Sew It Together is coming to Canberra!

How very exciting. Sew It Together is coming to Canberra from 8-10 June 2012. I was all lined up to go to Sydney last year but had to pull out at the last minute due to work travel commitments. This year is shaping up to be as stupidly busy as last year, but how could I not go since the lovely ladies, including organiser Sheridan Powell, are coming to Canberra? I have been blogging/commenting/facebooking/twittering with some of them for around four years - I am not going to pass up the opportunity to meet them and do some crafting with them.

The lovely Cass is once again organising a sample swap - the cause of great excitement at each year's event I understand! I have signed up for the swap and am already planning what to make.

Are you coming to SIT Canberra? If so, I hope you bring your winter woollies - it's going to be freezing, but what better motivation than to knit yourself a new scarf and some gloves? Or a make a lap quilt? You could handquilt it while we're chatting over a cup of tea!

I'm not sure what craft I'll bring with me - it will either be some handquilting or some knitting. It's so nice to be crafting again :)

Here's what I look like so you'll know me if you see me! (There's the skirt I made in 2010! Brooch was purchased from Lupin on Etsy)

A big day out

The Christmas rush is well and truly here, although none of the things we did today actually qualify as Christmas-related!

Carl took Rom to her swimming lesson this morning, brought her home for lunch and a nap before heading out with her again to a fifth birthday party. The theme was 'princess or pirate' and, despite my best persuasive efforts, Romily decided that she'd like to go as a princess (naturally). She was happy to wear her new skirt, as well as the applique tee I finished last night. And the tiara we bought for her at Angelina Ballerina. She looked very sweet. Like butter wouldn't melt in her mouth!The birthday girl was very pleased to receive the matching set, as was her mum, who told Carl that if I ever open a shop she'll be my best customer! If only :)

Meanwhile, Tristan and I headed out this morning for a family fun day in Queanbeyan, ostensibly to meet up with Xena and her family, who made the long trip down from the Blue Mountains for a fun day out in the sun. The venue, Queanbeyan Park, was perfect for that - there were kids rides, face painting, a petting zoo and lots of other things - all for free. It was lovely in the park, the grass was lush and green and some beautiful big trees provided lots of shade for the kids. Tristan had a wonderful time wandering around here and there. He even got to have a look inside the cabin of the fire truck that was there. He's into trucks and cars already!I even let him 'drive' my car when I'm unpacking it at the end of an outing. He loves it. Such a boy.

Doll quilt revealed!

Now that it's been safely received and opened by Helen, I can now reveal the mini quilt I made for the EBDQS3 swap, 'Tequila Sunhouse'. (Measures approx 17" x 20")

Helen recently participated in a block swap where she asked the other swappers to make a 'wonky house' block, based on her tutorial, which was a variation of Lazy Gal Tonya's ace tutorial. I thought this was a good jumping off point for my quilt - she now has a wallhanging to go with her yet to be made quilt.
Helen also loves brights, especially orange and pink. I had the tiniest piece of the fab orange, yellow, pink and gold striped fabric in my stash and that was the first fabric I grabbed for this quilt, I also had a largish piece of the graduated yellow through red fabric, which I thought would complement the roof nicely. I had lots of fun making the quilt and when it came to the quilting I took my inspiration from some table runners I'd seen made by The Silly Boodilly (Victoria). It was perfect for this little quilt, as it gives the house great texture - almost like corrugated iron, which is a common roofing material in Australia - especially for wonky old joints! Here's another shot of the back - I used corner patches for the hanging pockets - a very simple and effective way of doing it.Anyway, I hope Helen likes the mini. I enjoyed making it for her and there might even be some more wonky houses in my future :)

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And here is the sweet little mini made for me by Cass. Her first attempt at hexagons (I am yet to give them a go - they scare me for some reason) - she's very cleverly used some cheater patchwork fabric to great effect. Check out the backing - at first glance I thought it was pieced. What a great idea to add some interest to the backing! She also sewed on two hanging pockets - very thoughtful of her.Thanks Cass!

Baby gifts

There's nothing like a new baby to inspire some sewing. A quilting buddy of mine, AJ, recently celebrated the birth of a beautiful baby boy, Aden Henry. AJ's pregnancy journey was long, with her much wanted baby finally arriving with the help of some modern medical magic. Her joy upon discovering she was finally pregnant after more than two years was contagious. Her family and friends were all overjoyed for her and her husband. Such wonderful news called for a very special quilt, so some of the EB Quilters got together (virtually, of course) and made a 'Noah's Ark' quilt for Aden, or 'Russell' as he was called inutero.

(Photo nicked from AJ's blog)

I made the Ellie & Squeak block - the first time I've made anything like this, as applique isn't really my thing. I did enjoy it though - especially rummaging through my modest stash to find fabric that would work with the sashing fabric (our mutual starting point). Two clever ladies, Emma and Adds, put the combined parts together and Emma did a marvellous job of the quilting and sent it off just after Aden's arrival. AJ loved the quilt and we loved making it for her.I also made a little outfit for Aden - some cute little shorts and a matching applique onesie, using some of the luscious and soft Prints Charming fabric I had leftover from the party bag epic. I made the outfit in the 6-9m size, as Aden is a big boy. Hopefully it should fit him as the weather warms up - he lives in Queensland, so that shouldn't be too far away!
Well we're off to Sydney tomorrow. We're planning on visiting the Aquarium, Taronga Zoo and possibly Luna Park if we haven't worn the kids out completely. We're staying right in town, so we'll be close to all the good stuff and we'll catch ferries to the zoo and to Luna Park. It'll be quite an adventure for the kids! And I might even manage to squeeze in a visit to Ikea on the way home on Friday. Depends how tired we are!

Dancing queen

With great excitement, we headed off last Tuesday to Romily's first ever dance class. She was primed and ready to go and I hoped that she would love it. Well, I didn't have to worry! As soon as we opened the door to go in - they were just starting - she joined straight in and started copying every move the dance teacher made. She got down and boogied and it was just fantastic! She also, in Romily's very special way, said this in one breath to the teacher:

I don't go to Gymbaroo anymore because I'm too big now and I can do everything at Gymbaroo and I'm not challenged anymore so now I come to Blueberries!

You should have seen the teacher's jaw drop! It was hysterical. Romily's biggest challenge at dance class so far has been learning when it's appropriate to speak :) She just loved it and I had a hard time getting her out of the studio after the class finished. She wanted to keep dancing and watching herself in the wall-to-wall mirrors.
A dancing queen in the making!

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This may come as a shock to some, but Tristan is now 11 months old! How did nearly a year fly by, I hear you ask? Don't ask me - it's been a whirlwind of sleepless nights, breastfeeding, pooey nappies and chuckles. He is such a gorgeous bubba, such a happy chappy. I just love him to bits. We've been 'night weaning' this week and it's going pretty well - he was ready and just needed a bit of encouragement and withholding by the dairy! Last night, after a late night out, he slept from midnight to 6am without waking. Woohoo! Here's my big boy on his birth quilt made by my EB Quilter buddies, and here he is making off with it!
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Last night we attended our friends' annual Christmas in July dinner party. They do a Kris Kringle each year and, as I did last year, I chose to make our gifts. I made two quilted table toppers using up some of the Christmas fabrics I bought a couple of years ago. I don't really like the fabric anymore, but it was perfect for KK gifts.
Tristan liked them too!

Tristan at 6 months

Wow six months have whizzed by since my little gorgeous bubba boy was born. I can't quite believe it. He is absolutely divine and if he had worked out how to sleep through the night, I'd think he was quite perfect!

This was Tristan two days after he was born.And this is my little fella today (having just collapsed his baby gym onto himself).
Here he is at one month on his beautiful quilt made by my lovely EB quilting buddies.Here he is now.And with his daggy big sister.
I am in love :)

The outlook for 2009 is BRIGHT!

Two friends of mine are expecting babies in late Jan/early Feb - both boys. I have challenged myself to make cot quilts for them using up some of the gorgeous FQs I got for my birthday as part of my online quilting group swap. I was dreaming up all kinds of designs for these two beauties, but, in the end, decided that the fabric is so wild I had to let it speak for itself.I found some lime green with purple fabric for the binding, and will back it in bright orange. I'm going to hand quilt some highlighting in the main feature panel in purple perle cotton, but I haven't worked out how I'll quilt the rest - very simply I think!

The second one will be just as bright, although a little different, as the other fabrics aren't quite as wildly busy. So yes, 2009 is looking bright!

And, very tardily, here is my beatiful bubba at 4 months and one week (I got a bit behind with Christmas and all). He's such a lovely, happy, smiley boy!And a big happy new year to everyone. Let's hope 2009 is good to us all and that the economic crisis isn't as bad as predicted. Also that the Aussie dollar comes back up a bit - Equilter got a lot more expensive!

Winter's Garden wow

You know those days when you're feeling a little down and sorry for yourself? And then something magical happens to pick you right back up again? Today was one of those days!

I've been having lots of Braxton Hicks contractions and they are getting stronger and stronger - to the point where you just feel like death warmed up. I had an appointment with my obstetrician this morning and he 'had a look' at how things were going - he thinks at least another two weeks to go (at least with all these practice contractions, the labour should be a little more straightforward this time!). This, on top of general '38-weeks and over it', was enough for me to throw a little pitty party. But then I remembered I had two parcel dockets and so headed to the post office on my way back from my appointment.

One was expected - a slow cooker I ordered using my Fly Buys points (which means I got it for free, having accumulated the points from grocery and petrol purchases), which I'm planning to use extensively while the weather's still cold and I'm still in 'oh my god I've got a newborn, a toddler and have had no sleep' phase. I'm going to make chilli con carne later this week to test it out :)

Winter's Garden

The second, was most unexpected and all the more exciting for having received. The lovely, lovely, thoughtful and generous girls in my online quilting group got together and made a quilt for the baby! It's absolutely stunning and I absolutely love it. Romily and Carl both oohed and aahed over it too. What an amazing thing to do. I am totally overwhelmed!

Winter's Garden, photo by Romily

Thank you AJ, Bee, Cylie, Helen, Joy, Kylie, Leah, Mands, Xena and especially Emma, who did all the organising, the construction and the quilting, all the while managing several commissions, a one year old and a toddler. You truly are amazing.

Funny Face, photo by Lily (at the instance of her highness)