Midmonth Goal review

I was late getting my monthly goals up so it isn't that long ago but it is almost the middle of the month so good to review my progress

• keep up to date with blog I am actually doing well with this. Since I got back into the groove I have blogged my regular posts plus a number of extra ones. I am probably driving people on Twilter page (where I post links to each update) and Twitter nuts. Never mind.
• work on Birds in the Air Twilter quilt  I've put the borders on the top but I'm not happy with the look. I think they are too wide. I'll trim them down and see what that looks like

• prep projects for travel I have started this, cutting out towel hangers from some of the licenseced fabrics and also some bags

• Finish Repeat wall hanging. I have printed out the pattern for the 2 e's I needed to redo but that is as far as I have gotten to date

• put recently purchased fabric away and update stash spreadsheet. The fabric has all been added to the spreadsheet but I haven't put it away as yet. I am using a lot of it in the projects that I am prepping to do - that is my excuse. It isn't spread all over the floor any more so that is a start

• Work on Jenni's baby quilt. I have cut the backing fabric for it. I am going to have to decide if I am going to pin it and quit it at home or do it on the quilting machine.

• Quilt Peyton's baby quilt - I have completed this and it has been delivered to her. Still waiting on a photo of her on the quilt

• catch up on club's mystery quilt - I had planned to do this at Patchwork last week but didn't end up going. This week hopefully.

• make items for HML. I have started to cut out projects (see prep projects for travel) and completed one bag

• Quilt My Cat Likes to Hide.  Completed. Photographed and up on the blog here

Sunday Stash Report - major catchup

The last Stash Report I completed was on August 14th which is a 4 weeks ago and there has been a lot of action since then and mostly in - very little out. But it was fun.

My big blow out was when I was on the Gold Coast at the end of last month when a good friend from the internet and I got to meet up in person and she kindly took me on a lovely shop hop. One shop she took me to had fabric at a very reasonable price - $11m (In Australia that is cheap!) so I bought more than I otherwise might have and then after lunch she took me to a place that was having a major sale and it was $5.95 m so I went overboard there. Jodie teased me cause the shop lady got me a trolley for the bolts of fabric I was pulling out. In total I bought over 20 metres but it was all lovely stuff and such a fantastic price. I detailed what I bought in this blog post so I won't go into more detail here. 

I also received an order from EQuilter of some Pokemon fabric (3.31m) and got a few bits from the c

I also visited a 2nd hand craft exchange in Sydney whilst I was visiting my mum and I got a few bits there too but was pretty restrained. (.82) I got a few embroidery patterns there as well.

In these last couple of days I have managed a couple of finishes - 2 quilts that I have had pinned ready to be quilted that I kept avoiding. 

The baby quilt was for my girlfriend's grand daughter. I called it Twinkle Twinkle. It was based on the Missouri Star pattern Sparkle and has been very popular with the new owners big brother. I blogged about this quilt in my TGIFF post here

I also finished off My Cat Likes to Hide in Boxes. I haven't decided where this quilt will go. There are a few cat lovers in my life and one of them will love it I am sure - unless I have an unexpected need for it elsewhere.

The top is a mixture of a panel of cat pictures which have just been sashed and the co-ordinating fabric used as the centre of a variation of the square within a square pattern from Quilters Cache  Square within Squares 2  .  

The piano key border looks great I think. I love making these borders and using up leftover bits that have been cut for the top. I used 2 different green patterned fabrics in the bindng. I didn't have enough of either one to make it all from one and then I decided I really like the two different ones.

The back was a mixture of left over fabric from the front and some 6.5" squares from a cat fabric swap plus another cat panel.

I finished the quilt on the day that our cat who had been missing for 36 hours returned and was recovering from injuries received whilst he was away (probably in a cat fight) He's actually rather timid and not much of a fighter so its no wonder some other Tom was able to give him a hiding. He hasn't stirred out of the house since! It was good to have him home and recovering and I got a photo of him with the quilt

So my statics for the month last while are

Fabric used               11.12            
Fabric added             24.84  
Net                         -13.72

Year to Date
Fabric used               117.71
Fabric added               78.62
Net                            39.09

Linking up with Patchwork Times

Finish it Friday

I have had 2 finishes this week. I am so pleased. I have been travelling a lot and so busy when home and then the fatigue that has hit me (we think its a hangover from the Barmah Forrest virus I had in 2013) I just haven't had the energy to sew and it has been frustrating lying in bed or sitting in the chair planning what I would like to make with the stuff I have purchased but not having the oomph to get up and do it.

My finishes this week have been a little top to go with a pair of leggings someone else made for the Handmade With Love stall. There were 3 pairs of pants or trousers (in size 2) that had been made and Peggy, our coordinator decided that they would be more saleable if they had tops to go with them. We chose coordinating fabric and then she told me that I could do the top for the navy leggings and she would take care of the little pink shorts. The trouble is... I haven't sewn clothes for many years AND when I did it was stretch fabric. The last time I made something from an ordinary dress pattern was in high school. So......

The pattern was Burda Start. My friend Lindi was a great help in cutting it out. Looking at it I can see all these faults with it but its still pretty cute 

especially when put with the leggings.

My other finish was a baby quilt. I started it back in June. I had 4 baby quilts to make (and then before I got them all done found I actually needed to make a 5th). I used the Missouri Star Sparkle pattern. I altered it a bit for each quilt - mostly in what width (if any) sashing and borders I put in. 

This one (which I called Twinkle Twinkle) was for the granddaughter of a friend. She was actually born last year and so is now 15 months old. However the family were in the process of moving from the USA to Australia and the grandma said to hold off till they got here. They actually didn't arrive till a few months ago so I finally needed to get on with it and make the now almost toddler her quilt. 

I realise that the white background wasn't the best choice for a child's quilt but it showed off the stars the best and its machine washable.

When I dropped it off the baby herself was having a morning nap but her 4 year old brother was there and he really enjoyed it - finding and naming the animals in the centres of the stars.

Linking up with TGIFF

Thursday Thoughts - I get a mention in a book

Yesterday's mail was very exciting for me yesterday - just about the most exciting post ever - certainly for a while.

Firstly there was the news of the arrival of that beautiful little baby that I get to claim as my first grandchild (the daughter of our Japanese host son from 2004 which I shared yesterday here)

There was also a parcel containing a book from the USA - Sew Illustrated by Minki Kim and Kristin Esser published by Stash Books.

Some time ago Kristin (from They Grow Up too Fast blog) contacted me and asked me if I would be prepared to pattern test for this new book. I was tickled to be asked and said yes of course. I chose to make the House Zipper Pouch (found on page 89 in the book) and was able to provide them with feedback on the process. Its the first time I've ever done that. The hardest part was keeping quiet about it for so long. Now I can crow about it. I was planning on buying the book (after entering the give away that Frances was running on her blog The Off Kilter Quilter but then Kristin got back in contact to say they would like to send me a copy of the book as a thank you. Wow. 

And now here it is.

My new book

Signed by both authors

and a mention in the acknowledgements

 Its a darling book and I am hoping to make more of the designs from the book. I want to make another zipper pouch cause I think it is so cute.

My efforts from a year or 2 ago. I've used it a bit so its not quite as perky and well shaped as it was... and I don't think I used the proper stiffening. Still.. I love it

There has been a blog hop going on for it, which I hadn't realised so haven't visited all the blogs but if you are quick you might be able to visit and comment and be in the running for a copy of the book. Kristen has the links to them all on her blog 

If you aren't lucky enough to win a book (or be given one by the amazing authors he he ) then you can purchase it here on Amazon

WIP Wednesday

I haven't posted in WIP Wednesday for almost a month. I have been travelling and not sewing or crafting too much plus this blasted fatigue has been hanging around for a bit too which is sapping my energy and making me disinclined to actually do much.

However the news I got yesterday has revived a little - or at least inspired me to push through the exhaustion on a crafting front at least. 

In 2004 we hosted a lovely young man from Japan for 11 months through the exchange program AFS. Sho became our son and called us Mum and Dad and we loved him dearly. 

Taken in December 2004 shortly before his departure. I think Doug and Sho are the ones who have changed the least.

He has visited us once here in Australia with his parents and siblings and we have travelled to Japan to see him and his family twice in the intervening 12 years. Last year he was married. We didn't attend the wedding but did enjoy the photos we saw of the event. 

Yesterday we got a letter from him containing some photos, not only of their wedding but of their daughter who was born in June. 

The baby is absolutely gorgeous and is our first grandchild - not by blood but by love. He mentioned in the letter he wrote he was worried about seeing us again because not only has he forgotten much of the English he learned but also because he was worried we would have changed. I think the biggest reason he has to fear seeing me again is that he didn't tell me about his baby till she was 2 months old!

So of course I now need to make a special quilt for this darling little girl. But before I start it I need to complete several of the projects that I have piled up waiting my attention. 

Yesterday afternoon I sat down at my machine and quilted a baby quilt that I had pinned waiting for my attention for several weeks. I got the label and binding done and dropped it off to the recipient this morning. 

She was asleep but her mum and brother were on the spot and the big brother was very taken by it. It was great to have a finish again. Its been a few weeks since I had completed anything

And then this afternoon I put "My Cat Likes to Hide In Boxes" under the needle. Not sure how I am going to quilt it but for the moment I am stitching down the middle of the sashing and will have a look and a think when that part is done.

Apart from finishing off that project the only other craft work I have done since I last updated my WIPs has been crocheting. I have completed 9 hanging kitchen towels for Handmade With Love. It might have been more than that... I lost count. I prefer the long hand towel ones but they are too big for many people (and just not what they are used to) and so the ones made from tea towels cut in half are much better sellers. 

The first ones I completed were tea towels supplied to me. They were a bit thin for my liking although at least they were white backgrounds. 

The last four were made from hand towels I bought and cut in half. So they are the size people like but the material is thicker and more absorbent and NOT flowers on a white background. Those ones get so discoloured so quickly. I have already sold them... to my sister who had told me that they were the only things she was likely to buy from a handcraft stall. So I made them and she bought them. Well done me (and Beth). I posted the 4 off to Beth and gave the others to our stall co-ordinator before photographing them.

The other little finish I have had is a size 2 top for Handmade With Love. Some one had made the leggings and we decided that a top with it would make it more saleable. I haven't sewn clothes for a long time and not ones from a non-stretch fabric since high school. My friend Lindi helped me cut it out and I managed to get it together. Its not perfect but hopefully the cute factor will persuade someone to buy it.

Hope your week is being productive too. Let me know what you have been doing or link up on Esther's  blog too

Linking up with  

September Goals

This fatigue that has hit me, sapping me of energy and motivation has been such that I haven't even thought about my monthly goals or how I went last month. Guess I really should have a gander at what I thought I was going to do last month and try to think of what to do this month.

My August goals were

• Work on Jenni's baby quilt - no I don't think I did anything more with this (can't recall)
• Quilt Payton's baby quilt - pinned but not quilted still that was a start.
• make bag holder DONE I got this done for Fangirl as requested and I even used Tardis fabric so should score well on favourite mummy stakes.
• catch up on club's mystery quilt DONE - now the next clue is out so I will work on that at Patchwork this week.
• make items for HML I made quite a few hanging towels as we drove in the car - not sewn but quilted. Still... I made them. I even have sold 4 of them to my oldest sister.
• finish quilt Soley's baby DONE and posted off to her as well
• finish Damien's baby quilt DONE and posted off to him.
• Quilt My Cat Likes to Hide in boxes.... nope not done.

So for the month that is only 2 not done at all and one partially completed so that isn't too bad I guess.

September

The way I am feeling right now I am not sure I will accomplish anything this month however I shall aim high and see how I get on.

• add the fabrics purchased on the Gold Coast to my stash spreadsheet and put the fabric away. (currently its spread all over my sewing room floor)
• finish the Repeat wall hanging
• do last step in the club Mystery quilt (step 6)
• prep projects to take travelling with us in October (hand and machine) I am mainly thinking of small things to make for the HWL stall in November and thinking of stuff from the Pokemon and other licensed fabrics - pot holders,plastic bag holders, small zipper purses and pouches etc.
• Finish Payton's quilt
• work on Jenni's baby quilt
• work on Birds in the Air Twilter quilt
• make things for HWL
• keep up to date on my blog

Mostly I just want to get in and do something. I am so over feeling wan and washed out.

Moanday

Its been a long time since I blogged. I have totally fallen off the wagon as far as blogging and sewing. I have been so busy coming and going and when I have been home I have been hit by waves of fatigue and just not been up to doing anything. When I do feel like getting out of bed and doing more than going through the motions... I haven't been motivated to sew. Sigh. 

I had a wonderful shopping trip with a friend whilst staying on the Gold Coast a few weeks ago. Fellow Twilter Jodie picked me up from the motel and we had a marvellous few hours visiting various quilting and fabric shops on the coast. It really was fun. Thank you Jodie. 

My Lovely guide, hostess, chauffeur Jodie

And now for the loot!

The first two lots were basically just stash enhancement. I loved the bright tone on tones and so grabbed them whilst they were on a good price. And the patters - I just loved them so got them

I got these fabrics to use in the Twilter swap block quilt recently put together. The blocks were birds in the air and I thought I might use some of these in the border and backing... I probably won't use all of them but still... we will see

Having collected all things bicycle for a year I couldn't resist these fabrics even though the bike quilt is done! I might make some kitchen items out of them for gifts or to sell on the Handmade with Love stall.... pot mits, bag holders or the like

I went a bit overboard but the last place we went was having a massive sale and I just lost my head a bit. But basically I feel I bought stuff that I know I will use. The fatigue that hit again after we got home last Wednesday night has prevented me from even putting the fabric away. I got it out to photograph and its still all over the floor.


My wonderful Fixit Guy has been looking after me whilst I have been so flat. I am a very blessed woman.

I am hoping that I will manage to get some sewing done tomorrow. I am sure that sewing will make me feel better and restore my energy.