Where Have I Put......Everything!!!!

I havent disappeared of the face of the earth but I have been engulfed by the empowering abyss of................RENOVATING!!!

Last November, I had a small idea to make changes to our kitchen. It is just a modest little house and as our family grows, it seems to get smaller. So at the beginning of the year, plans were made, plans grew, plans got shelved, plans got made again and then life sent us a reality check.............life is short, theres no guarentee there IS a tomorrow!!! And thats when plans really grew!!!!

Ive spent the last 6-8 weeks working with the wonderful people at the Launceston Kitchen Centre, plus builders (thnx Georgie and Shane), plumbers, electricians and stonemasons to come up with a perfect new kitchen design and to get this new kitchen it has meant that basically HALF the house is now being renovated!!!

Its been so much fun and as things start to slowly happen......all very exciting!!! But to reap the rewards, you have to live in chaos!!

Im trying to keep a path in my studio to get to the sewing machine but its getting smaller and smaller!!! I have a heap of stitcheries to set into projects and I have a few quilts to baste......
......but these may have to wait a little longer, unless I can persuade the builders to set me up a sewing and basting table lol!!

Gift of Giving!

Motivation and creativity have taken a back seat these last 3 months since losing Les's mum, replaced with the sad task of settling probate, clearing out the family home, choosing a real estate agent and then as of last week, finding a buyer!!

Admist all the processes and emotions you have to go through, I received a lovely email a few weeks back from Kelly of Ginger Quilts! She had been clearing out her sewing supplies and wondered if I would like to use some stitching supplies she had!

Of course I was thrilled that she thought of me and a few days later this parcel of goodies arrived on my doorstep!! (and I didnt notice until I uploaded this pic but one of the stitchery cottons has rolled to the top left hand corner duh!!). Some beautiful linen, pellon, stabiliser and those gorgeous cottons, plus a notebook which Kelly has written a lovely letter in!!! Thank you so much Kelly, I truly appreciate your generosity and have been itching to use it!!

I also want to share something that Maddi is hoping to do next year:

She has a great interest in the "Projects Abroad" program and in 2012, her college will be sending 10 students to..........

........Cambodia (and Vietnam). Their main aim is to offer assistance in the orphanages in Cambodia. She has already expressed her interest to the co-ordinator and has joined the fund raising committee. I have decided to offer a few new designs where my wholesale proceeds will be donated to the committee, more on that soon!!! Should be fun and hopefully successful as it will be a fantastic experience for the kids and one that Im sure Maddi will continue to do throughout her life (these programs are amazing!!!)

Time to hit the studio!! And Kelly, for my first fundraising design, I will be using your generous gift so its a gift that just keeps giving :)

Cubs Badge

Cohen's BF Justin needed to learn a new craft to achieve his Silver Medallion for Cubs so he and his mum asked me to teach him how to stitch. Choosing a design was easy, it had to be Ben 10 right??? (so over Ben 10 myself lol)
This is Justins favorite character Xceler8 and it was a good choice because there are some fiddly bits but mostly large areas for him to practice on.
He did a really great job, especially since he has never sewn before and seemed to be enjoying it, all except the pink hoop lol......sorry mate, didnt have any boy coloured ones to lend you!!

Hes chosen some lovely Ben 10 fabric to use as borders and it looks as if we might frame the end result.........great part is, he will earn his badge, have learnt a new skill and have something to admire for years to come!!

More pictures when its completed!!!

Mothers Day

I hadnt intended to be away from my blog for so long but life is unpredictable. Sadly on Easter Sunday my mother-in-law passed away.......a wonderful mum, best friend and treasured "Nanny Blue" to us all:

Evelyn Caroline Johnston

8/5/1924 - 24-4-2011

She touched the hearts of so many and will be very sadly missed. Yesterday was Mothers Day and it also would have been her 87th birthday. Although our day was very low key, it was wonderful to spend that precious time with Les and the kids, which is really what life is all about!

To all the mums, hope your day was special!

Hope to be back soon with some quilty news!

Greatest Gift!

I have a project in the current issue of Creating Country Threads, the framed applique/stitchery on the cover!!!! Always a thrill to see your work in print!!!!

It is called "Greatest Gift" and heres a shot of the project page:

The wording reads: "The seeds we plant in life bloom forever in the hearts of others". I designed this not long after my grandparents died last year so they are quite poignant!! Love the way the magazines present the projects!

In light of the recent natural diasters, we participated in "Earth Hour" last night (even though the boys werent as keen as they would miss an hour of football lol).

We lit a few candles around the kitchen, grabbed a pack of cards and enjoyed our hour without using electricity!!! Hopefully we gave Mother Nature a much needed break and helped just a little bit!! Another great gift!!

Puppy Love!!

Cohens best friend Justin has gone away for a few days to Adelaide with his family, so we get to do some puppy sitting!!!!
This is Scruffy and hes a 4 month old Shitzu/Maltese cross!!! Isnt that face the most adorable??? and I swear hes the biggest timewaster!!!!

Long Weekend

We had a very much needed 3 day weekend, this weekend and while I would have loved to lay back and relax like some:

I had a very busy weekend quilting (which really is my favorite part):

Lots and lots of stippling, great fun!!! But every time you close your eyes thats all you see lol!!

Our thoughts are with all those in Japan! The devastion is heartbreaking.....what is happening to our world??

Odd Fellows Chain

Its no secret I love piecing, thats why I enjoy the big sampler quilts so much. Theres nothing better than cutting lots of little triangles, squares and rectangles and putting them all together to make a stunning block! I love to incorporate my favorite blocks in my designs, so at the moment Im working on these:

The Odd Fellows Chain block...........very pretty as a 6" block and a little more complicated as a 4" block, lots of tiny, tiny pieces!!!!

Sometimes just because you can, doesnt mean you should.....but Im really glad I did!!!

Dear Jane- Row A

I got super focused on my DJ quilt this week, instead of things I really should be doing, but I finished Row A, wohoo:

I had to redo a couple of blocks cause I wasnt happy with them but Im loving it so far. Row B looks a little more challenging (ekkkk curved piecing....these will be my humility blocks!!!). Block tally is now 54 and just to make sure I didnt fluke the first one (centre in pic):

I tried a couple more triangles!!! These were fun, so my triangle tally is now 3!

Back to what I should be working on.....these blocks are addictive and its hard to stop lol!

Thoughts to everyone in New Zealand........it has been heartbreaking to watch the destruction and loss of human life following their recent earthquake!

A Very Busy Week.....

......and it isnt over yet!!!

Ive had a huge week in the studio and managed to prep some applique DJ Blocks ready to stitch at Craft this weekend and I also finished 2 of the pieced ones, bringing my tally to 50 Blocks :

A9- Cabin Fever, A11- Pebbles Protest

I started doing these blocks in random order (ok I just picked the easiest ones lol) but Ive decided to work my way through the rows and Im aiming to have Row A completed and sashed in the next week or two!

I also finished up a new Threadbare project...... more on that later:

And spent some time with the pencil, designing my next stitchery:

Please dont look at the messy pencil lines, drawing is a struggle for me....... lucky Im a neat stitcher lol.

Hope everyone is having a great, productive week!!!!

DJ Progress

I took a few days over the weekend for a little "me" sewing time and was really inspired to get my Dear Jane book back out and sew some more squares. Finishing the squares for this gorgeous quilt is one of my 2011 goals and I was thrilled to add another 8 blocks to my total....now have a total of 48!!!

F7- Star Struck, E12- Mary Ruth

A4- Courtneys Stethoscope, E9- Quilt Jail

D9- Uncle Richard, M8- Enchanted Square

H10- Bens Bowtie, L8- Box Kite

Still have quite a few to go but Im going to commit myself to sewing a few every week. And just to see if I could sew one of them, I tried a triangle:

Wasnt quite as hard as I first thought, although this is one of the easier ones!!

To all Australians affected by Mother Natures wrath of cyclones, floods and bushfires on our beautiful country, our thoughts are with you and your families!!!

New Years Resolutions

On a personal note, this year I have kept my New Years Resolutions simple........enjoy each and every day of 2011 and be kinder to myself but on a sewing note, theres always goals to be kept!

For the last 2 years Anne Ida and I made a resolution to "make what we loved as long as we finished it within that year".........it worked quite well for both of us but we both still have UFO's that we would love to finish, so Anne Ida came up with our resolution for 2011:


Its a perfect way for us to focus on our UFO's before even thinking about starting a new quilt and some of my UFO's date back quite awhile now:



My much loved Log Cabin and SBS are 2 quilts Id love to finish this year and theres the quilt Anne Ida and I sewed while she was here visiting us (I know she finished hers ages ago!!) which will probably be my first priority!! And then theres my Dear Jane, it would be great to finish all the blocks this year!! Feel free to grab the badge and participate if you need some motivation to finish off those UFO's.

Of course on the work front, I have heaps of exciting plans for 2011 and lots of motivation. Already working on my first commission for the year:

Think you can guess the theme!!!