She sews!

This blog has been going for about five years and it's never been so neglected as now. I blame my job! I've never worked so hard, been so busy nor been so challenged. I'm absolutely buggered by the time I get home, with no energy left for crafty pursuits, hence the lean pickings around here.

So, surprisingly, I got the urge to sew on Sunday! I rustled up a bit of energy and busted out a pattern I've used before. Fortunately, I made these pants in the same size (3) nearly four years ago for my nephews, so the pattern pieces were already cut. All I had to do was cut new fabric and sew, sew, sew. The inset fabric is left over from this project. The denim I had in my stash. These pants were completed within three hours of starting - the joys of little boys' elastic-waisted pants!

It felt good to be making something again :) I now have an 'order' from Romily for next weekend!

Blocks for Quilts for Leukaemia

It's not much to show for a couple of hours work, is it? But here they are, nonetheless, four red and white 8.5" unfinished blocks for Quilts for Leukaemia. The fabulous Clare put out a call for more blocks and I have heaps of red and whites, so I really wanted to make some more. Sadly, my piecing ain't what it used to be, so they're a little wonky. Hopefully they will make the grade though and be suitable for a quilt in the not too distant future.

Being part of a worldwide movement to bring a little cheer to the poor little kids fighting leukaemia is something pretty special. If you'd like to help wrap the world in love, head on over to the blog or Facebook page and find out how you can help.

Getting a head start

Well, this quilt was *supposed* to be finished in time for the Christmas just past. I made it so far as cutting the circles, pot and star shapes! Gifted to me by the very generous Helen, the pattern, called 'Christmas Baubles', is by Audrey and Maude.

I am *determined* to have this wallhanging finished for Christmas 2011, so I have made a good start. All the shapes are now machine appliqued after being fused to the top. I just have another dozen or so ends to tie in at the back before attaching the two borders and assembling for quilting.This quilt will be entirely handquilted in white perle thread - it's going to be my hand project for 2011. Any of you attending Sew it Together in Sydney in March will see me working on it then!

Today, however, there will be no sewing - I'm off to work (it's a public holiday here so no one else will be there) to do some study. I have fallen far behind on my literature review for my research project, so I'm devoting the next four days to it. Hopefully I will have cracked the back of it by Thursday afternoon because January is going to be such a busy month - I have two work trips (and counting), one to far north tropical Queensland (ouch the humidity) and one to deepest darkest Scandinavia (I really must do better planning!). Not to mention many new starters to induct and a whole bunch of work waiting for me to get cracking!

Ciao, ciao 2010

Before we ring the bells to see out another year, I thought I'd do up a mosaic of my crafty efforts this year. It's pretty light on, but given the high-octane pace of 2010, I guess it's not too bad!

1. Poppy skirt with applique tee, 2. Panel skirt, 3. Too-whit too-whoo, 4. Book bag, 5. Butterfly applique top and matching skirt, 6. Dot's Bouquet, 7. Susan's Stars, 8. Tristan's Hungry Caterpillar, 9. The House That Jack Built, 10. Abigail's pram quilt- front, 11. Walk in the Park, 12. PIF gifts, 13. Rom's spooky new skirt, 14. AH skirt, 15. Allan's Lagoon

Wishing you and your families a happy, safe and prosperous 2011.

Allan's Lagoon

I finally finished the lap quilt I made for my father-in-law Allan, using fabric from the Lagoon range by Michael Miller. It's based on an Oh Fransson pattern.
I quilted it with an all-over medium meander, which adds to the sea-like quality of the fabric. Unsurprisingly, I called it Allan's Lagoon :)I had hoped to have it all wrapped up under the Christmas tree, but it wasn't quite finished. At least it's done in time for his departure after lunch today!

Next up is finishing Romily's single bed quilt that I began about two years ago...I'll get there, albeit slowly :)

Goodbye 2010

Poor, poor, neglected blog. Poor, poor, neglected readers! You want reasons? I got 'em:

• First, I got too busy (work, schmerk).
• Second, this is my 500th post and I wanted to run a give-away (sorry about that).
• Third, I haven't really been crafting (sad, but true).

Since my last post (IN SEPTEMBER WHAT THE?), I have made one dress (that fits!), started quilting my father-in-law's quilt (that I am supposed to be gifting to him on Christmas Day - whoops), fixed Romily's scratchy Tinkerbell costume waistband (with a strip of batting/wadding!) in time for her last day at Preschool (it was dress-up day), and finally made Tristan's Santa stocking (which I started before LAST Christmas). He now has a matching pair to Romily's, which I made back in 2007.Dire, dire, dire effort! In my defence, I have been ultra-busy at work, so much so that I am exhausted each evening and have no energy to study, craft or write anything much at all.

I did, however, manage to turn out a Christmas story, which will be published at 3pm on Christmas Day (Australian time). You can read it here, with a bunch of other Christmas-themed stories (but not in the cheesy, Xmas kind of way!): Mixed Tapes Volume 1, Deck the Halls. Make sure you become a 'fan' of the page so you get all the links to the stories :)

I hope you are all well and looking forward to spending some time with your families over Christmas. I am looking forward to 2011 - this has been a tough year for so many people in so many ways. Onwards!

It's spring! Need a skirt?

Well, yes, don't mind if I do! My lovely and generous colleagues gave me the best farewell present when I changed jobs recently: a rather large gift voucher for my favourite fabric shop - Addicted to Fabric (great name isn't it?!). I went and spent it last week and came home with some gorgeous dressmaking fabric, including some Alexander Henry Mocca Floral in black, white and yellow. It screamed skirt to me - what do you think?
It's lined and has a zip, as well as two tiny pleats/darts. I used the skirt part from a dress pattern I bought as part of my haul and modified it, created a self-facing waistband, added some lining and a zip and voila! A dress is next!

Wordless Wednesday

Spring is nearly here - time to do some sewing!

The blossoms are out, the bees are abuzz and the days are warming ever so slightly. And thank goodness! We can now take the kids outside without layering them in so many clothes they can barely move. All this excitement was inspiration enough to see me drag out my poor, neglected machine on the weekend and whip up a skirt for Romily and a pair of pants (or very long shorts) for Tristan. Two old faithful Ottobre magazines were found (after only a little searching). Otto 3/2008 for some more #7 'Aqua pants' for Tristan in some lovely, soft aqua babywale cord. I love this pattern and have made it a couple of times now. Lots of pocket detailing and top-stitching make them look so cute.

And 4/2007 - the #20 'Corduroy Skirt' for Romily using some very cool printed corduroy from Michael Miller (Cool Cords), which I bought a while back from Crafty Mamas. The skirt has real insert pockets (the first time I've ever tried that and it was pretty easy really!) and lots of top-stitching. I love the cute skulls (who knew that was a possibility?) and so does Rom. She wants to wear the skirt next time she sees her far-away cousins, 'cause she knows they like skulls. (Arrr!)

Tristan is two!

It's not until you experience it yourself that you understand how quickly children grow! I cannot believe my baby is two years old - but he is. And he's adorable. Most of the time ;)


And it's so wonderful to see the children getting along so well (again, most of the time!). Carl and I feel very blessed.

(Look at my growing-up-so-fast girl. This photo is scarily prescient! And yes, the buttefly pyjamas used to be Rom's!)

Canberra Quilt Show 2010

Warning: Quilt-related content!Rounding out a supremely busy week, was a trip to the Canberra Quilt Show today, where I had two quilts on display! Well, one. Well none actually entered for competition...!
My calendar challenge quilt, 'The House That Jack Built' was on display with all the others - I'm 'Miss October'!'Susan's Stars', which was the collaborative quilt some of my work colleagues and I put together for our friend who was badly injured in a car accident, was on display too - they were down on numbers this year, so Susan asked if we wouldn't mind having it included. Why not?! With each entry comes the obligation to 'volunteer' for a shift. I chose to do a stint at the 'Quilts for Others' stand and enjoyed playing with a new Bernina 440 QE - with table! It fairly hummed along, and I was able to finish a medium-large all-over meander on a lap-size quilt in two hours. The quilt is destined for a local hospice once its bound. The Canberra Quilters gift many such quilts each year and it was nice to be able to do my little bit to assist. The quilting was by no means perfect, but it did the trick. It's the first time I've quilted with an audience - there were lots of ladies (and even a couple of fellas) who wanted to know how I was doing the quilting, so it was lots of fun telling them I'm a beginner FMQ-er - a lot of them didn't believe me! I encouraged them all to give it a shot. It was pretty funny, as I was sitting next to Pat Godden, quilter and mother of Helen Godden, whom, if you've been reading for a while, I admire greatly - she is one of the best machine quilters in the world. Helen was on duty as well and I was a tad embarrassed to be sitting there having a bunch of women admiring my very basic meander while one of the best quilters in the world was watching!

Here are some of my favourite quilts from this year's exhibition (click any image to enlarge):

Beth and Trevor Reid - Hot Lava II - Best of Show

Close-up - check out that marvellously textured quilting. Amazing.

Brenda Gael Smith - Dreamlines #3

Helen Godden - Chameleon (yes, the chameleon is trapuntoed - quite an eye-popping effect)

Diane Firth - Stones

Dell Armistead - 40 Shades of Green

Diane Firth - Drainage Basin

Helen Godden - Swanning East

Helen Godden - They Grow Up So Fast

And the Australian Best of Show for 2009 - unbelievably well done in concept and execution. This photo does not do it justice.

Marlene King - Travels

And the Australian Patchwork & Quilting Challenge quilts were also being displayed. Some of my faves:

Erika Krieg - A Snapshot from My Heart

Robina Wickerson - Flanders Poppies

Poppies close-up

And, finally, here'sEB quilting buddy Leah's quilt - it's massive! Well done Leah!

Leah Clark-Vial - Country Dresden Garden

I'm hoping to enter my first quilt for competition next year, but with all I've got on my plate these days, I'm not committing to anything! That's one of the good things about quilting - there's really no rush except our self-imposed deadlines!

Rom's party

Today was Romily's party - we held it at The Farmyard Nursery here in Canberra (it's just across the road from our place!)
It was very cold but sunny - the cold doesn't seem to bother the kids though!
A fun time was had by all - especially the birthday girl.And her little brother!
We fed some very hungry lambs.And had some yummy cake - Romily's request was for a 'Dora and Diego jungle cake'. I was happy to oblige!I would like to thank my parents for the parties they threw for me - I now have a new appreciation for how much work my Mum must have done!

Anyway, a fun time was had by all - especially the big five-year-old birthday girl.