Sewing, Food, and Stuff

That is Kimba. No particular reason, just that she looks gorgeous in this pic. :)

Yesterday morning I was wondering what to do with my free day. So many options.  I decided to clear my study desk off...

And turn it into my sewing table. :)

I spent the morning sewing with Friends DVD's playing on the laptop next me. I managed to get the blocks for another quilt for me and Ross finished. I just need to buy the fabric for the sashings now, so that will be next month before it is finished. Then I will have 2 tops finished and just need to quilt them. I am hoping they will be done before the end of winter as they are for snuggling on the couch, but there is a pretty big time factor involved, and with my studies I am not sure if they will be done to use this year.

I also got some filler blocks done for a group quilt I am putting together. This is going to be for a gift, so I will not be able to post any pics until it has been given and received. :)

I spent the rest of the afternoon doing exactly what I had planned. Absolutely nothing. :) It was awesome.

This morning we decided to have pancakes for breakfast. I cheated and used this.

Only because we still had it in the cupboard. Although this says "No Artificial Flavours or Colours" on the container, it does have preservatives including an anti-caking agent (which is nasty stuff) so I will not be buying it again. From now on pancakes will need to be made from scratch.

I was planning on having it them with Maple Syrup, but it had gone off, so I had some lovely organic honey instead.

Yummmmmooooooo. Now I am waiting for Mum to come over to teach me how to make my own bread. I can not wait!

xox

My Life

My life of late has been quite simple...

Work
Physio
Sewing

The only interesting one is the sewing, and yesterday after a great day at the home of one of my C-R-A-F-T girls I finished my quilt top.

Now the photo doesn't really do the colours justice. And it still needs a thin border. But it is pretty much done and I am over the moon about it! It has been way too long since I have finished a top. Of course, it still needs to be quilted, but I am going to wait until I have my new machine to do that. :)

On the Achilles front, it is healing. Slowly, but it is getting there. I am still in the moon boot, but the swelling subsiding, and I am not having any pain. It is a long process but I am willing to take th time.

Oh, I almost forgot....

I went and had a Reiki session done on the weekend. It was fantastic. :) I also had a reading done which was very illuminating. :) I also spoke with her about my eiki 2 and hopefully I will get working on that in the next couple of months. :)

xox

This'n'That

Well, not much has been happening in the world this way of late. The Shave was so full on and took so much out of me in the lead up that I am taking some time to chill and to get used to the new "do". :)

I spent a lot of the weekend with Ness and her girls who came over from Melbourne to support me in my Shave. It was so great to see them and to have that support.

I have been doing lots of sewing finally. I am really enjoying getting back into it.  Today a few packs of Charm Sqaures arrived that I forgot I had even ordered! I love it when that happens. :)

My Achilles is slowly healing. I am still wearing the boot and still using a walking stick. But the pain and the swelling are decreasing. Which is good. 

I have been reading lots of spiritual and self-help books of late and am using this to try and get the insides all fixed so I can then focus on the outsides.

I am not posting much as I am really pretty boring at the moment. Between Physio appts and work, there isn;t a whole lot happening. And I am loving it. :)

xox

Happy Birthday to me...

Yes, I am 38 today. :o)

I have had an awesome day, and been spoiled rotten with books and handbags, 2 of my favourite things! LOL

We went to lunch at Bliss Organic Cafe with our Mums. It is an organic vegan cafe. And the food is absolutely sensational!

Ross and I got a tofu burger and a vegan BLT that we shared. And I got a raw chocolate and fresh mint milkshake that was sooooo yummy and thick!

Tonight Em is coming over and we are having a quiet one to finish 2010.

Lots if exciting things planned for the next 18 months or so, and all will be revealed soon.

I hope everyone has an AMAZING New Year celebration and my wish for you all for 2011 is that you find and achieve your hearts desire.

xox

PS - I finished my Mug Rugs finally!

:)

Achilles Update

Daily Quote

Fall seven times, stand up eight.
- Japanese Proverb

My Achilles seems to be healing really well.  In the last week I have been for a couple of walks with no pain. My ride to work is pain free - although I seem to still be limited to about 12-13kms on the bike, any further than that and it starts to ache. It is still quite tight and swollen in there, but I am mostly pain free which is truly wonderful after so many months of agony.  I am really hoping that come mid-January I will be able to go for a hike.  I can't wait!

Last night I went to a friends place for a sewing/craft night. We are meant to catch up every week, but lately one thing after another has happened and I haven't been able to go as often as I'd have liked. It was so great to catch up. I got the strips for my Mug Rugs cut out, and met a couple of new people who were also there for the evening. It was a really great night and I can't wait till next week.

100 Days of Gratitude - Day 29
Today I am grateful for good friends and new friends. Sometimes you need to be able to hang out with people and have laughs and great conversation with none of it focussed on yourself. And I am blessed to have people I can do that with.  Thank you A & E (and A & J, it was great to meet you).

xox

Saturday

This morning started early-ish.  Due to my water "issues" I was up early.  Actually, more to the point I got so sick of getting up and going back to bed that I decided to stay up.  I got to work on my 3rd Stitchery.  I finished the 2nd one last night.

This morning I got through the 3rd.

So now that these are done it is back to my hexies.  I have done one more so now I only have 21 flowers to do before I start cutting the 700+ light green ones to join them all together. :o)

All this stitching was interspersed with householdy stuff.  As many of you know we are living with my MIL at the moment.  We have a little room that we have converted into our own living room (in addition to our bedroom).  Over winter it has turned into a junk room and I decided to get it back.  About half way through the day I realised that we need more drawers or storage tubs or something to get everything off the floor.

So I jumped on the tram and headed to Glenelg to get some storage tubs.  I ended up getting this instead...

Of course, I didn't think it through and had to bring it back home on the tram.  The tram ride was okay, it was carrying the 15kg awkward shaped box back home that was difficult...  I managed to get it home, although my Achilles is now flared up again. Sigh... I really can't wait to be back to normal again...

Anyway, I got home and assembled it myself, then got back to work on tidying and sorting.  I also filed 4 years worth of paperwork.  Yes, I was a little bit behind...  LOL  But now the room, although not finished, is usable again.

So now I am sitting here watching Buffy Season 1 (for about the 50th time) with my feet up.  I'll try and get another hexie flower done, although I am pretty exhausted so who knows.  Tomorrow I am off to Mum's to do some more on the Bento Box quilt.

xox

Fun at the Fair

I would just like to preface this Blog Post by stating I am absolutely exhausted from my day at the Craft Fair, so please excuse any and all spelling and grammar mistakes, and if anything doesn't make sense (as it has come out of my jumbled mind) just ask and I will explain.  :o)

So my day started early.  The Fair opened at 10am, but Ross & MIL were going to the Farmers Market at the other end of the Show Grounds, so they dropped me off early.  I sat and waited... :o)  I jumped in the queue about 9.45 and waited.  About 10 minutes later a whole heap of the stall holders came out and lined themselves up along the line.  The Macarena started playing and they were off. They then pulled people up from the crowd and got everyone joining in. It was a fun (and funny) way to start the day!

10am and in we go.  My plan was to get the lay of the land so I could earmark the places I wanted to go back to. I had one job to do for MIL, who wanted me to go to the $3.50 FQ stall to get a fabric to match a flower scrap she had given me.  I found that fairly quickly and there was no one else around, so I ducked over and got her fabric.  I also got a few for myself for the next hand piecing project I am planning.

At 10.30 I had my first workshop. It was on Jelly Rolls and Bali Pops.  I really enjoyed it, got a lot of great ideas and jotted down some notes.  After the workshop I went and got a book of patterns and some great Jelly Roll Templates.

From there I found Mum and her friend and we sat down for a coffee.  After the pit stop, which included Show & Tell, we headed our separate ways again.  I prefer to do the Fairs mostly alone, as then I can go where I want when I want. I wandered for over an hour and bought a pattern (the one in the middle which is a little mail folder, very cute) and some water soluble markers.  The picture here also shows 2 patterns I bought later and some little scissors Mum got for me.

I ran into Mum again just before lunch and she got me this Better Homes & Gardens Show Bag which was filled with lots of lovely little bits and pieces.

Sitting down for lunch was a lovely relief to get off the feet, and we did another Show & Tell of all the things we had bought since morning tea.  :o)

After lunch I headed off to my next workshop, which was on raw edge appliqué.  Some really interesting stuff in this one, but it is very complicated as well.  Not sure if I will be trying this any time soon.  It was great to go and see though.  After that I went to the Quilt Show that was there.  OMG, there were some absolutely amazing quilts.  Stunning in fact.  One of them I fell in love with.  I have photos but I am not allowed to put them on the internet so I can not share them unfortunately.  The lady who made it was there giving a little demonstration.  I chatted to her for ages.  I then ran into Mum again and found out she knows her, they are in the same guild.  So Mum introduced me and she is going to give Mum some bits and pieces so I can learn her techniques.

I had another wander, but didn't find anything else that was jumping out at me.  I was actually looking for some sort of stitchery Block of The Month type project, but none were leaping out at me.  There is one coming up next year at the place where I do my Wednesday Sit & Sew, and I think I will do that one.  Nothing else I saw even came close to how lovely this one was, so I will wait.  :o)

Caught up with Mum & Edna again for another coffee.  Then the 3 of us went to a few stalls together.  We went to the Janome stand to have a look at the machine I am saving up for as Mum wanted to make sure it had a few things she thinks I need - it does.  We also went to have look at a pattern I was thinking of getting. Mum ended up getting it for me (the one on the left in the picture above).  It is a round quilted basket, which will be perfect for taking my stitching to class in.

After a few more stops for Mum & Edna we decided to head off.  We went outside and went our separate ways.  A few minutes down the road and I decided I did want the little light I had been looking at after all, so I turned around and went back.  :o)

It clips onto your embroidery frame and directs a really lovely light directly on to your project. I also decided to pick up these few stitchery's.

Like I said before, I am going to do a Block of the Month of stitchery's.  But it has been about 25 years since I have done any embroidery (yes I was a young teenager then).  So I got these little ones (they were 3 for $10) to practice on. The last thing I grabbed was another pattern (the one on the right above).  It is actually for a book bag, but it is the perfect size for my little Netbook.  Most lap top bags for for the regular sized laptops.  Mine is so much smaller than those one (it's one of the little EeePC's).  So this is absolutely perfect.

Then I was done.  Money pretty much gone, legs and feet killing me.  I rang Ross who had been at a Knife Show for the afternoon to see where he was, but he was nowhere near me, so I trudged to the Tram stop and waited for the tram.  As soon as I got home I showed my MIL my haul - she was very impressed - and now I am sitting here ready for sleep... LOL

I had a brilliant day, and can't wait to get stuck into all my new projects.

xox

Started Sewing my Quilts

I finally got started today! I got up early and caught the bus to Mum's. First things first, sort out the colours. I had 2 Jelly Rolls & 1 Layer Cake with the same fabrics.  I needed them paired up, 40 different combinations of light and dark. That took a while. :o)

Then I looked at the pattern, decided I did not like the way it was put together, and set about working out the measurements for the way I wanted to do it.  By the time I did that, and got a few blocks cut, I only had time to put together 4 blocks.

Obviously I still need to quarter them, and rejoin them to make the Bento Box pattern, but I won't do that until I have done all the blocks. The pattern actually has you put them together by the quarter, but to me that seemed like a lot of extra work. I think they do that because they only had 2 quarters the same anywhere in the quilt. Because I am doing 2 quilts at the same time, I can do it this way which is much easier.

I am going back next Sunday to do some more.  And hopefully my old machine, which is in getting serviced, will be back so I can do some at home after that. :o)

xox

Machine Quilting Workshop

I have had an awesome day.  Several weeks ago Mum called me and asked me if I wanted to do a Free Motion Machine Quilting Workshop with her and a group of her friends.  I haven't done any machine quilting for a few years so was a bit apprehensive, but I decided to give it a go.  It was today.

The teacher was a lady by the name of Lorraine Cocker.  She was absolutely lovely.  She normally runs this workshop over 2 days, but because we were a special group (we had specifically requested her to come in and we only had the space for one day) we crammed as much as we could into one day.  It made it pretty exhausting, but we learned a lot.

She taught us several different techniques for free motion quilting, different ways to get the pattern on the fabric, different techniques for stippling and random patterns. We had a shot at several of them, starting with some basics.

We started with a few random techniques and just practising getting used to the feel of free motion quilting (about half of the others had done some basic stippling and the other half of us had not).  I was using one of Mums machines which was absolutely beautiful to use.  I can not wait until I can afford to buy myself a new machine.  :o)

The first thing we did after the random techniques was this clam:

The was just done by tracing the shape onto the fabric with the blue water soluble pens then sewing straight onto the shape.

From there we started a "quilting sampler" by splitting a 21" square (calico/wadding/calico) into eighths using different fancy stitches to separate the sections.

The we started doing different techniques.  Here are a few:

The end result was:

It still needs to be finished, and a lot of it is messy, but for my first ever go at any of these techniques I am really pleased with it.  We also did some reverse quilting where you put a picture fabric as the backing fabric and quilt around the shapes, which gives you the shapes on the front.  This one was really fun (although didn't photograph too well) and a technique I will definitely be using.

I had a fantastic day and am super pumped to get my Bento Block quilts done so I can do some machine quilting on an actual quilt.  I will  be going to Mum's and using her machine for the quilting as my old clunker isn't really up to the task, but of course I have to get mine back from the shop first (it is being serviced) so that I can actually do the quilt tops.

I am now completely exhausted but really happy with what I have done and re-energised about my quilting.

xox

My Fabric Arrived!

YAY!  My fabric arrived!  I am so impressed, it took 9 working days from the US, very impressive.  It is stunning - the photos don't do it justice.  Now I just have to make it up.

I have the pattern - that arrived the other day, but I need to sew it at Mum's since my sewing machine is in storage.  Not really that big a deal, we go to the storage shed all the time.  The problem is, in my infinite wisdom when packing up the house last year, I packed the foot control in a box, not with the machine.  There are around 50 boxes in the storage shed and I have no idea which one it is in...  LOL

xox

Holidays: Day 8: Stitching and Cutting

I have spent the day sewing and cutting.  But I get ahead of myself.

Last night I finished my Marian Keyes book.  I really enjoyed it.  I have liked all of her books that I have read.  Not the sort of thing I would read often, but great for when I am in the mood.  I have started the next book from the library stash:

Someone Knows My Name by Lawrence Hill.  Completely outside of my normal realm of reading, it is about a slave woman in America in the 1800's.  Like I said in the book reviews I did yesterday, I have new interest in this topic.

Ross was working today so I got stuck into my sewing.  I am now halfway through the flowers.  I have done 36 of the 72 I need to do.  Once I got to that point I decided to finish cutting the hexagons for the flowers.  I had done most of them, but had about another 200 to go.  It took ages, but I got them done...

Of course, once they are all stitched together I have to attach them with over 700 light green hexies, then border with a couple hundred dark green, but I am trying not to think about that too much right now...  LOL

Yesterday I ordered a couple of Jelly Rolls from Green Fairy Quilts who have a sale on at the moment.  I am going to use them to start making my couch coverings and pillows.  When they arrive I'll post photos.  They are in shades of blue and I think they will look great.

xox

Holidays: Day 7: New Friends

I have had a sensational day.  Several weeks ago I joined an online craft group.  Today I met several of the members at their weekly craft catch up.  It was a really fun and relaxed day.  Great company, good conversation, a delicious lunch, and I actually got some sewing done!  Hopefully I can join them again next week.

Last night the planned sleep out in the tent did not happen.  My bed roll is in storage and we didn't remember until it was too late to go and get it.  Add to that the fact that a storm picked up and it blew a gale, and I am glad we slept inside.

I also forgot to show you something yesterday.

My Mum brought me my Place Mats and Table Runner she made me.  They are so cute.  Each of the place mats has 2 different cats machine embroidered on them, and the table runner has 8 of the little cuties.

I can't wait to use them!

xox

Holidays: Day 6: Mum

Mum came up today to help MIL with a small sewing project.  A log cabin chicken.

I have made them before and MIL wanted to learn.  Hers still needs to be stuffed.  This one is mine.

While they started I got to the horrible task of ironing my hexagon flowers.  I hate that part of the sewing process.  But now all 30 that are made are ironed, ready for the joining hexies to be added.

I made us lunch - home made pizza again, oh how I love thee - and then made more Honey Oat Cookies since there are none left for me to take to my sewing day tomorrow.  Yum.  I added almonds again.  I think this will need to become part of the permanent recipe.

Tonight Ross & I are off to bowling.  He has joined a bowling league.  So he'll bowl, I'll cheer him on.  He started last week and loved it (he used to bowl many years ago so he is getting back into it).  I am looking forward to seeing him in action.

When we get home we are planning on sleeping in...

Our hiking tent.  We have never tested it out so we figured it was time, especially since we will be using it at the Rogaining event next weekend.  To me, it looks just big enough to squeeze one person into, but it is designed for 2.  Hmmm....  We will see.  LOL

I'll leave you with Shiva, looking very happy in Ross's arms....

xox

Holidays: Day 5: Shopping and Stitching

Today started with yet another sleep in.  I could really get used to this.  I better not though, back to work in a week and a half. :o)

We met Em in town to go shopping and for lunch today.  I got me a new phone.  A Nokia N97 mini.  So far I love it.  Except I changed providers and am having trouble emailing from MMS which means I can't do blog updates from my phone.  Bit of a buggar so hopefully I get it sorted out.

For lunch we went to Pancake Kitchen.  Oh how I love that place!  I had the Farmers Breakfast (for lunch) which was 2 pancakes, 2 eggs, and 2 hash browns.  I also got Hollandaise sauce which I love love love (let's not discuss the calorie count of that).  It was so delicious.

We spent the avo shopping for Em's new kitchen.  She got all the things she was looking for which was great.

Tonight I went to a Sit & Stitch class at Patchwork by Sea.  It was a really nice group of women and I got 2 more of my flowers done.  I am up to 30 now.  I can't believe how quickly I am getting through them.  It was a really good night.  They meet every Wednesday so I will try and get there as often as possible (other than the Wednesdays we have Paranormal Group of course).

Now I am off to bed.  Mum is coming over tomorrow which will be fun.  Until then...

xox

Holidays: Day 4: Jammie Day!

Yup, I am having a jammie day.  Completely unplanned.  I was meant to be spending the day with Ross, but he got called into work.  Bit of a buggar, but he needs the shifts.  Plus he is hoping to get made permanent so he says yes to extra shifts wherever possible.

So the day that we were meant to go riding and hiking has turned into a jammie day.

So far I have watched lots of X Files.  I finished reading my Laura Childs book.  I must be getting more used to her way of writing as I had worked out who did it fairly early on.  Much earlier than normal anyway.  The next book out of my stash is...

I haven't started it yet, but I will start it tonight.

This morning was spent cutting hexagons.

Now I have a stack that need sewing, so of course I did quite a bit of sewing today as well.

Mind you, this isn't all of them, there will be lots more to cut after I get through this pile.  But bit by bit is the way to go.

xox

Holidays: Day 1: A Relaxing Day At Home

My holidays have started with a lovely relaxing day.  I got up early-ish - about 7.30.  I didn't really feel like getting up so I grabbed a new book from my library stash.  I paid a visit to the library yesterday and stocked up for the holidays.  I plan on doing a lot of reading in the next fortnight.  I grabbed a Laura Childs book.

Her books are pretty light on, but I have just read a couple of fairly heavy books so I need a break.

I spent the morning on the computer, just playing games and reading emails.  While at the same time watching NCIS on DVD.  And reading a chapter here and there.  It was lovely.

I also went out and took some photos of our garden.  While we did lose quite a lot of seeds in the storms several weeks ago, our snow peas and dwarf peas survived and are doing incredibly.

We also seem to have pumpkins coming up, which is interesting since we did not plant any.  LOL  We did put down compost that had pumpkin seeds in it (from pumpkins we had eaten) but that must have been enough.  We were going to plant them anyway, so I guess this saved us the effort.

Last weekend Ross and his Mum also dug out a new patch ready for us to use.  It needs some more preparation, but it is getting there.

Bit hard to see in the photo, but half the front yard will soon be filled with veggies.

I spent the first part of the afternoon doing some spring cleaning.  This will no doubt be a theme of the next 2 weeks.  We have quite a lot to go through.  Plus we have to go to our storage shed and get our summer clothes out and store our heavier winter clothes.  I ended up washing our summer quilt.  Since I hadn't taken a pic of it before I figured that I might as well while it is hanging on the line.

I made this when I still lived in Qld, probably 9 or 10 years or so ago.  It is one of my favourite quilts.  One of the few I made that I am still in possession of, most have been given away.

So I spent the rest of the avo sewing hexagons.  I have now done 24.  I have 48 to go which means I am exactly 1/3 of the way through the flaowers.  Considering I have only been working on it for 5 weeks, I am incredibly impressed with how many I have got through.

Overall, my holidays have started on a great note, and I am looking forward to the next 2 weeks.

To say good bye for the day, here is a pic of our youngest (and biggest) cat Starr.

xox