Progress Report

Some time ago, Miss Zoe and I took a trip to Spotlight together. She spied this Dora panel and begged me to make a "snuggle quilt" for her. I tried to persuade her that we could make a different (and nicer!!) snuggle quilt for her, but she insisted. I sandwiched and did some stictch in the ditch quilting on it a while ago..and then got the guilts that I hadn't made it for her when it was a task that would take so little time! Over the past few nights I have done some hand quilting around it and last night I finished it! Ta da....awful huh!!

I also decided that as I am pretty close to completing this cross stitch that I just love that I may as well just get on with it and finish so it can be framed and hung on the wall...just three more words to go!

WIP's are go to be completed, I am sick if having them hanging around!

Crazy Love

Last night I completed my love knot quilt top, her name is "Crazy Love" - coz love can be like that sometimes.

Now I need to head to my LQS and pick up some backing fabric for it. I have quite a bit of the border fabric left over so might pick up a chocolate brown and use that with the yellow pattern.

I am not sure what will happen with this quilt and where she will end up, I really love it but I do have a wedding and engagement quilt to make as gifts so let's see how time goes for me!

A Successful Trip to the Quilt Fair

Just a note, the links aren't working at the moment, will be back tomorrow to fix!

On Thursday I decided to venture into the Quilt and Craft Fair at the Exhibition Centre at Darling Harbour. I had never been so was quite excited. I was fortunate that my step mum was also going to be there with her buddy so I had some help with the girls. Thank goodness for Nana!

I went with one thing in my head to look for and thankfully the wonderful Prints Charming had it in kit form. I was so excited, and really had the best intentions of not buying anything else....however the temptations were too hard to resist and besides I needed to stock up on projects for when the house renovations starts and I can't (won't be allowed) to spend any money on quilty goodness!

This is the kit from Prints Charming. I saw the pattern in one of the quilting magazines a few months back and fell in love with it. It is linen and all hand printed. I can't wait to make this one up for ME!!

Also from Prints Charming 2 lovely scarf kits - they are meant to be for gifts but being a scarf lover they may just end up in my wardrobe!


From Patchwork on Central Park a couple of lengths of linen to make scarves. They had them on display and once you wash the linen in hot water and then tumble dry them they have a lovely soft crinkled finish.

I never got over how much I loved the Ava Rose fabric. I bought a FQ bundle of the blue from ThThe Fat Quarter Shope and always wished I had purchased the pink as well. So when I saw this kit at the Just Patchwork stall, I had to make it all mine!

Then a few patterns, a couple of cushion patterns from Hot Possum, A couple of FQ friendly patterns from Moonshine, a lovely pattern called Vintage Pinwheels from Rose Patchwork Cottage and a couple of FQs from Prints Charming to go with the Rocket panel and FQ's I purchased from them a few months back.

Last but not least a Cool Yule table runner kit from Hot Possum, I loved the colours and couldn't resist. It won't go with our decor now but when we do the house we plan to have lots of white and timber so it will make the perfect accessory to our table the first Christmas in our newly renovated home...also gives me a couple of years to get it made LOL!

I am not sure if I am allowed to post photos from the exhibiton so if you know that I am not allowed to please tell me. The talent was so amazing and so many fabulous quilts that I loved. Here is a selection of a few I particularly liked, with my little model Zoe - who asked me when she would be old enough to start to make quilts "coz they are so beautiful". Her pick was the Care Bears one as shown below!

And these were my 4 favourites, all quite different but just stunning all the same!

Reunited with Love Nest

I have just returned from picking up Love Nest from the quilter and I love it!!

What do you think?




now to get on to binding it!

Feelin' the Love!!!

I am feeling the love at the moment. Last quilt was Love Nest and now I have moved onto Love Knot!

Here are the 2 blocks that I have completed so far. The curves are quite fiddly but I am liking the finished block and the fabrics...7 more blocks to go!



I had a call from the Quilter and Love Nest is ready to be picked up...I just have to find the time to get there to pick it up!

An hour and a bit 'til I have to leave to pick the girls up, so first of all I am going to eat my lunch with the latest Quilts Down Under and then I am going to sew a couple of pieces of fabric together! Dave is in Hong Kong on business this week so I have a few nights to have a sewing frenzy....and get the ironing done!!

Book Number 14 - The Longest Trip Home

This morning I opted out of my Saturday morning run whilst Dave took the girls to swimming and snuggled up under the covers to finish this beautiful book The Longest Trip Home by John Grogan.

A story about family and evolving as your own person from your family but appreciating the love and support from your parents - I think it is story alot of us would relate to. I loved this book. It has me sobbing towards the end of it and I don't think a book has done that to me for a long time. I loved Marley & Me by the same author and now this one, I can't wait to see what John Grogan writes about next!

Wall Hanging Wonder

I have been involved in a swap with my quilting friends over at EB. Today was the big reveal. I was very lucky to receive this lovely little number from the lovely Dani. I love the colours, and the thread used for the quilting. It is a really pretty little quilt. Miss Zoe has claimed it as her own already! Thank you Dani, I love it x



I am hoping Car can email me some photos of the wallhanging I made, as I was a tad silly and forgot to take any photos of it!

Will be back later to post the links to all the participants blogs so you can check out how clever we EB Newbie Quilters are. But for now, it is off to the kitchen. Our little minx, Ciára, turns 2 on Monday so we are having a bash for her tomorrow and I have ALOT to do before I go to bed tongiht!

Dani

SEWJO WANTED - PLEASE HELP!!

Well, the machine has been taunting me from the dining room table all week, Dave was away and usually I go mad for sewing when he is not home...but all my sewjo has gone MIA and feels like it will never return. Very sad! I am going to pack it all away, and wait until I get an urge. I am not going to force myself or it will not be enjoyable. So, here's hoping i have some quilty news for you soon, but til then, ciao for now!

A book with a long and unusual name = Book 12!

I had better set aside more time for sticking my nose in a book if I want to complete this challenge!

Last night I finished "The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society" by Mary Ann Shaffer.

I loved it until the ending, which seemed very abrupt, and like the story wasn't finished. I did read though that the author passed away prior to the book being published so I wondered if they story wasn't actually finished either.

It is a series of letters that make for a lovely story. Try it...I think you'll like it!

My Family, My Puppy Dog, Books and Quilty Goodness....

..these are a a few of my favourite things....

This is the most recent family photo that was taken a couple of weeks ago. We went to Kirribilli with fish n chips for Earth Hour, though this silly mummy got the hour wrong as I thought it started at 7.30pm but it was actually 8.30pm. The view was fabulous, the fish n chips were great, wonderful company with our dear friend Sally joining us... however the kids were feral by 7.45pm so we packed up and went home and had Earth Hour with a lovely bottle of red, candles and great conversation at home chilling out on the lounge!




Dave and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary through the week. Dave is the most wonderful husband and friend that a girl could wish for. He is so grounding and supportive, loving and giving. Not to mention that he is an amazing Daddy to our 2 princesses. I just love him to bits! He suprised me with a stunning amethyst ring and a night out to my favourite restaurant - Guillaume at Bennelong. It is the restaurant in the Opera House, and it is always a fabulous experience to dine there. Gues what I did, made him a quilt - the Love Nest!!! Unfortunately I had to give it to him half completed as I am having it professionally quilted and the quilter has gone away until after Easter. I was so disappointed but Dave was cool with it! Will blog that one when it is all done, I just love it, and thought it might be a little naff to give Dave as our anniversary gift but he seemed to really appreciate it. Here we are ready to head into town for our yummy degustation ...



Our boy Zeus, is off having some training at the moment, I am missing him like mad! He is home in 3 more sleeps. I took these photos a few days before he went on his little holiday. Such a handsome fellow.



This morning I finished reading book # 11 for the challenge. "The Hour I First Believed" by Wally Lamb. It is a 700+ page book and I have not been able to put it down for the past week. A novel that captured me from the first word and well worth the read. Here is the book descprion from the Harper Collins website.
"Wally Lamb explores the consequences of war and violence on human lives blown irrevocably off course.

When 47−year−old teacher Caelum Quirk and his younger wife Maureen‚ a nurse‚ move to Littleton‚ Colorado‚ they both get jobs at Columbine High School. In April 1999‚ Maureen finds herself in the school library‚ cowering in a cabinet and expecting to be killed‚ as two vengeful students go on a carefully premeditated‚ murderous rampage. Miraculously‚ she survives‚ but at a cost: she is unable to recover from the trauma.

While Maureen fights to regain her sanity‚ Caelum discovers a cache of old diaries‚ letters and newspaper clippings in an upstairs bedroom of his family′s house. The intriguing story they recount spans five generations of Quirk ancestors‚ from the time of the Civil War to Caelum′s own troubled childhood. Piece by piece‚ Caelum reconstructs the lives of the women and men whose legacy he bears. Unimaginable secrets emerge; long buried fear‚ anger‚ guilt and grief rise to the surface. As Caelum grapples with unexpected and confounding revelations from the past‚ he also struggles to fashion a future out of the ashes of tragedy.

The Hour I First Believed is a profound and compelling work of fiction. And Wally Lamb proves himself a virtuoso storyteller‚ assembling a variety of voices and an ensemble of characters rich enough to evoke all of humanity."

I am decorating Ciára's room with the lovely Butterfly Fling fabric - this throw is as far as I have gotten with the decorating but my plans are good!!! At the moment we are using this throw as her cot quilt. (Sorry 'bout bad photo!)



Zoe's room is alot further along in the decorating department, though we have yet to put it all together for her. All I need to do now is get my act together and make the bunting for her window... Zoe's room is bright and colourful beacause of the lovely Moda Strawberry Lemonade fabric we decided on. This is the throw...



And drum roll please......

Ta da - Strawberry Lemonade is finally finished after 9 long months. The 40 appliqued circles is really what took me so long. I thought the hand quilting would be alot more time consuming than it was. This quilt is a double bed size and as my first larger quilt I am very happy with the result. I had trouble when I was hand quilting in keeping the stitch length consistent but it got better as I went along. More importantly Miss Zoe just loves it!

Last but not least, Dave is Irish and it seems to have become a bit of a tradition for us to hold the big do to celebrate St Patricks Day. This year there was about 40 of us - family, friends, and neighbours but we were really lucky that both of Dave's brothers were in Sydney. Here is that side of the family... including Zoe's best mate who may as well be a family member....

Perhaps 40 books in 2009???

So we are almost at the end of the first quarter of the year - can you believe it? At this rate I will only get 40 books read by the end of the year...Yesterday I finished my #10 book, "The Undomesticated Goddess" by Sophie Kinsella. Easy reading chick lit, most enjoyable. This morning I went back to "The Widow Clicquot" by Tilar J. Mazzeo. I am 1/4 or so way through it and needed a little break, therefore The Undoemsticated Goddess (finished in about 36 hours).

Also for those you who have been following my Strawberry Lemonade quilt progress, I only have one more circle to hand quilt and then she needs to be bound and she will be completd. I am looking forward to that!!!!

My 3 lovely Pay It Forward gals, please email me at kayscha@hotmail.com with your details so I can send you little parcels...some time this year!!

Pay It Forward...

I was reading one of my fave blogs - RED IN OZ and Esther has jumped in on Pay It Foward. I was so excited and was delighted to see I was comment #3. So....This is how it works:The first three people to comment on this post will receive a gift from me, sometime within the next 365 days. Who knows when it will turn up, or what it will be, but rest assured, it will arrive. All you have to do is promise to make the same declaration on your blog, and send out gifts to three of your lovely readers.The concept is fantastic, each person involved sends a little gift on to three others, who send on to three (9) others who send on to 3 (27)and so on and so on. Everyone involved has up to 365 days from joining in to 'pay it forward'.

It doesn't look like anyone is reading my blog these days so maybe this will get you all interested again xxx

So comment away!

Lazy Day Sunday Turns into Quilting Mania!

After a really lovely night out with friends last night, I awoke with a dull thud in my head as well as feeling totally exhausted. I took myself off to Mass then for a much needed chai latte and came home feeling a little more awake and a little more normal than when I left! We lazed around and read the papers and then I had the urge...to sew, of course!! What a wonderful afternoon I have had! Dave took Zoe out to the park for a couple of hours whilst Ciára had her nap, then he did absolutely everything at home so I could become one with my fabrics and sewing machine!!! I thoroughly enjoyed it and really appreciated Dave's hard work to give me some time out! He cooked, tidied, amused the kids and had a ball...might have to talk him into this being a regular Sunday thing!

Here is my little list of how my afternoon was spent;

1. Love Nest - top completed. Just waiting for the quilter to come back from holidays so it can be custom quilted, then bound.

2. Fr Martin's Jelly Roll Thank You quilt - fabric selected, grouped together and cutting started

3. M'Lady's Passion BOM - most recent block put together. Needs to be handstitched (along with previous 4 blocks - eeks!)

4. Wallhanging Swap - top and back completed, needs to be quilted, sandwiched and bound

I am not even going to pack my machine up as Dave will be away for alot of this week, so that means lots of sewing time once the girls are in bed of a night. Lucky me!

We are having huge internet dramas at the moment, not impressed with AAPT at ALL!! I am on Dave's laptop with remote connection so no photos for now. I will be back on the weekend with a long list of recently completed projects as well as my current WIP's.

Oh, and just the other day I finished Book #9 - Parky; Michael Parkinson's Autobiography. I always love a good life story and this was no exception. I have always loved Parky's interviews and his book did not let me down!

Worming my Way Through 2009

This morning I have finished reading book #8 - The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. This book enthralled me like no other book has in some time, I could not put it down. "A story of fathers and sons, friendship and betrayal, and the casualties of fate", it is a wonderful and powerful story that I highly recommend to you!

My next book is "The Widow Clicquot" by Tilar J. Mazzeo. It is "The story of a champagne empire and the woman who ruled it". Veuve Clicquot is up there with my favourite indulgences in life so how could I resist this one when I was pottering through my local (and fabulous) book store??!!

Onto more pressing matters though, on this gorgeous Sunday morning, I have bags to sew, floors to mop, washing to hang out, a chai latte to drink, the Sunday paper to read, 2 adorable daughters and a wonderful husband to spend time with and a dinner to prepare for our dear friends, the Louths, who are joining us tonight!

I Could Rule The World...

if all days were as productive as today was! I got so much done, and a fair bit of sewing too which was great!!! Such a satisfying feeling crossing those things off to the "to do" list!

The "chore" that I am most excited about finishing today was to design my wallhanging for the swap I am in with the Newbie Quilters on EB. I even chose all the fabrics, and with most of it out of my stash and only a little bit to purchase, I am delighted to be chopping up some of the lovely fabrics that have been sitting in there waiting for me!

Here's a sneaky peek,

Love Nest & Rocket Man

Here is my stash from Prints Charming ! The fabric for "Love Nest" which I just love!
This is the "Love Nest" pattern. Thinking I might make it for Dave for our 5th wedding anniversary which is coimng up next month.

One of my friends is having a baby boy in May so how could I resist this gorgeous fabric for him! I had to order some of the fabric so the navy FQ's and the rest of the orange and lime are on their way to me at the end of this week.

Escape to Prints Charming

I have just finished my next book for the 2009 Reading challenge!

Escape by Carolyn Jessop - an amazing autobiography of one woman's life inside the cult of Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints and the story of her escape.

Yesterday I had a wonderful day. I visited the store "Prints Charming". Though a small store, it was just fabulous. I was in love and could have bought everything in sight!! I was fairly restrained given my state once I was in there, and bought a kit for a quilt I had seen in AQC magazine. I also bought a rocket panel and some fabric to make a quilt for one of my best friends bubs, he is due in May. In my opinion, Prints Charming is worth a visit, they have a wonderful style in their fabrics and colours...and the store is just lovely!

Stay tuned for pics later today x

A Sombre Old Week...

Words can not even begin to describe what so many of us are feeling after the horrific fires in Victoria this past week. It is incomprehensible that so many have lost their lives battling to save their homes and families. Imagine losing your home and everything in it, being left with only the clothes you wear and perhaps a few special items. Imagine losing your community, your town, your friends and loved ones, I can't even begin to imagine what these people are going through. Please donate here as every cent counts to help these fellow Aussies rebuild their lives. Let us also remember the thousands of native animals who have been injured and who have lost their habitats as well. My thoughts are prayers are with these people and with the fireys who are true heroes.

Dreaming...

I have been doing a lot of flicking through flickr, domain and similar websites dreaming about how I will decorate when we do our renovation one day. I have come across these couple of photos. The first is the most amazing sewing space that I saw on flickr thru a link on EB - all I can say is I WISH!!! The space, the simplicity - it is just a lovely room! The 2nd is a bedroom in a house for sale in our suburb, I am in love with the bed and hope to have something similar in our very own boudoir some day...the funny thing is it turns out I know the owners of the house....must ask him where they got that gorgeous bed!


I am probably being a bit cheeky by psoting these photos on my blog, but that sewing room is so amazing that it had to be shared!

Forever Friends...

Well the fabric is caled Friends and Flowers but those cute little grey bears keeps popping into my head that are called Forever Friends so that is the name of this quilt! Just have to buy some wadding and I am going to do stitch in the ditch and hand quilt through it as well...This shot shows the backing and binding fabric as well.

My Works in Progress...

Usually when I talk about my WIP's I am referring to my quilting endeavours however I also have a number of WIP's with my books as well. Currently I have 3 on the go so thought I would add them to my list so I get cracking on actually finishing them.

1. Shantaram - Gregory Roberts. What an amazing story, hard to believe it was all real, I loved it so much I bought it for 2 of my sisters for Christmas

2. Eat, Pray, Love- Elizabeth Gilbert. I have read this twice and loved it even more the 2nd time around. What an awesome experience this woman had "finding herself" and she told her story beautifully!

3. Biting The Big Apple - Bella Vendramini. Thank goodness for the hairdresser, I got to finish this one today whilst having my hair done (almost back to my natural blonde now!). I wasn't to sure about it to start with, but on reflection, it was pretty good. Similiar theme to Eat Pray Love in that is a womans search of self discovery but this one is in the Big Apple - my fave city in the whole world - New York, New York!

4. Hope Endures - Colleen Livermore
5. The Creative Family - Amanda Blake Soule
6. The Seven Stages of Motherhood - Ann Pleshette Murphy

So speaking of WIP's I will now sign off to do a few more seams of Friends and Flowers, it is not far off being finished, ready to quilt!

What a Busy Week It Has Been...

So with no computer to distract me and Dave in Singapore on business(therefore no husband to distract me), there has been lots of quilty goodness going on in this house! A fine start to the week when a visit to the post office produced a few parcels! Always fun! Firstly a lovely delivery from my favourite online book store

Then a bundle from another favourite shop... I love this range from Lakehouse. I have no idea what to do with it, but I also bought 2 yards of the butterflies and 2 yards of the spot.
This table runner kit is for the coffee table in the back room. It is the Zippity DooDah range from Moda, I also bought some yardage and charm sqares to make new cushions and throws for the lounges. It is gonna be a busy year of sewing.....
Next to arrive was a little envelope filled with a purchase from Ebay. I love this print and hope to make a bed throw with this as a centre panel...funnily enough something similiar is in this months Better Homes and Gardens magazine with exactly the same fabric.
In the evenings after the girls had gone to bed, out would come my little "Brother" and together we pieced this top for Ciára's cot. Thought I should get onto it given she is 20 months old and soon we will be thinking about putting her in a single bed! It is the Butterfly Fling fabric, which I adore. This is a kit I bought but changed it slightly. It is a good size and can be used as a throw when the cot is dismantled (oooh, my baby is growing too quickly, might have to start thinking about a 3rd one!!??) Anyway, as I love it so much and my expertise at actually quilting is non-existant except for in the ditch, I have decided to have this one professionally quilted! It was so relaxing to just sew sew sew, with music on and Zeus curled up at my feet.
All my quilting gear has been organised into storage boxes and moved up to the garage, as it was so extremely hot here in Sydney I could not bear to take myself up to the garage to go fossicking through to work out what my next project would be....and I was on a quilty roll so something needed to be done. I happened upon 2 jelly rolls in my study that had missed my organising so off I chopped and have started another large throw for our bed. All the blocks are pieced, I just have to put all the blocks together now. Another great range of fabric that I love, it is Friends and Flowers by Mary Engelbriet..nice and bright - just as I love fabric to mostly be! Staytuned for photos of the finished product!

Yesterday it was 38 degrees in Sydney, now I love hot weather and summer, but that was just ridiculous, it was like a sauna, even inside where it was supposed to be cool! Poor Zeus was, I am sure, melting so we filled up his bath and he just sat in it for hours! I love this photo of my handsome boy!

And this photo just has to be taken, it is our version of Where's Wally..."Where's Zoe???" There was alot of activity in her bedroom when she was supposed to be sleeping...however now it is clear that she was having a toy party on her bed and that it all got too much for her and she just crashed mid party!!!