May Challenge Day Thirty-One

The Last Day.

It was more like Friday today, I went out with some friends and their kids and we had a great time, lunch and some shopping. It's almost time to sit down and continue with my stitching and think about the last 31 days. I've actually achieved quite a lot of things this month, so it's been good to have this challenge. I still don't know what I'll be doing through June, but hopefully I'll still get some good crafting done.

Thanks for reading and I'll catch up with you soon...maybe for Friday Fun One tomorrow.

Goodnight!

May Challenge Day Thirty

Woo! Wednesday...and it was strange today because I had to be home earlier than usual to talk to someone about my house renos. I haven't done that very often before...

I went to craft this morning like normal, late, and we made more quilts to send to Tanzania which is great! I love spending time with "the ladies" and chatting about all the different lives we have.

Now, with both kidlets in bed at the same time, I'm off to do some stitching, and maybe some tea...Decaf of course.

For those of you who read my blog, I only have 1 day left of my May Challenge, so I might need to find a different kind of challenge for June. Let me know if you have any ideas...

Goodnight!

May Challenge Day Twenty-Nine

Happy Birthday Nana!! (Just thought I'd get that in there...) I love you very much!!

I had a really good day with my kids today, behaviour-wise, I mean. Both were actually well behaved and even helpful. I finished the tea cosy and took a photo to upload.

I think it's cute enough, I might make some more...

I also managed a bit of stitching on the flowers for my quilt, but I'm not putting a photo of that because you can't really see what I've done anyway.

Tomorrow is me day again, but at craft in the morning we'll be making quilts for MAG (Mission Aid Group) which will be sent to Tanzania. Cool! I love doing them because everyone helps to do something good together, not just our own projects. I think it helps to unite the group.

Yay!

Anyway, I'd better get to bed...oh, maybe a few more stitches first...goodnight!

May Challenge Day Twenty-Eight

Monday Monday....

Usually the day for visiting with friends, but not today. Today we stayed home and I worked on the tea cosy. I don't think I've ever made one before, but it's pretty much done, and it's really cute. Anyway, I'm actually going to go now and stitch some more of my quilt before it gets too late. I might try and post a pic of the owl tomorrow.

Goodnight!

May Challenge Day Twenty-Seven

I can't believe it's day 27 already! Woah! I feel like I'm losing time or something...

Today was great! I went to church, had lunch with my church family and then came home to some craft. Yay! I got onto making the prize for my facebook competition winner...an owl tea cosy...so cute. I also got my quilt panel ironed.

Oh!! Janelle Wind replied to my comment on facebook today....I'm totally star-struck! I immediately got the giggles and all my worries went away...hahaha. How funny is that! Most exciting thing to happen to me in a while obviously.

Anyway, tomorrow is Monday and there's always a list of things to do on Mondays, so I'd better get to bed so I can "get up out of bed, have a yawn and scratch my head and say Thank you, it's a brand new day..." Sorry, the song popped into my head. I'm off to bed, nighty night!

May Challenge Day Twenty-Six

It's so late! I can hardly remember today. I got so caught up in a movie, The Green Mile. I hadn't seen it before tonight and it was really good. It was sad though. And it went forever. I think there was an ad break about every 3 minutes by the end of the movie, so it was on tv for 4 hours...Good time for stitching flowers. I've finished 2 big ones and 2 small ones. Still a long way to go, but it's a good feeling finishing that small amount.

This morning Mum and I went to the local Salvation Army Quilt Show. It was great! We bought more fabrics and patterns than intended. The quilts were beautiful, as usual. I didn't even think about getting out my camera though, so I can't show you any pics. Oh well. I love local quilt shows because they are full of locally made items and it's nice to know they were made by regular people, not just professional quilters.

Anyway, it's really late, so I'd better get to bed.

May Challenge Day Twenty-Five/Friday Fun One-5

Yay, Friday Fun One!

Took the kids to my brother's today. We always have a good time, tiring for the kids, but a good break for me. I think different toys and books is helpful. We always talk about family and friends and the memories we've made with them. I love catching up with them and I hope we can keep doing it for a while yet.

I'm sorry for yet another short post, but it's already getting late and I'm almost finished stitching another of the flowers, so I really want to get it done tonight. I'm off to another local quilt show tomorrow, so I'm sure I'll come home and do some more. Yay!

May Challenge Day Twenty-Four

I went for a walk today and came home in the rain. On the way into my yard I saw a huge stick-insect, about 12 inches long, just chillin' on my letter box. It was random and cool, but mostly just reminded me once again of our Awesome Creator and the unlimited creativity He shows. I love spending time dreaming about all the great things I could make or do, but nothing compares to the wonders of His hands!

When it comes to craft, I started making a dress for a gorgeous little girl (Yes, she's my niece, but I can still say she's gorgeous). I've cut it all out and am just about ready to sew it together, but the rain on my metal roof is calling me to my pillow. Oh well, tomorrow might be more productive.

Goodnight!

May Challenge Day Twenty-Three

Yay, Me-day!

We went to craft today and I actually got some more stitching done which was good. I've now completed one big flower and one small one, and started another small one. Yay! It's seems like it's taking forever though.

We spent some time with the great nanas today too, which was good. I got to play scrabble again, didn't win, came 2nd which was also 2nd last. It was a really challenging came with only about 10 points from 1st - 3rd points. I picked up the Z, Q and a Y in the last round so that was tricky, but still fun. I'm a nerd...I even downloaded free cryptic crosswords to my new phone. Love them!!

Anyway, enough of my nerdiness, time for beddy byes. Goodnight!

May Challenge Day Twenty-Two

Another quick one today...

I did some more applique, but spent most of the day on the now working phone making calls to sort out everything I couldn't for the past 6 months, like the dentist...

Anyway, I'm off to get ready for bed. Tomorrow is Me day, so I should get a little more done. Hopefully!

Goodnight!

May Challenge Day Twenty-One

Today we ventured out into the great unknown, well Sydney anyway. We went to Darling Harbour to see the Replica Endeavour ship come in, although it had already arrived when we got there. It was still cool to see it though. Our 2yos loved it. Looks a bit similar to a pirate ship apparently...

Anyway, it was a really big day, I had my 2 yo walking (or being carried by her Aunty) and I also had my 6 month old in the carrier, so my shoulders are feeling it now, but the rest of me feels pretty good. 

Here's a pic of my 2yo tonight...pooped! Daddy looks tired too...

I'm pretty exhausted too, so I'm considering just heading to bed without doing any craft today, how sad. Hopefully an early night will mean I have more energy to get some stitching done tomorrow. Oh, just realised it's actually not that early...oh well.

Goodnight!

May Challenge Day Twenty

I can't believe it's day 20 already! This month and year have gone so fast, I feel like I'm getting left behind.

Today was one of those days where we didn't really do anything, but were busy all day. Well, we felt busy. We had a few visits from family members and then from the neighbours. We had to discuss a new fence between our properties because the one that's there is dodgy and their big puppy can jump it without a thought, which would be ok if we had a fence to contain him and if we didn't have little kids that he will crush. We ended up talking about everything though, not just the fence. We really do have awesome neighbours. The other side has another awesome friend who is, at the moment, looking after a cute little joey whose mother was shot. Before the joey she had some ducks and has always had an awesome dog. My kids love all the animals she has around.

I only spent a couple of minutes doing some prep for making my niece a dress today, but last night I made some wrist warmers and did some more applique, so I don't feel too behind.

I need to go now though and get ready for a big day out in Sydney tomorrow, so Goodnight!

May Challenge Day Nineteen

I know I'm writing these posts earlier, but it's in an effort to get to bed earlier and therefore get up earlier each morning, slightly less grumpy.

So, being that my most productive time tends to be just before bed, I haven't actually done all that much yet today. I have finished appliqueing around one of the large flowers on the quilt and also one of the smaller ones (I'd post a photo, but it doesn't really look any different to the one I posted yesterday or whenever), but I would have liked to get a bit more done today. Like always, it will just have to wait until tomorrow or Monday.

Tonight while Hubby is working on one of his cars I'm going to be making some wrist warmers for an order. Yay! They're very specific though, thin enough, but warm enough, one seam on the outer side of the wrist...and so on. So I really should make a start on them now and hopefully have a pair ready to give to my customer tomorrow.

Goodnight everyone. I hope the rest of your weekend is lovely!

May Challenge Day Eighteen/Friday Fun One - 4

So we started the quilt yesterday - my 2 year old daughter and I - and we finished it today.

We sat at the machine and she joined on the final 2 strips, then I ironed it for her (sewing and ironing are very different kinds of dangerous). Then when I asked her what fabric she wanted to use on the back she said pink and fluffy. Best answer she could have said! I got out pink polar fleece and we sewed it onto the right side of her patchwork then flipped it like a pillowcase and stitched around the whole edge again to close it up. I didn't bother with wadding because the fleece is soft enough. With the quilting part of it we just used the stitch-in-the-ditch method and the walking foot and worked around the center square and then moved to the next square out. Pretty simple, but she's only 2 and it's really cute!

Hopefully tonight I'll get back to working on my own quilt.

May Challenge Day Seventeen

Well, what a Thursday! I should not ask my 2 year old what she wants to do each day...this is what I might end up with...

I can't believe she wanted to do this or had the patience to sit with me and actually do the sewing on the machine! What you can see here is her work. She was so excited to do it and was sewing for a fair while, then she fell asleep with her foot on the pedal...eek!!! Thankfully I was right there with her and noticed her head start to flop a little, so what could have been a major disaster was avoided. But otherwise I think she did pretty well. She picked out the fabrics and helped to arrange them (mini me!) and like I said she was sewing at the machine. I was actually a little relieved when she fell asleep because it was time to get dinner ready but she hadn't wanted to stop. Oh well, maybe we'll do the rest of the top tomorrow, there are only 2 seems to go...

Now for a photo of my quilt (this one's for you, Beth). It's going to take a long time to get through all the applique, but hopefully it'll be done in the not-to-distant-future.

Anyway, I'm trying to get to bed a little earlier than usual so I'll see how we go tomorrow and let you know of any progress on either project in tomorrows post! Night!!

May Challenge Day Sixteen

Wednesday already! I feel like I'm losing time or something. It feels like I was only just writing about Wednesday yesterday...

Today was really good, I was up early, went to craft, started stitching the flowers and saw 2 great Nanas. Like I said it was really good. I feel like I'm finally getting somewhere now and it's motivating me to keep working and get the rest done. It's a good feeling.

I also got to help with a new craft friend's quilt today. It's a beautiful quilt with different shades of pink made up into blocks and borders and a yellow backing with appliqued butterflies. My friend is in a wheel chair a lot of the time and has trouble getting down on all fours and also cannot reach around tables quite well enough to lay her quilt out, so I helped her along with my Aunty and we pinned the layers together for her to sew around at home. It's a beautiful quilt, quite girly, but beautiful and she didn't even use a pattern! My friend is not very confident and being able to help her and give her advice is great. It is helping me to really value my life as it is and the time and means I have available to me for craft and other things that other people may not have. 

Enough with the warm fuzzies now though, I need to get to bed so I'm ready for a new day and more stitching tomorrow.

Goodnight!

May Challenge Day Fifteen

Yay! I totally ironed on the flowers today and I'm hoping to start stitching them on tomorrow...

I'm excited now because it's real. I mean the quilt has started to come together and isn't just a picture on paper or in my head anymore...

Anyway, that's exciting and I don't know what else to write, so goodnight!

May Challenge Day Fourteen

I know I shouldn't be starting anything new, but I couldn't resist trying out the Tunisian crochet I mentioned last week. It is cool because I never really enjoy knitting as much as crochet, but the end result of this technique looks fairly similar to knitting, so it's a bit of a win win for me...Anyway, I gave it a go tonight instead of the quilt and it was good. I know how to cast on and off and use the simple (afghan) stitch, and I also worked out how to turn corners, increase and decrease, so that is pretty cool. I really need to get a move on with the quilt, but like I said, I couldn't resist trying something new, I think I just needed a little lift and working it out gave me just that. Maybe I'll get to the quilt tomorrow.

Oh, and I almost forgot to mention that I gave my hair a trim today, by myself...it's still half my height in length, so no-one can tell...

May Challenge Day Thirteen

Happy Mother's Day!

I was out for the majority of today so didn't get into craft so much, but I spent a lot of time this evening chilling out (or warming up in front of the heater) reading craft magazines. I'm so inspired! I love seeing different styles of craft and the way different people complete different projects of theirs. I love it, but I lose a lot of time when I get into them, so I have to limit myself to 5 or 6 magazines each time, which doesn't really mean anything if I get a particularly special one out.

On another note, I just looked at the amount of space for the flowers to fit into and it's huge compared to the size I had them laid out in the photos, so I'm going to re look at them tomorrow and work out whether to reduce the backing, have white space around them or something else. I like the idea of having some extra white though, I'm very attracted to full-on contrasts, so it might end up being the way I go.

It seems too hard sometimes to get this done! I'm way too picky and I tend to over-think some of these elements, but hopefully it will look as good as a quilt as it does in my head.

May Challenge Day Twelve

I had big plans for today, I was going to iron the flowers onto the backing fabric and I even dug out my embroidery threads to possibly start some of the applique. But, I had a migraine this morning which pretty much wiped me out for the whole day. I feel a bit sorry for my kids because they had to entertain themselves while I had a really long hot shower and slept on the lounge room floor...they did pretty well actually.

Anyway, tomorrow is my 3rd Mother's day so hopefully I'll be better in the morning and maybe even get some crafting done in the evening. I hope you all have a lovely time with your mums or kids tomorrow!