SKOW SAL

I'm back! The last two months of 2012 have been filled with dance concerts, end of year events, and then preparation for Christmas. Finally I'm back working on the stitchalong project.

Here are my latest two blocks.

Not great photos, but I need to get back to sewing. I have all my strips cut. Big progress will be made today!

Cheers

Marg

Forgot about the quilt I made in October

My eldest DS's girl friend turned 18. I made her a raggy quilt. Knew there was something else I'd achieved in October. Here's a photo - although not a good one!

I'll try to get a better one. But it is still a finish!

Cheers

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Some finishes for October

October has been an eventful month in our house hold. We had a leg break of 12 year old DD - but it wasnt really! Growth plate stopped a complete fracture, but we've had a few weeks trying to get everything right - ballet exams coming up, dance concert in a few weeks and netball try outs - not a good time for a knee injury, but its all coming together now!

Then we had the fire in eldest DS's bedroom. Burnt one of my quilts, his bed and into the wall. Thankfully we were all safe. If we hadnt been home at the time we would have lost the house. All started in a power board. Telling everyone now to be very careful of power boards. Apparently they start lots of fires. Insurance is sorting this out, so hopefully he'll have his bedroom back in a few weeks.

Then we had the suspected apendicitis of fourth DS. That was a few days of worry, but thankfully this turned out to be a blocked bowell. While nasty it was a better outcome than appendicitis. Of course, this happened when DH was away. Isn't that always the way?

So, not a lot of sewing done in the month, but I did manage two bears - gifts for my DD's netball coaches. She played on two teams - in a weekly competition and in a rep team. I'm pleased with how they've turned out.

Now, I have to get back into my SAL quilt - Annie Downes' My Favourite Things. It shoud, be finished by now. I'm determined it will be finished by the end of 2012.

Of course, it will have to be fitted in between costumes for dance concert. 3 girls in it this year. 11 dances plus the finale. So lots and lots of costumes.

Eldest DD is graduating from primary school. So grateful she is making her own dress!

Cheers.

A fire

There's an ironynin writing this - one year ago this weekend a fire ripped through our property in Childers - took out everything except our sheds and caravan. We were so incredibly lucky.

Yesterday afternoon, i was sitting in my craft room getting organised for a night of sewing/crafting. My eldest son ha just taken my youngest son to a mate's place. Second youngest came up the hall and said that he could smell smoke. He's very good with that as he is asthmatic. I said that we should walk around and see what was happening, but no smoke alarm was going off. However, within minutes, the smoke alarm was going off and smoke was billowing from my eldest son's bed room.

On to the fire brigade. Within minutes of the alarm going off the smoke became flames going upmthe wall. It was right on dark, power was off and it was horrible to say the least. I grabbed photo albums, kids (not necessarily in that order!) and we went to our evacuation point. DH and eldest DS continued to do what they could to bring the fire under control.

Several hours later we were given the all clear to return to the house.

We still have a house. Everyone is safe, including our animals and birds. It was probably the scariest event in my life - hoping for it to remain so!

The worst casualty for me is one of my quilts. It was near the power board (that may have been faulty) and is completely ruined. It was a log cabin with stars. The one Australian Patchwork and Quilting put out on their first video.

The quilt was made at a time when all my children were small and time was even more precious than it is today. I remember how I struggled to eke minutes out of the day tomwork on it. The top was then put aside and it was a few years before it was actually quilted.

This is it today!


When I look at all the maybes of last night I am very grateful that this is all I have to lament. Of course, his bed is gone and mattress. And the other bedding. But to me that's all replaceable. And, yes, the quilt is replaceable, too. But in a very different way.

Then I look at all my other quilts, bears, dolls, special kids toys, memorabilia and gifts from overnthe years. We're all ok. We still have a home. We slept in our own beds last night. We have been very lucky.

Another SKOW block done

My latest block: Daisies.

I'm leaving the last of the stem stitching until I have cut the block to the correct measurements.

6 blocks left to complete.

My plan is to finish preparing the blocks for applique this week. And get the rest of my sashings cut. If the blocks are prepared, they are portable. For all those waiting moments with kids!

That's the plan.

Cheers

Marg

Another block done. SKOW

The Daisy block is now finished. Will take a photo tomorrow. Another one down.  

Another two finishes

Last night I had finished two bears, finished my block for SKOW. What to do next?  I had a look around and found two scarves that were in the UFO pile. I sat down and finished both. Another two for OPAM!  Just have to get some photos. 

Two new Bears

I've been working on two more bears recently. Finally finished them today. They have to be dressed yet. They are gifts for my DD's netball coaches. Now I have to dress them in netball uniforms. They played in two leagues, hence the two uniforms.

Here are the bears (undressed!)

Both designed by Debbie Amos. She has created beautiful bears. Lovely to make.

I'm Back

What a year this has been. I've been living in Childers at the start, back to Beauy when my son's apprenticeship didn't work out. I've learnt to make bears - which has been a long time ambition. Still enjoying the learning.

I've come back to my scrap booking. Re-discovered Creative Memories where my scrap booking began a dozen or so years ago. I've managed to finish 4 photo books - digital is certainlu the way to go for me! But traditional remains my favourite and I've managed to re-commence that. Along the way, I've taken on the role of Creative Memories Consultant. It is such a brilliant product and the tools are fantastic.

As part of this role, I've started card making as a number of my clients are interested in pursuing this. As with everything - with the right tools, it makes it all so much easier.

These are all the cards we made at my first workshop!

Of course sewing is still there as amajor part of my life. The red and green costumes above were my doing - peas and tomatoes. For my dd's school drama production.

And the dance concert is coming up. Our girls have 10 costumes between them. So far I'm making one of the costumes for all 8 in the group. Not sure which of the others I'll be making.

I'm still trying to make some progress on My Favourite Things Quilt for the SAL. Getting there - very slowly. My latest block Home.

We're in Childers on holidays. Hoping to get some more blocks completed before I go home. I've cut some sashing strips but no joining yet. Still, with the help of the SAL Group and the inspiration from all the members I'll get there.

Two Teddies on the go - faces to complete and they need to be dressed. Hoping to get these done during the holidays - at least the faces.

I've discovered a new bear making fabric - Alpaca. I've acquired some and hope to trial it soon. One of our plans for next year is to start breeding alpacas. So, I'm very interested in what we can use their fleece for. The knitting yarn made from their fleece is just beautiful. Hoping to trial some of that to. Have met an amazing woman who is involved in the industry. She felts the fleece. Beautiful.

So, lots happening. Missing blogging - but I've kept up with reading others.

Now for a coffee and some more sewing!

Some More Photos

Some more scrapbook pages:

I made this card at a scrap booking workshop - it was lots of fun and is so pretty.  

This is a quilt I started in 2006 - finished the quilt top back then.  Quilted it this year.  It's called Country Hearts by Patchwork Pumpkin and was a Row of the Month quilt.  Love the colours and the pattern.

Finally, a photo:

This is my latest  bear - Elle Jane.  I may have already blogged about her, but she's cute enough to blog again!!

Cheers

A long weekend

It's a long weekend for us as the Brisbane Show (Ekka) is on and our town gets the Monday as a public holiday.  We've headed to our block near Bundaberg and are having a nice weekend away.  Five of our children are off doing their own thing (sometimes having one with a driver's licence can have it's pluses!) so we only have three with us - pretty easy all round!

The winds have come - always does around Show time.  But that also means that spring is around the corner.  So it's still cold but the wattles have come out and here the sunflowers and grevilleas are out in flower.  The birds are coming in and it is so lovely.    Our jasmine is budding and will be a mass of flowers within the next week, filling the air with the most beautiful perfume.

I've finally photographed all my completed blocks from My Favourite Things Quilt.  Here they are:

One of the reasons I am behind in my sewing projects is that I've tried to get my scrap booking up to date - and believe me I'm years behind on this. I've joined a digital group and go almost every week - children's priorities sometimes getting in the way!

Here are some of the pages I've completed:

I've completed a few books - just doing them by year.  I'm working on 2007 at the moment.  It's been great to look back and see how much the kids have changed - and how much they haven't.  Enjoyed going through, sorting and recording our lives.  Unfortunately, time is just as limited.

We have been investigating the possibility of buying some alpacas and the craft possibilities with these animals are amazing - the fleece is so soft and beautiful and I love the earthy tones.  Possibilities of felting as well as knitting and crochet.  Will keep you posted on our endeavours.  They are the most amazing animal.  We're visiting a local alpaca farm tomorrow.

So, I've been away from my blog for most of the year, but not sitting idle.  Still read where I can, but don't get to write a lot.  Hopefully, I'll get back to regular writing soon.

Cheers

Finishes for July

July is my birthday month and since having children one of my birthday treats is to be given some me time - when the children were babies this was the best present I could ever have, so it's become a bit of a tradition.

I had two quilt tops that had been in my sewing room - one for 12 months and the other for about 6 years.  I've been trying to make 2012 a finishing year and I've been keen to get these two quilted and completed.  This was my birthday project.

I haven't photographed them yet, but will try to do that today.

Some finishes for June

These are late - blogging just doesn't seem to be happening for me this year.  But here are some of my finishes for June:

This is  Anna - the Door Stop Bear.  Designed by Melody Daly.  Lovely bear/doll to make.  She's on my "make another one" list.

Another Elle Jane - a bear designed by Debbie Amos from "The Quilter's Shack" in Bundaberg.  She's a beautiful bear and my third version.  I'd happily make another - like to do it in the traditional greens.

I also made some progress on My Favourite Things quilt by Anni Downes.  I've only got photos of the prepared blocks, will now photograph the completed ones and put them on here.

First Granny Squares Block

I saw this quilt on The Painted Quilt blog and also Blue Elephant blog. Just loved the scrappy look. This is my first block. Lots of fun.

I want to use traditional Country colours.

Two more scarves

I finished these two scarves this week. The blue one is knitted. The variegated purple one is sewn - using a collection of different types of yarn. It was lots of fun to do.

Enjoying the long weekend

After a very busy day yesterday and a long drive, we have reached our little get away spot.

My Favourite Things Quilt is packed. Lots of cooking done before I left. BBQ for dinner tonight.

I'm sewing.

I'm heading back with two of the kids Sunday evening - rehearsals on Monday. But I still have today and most of tomorrow.

In two weeks it's school holidays in Qld. My project for the school holidays is to get up to date with My Favourite Things.

It's a bit cloudy and windy here. Perfect sewing weather.

Acrylic paint and quilts

Does anyone have any suggestions as to how to get acrylic paint out of a quilt.  The quilt is this one:

The paint is a fairly bright blue and an orange.

How do I get it out without damaging the fabric or the stitcheries?

And, just for the record, the child who did this is alive and well!!  It was an accident - but like many accidents, it would not have happened if the rules were followed!  Mmmmm!!

Cheers

Marg

OPAM Winner

I was the OPAM monthly winner in March. I received these beautiful gifts from Peg. Thank you Peg. The mat is gorgeous and in my favourite colours. The Treasure Cones pattern will make some lovely end of year gifts. And the charm squares are going into a scrap quilt pattern I've found.

Thanks to Peg and Kris for all their work keeping OPAM going and inspiring us to get some finishes each month.

Photo a Day June

I've joined this Facebook Group by FatMumSlim - Photo a Day June. I joined the May one but didn't get very far!

You get a list of 'topics' - one for each day. My contributions so far:

Day 1 - Morning
Day 2 - Empty
Day 3 - On My Plate

Lots of fun to do.

Photo a day June

I signed up for this in May. It's organised through Facebook by Fatmumslim. Lots of fun. These are the titles for June.

The title for the first photo was "Morning". Not too hard. This was the one I used.

Tomorrow's title is "empty". Not sure what to do with that!!

Opam finishes for May

Not a lot to report - really wondering where May went. I have knitted 3 more scarves. I have almost finished a table runner. As I said, not a lot. Hopefully this weekend will see me getting some photos taken. The other completion for May was reading "Sonoma Rose" the latest novel by Jennifer Chiaverini. It was a follow on story from the earlier book "The Quilter's Homecoming". A good read. Looking forward to her next one in October.

May is almost over and what have I achieved?

Not sure of the answer to that question!  But boy, has it been a busy month.  We've had netball - lots and lots of netball.  Then there was more netball.......

We've started organising costumes for Calamity Jane - long way to go there!

Then we had more netball.

We had Mother's Day - that was very pleasant.  We spent the morning at the new (ish) dam that has been built in our area - Wyaralong.  Very pleasant place to spend a Sunday morning and go for a walk.

Then there was more netball.

As for sewing - very little has been achieved.  I've started on a table runner - may be able to sneak that in for OPAM for May.  I've knitted another scarf.  I've also started on a machine cover but it's unlikely I'll get that anywhere near completed by the end of May.  Maybe June.

We've been to two Debutante Balls.  I helped with the setting up of one.  So that was a busy couple of days.

I've tried to do a little scrapbooking - and guess what, I did it on netball.  Who would have thought?

That was lots of fun to create.  I'm enjoying digital scrapbooking - but not really being very productive as I basically only work on it in class on Monday nights.  That thing called time is causing problems again.

We have three birthdays this weekend (and netball!).  Tish will be 4 and her brother will be 5 and my DD, Esther, will be 12 on Tuesday - but the celebrations are on this weekend.   Because, guess what, netball is on Tuesday evening.

All the boys will be away this weekend camping so it's a girls weekend - with DH.  Esther wants to go roller blading with friends.  We're celebrating in the park on Sunday (hope the rain stops) for Tish and her brother.  Big weekend - lots of cooking and decorating cakes.

Next week I have to find some time to sew.  I have some towells to embroider and lots of other projects that just haven't moved at all.  I've bought some backing to complete two quilts that have sat there for ages.  It'll happen one day.

I hope you're enjoying your May and getting more sewing done than I am!

Cheers