Pass the Paracetamol Please

Well, last Friday came and went and I didn't make it to Patchwork day. Thursday I could feel it coming on and sure enough Friday morning woke up with an A grade head cold. Luckily, my brother phoned to say he would be in town and could bring DS home for the weekend, so I spent Friday with the tissue box.

I did manage to pull out some fabrics for the first of my 5 to be finished by end July. I'll call this "project 1" as it's for a competition and I don't think I can show anything about it till after the judging. Yesterday I was able to get some sewing done and the top is about 2/3 finished.

Today my plan is to finish piecing the top for "project 1" and make a good start on my Four Seasons Summer quilt.

If you're like me and could use a pretty tidy bin, Sarah's Crafty Nook is giving one away to celebrate her 100th post.

Back to the sewing machine.

Ready for a Challenge

I'm being brave and have joined in a challenge that Peg is having over at Happy In Quilting. Not off to a great start with things looking like no sewing till our patchwork day on Friday 27 June but after that is school holidays. So two weeks of no going to work means mega sewing time, fingers crossed.

Indoor Weather

Today's weather is as predicted by the weather guys. Freezing cold blustery winds, perfect for staying indoors all day. So it's full steam ahead with the housework with intermittent bursts of sewing to break the drudge.

Here's the fabric for my chenille bag I started at patchwork last Friday. All sewn and I just began to slice with my chenille cutter.

The two red fabrics I bought on Tuesday . . . . . just because. The black is for my single bed horse quilt but also works with the reds.

And here is my fabric ready to become a Summer Quilt for the Four Seasons Quilt Swap. I have a design in my head and sizings written down on a piece of paper so let the fun begin.

Lastly, this was my 45km (28 mile) drive to work on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday with the thickest fog on Friday.

Change of Plans

Last night we had a change of plans for today which has left me with a couple of hours spare this morning. So I grabbed my camera and went for a quick stroll.

This mandarine tree is my view from the kitchen sink and I wanted to share it. They're nice and sweet too.

I'm so pleased with my Zygo Cacti and intend to acquire a few more. Thanks to Helz I now know what they are called. I have two plants this colour, a pink with 3 flowers and a red with it's first flower. Nothing like these though, visit here for a vibrant display of colour.

Ever robust and ever flowering, i snapped these little Billy Goats, still wet with the dew.

This is DD's air plant. She was disappointed last year when it never flowered, but it's making up for it this year with three. Stay tuned.

Now I'm off to cook up a batch of Anzac Biscuits for lunches this week.

And thanks girls for your comments, it's always lovely to here from you.

Where Does The Time Go? and Thankyou

Firstly I want to say a very big THANKYOU to all the lovely people out there in blogland. You don't know it but you have been keeping me sane these last couple of weeks. Life just seems to keep finding more and more things for me to do but there is never any extra time handed out.

I did manage to get to our groups patchwork day around lunch time yesterday. They had a special day where some stayed on till 6pm so that ladies who usually work could pop in later. It was wonderful and I even managed to get some sewing done. Photos another day as I haven't even had time today to unpack my sewing things. I started on a Chenille Bag that I purchased as a kit from Dew Drop Inn, Hervey Bay. (Guess I need to add that to the WIP list).

So why the thankyou? Each night when I make time to check my emails, I squeeze in a quick visit to bloglines and catch up with a couple of you each time. It helps me wind down, reading what you've been up to and admiring all the beautiful works being shown.

I'm off to town Tuesday for a shopping day and on my list is some fabric. So I'll be able to finish off the mug mats and keep working on the single bed horse quilt among other things.

Must dash, it's early to bed for this worn out old hen.

Ready For Wrapping

Not only have I finished the towel for my niece but her birthday isn't till Saturday so I'm ahead for once. She took some scraps of this horse fabric home with her last time, so I saved some and have appliqued it to this white towel. Her mum is hoping it will become her new comforter (in time) as the old one is a mere scrap of it's former self.

I've also finished a mug mat for FIL using some gardening fabric from my very first quilt.

This pinky one just needs the binding hand sewn on the back, and of the remaining four, three are quilted and awaiting bindings. Somehow I didn't cut enough batting so the last one is waiting patiently.

Here is my Rainbow Wall Hanging WIP which I managed to do some free motion quilting on at our patchwork group last Friday. I'm very happy with the way this daisy chain has turned out and the flame quilting was done a while back. I've also shadow quilted around the applique. (Click on the photos to see the quilting)

Now I have a dilemma for which I would love to here your opinions. My original plan was to have the chain of orange and plum blocks run horizontal - first picture - hence the flame quilting. But on Friday I accidently held it the other way - second picture - and now I like both.

I'm very new to machine quilting so other ideas on quilting the remaining sections would be very helpful also.

Wow, hope this isn't too long winded and thankyou if you're still here. For a treat, pop over and visit Jo Jo at Home Sweet Home, she's having a giveaway.

Edited 28 May: Sorry, I've fixed up the link to Jo Jo's now.

Happy Quilting

Beautiful Autumn Days

I am doing the washing and a major move on housework, really I am. But it's such a glorious day outside I just had to go for another walk with the camera. One could really get hooked on this.








Also I did make it to our patchwork group yesterday for 3 hours and got some free motion machine quilting done as well as worked on the mug mats. Will share pics of that later.

Happy Snapping

Photos From My Garden

This afternoon, I did as Chookyblue suggested, and took my camera for a walk around the garden. It was very peaceful just wandering around and here are some pictures I'd like to share.

Happy Quilting

Fabric Buys

I'm feeling a lot calmer today than when I last posted. I made it to the end of the week and finished off with a fabric purchase, that always helps. Mum and I went to the 'Sew What's Crafty Exp' in Bundaberg last night and it was delightful. However I was very restrained keeping in mind all the projects already on the go and only made one purchase.

This pack of 5 fat quarters called to me so with no project in mind I bought them. Simple as that. Now I can enjoy the search for a project that answers the fabrics.

Also here is the fabric that arrived in the mail the other day. All precut and ready to sew. The horseshoe fabric was purchased for another project so I may need to find more now. When does something become a WIP? When you acquire the fabric or when you actually begin cutting/sewing?

I have a couple of things to get done next week. Finish off a mug mat for FIL's birthday and applique some horse fabric to a white towel for my niece's birthday. Her white towel is her comforter and is looking shall we say, worse for wear. She's horse crazy so we're hoping she might just adopt the new towel.

Happy Quilting

Stuck for a Title

Firstly Happy Belated Mothers' Day to all. The silver envelope, which I opened on Sunday, held the cutest fridge magnets. Pictures of kittens smiling and poking tongues. Also a sock for my mobile. It's such a big phone (suitable for country areas) it was hard to find a large enough sock.

Sorry but I'm all out of titles and no quilting content as such. It's starting off as one of those weeks and it's not slowing down. My schedule has been so busy that even the housework is being neglected. It's one of those weeks where you just have to 'ride it out' and start fresh next week.

I did have a nice surprise in the mail again today. Can you call it a surprise when you buy something online, it gets lost in your memory, and then you remember buying it when it arrives? I'll take pics when I can get home before dusk and go outside in natural lighting. My indoor lights are shocking as previous photos will prove.


On the bright side I just sent an email off to Margaret at Four Seasons Quilt Swap to register for the 'Summer' Swap.


We also have a new addition over in the dog kennels. Our dogs are working dogs to help muster the cattle so from time to time we start training a new puppy to join the ranks. Isn't he handsom.

Times up, lots of jobs to get done before bedtime. Maybe I can squeeze in visiting a couple more blogs first?