Sunday Stash Report - a new year

I love the start of a new year with my stash report... get to start anew and forget all the purchases I made last year and start digging into the stash afresh for the year... except when the new year starts off with a splurge of fabric buying and no finishes so it was going to be all negative. Too avert that from happening I did a rush finish on a project.

Lets start with the fun stuff... the splurge. My daughter Fangirl (from Fangirl stitches) suggested to me over Christmas that I might like to consider having a stall at one of the geek conventions that she herself attends as a stall holder. Rather than going in on my own she suggested I team up with Gamergirl (my daugher-in-law) and share a stall. GG is an artist. She has a degree in games design and her speciality area was the art work. It coincided with my own thoughts along the same line. I sew a lot for Handmade With Love, a group that raises money for a school in Zambia called Our Rainbow House. I had purchased a variety of geeky fabric mid year and the things I had made from it had proved quite popular at our stalls leading up to Christmas and also on line.

Anyway - GG and I talked it over and have decided to give it a go. The next convention is in April but we both felt that was a little soon to get stock ready, particularly for her as she will have to design a whole portfolio based around the popular characters out there in the Geekisphere. So we are aiming for September which is quite a ways off but gives us both lots of time to prepare. (she is also going to look into producing stickers and badges which are popular at conventions).

So I went shopping at Make It Sew, the fabric shop close to Fangirl's home in Brisbane which specialises in fabrics from tv/movies and games. I only bought a bit over 7 metres  but when you consider fabric in Australia costs $25 plus per metre, that was quite an outlay. 

The shop owner gave me a 10% discount since I was sewing for charity which was lovely of her... but it was still a lot of money. I chose to get .5m in 14 different fabrics for a start plus 2 pieces from the discount basket .9m each. Now I am cogitating what to sew it into. I am thinking of zipper bags and pouches of various sizes for the main and perhaps a few potmits and hanging towels as well. Mostly though... bags of all sorts are popular my daughter assures me. I haven't ever been to one of these shows before so thinking I might attend the next one I can just to get an idea of what its like. 9.05m

I have managed one finish since I got home from our trip to Brisbane. My first finish for the year and finished off today so I could record a finish for the year to go with my input. I finished off a large cushion for the dogs. 

We have started letting them come into the sewing room when I am in it. (they were strictly out door dogs allowed in very occassionally) However I enjoy their company and decided that they could come in. They are pretty well behaved most of the time. I say "they" as whilst we only own one dog (Jack - an 8 year old Jack Russell cross) we dogsit every school day (and full time most school holidays) for a friend so Digby is ours most of the time as well.

 I bought a cheap dog bed to go in the room so they had somewhere to sleep but it was too small for the both of them, and mostly they don't share. 

I decided to make a cushion for the other one and stuff it with scraps and off cuts of fabric and batting. Initially I just made an "outer" but then realised that really it needed an inner too. Basically whilst the stuffing is washable it would be difficult to dry. If I made an inner and an outer I could at least wash the outer occassionally. So today... I whipped up an "inner" and transferred the stuffing to it, sewed it shut and then put it into the outer and again sewed it shut. I could have put in a zipper but didn't have one big enough. I could have put on buttons but a) I have yet to learn how to make button holes and b) the dogs would chew the buttons off I could be pretty sure. So... when I have to wash it I will unpick it, wash and then resew it closed. 

Digby on the cushion a few weeks ago. It took me a month or 2  to collect up the scraps to stuff the cushion with. You can see the pins on the left hand side.

Tadah. It was done. The cushion is 76cm square, approximately. I made it out of a rubber backed curtain off cut. 

I am going to start to make another one straight away. It will give me somewhere to put my wadding off cuts and "too tiny even for me" scraps. 2.16m

So my first report for this year sees me in the red. Hopefully it won't last long.

Week 1 and 2
Fabric used        2.16
Fabric added      9.05
Net usage         -6.89

Year to Date     
Fabric used         2.16
Fabric Added       9.05
Net Usage         -6.89

Linking up with Patchwork Times

Thursday Thoughts

Today was a tough day It was the funeral for our friend Steve. He was only 50, husband of my dear friend A, father of 4 adult children, grandfather to 2 munchkins. He was a much loved son, brother, brother-law, uncle, friend and work colleague

It was a long service because there were 6 eulogies/tributes. They were all well done, a mixture of humour, pathos coming from family - daughter, brother, sister and sister-in-law, an old school friend and a work mate. It was great to get such an all round picture of this bloke who was universally loved and respected.

At the moment our congregation is without a minister and my husband was asked to take care of getting the church ready for the funeral. This was a pretty mammoth undertaking as it was expected to be a huge funeral (and it lived up to expectations) We borrowed chairs from the catholic church and also from the Neighbourhood Centre. These had to be picked up and set out... as well as every chair and pew in the church and manse. FG also had to work on the speaker system. We had to set these up so the people outside could here what was going on inside. We were up at the church not long after 9 getting things organised. The service wasn't till 11 and then it went for almost an hour and a half. Afterwards we didn't get to the grave as we had to pack up the church - just getting it to a lock up stage meant that we were going to be too late for the grave side service which made me rather sad. We did go to the gathering afterwards and that was a chance to talk to various old friends and family.

It was 3 by the time I got home and FG wasn't home till after 4.30 as he and a friend returned the chairs to where they had been borrowed from. 

I didn't make the day any easier for myself by staying up very late last night finishing a project (that I kept stuffing up because it was late and I was tired. Then I stayed up even later to write my blog post. Yeah so I started a really hard day on limited sleep.

Now I am trying to get organised to go away for the weekend. I have managed to lose all my enthusiasm. I am not as organised as I would like to be... I got the mystery quilt prep done and I have other projects paced up to take... but I haven't made the blocks for the swaps or exchanges that I would have liked to have done and I don't have an outfit for our special themed dinner. To be honest I can't even remember what the theme for the dinner is. I know that part of the theme for the weekend is the Centenary of Anzac. We have incorporated the Make do and Mend theme of the war in as well...  I have found something for the gift exchange. I just got swamped at the end.

Anyway - I will report back on my progress after the weekend

And cause I don't have a photo for this here are my bougainvilleas. I have never had them put on a display like this

And then we need a couple of cat pictures just because.

FG lay down for an afternoon snooze. I joined him and then the 2 cats moved in as well. Tibbs (B&W cat) is giving Pippin the evil eye. Pippin is studiously ignoring him

and in case you missed it, here it is again.

I reckon Mr Tibbs looks like he went on a Buck's night and someone shaved off half his moustache

WIP Wednesday

Have had a busy week but no finishes. Still have sewn and done lots of creative things so that is good. Guess my Marchalong report from yesterday would really cover today but....

I currently have 3 quilts in progress.

Not So Sombre Stars

The fabric is all cut for this and safely tucked into a clear plastic box waiting its turn to make it to the top of the working pile. I love using the plastic storage boxes for my WIPs. I haven't done it before this last month so its a new thing for me but I just love it. I can see easily where the projects are and if I need to add something to the project that is easily found and done. eg I bought some buttons on the weekend at the Craft Show I went to that were for my Tea Shop quilt that I am going to make one day (found some lovely buttons featuring little cakes. Perfect!) I was able to find the box that I have that project in and add the buttons.

My Project boxes. Top Tea Shop Quilt. 2nd box Sombrero Stars, 3rd Not So Sombre Stars and bottom Christmas Stockings. (I have to make my son's partner Earthy Yu)

Sombrero Stars

Not only is the fabric all cut but all the flying geese for it made (120 of them) AND I have put together the first block. I knew I wouldn't have time to sew this week so snuck in the time to make one last Friday before I flew to Brisbane. I left myself very little time to have my shower and finish getting ready to leave for the airport but we made it. AND I have a finished block as well!! The goodies for this quilt are all in their own little box as well

Disappearing into the Blue

As usual I worked on this at our Patchwork Group meeting today. I didn't spend as long up there as usual because of my busy week here at home (more about that later) but I was able to get the sashing for the blocks cut and the blocks sewn into rows. It was great to lay the quilt out and try to arrange the blocks in a pleasing way. It is hard to choose how to lay the blocks out. There are 30 of them - all different shades of blue (only one repeat) Trying to get a spread of the really dark blocks and the really light blocks plus some blocks are heavily patterned and there are few unusual blues. I am sure you quilters all face this dilemma too each time you have to lay out a scrappy quilt. I must admit I tend to give up and just go with whatever in the end. As soon as I move two dark ones away from each other I find that I have moved a heavily patterned one in next to another heavily patterned one etc etc. Then after spending ages agonising over the arrangement when I pick them up to sew the strips together I seem to get them mixed up and end up with two similar ones next to each other anyway!!

I nearly didn't stay at patchwork. I found that I had left my sewing box at home. I had my project in its box and my machine stays in the car all the time. The sewing box has my pins, thread, scissors, seam ripper, rotary cutter etc in it. I thought I might just cut the sashing fabric and then come home but decided to duck home (only 5 minutes away from our sewing room) and grab what I needed. I took time to put the washing into the dryer whilst I was there, check on the dog and grab my sewing box.



Why I am busy

On Saturday I am hosting an "English Afternoon Tea" here in my garden (or on my patio if the current rain we are experiencing keeps up) Not sure how many people are going to turn up. I've got about 15 definites and maybe another 15! Hopefully numbers will be clearer tomorrow when acceptances close (and even clearer as people respond late on Friday and Saturday morning) Its a fundraiser for School Chaplaincy which our church helps support. 2 of my friends are school chaplains here in our town so its a cause dear to my heart.

Fangirl and I have been cooking up a storm all week and I am supposed to be cleaning up the house and the garden... yeah... supposed to be.

And what else?

My dog Annie is very unwell. She's a 9 year old Australian Terrier cross who belongs officially to my youngest son. Whilst I was in Brisbane on the weekend Fixit Guy found that her belly was very swollen so took her to the vet who admitted her and ran some tests. Whilst x-raying her to check what was going on with the swelling in her belly they found that there is a large mass of some description in one lung. She has been very breathless for a few months. We had mentioned this to the vet at her check up but they couldn't find anything at the time (no x-ray then as we didn't push it ) and we all put it down to increased age, the heat etc. Anyway they aren't sure what is going on with the lung. It is is full of fluid which could be pus, but not likely since no other indications of infection. It could be blood but blood tests have indicated that unless it is a very slow leak into the lung that isn't it. The most likely thing is that it is a tumour and the fluid is associated with that. The vet is getting a second opinion on that. He could extract fluid with a syringe but didn't want to go ahead without advice. The x-rays showed that she is extremely constipated. He gave her a laxative but it had minimal affect. The next thing to try is an enema but that apparently would also require sedation and at the moment with her lungs so compromised he doesn't want to do that. The swelling did come down somewhat. I bought her home on Tuesday (yesterday) and spent a good bit of the day sitting with her and cuddling her. She was bright enough when I picked her up but then refused to eat (hadn't eaten at the vets much either) brought up what she did eat, and laid around the yard doing nothing all day.

She was brighter last night and was interested in food and trotted about a bit. This morning she even wanted to come on a walk with our other dog but the vet said not to exert her at all. She ate a bit from me when offered (had to get her tablets into her... antibiotics and diuretic) However has been very quiet and laying about the yard again not doing anything. Her belly is very swollen again this afternoon. Not sure when the vet is going to get back to us re the specialist. I will ring later this afternoon and check. She doesn't seem very distressed or in pain. We will play it by ear. I won't let her suffer but whilst she has some quality of life we will enjoy her company and say good bye when the time comes.

Linking up with WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced

Walking and running

Yesterday my husband, My Fixit Guy(I once joked that I never got anything new cause he always fixed the old stuff) and I went for a lovely walk along the river with our 2 dogs Jack and Annie, and our friend's dog Digby. The road our cul de sac empties onto goes all the way down to the river. 

The street becomes a dirt road just past the last of the houses and when we get to that point we let our dogs off the lead so they can run and sniff and fool around (and pee where and when they want, and wade in the water, chase birds and generally do doggy fun things).

 We put them back on the lead if we encounter any other dogs. Annie and Digby would be fine but Jack is a trouble maker. He is tiny (hand bag sized dog) but at heart he thinks he is a wolf or an Alsatian and wants to take on anything no matter their size.

In this picture My Fixit Guy is walking another friends dog who has to stay on the lead. Our other 3 fur babies are enjoying freedom

Digby at back. Jack (white and brown) and Annie (black)

Once our road reaches the river it turns to run along side it. Actually we don't take the track right down by the water. That is usually more populated - fisher folk and other people enjoying the river. Instead we take the track that runs along the top bank. I really love the walk. It is beautiful and peaceful. We often encounter kangaroos in the paddock beside the river. I am glad the grass is high enough that our little dogs don't see the roos or they would be chasing them. Well Jack and Digby would. Annie is getting a bit old for such activity. 

These photos were taken back in October after a fire had ripped through the paddocks. You can see the  roos grazing on the fresh pick that was coming through

The bird life by the river is prolific too. There are usually ducks and other water birds on the river. I saw pelicans one day.  We have had flocks of sulphur crested cockatoos about the place recently. I came across 20 or 30 of them on the road as I turned the corner one day last week. My presence disturbed them so many flew off immediately. By the time I got my phone out the dogs had arrived and so I took a photo of just one cockatoo... not a great shot and it will sound pathetic when I say there were so many there when I started to take the photo. So I haven't included it

Lots of grass dwelling birds are about at certain times of the year... how do I know... Well Digby in particular loves to chase them. She goes rushing into the grass beside the road and there is a swoosh and and flutter and out come one or more little birds fleeing before her. I don't know what they are and I have never even tried to photograph them but Digby assures me they are great fun to hunt. (I don't think she would know what to do if she caught one)

The paddocks are now thick with grass which is drying off again

The river itself is so beautiful to walk beside. My photos do not do it justice but I am often blown away by the sight of the sun glinting on the water, the green trees, the ripples dancing in the light breeze. 

Our walk ends at the place where there is a weir across the river. 

The bank here dips right down onto a large flat area that is once again very popular with fisherfolk and others enjoying the river. People often make camp fires here too and hang out beside the river. The dips and rises of the bank make it a popular place for people riding trail bikes etc so we don't ever venture down there preferring to keep the dogs out of harms way. Even when I walk at times when others aren't around I don't go down there as the walk to the weir and back home is a good length (about 45 mins) 

Digby surveying the tracks made by trail bike riders

the track down to the river flat where people often fish, swim, make camp fires and hang out. You can see how steep it is and why I don't bother to venture down there

Yesterday I realised that there is a gorgeous tree above the weir with a blaze on it. Explorers came through our district exploring ways to open up our huge country and they marked their way with these huge blazes. This might not actually be a deliberate blaze but instead might be the result of natural phenomenon. I might have just been more aware of it because this weekend a small community near us is celebrating 170 years since Ludwig Leichhardt passed through our area, marking a tree at Comet. I took some photos of the tree and noticed that high in its branches was a native orchid growing. Stunning stuff. 

It must be turtle season... time for them to get a move on because we encountered 3 of them on our walk yesterday. The dogs weren't sure what to make of them and though I don't think they could harm them we kept the dogs away from the turtles. I tried to take a photo on my phone but it was blurry so not worth showing to you. Today when I was out running I noticed another turtle crossing the road. Its a fairly quiet road so I didn't stop to move him off the road which I would normally have done. Not to mention I was 5 kms into my run and if I had stopped to do that I might not have got started again.

Today I ran my greatest distance to date. 7.34 kms in 64 mins. Its not a record breaking pace but I am very proud of my achievement. I am now eyeing a new goal. I would like to be able to run 10 km by the end of the year. I would also like to get my time for 5 km down. Currently its just under 40 mins (39.40 I think) 35 would be terrific.

New Beginnings... I hope

Had been thinking about writing a blog for a few months now and decided to have a go and came on to the computer to find that I already have one. Now I remember I was going to write one when I went overseas in 2010 with daughter Fangirlstitches and oldest son G. I wrote one blog before I left and that was it. Oh well never mind. I wonder if I can keep it up any longer this time. With my record probably not.

Its now January 2014. Earlier this month I signed up for the 365project. When you are supposed to put up a photo a day. I got one up. Then I also saw this thing about getting your stuff in order and the starter project was to tidy for 15 minutes every day and to throw out 15 things and donate 15 things every day for the month. I managed it twice... but not on 2 consecutive days. Oh and the things I was going to donate... still in bags in my bedroom. Ho hum.

Hoping that on this blog I can record/report on a few different things in my life.

My Crafting

 I am a keen although not necessarily proficient quilter. I like to do scrappy quilts. I often design my own quilts and they are a bit organic... I don't always plan them out before I start which is why they are sometimes more scrappy than I intended. This last year I have also gotten into making banners (wall quilts) to use in our church to augment our worship time. These have been more along the lines of art quilts than anything else I have attempted before. I have been really encouraged in this by our minister and good friend Suzy who has always been delighted by my attempts and gladly used them.

  

The banner on the left was made for ordinary Sundays (green) It features a vine winding from the bottom to the top with appliqued and 3D leaves. The banner on the right was done in 4 crazy patch panels in white and gold for the seasons of Easter and Christmas.

An going project for me is making baby quilts for my great nieces and nephews who seem to be coming along with increasing rapidity. I am one of 8 children and my mum has 24 grandchildren and at last count 18 great grandchildren with one on the way. I also make quilts for some other babies in my life - grandchildren of good friends, a cousin's grandchildren and a few babies at church. Keep me busy enough. My mum is 91 and still does embroidery. I trace pictures onto fabric for her and send them down to her (she lives in Sydney whereas I live in central Queensland) She completes them and sends them back and incorporate them into quilts.

I am planning on blogging about my quilting - my plans, my completions, my UFOs. 2 years ago I cataloged all my UFOs and determined to try to bust them. For a year I didn't start any new projects, I just worked on old ones (except when I had to make a baby quilt that I didn't have anything suitable on the go for) I also put myself on a fabric diet, only buying fabric that was needed to complete a project. I stuck with that pretty well (apart from busting out once at a Spotlight sale. I got fabric to make some baby quilts) I managed to knock over a fair few of them in the 12 months. I continued to work on them last year although I also started a number of new projects as well.

Again, inspired by Pam at HTBS I have started to track my fabric usage this year. I have set up an excel spreadsheet (ok Fangirl set it up at my request) and hope to calculate my fabric usage and my fabric acquisitions. I hope to report on it regularly... perhaps monthly... unlike Pam I don't complete a project or several projects a week so there won't be that much movement.

My Fitness Regime

I am in my mid 50s (55 in March) I am somewhat overweight. I am currently 93.5kg (205 lbs) I was up to 100 earlier on in the year so it is coming down. 95 was a really hard number for me to break through but after several months of getting down to there and then bouncing up again I finally broke though and am slowly creeping down. I am 179cm (5ft 10.5") so fairly tall. According to various charts I should be 75-80 kgs for my height. So.... we shall see how I go at losing the rest of the weight 7 down 13 to go. I did get down to under 80 kgs a few (6.5) years ago but couldn't stay there. 83 seemed an easier weight for me to stay at (and I did for a number of years) Still would like to get to 80.

Inspired by podcaster Pam from www.hiptobeasquarepodcast.com I took up running again. In 2011 I had completed the C25K running program and was able to run for 35 minutes. I let it all go though (my hips hurt, my knees hurt, it was too hard, there was no point etc) However I have restarted it and this morning I ran for 25 minutes. I have completed week 7 of the 8 week program so Monday will start again. My aim is to run 5 kms and to run in a 5 km fun run by May. Last year there was a Mothers Day fun run here in town but no word of it being organised this year (and I am not volunteering) There is one on Hamilton Island but my husband isn't enthralled by the idea of us going there (its beautiful but expensive) and when I remember the terrain (we were there for a wedding last Easter) yeah... maybe not (massive hill divides the tiny island and if we have to run 5 km we would have to go up and over that hill at least once)

My family

I am married to DH who is an engineer. We've been married for over 30 years now and still crazy about each other. We have 4 children. Daughter Fangirl (fangirlstitches.blogspot.com.au) who is an OT and has just returned to live in our home town after having lived in the UK for over 2 years (yes it is lovely to have her back in oh so many ways). Oldest son G who lives in Melbourne and studying to be a massage therapist. Middle son C, lives in Brisbane with his partner A. He is half way through a university degree to become a nurse. Youngest son S (my baby)  completed first year of an engineering degree 2013 but has decided to switch to education and become a teacher instead. C. A and S live together in our townhouse in Brisbane whilst they attend university.

We also have 2 dogs and 1 cat, Dogs are Annie a 9 year old Australian terrier fox terrier cross, Jack a Jack Russell Shiatsu something else cross (he is tiny but thinks he is a rottweiler) and Pippin a 6 year old Siamese cross. 

    

Tiger cat, mentioned in previous post died a year ago and we still miss her.

So there you have it. Its taken me several days to get this far and a visit from Fangirl to help me work out the photo uploads (my photos kept uploading sideways. All good now)