Re Jigging

I have spent the last 5 days with my quilting

frame on the floor in the way in my sewing room.

Yesterday I convinced dh it was time to create

a table for the quilting beast to be on permantly

which he spent 3 hours creating

then I had to decide in a hurry where to put it.

Fast forward to today, I was happily sewing away when

I ran out of bobbin thread, so instead of refilling my bobbin

I got stuck into re-jigging my sewing room

here is a 'before shot'

and after

I swapped bookcases with Sophie and I have since swapped

these around so the big one is in the corner

the quilting beast is now where my sewing machine, cutting table and

tall cupboard was, I can still get to my design wall and eventually the beasty

table will be on wheels so I can get it out with ease and on my own I also have

a quilty beast table skirt to make to hide whats underneath it.

we shoved the hutch up the wall to fit my cutting table, the blanket box

is now at the end off my bed, the rocking chair is upstairs

and my sewing cabinet is in front of the big window

and henrycat has a new snooze spot, where the dog can't annoy him and

the girlies can't find him, hidden behind to door of my sewing cabinet

and all those blocks on my design wall will be a quilt top tomorrow.

I am just waiting for the instruction manual for the quilty beast to arrive

then I will be playing.

Oh and my pies and tarts are still happening. I have16 tarts left to stitch

down and it will be done yippee.

Canberra, Carpark Rage and Goodies

Yesterday saw us all up and at it at 6am

all because we went to Canberra which was a 3.5hr

drive away

dh had a meeting at Parliament House so the girlies and

I were left to do our own thing

so whats a girl to do but shop :)

We visited 2 patchwork shops where I bought some goodies

the 1st one we went to was wonderful the staff were

friendly and hepful and made you feel at home

the 2nd one left alot to be desired, the salesperson

was rude and very unhelpful, they ignored me until I asked

about a had a kit for a great quilt but it was in

'Little Apples' fabric, I wanted the kit to make my MIL xmas present

Little Apples wasn't right for her, so I asked it they could make me a kit using

Hometown Fabrics and post it to me,

her reply was

'Do you have ANY idea how long that would take' I told her I did

as I had spent 18 months working in a patchwork shop, she made such a

who haa about it I told her very blunty to

FORGET IT! instead I spent 20 minutes online and ordered

4 charm packs of Hometown + a layer cake of Moda Solid and

even with postage it was CHEAPER than that shop, and its a shop I will

never go to again.

anyhoo

some photos of our day and goodies

Parliament House

Old Parliamnet House

the Beryls

Yummy Hometown by Sweetwater Fabric

quilting patterns so I can practice on the frame

binding fabric for pies and tarts, white quilters muslin and

spots just because

Spotlight goodies, the T pins are for the frame, the little tins have

a sewing kit in them I want the tins for needles and thimbles etc

pattern for Imogen who NEEDS a purple and pink owl pillow

the new Schnibbles book, I have just ordered 2 layer cakes

of Ruby to make the cover quilt.

oh and the carpark rage, I found a park in the Canberra Centre carpark and was about to

reverse into it when this fat chick started abusing me because I got to it first and

she wouldn't back up so I could get into it, so I had to find another, I wanted to slap her

and wash her mouth out with soap.

We found one though, had some lunch, went to a Baby Big W, the girlies

spent their money, I bought 2 shirts, a DVD and ironing board cover

then we made our way back to pick up dh, went to the Tuggeranong

Hyperdome to Kmart and got the girlies some clothes, a stable table

had some dinner and started our long drive home, finally walking in the

door to a very happy cat at 9pm.

Big day and we were all exhausted but we can now say we have

been to every state and territory in Australia :)

Its here

this morning I got a message from dh saying that half the frame had

been delivered.

then his workmate pulled into the driveway with the rest of it.

I am now the proud owner of

a John Watts Quilter, not a bad deal

either, freight cost for the frame.

$220 total, I saved dh thousands of $$$

So excitement

but

the camper trailer needs to move house so it can be set up

in the garage full time

currently its the 1st thing you see when you walk in the front door

Lordy its huge

dh is going to make a bench for it to sit on as its

supposed to sit on the dining table but

A) my dining room won't accomodate it and

B) I actually prefer to sit at the dining table lol plus

we would have to manhandle it upstairs and that just

isn't going to happen.

and the first of 42 blocks for a new quilt

the fabric is a layer cake of

Martinique which I have had in the stash for

2 years oops

and my Pies and Tarts quilt well I am going to take the bottom

2 rows off and have it 7x7, the 1st 2 rows of tarts are

pinned on I just need some motivation to sew them down

Berries and Bluebirds is 100% finished, it just needs a wash and a

tumble in the dryer, same for Down in the Garden.

Susan, I did my P&T's quilt as a BOM through Patchwork with Busyfingers

I started collecting the bits in late 2008.



Pies Progress

and yes Miss Deb I am still tarting :)

dh talked me into making it 7 x 9

now if I could be bothered I would make the last remaining

33 pies and make the full quilt

but I can't be bothered.

Here are my pies all sewn together

and this is what it will look like with all those pesky

tarts sewn onto it.

We are going to Canberra on Thursday, dh has a

meeting at Parliament House so the girlies and I

are going too

I have my list of quilt shops to visit

my list for bunnings

my list for Big W or Kmart (whichever we find first)

I love my lists and I am adding to them daily

oh and I have my tarts ready

so I can tart my way there and home again.

Its going to be a tart free night tonight

I want to get the binding stitched on and down

on Berries and Bluebirds no pressure at all :)



Tarting and a Fix

Its fixed

my email address

that is so email away they shouldn't bounce back now

I hadn't updated my email address since I started blogging oops

Thanks Sarah and Susan for the bouncing comments  otherwise I

would still have no idea what was going on.

I have spent my weekend being a tart lol

I basted with thread and needle

28 tarts so I can finish off my

Pies and Tarts.

I have enough P & T's now to add the other 2 rows

but I am still not sure, I guess I should make up my mind

super fast because I either have 15 tarts to make or 28

and  24 half tarts.....

My quilting frame was picked up on Saturday, today

is being dropped off to the Freight company

can't wait for it to arrive here, so I can have a play

Its going to be a warm one today 27 degrees,

I should be able to get a few tarts out of the way too.

Hope its a productive one where ever you are :)

What a Week

and I am so happy it happened

Wednesday my sister called with an offer to good to refuse

for the cost of freight I am now the proud owner of

a king size quilting frame, she is moving from the upper north shore of Sydney

home to Tasmania, and didn't want her quilting frame

well hello I do

so a courier has been organised to collect it from her house and

deliver it to the freight company on Monday

so next week sometime it will be in my house

happy happy days indeed

Tuesday the removalists arrived with our goodies

although they lost the legs to our outdoor table, and smashed

the glass in my grandmas china cabinet and broke the legs off it

Monday they are getting the what are you going to do phone call.

and I have 5 pies left to stitch onto their backgrounds

this is what it looked like today

do I leave it at 7 pies x 7 rows or do I make it 9 pies by 7 rows

help because I can't decide

I have 28 tarts and 28 half tarts to stitch, thank goodness for sewline glue pens and

that they are small and quick to stitch.

I can feel another finish coming on

Berries and Bluebirds is finished it just needs the

 binding stitched on.

October has been a very productive month in my sewing world :)

Yippee

Its finished

12 long months in the making

Down in the Garden

and I am soooo pleased with it.

Next on my WISP list to be crossed off is

Berries and Bluebirds

tomorrow I will be stitching the borders on

preparing the backing fabric, basting it

and quilting it on Wednesday

and an even bigger YIPPEE is that

tomorrow between 9 and 10am we will be finally

getting the last of our furniture delivered

its only taken 8 long weeks

so I will be able to sit outside under the umbrella at

the outdoor setting and stitch my heart away,

well stitch my Pies and Tarts away

I have 67 pies made, 30 something stitched onto their backgrounds

I just found another 20 that just need to stitched into pie's

then I have 60 odd tarts to sew as I already have 20 done

then I am calling it quits and sewing it into a baby P&T quilt

So its pies and tarts at night until they are all done.

2011 is my year of UFO's getting finished.

Really its just yippee's all around here.



A finish

Yesterday afternoon I got a chance to quilt

'Mill Girls'

Today started far too early for my liking, 6:15am so after an hour or so

of referee-ing the waring children, I headed downstairs to my sewing room

and sewed the final border onto Down in the Garden, got my backing

fabric sewn together and with Miss Sophie's help I basted it.

After lunch I started quilting it, just in the ditch but YAY its quilted,

I finished my afternoon getting the binding ready for tomorrow.

After 4 hours of quilting my back and shoulders were sooooo sore

plus I have been having some gallbladder issues which started yesterday

I think I am going to have to go to the Dr about it, as it's quite a

constant pain I am having :(

and after the great escape last Saturday this is where Henry spent today

in the girls washing basket lol.

hoping tomorrow night I will back with a photo of a 100%

completed Down in the Garden to share.



Bega, Merimbula, Bugger

dh had a very rare day off today so we

went for a drive to Bega because I wanted

to get some backing fabric for

Berries and Bluebirds

and backing fabric for Down in the Garden from Merimbula

and backgrounds for SKoW and bobbin thread for

Down in the Garden

we also did the groceries then dh was called into work so we

had to head home, halfway home I suddenly remembered

I had run out of Basting Spray.........

guess who is heading back to Bega tomorrow for basting spray,

which is quite lucky because I also forgot to get the DMC threads for

SKoW lol its ok really because dh will be at work so I can possibly

obtain some backing fabric for Mill Girls, they had a small range

lovely repo fabrics too

Henry cat has lost his love for his quilt and has happily headed back

to my sewing chair and pillow, so its now hanging up in my

sewing room, his basket is lined with a schnibble quilt.

I tell you its nice to have him at home again :)



Henrycat's Quilt

I jokingly said to dh on Monday night that I should

start sewing binding onto Em's quilt, because Henrycat can't

resist a bit of quilt loving.

Instead I started making him his very own catnip quilt and

as you know he came home.

Today he has spent his day sleeping in my sewing room,

em's bed, my bed, my pillow, my sewing chair and on

the little couch in my sewing room and I finished his little

catnip quilt and I love it, I want it for my sewing room wall, I put a

hanging sleeve on it to just in case I get to have it.

Sadly right at this very minute he is fast asleep in his basket on

his quilt.

So here is Henrycat's very own quilt.

and giving it a test run

Its happy days here again now our boy is home.

Dh and I are off to Bega tomorrow, I need to find some background

fabrics for my next Stitch-a-long quilt. Still going with

Berries and Bluebirds hoping tomorrow to get the main block of

block 8 done the the vine block.

Will be looking for backing fabric for B&B and Down in the Garden tomorrow

then we are doing lunch in Merimbula and grocery shopping.

Busy day ahead for us.

Thanks for all the prayers and good thoughts while our

naughty kitty was MIA, it means alot.

So from Henrycat and I

xxxxxxxxxx



The Wanderer Returns

my baby boy is home as of 15 minutes ago

we think he has been locked in somewhere

he is too clean and too skinny to have been in the

bush for 4 days.

As Imogen said when he flew in the door

birthday wishes do come true.

Welcome home Henrycat xxx

Some Stitching/Sewing progress

I have had to keep myself busy and my mind busy

so I don't dwell on our missing boy

I am pleased to say that I have started to stitch the

FINAL block for

Berries and Bluebirds

here are blocks 1-7 in their hanging order

block 7

my sewing chair, seems very odd to be able to sit right back

without having to balance on the edge because henry was

asleep and I wanted to sew at the machine

and my ode to henrycat, I raided my fabrics today for

all orange ones, and ta da a baby version of

Catnip

I want to add a border maybe a 3" but which one, the stripe is also being

used for the backing and binding.

which would you add as a border??

Stripe or Blue Batik

if Henrycat comes home it will be his very own little quilt

and if he doesn't it will hang in my sewing room so I can

always be reminded of my boy

and I am so happy to say that I haven't cried today YET.

as dh said yesterday its the not knowing whats happened to him

that is the hardest he admitted that he even missed him, and thats

huge because my dh is a cat hater from way back.......



No News is good News

Right????

We have dropped flyers in 50 letterboxes

talked to all the neighnours

we have contacted the vet

we have put it on the radio

we have contacted the microchip people who have him now

listed as missing

and we still haven't heard a thing

we walked through the bush behind us today

for 1 hr, up to the highway and across it

still no Henry

I haven't given up but I am trying to accept the fact

that my little orange pillow hogger has gone for good

and I am soo sad, I miss him soooo much

I have had to put all his things away it was just too hard

with them all out.

so to celebrate my gorgeous much loved much missed boy here are

some photos

Henry at the breeders on the day we picked him out

these are the last 2 photos we took of our boy