Feeling the cold……

I think today might be a light the fire kind of day.  It will be the first fire this year.  Lucky we are prepared.  The woodshed is full, the porch is loaded up, we have more wood drying.  Still you never really know if you have enough.

Yesterday when we were out in the paddock collecting pinecones we found the first mushrooms of the season.  Not a lot, but enough to add to the soup I was making for Dinner. I love free food.

On friday Cam and I went suitcase shopping.  We were looking for a small bag for Cam to take on holiday, we couldn’t get a Thomas one, but he is pretty happy with his little blue suitcase and drags it round the house.

I got to sew almost all day on Sunday, Yay!  I got 4 blocks completed on my Bear Paw quilt.  I have a pic of 3 of them.

Today I worked on a new bag for my Laptop.  Made from offcuts from a wool blanket, bubble wrap and some handles from a bag from the op shop.

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Quiet?

Sort of. I tried to post a couple of days ago, but the internet crashed, so I put it in the too hard basket.  I’ve been catching up on all my quilting bee blocks for April.

These two for Katie.  Loved doing these, and the improv piecing was just what i needed.

These two for Sudi-Laura.  Cute !

And this one for Sarah.  This was the most challenging one this month.  The pattern was straight forward enough, I was careful with seam allowances, but still had to make 2 to get a half decent circle. 

I got lovely mail.  Did a swap with Christine in California, look at the gorgeous goods that came my way, a Jelly Roll of Romance by April Cornell, a charm pack to go with it, Heather Ross lightning Bug stripes, a FQ of Amy Butler and two prints from the Cogsmo range.  Score !!  It return I sent Christine a whole bunch of Bleeker Street FQ’s,  Michael Millar Large whimsy  and Art Gallery that I had. Swaps are great !

After starting a dish cloth months ago (maybe even a year), I was convinced to finish it.  Even though I do profess to not being able to knit, that’s not strictly true.  It only needed a few rows to finish it.

I might even make some more.  I have cast on a hat for Cameron.  It’s a really easy pattern called the noggin hat which I have knitted before, so I know it’s achievable.  I though I better have some portable craft to take on holiday with me.

A friend who also crafts came to stay, it was awesome to be able to talk for hours with a like-minded crafty person.  Cam also had a great time playing for 2 days with her wee boy, what a difference to playing with bigger siblings.  I was also very lucky that my lovely friend made me this gorgeous messenger bag. It’s fab!!! It’s now my everyday bag.  I love it! It’s reversible too.  Such a clever sewer.

I’ve made 2 more blocks for the Pinwheel Party.  I’m loving seeing these blocks in just the 2 colours.  So fresh and modern!

You can expect to see a few more bigger finished projects soon.  I’ve sold all the current quilts in the shop and most of the other goods too so I have given myself 2 months off to finish all my WIP quilts.  I’m just finishing quilting an old hand pieced quilt for a friend, after that I plan to finish the big NZ quilt for our bed, hopefully before the next set of wintery weather sets in.

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The coolest thing about Autumn……..

is the Hot Air Balloon festival.  This year they were supposed to go north from Masterson, but there’s not a lot of control over where a Hot Air Balloon goes, so we still saw a fair few of them over our way this morning.  I noticed the first one when I went out to ge the mail, then it was all on for the next hour.  Fun, fun, fun. 

One of the balloons went right over the house!  Then it hovered about over the paddock of maize next door, before finally landing just next to the maize.

Isn’t that just the best view?  It really feels like Autumn now, cold nights and cold mornings.  The chooks are starting to lay less eggs.  The pigs went to the butcher yesterday, and the cow won’t be too far behind.  Ian is going to get a load of compost (hopefully) tomorrow for the raised bed, and I bought some seedlings to plant.

Lilly is coming to help me on my stall at the Playcentre fundraiser tomorrow.  It’s my first time doing a stall, here’s hoping it all goes well and I sell heaps   I finished these dresses yesterday to sell. 

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Shoes

Work, work, work, work, work.

Cotton shoes.

Minky and Denim shoes.

Wool shoes (these are a present for my neighbour who is due to have baby number 4 very soon).

The wheels quilt, in progress.

Look how curly Cam s hair is getting now it’s longer……………

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Well………..

I got a bit of work done, but not as much as I would have liked.  I managed to get 1 pair of waterproof pants (size 2) and 3 pairs of waterproof overalls made (also size 2′s).  Today I started cutting out baby shoes.  If I can get a few pairs made tonight I’ll be doing okay.  I still need to add labels and prices to everything.  I found a new baby t-shirt in a drawer, so I jazzed that up to sell on the stall too.

Oh, I did finish a quilt for the shop as well.  I have batted this with a 100% wool blanket.  It makes it a bit harder to quilt, but it will be super warm (and I lent Matt my quilt batting money to pay his rent last week, who knows if I will see that again).  I added in a few interest points while quilting it.

We had a bit of a freak storm on Friday evening.  It travelled up the country really quickly.  Wellington was hit worse than us though, here only lasted about half an hour, a bit of thunder and lightning, then about another couple of hours of rain.  A tree fell on someones car, with them trapped inside, lots of roofing iron ripped off and trees down.  On the scale of things though (like earthquakes etc) it was pretty minor. 

We are trying to get organised to put in a proper vege garden for winter, something we don’t usually put much effort into.  Luckily we have a whole raised bed that only had a few straggly zucchini’s in it, so we emptied that.  Nathan and I dug out 2/3rds of the stoney soil so we can replace it with good mushroom compost next week.   We are planning on planting Cabbages, Silverbeet, Spinach, Carrots, Broad beans, Beetroot, Kale, maybe some brocoli and Cauli (for Ian and the kids as I’m allergic to them).   Ian  was busy too, cleaning the chimney in preparation for the cold weather, cleaning out the guttering nad fixing a piece of broken fencing.

I have more to share, but will be back tomorrow, don’t want to make this post too long.

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I’m disorganised

and distracted by shiny things (not really shiny things, just pretty new fabric).  I have a list of things I want to make for the stall as well as 3 blocks for quilting bees, orders for 20 nappies, merino baby clothing, a merino baby wrap and several pairs of girls jeans.  So what did I do at sewing group last night?  Started a new quilt for the shop with the gorgeous quilt fabric that arrived in the mail yesterday.  I really suck at prioritising lately. I am usually to tired to sew after Cam has gone to bed at night, but I think I’m going to have to get on with it, make a list in order of importance and stay in the sewing room each night and get it done.

On the other hand it’s great that I have so many orders that i can’t keep up.  Still means I have 4 quilts in progress for me that aren’t  getting done.

I did manage to finish the Winter Mini Quilt for the Quilting Gallery swap.  It’s the first time I have successfully used metallic thread.  I remembered to loosen the tension this time, and sew really slowly.  I hope my partner likes it.

Right, I’m off to make my list and get started.

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Weekend

Friday was a gorgeous day.  Sunny and warm.  Cam played in his pool while I finished off the bibs.  Lucky that his pool is right by my sewing room.

Look at the lovely stack of bibs.  I have 23 for the stall, I think that will be enough.

I’m busy sewing other things this weekend, but will be back making things for the stall on Monday and Thursday (my 2 work sewing days).  I’m not sure what to make next for the stall.  I want to make things that will sell the best.  In the list are waterproof pants for toddlers, baby shoes, pencil rolls, smockets or dresses and loyalty card wallets.

I made a few quilting bee blocks yesterday. These are for Jo for the Australasian Bee.  I love the cute HR Frogs print.  I used it in a quilt a few months ago.  I still have a bit left so might make another block or two, will have to see how I go for time, as I have another block to make for another bee and 2 more expected in the post next week.

This block is for me, it’s my month for the Mish Mash Bee.  I thought I had better check that a block can be made with the amount of white fabric I sent.  It can, but there is not much to spare.  I should have sent more white. Oh well, you live and learn.  I can’t wait to have 12 of these blocks to put together.

Ian is up the bush gathering firewood for the coming winter, Cam is watching “Hairy Maclary from Donaldson’s Dairy” on DVD, Nathan is at a mates and Lilly is doing homework.  I’m off to the sewing machine to attempt my first Dresden Plate block.  Wish me luck.

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Thursday

Today was one of those days that start out okay, but you don’t get as much achieved as you’d like.  I was working a some bibs for the stall, but was distracted by the Internet.  I should have been able to finish these all today, but I didn’t.

These are the finished ones

These are not finished

Oh well, there’s always tomorrow.  Cam has his second dental check up tomorrow.  The first one was a year ago.  I’m a little nervous even though I think his teeth are good.  Matt and Nathan had fillings at that age.  Lilly didn’t.  I’m hoping the 2 years of breastfeeding has made lovely strong teeth.  Wish us luck.

There is a Harvest Rally on just up the road on the weekend that Ian and the kids are going to.  I might go, but will depend on how much work I get done.  They only run it once every 3 years.  It’s awesome, lots of really old tractors, trucks and farming vehicles on display.  They grow wheat especially for the event and harvest it on the day, the old fashioned way.  Today i saw one of the old Traction engines go past on it’s way there.  It was a pity it was when Cam was at preschool.  He would have been stoked to see it.  He is planning on having a ride on it on Saturday.  They usually have a few of them there, they sure are impressive to see.

The winter mini quilt in progress………

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Busy sewing

7 pairs of pants in 2 days, not bad considering the jeans take about 2 hours each with all the topstitching.

I made two pairs of the brown ones, one for Cam and one to sell.  They are all unhemmed until tried on by the owner, Cam’s got a 2 inch hem on his ones. 

Two pairs on these red and black ones, which are lined for winter.  They look like motorcycle pants IRL.  Cute.

Last night at sewing I cut out 15 bibs to sew up.  Lots of work for craft stall!

Cam found ways to amuse himself while I was busy.

I had to send an email yesterday to the organiser of the Winter mini quilt swap.  Deadline for sending was the 1st March.  Mine is not done. It’s the first time I’ve missed a deadline for a swap.  It really wasn’t that I ran out of time, I just couldn’t focus on what to make.  Sometimes it’s hard when we are on opposite seasons to most of the other quilters. So I started the mini quilt today, the top is done, tomorrow I’ll quilt it and bind it, hopefully post by the end of the week.

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