Things I'm Loving

I have been discovering some new blogs.  I have been having a look around Pinterest & crossing over to many new to me blogs!  It's been lovely.  I had a good clean out of my list of blogs I was following, though not so well it seems.  There were quite a few that haven't had new posts in a few years so I was well behind.  Ooops...  So I had a clean up of my reading list.  It feels good.  I have started following some new blogs of things that interest me in my current crafting state!  Isn't it funny how things change - & really you don't even realise it much.  Well I didn't anyway!!  It feels like a fresh new start.  

I'm loving my new colours for a CAL over on Ravelry.  It starts this weekend.  A 12" square every 2 weeks.   I have even done a square to give it a whirl to see how it goes.  It's different yarn than I have used in the past.  That was always acrylic.  This is actually wool!  Posh!  lol  But it feels lovely so far.  It should be very warm for who ever the lucky person is that ends up with it.  

I'm also loving that this is the really old computer that is currently working for us.  Lucky for us that we have it to use right now.  

I'm still enjoying the slow summer days very much.  I am not looking forward to school next week as at the moment I still have 3 lazy week day mornings.  It's bliss.  It's going to be a challenge I think to begin with for all of us this 5 day a week school business!  

Linking up with Meghan.  

January Sew Crazy Challenge

Well I finally got to it.  On the first day of the year I saw this challenge.  It came up a few days later.  There were a few options on what to make.  This is what I picked to try.  I can sew, yes.  But I am scared of zips.  I haven't done many.  In fact, I usually avoid them.  But I need to move on from that don't I!  So a couple of weeks ago I got the zipper pouch cut out of stash.  Yay!  I even had the zips!  Double Yay!  

But then time was an issue.  & then the computer was an issue.  I finally had some time in between adjudicating boys again today.  I have got them all sewn up.  Only took about 10 minutes!  

Well there we have it.  Two little lined bag things that I don't really know what to do with!  The flower one is the left overs of one of the shopping bags I made around Christmas time so I might send it there.  A matching pair!  Then she can decide what to do with it.  lol  

Happy!

Well you certainly have to be happy with a long weekend!  Especially when the day is as lovely as the day before!  It was nice that we had this day at home to hang out after our busy one on Australia Day.  We could just relax.  Stuart still did potter in the garden.  Of course a garden is never done.  Always work to do.  Always house work too but with the boys at each other in the morning I was spending my time as adjudicator more than anything.  

Things picked up during the afternoon with finally getting the boys outside.  Sprinklers work a treat!  A picnic was also in demand.  Stuart came out with the camera obviously!  lol  Not a good picture.  Oh well.  But there we are!  

Stuart had a laugh at me.  It's not the first time I have sat outside in summer working on stuff!  Yesterday was a bit more hand stitching of binding.  He took the pictures & laughed & said I had to blog it!  So here I am!  Yes, sitting outside on the deck enjoying summer.  But I can't sit there & do nothing.  

Finally I did get that sucker done though!  Here is my Happy Quilt in all it's glory.  I was going to get some better pics cos the colour quality again is poor but that extra pair of feet under there is just a bit cute!  This is the fabric Happy by Me & My Sister from a couple of years ago.  I really love it.  Obviously!  It was a jelly roll.  I don't think I had a pattern.  Just sewed the rows in sets of 4 & cut them.  I can't remember now as the quilt top was done a couple of years go.  But the rest was on my list to finish off!  So I have quilted this one the other week when I did the whole bunch.  This is the last of the bunch that needed the binding on.  So I am happy & done with that for now!   I love this fabric.  This quilt is mine.  The designers have had a few since but I still like this one better than all of them.  

Finished off with a perfect evening out on the deck with some beautifully delicious baked food out of the barbeque.  It's a new barbeque that was for Christmas but we only got last week.   It bakes food beautifully!  Roast chicken & jacket potatoes tonight!  Delicious!  It will be a great one in winter for a baked meal I think.  

Got to be HAPPY with a day off like that one!

Australia Day

Our 4th Annual gathering at Fell Farm was yesterday!  We had a few less people than we have had but it was still a lot (over 20) & it was still loads of fun!  The weather was perfect.  Not scorching hot & no wind to spoil it.  Just perfect for a barbeque, jumping castle & sprinklers!  

We are lucky as friends own the castle that goes up easily.  What a bonus that was to have it here for the day!

Stuart had to get in to help the little ones up onto the slide top!  

DJ was the first under the sprinkler.  This was a hit with all the other kids.  They were under it for ages.  That made it extra worthwhile for Stuart to make it!  

I got these cute little dixie cups for the children to have their icecream in.  That was a hit.  They had their choice of toppings too - chocolate or strawberry topping, sprinkles, nuts, mini marshmallows.  Couldn't go wrong with that could we?  

We needed shade as our sun here burns in no time.  So this is always well used on the day.  

Another perfect day!  Another enjoyable day catching up with old friends & the family.  Great start to the year & a great end to the holidays as school routines are soon to begin.  

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A portrait of my children once a week, every week for 2014.

Linking up with Jodi.  

Things I'm Loving

We have been playing a lot of games with BJ.  We really enjoy that half hour or so before bed with him.  It is also amazing to see the benefits it gives him.  We have had a lot of number games & he is becoming quite good at numbers & recognizing a dice amount & so on.

So games we are loving right now are...

Bug trails - This is a bit like dominoes but with 6 legs to match.  This is actually one of my favourites to play as it is quite different.  You can only play your turn on the previous bug that has been put down.   It's also a really good price at this place.  Parentdirect.com.au.

Bus Stop - this is from the same place.  Really good for adding & subtracting.  What I like about this is that it isn't the first person to the bus station to win.  Each player goes back to the station & the person with the most on his bus at the end is the winner.  It's cool.

Skip Bo Junior - I had never played Skip Bo before but I know my sister loves it.  I saw this in the toy shop recently & thought it looked good.  Plus the pictures on the cards are cute!  It's been really good fun.  I think this has become my second favourite.

Richard Scarry's Cars & Trucks game - This is one I picked up locally some time ago & it is a really good one for a quick game when you don't have long to play.  Plus it's another good number game which has been good for BJ.

DJ doesn't play much yet.  He tries.  Still a bit little.  But he does like

Tumbling Monkeys - we like this especially as I got it at an op shop really cheap!  But DJ just loves poking the sticks in & out & making the monkeys fall.

Sorry about the lack of pictures.  I am computer less right now so using where & when I can.

Have you got any good games you play?  Any with letters that can help with alphabet?

Linking up with Meghan.

And Another Quilt

I have to say it!  I adore this fabric!  It is Pure by Sweetwater.  From a couple of years ago.  I got the jelly roll from work.  I am not sure if I was working there at the time or not.  But I got it.  The pattern is from the book Jelly Roll Inspirations.  This is my favourite book of all the Pam & Nicky Lintott books.  

I did this quilt top 2 years ago almost.  I know that as I gave it to Stuart for our 20th Wedding Anniversary!  hmmm...  I can finally say it's complete.  Yay!  I love it.  It's beautiful.  Definitely a favourite.  It was good to give it too him, as that way it stays in the house.  (ulterior motive!  Of course! )

I seem to have a love of all things Sweetwater as the quilt top I made the other week was with their Reunion fabric.  I also have a little of their newer one Road 15.  I have something in mind for that when I buy a little more.  I won't at this stage buy a lot of it.  I am being good.  Trying at least!  

So that's that one.  Another of my long list of things to do this year.  

BJ's Animals!

Wow!  I am excited!  I showed the assembling of this the other week.  & now...

TA-DAH

It's done!  It's taken a week of hand stitching at times on the binding.  Really hard work in a heatwave last week.  But it's done!  I am so pleased with it.  I am really rapt with the colours & rapt with the borders I found for it.  Darn it I forgot to take a picture of the label on it.  Yes the label is on too.  So yay, one quilt done. 

Brandon is really pleased with it.  

Saturday Stash Sewing

It's amazing what you can get done on a day when it is too hot to be outside at 9.30am & when your computer doesn't work! ( Ekkk...  still working on fixing that with fingers & toes crossed.  So this will be minimal blogging for now.  Darn that.  Just praying some stuff can be saved!) 

Anyway, Saturday I decided to use up this bunch of fat quarters that were in the cupboard taking space up & not really my style anymore.  There are some that are quite a few years old.  I did quite some chopping though.  (my shoulder is still telling me I did too much!) 

I had seen this pattern for the Stack & Slash quilt.  Not too hard by the look of that!  So I went to it.  Spent a hot day cutting, sewing, stacking & slashing.  & wow, for a stack of old fashioned florals that are a bit dated it came up quite well.  I am really pleased with how it came out that is for sure!  I am extra pleased at how I have used up a was of fabric!   I don't know when it will move from quilt top stage but that doesn't matter right now.  It is giving me much fun just using & sewing.  The quilt top piecing is the fun part for me anyway! 

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1.  Games of Skip Bo Junior.  This boy is good at number games. 
2.  Showing off the pumpkin. 

Won't link today as I am late. 

Things I'm Loving

Afternoon heat got to the little guy on the floor.  

Lovely summer beach time.  We aren't water people really so it's quite something for us to hang out there.  

 

Laying down playing trains... it must be good down at that level...  or he was tired after the beach & from the heat.  

Finally getting some nights out on the deck for tea!  

Something was blowing up!  & he does the actions & noises.  

Whispering to the little one...  Not that the little one has a clue, he just agrees with everything anyway!  

Joining in with Meghan.  

See What I Mean?

I said the other day I wanted to get my quilting done.  I need to get it done & out of the way of the dining room & back to it's corner.  

When I quilt I use this big extension table thingy that Stuart made me a number of years back.  It just gives me a bigger flat surface to run the quilt on.  It works quite well.  It hasn't got fancy smooth edges or anything so it gets caught on the front at times but I can live with that for the little bits I do.  It's also really quite heavy!  So each night at tea time I would move it so we could eat, but leave the machine sitting there.  So I wanted to return things to normal as soon as possible.  

I have packed it up today!  Yay.  What a relief to have my stuff back in it's place again.  I don't like spreading it out too far around the house!  lol  

Nothing To Show But A Clown

 Tell me!  Who quilts & binds quilts in the middle of summer?  Huh?  Don't tell me it's just me!  lol  Unfortunately the urge has struck.  It struck at the same time as the summer heat did!  But that's OK really.  I am still powering along.  I have only one quilt left to quilt.  For now.  Then I can clear my mess off the dining table & return to sewing corner & restore order of sorts.  As a result of the quilting there is no crafty stuff to show right now.  You don't want to see me fighting the quilt to fit it under the machine to quilt it.  I think the one I just did is the worst one I have ever done.  I don't think I could attempt anything bigger than a single bed quilt on my machine to quilt.  

Unfortunately that did remind me of another lovely one I should dig out of the depths to show you.  I think that may end up being my first ever quilt that I will have to pay someone to do.  When I am digging again for stuff sometime I should get it out & get on with that one.  It's a pretty one.  Very pretty, & that's not me really!  So it will be quite a change for me!  

OK, so I will leave you with the resident clown!  On Sunday he hurt himself.  Quite a good graze on the knee.  It was actually the first time he had really hurt himself.  Grazes hurt.  He cried for about an hour.  I had to sit & rub his knee for another hour after that.  (It did get me out of finishing mowing the lawn mind you!)  I did finally get a break though & Stuart got to do some cuddling & knee rubs too.  He finally cheered up.  

Guess How Much I Love You

I'm a sucker.  Totally.  lol  We got this gorgeous fabric panel in at work last year.  BJ came into the shop with me one day & spotted them.  Of course he was taken with it as at the time the "Guess How Much I love You" show was on ABCkids.  So I got a panel & some fabric to go with it to make a mini quilt.  The panel isn't very wide so I had to make it a bit wider.  It's more of a panel for a wall hanging otherwise I think.  Anyway, it's been quite popular.  It is cute.  I love the border panel too which I put on the back.  That is cute too.  But sorry, no picture of that.  

Well I have had this fabric kicking around in the cupboard, falling out & stuff while I got other things out.  So last week, one lazy holiday morning, I got the fabric out & sewed the borders on.  I got it basted that afternoon as I had an off cut of wadding big enough for it!  Bonus!  Another scrap used!  

I quilted it with clear thread & went roughly around the big rabbits in the middle.  It looks cute.  Also roughly over the butterflies.  Free style quilting I guess I should call it!  lol  Around each of the squares & some stiple quilting down each side.  I am a less is more quilter.  I do like some quilts with pretty patterns etc quilted over them but there are some that are so over quilted that it detracts from the actual quilt top I think.  Seems a shame after all that work in making a quilt top to hide it in the actual quilting.  

I spent a few days hand stitching down the binding.  Didn't rush.  Just did some when I could.  So yesterday I finished that off.  The boys love it.  They kind of need to share it really as I don't want to make them both one.  BJ did sleep under it last night though.   Nice...

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1.  The only way I have been able to get a decent picture of the big boy.  He has been too busy & it all just becomes a blur.  Finally stillness.

2.  Little guy is at that age where he has to do EVERYTHING himself.  This includes brushing hair which involves a dripping face washer & hand wash soap more often than not.   

Linking up with Jodi.  

Nice Days

A spot of basting the other day.  Note to self - don't baste on the floor after a meal. 

Today we had a beautiful summer day!  I took the boys 2 houses over for a birthday party all afternoon.  It was lovely.  They had a water fight.  It was fun to watch.  I was flat out filling water balloons.  That takes an age!  

When we got home, Stuart had finished making this.  He bought the bits of pipe this morning.  Put it together while we were out.  The soaking wet boys had a blast running through this as well!  Then out of the wet stuff only to warm up a little & go back out under there again.  I think it will get a bit of use in the next few days.  

Things I'm Loving

Snapping pics of my 2 boys having loving moments together.  

Plus it isn't very often I can see in the big boy, that face of him as a little toddler, but I captured it here.  Usually I only see it when he is asleep.  Ahhh....  my baby...  

Rainbows.  We love rainbows in our house.  For one thing they are a sign of promises.  I like that.  A constant pretty reminder.  For another thing they are really cool.  This one was a full bright rainbow which then turned into a double.  It was amazing.  A complete double rainbow!  We were so impressed that I went out in the rain & experimented with the camera a bit which was fun except for the standing in the rain bit, but really, that wasn't so bad either.  I didn't shrink or anything.  It was amazing that the colours showed so well, plus there is that dark arch between the rainbow & it's double.  I had never seen that before.  

I am loving the not stinking hot summer too.  Shhhh... don't tell anyone!  I think I wouldn't be popular.   People are complaining about our weather.  I agree with the wind factor, I definitely hate the wind.  But I love these quite balmy days.  Not stinking, melting, skin burning in five minutes kind of  hot!  Yay!  It's lovely. 

Loving the lazy days too.  Ahhh...  just hunting around finding some budget friendly things for us to do.  It's nice.  

It's been great being so productive again this week!  More fabric gone from the cupboard!  It's such a good feeling.   

In Progress

Quick!  Take a picture of placement before it gets trashed!  (which I did, before little boy & dog played in it!)

Terrible picture but had to snap this before the dog moved.  Even she likes my stuff!  lol 

BJ is quite pleased with progress so far.  

Tractors Are Go... ummm... Gone!

 Well I got the tractor quilt finished!  Wow!  6 days!  That's pretty impressive for me!  hehehehe...  

I am really pleased with it.  I really love the binding too.  You can see that a bit clearer in the bottom picture.  It is part of the range that the rainbow chevron, the thin stripe, the red chevron & the blue dots are from.  They are a range called Stonehenge.  The yellow spots are from the range Giggles.  I don't have a picture of the back!  Oh well, the back looks really cool too.  It is mostly green but the green just fit perfectly.  It's amazing how well this fell together.  

I took it into work yesterday as I was going to hang it in there for a bit.  But it ended up in the front window instead.  It looks cute as can be.  I should see if I can get a picture of the window.  Big glass doesn't photograph well but I could try!  

Mini Quilt

Last week after that quilt top frenzy on New Year's Day, on the second new year day I kept it up a little bit more.  It was a charm pack of French General fabric that I have for a couple of years.  I had a half metre of the brown/grey to go with it & thought a quick half square triangle thing would be the go.  I can't get the charm packs any more so it will just have to be what ever size it turns into.  Which is not really huge or anything.  I will put a lightweight pellon on it & back it like a little quilt but just make it as a table topper or something like that.  I think I have some pellon that might fit.  Just need to see what I have for the backing.  

So yay, another bit of stash used up & in the process of being turned into something.