Taking Shape

This quilt will be for my daughter when she returns from her travels.  I have a few borders to add when time permits.

Final colour of my big BaD Blocks

This is the last of the colours/shades of my daughter's leaving home quilt.  I am undecided on the smaller border blocks now as the quilt may be big enough without them.  I'm off to our local patchwork shop, where my dear friend works, to have a look at a background fabric she thinks might suit.  After I have seen that I will decide on the next step.

BaD blocks - better late than never

I'm a little late with this post, but here are my violet blocks.  I only have one more colour to go and then I am done with the big blocks for the quilt.  I have decided to make smaller ones as part of the border, so you will get to see the colours all over again! 

Oh dear I've been BaD

It's Monday, the day to post our week's worth of blocks and guess what??  They are not done. They are still in pieces on my ironing board...

It was a busy week and a busy weekend, so I just didn't get any further than cutting the blocks out.  

I had a wonderful crafty kind of day with friends on Saturday (just not a "sewing my Block of the Day" kind of day).  We went to the Wauchope Patchwork Quilters exhibition and then we spent the afternoon at a Shabbilicious Painting Technique Workshop with Kerry of  Woodberry Designs.  Kerry took us through a range of painting techniques and happily shared her extensive knowledge and experience with us. Her studio has displays of her beautiful work all around...so inspiring.

We were treated to a delightful devonshire tea and received a beautiful little box of chocolates to take home.  We had a ball!

Blue BaD blocks

I've been working on the blue tones and found it very hard going on my eyes as my cutting board is blue and the lines on my ruler are blue too!  Not very good planning on my part.
This is a short post  as I am about to start a very crazy day of work, 2 dental appointments (yes, 2 ), a quick lunch with my best friend, a webinar and then a much needed yoga class to calm the mind, body and spirit. 

Happy Easter

It's a long post from me for a change. 
Here are my BaD blocks for the week, with some Easter Bunnies.  I loved working with my  favourite colours of teal and aqua,  unfortunately the photograph does not do them justice.

My sewing room/office has become my retreat and oasis whilst we are in the midst of some family dramas .
I started the year determined to try some new techniques, so I gave myself a treat by enrolling in an online class on the  Joggles website.  My class is a "Textured and Treated Reticule" by Christen Brown.  I  spent some happy hours yesterday, playing with fabric, yarns and a new product to me called "Texture Magic" which is a steam activated shrinking fabric.

Here are a few shots of my work so far

Twin Needle Stitching with rayon and metallic threads

Using "Texture Magic" on the back - before steaming with the iron

After steaming with the iron - amazing texture!

Couching threads and yarns

On Good Friday my daughter and I took a walk on the beach and poked around in the logs, trees and branches that have ended up on the shore after all our floods.  Some creative people have been making "sculptures" on the beach out of the wood

I'll close my post this week with a shot of my daughter on the beach.  She is on a Gap Year this year, working and traveling.  She  is off to Japan on Thursday for a 3 week holiday with a friend. Japan is her passion and she will be studying Japanese at University next year  It's her first overseas trip without a parent  and she is so excited. I am so happy for her, but a bit anxious as well...my apron strings are getting very frayed , it's almost time to cut them off.

BaD Blocks this week

It's a very quick post from me today, as there are electricity workers in our street and our power will be going off any minute now for 6 hours.  Nooooo!!!  I have lots of bookkeeping to do but it needs electricity.   I will just have to visit the library and then get on with a bit of hand sewing :)
Here are my block a day challenge blocks - deeper green this week.

Green for St Patrick's Day!

I'm sneaking this post in a day early as I just realised it's St Patrick's Day and I am working on lime green blocks!    I did tomorrow's block in advance just so I could post this today. 
It's blowing a gale here on the Mid North Coast and I spent a great deal of time running around the garden catching my blocks as they took off with the gusts of wind.  I thought the grass would make the perfect green background :)
The photo hasn't come out quite true to the colours, the yellow tones in the photo are most definitely a zesty lime green in real life.

Sunshine and Sunny Blocks

After falling behind in the Block A Day Challenge I had a chance to spend a bit of time at the sewing machine today and catch up.   I think I might now be one block ahead!

 

I had my usual morning walk this morning and ended up getting soaked as it poured with rain (again!) , but now we are having a wonderful sunny day.  It is so nice to see the sun :)

Storms and Squares

What a week of horrible weather!
Here on the Mid North Coast of NSW we had torrential rain and gale force winds which resulted in flooding and lots of fallen trees. We are fortunate to live on the top of a hill so no flooding, thank goodness, and only minor damage to our garden. 
This is a shot, taken on my mobile phone, at the back of one of our shopping centres.  There is  a raised concrete walkway that allows you to cross to the other side of the river at low or high tide, but it's low tide here and the walkway is completely covered.

These are my latest Block A Day Challenge blocks

17 days of the Block A Day Challenge

17 rainbow blocks    I have sewn my way through the pinks and reds and now I'm on to orange. 
Whilst working on the red blocks I noticed a distinct lack of red fabric in my stash, it has never been a favourite colour of mine and I struggled to find even the teeniest scrap to use.  Even the pack of rainbow moderns I ordered were a bit lacking on red fabrics, only 2 reds compared to 6 oranges.  Those juicy orange fabrics are right in front of me now demanding some attention...so onto block 18!

A night away has worked wonders

Last weekend we took our "new" camper/trailer (we bought it second or third hand just before Christmas) for our first night away in it.

We went to one of our favourite places, Hat Head, which is not too far away from home.

We wanted to test out the camper on a short trip in case there were any problems and we did encounter a few that will need a bit of attention, but nothing too dramatic. We also needed to have a little break from the stresses of work and family things.
We went bushwalking and swimming in the tidal creek, aren't these tree roots amazing under the water? 

I forgot to pack a lot of things including half of our dinner ingredients but that didn't matter too much as I had remembered to pack the chocolate!
Whilst away I had time to give my block choice some further thought and I have decided to keep going with my square rainbow blocks until I have enough for the quilt and then I will start making a different type of block...not sure what yet, but I have plenty of time to ponder on that.

I feel much happier now I have decided to continue with the rainbow blocks, especially when the fabrics I ordered arrived in the mail yesterday.

Hmmm, I've changed my mind on the block

After making 6 of the square blocks I am not feeling terribly inspired with them. As they are big and would look best with sashing,  they are really not a suitable block for this kind of project. Silly me,  I didn't think it through properly.
I have decided to change the block, but keep with the rainbow theme.  I am thinking of the Flying Geese block and will ponder on this whilst I am at work :)

Block A Day Challenge 2013

I have started the challenge!  I have decided on a square-in-a-square block and variations on that theme, in the colours of the rainbow as I just love rainbow quilts.  The blocks will be 8" finished.   I haven't decided on how the final quilt will look as yet.   I hope to make my daughter a quilt to take with her when she moves away from home to go to University next year and perhaps one for me with the left overs :)

As I had pink thread in the machine and some nice pink scraps this is what I have made for Feb 1, 2 and 3.

A new challenge

 I have been offline for quite a few days since the wild storms that hit the Mid North Coast on the weekend.  Our telephone and internet services were out of order and a call for help was placed to the telephone company.  We were on the list for repairs and then this morning we discovered it had fixed itself!  The technician still came out and confirmed that all was up and running again.  I was amazed at how many times I went to use the internet during the time it was down, I have become so used to having the world at my fingertips.  The teens were getting very twitchy and were delighted to find out we were back online this morning (and so was I!).

I have decided to join a new challenge hosted by Robyn of  Daisy Quilts . I so enjoyed Robyn's 366 photos challenge last year and this year one of my goals was to be more creative.
I was a bit daunted at making one block a day (or around 30 a month), but I have decided that this will be an excellent way to push me on those days when I make a thousand excuses not to do anything creative :)
I still haven't quite decided what block to make, but I do have some ideas forming.
Stay tuned....

Day 363/366

I have finished the baby quilt and now have an order to make another one :)

Days 353 to 362/366

We are getting near the end of our challenge and I have obviously lost count of which day is which.  I think I have the correct days now... better late than never.

Day 353

My home baked Christmas gifts of Almond Shortbread and Mini Christmas cakes.

Day 354

Here I am at the office of one of my clients with my basket of goodies.

Day 355

This was an unusual sight this afternoon.  The hang glider was soaring above the ocean on the right, but then swung inland and flew above me with a cheery wave.

Day 356

My craft group had it's Christmas night out last night and we swapped our Secret Santa gifts.  I was lucky enough to receive this little gnome and his garden,  made by my talented, creative and very dear friend, Mary.

Day 357

This is the best crop of tomatoes we have ever had.  My daughter made a delicious pasta sauce with a few kilos and we still have lots more on the bushes to pick.  Soon we will have an abundance of cucumbers....I think we will be giving a lot away.

Day 358

Coco took a much more mature approach to the Christmas tree this year.  Last year she raced up and down the tree, creating havoc, this year she decided to sleep in it.  As you can see, she was not impressed to be woken up with the camera flash.

Day 359

I bought this ornament last year in honour of my daughter's performances the Christmas ballet, The Nutcracker.

 Day 360

Merry Christmas everyone.  I wish you peace and happiness.

Day 361

A much cooler day and perfect to do some quilting on the baby's quilt.  The baby arrived on day 358, a few days early, so I really want to get the quilt finished.

Day 362

In the mail today - photos and letters from the children we sponsor through the KCC Slum Project.  My step daughter spent 3 months working with the project in Kenya, during her gap year in 2009.

Days 340-353/366

Its not called the silly season for nothing! I have been taking photos whenever I can ,but have not had time to sit down at the computer for long enough to upload them.   Here are a couple of week's worth of photos  :)

Day 340

It was a beautiful morning's walk down to the sea today.
Hmmm which way would you rather travel on the sea?  Paddling or riding in a comfy boat.

Day 341

Received one of my favourite magazines in the mail today!

Day 342

I had to alter a costume for my daughter for her final ballet performance with her dance school.  Can you tell who she will be?  Here's a clue - she lives with 7 Dwarfs ;)

Day 343

 

I had forgotten I had made these last year.

Day 344

I love the fan shapes of these grass seed heads.

Day 345

My daughter was dancing the role of Snow White (yes you guessed correctly!)  in her last ballet concert.  I had planned on taking a shot of her on pointe before the concert, but to be honest I was feeling a bit down about it all coming to an end.  Anyway, after the concert and a few tears from both of us, I asked her to put her shoes on at home out on the back steps.  I did a bit of fiddling with the photo for fun, but I can't remember exactly how I produced this result...silly me :)

Day 346

After an early start to the day courtesy of the cat (grrr), I managed to do a little bit of piecing of the baby quilt before I set of to work (yay!). Here it is laid out on the floor.  Thank you Coco the cat for a bit of extra creative time.

Day 347

Day 348

Day 349

All in a day's work.  I was taking photos to post to my client's facebook page (he sells showbags).  I just couldn't get either Scooby to look at the camera :))

Day 352

I have had this big idea to make my clients mini christmas cakes and biscuits,now I have just got to put the idea into practise.  Here is the dried fruit I am preparing.

Day 353

Breakfast time and I am feeding one of our blue tongue lizards some banana :)  I am just about to embark on a day of baking cakes and biscuits.  I will show you the results next post and in the meantime I hope to get on the ipad tonight whilst everyone is watching TV and visit all your blogs.