Thursday 31 December 2009

Happy New Year!

May 2010 be the year that your dreams come true!

Tuesday 29 December 2009

apocketfullofmysteries - raising cane - top done!!

Well, I finished the top last night - but I wanted to wait until daylight to get a photo.....















It is quite a striking color combination in the center and the cowboy teddy bears make a perfect border. One of the narrow red borders is a different fabric, because I ran out of the original red fabric. The blue background and the teddy fabric is all gone (save for a few scraps).

Monday 28 December 2009

apocketfullofmysteries - raising cane - step 12

The center has been together for a little while (and it is quite striking).

I have been playing with border options. I am going to use the "bonus triangles" that were created as I sewed this mystery, along with the focus fabric and some more of the yellow and red.

apocketfullofmysteries - raising cane - clue 11

"D blocks" are done - and I still can't figure out what this quilt will look like! Next step is assembly....

apocketfullofmysteries - raising cane - clue 10

"C blocks"

a pocketfullofmysteries - raising cane - clue 9

"B blocks"

apocketfullofmysteries - rasing cane - clue 8

"A blocks"

apocketfullofmysteries - raising cane - clue 7

apocketfullofmysteries - raising cane - clue 6

Lunch break

I'm taking a lunch break (and watching Oprah).

I was reading Judy's blog, and had to laugh - her dog Speck loves her central heating vents as much as my dog does....

apocketfullofmysteries - raising cane - clue 5

done!

apocketfullofmsyteries - raising cane - clue 4

clue 4 was quick!

apocketfullofmysteries - raising cane - clue 3

I've had a cuppa, lunch is in the oven AND clue 3 is done!

apocketfullofmysteries - raising cane - clue 2

cutting is DONE!

Back at it....

My sewing machine and I have reacquainted ourselves!

My Mum and I made a quilt for a close friend of hers who was diagnosed with cancer just before Christmas, she is scheduled to go in for surgery just after the new year and I decided that she needed a quilt to keep her spirits up - so Mum came up to my place and we sewed up a storm.

This was my first time using the Quick Strippie quilt pattern from MaryQuilts - it was fun, easy, quick and I think it looks great (oh, and the recipient LOVES her new quilt).

The quilting was fairly simple - I quilted over the seam lines using the "snake stitch" on my machine (the owls are too cute to sew over and because the wadding is poly I didn't need to quilt it too much), and the binding is completely done my machine.

This quilt is the perfect size for a knee/snuggle quilt (click on the photo to make it bigger):















And a close up to show the CUTE fabric that we used (the recipient loves owls):

Thursday 24 December 2009

Merry Christmas!!



May the Christmas season

bring you abundant
joy, love and happiness


May the New Year bring
peace and fulfilled dreams

Wednesday 23 December 2009

I got mail!

Look what has arrived in my mail box in the past couple of weeks (MUCH more fun than the bills that usually come lol)

Wednesday 16 December 2009

I miss my sewing machine

My house has been in disarray for the last couple of weeks (due to the new windows!) and I haven't been able to sew for AGES.... but my sewing room is finally almost back to normal and I am planning on swing a couple of postcards for a swap YAY!

I am also planning to join in with the Boxing day mystery at apocketfullofmysteries, I have found these fabrics in my stash and I know that it will be fun!












And the NYE mystery at FabricaholicsAnonymous, I did a mystery quilt NYE 2008 and it was a GREAT way to spend my NYE! I just LOVE Christmas but I turn into a scrooge for New Years - all of the drunk people out and about on NYE just irritate me (and no, I'm not old - just sick of disappointing NYE parties!) once again, these fabrics are from my stash:

Sunday 6 December 2009

Finally a quilting photo!

Well, I finally got Dad to hold my "International round robin" quilt up so I could get a nice photo (click on the photo to make it bigger)....















Center - Bear applique - by Viki (Australia)

On point and pieced border - triangles from pretty pink dot fabric and then pieced pink flowers - by Amber (Alaska, USA)

Squares - Winnie the Pooh fabric and brown squares - by Chrissie (Cambridge, England)

Triangles - green triangles for trees (using the previous border as tree trunks) with a blue sky background - by Gunn (Norway)

Applique border - fussy cut hearts on pink alternating with some more of the pink dot fabric - by Julie (California, USA)

Triangles - bright yellow suns (mariner's compass blocks) in each corner - by Karrie (Alaska, USA)

The ladies have decided that the theme of this quilt is "teddy bear's picnic" and I think it is just PERFECT

New window - lounge room

Another weekend, another window...

BEFORE












AFTER, yes it is a bit smaller!












This window gets the HOT Aussie afternoon sun and even with the sun blind my lounge room would get HOT in the afternoons (even on a mild day).

Don't worry the new window is 2.8meters long so it is still a large window, just not excessively large (like it used to be)

I have ordered a new sun blind, but the manufactures aren't taking any more orders prior to Christmas. The pretty new blind will be here in February.

Dad will put some insulation in and re-plaster the internal walls tomorrow (Monday) and hopefully I can get some undercoat on the walls on Tuesday. Might get some color on the walls after work this week - hopefully! Then I can put the curtains up again next weekend

Tuesday 1 December 2009

Window - front bedroom


Before - sorry the quality isn't great






After (mmmmmm, nice!) I still have to paint the new weatherboards and patch the nail holes. The new window is a bit smaller than the old one, but it looks lots better and more in proportion!

Windows - Dining room

Before (uuuuuuggly mission brown and rotting wood)












After (pretty cream colorbond frames and and blue trim)