Pictures!

I promised these ages ago but the memory card was awol from DH's camera.

Anyway it's back so here are some WIPs and finishes.

Firstly here's a sneak preview of the first jungle quilt. It's not quite finished yet...

Here's the current stage of my Log Cabin blocks - we learned to make them using strip piecing so you work on all your blocks at the same time.

Here's my finished pieces

The Santa Cushion (my first blanket stitching!)

The Cat's Whisker's Tuffet

Bent Creek's First Moon Colony

And some WIPs

My redwork

Bent Creek's Red Threads

Tournicoton's Couer de Brodeuse (I started it a little early)

February Roundup and March Goals

February Roundup

February Stitching Goals

1. Make significant progress on Cirque des Cercles - done
2. Make significant progress on Sleigh Ride - nope but I shall pick this up in March
3. In honour of 'Finish it February' properly finish as many of my 9 outstanding projects as possible - two finished and the bits and bobs needed for the other finishes have been purchased (some ribbon and felt)
4. Start and finish my Monthly Small Start - yes

Stitching Finishes:

First Moon Colony - Bent Creek
Sue Hawkins Bookmarker
Santa Cushion - The Stitching Shed (made up)
Spring Fever Tuffet - The Cat's Whiskers (made up)

Stitching New Starts:

First Moon Colony - Bent Creek (February Small Start, also finished)
Spring Lineup - The Trilogy (five finishes start)
Sue Hawkins Bookmarker (a gift, also finished)

Other WIPs that had some attention

Red Threads - Bent Creek

Books Read

The Accidental - Ali Smith
Ottoline Goes to School - Chris Riddell
Teacher, Teacher - Jack Sheffield
Black Heart of Jamaica - Julia Golding
Going Home - Harriet Evans

February Quilting Goals

Finish first Jungle Quilt - almost, just the binding left
Make progress on second Jungle Quilt - I've actually cut all the pieces for the other five quilts
Finish secret gift quilt - done and gifted
Make two squares for the Monkey Buttons Star Quilt - nope but I will definitely do them in March.

March Stitching Goals

1. Have at least one finish (probably the Redwork)
2. Work on Sleigh Ride
3. Work on Cirque des Cercles
4. Start and finish my Monthly Small Start (Coeur de Brodeuse - Tournicoton)
5. 'Finish' an item from the list below
6. Work on Red Threads
7. Work on Grandma's Thread Minder

Projects Requiring Finishing

Redwork Bourse
Redwork Pinkeep
Eliza Jane's Needlekeep
Alyssum Scissor Pocket
Bird's of a Feather Accessories - Needlebook, Scissor Pocket and Fob

March Quilting Goals

Finish second Jungle Quilt
Start third Jungle Quilt
Make two squares for the Monkey Buttons Star Quilt
Finish one of my current WIPs
Make up the Log Cabin Squares from my last class

I'll also be attending the next quilting course on the 15th to learn the curves technique

Current Stitching WIP List

1. Stitchy Kitty - Snowman Trio
2. Stitchin'Spirations - Getting Lost in a Blackwork Maze
3. Bothy Threads - Row of Christmas Fairies
4. Dimensions - Sleigh Ride
5. Ink Circles - Cirque de Cercles
6. Michael Powell - Cottage Garden 2
7. Be Attitudes Afghan
8. Santa's Journey Afghan
9. The Cat's Whiskers - Birds of a Feather Dilly Bag
10. The Cat's Whiskers - Grandma's Thread Minder
11. Bent Creek - The Big Zipper
12. Bent Creek - Red Threads
13. Midsummer Night Designs - Heaven's Above
14. Teresa Wentzler - Tradewinds*
15. Dragon Dreams - Dragon Virtues Afghan*
16. Brightneedle - Garden Party
17. DMC - Wild Ones Alphabet*
18. Michael Powell - Handmade Houses 4
19. Bothy Threads - Cut Thru Fairy Hill
20. Millhouse Designs - Charlie is Born
21. Dracolair - Dawn Awakening*
22. Bent Creek - Snapperville Series
23. Long Dog - St Germain
24. Noah's Sub*
25. Just Nan - Four Wishes
26. Stitchin'Spirations - Lost in a Blackwork Maze
27. Rosewood Manor - Red Threads Redwork
28. Spring Lineup - The Trilogy

She Loves to Sing

For months, and yes, I do mean months, Lia has been singing a particular song that goes 'A dinga danga rob'. That's it. 'A dinga danga rob'. Ad infinitum.

She has quite a repertoire of songs, most of which I have no problem identifying and helping her out with (she's not that fantastic at getting the words right but I guess that's to be expected LOL) but the 'a dinga danga rob' song was beyond even my powers of deduction.

I'd just about given up on ever finding out what the song was (I was hardly going to go to her nursery and ask them to tell me what 'A dinga danga rob' was) when yesterday she finally added a second line - 'with a flippy floppy hat'!

How dumb am I that I never equated 'A dinga danga rob' to 'A dingle dangle scarecrow'?

I've no idea how the 'rob' part got into her little head but she is now singing the whole song complete with her version of the first line and no amount of persuading will get her to say scarecrow.

This is now included in her daily repertoire which I get in the car twice a day. The others are:

• Old MacDonald (who every time has a cow, duck, horse, goat, pig, dog and kangaroo in that order)
• Twinkle Twinkle Chocolate Bar (I'm not sure I approve of her learning alternative versions of things because I have no idea how to assist if she forgets a word)
• Twinkle Twinkle Little Star (much safer ground for Mummy)
  
• If You're Happy and You Know It (have you ever tried to stamp your feet whilst driving? Even worse she's now added 'shake your bum' to the things you have to do)
• We Wish You a Merry Christmas (no amount of persuasion will convince her to stop with the festive numbers)
• A Whale in a Manger (yes really, that's what she sings and it's too fantastic a line for me to correct her)
• When Santa Got Stuck up the Chimney (because she loves the 'achoo' bit)

It's a bit too early to tell if she's inherited my lack of singing talent. Actually my families lack of singing talent.

My poor father endured years of torturous car journeys when my Mum, Brother and I would sing to pass the time. The phrase 'can't carry a tune in a bucket' describes the three of us but what we lacked in tunefulness we made up in our ability to always remember the words. My Dad on the other hand had a decent singing voice but never joined in because he was useless at remembering the words.

I should add that these journeys were usually around 8 hours long as we were heading from the south of England all the way up to Scotland to visit my Mother's family. My chronic travel sickness meant my Mother had to invent ways to keep me occupied for the journey - I Spy wears a bit thin after a while - and so singing it was. Generally it was old Music Hall Songs such as 'Burlington Bertie' and 'I'm Henry the Eighth I Am' and I'm currently thinking if I can teach Lia a couple that'll confuse the heck out of the girls at nursery!

Friends

Last year passed in a bit of a blur for us as a large chunk of it was taken up with the whole process of moving house which took from early May till late August and by the time we'd caught our breath it was time to start planning Christmas!

This meant that we missed seeing a lot of our friends as more often than not it was impossible to co-ordinate our limited free time. We are determined to make up for that this year and so the weekend just gone we had friends to stay and the one before we stayed with friends.

The first weekend when we were away was fantastic fun - it was three couples plus Lia and two baby bumps as both of the other couples are expecting their first babies in July. A great time was had by all, especially Lia who was spoiled by everyone.

This weekend we had my best friend, her husband and their two children to stay with us and yesterday we were joined by another family of four which meant I catered for 11 (the most I've ever cooked for before was 6). Again a lovely time was had by all and the kids aged from 10 months to 8 years and they all managed to play together with no upsets.

It was a bit of a mad weekend - our house is large but two families living in it means it's heading towards mayhem - and I'm thoroughly exhausted today but I'd forgotten just how wonderful it is to be surrounded by friends whose love and affection inspires and warms.

We had a long discussion about our garden (it is the current topic of choice given the amount of work it requires) as I'd arranged for a professional to come round and give us a quote for some work. Anyway S, the husband, said he'd be more than happy to help and they could come and stay two or three times specifically so he and DH could go out in the garden.

The next thing I know DH and S are out there for three hours chopping down trees, cutting away all the brambles, pulling down old fencing and suddenly we can now see the whole length of the garden! We also have a huge amount of fuel for a second bonfire next weekend. E, my best mate, was also out there with a bin bag picking up the rubbish that has accumulated (we live next to a school and coke cans and crisp packets are regularly thrown over the fence) and all I was doing was making lunch and checking on their baby.

Thanks to their work we're now a bit further on and I was able to have a much saner conversation with the gardener. His recommendation is to kill off the current 'lawn' (read moss, weeds, shoots, tree stumps, brambles and bare earth), rotivate it all and then re-turf. It's basically what we figured we needed to do given the state of it all and at least once it's done we'll have a good, flat, lawn that Lia can run around on.

We'll be leaving two large chunks lawn free though, one patch around 4 metres by 12 metres where I want a veggie bed and a small greenhouse and the end patch - 9 metres by 13 metres - where we'll build up a wildlife pond and garden, a tranquil area if you like. Both of those projects will take more time (because they'll require more money LOL) but if we can clear everything and get it set up then we can look at the next stages next year.

We'll have plenty of other things to keep us busy - garage and fences need painting, the five small beds around the patio need clearing and planting and we're also planning on putting some fruit trees in so once the inital clearance has been done we can maybe put those in if we can afford to.

All the planting around the patio is going to be as aromatic as possible. There'll be a small herb bed and I'm hoping to get some jasmine to train along the fence on one side. I love lavender so there'll be a couple of lavender bushes in the beds at the end of the patio. I'm not sure what else I'll be including - there's not a lot of space and I'm not looking at bedding plants or anything that requires a lot of attention. My idea is that the garden isn't high maintenance, energy will be spent on the veggies mainly, with mowing and a bit of clearing and tidying the only other regular tasks. I have a lot of hobbies and not enough spare time!

In other news my parents have moved house. They have downsized from a four bedroom house to a two bedroom ground floor flat. It's strange because for 31 years my mother lived in the same place (12 years in one house and then 19 in a house next door) so the only homes I remember have always been 'Up Iffin' (the name of the lane the houses are on). My sister still lives in one of the two houses so I will still go up there but if she ever decides to move I'll only ever see the houses if I go to take a peek because they're up a driveway set back from the road.

Still, given my parents are in their mid 70s the new flat is a good idea, it's on a bus route and they can walk to town which is a big improvement from being a mile up a tiny country lane. It's also an odd feeling because they're a stone's throw from where my favourite Auntie lived while I was growing up. She died a few years ago and I've not spent much time in that part of town since so when I visited my parents last week I was wandering around reliving childhood memories.

Valentine's Stash

I chose my Valentine's present from DH - I'm much happier with stash than him spending money on rip-off priced chocolates and flowers.

I got the Blackbird Designs' Beneath the Sunlit Sky Kit and Tournicoton's Coeur de Brodeuse plus linen. I think the Coeur will be next months small start and I'm so tempted to get on with Sunlit Sky but I will stick to my goals and pencil it in as the next new start when I've completed five more finishes.

Oh and I can highly recommend Violarium as an ONS. No affiliation but the chart arrived in the UK from Finland 24 hours after the order was placed, the service was fantastic, the pack includes a full translation from the French and the shipping cost was just 2 euros!

A Productive Weekend

Well I don't know what it was like where you were this weekend but the weather was absolutely glorious where I was which encouraged a very productive time.

Quilting wise I finished the gift quilt I was making, put together the centre of the first jungle quilt, did the quilting for one of my finished tops and sewed the binding on two of its sides. I definitely need more practice re the actual quilting bit - I've decided that sewing straight lines is incredibly boring and I go way too fast trying to get it done. Still, practice makes perfect and I'll work on making myself take time because I'll only end up spoiling the work I've already done.

Stitching has also been going well, I've made good progress on my Small Start for Feb - First Moon Colony - Cirque des Cercles has had some attention and last night I properly finished two projects, The Stitching Shed's Santa cushion and The Cat's Whiskers' Spring Fever Biscournu. I also made headway in finishing The Cat's Whiskers' Alyssum Scissor Pocket.

I'm thinking to work on Sleigh Ride a bit this week. We're away visiting friends next weekend and the one after we have friends visiting us so I don't think I'll get much stitching done for the rest of this month as I have to finish the Jungle Quilt in the next couple of weeks too.

I don't have any pics of the above because I spent yesterday in the garden and it was too dark to take good photos by the time I remembered so I'll take some pics this week and post them.

I had a Stitchers GTG at mine on Saturday. A couple of my friends run online stores so we filled my house with their stock and had a great time rummaging through it all. Kate from Sparklies was one of them and she was kind enough to bring me some dye to do a piece of fabric. I bought a metre of white/silver metallic off her last year with the idea of dyeing it at some point and when I got given Row of Christmas Fairies for Christmas I decided that I needed that particular fabric dyed a paleish blue (and I needed it NOW! LOL)

Kate ran a dyeing class last June when a bunch of us stitchers went away together for the weekend so I was confident enough to go ahead with the dyeing (and her great instructions helped too) and the fabric has come out just as I wanted. I've got half a metre left which I intend to dye during her class at this years GTG as I want it the same blue but with a hint of purple so I need a bit of guidance. I have so many christmas/snow designs that I'm sure I'll get through the fabric in no time!

As I mentioned we spent a large part of yesterday in the garden starting to clear up a bit. We finally had the bonfire we'd been putting off since October. Okay it's not that environmentally friendly but we had so much to get rid of it really was the only way. Since moving in we've taken around 150 large bags of garden waste to the tip and we had more than all of that to burn yesterday. Plus we have about as much again (if not more) to cut down and remove so the bonfire has at least given us the chance to clear the backlog.

I had a chat with DH about my plans for the garden. He's not really a gardener, okay, he's not at all a gardener, so he's happy to let me decide what I want to do and then help me when he has to. I want to plant a couple of fruit trees as we've taken several trees out (because they're in the wrong places and not particularly nice) so I want to put some back and I figured fruit trees are a good plan. I'm also hoping to put some fruit bushes in as well so I'll be doing lots of research into what my options are. At the moment I'm thinking Pear, Plum and Cherry Trees but that could change.

I'm also going to have two vegetable beds and a small greenhouse. Obviously this is not something that will happen this year but we can at least plan it out and get started. We've decided to fence off the last quarter of the garden (the bit that still needs clearing that DH refers to as 'The Secret Garden') and leave that till last as it's going to take a lot of work to get it sorted. There's the remains of a pond, a million blackberry brambles, trees, shrubs and a lot of bricks embedded in the soil.

See, I told you it was a productive weekend!

One final cheerful note, I was spoiled with Stash this weekend. I was gifted with a couple of Fat Quarters and two lovely charts, I bought (shhhhh, don't tell) a few charts on Saturday because they were reduced and I'm awaiting some stash in the post which I ordered for DH to give me for Valentines (much more rewarding than flowers and choc). Oh and Bent Creek finally released the last of their Red Thread charts and the next part of The Big Zipper so those are included in the packages winging their way to me (my enforced Wagon ride included those as 'allowed' purchases)

Who does she look like?

I've put together a calendar for my parents as part of their christmas present for the last couple of years - the first year was pics of Lia but for the second one I thought it would be fun to include pics of the whole family as kids.

Anyway, I ended up scanning lots of old family photos including some of me and my brother which, I think you will agree, prove three important points:

1. We grew up in the 70s and my Mum had bad taste in clothes
2. My brother remains unchanged by the passing of time (except maybe getting taller)
3. Without doubt Lia looks like her Mummy!

Pic of Lia

January Roundup and February Goals

January Roundup

Stitching Finishes:

Newton's Law - Keep Calm
Brightneedle - Eliza Jane's Needlekeep
The Stitching Shed - Santa Cushion
Simply Heritage - Ginny
Just Nan - Secret Snowdrift

Stitching New Starts:

Brightneedle - Eliza Jane's Needlekeep (January Small Start, also finished)
Stitchin'Spiration - Lost in a Blackwork Maze (GFJ Start)

Current Stitching WIP List

1. Stitchy Kitty - Snowman Trio
2. Stitchin'Spirations - Getting Lost in a Blackwork Maze
3. Bothy Threads - Row of Christmas Fairies
4. Dimensions - Sleigh Ride
5. Ink Circles - Cirque de Cercles
6. Michael Powell - Cottage Garden 2
7. Be Attitudes Afghan
8. Santa's Journey Afghan
9. The Cat's Whiskers - Birds of a Feather Dilly Bag
10. The Cat's Whiskers - Grandma's Thread Minder
11. Bent Creek - The Big Zipper
12. Bent Creek - Red Threads
13. Midsummer Night Designs - Heaven's Above
14. Teresa Wentzler - Tradewinds*
15. Dragon Dreams - Dragon Virtues Afghan*
16. Brightneedle - Garden Party
17. DMC - Wild Ones Alphabet*
18. Michael Powell - Handmade Houses 4
19. Bothy Threads - Cut Thru Fairy Hill
20. Millhouse Designs - Charlie is Born
21. Dracolair - Dawn Awakening*
22. Bent Creek - Snapperville Series
23. Long Dog - St Germain
24. Noah's Sub*
25. Just Nan - Four Wishes
26. Stitchin'Spirations - Lost in a Blackwork Maze
27. Rosewood Manor - Red Threads Redwork

Books Read

Secret of the Sirens
The Gorgon's Gaze
Mines of the Minotaur
The Chimera's Curse
The Diamond of Drury Lane
Cat Among the Pigeons
Den of Theives
Cat O' Nine Tails

All of the above by Julia Golding (yes I did get a bit carried away with her novels but I blame Amazon Marketplace sellers who list books for 1p...)

February Stitching Goals

1. Make significant progress on Cirque des Cercles
2. Make significan progress on Sleigh Ride
3. In honour of 'Finish it February' properly finish as many of my 9 outstanding projects (listed below) as possible
4. Start and finish my Monthly Small Start

Projects Requiring Finishing

Redwork Bourse
Redwork Pinkeep
Eliza Jane's Needlekeep
Alyssum Scissor Pocket
Spring Fever Tuffet
Christmas Cushion
Bird's of a Feather Accessories - Needlebook, Scissor Pocket and Fob

New Projects

Bent Creek - First Moon Colony (Monthly Small Start)
The Trilogy - Spring Line Up (Five Finishes Start)

February Quilting Goals

Finish first Jungle Quilt
Make progress on second Jungle Quilt
Finish secret gift quilt (all will be revealed later)
Make two squares for the Monkey Buttons Star Quilt

I'll also be attending the next quilting course on the 21st to learn the Log Cabin technique

Whew, that's some list!

I'm pleased I've managed my first five finishes - it'll be harder going from now on as there's less small projects involved but if I keep my 'monthly start' projects small then that should help keep the numbers up - I'm hoping that for most of them I can start and finish them in the same month.

The pictures that aren't in the last post...

Here's my finished Newton's Law project

Here's my Snowman WIP after some attention

Here's the first two squares from the first Jungle Quilt:

And because she demanded to have her picture taken while I had the camera out, here's some of Lia (with Neh-Naw and Gung-Gah)

A Busy Weekend

Well the reward for my boast about Lia's potty training was a phone call from her nursery at 2pm last Thursday to say she'd had an extremely nasty bout of diarrhea and could I come take her home. Oh and by the way we just threw her trousers away because they were pretty much ruined...

She's fine though, other than the obvious sign she didn't show any other symptoms so I think it was more than likely something she ate. Still we used pullups over the weekend just to be on the safe side.

The big news of today though is last night was her first dry night! She bounded out of bed this morning shouting 'need a wee' and raced to the bathroom rather than her usual using the nappy and then saying she needed to go. Oh and we've now got her using the toilet rather than the potty which is great - no need to drag a potty around with us when we go visiting.

We had quite a productive weekend - several runs to the tip with rubbish, cleaning up and getting some more work done in the house. I'm hoping for some good weather at weekends so I can get out in the garden and do some clearing. Lia's birthday is a Sunday this year so we're going to have a 'BBQ open day' for friends and family so people can come when they like, leave when they like and bring offerings to be frazzled by DH. This means I've got till June to get the garden in good shape for kids to be playing.

Crafting wise I've been having fun too - I finished my Newton WIP last night and have made a bit of progress on my Redwork and Snowman WIPs. I've also done the first two squares of my Jungle Quilts. I've done the cutting for three quilts and now it's the sewing. I've had news of more babies this week so I'm now planning five quilts! It's fantastic fabric for kids though - bright, cheerful and non-gender-specific so I'm going to stick with my original design plan because it's a quick and simple one. I need to complete one quilt in four weeks, the next two by the end of April (to take to Greece) and then the final two by the end of July (we have two sets of friends due with their first babies two weeks apart).

I'll post some pics of the squares and the stitching later - it was too late last night to take any as I was waiting till Newton was done (I just had all that nasty backstitching to complete).

I'm also pleased that I've managed to read several books this month. I used to read two or three books a week pre Lia but for obvious reasons (not least my increase in hobbies) that dropped to about one a month if I was lucky. I'm trying to get at least 30 mins a day as I have a huge pile of 'too read' books that I want to work my way through.

I'm on another course for work tomorrow and Wednesday so Thursday I'll be posting my first monthly roundup of achievements plus my Feb goals. I intend to only focus on two WIPs next month - Sleigh Ride and Cirque des Cercles. Kathy's comment re CdeC reminded me why I always said I'd not join SALs because I'm so easily distracted LOL. Seriously though, I joined the Snowbird SAL to encourage me to get on with CdeC so I am determined to get back on with this one. Sleigh Ride is the same, I absolutely love this one stitched up so I want to get on with it - I'd like to have both these finished and framed by the end of the year.

Dry!

We've had three dry days.

What's that I hear you ask?

Potty training.

There have been no accidents for three whole days now.

Obviously now I'm posting this there'll be wee everywhere but I don't care, three days in a row is fantastic. She's not quite there with number twos but she does generally ask for a nappy if she needs to poo which is better than the alternative.

We're still on nappies at nighttimes but she's better at waking up in the morning and heading straight to the potty so I'm hoping we're well on the way to being totally toilet trained.

And yet more stitching

I did this piece as my monthly small start:



It's Eliza Jane's Needlekeep from Brightneedle. I used the only piece of 32ct fabric I had that was vaguely close to the charted fabric - it's a hand-dyed opalescent but I don't know where from as I rescued it from a friend who hates opal fabric.

Obviously I now have to finish it properly. I think I'm going to try and have a 'finishing weekend' every month so I get one or two pieces done at a time.

Here's another couple of WIPs. My GFJ start from Stitchin'Spirations - Lost in a Blackwork Maze (I'm still considering the colours)



And here's one of the three snowmen from Stitching Kitty - I started him just before Christmas and I'm going to work on him a bit - alternating with my Newton's Law WIP

Sleep Deprivation...

Lia seems determined to remind us what it's like to have a new baby in the house - probably to deter us from doing just that LOL.

She was running a fever Friday night having spent most of the day on the couch doing very little so the lethargy and sickness led to a pretty rough night.

Then on Saturday afternoon she had a bad nosebleed. We're not sure if she knocked her nose (DH thinks she did but he didn't see it happen) but whatever she did it bled A LOT. Saturday night she was a bit disturbed and she woke at 5am and got up at 6am. We take it in turns to sleep in at the weekends and Sunday morning DH had to get up with her.

He tried to get a nap early in the afternoon but she had another nosebleed and I had to yell him to come down because it was really bad and I needed a second pair of hands. A couple of hours later she had a third bleed.

Finally, at 5am this morning we were woken by her going 'Mummy, nose' and discovered her looking like she'd done several rounds in the boxing ring - pjs were soaked in blood, it was all over Neh-Naw, the bed, the floor, her hands and face, everywhere.

It took us 45 mins to stem the flow and we decided to take her to Casualty just to be on the safe side. The good news is it is nothing sinister, the doctor could see where the bleed was, and we got advice as to how to stop it in future and he said that if it bled for more than 15 mins we should take her back in.

So here I am at home using up my last days unbooked leave (my holiday resets at the end of March) with Lia who's pretty well as normal except for looking rather strange as she has a wedge of cotton taped across the bottom of her nose. Poor DH - I dropped him at the train station to go to work at 7am and if he's not asleep at his desk right now it'll be a miracle.

As you'll gather not much got done this weekend although I did get a coat of paint on the walls of the spare room with the idea that it'll be finished and livable by the end of next weekend (and I can finally unpack my books). I also managed a bit of stitching and a teeny tiny bit of quilting. Plans to get on with my next quilt project have been abandoned for now as I didn't get started and I know that my jungle fabric will arrive this week (I got a shipping notice at the end of last week) so I'll get straight on with them this weekend so there's no pressure to rush and get them finished later on.

Please be patient...

I'm playing with my template (in case you hadn't noticed).

I'm not sure how long it will take or what it will look like when I'm done but I'll try not to do anything too radical...

Update - okay so some of the 'corners' are in the wrong place but I need to edit some more images to stretch them as I expanded the main column widths. I hope to get round to it this weekend (and to putting a picture title bar in so that vivid red goes (which I like but even I need sunglasses for LOL)

Also I'll be changing text colours on links and titles etc. It's just that I'm at work and have to stop tinkering and get on with a report!

Fantastic Fabrics

Okay so my school sewing teacher is probably spinning in her grave right now. In the three years I did sewing at school (it was a girl's Grammar School, we had no choice) I never received more than 20% in exam results and here I am, owner of a whizzy sewing machine, drooling over fabrics and getting excited about planning quilt designs.

Still, if we'd been able to make quilts using funky fabrics rather than blouses that were so old fashioned our mothers wouldn't wear them, maybe I would have been a bit more enthusiastic in her classroom...

Whilst picking fabrics for my next quilting class (which is the Log Cabin technique and I'm doing mine in black, blue and gold!) I happened upon a totally funky Jungle Fabric that I bought a couple of metres of just because I couldn't resist, my idea was to do something for Lia with it but I had no idea what. Then when I returned home I spoke to DH about making a couple of quilts to take to Greece, one for our Nephew who will have just turned one and one for the baby boy of a friend of ours who will be about 7 months old.

I don't want to do some boring baby blue quilts that will get ignored once the boys are big enough to think they're not babies any more so I thought I'd see if there was anything that matched my couple of metres of jungle fabric. Luckily for me it turns out that it's a Moda collection called Silly Safari so I've now got 12 metres of fabric winging its way to me from the US.

Here's a selection from the 40 different fabrics in the collection:

















The first one is the one that originally caught my eye and will be the backing fabric for the quilts. The others are the range of designs in the collection and all come in four or five colourways. I've picked 17 half metres from the collection - the UK is so expensive that a half metre from the US costs the equivalent price as a Fat Quarter in the UK and the postage is about the same - and so should have enough that I can make a third quilt for my Godson.

The two I'm making for Greece will be 44"x64" and I've drawn out the pattern - nothing fancy, just squares and rectangles - quite similar to the quilt in a tin project. The 15 centre blocks will have a centre square with offset rectangles around them then there'll be a two inch border round those and then there'll be a border 5" wide made from 5" x 2" strips.

That probably doesn't make much sense but I'll be sure and post pictures when I'm getting on with the projects.

Sometime this week I hope to start my next quilting project - Star Sampler from Monkey Butons. Here's the pic from their site:



I shall be doing it in blues, purples and silver as I have a large stock of Fat Q's in these colours and this design is quite random. I've read the instructions (three times) and I'm pretty sure I can make all of the blocks - there's a couple that use paper piecing but only very simple blocks.

There's nothing like being ambitious...

Another finish

I'm definitely on a roll...

More finishes

So another WIP bites the dust - here's Secret Snowdrift from The Trilogy

Also it was my latest quilting class yesterday and we learned a technique to make quick quilt tops - we started and completed a top in a day and here's mine:

And finally here's the quilt top I completed last weekend, the Moda Quilt in a Tin:

I'm also very close to finishing another WIP - I'm making the most of my enthusiasm to get lots done.

Currently the three of us are a bit under the weather, we're all coming down with a nasty cold - much sneezing and nose blowing has been happening today - so we haven't been particularly productive but we need to get the Christmas decorations down tonight so I'm trying to summon up some energy.

Happy New Year!

Okay so I'm a bit late but it's been a busy few days (and I've been back at work). I hope 2008 is a fantastic year for all of you and that Health, Wealth and Happiness flows in abundance.

Oh and a certain reader should be reassured that her message got through and I'll be making sure I post here more regularly this year :)

We had a wonderful New Year with friends and 2008 is starting with a big change in the Family V household as DH starts a new job on the 7th after almost 7 years at his old one. It was time for a change as he hasn't been happy for quite some time but as you can imagine he's a little nervous about his first day.

We've also got a few celebrations to look forward to this year as my Niece is getting married in August and my Sister and BIL celebrate their 40th Wedding Anniversary in September. There's a queue of babies on their way as well - six that I'm currently aware of - and my Godson's little sister will have her Naming Ceremony early in the year too.

Holiday wise we've just booked flights to Greece for the end of April so we'll have the Orthodox Easter in Athens followed by my SIL's Church wedding. We've also booked a holiday cottage in North Devon for the end of June which will be just the three of us. We have an invite to go to DH's cousin's wedding in October in North Greece but we're not committing to that just yet. Oh and we've heard good news from our American Cousins as there's an engagement there - I'd love to finally get over to meet them on their home ground (we've met them in England and in Greece but never the US) so fingers crossed that when a wedding date is set we're able to accept the invite.

So 2008 is going to be a busy one. I'm off on my next quilting course this saturday and have three more booked for this year plus there's the Stitchers Weekend GTG again in early June which will be fantastic.

I'm on a roll...

Yesterday I finished a quilt top. Okay, only a small one, but a finish nonetheless. I don't have any pictures as yet but I will try and get one loaded soon.

It's a small piece, one of the 'Quilts in a Tin' from Moda and it measures 20" x 20". I could finish it as a cushion but Lia loves it (it's very bright) so I think it'll just end up as a blanket for her animals.

It's a step towards my 2008 goals as it was one of the quilting projects I had started (I'd done the cutting) but had stopped when my old sewing machine died on me. Talking of which my new sewing machine is fandabidozi! I had lots of fun over the weekend playing and the best part is that the slowest stitch speed is quiet enough that Lia doesn't complain (she absolutely hates noise from electrical stuff).

I've also made good progress on my WIP 'Ginny' and hope to have her finished by the end of the week. I won't get any stitching done tonight as we have friends over but tomorrow it'll just be the three of us so hopefully I'll get some more done.

I've also been grouping my WIP list into bunches of 5 and thinking about new starts I can include. Can you tell I'm bored at work today? LOL

Group 1

1. Just Nan - Secret Snowdrift
2. Ginny
3. Red Threads Redwork
4. Stitching Shed - Santa Cushion - completed 28/10/07
5. Newton's Law - Keep Calm

Group 2

6. Pulled Thread practice piece
7. Blackwork Maze
8. Row of Christmas Fairies
9. Garden Party
10. Charlie is Born

Group 3

1. Dimensions - Sleigh Ride
2. Ink Circles - Cirque de Cercles
3. Birds of a Feather Dilly Bag
4. Grandma's Thread Minder
5. Victoria Sampler - Lavender Hearts

Group 4

1. Michael Powell - Cottage Garden 2
2. Bent Creek - Red Threads
3. Midsummer Night Designs - Heaven's Above
4. Just Nan - Four Wishes
5. Bothy Threads - Cut Thru Fairy Hill

Group 5

1. Santa's Journey Afghan
2. The Big Zipper
3. Handmade Houses 4
4. Snapperville
5. St Germain

Group 6

1. Be Attitudes Afghan
2. Teresa Wentzler - Tradewinds*
3. Dragon Dreams - Dragon Virtues Afghan*
4. DMC - Wild Ones Alphabet*
5. Dracolair - Dawn Awakening*
6. Noah's Sub*

I'm thinking that, given the size of some of the projects, I'm going to have to include some smaller projects that I can start and complete as a reward system otherwise I'm likely to get bored.

So my current thinking is that I can pick one additional small project to start per month as long as I have stuck to my goals and made significant progress on my WIPs.

The list I can choose from is:

Bent Creek
Cold Snowman
Snow
Snowman
First Moon Colony
Long Winter
Peaceful Forest

Brightneedle
Eliza Jane's Needlekeep

Lili of the Valley
Blossom
Dew
Petal
Pollen

The Trilogy
Spring Line up
Autumn Line up
Summer Line up
Winter Line up
Halloween Line up

Teresa Wentzler
Needle Guardian

Other
Barbara Thompson - Around the World
Meineck Design Group - Brockley

Is this what they mean by Over-Achieving?

I've completed my first WIP!

DH and I watched 'The History Boys' last night and I got on with The Stitching Shed's Santa Cushion and here he is:

I don't have a before pic but I did his hat, the star, the green border and the backstitching last night. He needs to be finished into a cushion so he's now part of my 'complete finishing' list.

I have now taken pics of the other four WIPs in my first list:

Red Threads Redwork

The Trilogy's Secret Snowdrift

Newton's Law - Keep Calm at all Times

Simply Heritage Cats - Ginny

I also had a small HD over Christmas - the Bent Creek Zipper 'Tis the Season

And finally for this pic filled post, here's our Christmas tree :)

Getting Organised

I decided that, in order to best get on with my 2008 crafting plans I'd better get organised.

So, today I have put all my working copy charts into one display book so I can easily find them when I'm switching between projects. I've also packed up all the kitted WIPs into bags that are labeled and organised the WIPs themselves into a box with a second box for items that need 'finishing'.

I'm in a sorting out mood (it's the New Year, it does strange things to me LOL) so I'm going through all my stash and organising it properly. We've got a garage full of things to go in the loft so we're going to sort those out this weekend and all of my scrapbooking stuff will go up there as there's just not enough space for all my hobbies!

Thankfully the loft is easily accessible so I can zoom up and down and get things when the mood takes me. I will be focusing on my stitching and quilting this year but I also want to get on with putting some photos in albums - I've got none of Lia's pics in albums and I also haven't done our wedding album yet either.

One of the things I received from Santa was a gardening journal so I shall be working on that as we work on clearing the garden. I've got very little knowledge of plants and so the journal will be a good way of recording my learning curve as well as the garden's progress.

And of course all of the above is a sideline when it comes to organising the house and life in general (oh and not forgetting work) LOL.

I also remembered whilst organising my stash that I have an important project to stitch this year as it's my sister's 40th Wedding Anniversary in September and I have Victoria Sampler's Lavender Heart's I want to stitch for them. Typically for me I'm being very ambitious as I've never done pulled stitches or hardanger before so I'm going to have to have some small practice pieces in my WIPs in the first half of the year...

Still, the good news is once I've mastered them and done Lavender Hearts I can then do the Heirloom Christmas Sampler for myself.

So in the light of this I've decided to focus on finishing the following in January:

1. Just Nan - Secret Snowdrift
2. Ginny
3. Red Threads Redwork
4. Stitching Shed - Santa Cushion
5. Newton's Law - Keep Calm

They're all small and should be achievable in January. Once they're done I can include a small pulled thread piece in my WIPs and then get started on Lavender Hearts once I've completed the next five WIPs which are (for the moment)

6. Pulled Thread practice piece
7. Blackwork Maze
8. Row of Christmas Fairies
9. Garden Party
10. Charlie is Born

After that little lot I'll have another look at my plans and see how I'm going. I think I'll then focus on getting Lavender Hearts done (I'd like to finish it in good time and get it framed) as well as Sleigh Ride, Cirque des Cercles, Dilly Bag and Grandma's Thread Minder. Those five are all large projects which means I'll be busy for quite some time (no kidding right LOL)

I think that's all the organising I need to do for now - but at least it's focused me on one of my plans - posting to this blog more!

The only other piece of news is that my new sewing machine was delivered half an hour ago. Why am I here posting instead of playing? Simple, I want to wait till Lia's in bed so I can focus properly which makes this a good diversion tactic

'Tis the Season to be Jolly...

So did you all have a good festive season?

Christmas chez Family V was quiet and pretty stress-free. Lia had great fun with the pressies - she hadn't been excited at all up until the day itself (I don't think she'd really grasped the concept of Santa and Gifts) but she soon worked it out when presents were being passed out LOL.

As you can imagine she was very spoiled - we asked the Grandparents for money to put towards a wooden playhouse for the garden but even so she ended up with about 25 parcels under the tree. The parcel opening was staggered throughout the day to make sure she got a chance to play with things. Her two favourites were a junior etch-a-sketch and a dress up dolly (very clever - it has plastic clip on clothes so they a) won't break and b) can be put on by small hands. Now I just have to hope that they don't c) get lost LOL.

Other than those gifts she got a Pingu house playset, several books, some jigsaws, 2 Pingu DVDs, a cuddly polar bear, some clothes, a bracelet, a colouring book, a bath toy and a game.

We also braved the sales yesterday and got her quite a few items of clothing (from the Pumpkin Patch - sales in there bring the clothes down to reasonable prices!) and a few toys that will be put away for her birthday.

DH is happy - it was his birthday yesterday so he had double pressies. His main present was a DS Lite with the accessory kit and three games (Zelda, Hotel Dusk and 42 Classic games). He's just about to start a new job with a longer commute so the DS should keep him happy on the train.

As for me, I was definitely spoiled. I'll admit that I chose most of my gifts (or gave damn good hints!) but at least it meant that I got what I wanted. My gift list was:

A clover mini iron (great for seams)
Bothy Threads Row of Christmas Fairies
Stitchin'Spirations Lost in a Blackwork Maze
Two skeins of Dinky Dyes Illawong
Ink Circles Kaleidoscope
Left handed dress making scissors
Pirates of the Caribbean 3 DVD
A kit to make these two cuties:



They're called 'Too Pooped' and 'Jingle Your Own Darn Bells' LOL

Oh and not forgetting a brand new sewing machine!

After much discussion with DH and the sewing machine man (one of the owners of the shop that holds the Quilting classes) the decision was made that I should get a new machine rather than spend money repairing the old one. The cost of repair was likely to be heading towards half of the cost of a new machine and, given that the old one is seven years old, DH felt it better to get a new machine that is covered by a warantee.

So we have ordered a new machine from Brother. My old one was also a Brother so the extras that I bought from the old one will fit the new one which is cool. The only bad thing about the order is that it is placed directly with Brother and they deliver to me so I'm not sure exactly when the machine is going to arrive given Christmas working hours (we bought the machine on the 22nd). Still, it'll arrive soon I'm sure.

So that's our festive news. We're having a few friends join us for New Year's Eve and then it's back to business as usual.

I intend to use the long dark evenings to get on with my Stitching plans, especially as DH may be home later than usual once he's started his new job. I keep telling him he's lucky to have a wife with hobbies who can amuse herself while he's away ;)

2008 Stitching and Quilting Plans

Well I didn't really manage to stick to my 2007 plans but hey, who's to say 2008 won't see me more organised LOL.

So my stitching plans are:

1. Stay on the Wagon - I'm only allowed to purchase the last parts of the Bent Creek Series' I'm stitching which means 4 x Red Thread Charts and 5 x Big Zipper Charts.

2. Finish Sleigh Ride

3. Finish Cirque de Cercles

4. 'Proper' finishing of items already stitched and also any WIPs that get finished (See list below)

5. Two new GFJ starts - Stitchin'Spirations Blackwork Maze and Bothy Threads Row of Christmas Fairies

5. Allow myself one new start for every five WIPs finished (see WIP list below) until all I'm left with is the BAPs (marked with *)

6. Okay this one may be a bit ambitious but I'll put it anyway, to work on each of my WIPs at least once during the year.

Quilting plans are:

1. Attend more classes and get lots of practice

2. Make the following quilt tops - Spring Sunshine, Dancing Pinwheels, Ohio Star Medallion, Monkey Button's Star Medallion, Road to Ireland (all of which I have the fabrics for).

3. Finish and quilt the projects I've started already.

Other Projects:

1. Country Folk - Simply Pooped Out and Jingle Your Own Darn Bells

2. Country Folk - Willy Melt

Stitching WIP List

1. Stitchy Kitty - Snowman Trio
2. Stitchin'Spirations - Getting Lost in a Blackwork Maze
3. Bothy Threads - Row of Christmas Fairies
4. Dimensions - Sleigh Ride
5. Ink Circles - Cirque de Cercles
6. Michael Powell - Cottage Garden 2
7. Be Attitudes Afghan
8. Santa's Journey Afghan
9. The Cat's Whiskers - Birds of a Feather Dilly Bag
10. The Cat's Whiskers - Grandma's Thread Minder
11. Bent Creek - The Big Zipper
12. Bent Creek - Red Threads
13. Midsummer Night Designs - Heaven's Above
14. Teresa Wentzler - Tradewinds*
15. Dragon Dreams - Dragon Virtues Afghan*
16. Rosewood Manor - Red Threads Redwork
17. The Stitching Shed - Santa Cushion
18. Simply Heritage - Ginny
19. Brightneedle - Garden Party
20. DMC - Wild Ones Alphabet*
21. Michael Powell - Handmade Houses 4
22. Bothy Threads - Cut Thru Fairy Hill
23. Anchor - Keep Calm
24. Millhouse Designs - Charlie is Born
25. Dracolair - Dawn Awakening*
26. Bent Creek - Snapperville Series
27. Long Dog - St Germain
28. Noah's Sub*
29. Just Nan - Four Wishes
30. Just Nan - Secret Snowdrift

Things that need finishing list:

1. Redwork Pinkeep
2. Alyssum Scissor Pocket
3. Spring Fever Bourse
4. Birds of a Feather Accessories

I can't believe I have 30 WIPs. I'd like to get that down to under 10 by the end of 2008 with significant progress on all five of the BAPs.

Of course that plan doesn't include all the other things I'd like to do such as gardening, reading, cooking, etc but I really need to decrease my stash so I want this list here to focus on.

Oh and the one final plan is to post more progress pics here. Every WIP I pic up with be photo'd before I work on it and after I finish my 'session' with it so I can look back on what I've achieved over the year. This will also help me post more to this blog.

Oh and finally I shall review my progress on a monthly basis

Christmas is Coming...

And I'm getting excited! I love christmas and we're having it at our house this year with my parents. We got all the decorations out yesterday and the tree is going up tonight, it's nice to finally be in a house that we can fit the decorations in without losing a huge chunk of living space!

Last month I made christmas puddings for the whole family (including one to post to Greece!) and will be making mince pies at some point. Turkey is ordered from M&S (pre stuffed and in it's own roasting tin) and I'm busy making a food list for my Mum to check over. Not because I can't order food but because my StepDad can be a bit fussy and I want to make sure there's plenty of stuff he'll eat.

Lia's been singing Christmas Carol's for weeks as they're practicing for a Carol Concert next thursday. I asked if she should be wearing anything particular (stupid me) and they said if she had a white dress because they're supposed to be angels. What parent in their right mind has a white dress for a 2 1/2 year old???? Someone at work says they have an angel costume that might fit, otherwise I'm going to try and find a white nightie somewhere.

She's still not really aware of the whole presents part of Christmas (yes I am making the most of it) but she's loving the lights and decorations, especially the 8 foot inflatable snowman they have outside nursery.

Crafting wise, I thoroughly enjoyed my quilting class and have almost finished my quilt - just two sides to have the binding stitched on. I've been waiting since the class for the quilting foot for my sewing machine to arrive - it turned up yesterday but now my machine is playing up big time and I'm going to have to take it for repair I think. It's eating the thread somewhere between the reel and the needle - basically the thread seems to get stripped thinner and thinner until it snaps and I'm left with a 'spring' of thread where it's been gathered.

I'm not sure if that makes sense but it wasn't doing it before, I've cleaned and oiled the machine, used different threads, different tension, different stitch lengths and it still happens. It's incredibly frustrating as I've got so much I want to get on with.

Anyway, here's two more quilt tops I've finished that are awaiting quilting. Thanks everyone for you kind comments re my first quilt top (here and in the other places I posted it in my finishing excitement LOL). I'm having so much fun with all of this and have just ordered a whole load of fabric having sold some stuff on eBay (so it's not real money I'm using!)






Both quilts are using the colour schemes I chose for the first two quilting courses. My next course is 5th January and I've paid a deposit for another three - one in Feb, one in March and one in May!!!

Stitching wise I haven't done much (I'm sure you can understand why) but I did manage to post an update of my Cirque des Cercles on the Snowbird SAL. At least I'll get some stitching done while my sewing machine is out of action LOL.

Finally here's some pics of Lia