Ups and downs

We had a mid winter Xmas lunch at our place on Saturday.  It was nice to have family and friends over, and no commercialism like at real Xmas time.  I didn’t take any pics while everyone was here, but I did take a pic of our Mid Winter Christmas tree

I’ve been sewing like mad on some dress orders I’ve had, in time to pay for our up coming trip.  I added some applique to one of the dresses, and made 3 more, which were all delivered today.  The red ones were a big hit!

Some of the other clothes I made were delivered last week, I got an email from the customer saying her daughter was wearing her dress to bed, as she’d refused to take it off.  Now that’s good feedback!

I’m hoping the Spring Mini Quilt for me will be here soon, and some more FQ’s that were for a swap, although I can’t complain about things being late, as I’ve just let one group I’m in know I’m now running late (well, technically if I finish sewing tonight I won’t be late). I’m thinking about pulling out of one of my quilting bees.  I’m now in 5 quilting bees and 1 round robin, and feeling slightly over committed.  Also I think i have to rethink the fabric I was going to send for the Sew Kid bee, flannel is just too bulky to post, it will take the postage from $3 to maybe up to $8, times that by 14 and it’s looking very expensive.  The stash busting bees are easy as I can send fabric in a small envelope.  I guess that’s the price I pay to be involved with all the great quilters i meet online.  Anyway enough moaning, here’s a pic of one of the four blocks I need to make for the round robin

To leave today’s post on a bright note, one of the lovely ladies on The Nappy Network sent me a parcel of fabric.  A bunch of different sizes and patterns, it was fantastic to get such a nice surprise in the post.  I’ll have to do the same for someone else.

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More Quilting Bee blocks

Shorty’s block for Live Piecefully – Easy peasy, tight on the border fabric though, I only had about 1cm spare.  The red and yellow squares were cute.

John’s block 1 for Cottage Bee, I hate working without a pattern. Almost square, I should have learnt from making my coin quilt that getting it square is hard if your rectangles are all different sizes. So I made a second block, larger pieces.

Better, this one is square.  They look much nicer in real life

Ariel’s block for Sew Kid.  I love this pattern and can see myself making many more.  Due to my inability to read patterns I had a small disaster making this, however it was recoverable, and I know how to do it the correct way next time.  Live and learn !

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Bugger !

 Well, the little smocket dresses are a hit, unfortunately everyone wants the smaller size, so I have orders for 5 more, as well as some leather soled baby shoes and waterproof pants.  Now I have to sew like crazy to fill my orders, I’m not even sure I have enough fabric here. AARRGGHHH!!!!  I thought I would be able to relax and get some quilting bee blocks done, but it appears not.  John, I got half of yours done   It really should be on it’s way to you by now.

Still 4 smockets available 3 in size 2-3 and 1 in size 1-2.  I can send anywhere

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Sewing like mad…

I’ve been doing a heap of clothes sewing, to raise funds for a trip in a few weeks.  The kids and I are going to stay with my Sister and her family in Taumaranui (central North Island) for a few days in the next school holidays, which is only a couple of weeks away.  The kids have never been skiing, so I’m planning on taking them up to Mount Ruapehu so they can have a chance.  Luckily my Sis Michelle is working in a ski shop, so she has offered to outfit us and supply us with sleds etc to play with.  I’m hoping I can earn enough for the big kids to have a lesson on snowboarding.  Ian (the lucky bugger) will be working.  Really I hate the snow, it’s cold, wet and hard, but I’ve promised, so I’ll take them.    I’ve  had orders for some of the lined pants like I made Cam, so I’ve been busy getting them done.  Here’s pics of some.

These two are sold, I’m posting them today.  The blue stripe one are cotton lined, the dark green denim ones are Merino lined.

The robots pair are Merino lined, the monkeys pair are cotton lined. 

I had a few queries about dresses too, so I made up a bunch of Smockets, either lined or double sided.

The left on in merino lined, the right one double sided. 

Both double sided, the navy one is coat wool, nice and warm

This one (my favourite) is merino lined.  Not a good pic of the colour, it’s not that bright. (SOLD)

These are all up for sale, so if you want one, give me a shout   $25 NZD each, plus post.  All are size 2-3 except the navy floral cord / pink one, which is a 1-2.

I used some of my offcuts and have half finished a cot size quilt top. Need to add borders yet though.

I got a nice wee package in the mail last week. I took part in Wondermommy’s Buttonswap, and got this parcel from Donna in Canada.

I was pretty pleased.  Not only did I get buttons, but Donna included 4 charm squares of Park Slope, two of which are colours that I haven’t seen here in NZ.  I’ll use them on the back of my Park Slope Bear Paw quilt.  Thanks Donna.

With all my other sewing I haven’t done any quilting bee blocks, but I’ll be back to that tonight.  I nearly have the fabric ready to send for the Sew Kid Bee, I’m getting a flannel quilt made for Cam, however as everyone is International the postage is a killer, it will probably cost about $50 to send I’m waiting till after our few days away.

The weather has been awful, just what you’d expect for winter really. Cold, snow down to 200m, which is very close to here, rain, miserable really.  The sun did try to peak though a bit.

Strangely though, despite the cold, my hens are still laying a bit.  I’m getting 2 or 3 eggs most day out of 10 hens, and we have our first Artichokes ready to harvest.  If anyone knows a good recipe, or what to do with them let me know, we’ve never had them before.

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The Winner

Number 24 – Michelle – with this comment “

Wow, it’s beautiful. If I got it I would put it in my office at work. Right now I stare at a blank white wall.”

Michelle, I’ll email you about sending this out.

Thanks to everyone for their nice comments. 

Come back later for crafty updates, I’ve been very busy sewing, not quilting though.

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A giveaway :-)

Okay, I’ve been promising a giveaway for ages, so here it is.

I’ve decided that the prize will be the Spring Mini Quilt that I decided not to send away.  It has a tiny bit of puffiness (because I didn’t quilt in the ditch before quilting around the flowers), apart from that I think it’s lovely.

So if you’d like it to hang on your wall, or use as a place-mat, or something like that, just leave a comment on this post telling me what you’d use it for oh, it’s approx 12 x 14 inches.

International posting okay.  If you blog about the giveaway, come back and leave a comment telling me, and you’ll have another entry.  Draw by random number Friday 8pm.

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Spring Mini Quilt

I finally finished my Spring Blooms Mini Quilt for the swap.  I had one almost finished, but decided it wasn’t quite right, so I made another one.  Here is the one I’m posting off to the U.S.

I called it “Sketchy Spring”.  Here’s the back…

I took part in an Apron swap, look at the lovely apron I received, gorgeous fabric.  It’s been in constant use since it arrived in the mail.

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A block for me

One of 25.  I’ve been looking for the right pattern for my Park Slope fabric, and I’m pretty happy with this.  Traditional pattern, modern fabric   I won’t be making any more till next week, as I’ve given myself a ban on quilting till next Monday. It’s about time I got some of the other sewing on my list done.

I did get two pairs of lined pants sewn up yesterday (for Cam).  I’m still sticking with the basic elastic waisted pants, so he can pull them down himself.

The Old MacDonald patch was a pressie from Tacha. It looks so cute.

The blue ones look better in real life

Lilly ended up with two days off school, but is back at school today, after having passed her germs on to me, and probably Ian too.  I think we are in for a quiet rest of the week. 

I’m going to go and sew now, might even get something made for a giveaway.

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A few more Bee blocks

These two for Kerri…

I love the little Cars and Robots prints.

I tried to make them different, but my head kept making them the same, so they are almost identical. Doh!

Another block for Skovy.

I also managed to get all the blocks sewn for the 2nd flannel quilt I’m working on, I’ll sew up the rows tomorrow if I get  chance.

Ian serviced a sewing machine for a friend (Hi J and D), and payment was some Wine and Beer, however they generously also gave us Garlic and Shallots for planting.  Yay, we knew we needed to get onto the garlic, so it was great to get some, and Ian planted it out in the afternoon. 

One of our weiner calves was crook on Friday, I had to get the vet in.  She seems to be on the mend now.  Whew, we really can’t afford to lose any.  We are thinking ahead a bit more than we used to, and have plans for piglets and lambs in the spring. 

Cam has a nasty cold, but is fairly cheerful still, but will probably not go to playcentre on Tuesday.  Lilly was a bit under the weather tonight as well.  Here’s hoping she is going to be well enough for school tomorrow.

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Thanks :-)

Thanks to everyone who has left comments for the last few posts.  I’ve been having a few problems with my email, and my computer crashing, so haven’t noticed some till I checked my blog. The email notifier isn’t working.  So thanks for visiting, come back soon.  When Ian has done some surgery on my machine I’ll be back with my long awaited giveaway

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