Etsy Shop Change

Etsy introduced earlier this year the ability to have instant downloads for digital files.  I haven't had the time or the inclination to do it until now.  But there was a couple of times recently with our bad phone/internet when I was struggling to meet my obligation to email the files and this would have got me out of this pickle quickly and easily.

Over the next few weeks/months I hope to have all my patterns as digital downloads from Etsy, which means once you pay you can download the files.  At the moment I don't think BigCartel offers this (they may I just don't know about it but I want Etsy working first).

The day was perfect today for walking.  Coco got a walk this morning... she hasn't been on one for a couple of weeks in the lead up to Christmas.  The first 2 pictures were from that walk, I wanted to get the sale boats that you could see clearly way out to sea, but they are just specks on the horizon with my iPhone.  The local creek is starting to recede but they are forecasting rain later in the week so it may be short lived fingers crossed... our lawn could do with a water.   Later in the morning I headed to the beach again this time with the rest of the family.

 I expected the beach to be a lot busier than it was, but I don't think people lay and bake like they use to when we were young.

 The ocean was a beautiful shade of blue green today.

Christmas Over for another year

It took me a few days to recover from my Trip to Melbourne, I don't know if I caught something on the plane or if the year just finally got to me but I felt awful from Friday through to a massive migraine on Sunday.  And I was going to do so much on Sunday... managed the food shopping and that was all.  It didn't matter that the floors weren't washed nobody noticed well at least they didn't say anything.

Melbourne was busy and I went to my favourite shop and made a purchase or two.

Just love the packaging.  I did a lot of walking on Friday the pedometer said 12km so that might have been  why I was a bit tired when I got home.  I managed to pick up a few more little gifts for the kids.






















Tuesday I knocked off work early and just got stuff ready for Xmas day, most of which not needed as the family didn't stay for tea.  But the trifle went down a treat.

Yesterday Squid decided that we would paint her room now.... so this morning I am off to buy paint as we now have all her bedroom furniture in the lounge room.  I have a couple of other errands to run as well.. I have some Christmas money to spend.  

Xmas Celebrations

The year is slowly winding down.  All my xmas shopping (non food items) is done.  Everything I can cook before hand has been done (fruit cake, mince pies, white chocolate xmas rocky road, chocolate apricot balls and cinnamon and ginger nut mix).  I’m not stressing about xmas lunch, it is pretty much all planned in my head and there will only be 7 of us for lunch so no big deal.  I read in the paper that they expect it to be 27 on the big day …. as we have to have a hot lunch (MIL’s rules not mine) I will at least survive the kitchen. 

I’m off to the hairdressers  after work today for the Christmas DO and nails buffed and polished, then off to dinner with the quilting girls before getting up at the crack of dawn for a flight to Melbourne for a work show and a spot of shopping.

I’m heading to Luccello on Friday for a look around and apart from that have no plans for a couple of hours but I am hoping to find a few stocking fillers in my travels.

There was no sewing for the girls this year apart from the buttons that make the closures for these jar surrounds.  The jars are full of homemade goodies and the surrounds were one of the projects form the Artsy Christmas Class I did recently.  The bags have a few different bits and pieces… like a brooch from curly pops shop and one of my favourite summertime T2 teas, a few more goodies that I picked up at a couple of markets that I went to recently.

The labels on the bags I found on Pinterest and they are a free download and are great to label homemade goodies.

I've scheduled this for the time we will be sitting down to tea so the girls get a surprise.

Very Proud

It was Year 7 Graduation last night. As I have said Maestro has had a bit of a year of it this year and last term he didn't even want to go to graduation. But I told him it would be a special night and he wouldn't want to miss out on it, it wasn't about his teacher it was about him.  We shopped for his outfit after going to the pictures during the holidays so I didn't make a big deal of it.

One of his friend's Godfather owns a few luxury cars and she offered quite a few of her friends a ride.  Maestro likes cars so he jumped at the chance and he was really looking forward to the night. We took some photo's and left the 4 friends to head to the hall.  Maestro played it up for the cameras getting out of the car and we will probably be able to show that footage at his 21st.

Here he is getting his graduation certificate.  We thought that would be it.  But when the end of the night's awards were handed out Maestro and 2 of his friends from the car ride each received an Award, for Science (Zac), Resources (Sophie) and ICT (Maestro) not bad odds out of 100 kids.  I think it might have even made the year worthwhile…. not quite…but it was great for them to get some recognition for their achievements of the year.  

Renewing My Creative Soul

Can't tell you how much I have been enjoying sketching and painting this week.  This is my first attempt at one of the projects in the Twelve Artsy Ornaments of Christmas there are a few more that I want to try but getting some of the supplies as I have said has been a bit difficult.  Did a trip to Spotlight on the weekend and they had zilch of anything that I could use and what was there was pretty cheesy.

On the weekend I got an email from  Christy Tomlinson (the host of the Twelve Artsy Ornaments) advertising her sale.  A lot of her classes were half price so I enrolled in a couple.  The classes are with Junelle Jacobson and the picture here is of one of her projects.

I am just about ready to enrol in Life Book 2014 and that will be a year long course but it doesn't start until 1 January so I am feeding my Creative Soul with these short courses first.

We put up the tree on the weekend and I got all my ornie swaps out to decorate one of my wire trees.

A Finish

The kids have 2 more weeks of school and I for one will be glad that the school year is finally over.  This school year has been a little stressful so I will be glad it is over.

Maestro will have his Graduation evening in just over a week and hopefully it will be uneventful.  All the kids had to write a Valedictory   Speech and all I can say is he needs to be a politician when he grows up because he can lie like one, because I know none of the sentiment that he expressed in that speech is anything like what he feels about the last year at Primary School.

He had his High School Induction day last week and he came out and said that that was the best day of school for the whole year.  He had a great time,  I know he is looking forward to a new chapter.  He was asked to go to the High School during the year for extended Maths so he wasn't nervous one bit and he had already decided which teacher he wanted and he was please to find out that he was in his class next year.

Last week I managed to watch most of the video's for the Christmas Ornaments.   Finding supplies though is proving a bit difficult and when I can get them they are expensive :( as they aren't available downunder… No Fake Snow and I can get Paperclay but it is really pricy especially when you add postage.  Haven't tried Spotlight yet but I hope to head there on the weekend for  few bits and pieces.

So that I can clear the decks in the sewing room and start painting, I finished this quilt.

I plan to have some more goodies of the painted variety to show you next week.  Fingers crossed.  

all things christmassy

I just purchased my first Christmas decoration for the year.  I love little ornamental trees and I have them up all year round.  I just popped to the Chemist and there was this in their gift section so of course it had to come home with me, it is too cute for words.

I'm home today waiting for a guy to service the Aircon and Telstra again.  We now have a phone line but it is still crackly (it worked beautifully for 6 hours).  I rang my internet service provider and they can track the drop outs and there have 200 in the last 48 hours so I guess it wasn't the fix that Telstra thought it was… another bandaid solution … they seem to be good at those or not good however you like to look at it.

On Tuesday because there was hope of an internet fix I decided to join the 2013 Artsy Ornaments of Christmas by Christy Tomilnson.  There are 12 projects given via internet video,  I haven't managed to look at any apart from Welcome Videos but I think I am going to set up the iPad in the kitchen and get watching while I am cleaning up today.  Might even do some baking a bit later.  I have my mind to do one of the projects from the first days classes, something big a bold, might have to head to bunnings first for some supplies though.

You would think

That without the phone and the internet I would have plenty of time to just be creative but that hasn't been the case.   I seem to not have much time at all.

Last week Maestro participated in the SAPSASA Tennis Carnival playing for Western District.  He won 6 of his 7 singles matches and 2 of his 7 doubles matches.  He had a fantastic time and enjoyed mixing with a new bunch of kids while playing tennis.  It was a totally different experience to club tennis and it gave him a bit more enthusiasm for the game.

The team came equal 2nd in their Division.

I'm working on Marquee Diamond Quilt at the moment, there is one fabric that I think I will swap, and I have to cut the edge shapes and then I will be able to sew all the rows together.  

This weekend Squid and I are planning to head to the Boutique Life Design Market at Belair.  

Telstra tell me they plan to install the new cable to my house on Tuesday… can't say I am holding my breath on that one.  

No Phone and No Internet

We are having phone trouble again in fact we do not have a functioning phone line at the moment and no internet, to say I am super sick of Telstra would have to be the understatement of the Century. ETA for fixing it is the end of the Month. My kids are struggling to do homework and its really hard when you run an online business. If you place an order for a PDF pattern I will do my upmost to deliver however there may be a bit of a delay in the delivery.

Its not long till Christmas so here a few ideas for some Xmas Stitching

All these patterns are available from my BigCartel Shop and are PDF patterns which will be emailed to your Paypal email address within 24 hours of sale .... usually sooner.



 The Spirit of Christmas Cushion










Hexie Christmas Coasters

Holly Wreath Cushion

Tis the Season Quilt

Songs Of Christmas Ornies

Another Week Whizzes By

This week wasn't quite as busy as last week but it was still full on and the top it off the kids came down with a virus.  First Squid, then Maestro Thursday and yesterday... it was the 24-48 hour kind so they are back on track for the weekend and off to tennis this morning.

Maestro got selected to play all 4 days in the SAPSASA Tennis Carnival in a couple of weeks, so I am getting a couple of days off work to play taxi.  Might get a bit of stitching done on those days in between session.  His club is hosting one of the Divisions but unfortunately we get to drive to the other side of town which means a 7.30am start to get there in peak hour traffic.    Should be interesting getting him moving at that time of day.

I made a start on my final assignment for study and am just waiting from feedback from one person and then I can send that off and don't have to think about that again.  Note to self  remember to read the fine print next time and only go for courses that are a day in length in future to keep my 6 hours of training up to date.

With all the running around I haven't done much stitching, apart from a little Thursday and Friday night.  But I did call in to the quilt shop on the way home yesterday and picked up a couple of metres of Tulla Pink Fabric that I wanted to fussy cut for some diamonds.  Putting fabrics with it is proving a little difficult at times but its fun to play and Squid was putting her 2 cents worth in last night which was proving very distracting.

Need to cut lots more diamonds out to get a better feel, and need to raid the stash a bit more to find some that fit.  Think I'll use those that I discard on the back though I probably have the perfect Voile for the back... decisions decisions... probably shouldn't jump the gun quite so quickly worrying about the back yet.

I'll leave you with a picture of Coco who has just had her first summer haircut.  Poor thing really suffered last week when we had that warm day.  I think this is the shortest she's been but her hair is so thick I don't think she will feel the cold so much.  She feels like crushed velvet at the moment.  She looks pretty bony after a cut, I try to keep her lean and make sure the kids don't feed her any rubbish as I don't want any preservatives to creep into her diet because of her allergies that flair at this time of the year.  She has been doing lots of walking lately as well which has trimmed down any winter fat as well.

Catch you next week.

International Youth Silent Film Festival

First week back at school and we have been very busy.  We haven't had one night without something on.  I am hoping that next week might slow down a bit.

On Monday night we went to the screening of Maestro's film in the Silent Film Festival.  From the look of the program, his school was the only primary school that participated all the rest of the schools were high schools.  A number of Maestro's schools  films were selected as finalist to be screened.  There were screenings on Monday and Tuesday night, and 3 films from each night were selected to be in the running for the 3 major prizes.

Maestro's film was selected as one of the 3 from Monday night's screening so we had another night out at the flicks on Wednesday night.

In the tradition of Silent Movies the Theatre organ was played while the films were playing.  Wednesday night entertainment included a couple of Silent Film Classics as well as the screening of the 6 finalist films.  Maestro's film didn't get into the money but it was very exciting for it to be selected in the top 6 and has spurred him on to maybe enter again next year.

October School Holidays

I'm enjoying an extra long weekend with an extra day off on the end of the Labour Day long weekend.  I have feeling pretty chilled out at the moment, and even took up needle and thread last night.

The start of daylight savings has meant that I don't feel all that ready to go to bed early even though the last few days have been pretty full on with prep for Maestro's birthday on Thursday.  He is a bit worried though because the beautiful weather we have had the last few days is set to turn bad on that day and he has planned a picnic lunch with ball games in the park. I've told him just to see how the day pans out there is no point in worrying until the rain happens.

School holidays means keeping the kids happy with activities, twe walked down the the beach this afternoon  I had an errand and  the kids saw an opportunity for ice cream.




Last week I purchased this little gismo.  I really needed to get back on the diet wagon. I know it is probably a copout, but stress and weight loss just doesn't mix with me.  So I gave myself a break until I was ready to pick up the baton again.

D Day was last week.  Previously I hit a plateau when my lack of regular exercise just wasn't cutting it so I thought that if I could track my movement I would at least know the days when I needed to move my butt a bit more.  So far it has worked.  Early in the first week on the days that I worked I just didn't get my 10K but every day I have been home I've aced it and today this was my total at 4.00pm and I still have a couple of hours of activity before I settle for the evening so there is a chance for 15K today.

The gismo is a fitbit it syncs to the computer and my phone, not so effortlessly with my ipad for some reason but once it updates on the phone it automatically updates the ipad.  The app tells me how many active minutes I have had and I can feed that into my WW APP which I use to track food.

They have a couple of other gismo's that track sleep as well but I figure I don't really need to know how much sleep I don't get a night.  This was the cheaper option anyway and I wanted to work out if it would help me first.  Maybe when I am fitter I will think about upgrading to the bells a whistle models.

September is Over for Another Year and I survived

September is our busiest time at work.  We have to review all our big clients and that together with the fact that the company implemented a new computer system in July that still doesn't do all the stuff that the old system did automatically means the last 3 months have been pretty stressful.

About a week and a half ago I hit the wall, I had an infection in my eye for 5 days, and the stuff the Dr gave me was making it worse/not doing anything other than blurring my vision  and I was getting about 3 hours of sleep a night,  The boss was out of the office most of the week and by Friday I was a weeping mess.

That was also the day I decided to use something else on my eye that my husband likes to refers to as snake oil, because I keep telling him to use it on everything from pimples to rashes and sore throats .. and it works so I decided to use it on my eye.  Within 24 hours the swelling was gone and the pain and I had a decent night's sleep.  I think I slept for about 12 hours.  Monday last week I got to work and I wasn't stressed at all.  I ended up working everyday last week and extra hours each day to get through the end of the month and come Friday I was tired but fine.

It is amazing how sleep helps you deal with stuff and when it doesn't happen how messed up you can get.

It's school holidays and I have a few days off including an extra long weekend next week to recharge.  

It is the last term of Primary School for Maestro ... this year hasn't been the best for him, his teacher can best be described as a piece of work (I have a few other adjectives to describe her best not put in writing) ... and I will just be glad when he is out of there.  He doesn't want to go to his graduation and wanted to pull out of SHIP next year because of the treatment he has received ... but we have talked him round I think.  I thought we were the only one that felt that way but I spoke to another mother and she was at her wits end as well.  It was amazing the change at the end of last term when a student teacher was taking the class, marking his work and giving a bit of praise.  He aced all the assignments went above and beyond and got an overall Outstanding without all the putdowns that he had been getting all year from the SHE DEVIL.

And despite this Maestro got notified that a silent film he and 3 others made at school got shortlisted in the Silent Film Competition, so we head off to watch the finalists in a couple of weeks.  He has also put his name down for SAPSASA Tennis and he looks set to make the team, so the next term will be busy.  It looks like the SHIP class he applied for will be going ahead and we head to an information session at the end of October to find out all the stuff he will be doing at High School next year including a fantastic camp to Canberra ... which I would love to go on ... just not with 30 kids.

We headed to Glenelg today to finalise the details of Maestro's birthday party next week, we are going to the Beach House and then having a picnic on the reserve out front.  And I think we have a pretty good plan in place to keep all the boys busy, fingers crossed that the weather is going to be ok its been a little bit hit and miss lately.  

The stitchery above is something I am working on at the moment, it will be Steampunk inspired and I will be using some of Tim Holtz new fabric range.   I will also be incorporating some of my stash to give it a real scrappy feels so that if you like it and you can't get the same fabric you can feel like you can still have a go.  I might look into doing some fabric dyeing for the backgrounds to give an alternative to the print fabric so that it looks like old parchment and leave a tutorial on the blog.  That's the plan anyway.  I've decided to create stuff that makes me happy instead of trying to work out what stitchers, want that way if it isn't successful it won't be a total waste of time and effort.  And I think this design will be a bit OUT THERE for most.

Off for some more Ayurvedic tea now think I'll have the Ayurvedic Passion now.... that's the one of the left.

Inspiration

I went walking this morning.  It always amazes me how that walk down by the sea  can clear the mind of all my cares and allow my creative juices to flow once again.   Looking at the muddy churned up seaweed infested water and the overcast sky made a few ideas that have been floating around in my head come together.

I have been thinking of my next big work for a few weeks now and I think I am ready to start sketching and then sewing.

A little parcel from the Crewel Goblin arrived today.  It is Blackbird Designs Loose Feathers Collection for this year.  It is in 12 parts each a sampler with the aim you can complete each one in a month.  I think I might just be collecting them for a while.  Because I am drawn to those Valdani and Cosmo Threads at the moment and the amazing Tim Holtz fabric.

Another Week has Flown By

I really hate September it is our busiest month for the year at work, and the weeks are going by  a blur.  Hoping for a couple of days off in October, but I haven't had a moment to put in my leave form so I might be in trouble on the home front.

I've just submitted the 2nd to last subject in the study I am doing.  One more subject and a 2 questions to answer on another subject and it is done and there is 2 months to go till the deadline.  The plan is to get them all done as soon as possible so that I can get on with life.










As I said its been another full on week.  Squid had a Celebration for all the kids that took part in the Science Award at the school and everyone got a cool medal for participating.  Here's Squid telling the Principal one of the things she learnt about energy.

Wednesday was Show Day for the kid's so I moved my day off and DH had the day off as well and we all headed to the Show.  I think the Show is a total waste of money but DH thinks differently, and you haven't been to the show unless you have gone on the rides, I don't do rides... Squid got sick of DH asking her if she wanted to go on rides and Maestro went on rides with DH until he was ready to vomit (the Gravitron tipped him over the edge luckily DH didn't go on that one otherwise I would have 2 basket cases on my hands).  I did manage a 10 minute look in the craft hall though, there were some fantastic quilts this year.

On the crafting front, I have managed a heap of these flowers (only 2 more to go) and 1 house for my Wendy Williams BOM, yesterday I cut out Squid's Teen Seasonal Coat and have completed another journal page.

Today we are heading out to the annual City to Bay Picnic (I don't think anyone who goes now actually does the run anymore) but we have a nice BBQ afterwards and a catch up with old friends that we don't see often. Its been raining since about 6am but it looks like it is clearing so we might be fine for this afternoon.

Another full on weeks heads to a close

Its been another busy week but at least this week has been injury and illness free for me.  By this time last week I had an been diagnosed with inner ear infection, slipped and fell on an escalator and went to bed with the start of a ripper of a head cold.

Monday saw the worst of the head cold gone and Squid and I had a late start and a quiet morning at home as then she had her long awaited appointment with the pediatrician.  He was running late due to an emergency c-section, but we got there in the end. He has ordered some tests to rule out problems with her kidneys (which she was born with) and an MRI to get a better look at her spine, which she has had done this afternoon.  The MRI was amazing, I sat next to the radiographer and saw all of Squids insides up on the screen.   Squid was such a good girl to stay still for the half hour it took as well.  The next hurdle will be the blood test but I am leaving that to next week to tackle.

I couldn't help it I had to start one of the Wendy Williams BOM's.  Here is my start on the flowers for the centre panel of My Place or Yours?  They have been quite fun to do and I have collected a few more pearl cottons as well to add to my stash.  

This afternoon I put the finishing touches on my next journal page.

You can't see it but it is covered in writing.   The page is about Pivotal People in your life ... the good and the bad...... I probably won't want to show a close up of some of the things  I wrote here but it was an interesting exercise ... sometimes its really good just to say out loud what you really feel instead of bottling it all up which I tend to do with certain elements in my life.

I was going to go in to work today but last week just caught up with me and I didn't have it in me to give up my day off.  The boss had been away interstate this week so I was able to catch up on a lot of the backlog anyway.

At least soon we will have a clearer picture on Squids back problems and hopefully rule out something sinister going on.  I got the Physio to give her some more exercises to strengthen her core and one of my errands today was to get a small gym ball for her to work with... I'm hoping the novelty will give her the incentive to keep them up.

In other news I won Nikki's giveaway... hoping that it arrives tomorrow and Squid and I will go fabric shopping.
 

New Shop, Pattern Release and a new stockist

Its been one of those weeks this week .... I seem to be having a string of them lately...  but I won't bore you with the details.

The Christmas in July online event is over for another year and I can now release the 3 patterns that I created for Quilt Fabric Delights.  

I have also decided to time the release of these patterns with my new Big Cartel Shop and you will find the patterns there.  The shop is still quite small and will remain so for the time being.  I will continue to my etsy shop but if you would prefer to order directly from me without having to signup to etsy etc I think this is the way to go.  

Just remember if you have any patterns that you would like me to pop up on the Big Cartel Shop just drop me an email.  

If you would like any of my BOM Quilt patterns on a monthly basis you can go to:

Soul Stitches

Quilt Fabric Delights: Full BOM Program:

Blueberry Botanicals

Quilt Fabric Delight for Blueberry Botanicals (pattern only), 

Quilters Harvest: Full BOM Program  

and now

Julie's Sewing Shed: Full BOM program 

Here is Julie's version:

Journal Fodder 365

I got a new book the other week and I have had a chance to read through a few pages it Is Journal Fodder 365.  There is lots of ideas for journalling and each chapter has weekly Journal prompts which I am going to give a go.

The first prompt is "I am" and I was quite amazed at how much I could write in a short period of time, I think the writing part of this only took about 15 minutes.  So I am hoping I actually stick to the schedule.

I finished this last night, by adding a bit of Journal Art, a picture of me (there aren't many of those).

This morning I started the background for the 2nd journal page.  This prompt is Pivotal People which might prove cathartic.   I'll let you know how I go next week.

Just got home from Squid's tennis elimination final.  Squid's team lost but they all played really well against the top side as they were rained out last week and Team 1 played 4 this week to even things up.  Squid went down 6-5 but each game went to deuce apart from the last one and I think Squid just ran out of steam at that point.  Lots of long rallies and lots of good shots from both girls.  After all the problems with Squids back over the season it was great to see her back to form.

I see an end

Do you like the photo, Squid took it as part of her Science Project for a competition that is run in SA.

Work continues to be manic, but there is light it will all be finished for another year on the 1 of October so only 6 weeks to go.

Club Footy will be finished (maybe) this week, or next week if they get into the finals, I don't think they will get any further than the first round of finals, as the team that they beat 2 weeks ago won't let them get away with another win but then again anything can happen in finals.

Tennis got rained out last week, so Squid plays finals this week against the No 1 side, and Maestro will play an elimination final as well.  The boys weren't doing so well when rain cancelled play, though Maestro was up in his game.

So looking forward to having nothing on on the weekends for a couple of weeks until the Tennis summer season starts.

I passed in another subject for study, there are only 2 a bit more to go and I have 3 months to finish them.  Going to do my best to get them all wrapped up early though because I am so over it.  Next time I am going to find a day course to cover my 6 hours next year.

I have been stockpiling patterns and notions to get on with lots of sewing once all these commitments petter out.  And I have decided to get reacquainted with EQ and have bought some add on software and a lessons book so I can get to know it better and design some more quilts of my own.  I really want to do a New York Beauty.

The washi muslin is nearly finished, just need to take up the hem and lose the weight I put on in the last 2 weeks.

    

I'm Going to Have a Grumble

But first a finish, I know it is only 1 block but it has been a month in the making.  I've also managed to do a Full Bust adjustment on my Washi Dress pattern and have cut out a Muslin which I hope will be fine to wear when I put it together because I used really pretty fabric that I picked up dirt cheap at a sale.  

Now for the grumble.  I read this afternoon on Facebook that an commercially successful US Designer had a huge spread in Homespun Magazine.  Homespun started doing this a couple of years ago and it really peeved me off at the time and I stopped buying the magazine religiously and only picked it up when I saw a project I wanted in it.  From what I have heard from others Homespun have also reduced the number of projects as well.  So Aussie Designers have even less chance of getting in one of our leading homegrown craft magazines.  

If Homespun are doing it to appeal to the American Market I think they have missed the point because American's love the mag for the Australian content.

So at the risk of never being asked to be in the Magazine ever again... Homespun take a look at your title and spread the love DownUnder.

The Week that Was and the 15 Minute Challenge

I have been keeping up the creativeness this week though there isn't much to show for it.  Hand piecing does take its time.  There was some progress on the star bursts a couple of them have centres now and I have a plan for putting the quilt together which is always a good thing.  The voile is proving problematic though and the latest starburst once the centres was put it doesn't quite lay straight I see some reverse sewing in my future I think.

Went shopping this morning at Sarah's and bought home some lovely voile to make a shirt  and some of the London Calling range to make a Washi Dress.  Just have to clear a space in the sewing room to cut it all out.

There were only 2 days where I didn't sew, Monday night just didn't have the energy after swimming and Wednesday last week was out because I went to tea with the girls.  But I did make up for those days on the weekend.

Squid continues to improve and is allowed to play doubles and singles tennis this week, and we might only need one physio session next week...which will be great.  Monday just gone was the longest day ever with physio at 8, school drop off then work, school pickup, then tennis practice for Maestro then a rushed tea then off to swimming ... no wonder I didn't fit in any sewing.

Work continues to be manic and I am getting to the point where I don't think I want to do it any more, I'd rather be home making stuff but then there would be no money for making stuff ... its a vicious cycle that many of us face :).

As you can see the block still isn't finished but it is getting there just the borders to go.

Head on over to Kate's to see who else has met the challenge this week.

A little ray of Sunshine and the 15 minute challenge

Squid back problems have finally shown signs of improvement its only taken 4 months and 6 different opinions.  The latest is physio twice a week and various exercises... the pool once a week and finally the muscles have softened and she is starting to get movement in the joints again she now only has a knot in a 2" strip of muscle instead of the 2 tough bands down either side of her spine.  Are we any closer to knowing why this happened NO but fingers crossed we are on the right track.

The pool has been good for me too got to 30 laps this week which is more than I have ever been able to swim before.  Squid doesn't do many laps and does a lot of walking in the water but we have couple of exercises for her to do with the water as resistance next time we go and she has been given the go ahead to play tennis on the weekend, just a doubles game mind you but she is looking forward to it and we have strict instructions of what to do before and after from the physio.

On to the challenge, have to say I have romped it in this week.  In fact I sewed for 3 hours on Monday (had a day off work the first day back at school for the kids) and it was wonderful.  No one knew I was home and I just sewed all day.

In fact I have just finished the 12 stardust donut (I call them donuts because they haven't a centre or border yet).  Each new starburst has been my favourite combination so I am hoping that is going to look fantastic when it is all together.  I am planning on a queen size quilt but because I have only cut out 14 blocks and I really don't want to purchase any more fabric I decided on a 12 blocks and will put horizontal sashing between the blocks to fill in the space.  It looks great in my head wether that translates will be news to you and me.

I wont do a run down because it was all starbursts with a bit of hand piecing thrown in.  

I'll show you my final project in Xmas in July another gift idea. 

Head on over to Kate's to see what everyone else has been up to this week.  

Attitude Adjustment & 15 Minute Challenge

I've decided I need a bit of an attitude adjustment.  Creatively I have been a bit stagnant over the last couple of months, Squids ongoing health stuff which I am finding pretty draining and work has been pretty foul the last couple of weeks and I have been toying with the idea of looking for something else closer to home (I'm probably too loyal an employee to actually go through with it though and I do like my boss).  If I don't do something to lift my spirits creatively I think I am going to go bonkers.

In line with this attitude adjustment I have been making time for the 15 minute challenge. I have reacquainted myself with this quilt and have put together 2 more stars, just have to do the centre and outside border... sorry no picture....

I also have hemmed 5 pairs of pants for Squid and myself (I don't actually count that as sewing though).  

And started this block from Jen Kingswell's The Circle Game which is all hand pieced.  I have completed the circle from one of the other blocks but I don't like it, so I think I will be starting again on that one but this one seems to be just my style.  

So the challenge went like this:

Wednesday - Nothing

Thursday - Circle Game

Friday - hemming and Circle Game

Saturday - Star Burst

Sunday - Star Burst

Monday - Starburst / Circle Game

Tuesday - Starburst

Head on over to Kate's to see who has met the challenge this week.  

Here is my project from last week's Xmas in July.

School Holidays

The kids have been lucky with the weather for the school holidays we had another full day yesterday.   I had a massage book for the morning and Squid had a physio session.  We then headed to Waterfall Gully as Squid is entering a Science Competition in the photography section so we needed to take some pictures of running water and I thought this was the best place to do that.

We have also been doing an experiment or two and capturing that as well.  A couple of more shots and she should be able to put her piece together.  

Obviously the in thing to do for the uber cool is to drive to Waterfall Gully in your lunch hour and walk to Mt Lofty in your lycra, because there was lots of pretty young things just doing that.  Luckily I assed a park between a couple of 4WD's.

After we climbed to the top of the waterfall, there was no way I was heading to Mt Lofty, Maestro decided that we needed to go to Bonython Park playground.  Which was packed with more kids than I really need to be in the vicinity of, but the kids had fun.   Squid even felt like getting on the flying fox which I wasn't sure was a good idea but there were no consequences to her back so all's well.

Xmas in July

Its Xmas in July over at Quilt Fabric Delight's.  Its not too late to join the fun has only just begun.  You may have missed out on Bingo though.

This year Sarah gave me the opportunity to do some gifts instead of Xmas themed items and I jumped at the chance.  Here is my first gifty item.  Before you gift the journal you can put a few of your favourite recipes on the pages.

There have already been a lovely Xmas Quilt and Xmas Wallhanging, Xmas in July is always great value for money.  So head on over and join in the fun.