The Simple Woman's Day Book (2)

Outside My Window...
A dark night sky - with not a star in sight

I am thinking...
About my list of things to get done before we can finish painting the outside of my house - STILL!!

I am thankful for...
Where I am in my life at this point, my life isn't perfect but it is pretty darn good!

From the kitchen...
A plate of biscuits, cheese and dried fruit for dinner with a hot chocolate for supper

I am wearing...
Blue t-shirt/nighty

I am creating...
Quilt blocks for 2 very generous quilters who inspire me

I am going...
To bed VERY soon, my eyes are drooping as I write this BUT I really need to see the end of "House"

I am reading...
"Queen of Swords" by Sara Donati - still! I only read one or 2 chapters at night so it may take me a while to finish this book lol

I am hoping...
To get more sleep this week than I did last week

I am hearing...
"House" on TV

Around the house...
All is quiet (again) the dogs are sleeping, my bedside light is on and my bed is waiting for me

One of my favorite things...
The smell of rain on hot ground

I remember...
Helping my Grandmother to get hexagons ready to be sewn together. I would trim the fabric that Grandma chose and tack it to the cardboard hexagons, while she sewed them together. I still have the quilt that I helped her to make

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week...
Paint, sew, SLEEP

Here is picture thought I am sharing...

The Simple Woman's Day Book (1)

I read about this idea at CinderberryStitches, but the original idea is from TheSimpleWoman. It is a simple way to focus on the moments in life and slow down a bit. I am planning to post weekly on Sunday.

Outside My Window...
It is a beautiful sunny day with a few whispy white clouds floating by (at 17degC its still a bit chilly, but it will warm up nicely this afternoon to around 27degC)

I am thinking...
About my list of things to get done before we can finish painting the outside of my house

I am thankful for...
Family who is willing to come and help me paint the outside of my house (a large and not so fun job!)

From the kitchen...
Cereal and yogurt for breakfast and plans to make some country pies up for dinner (and some for the freezer)

I am wearing...
Short sleeved brown t-shirt, a green patterned skirt and my comfy pink slippers

I am creating...
Memories

I am going...
To visit a friend and her family this morning. And then work on my "to do" list this afternoon

I am reading...
"Queen of Swords" by Sara Donati
"Australian Quilters Companion, edition #41" (magazine)

I am hoping...
To have a relaxing (but busy) day

I am hearing...
Silence, the wind whistling around my house and my little dog breathing heavily in her sleep

Around the house...
All is quiet

One of my favorite things...
Silence (hmmm, sense a bit of a theme today?)

I remember...
Not much from my childhood, although I remember being happy

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week...

Fill some nail holes, do some undercoating, get some painting supplies
Organise a folder from work (contains monthly breifings)
Update my planning folder (from my childcare job)
Work on the quilt for Christine

Here is picture thought I am sharing...
I got this picture from the SelvageBlog (but I cant remember who made it... sorry!), I love this idea and hope to make some selvedge pictures to hang on the wall of my sewing room

I've been busy

Sorry, for the lack of posting BUT I have busy sewing! I've been working on the memory quilt for my friend...

- the photos are printed on fabric and have been bordered to a 9.5" block (unfinished size)

- hankies are folded to make butterflies and appliqued onto the background fabric (I now need to embroider their bodies)

- i have appliqued a corgi onto a background square (I just need to tie a couple of colonial knots and this block will be DONE)

- many 4-patch blocks have been made

- a quote and some family names have been traced onto 2 background squares and are ready for hand stitching

once all the hand sewing is done I will get the top together and piece the leftover clothes into a back for the quilt

The confession continues...

I spent my "bonus day off" (Friday) updating my quilty scrapbook... it is almost up-to-date.

New resolution for 2010:
"scrapbook about each project as it is finished"

I don't do anything fancy in my quilty scrapbook - a couple of photos of the project and a little bit of writing and the page is done. But I think it is nice to look back and see all of the quilts/dolls/pincushions/postcards/etc that I have made... it makes me smile

I also went to the local fabric store and bought some pale mottled blue fabric and iron on pellon so that I can start stitching that cute little octopus. I searched my stash and didn't have anything that would suit so I gave myself permission to BUY some - and I was good, I only bought enough for this project. I will raid my Mum's stash of fine crochet cotton for the threads that I need - I have a few threads but Mum has LOTS! I shouldn't need to buy any thread.

I have finally decided on a pattern for Christine's memory quilt (from her Mother's clothing). It is going to be based on a similar pattern to the one I made for her son (photos below). Sam's memory quilt just has clothing as I wanted him to be able to use the quilt, the quilt for Christine will have photos and applique as it will be a wall hanging.

FRONT:
BACK:

Bonus Day

Well, at the start of the week I thought I would be working today (I do childcare from home), I thought there were 7 children coming.... as the week progressed ALL of the kids's parents have called to say that the children are either sick or the family has decided to go away for a few days.

So...

I don't have any children coming today...

I have the DAY OFF...

I can SEW...

I LOVE the summer holidays!

A confession

Ok, I confess....

I bought these...


So I could join in with this stitchery BOM...


I don't NEED another project...

I don't know where I am going to put it when it is finished...

BUT...

I really, really, really NEED to stitch these!

"Spare Parts" table runner

This is my first FINISH for the year, I started working on it late yesterday morning and was finished by dinner time.















It is made from a couple of WHIMMs, the first was a set of half-square triangles made when I did a mystery quilt with Fabricaholicsananymous in August 2009 (these were left over scrap corners when I made some flying geese blocks), the second was a group of 3 hand drawn/colored images that I was given a couple of years ago.

I was hunting around in my shelf of WHIMMs and these 2 items got my attention.... now what to do with them? I decided that a bright table runner (or in my case wall hanging!) would be perfect.






























Once it was made I decided to piece the backing from some more leftover bits from the mystery quilt, then I thought I would try a suggestion from a fellow quilter and use my maching to TIE the quilt. I programmed my machine to do a lockstitch-satin stitch circle-lockstitch and I was on my way! What a fun and quick way to get something quilted - I will be using this method again.

Fabricaholicsanonymous - 2009 NYE mystery quilt - DONE!

Well, here it is (click on the photo to make it bigger)...












And the close up....

Another mystery quilt

Another day spent sewing.... nice!

I've been working on a mystery quilt from Fabricaholicsanonymous - I am almost finished step 3.

This time I couldn't resist - I peeked ahead and the finished quilt is LOVELY!