be blue. Or blue and green. And I would have a hard floor rather than carpet. Nevertheless, it is a great space and I know I am lucky to be able to take command of such a large area within the house. My aim this year is to use up what I have supplies-wise and I was congratulating myself on what a good job I was doing when I began to realise that my quilting fabric cupboard was getting quite full. Hmm... if I am not buying more fabric how could this be happening? And then I thought about it. I have actually bought quite a bit of fabric, always rationalising it by thinking that it doesn't really count because I am really just making this quilt because my Bradley wants me to and so this fabric doesn't count. And this doesn't count because I just need a little of this AND it's on special (so not counted if it's on special!). And stuff bought online can't possibly be counted because you didn't even go to a shop! So, I need to keep my sewing room clean and use up the stuff I have. I noticed people de-stashing for the first time this year and thought I would do the same, but haven't been able to part with anything so far. Yep. Can't part with any fabric, but let me work on the said fabric for hours and hours, add in some expensive batting and some more fabric and I can probably give the result away!!! Ahh... I'm a complex woman for sure! I am off to bed now so I can have a great time in my sewing room this week!

What is it about fire?

sausages sizzling

 We love it here. It is a cold August night and the best thing the kids can think of doing is lighting a fire and roasting some marshmallows. These photos are from a fire they enjoyed during the week.

fun and frivolity

I managed to get my secret sewing finished today. I love having a tidy sewing room! I would love to show you the results of today's work, but I think my swap partner would not appreciate that. I love the thing I made and hope she does too. Hopefully she will received it on Tuesday so I will be able to show it to you then. So, what to do tonight? I'm thinking start a new project. We'll see!!!

Buttons, do you have any?

I do. I thought I had lots of buttons, but now I'm questioning such a belief. I had a slow start this morning, but managed to get into the sewing room just after lunch. I am working on a swap today. It's a little bit secret and it needs buttons. Once I got up to the button part I confidently got out my lots of buttons. Hmm... I don't seem to have the right ones! It was a bit of a shock! So it looks like a trip to Spotlight is in order. For buttons you know. I have to go! See you later!

Block finishes for do. Good Stitches

Since it is August you might be thinking that these blocks are my August blocks. Not so. They are my July blocks. Deep shame here people, because they are meant to arrive at their destination on the 10th of August. Just not going to happen because they are going overseas to Karen. Sorry Karen! I have had a tough couple of months, but I am finally getting it together. (I promise to be better from now on!)

Just looking at these blocks in isolation gives you no idea as to what the quilt will look like. I must admit to feeling quite ho-hum about these blocks until I saw the quilt that inspired Karen's choice. You must have a look at Rachel's quilt  and block tutorial here. I just love that quilt! And any minute now I'm going to make one just like it. (It's on a loooooong list!)

So, I am feeling a bit better. (I have just been a tad miserable of late) I am sewing again. (Proof of feeling better!) My space is tidy and usable. Things are looking up! Hope things are cheerful at your house!

We did it!

 Lily performed last night in her school concert. For some reason they had a no photo rule, but I did manage to quickly snap one photo, accidentally of course. Lily played the piano whilst her friend sang, played clarinet and bass clarinet in the Jazz Band, bass clarinet in the Clarinet Ensemble, and clarinet in her class performance. She was very nervous, but made it all the way to the end without crying or fainting! (Ok. That's never happened, but she gets so nervous she just feels it might.)

Lily accompanying her friend

And then today I actually finished clearing my sewing desk. Yes, I can hardly believe it either. Since I finished it I have done nothing other than stare at it. It could be that I'm awestruck, or it could be that getting home last night at midnight and into bed well after 1am is just not that conducive to creative thinking. So I'm off to stare at my clear desk some more and maybe think of what I will sew tomorrow. Maybe.

The said desk, with somewhat messy shelves. Can't have everything!

Getting there...

My sewing room is almost there now. I did resist the temptation to sew and have been sorting and throwing things out. Phew! Can't wait to be finished and sew!

blue and green

Of course, that hasn't been the only thing I have been doing. I have had a resurged interest in pinterest of late and have been soaking up lots of inspiration there. One of my favourite boards at the moment is my blue and green board. I am just loving blue and green! I think I must have been loving it for a long time as the quilt above that I made last year shows. A year later and I am still loving it! Tonight we are off to see Lily (Miss 15) perform in her school concert. She is very nervous and I am nervous for her! (I have butterflies!) I will have to take lots of photos to distract myself!!!

August, and I'm a great aunt!

I am a great aunt! I thought that statement might sound boastful, but then I thought about my blog and decided that pretty much the whole thing is boastful (I like to think of it as sharing my good things!) so this statement would fit in pretty well here! Last week my niece had a little boy. He was four weeks early which was a bit of a surprise! He wasn't on my radar at all yet. He was early, but well thankfully! He is a darling little brother for my great niece, which means that I already was a great aunt!

1930's quilt

Being completely unprepared for his arrival I thought I might have to quickly whip up a quilt for him. Then I remembered this finish which I had no purpose for. Someone commented on my lack of purpose and said I should put it in the cupboard and wait for a baby who would need it. Thank you commenter, because that's what I did and now there is a Samuel who needs it. My Sophie (Miss 26) has knitted him a blue and white cotton cardigan and we will post them off tomorrow. My niece is a quilter, so she probably has already made a quilt for him, but extra rugs are always welcome for a newborn I think!

As for the August bit, phew! It still feels like May to me and I definitely haven't completed everything I had to do in July, but I'm working on it. My sewing has been pretty much non-existent for the last couple of months and my sewing desk had become piled high with all sorts of things, sewing related and not! Does that happen to your sewing area if it isn't used to it's fullest capacity? So this week I have been wading through it all and tidying and re-organising my sewing space. Finally I am beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel. (Why do things have to get so much worse before they can get better?) Wednesday saw me make a trip to Ikea to buy a couple of shelves to put in some existing pax cupboards that just weren't working hard enough for me. It turned out that a trip to Ikea was just what I needed. I love Ikea and all the inspiration that is to be had there! (Let's face it. In my lounge/sewing room where I am sitting right now there are only two pieces of furniture that are not from Ikea, the piano and my purpose built sewing desk I got a couple of months ago.) Now that everything is almost organised the temptation to stop work and sew is very strong. Trying to resist! Must get finished!

Are you into Retro/Vintage?

My son Joseph is. His interest started out by wanting to relive all things connected to his childhood. (I know right, how old can he be? I am barely any age at all! He began wanting to relive his childhood at 17, and he's 23 now so he's well into it!) He started spending a lot of time in secondhand shops as a result and has become interested in all things retro. He loves to find old phones and do them up so that they can be used again. (He has always had a passion for phones. He has had more mobile phones than a phone shop!) He began getting such a collection that he decided to sell some on eBay, and just recently he opened an etsy shop.

black phone from 1970

ivory phone from the 60/70's era

ivory bakelite phone from 1955

Yes, he has even found bakelite phones! They are all cleaned and wired for the current phone network so they can be used on any telephone line. So, if you are interested in having a blast from the past (they actually have bells inside of them rather than a digital ring!) check out his etsy shop.

How hard can it be?

Ok. Significantly harder than I thought. I think it requires practice, but I was pretty happy with the results of my cupcake making efforts this week. (I won't be turning pro anytime soon.) I was assigned to make cupcakes for an event I was going to, and this is how they turned out.

Most of the cupcakes in the top picture were the girl's efforts. I wanted to make rose cupcakes but they were more carnation cupcakes really. The butterfly wings were fun to make! So, if you want cupcakes, I can probably make you some. As for the sewing?.......

Sewing that looks like knitting.

Knitting. I mean sewing.

I am slowly working on some sewing that looks more like knitting than sewing. Confusing, isn't it? You might remember that I am in charge of knitting for charity in my ward (congregation). So while everyone is busy knitting squares I am busy sewing them together into rugs. Well, it's not "rugs" so far. Just "rug", but I'm getting there! So, even though it looks like knitting it is actually sewing. And I am pleased to have some sewing mojo back!

Finally! Some sewing.

memory quilt blocks

It felt like I might never sew again, but this past weekend I managed to turn the machine on and piece some blocks. Now they are pinned together ready for me to turn into a quilt top sometime today. Wonders will never cease! The centres of the blocks are some that were prepared earlier by a youth group my Bradley helps lead. They threw a surprise party for one of the boys and my Bradley thought it would be lovely for him to be able to remember the occasion. I did feel a bit put upon at first (imagine him thinking I could quickly whip up a quilt!), but I'm fine with it now because I have actually done some sewing! So, off to sew.

Cleaning...

my steam mop

It's not often that I admit to cleaning, but that's what I have been doing today. Not fun. Not inspirational. But neccessary! We packed up the ginormous table (which almost doesn't fit in the dining room!) and I steam mopped all traces of my grandchildren away. Sad and wonderful all at the same time. We had them here for five weeks which was just wonderful and then we were sad when they left early yesterday morning. They are so glad to be home again in their own domain with their favourite toys that I can't really be too sad. Next job is to put the table we usually use in this house back in the dining room and then to stretch a quilt on it!!! All is not doom and gloom here though. We still have Miss 20 here visiting for a few more days and tomorrow Mr 23 arrives to visit for a week or so. We will well and truely have had a month and a half of visitors! We are so lucky!!! So, off to get closer to stretching a quilt (one of four waiting on my desk!) and to get our guest room ready for the next visitor.

Favourite Things Friday

Is it Friday already? I wouldn't have known except for the fact that I happened to see Shay's Favourite thing Friday post. And then I pondered, what am I thankful for this week? I came up with a blank. And then I thought that it has to be Shay, for alerting me to the fact that it is Friday. Now that may just sound sad and possibly ridiculous, but I think what I really mean is my favourite this week is the sewy community here on the Internet. My blog is five years old and for five years I have met the most amazing people and shared in their successes and marvelled at their great things. For about four months prior to the instigation of my blog I read other people's blogs. I loved that too, but felt like I wanted to get in on the fun so my daughter showed me how to set up a blog. She already had a blog that I read and marvelled at. You can check her blog out here.

One of the main reasons I started blogging was for me. I liked the idea of having a record of things I had made. I felt that if I recorded things then it would encourage me to make more. Making is a big part of my life. When I am happy, I make. I had an excellent role model in my mother. She sewed most of our clothes for us and we loved them! She made most of her own clothes too. She knitted jumpers, hats, gloves, and ponchos (it was the 70s!) for us too. Growing up I saw the results of her art classes, basketry classes, bark painting classes, leatherwork classes, woodwork classes, calligraphy classes, flower arranging classes, you name it - she made it! She encouraged us to make things too. When we were sick, or when it was a rainy day, out would come a basket of making goodies. So I have been making things all my life. When I got to a period in my life where I wasn't making anything (my doctor called it depression) I started to wonder if the reverse would be true. If I made a conscious effort to make things, would I then be happy? Well, you probably all know the answer to that, cause you make things too.

Sometimes when things are tough the making gets stalled, and it is then that the Internet (ie all you lot) inspire me and get me making again. In other words, you make me happy! Thank you for each and every post!

Some of you may have noticed that the making is somewhat stalled here at the moment. I'm working on it! Here are some pretty things I am thinking about today.

Baking on a Sunday Evening

Butterscotch self-saucing pudding and anzac biscuits...

... are baking in my oven as we speak. Mmm... so much golden syrupy goodness! We have had a busy, busy week. We have twelve people here in the house still. Lots of cooking to feed us all and lots of shopping! So many trips to the supermarket for bread and milk. I remember how this was when we had all eight kids at home. I was always popping to the shop for bread and milk. Tonight we are having pasta for dinner and whilst we were debating exactly what kind of pasta we would have both Mrs 27 and Miss 20 suggested that I just bake biscuits for dinner and be done with it! Hmm... I know a call for sugar when I hear it, so my Bradley chopped vegies whilst I cooked the vegie pasta. Then I whipped up a butterscotch self-saucing pudding and my Bradley threw together the anzac biscuits. (They are his specialty.) And it all smells heavenly! I haven't done much knitting or sewing in the back half of the week. Maybe next week I will sew up a storm!

More knitting...

Squares, to keep you warm.

The knitted squares in the photo above have been knitted by a variety of people. Some by me. Some by my kids. Some by the Relief Society sisters in our ward. (The women in our congregation) We have been knitting squares to make rugs to donate to Needy Stitches. (You can read all about them here.) We are at the point now where someone can begin to stitch the squares together. And that someone is me!

Sleeping, Miss 26 and granddaughter 2

Miss 26 has been unwell for the past couple of months. It has been wonderful to have our family visiting with us to distract and absorb us. (They're still here! We are lucky to have them visit so long.) This afternoon this is what a nap looks like.

Knitted Hand Warmers

I have been doing a little knitting of late. The weather has been chilly. The heater has been on. We have been snuggled under quilts. What else do you need to make this a perfect cosy picture of winter? Yes! The click clack of needles.

These hand warmers (I'll admit right here that I will never be a hand model) are made from Cleckheaton Country Tweed and they are really just a rectangle. I always thought that hand warmers would have to be something way more fancy, but Miss 20 knitted some recently along the same line, without a pattern, and I thought they were genius! Now to sew up the other one! (I knitted the two at the same time because I usually can only make one of anything!)

It's July?

Ok. So she stuck her finger into the peanut butter jar and got a Hanna-Barbera type figure out. She was incredibly impressed with herself. I wondered, "Why was she sticking her finger into the peanut butter?". I also wondered if I ever wanted to eat peanut butter at our house ever again. (I decided not.) Oh. And then on top of all that she tells me it is July. July? Wasn't it January yesterday? No. Apparently not. My immediate thought is if I multiply all my finishes so far this year by two... well, it's not very many, is it? So this is a post to mark the rushing of the year and to remind me to do some sewing. And some knitting. I am just about to cast off my new handwarmers! Off to, well, think about knitting and sewing probably!