Hi Ho, Hi Ho, and back to school we go...

Well, we've already done two weeks of school this month, but we had the last week off - what with Australia Day long weekend, and birthday long week... :) So, tomorrow it is back to school to get some serious work done for Term 1.

I got my lesson plans ready for the week today and other than the dishes (which are being ignored because we are watching tennis) I am pretty organized. Oh, the "O" word...! Almost as bad as the "C" word. Cleaning and getting Organized, now that would be nice. I will be happy with a bit of both :)

Little kitty went back to the vet again to get more antibiotics. He is definately doing better than when we got him. He was trying to eat my apron strings a little while ago. Here are some photos of a little outing he had a few days ago:


He is in there somewhere.... Ah, here he is:

Hmmm... now what could this be, I wonder?

Ok, nothing very important, moving on now...


I have to say, he is very, very cute :) Anyone want him?!

I'm not sure how much sewing will get done this week. Hopefully I can squeeze some in after school. See you later in the week with the next block for Fruit of the Spirit.

Tea Towel Challenge

I liked the idea of Jenny's Tea Towel Challenge, but it has taken me a while to get around to joining in. Better late than never, right? When I was at Spotlight the other day, I saw a set of 4 teatowels marked down to $3 and thought - yep, this is it :)

I decided to use the two red teatowels to make myself another apron. With Elizabeth spending a lot of time in the kitchen as well, I find that we are always struggling to find clean aprons. So another will come in handy. I don't like the short ones because I always seem to get stains on my tops, so I needed two to come up with this:


I like it :)

And then I still had the other two teatowels left:


After a lot of sleepless nights... well, I couldn't sleep but not because of that, hee hee, I decided to make a bag. This is the front:


This is the back:


See the pocket? It is a pocket and.... you can do this with it:


and then this....


And finally this:


It folds up nicely to go in my bag :) And after all that, all I have left from the four teatowels are these scraps:


Now I am off to have a nap I think. Don't forget to check out our block of the month! Di has already finished stitching hers :) Go see it here! I am planning to get the next block out soon because it has something to do with Valentines Day :) Ok... naptime... :) Hope you are all having a great weekend!

Birthday Blessings

I had a lovely birthday :) Thanks to all who sent me wishes in comments or emails :) I am so blessed to have special family and friends.

I started the day off with brecky in bed :) Elizabeth made me a soft boiled egg and a "beschuit" which is a typical Dutch thing...oh so yummy with butter and sugar on it :) And of course a lovley cup of tea. I had some cards and presents on a tray in bed too, a gorgeous necklace from my sister, a water color painting of the kitten from Elizabeth, and a Spotlight gift voucher from all of them!

After brecky I went to meet a dear friend at Gail's. We moseyed around there for quite a while before heading off for a coffee. Here is what I bought from my birthday money:

The above is not a jelly roll, but thinner... forgot what it was called. Since I already have a jelly roll sitting on the shelf from my last birthday, I decided to buy this book:


And I also saw this cute stitchery pattern for a sort of pouch which I thought would be nice to put in stitcheries that I am working on at the moment:


After we had our cuppa, we came home and did some sewing. I kept going on my applique and practice pieces. I really enjoyed doing that while my friend worked on some embroidery projects and piecing.

For dinner we had a bbq and Elizabeth had made this cake for me :)

A lovely day, with wonderful family and friends. I am truly blessed.

Addicted to Applique?

As I said in the last post, the applique could become quite addictive... and I think I am well on the way :) I decided that the best way I can practice is to make up smaller squares of applique and then use the quilt as you go method from Helen that she uses with Nice People Nice Things. (Which reminds me, yes, I still have to finish that..... hee hee!)

So, I went and got some white homespun and some fat quarters from Spotlight. Came home and cut out some 10" squares of the homespun and 11" squares of batting:


Then I started playing with applique patterns. To start with I am using the ones I got from Kellie. She gave us this one for attending class:


And I bought this one:



Add to that the free pattern on Kellie's website, and I made a start on the applique pieces. Just tracing, cutting and ironing them down was addictive! I wanted to keep on going! Here are the blocks I have ready to practice on:







I finally decided I'd better stop and make a start on the actual applique. I have a long way to go till I can get it right - I am still way too far from the edge, but that is what all these practice pieces are about.

Tomorrow is my birthday and I am planning on playing all day :) I am going to work on the above blocks, and maybe some borders on Nirvana.... and maybe something new...?! Hmmm, I'll let you know :)

Don't Look Now....

Two posts in one day... what is happening?! Well, it is just that I had so much fun today that I have to tell update you :) The class was taught by Kellie from Don't Look Now, and if you ever get a chance to go to one of her classes - go for it!!! I thought it was just going to be on applique, but there was so much more that Kellie shared with us.

The project we worked on was this tree:


We traced, cut and ironed on the pieces:


Then Kellie explained her raw edge applique method. It looks easy when she does it :) But I had fun, and think it could become quite addictive! I am inspired now to go and do lots of practicing. And more so with the beautiful quilting that Kellie showed us. Here is her demo piece:


It was a lovely day and we all had something beautiful to show for it. Here we are proudly holding up our work:


The day went pretty quickly, but you know what the best part is? It is a two day class... so in a few weeks I get to go to another!! Until then I'll be doing lots of practice pieces :)

No Strings Attached

I decided to be a good girl and join a challenge to get me back on my sewing track for the new year. I liked the look of the No Strings Attached Challenge at Loft Creations because I have been meaning to do a strings quilt, and because it is a stash buster.

Remember the new camera Cam bought for me? Well, it didn't come with a cover. He said he was going to buy me one, and I said, "Don't worry, I will make one...."

So, yesterday I got out my basket of scrappy strings:


And made a start:


And finished it!!!


I added some yoyos for good measure, but mostly to hide the thread from sewing the velcro on :) I am sure Cameron could not have bought a camera case like this, don't you agree?!

And now I need to go get ready for my class with Kellie... I think it is going to be great fun! I am taking my new camera in its new cover and will take lots of photos! See you all later!

What's it like to faint?

That is what Elizabeth asked me two months ago. I told her I didn't know, because I had never fainted before. That should have set off warning bells, but I went on blissfully unaware of what it is like. In case you want to know why she wanted to know (I did!), she said it was because they faint in books a lot. Good point.

So I was fine until I went to the gyno this week. I went in for a very normal, routine procedure down below (that's all the detail you will get Jill!), and I must have looked a little odd, because both the doctor and nurse wanted to know if I was ok. Other than a fair bit of pain from what the doc was doing, I thought I was fine and just wanted him to get it done and over with (oh the joys of being a woman). Next thing I decided I did feel a bit sick, and was just starting to spew into this little cup wondering how on earth that would hold all that was in my tummy, when I found myself happily dreaming...... I don't know what I was dreaming about, but it was nice and I was not impressed by being woken by this woman slapping my cheeks and talking to me. I couldn't for the world remember where I was or why I was in this stark white room, it was quite a strange sensation..... it took a few seconds and then I realized and wished I was asleep again :)

So that's rather dramatic, don't you think? They wouldn't let me drive home. Funny that. DH had to come pick me up, poor guy. The nurse called him when I had come out of my stupor, and I remember thinking what a nice calm voice she had while she was informing him not to worry, but could he please call the surgery (he was on the phone... he always seems to be on the phone when I need him....). I went to bed at 8.30 that night, woke up at 7.15 to take Cameron to the train, and then went back to bed at 8.30am till 11 am... when I thought I'd better get up to get the kids ready for the dentist. After all that sleep I was fine again :)

You'd think I'd be nice and rested now, wouldn't you? Strangely I still feel a bit blah, but that could also be because it is a muggy day.

Now, back to my sewing machine... I must play and do fun things :) And tomorrow I get to go to class and play all day :) Can't wait!!! Have a great weekend everyone!

Life goes on....

For this little fellow... He is gaining more strength day by day, but it is a very slow process. I would happily take you up on your offer Di :) Pity we don't live closer to each other. It is amazing to see how he tries to keep fighting. Of course we've all been praying for him to get well... and then what we will do with him once he is well,... hmmmm,... we'll cross that bridge when we come to it! We are only allowed two cats without a permit, but I just couldn't let him die....

His mother is a stray on one of our neighbour's properties and of course no one really wants to take responsibility for him. He wasn't drinking at all from his mum and she had dried up, which is why he was so badly dehydrated. The vet pumped him full of fluid and we are still trying to feed him with an eyedropper - he refuses to take the bottle. We brought the mum back to the neighbour since she was no longer feeding him and was going stir crazy in the bath tub.... oh, and driving our poor cats insane :) So, now we only have one kitty in a tub.

Enough about kitties and on to other news. I HAVE A NEW COMPUTER!!!! AND A NEW CAMERA!!! My hubby is so wonderful :) My old ones were really at the end of their lifespan, so he went and got me both on the weekend and has been busy installing all my stuff. I used the new camera to take some photos of what I did at the Sit 'n' Sew on Saturday.

I am plodding away at quilting the mystery quilt:


It is going very sloooooooowy :) This will be the most heavily quilted quilt I have done so far. There are many mistakes that have been getting me down, but I keep telling myself that I won't learn if I don't try, so I am NOT giving up... right? Right!

I put another border on Nirvana, the wide blue one:


Now I have two more narrow borders to put on and then it will be ready for pinning!! Yay! One 2009 bom nearly done! Amazing :)

When I was driving in to town for the Sit 'n' Sew, I realized I forgot some thread to match another project I was working on, so I dropped in at Ballarat Patchwork to get it. While I was there I signed up for a class :) It is the Pretty in Pink class and I thought I would try to use my Nirvana colors to make a matching cushion. I saw the sample and her work is just amazing. I can see that I will need lots of practice!!!

Other than that, my week has been full of driving in to town (6 times) to drop hubby off at the car repair shop, drop hubby off at work the next morning, visit the gyno (where I fainted), go grocery shopping, take the kids to the dentist (where I didn't faint), and finally to take hubby's suit in to the dry cleaners since he needs it for work next week. Needless to say, I am sick of driving in to town. I don't plan to go ANYWHERE next week!!!

The plan then is this:

Today - clean (sorry Di, but it must be done, right?!)

Tomorrow - sew and play with Nina

Saturday - go to class YAY!!

and that is as far ahead as I shall plan :) Sounds ok to me.... what do you think?

Rub-a-dub-dub, a kitty in the tub...

I'm really not sure why I did it. Was it because I am a sucker for any type of baby... or the threat that this particular baby was going to get hit on the head....? Either way, it is now safe and sound in my bathtub, having had a visit to the Vet. We are bottle feeding the little guy and giving him antibiotics - and today he is looking a lot more lively than a few days ago when we rescued him.

His mum is there with him, but she jumped out of the tub before I could take her picture, and all the other pictures of the little fella turned out blurry.. I'll try again tomorrow. I have to say, he is very, very, very cute :) Our other cats are not impressed, however. I have to tell them that they are just visiting, and will be re-homed as soon as baby is better.

In between bottle feeds I went to a "sit and sew" with the Ballarat Quilt group. I actually got a few things done! I will take photos tomorrow in the daylight. I tried not to sigh too much while I was machine quilting...... and I alternated with putting on some borders on Nirvana. More on that with the photos tomorrow.

Must go give the kitties a cuddle and head for bed. I hope everyone is having a lovely weekend :)

Fruit of the Spirit Free Block of the Month!

It is here, our block of the month! It is called, "Fruit of the Spirit ~ Words to Live By", based on Galations 5:22&23

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,
goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

I love these verses, and thought they would be good to have lying around in a quilt or wallhanging. It's taken a while, but Alice and I are quite happy with the results so far. I hope you will enjoy them too.


The pattern and instructions can be found HERE. I thought we'd start it all off this year with "patience" because I have a feeling both Alice and I are going to need a lot of it the next few months - what with Alice moving and me trying to learn how to quilt, lol!

So, go ahead and download the pattern and get started :)

Have patience with all things, but first of all with yourself. ~St Francis de Sales~

Do I have to quilt???

I admit it. I love patchwork. I love cutting up pretty fabric and sewing it all back together again. But quilting..... aaaaaaahhhhhh!!!!!

After my going to the quilter's class I was so excited. It all looked pretty good on my samples. I got home and thought, YES!! I can do this!!!

Well, last week I started quilting the Mystery Quilt from last January. I must be very out of practice, because I went all over the place with my "in the ditch" stitching, which last year I thought I had mastered. And as for freestyle quilting... well, I have found that there is a huge difference between playing on a small sampler, and attempting the same on a real quilt. Even my wonderful Nina is not magically doing it for me.... sigh..... but, I shall keep going.. I have no choice.. I want to finish some quilts this year :)

Today I ignored Nina and the quilt. Instead I worked on our free block of the month and the website where we are going to host it. You can have a sneak peak at our website.... and tomorrow I will get the block up :)

Our website is called JJ's Gifts and Crafts... and it has a history.. but more of that another day. For now, go check it out - there isn't much there yet, so it won't take you long :)

Till tomorrow....

Catching Up

I know Christmas is well and truly over, but I still wanted to share some photos of our decorations.... we did a bit of baking and chocolate making, and ate way too much! Elizabeth made this gorgeous chocolate village:


And our friend Robyn made us this Shortbread tree:

It was all very yummy :)

I got some nice pressies, one of which was from my sister. See the note that she put with it?!



I also got this little package in the mail from Di:

Isn't she sweet? Di sent both Alice and myself a Christmas card, bookmark and lovely handmade ornament with Believe stitched on one side, and 2009, Quilting is Blissful, Hugs Di written on the other side. Thank you Di, you are so thoughtful and caring :)

Di's parcel arrived just in time for Alice's quick stopover on her way back to the US. When I say quick, I mean quick. They arrived on Boxing Day, stayed two nights and had to head off again. But we had one full day, which we used very wisely.... :) We did a lot of tracing at the kitchen table with the light box:

..... and worked on a SURPRISE for you all this year :)

Last year we were blessed with a LOT of free Blocks of the Month. For ages we had been discussing playing around with some designs of our own, and finally came up with our final sketches. I started stitching them, and just need to scan the pictures into the computer and write up some instructions... and then.... you need to come back in a few days and start spreading the news... tra la la... a free block of the month... tra la la la....

Do you want a little peak?! Ok, bear with me, because my camera isn't so good.... but here is a sneak peak:


Hmmm.... what do you think? I think it might be nice... It will be even nicer when you see the whole block, and nicer again when it has sashing and borders :)

My plan is to get the blocks out in the middle of each month, say, the 15th? Oh my, that is the day after tomorrow.. I'd better hussle :)

Enough with the catching up, I'm going to get the scanner out :) See you again soon!!

Happy New Year!!!

Happy New Year everyone! I really don't know where 2009 went... it just seemed to go by so quickly. I think a good New Year's Resolution would be to slooooooow down... :)

I am using Daniel's computer at the moment, because mine has died :( Dh is busy trying to get it going for me and, in between cursing Microsoft, I think it may be well on its way to being fixed. I guess having no computer has been somewhat good - I've managed to finish the main blocks for Veranda Views, and start on a new project that Alice and I worked on together last week.

I would take photos... but I have no computer.. and when I asked my dh if I could use his, he said he didn't want his cluttered with junk... hee heee! Fancy calling my photos of stitcheries junk!

I tried to download some pdf's on Daniel's today, and he doesn't even have acrobat reader installed! Strange child. AND when I tried to comment on some blogs, I couldn't because something else wasn't installed... sigh....! Oh well, things could be worse :)

Well, until my computer returns to life, I will keep stitching and hopefully get started with some 2010 finishes! Here's to a great year :)


PS

Di, THANK YOU for the package!!! Alice and I had fun opening it! I will take photos to share when my computer is back in action. xxx