Mish Mash .... A bit of this, a bit of that!

Hi all,

The sewing front here has not been very busy. Although I have finished another block from Homespun's BOM.

I have 3 more blocks to do, if I want to play catch up this month! Hmmm, I think I'll aim for 1 more this month. I have also been working on a couple of other stitcheries while watching TV after the littles have gone to bed.

This is my one and only contribution to the artistic photo world......

I quickly shot these "pencil shavings flowers" when TP was sharpening pencils a few days ago. I had a lot of trouble with the camera not focusing. (I think it has sand in it! oops!)

We (I mean Hubby) have been doing a lot of tidying up on our little patch of paradise. We have 10 acres of bush so we just try to keep clean around the buildings most of the time, but the weather is cooling off so it is a lovely time to be working outdoors.

Future environmentalists (aka tiny tree huggers)!

The mandarin tree is loaded this year - must be all the rain we've had!

This has been a bit of a mish mashy post, but isn't that life in general!

Be Happy,
Jess

PS. Mum and I are going to a Monica Poole trunk show at Patchwork Angel on Wednesday night! Should be fun! I'll let you know how it goes next time, bye!

I'm a Winner & a busy bee!

G'day all,

Guess what!?! I'm a winner!
I can't believe it - I never win anything, I have pretty much given up entering giveaways!
This win is from OPAM. Thank you so much Peg and Kris, you are doing a great job hosting this group!

Here is the pic I tried to put on last time...

Meet Josephine the jellyfish. She is the first block form Cheryl's Under the Sea BOM.
Next up is a block from the Homespun BOM. This is one of the small corner blocks.

Can you guess what this is?.....


It is a Checker board with suffolk puff tokens! (can you see the strand of hair? LOL)

The puff's are breeding!

I made this with some help from my 8 year old niece, so it is quite an easy project. What took the most time for me was the quilting. Because we didn't catch all the edges of the squares with the fancy stitches I decided to practice the quilting I learnt at Kellies workshop.

So, there you have it! I have been a busy bee!

Bee Happy,
Jess

PS. Would you like a tutorial for the Checker board?

Joe's Coat Update!

Hi All,

So over on Kellie's Don't Look Now blog she has put into motion a mass progress report for the Quilt-along she is running.

Here is my progess -

• how much have you completed so far - I have done 6 blocks and have a heap of petals ready to be attached to the background.
• where / when are you finding the time to work on the project - I have a seemingly short attention span and keep getting distracted by other things, but I usually do this sort of thing at night after the kids have gone to bed.
  
• you may also like to let us know some of your tricks, tips & hints - I am trying to make a few blocks at a time. And I am going to try skipping the gluing of the seams down and turn it as I sew. I think I will get better points this way and I don't think it will take me any longer. I'll let you know how this goes!
  
• how you went about choosing your fabrics etc - I chose my favourite colour which is purple. I also love a scrappy look so I have nearly 20 different fabrics.
  
• what your plans are for the quilt ... who you are making it for etc - I am being selfish and making this quilt for myself. Ultimately I'd like to do a queen size but we shall see, I might not be finished before I'm 90!
  

This week I have also managed to finish a block from Homespuns BOM. I notice the new mag is at the newsagents but not in my letter box yet - not happy!


My SIL came down with her kids on Wednesday and I did some sewing with her eldest daughter, she is eight so it was quite interesting. I'll share some photos soon!

Be Happy,
Jess

P.S. The recipe for the Chocolate Cherry Slice is from Super Food Ideas mag, Feb 2010 issue. Sue, if you can't get a copy send me an email and I'll send you a copy of the recipe.

Finishes and Shopping! Don't we love both!

Soooo...............
I have been keeping pretty busy!
I have finished 2 book covers, the inspiration came from Jenny's blog. She made a book cover out a tea towel and it looked great. So here is my version, I back-stitched the writing and accented the focus circle a little. Need I say I am very happy with the result!


I have also finished the 2nd block for Homespuns 2010 BOM. I am eagerly awaiting the next issue!


I am finding that I really enjoy doing stitcheries, I will have to add to my thread collection pretty soon though because I am using the same colours in all my projects. That will be a fun shopping trip! Speaking of which........


I purchased these lovely fabrics today, I made a conscious effort to get boys fabric. I have boys and yet when I am shopping I end up with girls fabric because it is sooo pretty!
The shop was really fab, I googled patchwork shops in Brisbane and it came up, this was a while ago so it has been on my must visit list for some time. Do you want to know where!?
FUNKY FABRIX, in Mitchelton. It is well worth a visit! and they have a website if you follow the link!
If you happened to be there and saw a frazzled lady with a screaming child - that was me! Boys must be programmed before birth to hate shopping!

I have also been doing a joint quilt (with my mum) for a baby shower this weekend. I will show some pic's later as it is not quite finished. I will give you a hint - we have used a Dinosaur Uproar layer cake!

Well you know the drill,
Don't worry be happy,
Jess ;-)

Chasing tails.....and remembrance.....

Hi all!
Well....looking at my OPAM list you would think I haven't been doing much lately! But I feel like I have been running around chasing my tail and getting no where, I think it may have something to do with too many WIPs!
I think I will make a WIP list so that I can keep track of what I am doing!



This cute house is the first block for Homespun's new BOM. This project is one that I really would like to keep up with as I subscribed to the mag especially for it! I'll keep my fingers crossed!


I've been playing with the idea of making water bottle holders for the boys drink bottles. This is one I made out of an old baby t-shirt. It was quite stained so I wouldn't give it away, so I cut it up! TP loves it and I guess that is the main thing!

While working on some more petals for the Don't Look Know Quilt Along I made a huge mistake. All I can say is my brain is tired!
Instead of cutting the Floriani stabiliser on the line I ironed my fabric on and then cut the petals out, then I went to fold the edges over and ah-oh!
I feel like I am getting way behind in this project, I am nowhere near having 14 blocks to join together. Maybe I will end up just making a smaller quilt, however I am not ready to give up yet!

On a sadder note, my grandmother passed away a little over a week ago, and the funeral was on Monday. She was 90 years old, with 6 children, 15 grand-children and over 30 great grand-children. Her family played a role in the growth and development of the area, and a lot of us still live in the area and surrounding areas. Sadly a living piece of history is now gone, fortunately there are many photographs and home videos (silent and black & white) for us to remember her by.

Hopefully I will be able to get into a bit of a routine over the next few weeks, with kindy, work and life in general.

Til next time,
Don't worry be happy!
Jess