Hi Friends!
Happy New Year! Did you see the new year in? We went to the early fireworks with the kids and realxed in the airconditioning to see off 2021 ☺️ Its been steamy here!
I am on holidays for another week and am trying to get a little done around the house … some painting etc. I feel like I need a bomb under me to find some motivation, tho!
I have been doing a little sewing tho ☺️
I’m off to do a little more sewing now! Happy January, Happy 2022!
Kate xo
Well, today is officially my last day of school holidays. I work all weekend and the babies go back to school on Monday. Which means today was my last sleep in *waahhhhh And I can’t see any possibility for a sleep in for the next month or so either! *double waahhhhh! I do SO love my sleep ins – can you tell? And more to the point, I love my late nights before the sleep ins. So I guess I have to go to bed earlier. Which encroaches on my ‘me time’. Which often includes my sewing time.
My boys aren’t very happy to be going back to school either. especially Mstr 10. It is his last year of primary school and he senses the effort required is about to go up haha
He is going to be school captain this year!!
We are incredibly proud 🙂
Anyhow. Here is a little of what I have been up to over the school holidays. If you follow me on Instagram you might have seen some of these.
^ I have a loooong way to go with these cute Granny Squares. I think I’m going to sash with cornerstones to add to the size a little. I love it so far 🙂
^I have joined in with Molli Sparkle‘s Honey Pot Bee! Here are my versions of the Starflower Block. Molli’s January block choice (via this Ellison Lane tute). I could totally see myself making a whole quilt with this block. It’s so easy and effective!
^Here is my version of the Strawberry. It’s Angie from Gnome Angel‘s January block choice (via this Skyberries tute) I couldn’t resist including the cute little fussy cut strawberry.
^These two X Blocks are for Kate over at talltalesfromchiconia
Kate is making a quilt out of heaps of different Teal X blocks to raise money for Ovarian Cancer.
I think I’m kinda up to date with sharing. I hope to do some paint-y furniture things once the kids go back and I get some spare time (haha what’s that?? 😉 )
Do you play on Pintrest? There is a world of inspiration on there! You can find and follow me HERE if you’re interested. Forewarned tho, you might literally lose hours of your life browsing Pintrest 😉
Anyhow, hope you have a great day, see you soon!
P.S. I am trying to sew without buying this year! So all of these were in my stash, a bundle I’ve had for a while for the Granny Squares and scraps mainly for the rest.
Well, she’s been sitting round for most of the year now … waiting.
And taunting … and waiting some more …
Waiting to be finished …
Waiting for me to take action …
Waiting for a decision …
The reason she’s been waiting is because I want to keep her for myself. But she’s too small for what I now want her for. I was originally going to make a couch throw out of her. But I fell in love! ❤ Now I want her for my bedroom.
*sigh* But what to do without any more charm squares???
You see, this gorgeous baby was the product of my “Ms Midge’s Aussie Tula Pink Charm Swap” charms! And I only got the one bundle this time round! *kicks myself*
Basically I want to bump her up from a single size to a generous queen size.
So I’ve been keeping half an eye out for some charm squares to use but we have been broke as hell this year eeeekkk! Anyhow, I just got a little tax back and decided to treat myself to some pretties! And what better pretties are there than some Tula???
(I thought and thought what I was going to do with my tax return this year and I have wrung just about all I can from that little baby! haha)
Enter : this gorgeous bundle of Slow and Steady that just landed on my doorstep!!!
So … now comes the “Bite the Bullet” part!
I need to bite the bullet and take her apart to add some of these beauties!! I might have a quick look for a Chipper Charm pack to add in if the prices arent too ludicrous. I’ve also stashed away a small bundle of True Colours which I will use too.
Anyhow, it’s school holidays at the moment so who knows how much time I’ll have to sew lol! Plus, I have another project on the boil that must be finished first!
Catch you all later! xx
So then you guys must be VERY fond of me then, hey? haha
How are you?
I am still plodding along.
It’s been an extremely busy and tiring few months here … We have 2 weeks of school holidays coming up and I have some time off work booked and we are just going to do NOTHING! I am working the weekends, but otherwise PJ days is the plan 🙂 Oh, and we might go to the movies one day and see Finding Dory {I wouldn’t be able to wait for the DVD. Yes, me not the kids haha}
I love Dory! Crush and Squirt are firm favourites 🙂
This is probably going to be my last ever raggy quilt. It’s just getting too hard to find quality flannel here these days. Oh well … I enjoy regular quilting more anyway these days I guess 🙂 This one is for my little niece! It’s a large single bed size and I am a little bit in love with it!
Front.
Back.
I have a brand new nephew! He was born last month on Star Wars Day {Mother of boys info I never knew I needed to know! haha}
He is the most precious little bundle! I have started nearly finished a quilt for him. Then I need to get cracking on one each for my elder two nephews.
They have been waiting long enough so patient!
A sneak peek :
It’s a simple square patchwork with meandering quilting. But it’s very cute 🙂
I also have another top-secret project on the burner. As well as trying to get a bit of furniture painting in somewhere. I did do some painting a couple of weeks ago –
This is chalk board paint around my pantry entrance {… and this is the tidiest it’s been since we started using it haha The boys LOVE it!} There’s usually a small canvas covering the yellow phone point because we don’t use it and it annoys me to see it there. But I need to sand the spot for the hook …
Anyhow, I am about to crash!
Cya next time ❤
Towards the end of last year I participated in the Tula Pink Charm Swap run by the fabulous Ms Midge.
OMG!!! They are so pretty!
After each Charm Swap there is a Charm Along!
And here is my contribution :
It’s only the top right now, but I have a backing in the works and will keep going til it’s done – I’m determined not to add it to my UFO pile 😉
It is 49″ x 74″ { 125cm x 188cm}
It would make a gorgeous single bed quilt but since I don’t have a single bed to use it on, {except the boys and they won’t part with their Batman quilts for a girly one! haha} I think it’ll make a nice sized throw or couch quilt for meeeee!.
I am also pledging to get cracking on the aforementioned UFO pile! There are a couple of half {or more} done pieces, so I am going to keep plodding along and get some finished soon 🙂
I’ll endeavour to get my holiday pics up soon – we had a fantastic time staying at Manly Beach, Sydney!! And hubby was very surprised 🙂
Hope you have a fantabulous day!
{P.S. It’s my birthday today! Yaaay! 😀 haha }
Hey y’all 🙂
As you might remember, I participated in Ms Midge‘s Heather Bailey Charm Swap and subsequent Charm Along recently?
{While you check out Ms Midge’s page, why not join in the Aussie Aurifil Club?? Those threads are simply gorgeous! ❤ }
Look at all of the pretties we swapped!!
Well, I was sewing like a demon to finish in time for the deadline {linked at 11.45 for the 12.00 deadline! haha} And this is the result :
Wonky Stars!! Can you see the secondary white wonky pinwheels?
I am working tomorrow, but planning on whipping up a quick backing on Sunday and quilt it next week some time.
I love it, but kinda wish the stars and pinwheels both stood out more … So I think I might try this one again down the track but use deeper colours and stars all in one colour and see how that turns out 🙂
I still haven’t used my precious Amy Butler Charm Along squares yet!!! I MUST get onto using them soon …
Anyhow, this one was meant to be a shorty – see you with a finish next week hopefully!
P.S. I haven’t said it for a while – but why not check out my Facebook page, Pintrest or Instagram? 🙂
… Yup. That’s me this month. Plodding along.
Getting things done, but not feeling like I am. How was your Easter? Hope the Easter Bunny was kind to you!
I have finished a couple of quilt tops in the last couple of weeks, quilted one of them and the binding is attached on one side ready to hand stitch the other side. I’ve also done a couple of BOMs/QALs.
It feels productive, but don’t seem to have much to show for my labours.
Would you like to see some sneak peeks? If you’re anything like me the pics are usually the highlight of a blog post haha. Here you go :
A cute baby quilt using a tute by Jessica Kelly found at Moda Bakeshop and some Riley Blake’s Snips & Snails 🙂
It still needs a back and to be quilted.
This one is a simple brick pattern with border. I used Country Girls by Riley Blake and my favourite white Quilters Solid from The Oz Material Girls. It’s been SLQed with my new walking foot and just needs its binding finished!
The back of the same quilt. It ended up mainly blue/green/white because that’s what I had left! haha
I have joined Pat Sloan’s Quilt Along facebook page and as well as joining in the awesome Vacation Time Mystery BOM, {I will share some pics next time} she throws us awesome challenges! Do you remember when I mentioned leaders and enders last month {HERE}? That revelation was born from Pat’s last challenge – Hip To Be Square!
Anyhow, her latest challenge is the String Bean Challenge and all we had to do was use some of her own fabrics to be in the running for the fabulous prizes she has up for grabs this time round. I had a gorgeous jelly roll of her One For You, One For Me fabrics sitting round all lonely so I bit the bullet and cut into it! ^ This is the result of that. I love it!! It’s a great sized throw and I will find it hard to let go of so it might be joining my growing collection.
Thanks for stopping by!
I’m again not making New Year’s Resolutions.
Instead, from now on I will continue to make a yearly bucket list!
❤
2015 Regular Bucket List
1. Walk our Jack more regularly {we’re both too chunky!}
2. Practice, practice, practice my Free Motion Quilting
3. Swear less {at least when the kids are in earshot}
4. Be more creative with my cooking
5. Say ‘No’ when I mean it more often
6. Save more / BUDGET better – we’re saving for a holiday to …
❤
2015 Sewing Bucket List
1. Practice, practice, practice my Free Motion Quilting {you’re not imagining it – this made both lists lol Can you tell I really mean it?}
2. Make a Churn Dash Quilt. I have some Best.Day.Ever to use for this one … Soon. Very soon!
3. Sew more clothes for the kids – they LOVE it when I sew for them 🙂
4. Make a rainbow Plus Quilt
5. Make a Rainbow Reverse Wonky Star Quilt like this {A long-term goal that I’d like to tackle next year 🙂 }
{I found this gorgeous example on Pintrest from Flutter Kat! }
6. Start using up all my scraps! I love scrappy quilts!
7. Buy as little as possible – Use my stash all up!
8. Log Cabin Quilt
{I found this one on Pintrest by Red Pepper Quilts and I LOVE it!}
9. This Quilt :
{I don’t know where to credit, I found it on Pintrest and it’s link is an error 😦 So if it’s yours I’m sorry, if you don’t want me to use it please let me know xo}
10. A Drunkards Path Quilt. I actually have this one cut out ready to sew … one day soon!
11. Get my nephew’s and niece’s raggy quilts finished {I am actually aiming at finishing these by the end of January! Wish me luck! 😀 }
❤
I will no doubt add to this list, but that will do for now 🙂
Happy New Year everyone, I hope 2015 will be everything you hoped and dreamed of ❤
Hi everyone!
I don’t really have much in the way of sewing to share today, so I am going to share some random thoughts.
Don’t be too scared, most of the time not alot goes on in my head, so it won’t be too deep 😉
~*~
Am I the only one over Facebook?
Saw this today and it pretty much sums it up for me :
I have to admit, it really is shitting me lately! It’s so tedious getting thru all the crap in my newsfeed.
And don’t get me started on just how freaking hard it is to get any traffic on little sell pages! They are trying to get everyone to pay the ridiculous fees to advertise. Not sure they’ve done their research properly. All that will happen is the little guys trying to eek out a living or make a little extra for their families are going to be the ones who pay the price and close down. {cue shameless plug} My own little page – Two Little Rascals has just over 700 likers and I have to say, things are slow. I have seen market nights not doing well either *sigh*
~*~
Speaking of Two Little Rascals, I proudly donated this Raggy Quilt :
to The Oz Material Girls Farmer’s Relief Fundraising Action last week!
The poor little fella sold 3 times and was cancelled on 3 times 
So I was extremely happy to see him go to a loving new home the other day! 😀
It’s still pretty hot here. I am fearful we won’t get much of a winter this year.
Does global warming scare you? I know Mother Nature goes thru ebbs and flows … but when she is going thru them,
do the Earth’s inhabitants realise it? Maybe I am more sensitive than I thought! haha
~*~
I witnessed a lovely dose of Karma the other day!
I was watering plants, feeding pets, etc at my petminding gig and one of the 2 little girls next door got up on a chair at the fence and started taunting the dogs I was looking after. The dogs, to their credit ignored her. If I had been in my own home I would have just squirted the little shit with the hose I was watering with … but I wasn’t *sigh* … so I was just about to say “Don’t tease the dogs” when she fell off the chair and started screaming bloody murder! haha
Broken chair = $10
Doctors visit for concussion = $90
Petsitter laughing at karma’s sense of justice = Priceless 😀
~*~
I’ve noticed something lately. It’s irritating me … why do people say “My son is almost 6 and my daughter is nearly 4”
Why not just say “My son is 5 and my daughter is 3” ?? They are that age for only a year. Why round up?
Some adults do it sometimes too.
“How old are you?”
“I’ll be 40 in February”
ummmm so short answer is “39”?? o.O
~*~
Anyhow … enough of my thoughts. I hope to have some progress shots for you next time!
Catchya on the flip side! 🙂
Kate x
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