In loving memory

of my brother in law Jeremy Cook, who along with 6 other people lost their lives in the A320 Airbus crash of the coast of Perpignan, France last Friday morning (Thursday evening on the other side of the globe).  At the moment most of the family is on their way to France, to hopefully bring Jeremy home.  So far only 2 bodies have been recovered.  Ian is the only brother not going, as it’s a bit harder for him to go, no passport for one.  So now we wait, and hope there will be closure for everyone.

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#$%* Animals

Never work with animals or children.  I can see why.  And I’m not even working with them, just looking after them.  Grrr.  Had the vet here on Monday, got the blinkin beast properly castrated, and chucked him back in the paddock.  Ian reckoned he’d be ok in there, cause he’s wary of the electric fence.  Well, it wasn’t ok, he’s now in the neighbours paddock, with the heifer’s and bulls. Bloody stupid steer.  I’m fairly sure he didn’t go through (or over) the fence due to hormones, but just because he was lonely as I still haven’t got a calf to keep him company, and we had moved the sheep into the paddock with the pig pen. Bugger, bugger, bugger.  We’ve managed to find out the landowners name, now we have to find a contact number and find out who is leasing the land and sort out getting our beast back. 

I’m starting to feel a bit under pressure with getting all the Xmas stuff made too, so that was really not helpful.  Oh, and the wind we had in the last two days (gale force again) has stripped some of the plants again.  I haven’t been out for a good look yet, too depressing really.

All cheerful comments accepted

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A learning curve :-)

Check out the puckering of the fabric around the car after I stitched it on.  I learned from that one!  When i stitched arond the fire chief I put interfacing on the back, adds stability.  Wonder’s will never cease   Luckily this t-shirt is only for Cam, I’m sure he won’t notice.

The two pairs of shorts are going for SS pressies.  I discovered that you can’t send magnets through NZ Post, so that put an end to the gone fishing game   Still a couple of things to make, but I’m getting through my list.

A couple of little zippered pouches, not for any specific purpose, other than I needed to test the Bernina 740 that Ian picked up a few months ago and lovingly restored.  We are selling it, as I don’t need any more machines (except for a coverstitch).  Nice machine.

These are the dishcloths that I got for my last swap.  They are so nice I’m a bit scared to use them.  Thanks Sally, I love them

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Yay, it’s done!

I’m so glad it’s finished.  I started loathing it the minute I was asked to make it bigger, not because it was more difficult (although it was, with no pattern and more bulk for quilting), but just because I’m a “who moved my cheese” sort of person.  I like to be in charge of things, and changes are good, only if I’m making them. 

I do love it now it’s finished though.  Cam loves the different pictures of bugs, so I’ll get some more of that panel and make him a cloth book of them for Xmas

Another job I can cross off my list, these gorgeous tea towels, which are part of Xmas pressies.  The cotton velour towelling in just divine, and so absorbent (most if the inserts for Cam’s nappies are made of this).  I had a great time getting to grips with my bias binding maker, and using these awesome instructions for getting the binding right.  And they work, I have perfect mitred corners and diagonal joins.

On the home front, we had the vet here this morning for a delicate operation.  Brian, our steer, wasn’t really a steer as he still had one testicle (missed when he was castrated), so now he’s a year old it was becoming obvious that the raging hormones had kicked in.  The vet tells me he will become quieter in a couple of weeks.  I won’t show you what he took out (although i showed it to Ian when he came home for lunch, and the kids will have a look after school, it’s all about Science you know ) but he is feeling a bit sorry for himself now .  It was just in the nick of time too, as the farmer next door moved a huge lot of Heifers and a Bull into the paddock next to ours.

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The good, the bad and the ugly again :-(

Shall i start with the good?

I managed to get these shoes and bibs finished and posted for a swap.  I’m getting some handknitted dishcloths in return

I stopped into Quilter’s Lane (the best quilting fabric shop in the Wairarapa) to pay some money on Lilly’s quilt (which they are quilting for me), and came home with these

Now i will have to find a pattern to make best use of 12 fat eighths.  And this….

Which is the fabric I’m going to use to make a camera cover (like this)for Lilly for Xmas (and maybe a belt to go with her black jeans).

The Bad……..

Justin’s quilt is still a WIP . I spent two nights having to unpick 8 long lines of quilting, and the backing had a horrible pucker in it (my fault for forgetting to baste the back and batting, doh!).  It’s fixed now, and the quilting is going great, but Cam is refusing to have a sleep today even though he has a nasty cold again.  Bugger!

The Ugly……….

That would be Jack, who looks like he did go after the rabbit, and came off worse for wear.  luckily although it looks bad it doesn’t appear to be infected (finger’s crossed).  Haven’t seen the rabbit since, so maybe he came off the winner.  I hope so.

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Post weekend

Well, this is the only finished object that i have pics of.  The two quilts are still being worked on.  Here’s an action shot, me at the sewing machine at 6.30 yesterday morning (yes, still in my dressing gown). I am doing the quilting on the Bernina 117.  Nice machine to work on

I sewed all morning and got 3 quarters of Matt’s quilt quilted.  I had planned to finish Justin’s over the weekend, but got a call on Friday to ask if the quilt could be made bigger.  I wasn’t very happy, but said yes.  I was just about to sandwich the layers together.  Never mind.  I’ve got the extra fabric needed now, so I can hopefully get it finished by the end of the week.

I had words with the cat (Jack) yesterday when we got home from picking Lilly up from Nana’s place.  There was a rabbit in the garden, eating the veges. $#%&*##@.  So he’s been reminded that we’ll be having no freeloaders here at Highway Cottage, and he better see to that rabbit or else.  I know he went off after that and had a go, but haven’t seen true evidence, except a small tuft of rabbit fur.  However he didn’t come for breakfast this morning, so maybe he’s not hungry?  I was hoping he would bring one back to share like last time.  We are keen on some bunny burgers.  I guess we better start building the rabbit proof fence   Like there’s not enough jobs round here, yeah right.

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How cool !

I think this is great

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHWByjoQrR8

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Lots of sewing :-)

I’m on a roll now, getting those homemade Xmas presents made finally.  I even decided what to make for the Secret Santa pressies (well 3 out of 4).  I didn’t end up making the bag I was going to, but made Cam these cute little shorts last night.  He was pretty excited to see them, he loves Fire Engines.

Today I went and got the batting for Matt’s quilt, and I made Lilly a scrappy belt.  It turned out great, but a bit wide for the buckle I was able to get, so I’m halfway through a narrower one and I’ll try to get a buckle to fit this one.  I thinks it’s neat.

I added some borders to Matt’s quilt as it was just slightly smaller than i wanted.  Here’s a pic of the entire top.  I imagine it will look quite different when the quilting is done and the brown binding added on.

I have plans for a few more things to be completed over the weekend, but we shall just have to wait and see how it goes.

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Little bits of blue

I suppose the bonus of Cam’s 5.30am wake up this morning (I’m trying to look on the bright side here)  was that I was at the sewing machine by 6.15 this morning.  I’m pretty pleased that I now have the top of Matt’s quilt finished.  I better go buy the batting tomorrow   Good to have something nearly finished.  Justin’s quilt is at a standstill til I can get some more red calico for the back.  None of the local shops have any in stock, so I will get some when I get the backing tomorrow.  Now I’m off to sew up a bag for my Secret Santa.

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Go fish

One of the blogs I read is listing heaps of things to make for Christmas. I think the series is called Handmade Holidays.  Which is just perfect for me, as I have high hopes of avoiding most of the commercialism of Christmas this year.  The kids are all getting a joint present, a quilt each (hopefully), and some other handmade gifts.  Cam is getting the Go fish game, the tutorial is here.  I loved making these fish, I’ve done two sets of 6, as I’d like to give one as part of the secret Santa I’m taking part in.

The other projects on Handmade holidays that I’d like to make (time permitting) are the rocket and man, camera case, scrappy belt and the laptop cover.

I did have a plan for all the sewing, but it’s not coming together liked I’d hoped.  Ain’t that always the way?  My great plan was to sew the ordered quilt when Cam has his daytime sleep, mine on Tuesday nights (going ok so far on that one), and do the boys quilts the other nights, and some other small bits during the day when I can.  I’m finding though with Cam’s change of bedtime and waking time that by 8pm I too tired to think about sewing, and it’s not worth pushing myself as I make mistakes when I’m tired.  The new revised plan is to work really hard on the ordered quilt and get it done this week, then tackle the next one asap.

We did take some time out to relax on the weekend, and went for a little bush walk not far from here.  I was really surprised that Cam was so good with the huge bridge and just walked steadily over it (not even holding the sides), it’s quite reassuring as Matt gets really bad vertigo, and I have a bit of a hard time with heights sometimes (mostly just ladders).  The pics aren’t great as they were taken on the cellphone, sorry.

We left the big boys at home, as sometimes it’s just too much hassle to drag them away from their computers.  We had a nice time anyway.

I got quite a few plants added to the garden today, it was too hot to plant out yesterday.  Lots of tomatoes and zucchini.  I’ll do some others tomorrow, maybe the other peas and beans and some more tomatoes.

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