tsk tsk

turn up the music and sew

you know when you start cleaning and all of a sudden you discover all the projects you started months ago and want to stop your cleaning in order to finish them. Well.....on the weekend I finished one of them and have almost finished the other.  AND DID SOME CLEANING!!!!! This quilt I started last year using scraps from my stash. I took it away on holidays to the beach back in January and as of today I only have to hand stitch the back of the binding! YAY.

I have decided that it is going to be my thing to do whilst the kids are splashing in the pool. So I sit here and watch over them, turn up the music and sew. Agghh, summer!!!

And the painting is another wooden original now in my shop. I hope to be painting as much as I can over the next few months.

And what music am I listening to now? Well I've just discovered the sounds of Pete Yorn & Scarlett Johansson and when I want to chill out I've been listening to the Anouar Brahem..beautiful Arabian styled music with jazz influences.

get off the quilt

what a week! Poor Miss M has been so so sick with possibly swine flu (the doctors are not testing for it now), tonsillitis and croup. Some worrying moments, but thankfully, all is better now and I can have this day to catch up on so much. Trust me to offer a discount sale on my ABCme work just before this all happened.

So, I spent the week doing little work, whilst taking care of her. I planned to finish some quilts, but really I've just made a mess of the house, by spreading every piece of fabric and wadding across the floors. And then spent most of the time yelling at the kids and dog not to walk on them. How dare they????

I tried to concentrate on some house matters. It has been so crazy hot here, so I've been looking at ceiling fans because I hate having the aircon on unless it is over 35 degrees C.  I even bought a new light shade for the stairwell and can't wait to get it installed. I have loved David Trubridge's work for so long. And I've been just oohing and ahhing over lovely houses. I followed Fiona's trail and started a tumbler blog, just so I can have somewhere to place all the interior things I like and dream to have in one spot.

Now, heaps to do...

summer quilt

a friend of mine is celebrating her 40th birthday this weekend. About 10 couples are all running away from the kids and heading to a resort for what one of them described as 'schoolies for 40 year olds'. so I'm banking on the fact that she is running around like a madhatter now trying to get everything in order and that she doesn't know or have time to read this blog. But one of the presents I will give her is this quilt.

She loves these colours and is a very summery person, so I'm hoping that she will like this. I just have a few little threads to snip and double check there are no major flaws..minor ones are OK in my books. More photos will be over on my flickr page.

There isn't much else to say, the week has been one full of colds and tonsillitis so if I owe you an email, apologies. you might get one...but then again.....

a new week

i needed to clean my studio {again} in order to actually do some work. So the start of this week sees me sorting and moving things about. I'm always rearraging my studio and i think it is because I need a different shape/size table in here for me to be happy. Whilst going through piles of paperwork I noticed this lovely mother's day card from Miss M. I love the way she spells her name differently each time she writes it and refuses to care when I try to correct her.
"no no no. it's ok mum. that's the way I want it to be. Don't you see?"

I'll keep this for days when I doubt myself and my work.

I've been working on a quilt for a friend....shall show you more later, but was very impressed at my ability to go from nothing to an almost quilted top within two days. I won't reveal much more, but she loves the ocean and favours blues and greens....so hopefully it will be liked.

bridges, dogs, noodles and eggs

Lots of good things happening this weekend. Visitors, sewing, painting, cleaning, gardening, bridges being installed (that's Mr N) and even washing the smelly dog!

I'm planning meals.

chicken pie
Moroccan lamb cutlets and garden salads
prawns with asian greens, chinese roast pork, basil and noodles
tomato bruschetta
home made tortellini


I'm wanting to visit Melbourne so I can visit Ziguzagu and buy some more kimono fabric for a quilt I would like to make for the spare room....like that is going to happen! Matching colours is proving to be really difficult.

Enjoy your Easter weekend if you are celebrating this time of year. Here's to chocolate and champagne.

happy tones

the sun has been burning hot here. I'm spending my day in air conditioning trying to avoid it. That's me working away.
As hot as it is, the colours of summer are really inspiring me and I'm designing with lots of bright and happy tones.

On another note, my quilt I made for Miss M made it into Homespun magazine so you can go and have a peak if you are in Australia. It's just a log cabin so nothing too hard or clever.

finished

Finished. For my niece who will be taking the very big step to boarding school next year! Hopefully she will like it and it will keep her warm on cold nights. Just have to sew on her name tag.

This is the Hop Skip Jump pattern from Denyse Schmidt's book.

finish it!

I'm over 2008! well, the last few weeks have been quite busy and I just feel a little exhausted. Just at the point where I want things to slow down. I refused to work this weekend and feel so much better for it. Instead the quilting bug has hit me again and I am so keen to start a new quilt! But wait, I can't. I have 3 that I haven't finished. 3 that I started more than 3 years ago!

So I have promised myself to finish at least one before Christmas. This weekend I have progressed from sewn panels to sewn top to quilting to one side of sewn binding...now just the hand binding to go! I WILL, YES I WILL FINISH IT THIS WEEK!!!!!

But I still couldn't help myself this morning, and started cutting fabric for a new quilt. Call me hopeless, BUT, this time I'm trying not to buy any new material. I'm really trying to make it from my existing stash. I have no idea how big I am making it or really how it is going to look or even the fact that I really need one. So here are my first 4 panels. I photographed each panel as I cut, then pinned each panel until I am ready to sew them together....

but there still is that hand binding on the other quilt so the new quilt will have to wait.

Here are some fantastic scrap quilts that I've been peeking at.

Where trouble melts like lemon drops

Tonight I should be crafting with some lovely local ladies. I keep on not being able to go due to husband being away, work or as it seems sickness this time. I've been sick for over a week with a horrible infection, but there's nothing like 75 antibiotic tablets to make you better!!!! So I'm finally on the mend and in major catch up mode. I have been "slothed" out on the couch for most days and picking up the needle and thread to continue my hand quilting on this quilt which I started many, many months ago...maybe more than 12? It needs ironing I know!

So I was almost going to go to the craft night, but this great storm rolled through the city late this afternoon, I had 30 cupcakes to make and ice and a birthday present for a special boy to wrap.

How incredible is this rainbow? It fell so close to our house. I kept on thinking that someone must have a pot of gold in the their backyard. It was truly special to be so close.

mother's honesty

remember the monster truck quilt I made under duress? Well it not only impressed my son, but also the team at Homespun Magazine who asked if they could include it in their latest edition. There's also a little blurb about me too. Thanks Homespun. And don't you love a mother's honesty!!!! My mother said 'gee that isn't the most flattering photo of you'. thanks mum. Yes my hair is still wet and it was taken by my then 4 year old!!!!

What do you expect?

Is there ever a good photo of me?