My Some Kind of Wonderful quilt top is done!

The deadline to have this quilt done & dusted is Oct. 31. I knew early on I would not have my quilt finished, so my aim was to have my top finished. I thought I would still be madly sewing on Wednesday but I actually finished my top Friday night. I’d lost the patch that goes over the sewing block so I had started making it again, I hand pieced all the little in between block sections so that was going to add some time. Anyway, decided to have another search, & found it, yay, so I was able to get it all together. I was actually surprised at how big the top is, I just love it! Note the sun was out when I went out to photograph my top but by the time I prised ds off his laptop to help hold it up the sun had gone.

I also stumbled towards the end as I wanted to replace the butterfly block but couldn’t decide what to put. I then remembered a freebie block offered by Bustle & Sew last year so I dug it out, resized it, & voila! I do love the seaside, it somehow makes me calm, lol, I should live there in that case!!!!!

I have really enjoyed working with everyone on this quilt through the year. I don’t sew with anybody so this was my quilt group. I’ve loved looking at everyone’s work & seeing how everyone interpreted the blocks & the great range of colours chosen. I’ve certainly been inspired by the work of others & I would never had got this far without the group. I really hope Chookie decides to launch another quilt for us all to work on.

I can’t wait to choose some backing, I’ll be checking my stash today, so I can get it layered & start quilting. I also plan to add buttons & beads to some of the blocks, buttons for the centre of flowers & beads for the seagulls eye & the heads of the pins in the pin cushion. There is also a string of bunting to go on my caravan. Maybe this time next year it will all be finished. :-)

I've learnt a lot working on this quilt this year. After over 20 years of quilting I've discovered that working on one project pretty much exclusively actually suits me better than having a ton of things all on the go. I have way too many ufo's at the moment that I will spend time going through, to decide what I really want to finish, & what I can just let go. I want to finish the things I still love & then just work on 1 or 2 things at a time. 


I also plan to have a major downsizing of all my craft stuff. I have a large studio that is packed to the rafters with every sort of craft thing known to man, & rather than feeling inspired when I walk in, I feel overwhelmed & guilty. I started crafting when I was about 8 & at 52 there aren't many crafts I haven't tried, so I have the stuff to do everything! I'm also one of those people that has to every book there is on every craft I love, which adds up to hundreds & hundreds of books. So the clear out must begin. If you have been through this & have any tips to share, please do!!! I'm not a big fan of eBay & although I will give some of the stuff away, I really need to try & recoup some of the huge amounts of money I've outlayed on all this stuff.

If you'd like to check out the other quilts here is the link to our shared blog:

                            http://stitch-a-long.blogspot.com.au/

SKoW Update

I have been making slow but steady progress on my 'Some Kind of Wonderful' quilt.

 I have finished Rows 1 to 3 & part of row 4.

Nearly all the other blocks are finished or close to it. I’ve written ‘Rise & Shine’ on my sun block. Mum used to wake me with that phrase every morning, drove me bats, but now it makes me smile. She’ll laugh when I tell her. :-) I can’t help thinking the sun looks liked a fried egg, hopefully when all the rays are embroidered it will be ok.
I’m not doing the butterfly block, it doesn’t grab me but I haven’t decided what to do in it’s place.

I’ve also made my top & bottom strips, the strips to go between rows 4 & 5, & the strips for the right hand side are nearly done.

So I’m working away, my aim is to have my top done by the deadline, in 17 days! & maybe even layered ready for me to quilt. 

I've finally installed Fireworks so I can process pic again & can blog!I I will catch up the books I've read soon.

For some reason Windows Live Writer won't recognize this blog so I have to compose my posts in Blogger which can be very frustrating!!!

July Books

Three books in July, all very different. 

I savour the Marion Keyes books & only read one every so often. I really enjoyed this one, it revolves around a group of friends & the twists & turns in their lives. All the characters were strong & interesting. I love that Marion's characters are 'real' everyday people that you can relate to. You see how they react to what life throws at them & identify with how they think. I just love her stuff!!!

The Grafton Girls is set in Liverpool during WW2. Four girls thrown together by the war, we watch their different experiences during the war. A good read, certainly enough going on to keep me turning the pages until the wee small hours. :-)

I cannot resist a Ruth Rendell & this one did not disappoint. As always a mysterious murder with lots of twist & turns along the way. I never do guess the solution early on but just enjoy the ride. I also really enjoy Wexford's family life.

Still Here

Just so you know I haven't dropped off the face of the earth, my laptop died about a month ago & although I now have my dd's to use, I can't get live writer to recognize this blog, & I don't have any programs in place to deal with photos, so I'm unable to blog properly. I'm relying on ds to help me get set up, but he's in a typical 16yo teenage mood & not being overly helpful.

Life is a challenge at the moment,, dh & I separated last month, just short of our 33rd wedding anniversary. It had to happen, I just couldn't take anymore of his passive aggressive personality. Months & months of couples counselling to address the problem made no difference.

Hopefully I'll get myself sorted & be able to blog properly soon.

Birthday Pressies & Rowan’s flag quilt finished!!!

Emma gave me these beautiful flowers.

From Paul, you’re never too old for Lego, I hope!!!

Some entertainment from Paul & Rowan. Paul says this book is BIG at the moment, I don’t know anything about it.

I’m pleased to have the Coronation St 70’s collection, I have the 60’s & 80’s, now I can fill the gap.

Goodies from Emma to spoil myself.

This cute little hanger from Emma is actually made from vintage tin moulding.

& a cute little owl for my owl collection.

Finally finished!!!! I was actually making this for Rowan’s 15th birthday. I’m afraid as always my hand quilting was my downfall. That & the fact that he didn’t like one of the flags I’d included, so it got put aside. A few weeks ago I decided to finish it for his 16th birthday. I changed the block he didn’t like & with a combination of hand & machine quilting I finished it, yesterday, the 17th, only 2 days overdue.

The background is actually a small red spot, it looks pink in the pic. I’m trying to master big stitch quilting & I have to say I enjoy it so much more than traditional quilting. I used white candlewicking cotton & Milford Mercer crochet cotton size 40. The only difficulty I found was threading the fecking needle!!!! Next time I’m at Spotlight I will look for a needle with a bigger eye!!!

My Birthday

Today is my birthday, 52, funny how old that seemed when I was younger. but now I’m here I feel exactly the same as I did when I was a teenager. For all of you my age or older, you’ll know exactly what I mean.

It was a quiet day, dh & ds#2 were out all afternoon & evening at a bbq so I was glad when dd Emma arrived. I didn’t think she would be down today as she’s coming down tomorrow for ds Rowan’s birthday.

I will post pics of my pressies in a day or 2, & a pic of the quilt I’ve made Rowan for his birthday.

June Books

Just 2 books this month but both were very good.

I’m not sure I would have enjoyed The No.1 Ladies’ Detective Agency so much if I hadn’t watched & loved the series. It was very easy reading as I was able to picture all that was happening. I really like it when a series or movie follows the storyline of a book closely. I’ll never understand why someone would decide to turn a book into a film/series & then totally change everything about it. What’s the point? Just start fresh with a new idea instead of just taking the name & the very bare bones of the story. So a big thumbs up for this book, I’ll be buying more in the series.

I thought I had read Anne of Green Gables before but I soon realised I hadn’t. I really enjoyed it, it’s a bit ‘sweet’ compared to my usual reads, & I followed it up with a nice Ruth Rendell’s Wexford, but I did enjoy it & I’d love to watch the series again.

I have been doing quite a lot of sewing lately, I’m still trying to catch up on the ‘Some Kind of Wonderful’ quilt & have achieved quite a bit. I’m also hoping to get a quilt finished for Rowan this week. I was actually making it for his 15th birthday, but just didn’t get there & it was put aside. I got it out a couple of weeks ago & there was one bit he didn’t like, so I changed that & got stuck in. It’s his 16th birthday next Sunday so I have a deadline!