Retreat Round-Up Part 2

Hi everyone,

I finally got around to photographing the other things I worked on while at retreat!

Life is so busy…it was a whole week before I unpacked my sewing machine after getting back home. I think I was all sewed out! But I have worked on a couple of blocks today so the mojo must be back!

This is a pile of 68 blocks…only 100 to go! I got 50 done on retreat, I started this quilt about a year ago and it only seems to get worked on at sewing days – I don’t look at it at home!

I found this apron panel at Patchwork Angel. It is Kate Spain fabric….I thought when I saw it “Yay, something I can totally finish on retreat”! I lined it with white homespun and saved the little applique images to use on something else.

This is my progress on Hooterville….I have to admit I have done one of the branches since getting home from retreat. A great project to do when watching TV! Do you think the branches are too thin? Not that I can do much about it now, hopefully it will look proportional when I start adding the leaves and owls.

So that is it! It was a great retreat and I got heaps done so I am stoked!

Retreat Round-Up Part 1

Hi Everyone,

If you ever get the chance to go on a crafting retreat…go for it!

I had such a great time, sewing all day and nearly all night! The only time we stopped was for meals, and we were assigned one meal each so most of the time we kept sewing until we were summoned to the kitchen to eat….it was fantastic!

I think what also made this retreat good was the small number of us there. Last time I did a retreat, a year ago for one night, there had to be 20 ladies there and it was squishy and clicky. This time there was only 5 ladies so we were like one group, everyone was included in conversation and I love that!

We stayed at The Circle Retreat in Buderim, near the Sunshine Coast. And way too close to Patchwork Angel!

This is my corner of the table! We had a good amount of space each, no pushing each others stuff off the table!

I started and finished this quilt top! To get this done in a weekend is amazing!

I made a start on Hooterville…this is the branches drawn up on paper ready to transfer onto the black linen.

I have more to share but I will have to take photos first…I was too busy to take photos most of the time.

BTW. My boys behaved really well while I was gone. And the one that I thought would miss me didn’t and the one that I thought was all good rang up crying a couple of times…kids, you just can’t pick which one will cope and which one won’t.

And they only had takeaway 2 nights out of the 3!

Sewing Bag

Hi Everyone!

This week has been crazy busy! But guess what…I am going on retreat tomorrow for 3 nights! Yay! I think I might sleep the whole time LOL

I will miss my boys, I have only spent one night away since the youngest was born nearly 4 years ago! But they will be fine, TP is planning which takeaway they will have each night but I have told him they will not be having fast food every night! (I hope) And they have a Grandma and an Aunty close by too!

I was wondering for all you retreat goers….what is your plan of attack when you go? do you have set projects you want to get done or do you take a few and just go with how you feel?

Before I get going though I wanted to share this cute little bag I made.

I love this fabric range! Do you know what it is? I do…just checkin’ if you know your ranges!

This is designed to be a lunch bag but I am using it for my sewing things.

The pattern is a free one. You can get it over at Pink Penguin. Ayumi is so talented and I have another of her handbags on my to do list! The fabric is Mama Said Sew by Sweetwater.

The only thing I changed with the pattern was to piece the main panel because a fat 1/8th was too small. And I used what interfacing I had on hand – so my bag has a layer of fusible wadding and a layer of fusible woven interfacing.

Well, I am off to cook dinner and then figure out what I need to take tomorrow!

Overwhelmed!

Hi Everyone!

Lately I have been feeling overwhelmed….do you get that feeling?

I think we try to fit so much into our lives and every now and then we get a wake up call….in our house it has been sickness that made the call this time.

When you get sick you only do the bare minimum of housework, you drag yourself to work and school…and that is about all that happens. Then when you start feeling better and you notice the dirt on the floor, the mountains of washing and all the jobs that you have let go….and your sewing mojo comes back too! So what do you do?

I found some great organising tips on Pinterest and some links to great free printables to help me along the way!

So this month I am following the Clean and Organised calendar that you can get here at Clean Mama! So far so good!

I am also trying to be more organised with my blogging so that I can post more regularly. I found this great weekly calendar for blogging here at Living Locurto.

This week I set myself a cleaning goal – to clean out the pantry. And you know the week ticked by until it was the last day….so I rolled up my sleeves and got the job done!

Beware! Before photos!

It is amazing how much stuff gets dumped in the pantry!

So I took everything out, washed all the shelves off and put the shelf mats through the washer and dryer. And I threw out 3 big garbage bags of empty glass jars, old papers and out of date items. Don’t worry the geese and chooks got a feed too!

Then I put the good stuff back!

Look, you can see gaps!

Wow! What a difference…there are even empty trays! I am so glad that job is done!

Since starting my new cleaning and blogging schedules I feel more calm and in control. And that has to be a good thing!

And I even got some sewing done too! More on that next time!