Circle Quilt

This is what I'm working on today. I bought some backing yesterday afternoon. Basting is next and then a little quilting and some appliqué. 

Blog Reading

I haven't been doing much blog reading of late. My head has been busy. In fact I have been busy! I did take some time out to spend time at our local shopping centre with my Bradley one evening. Isn't it pretty? The sky at night, through a glass dome.

I did see this post this week and thought you might like to see it too. It's about being a mum to a special needs kid. So in case you've ever wondered what that might be like, this post explains it beautifully. Oh. And it's written by my kid. She is an awesome mum. And her kid is awesome too.

Playing with Anna Maria Horner...

No, she didn't come over to my house with her newborn to play with me in my sewing room. I have spent the past couple of days playing with her fabric range Innocent Crush. It's old. I bought it when I was still living in Adelaide in 2010. Not sure why it's taken me this long to use it because I am completely loving it!

Oh! And I'm piecing curves. I am loving feeling so confident with curves. I took an online curves class with Rachel Hauser (Stitched in Color) eighteen months ago and found it really enlightening. Back to the sewing!

It's quiet at my house today.

Jess(picklesticks) and her littles (5, 3 and 1) left this morning for the long drive back home to Adelaide. (About 770km) I can't imagine such a long drive with three little ones on my own, but she says it is getting easier as they get older. So my house is quiet. Very quiet. Sometimes when they are here I can't wait for the house to be quiet. For the 6am crying to be a thing of the past. (I know I was the mother of eight little children previously in my life, but can I just state for the record that they were all quiet children. Hard to believe, but they were.) And then they leave and it's so very quiet. I do have some stickers and Uno cards to remind me that they were here.

Colour Catcher!

After dropping Lily16 to school this morning I popped into Woolworths and picked up some colour catchers. I have some new quilts to wash this morning and I need some "insurance" so that the colours don't run! I have never tried colour catchers before, just read about their amazing properties. I heard an ad for them on the radio a couple of months ago stating that they were now available in Australian supermarkets. I checked my local Coles, but they didn't have them. Today I checked Woolies and there they were. I've never experienced such excitement in the cleaning products aisle I think. Off to put a load of washing in!

Finished Pouches

I finished off some pouches today. There was lots of making happening and I couldn't resist joining in. Jess is doing a market at the end of July and has been busy designing and making soft toys today. Such creativity is contagious I think. So I dusted off the sewing machine and sewed these up. I love blue and green more than I can say!

Making this week

This week has included lots of looking at these faces. These girls are soooo helpful when you're baking. And happy! There has been lots of laughing.

There has also been lots of making with yarn. My girls got these butterfly looms for Christmas at some point (no idea which Christmas) and they decided to make rugs this week. No rugs have eventuated yet, but there are lots of squares! They have also inspired Maxim19 to make a loom and begin to weave. I love the way his mind works. He's not bothered that someone has previously invented looms, he just thinks about how he would do it and makes one. His first piece of weaving is awesome and he intends to produce a rug too I think.

And I have spent some time with paper, scissors, and glue making cards from Jess' bunting offcuts. (You can see her bunting on our A Making Life blog.)

This weekend I plan to sew. Not sure what yet, but I'm sure I'll find something. And maybe I'll baste some quilts as well. I have quite a pile of quilt tops waiting and Lily16 has a quilt top ready to baste too. It's her first big quilt and she's quite nervous about the next step. I remember being just the same when I started! Have a great weekend!

I made a dress, something interesting, and it's July.

 Way back in June sometime I posted that I had a formal dress to make for my year 12 Lily. This is her last year of school and the formal has become somewhat of a tradition in Australia. This is the pattern she chose. I think one of her sisters chose the pattern originally, but we have never sewn it up before. It was in my pattern collection which we routinely browse before hitting the shops.

And this is how it translated once Lily had chosen her fabric. It's fairly simple in front with ruffle sleeves and glorious ruffles in the back. The original dress had a low back,  but we're not into that so I had to make a pattern modification before I even began to fit it. Lily is not very tall and is quite shortwaisted. (Short from her shoulder through to her waist) It makes buying ready made dresses really hard. The waist and bustline are always in the wrong place for her. That's why sewing clothes for her is essential! So, three calico bodices later I finally had the Lily fit and could cut out her red fabric. Once that was done it was plain sailing.

Lily16 dressed for her formal

Even though I allowed myself plenty of time to fit, cut out and sew this dress I allowed procrastination to take over and I was sewing it right up until half an hour before Lily left. I'm not sure why that is always my modus operandi, but it always is. (This is obviously a character flaw of mine. Going to have to sort it out one day!) Lily was not bothered at all and she is really an anxious person generally. Her friends at school were anxious for her though. On Friday morning (the day of the formal) they rushed to greet her and asked the question, "Has your Mum finished your dress yet?" She assured them (and me) that she wasn't worried because although I do everything at the last minute I had never failed to deliver for one of my kids. Sophie27 took pity on me on Friday afternoon and offered to make the cummerbund for the dress. (I had spent two hours convincing myself that the dress would look awesome without it, but even I wasn't believing it.) She did an amazing job with it and I loved the fact that my Lily had a collaborative "homemade" formal. Whilst I was finishing up her dress Lily made the earrings she wore. (We had bought the beads when we bought the fabric.)

She made the earrings

And here she is with some of her friends, those her Dad was chauffeur for. The girls all got ready at our place so the fun began even before the formal began.

The gang right before walking out the door

Oh. And did you know it's July? This year really is rushing away from me. At the moment we have our daughter Jess visiting us with her three kids. It's such fun having grandchildren to wake up to in the morning! Jess also has a blog (picklesticks) and we have hatched a plan this trip. I have been wanting to do something different with my blog and she wants to do something different with hers, so we have decided to join forces and start a new blog. It will have tutorials, free patterns and printables, product reviews, recipes, give aways and lots of making and creating. We will still have our own blogs, because we love our blogs! We will be adding posts and content to the new blog during July ready for a give away at the beginning of August. You can pop over there to have a look if you like. If you want to keep up with what we do make sure to "follow" the blog. See you over at A Making Life.

An inspired life.

a blurry ride

One of the things I hope for in this busy, somewhat chaotic life of mine, is to be visually inspired, excited and stimulated. I love to look at things. Beautiful things. Of course, the definition of beauty can change from person to person and day to day. Then, once I've been inspired, I hope that that inspiration will lead to motivation to create something beautiful myself. It's not a guaranteed thing though and there has been little motivation of late, even though I have seen some truly beautiful and inspiring things! Like the scene above. My back has been sore and I have become a fan of those massage chairs you usually just walk past at the shopping centre. (Does anyone have a $2 coin on them?) Last week as I was being shaken at one of my local shopping centres (seriously, are there more shopping centres per capita in Melbourne, or is it just my area?) I wondered how such a scene would photograph. Like that! Here's to living an inspired life!

It's June, and I finished a quilt.

I finished the binding on this quilt on Saturday. It took me all day, which is not to say that this is a big quilt (it's not) but that I had a very interrupted day of sewing. Asher12 had his very first migraine as well and I was quite busy reassuring him that visual disturbances, numbness, pain and vomiting are quite normal for a migraine. I think I am safe in saying that it was the first time he had experienced such pain and he didn't like it. It was an enlightening experience for him!

It's hard to believe that it is June already. I'm not quite sure what happened to May, but I'm sure it's the same at your house. Even now with all of June stretching before me I'm sure it will pass in a flash and I will be bemoaning it's quick passing in four short weeks! We have the countdown of the last four weeks of term two happening here. Lily16 is in year 12 and is desperate for the year to be over! I have a dress to make for her formal (less than three weeks away now) so that will keep me busy I'm sure. We also have our son Joseph24 visiting us this month. We can't wait to spend some time with him! 

The weightloss progression has been slow of late. I am still concentrating on it and had a mental obstacle to overcome which took ages! I am hoping that now that I am under the 100kg mark that things may be more easy for a time. I have lost 24kg to date (30kg since we moved to Melbourne two years ago) and easily have that much more to go to reach an acceptable BMI. (Body Mass Index) Before I began the great weightloss endeavour my BMI was in the "morbidly obese" category and I have now progressed to the "obese" category, which doesn't sound a whole lot better! My Bradley assures me that it is and is encouraging me to stick with it! So, in June I hope to lose more weight, sew a formal dress (it's going to be red and ruffly!), and finish something else quilty. There. Goals. Better go get started!

That was then, this is now...

 Last Friday I was procrastiquilting with this quilt, this Friday I am just quilting it. Actually I started quilting it last Saturday. I think deciding exactly what to quilt on it was my problem. I decided to use flowers (it's kind of a springy, sunshiny kind of quilt), but Lily16 informed me this morning before school that the butterflies I'm quilting are lovely. They are like butterflies so I'm happy with either.

This is the view from the back. I am doing free motion quilting, but using the grid of the granny square for a placement guide. I am a little slow with the quilting on this quilt, but the reason why will soon become apparent!

Look! Grandchildren! Yes, I spent some of this week in Adelaide visiting children (I got to see almost all of them) and grandchildren. I had the great pleasure of babysitting my two granddaughters whilst their Mum took grandson on a Kindergarten excursion. Our grandson has recently been diagnosed as being autistic, which doesn't actually change anything as far as we are concerned, (he is still just as wonderful and difficult as he ever was) but it has meant that he is now getting help for some of those difficulties. He has a helper at Kindy and he was welcome on the excursion as long as his Mum went with him, so I  quickly volunteered to babysit before his Mum could ask anyone else! I love a good reason to go visit my kids! (Of any age)

The girls started out playing musical instruments...

...and finished off playing in the backyard. And Ma (that's me) took blurry photos!

In other news, I recently purchased a Sizzix Big Shot. Isn't it beautiful? (Well, if you look beyond the pink and diamantes. I'm kind of not a pink and sparkly person.) Right now it's kind of just a doorstop, because I don't actually have any dies. I can't wait to cut some fabric with it! Better get onto ordering some dies I think, and finishing off that quilt.

Over-thinking it and Stitching

So, after finishing the last quilt and realising that I spent too much time worrying about the quilting, instead of just quilting this one I'm worrying again. So I am doing things like considering basting these table runners. Just considering mind you. Heaven forbid I should rush into action here people!

Whilst yesterday saw me finish the appliqué on the Bonnie Sullivan table runner from the Quilted Crow class I did in Hobart, and not a moment too soon, because I saw Loz's lovely finished (finished!!!) runner on Instagram last night.

Embroidery next, then the border and then to finish the runner off. Any minute now.....

A Ziggy Finish

A dreadful photo, but it's finished! (It has been grey here ever since I finished this quilt. Grey and chilly! I am sitting here loving my ducted gas heating as I write this!) I agonised over how to quilt this one. I over-thought it I think. Once I just started on the quilting it worked out quite well. I'm really happy with it. I decided to use a black and white fabric for the binding and really love the look it has given the quilt.

Back to my grey and rainy day. Luckily I have a spring fresh quilt to work on, that will cheer my day up. Progress photos to come!

It's been an interesting week...

the sky near my house

 ... I have been reading lots of posts about how grateful Northern Hemisphere people are for spring this week. They feel a rejuvenation and a liveliness that was missing from their lives this past winter. They have been lovely posts, I have enjoyed them! I have been having a thoughtful and introspective week as I ponder my life. (Not my life as such, but what I am doing - if you want to get technical) I have come to the conclusion (and there haven't been may of those in this introspective period!) that we humans need change because I am loving the autumn days we are having here with the same passion that others are loving spring. The days are so much shorter and I love to feel that chill in the air. It is rejuvenating certainly! Aren't we lucky to have both long days and short days? To be able to feel both the warmth of the sun and the bracing winds on our skin. Change is what I am looking for I think.

a fountain in Hobart

Don't you think housework has a lot to answer for?

zig zagging

I have been quilting, in between the housework of course. How is it that you declare your intention to spend the week or weekend sewing and then someone cleans their room? I'm talking teenaged rooms here. They get to be knee-deep in clothing etc and then they decide to clean up and suddenly every washing basket in the house is overflowing! Lol! Well, that's how it seems here. And then my Bradley mentions (just casually in conversation) that mine is the messiest bedroom in the house now. (His side is pretty much immaculate *sigh* I think that man needs a hobby obsession like quilting!) So I have been quilting, but not much. I'm keen to get a couple of finishes this week. Must. Finish. Something. (The washing? My room?...)

May

As befits a new month I got up nice and early this morning and went for a walk. I have had such trouble getting up the past couple of months, I thought May was the month to change all that. I have even had trouble going walking, which is not helpful for those of us trying to lose weight! (It is still coming off, but much more slowly without the extra movement!) So I'm turning over a new leaf in May. (Not sure if I'm putting too much pressure on May. It's an old month though, surely it can handle the pressure?)

I love Eric Carle's illustrations. Love this calendar!

So May lays before me with all sorts of promise. My main aim is to make and create during May. (Doesn't that make May sound like a wonderful month?) Off to sew!

This week...

It's the last day of April, and I'm struggling to recall what I have done with this month. I had a whole month before me and I......... did very little? Other than spending an awesome week with Ms Loz, April kind of passed by unnoticed.

I did go to AQC and saw lovely quilts like this favourite that I snapped with the old iphone. I want to make something equally eye-catching.

And I did spend a lovely time at the Quilted Crow for a Bonnie Sullivan class. I wonder if those Crow Girls realise what a glorious building they work in? Such a beautiful place!

I went to the Patchwork with Gail B's sale too and bought some lovely fabrics that are screaming out to be sewn. Perhaps I just need to finish something! On to May I think. Onwards and upwards!

American Jane table runners

I have been working on these snowball blocks for what seems like months, and finally this afternoon they are all together. I am working on three table runners at once which means that all three are now ready for basting and then quilting. Hooray! So pleased. Now I am off to deal with the washing. (People here keep insisting on wearing clothes. Clean ones that is. Off to the salt mines laundry!)

My sewing room

 I have been putting the finishing touches to the sewing room this week. (Code for trying to find a home for those last few things that you never have any idea what to do with, but you think you still might need!) You can see tables, shelves, cupboards and chairs under the window. I am hoping to have a couch under the window eventually. Thought I had bought one on Gumtree, but the guy changed his mind and sold it to someone else half an hour before we were due to pick it up. Cause they could come earlier to pick it up. (You made the time dummy!) Anyway, that's my Gumtree rant. I think I have come to the conclusion that Gumtree is for people who can't handle the commitment of eBay and the possibility of bad feedback.

I am so close to having the sewing room done, but still seemingly so far from actually sewing. Hopefully that will be remedied today at some point. I do have something "making" to show you though. Maxim19 (yep, he had a birthday!) has his chain maille set up on the table at the moment. It is four in one chain maille (which means that each ring has four others going through it apparently) and it is absolutely lovely fabric. I've thought previously that a metal outfit would be truly uncomfortable to wear, but I am rethinking that. It would certainly be heavy, but this chain maille is so fluid and almost soft to the touch. Just like fabric really. Expensive fabric.

So after this blog post is published I am off to write a list and then get sewing!

This week

I have been busy this week. I spent the beginning of the week in Tasmania with Granny Loz and the rest of the week in Melbourne with her. We had the best time hanging out and stitching.

Shortly after we got home from Tassie Molly20 went home. (You didn't even know she was visiting, right? She was having a sad time and needed to come home to hang out with her family!) Jetstar must have been involved in a plot to keep Molly here with us. She eventually ended up home, 2 1/2 hours after she was scheduled to arrive there.

Thursday saw Loz and I visiting AQC. We made a day of it and saw so many pretty things and caught up with so many awesome quilty/crafty people. It was a great day!

Friday Loz went home. It was hard to say goodbye to my stitching buddy. We had such an awesome week together! Today I rounded off the week by food shopping. Wonder what next week holds?

Hobart and Crow Central

 I spent last weekend in Hobart at the Quilted Crow for a class with Bonnie Sullivan. Loz and I took the opportunity to meet up and hang out together in Hobart. We had a great weekend, with stitching, sight-seeing, and catching up with friends.

Crow Central

The Quilted Crow is located in an old church, which makes a fantastic backdrop for the shop. It is a stunning building and I couldn't help but take dozens of photos of it's architecture. I didn't manage to get a photo of the project we were making or a photo of my work in progress, but that's a small omission! You can pop over to Loz's blog if you want to see such sensibleness. (Link above) 

The project itself (a table runner) is absolutely beautiful and I have been stitching it all weekend. I am keen to get it finished and on my table! We flew home to Melbourne from Hobart last night and the fun isn't over yet because Loz is hanging out at my place for a while. (We might even be making a trip to AQC later this week.)

For now I am enjoying the cooler weather (turn on the heater and pass the quilt!) and the stitching!