A year of quilts

I have to admit to being a little disappointed. I was hoping to double the numberI made last year, but in fact made one less (plus 3 mini quilts).  Sometimes the best laid plans don’t eventuate.  I do still have one almost finshed quilt in the drawer, and 3 tops waiting to be quilted, plus a whole bunch of half done tops to finish off.

So what’s on the agenda for 2011?  Well, certainly not more quilts than this year, as a job will take up more time than I currently use for sewing.  I’d like to finish all the WIP’s.  So I guess if that goes on the list I might get them (or some at least) done.

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Merry Christmas

I’m blogless for the next week, so I wanted to say Merry Christmas to all the wonderful family, friends and blog readers out there

See you in a week or so.

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Big things and little things

I’m still trying to get a few more things finished before Christmas.  Today I made a case for my new sunglasses and some seatbelt covers (I’m so sick of the seatbelt rubbing on my neck).

And I finally finished the big quilt for our bed.  Merry Christmas to us   We get to have this early as it’s too big to wrap up and take to my Sister’s place for Christmas Day.

Finished size 225cm square (or 88.5 inches). 

All the blocks are NZ Print fabric.  I love them all, but these are my favourite 4………………

Snails, Skinks, Geckos and Wetas

Pukekos

Hedgehogs

Saddlebacks

It’s really nice to finally have a full size quilt just for us.

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Chicks !!!

Yes, I know, 3rd post today – what’s that about??

We’ve got chicks.

I was given some fertile eggs a few weeks ago, but by the time I got the silly hen was not acting broody anymore.  Luckily J & D lent us one fo their broody hens.  I was worried that the eggs wouldn’t hatch as I had been told they needed to be under a hen by the Friday, but ours weren’t under a hen till Sunday.  Well we got chicks.  Hatched today.  Mama hen is still hiding them, so we’ll have to wait till tomorrow to see for sure how many hatched out of the 8 eggs.  I’ve seen 4 chicks so far, 3 yellow and 1 black.  The eggs were a mix of Leghorn, Sussex and Barredrock.

Of course since this hen was installed I’ve had 3 more go broody.  J & D gave us some turkey eggs today, so my black Arucana cross hen is happily sitting on those and I’m hoping to put some bantam cross fertile eggs under the other two hens tomorrow.  At least that way I can clear the nest for those still laying.

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A mammoth task

Well, it’s done. The biggest quilt I’ve ever made.  Finished size approximately 245cm square (96 inches).    Basting took 324 pins (I don’t use basting spray, just pins), 10m of handmade binding (11 yards) and a lot of fabric.

I’m really pleased with the finished result.

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Bad Karma

You know it always seems just as we start to get on top of things, all the expenses sorted, that something else just comes along to ruin your day  :-( 

I got up early this morning, to finish off Julie’s quilt, with the expectation of getting paid and having some spare cash to ease the cost of Christmas plus the 3 birthdays we have at this time of the year.  Finished the quilt, all feeling rather good.  Ian got into the headspace in the roof to turn off the water so he could change a washer that was leaking – and finds the hot water cylinder is leaking, rusted at the bottom.

*#$@^!

Just what we needed, the anticipation of a thousand or so dollars to fix it.  Not a job for an amatuer as we have a wetback system.  So the cost of a new cylinder plus a very expensive plumber.

Merry Christmas.

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I should be scared, right???

Am I mad?? I’m going to be quilting this quilt………..

On a domestic machine with a 6 inch arm.  So what??? Well the quilt is 96 inches square (245cm).  It’s going to be quite a challenge!!!

I do think it’s looking pretty good now, much better now the sashing is separating the blocks.

I have a similar sized quilt here ready to sandwich and quilt, I think I’ll work on that first for a bit of practice.

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A bit of Kiwiana

Kiwiana = Certain items and icons from New Zealand’s cultural heritage are often called Kiwiana, a term that represents iconic Kiwi elements, especially from around the middle of the 20th century, and also means a form of kitsch. Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand has defined them as the “quirky things that contribute to a sense of nationhood“.

^{It’s certainly a feature for me this Christmas:-)}

^{I made this messenger bag last night, using this (http://mmmcrafts.blogspot.com/2009/06/basic-messenger-bag.html) tutorial.  It was so easy.  All done and dusted in under 2 hours.}

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A long time coming

I started making my Park Slope Bear Paw quilt back in June 2009.  I was sure it was much longer ago than that, but the blog doesn’t lie.  I have to say, it’s not all the way there yet, but the biggest chunk is out of the way.  All 25 blocks completed and trimmed. 

Making this quilt was a bit ambitious.  I didn’t realize that there was so much cutting and sewing.  Each block has so many components.  It got tiring and boring making more than one or two at a time.  So yes, it’s taken a long time to get here, but as soon as I have enough of the white fabric for the sashing and something to back it with, this is definitely going to be finished.

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Stuff and nonsense :-)

Sorry couldn’t think of a decent title, “Stuff” on its own seemed a bit lonely.

I’m starting to not stress about Christmas now.  For a few weeks there I was feeling a bit insane.  I’m kinda on top of it now, even though I still need to shop for most of the gifts.  I made good use of my Flybuys points and was able to use then to get  gifts for Ian, Matt, Nathan, Lilly and Cameron.  That’s a big help to the stricken finances.  Having Ian’s birthday  out of the way has given me a bit of piece of mind too.  I haven’t even thought about Matt’s birthday on the 19th yet, but I’ll worry about that next week.  At least this year I think the kids are a bit more realistic about what we can and can’t afford.  I do have a few handmade gifts made up, and some more to be made. 

I finished my Tiki, now I don’t want to give it away.

Maybe I could make something else similar to give as a gift??

Julie’s #2 quilt is coming along, just 3 more blocks to make and then the top will go together.

Some of the blocks were a lot harder than I thought they would be, but the effect is stunning.

And yay, I’ve finished all the blocks for my Bear Paw quilt.  I’ll be back later with some pics.

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