Mother's Day - The Good and the Bad

Flowers from Possum's pre-school garden = good

Cute card made by Possum at pre-school = good

When you open it up it has fun facts such as my favourite colour is blue and I like to knit jumpers, both are true.  There is also a little photo of Possum.

The book The Mr bought me.... not so good*...

Thankfully there was also chocolate!

It also makes me VERY glad that I bought myself this:

Hurruh!!  I will be taking part in the Handstitched class learning something new and having some fun.  I am picturing cosy winter nights in front of the fire as I work on new techniques and create something special.

What fabric range should I buy?  I was thinking Echo by Lotta Jansdotter....

*I am a big Chuck Norris fan, and some of the one liners in this book are pretty hilarious, but really, for Mother's Day?  I guess the airport newsagency didn't leave him many options?

Trimester 1

Trimester 1, 2012.  Can anyone tell me why I thought it would be a good idea to study four units this trimester?  Especially given UNE has now moved into trimesters which shortens up the teaching period?

I have four assignments due in the next 2 weeks and 2 quizzes to do before trimesters' end.  Instead of spending time over the past week working on them I watched every episode of Grey's Anatomy I have taped this season in one go and then downloaded and watched the entire series The Slap.  While watching all this TV (DH is away) the house has gotten a tad messy (understatement) so further procrastination activities may include house cleaning before I can settle in to study.  

The Slap is brilliant by the way.  If you didn't watch it you really should buy it on DVD or download it through iTunes. 

Random Ramble

Yesterday I had an appointment in town so it was a good excuse to ditch my standard  SAHM (stay at home mum) uniform of jeans and a tee and put on something a little neater.  I also did my hair which did not go unnoticed down the street.  Georgia took a quick photo before we rushed out the door, it isn't in focus and the light is wrong too, but the grass was wet and I was late so I did not bother to set up anything better.

The fact I am wearing high heels, and you still can't see my feet is a pretty good indicator that I need to mow the lawn...  Today, at lunch time I am still in my pj's.  Funny how two days right next to each other can be so different!  

Happy hump day :)

Sew it Together - Name Tag Swap

It is a bit wonky which means I am not happy with it, but this is the name tag I made for one of the lovely ladies attending Sew it Together in Canberra next month.  It looks wonkier in this photo than it does in real life which is lucky for the recipient, not so lucky for me as a blog reference.

The name is hidden on this one as it is a surprise swap, I used the embroidery feature on my sewing machine for the first time to add the name.  I always have swappers guilt when I see how wonderful and creative some of the name tags are that get made for this event, there are some very clever crafters out there; alas I am not one of them!  I do like the Denyse Schmidt fabric I used for this tag, perfect red, white and blue to suit the colour theme set for this year.

I just have to find a broach back and sew it on so I can send it off this week.

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Edit:  Leah has now received and blogged her name tag so I can safely post a photo of the reveal.

Last year I made a name tag for Esther, but I didn't take a photo.  Or not one I can find anyway...

Blue

He can be so much fun, or so much hard work depending on his mood.  He spends all day telling me kisses are yucky, but he seeks me out for his bedtime smooch each evening.

He is toilet training has toilet trained himself and is working things out.  He does not nap of a day unless we are driving.  We spend two full days together while Possum is at pre-school, it is such a good time for us.  My babies are growing up.

He loves dinosaurs, bugs and trains.  He talks so well in full sentences.  He has started playing with language in a way I find frustrating but gosh he is clever with it.  He will add a sound to the beginning of each word in a sentence and he never mucks it up once he starts .  He has such a good ear.

My ANZAC Day Quilt Top

As per yesterday's post explaining the ANZAC day quilting challenge I started with this pile of fabric at 6:45am.

At 8pm I called 'down tools' because I had my quilt top completely pieced!

This quilt top is 2 metres square, so it was a pretty big effort in a day, especially with all that cutting out.

Each little square is 4.5 inches.  There are 180 of them.  There are also 40 triangles to make up the points.  Did I mention the cutting?!

As far as a challenge went, I think I did well.  It would have been nice to have a sandwiched quilt, but I had trouble cutting out the background fabric and that took a lot of my time to sort out.  The instructions asked for a 43" square cut across the diagonal to form the four triangle sections of the background between the points.  My fabric was not wide enough.  I later found this was a common complaint for this pattern.

I got around it by deciding to piece this section from two triangles rather than making it from one large one.

I ignored the 43" square and instead cut out a 21.75" square and then cut that in half.  This let me get the right amount of fabric from the same yardage with just one extra join.  I did that four times, one for each side. The pattern also asks for four 20.5 inch squares.  I managed to get these from the off cut of each of the above so it was very efficient on fabric.

The above photo shows the extra join, I think it works well with the quilt and was the easiest solution I could think of.

So there you have it, one Made in Cherry quilt top!

And in case you think it is a good idea to try to make a quilt in a day, it isn't.  Or maybe only if you pick a small quilt...  My shoulders STILL hurt!

ANZAC Day quilt challenge

Today, in addition to being ANZAC day, is the day my quilting group is calling the 24 hour quilting challenge.

It does not matter what time we elect to start. After dawn service?  After the local street parade perhaps?  Up to you.  The important thing is to nominate your start time, and then quilt like mad for 24 hours and try to get as much done as possible.  Mad?  Perhaps!

I am going to try to make my Made in Cherry quilt.  As you can see I have not done much.  In fact, I have done so little I am calling this an unstarted project for the sake of this challenge.  

I love these Denyse Schmidt fabrics, I hope they look good with the grey background.

I would like to get the top made, and perhaps the quilt sandwiched if I am lucky.  I doubt I will get it quilted but maybe if I am lucky....

Time will tell.  Check back tomorrow for the post that shows my 24 hours of quilting progress.