Oh dear!

So much for 2013 being a little less busy than previous years. I have finally come to the realisation that I'll probably never slow down!

I did change jobs at the end of last year and am currently a fulltime student, studying strategic studies (again) for one year before I take up a new (and, as yet, unknown) position next year. While in theory I should be less busy this year, because I was unable last year to finish off a Master of Philosophy in business that I have been doing part-time for the past three years, I am madly working on that too. So, I am actually doing two masters degrees at once. I am due to submit my MPhil thesis (40,000 words) in 8 weeks, so I am busy as all get out.

I am also suffering dreadfully from headaches this year. There doesn't seem to be any specific cause - some are migraine-like and resulting from hormonal surges, while others are caused by incredibly stiff/sore neck and shoulder muscles, which may or may not have resulted from a volleyball injury I sustained in March.

Fortunately the kids and Carl are all well. Romily is having a great time at school (she's halfway through Grade 2) and Tristan is enjoying preschool (otherwise known as kindergarten in most places). He'll start prep next year (although in the Australian Capital Territory it's known as kindergarten - don't try to understand, just know it's 'year zero'!)

Needless to say I have done almost zero crafting this year. Boohoo. However, I am just about to start hand quilting Romily's single bed quilt, which I started making way back in 2007. How utterly ridiculous!! Fortunately she still likes the colours and the fabric!! Here's a picture of the completed top:

I'm just going to do straight lines in variegated perle cotton, but it will probably take me the rest of the year (at least). So she'll be able to use it over summer/next winter - nearly 7 years after I started making it. Where does that time go?!

Romily's new (old) quilt

Warning: Quilt-related content!!

Gosh, I wonder if it was the guilt of putting my blog into hibernation? Not sure what caused it, but I pulled out a very ancient work in progress this weekend - Romily's Eye Candy quilt, which I started way back here and here (three years ago - whoops!).

Of course, I had used most of that fabric in the meantime, so it was back to the drawing board. I had heaps of Prints Charming 70s Rainbow Garden fabric left from Rom's 4th birthday party when I made cute gift bags for all the guests, so I decided to delve into that. It's perfect for a little girl's quilt. I also discovered the design wasn't quite the right size for Rom's bed and it was far too fiddly (read = time-consuming). Besides, with that riotous fabric, simpler is best!So, the sewn strips have been crosscut and the piecing has begun. Here is the bottom section of the quilt - it's going to have that green/blue chain all around the perimeter, with several chains criss-crossing the interior. Hopefully I'll have a chance to do a bit more during the week - the time pressure is on, as I re-start uni this semester and I also have to do some Army reserve work too. No rest for the wicked!
Also, Quilting Fitzy asked for some recent pictures of Romily and Tristan. Here they are last weekend doing some painting :)

A Finish and a Start

Well I bit the bullet, so to speak, on Sunday and made a start on the single bed quilt I'm going to make for Romily (she won't be moving into a full size single for a while yet, so I have plenty of time!). I cut lots of strips of aqua and lime green and sewed them into stripes in preparation for chopping and rearranging for an internal and external border. It's funny to start from the border, but that's where I need to start.

Post-modern seaweed?

I calculated I need 400 inches (!) of strips for all the borders, which worked out at 30 strips all up. I tell you what, an afternoon of sewing in straight lines sure made a lot more progress than an afternoon spent making jeans for nephews!


Speaking of nephews, I finally finished the softie bears I have been making for them also for their birthdays. I had almost finished one of them a while back, but I just couldn't get the face right, and had ripped it out twice, so was a little disheartened. I finally got around to attacking them again tonight and tried something different - I am much happier with the end result. I decided close enough is good enough, as, no doubt, these toys will be discarded with all the others once the excitement of the birthday has died down!

It's nice to have finally finished the softies - they were fun to make (well mostly, anyway), but I much prefer sewing clothes and quilting. Much prefer!

I definitely have the sewing bug though. I have bought around 10 metres of dress fabric for pants, skirts, dresses and jackets for Romily, as well as a bundle of patterns (and that's in addition to what's in Ottobre!). I am NOT ALLOWED within 50 metres of any real or online fabric shops until the end of the year! Not with the way my credit card looks at the moment, at any rate...

So that means the doll quilt swap I've joined with the EB Quilters (there's a link in the right menu bar) will have to be made from stash - actually that's quite an exciting prospect, as for the first time I have developed a stash! It's tiny, to be sure, but it's a stash nonetheless :)

A very cruisy start to the working week this week - I've spent the past two days on a 'working in teams' workshop. I've been working in teams for the best part of 20 years, so have a lot of experience, but not a lot of understanding of the theory behind it. I like doing these workshops every now and then - they're kind of a touchstone and remind you of the most effective ways of working with people coming from different backgrounds/values/outlooks than you. Very useful. And, as I am taking this Friday and coming Monday off, I only have two days left in the office this week and a short week again next week. This is a very good thing, coming on the back of one of the busiest months I've had at work in recent memory :)

However, I unfortunately did not make it to the movies last night - I discovered the French film of Lady Chatterley's Lover (see previous post for links) runs for three hours! That's three hours of subtitles on a Monday night after a long day spent in training, resulting in mushy brain syndrome - no thanks! It'll keep for DVD!

Another little project

Thanks for all the lovely comments re my outrageous fabric choices!! Now for something completely different...if you love beautiful florals and simply gorgeous but simple sewing projects and fabric that would be absolutely stunning in quilts, head over to Grand Revival Design and check out Tanya's range of fabrics.

Then visit the Projects & Ideas page - I bought the pattern for this fabulous bag (left). I've never made a bag before, but this is the one to get it all started! I have some thermal lined fabric I'm going to use, as I really need a lunch bag for work - at the moment I'm recycling plastic shopping bags from the supermarket - not the look I prefer! I bought the pattern from the fabulous online Australian quilting fabric store Quilt Fabric Delights, as well as some freezer paper and a lovely soft pink Kona fabric. Very speedy delivery too!

No stitching this week, but I did get all that Kaufmann/South Sea Imports fabric washed and pressed, ready to go. Boring but necessary!

I am feeling much better - still a little vague and chesty, but much improved. Let's hope my health continues to return, as I have the most unbelievably busy month coming up at work, as well as Romily's 2nd birthday to celebrate on Sunday week. Phew! I am tired just thinking about it.

I will leave you with this gorgeous sunrise photo I took this morning. There were all kinds of gorgeous pinks and tangerine colouring the sky. It was a lovely way to start the day :)

Some serious eye candy!

Oooh how exciting, my order from equilter arrived! Thanks OzCountry Tracey for the tip-off :) I am planning to make a 'big girl's' quilt for Romily for when she moves into a single bed next year some time.

As you can see from my wild, fresh and funky fabrics, I may have to buy a couple of more subtle background fabrics, as I don't want the effect to be too riotous!

And, as you can also see, Bashka has adopted the fabric as his own - as many quilting cats seem to across Blogland!

We are all well and truly on the road to recovery, which is a huge relief! Fortunately Carl wasn't as sick as Romily and I were, so we are all feeling much better, with residual coughs and runny noses the only remaining 'issues'. We hope that by the time the weekend is out we are all back to 100%. I have Monday as a holiday (just because), so it's a lovely long weekend for us. I hope to get some more work done on my Starry Night project and get all this lovely new fabric washed and pressed ready to go. I have drawn up my own pattern, based on some simple Japanese blocks that Fairybread Jenni posted a photo of some time ago. This is going to be my 'long-term' project, which I'll work on over the next 12 months or so.