Aviary 2 finished!

It was great to get enough time to finsih this quilt off.  The fabric has been lovely to work with.

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Did I tell you…

That I’m now gluten free.

I first tried  out being gluten free back in January. I’ve long had “digestive” issues with no real help from the doctors, so I figured that trying to go without gluten couldn’t hurt. I noticed a big difference in less than 2 weeks. I felt really good and it was working for me.

However being gluten free is really hard and so restricting. I gave up after 6 weeks.  After my surgery things got really bad again, so I’m back to going without gluten. This time I was working properly again in 5 days. So while it’s hard and restricting and any bread products pretty much all taste like crap, I’m going to stick with it.

Feel free to wow me with your awesome gluten free recipes or links to good GF websites. My MIL has been a great help, she’s been GF for a few years now.

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Aviary 2 and Appleville

I finished the queen size custom quilt top today.  Luckily the sun was out for a while and I got a half decent pic of it.

I finished the Appleville quilt a couple of weeks ago, but the weather has been so bad I couldn’t get any good photos of it.  Today was a bit hit and miss but they’re not too bad.  This one and the Fairytale quilt are off to a new home on Monday, to a repeat customer who snapped them up before I could list them in the shop

I’ve also been making some Kindle covers…

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So, I was nearly a drug addict…

But not quite.

Back in March and April, while I was having a lot of abdominal and kidney pain the doctors prescribed a whole lot of different drugs. I’m not big on taking pills, and had hoped I’d outgrown my addictive drugs phase back in my teens. But as I was in a lot of pain, I took what they gave me. One of the drugs was a codeine based pain killer. I’m allergic to codeine, so I had to take anti nausea pills as well all the time.

I have to admit the drugs worked well, in terms of pain relief, and I came to like the sensation of everything being a bit fuzzy around the edges ( I think I would have been dangerous back in the 70′s when everyone took “mother’s little helpers”). I was sleeping extremely well too. But there were down sides, some intolerable side effects, the least of which was the terrible tiredness and irritability when they were wearing off. So even though I still have the kidney stone to deal with, my abdominal problems are all better, so I’ve weaned myself off them.

It wasn’t easy. I had a few very hard nights getting to sleep, and some days of terrible lethargy. Some days it was tempting to just take another pill to make me feel better, but I stuck it out and I’m over the worst of it.

After about four days without any of the “bad” pills my kidney pain started to come back, but I’m happy to report that I have an appointment for a CT scan in a couple of weeks and I’m on a waiting list to see the urologist. In the meantime I’m just taking paracetamol, if it gets worse I’ll ask the doctor for a non addictive pain killer.

Getting in a bit sewing time helps, it’s good therapy.

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In the nick of time!

I’m part of a group doing a pincushion swap.  Final date for sending internationally is tomorrow.  I’ve only just finished my pincushion today. Nothing like leaving it to the last-minute.  I would have completed it on the weekend if the LQS’s stock wasn’t so depleted (but that’s a whole nother story).  I planned to get the last of the materials yesterday morning, but was called into work early, so in the end had to get Ian to go shopping for me.  I’m so lucky to have a husband who will shop for craft supplies for me (on a regular basis).

So, this little “Kimi” doll will make her way to the US of A in tomorrows’ post, with a few cute little extras.  I hope my partner likes her.

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When I’m at my best…

I’m working on a custom quilt.  The instructions were a queen size quilt, randomly pieced.  Well, I love a challenge and find the “slash and sew” method of quilting is usually when I’m at my best.  I’ve been working on the blocks for 6 hours so far and have completed 9 out of 16 blocks.  The blocks are 19.5 inches square and will be put together without sashing, but with an outer border of the darkest fabric.  I’m loving it so far.  The fabric selection is gorgeous too.  The customer has gone for a range of fabric called “Aviary 2″ by Joel Dewberry.

It’s really lovely to work for a repeat client like this too.  You know they have confidence in your work.  I’m flattered too, when discussing the work I was told that it’s good to give the “artist” free reign.  Me, an artist.  Nice

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Lots of sewing…

I managed to spend my last couple of days at home finishing some girls cot quilts for the shop.  I’m still having a couple of problems with Felt rotating my images up the wrong way, so they are not listed in the shop yet.  I only have good pics of one quilt as the weather has been good (up till today) but I haven’t had time to take any decent pics.

I’m really pleased with this Fairytale quilt, I was not loving it at all while making it, but it turned out fabulous in the end.

The other quilt took so long to quilt.  I spiral quilted it, in lines 10mm apart.  In the end it took about 8 hours of continuous sewing and LOTS of thread.  But I love the gorgeous texture of it.  I’ll try to take a decent pic in the coming days.

In this pics above you can see my weekend score, a big clip on desk lamp.  It gives my so much more light that I really don’t know how I sewed at night without it.  My MIL gave it to me.

I’m now trying to adjust to my new work hours. I don’t like not having much time in the mornings to get stuff done, but I guess I’ll get used to it.

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A bit of a rambling post…

First up, I’d just like to say thanks to everyone who has wished Lil’s a Happy Birthday, wished me well for my surgery and recovery and made other lovely comments on posts recently.  I really love getting comments, it keeps the communication happening.

Nathan took this pic on Lilly’s birthday, it was too good not to share…

Cameron is growing so fast at the moment and changing so much day by day.  Hsr reading is coming along now too.  Just before I went to hospital he read almost all of “Go Dog Go” by himself and is attempting to read “One fish, Two fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish”.  I’m so proud of him.  This is a boy who would not write anything before starting school.  Check out how proud of himself he looks…

Cameron is also playing Soccer this year for the first time.  He’s very enthusiastic!!!

Joining sports isn’t cheap.  Fees were $50, Shorts, Socks and Shin Pads were another $60.   Luckily we were given some Soccer boots for Cam and only had to buy a new pair for Lilly.  At least for Lilly doing it as a repeat, she had socks and shin pads, shirts are supplied by the team and she wear sthe same shorts that she has at school for PE, so just the fee and boots this year.

I’m going down to watch Lilly’s game today, so hope to get some good pics.

We finally get the fireplace reinstalled last friday.  Just in time for the really cold weather.  This morning I spied snow on the Tararua ranges, first time the year.

We painted the wall by the fireplace a deep red called “Shiraz” by Resene.  I love the colour.  There is meant to be some backing behind the fireplace, but the order for it was delayed, so that will come later.  The rest of the walls are “solitaire” by Resene, which will be painted in the lounge too, but probably not till spring.

I recovered our manky old hessian covered cork board (a necessity here with all the school notices), I found a nice tan fabric in my stash and added the red ribbon to compliment it.  Now it just needs to be hung.

And I have sewn up a reversible girls duffle coat (now in the shop).  Trying to use up fabrics I have on hand and raise funds for the kids end of year camps at the same time.  We’ll be doing some pine cone collecting on the weekend

Today I have housework, just folding washing and picking up the million and one things no one puts away.  Maybe some sewing later!

 

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