French

General fabric is yummy.

I don't think there is a range that I haven't liked

and haven't bought some or all of.

One of my favorites was Rouenneries.

I made this quilt quite some time ago as the grumpy child

in the photo is going to be 13 on Saturday.  

It took 2 charm packs and some white yardage

and was a quick and easy quilt to piece.

There is another member of the family that loves my

French General quilt...

She apparently also loves lolly pops.

Goodies from Sunday

We were so spoilt!

These are the 3 kits from Sunday - can't wait to get these started.

I bought myself one of these little beauties.

Oh my goodness does she give off some light!

I also bought this (sorry for the crappy photo).

It is a thread protectant and conditioner.

I have used Birch wax for years but not anymore!

This stuff feels a little tacky in the container but as you 

slide your threads across there is no sign of it, unlike the Birch wax.

This is my new favorite 'must have'.

Thread Heaven is available all over the place if you want to google it.

Friends in Stitches...hangover

Oh what a weekend!

So much to share and so much to tell.

I laughed, I ate, I stitched and I shopped.

There are so many clever and talented ladies out there,

I'm blown away!

Just a little sneak peek at some of the things from the weekend.

Christmas Presents

I showed you this photo...

Inside was this beautiful card...

a little pillow...

the cutest little gingerbread man...

and this divine framed cross stitch.

I was so very lucky to have Kaye as my secret partner,

her cross stitch is just beautiful.

Thank you so much Kaye for my gifts!

Happy Christmas in July!

The day is finally here where those of us

who joined in with Cheryll for 

her swap get to open our presents.

Me, well I am saving mine for 

after school - thinking it will make the

day all the better knowing

that there are some goodies

waiting for me at home.

I hope you all have a wonderful

Christmas in July.

Second instalment

I have signed up for the 

Fat Quarter Shop's

Designer Mystery B.O.M.

This package turned up at work yesterday.

Made me wish I was on holidays...

I am supposed to turn it into this.

All those points!

An attachment

Not the electronic type.

Not of the romantic kind either.

It's a new piece for my sewing machine.

I bought a circular attachment.

It is the strangest looking thing.

As soon as I got it home, I took it out of the box and

attached it to my machine.

Had trouble finding some decent size scraps...

so made do with pieces and took it for a spin.

It was fun to try - felt very unusual but it works!

I then played with some of this.

Successful Sunday

The secret sewing I tried to get done on Friday night

I finished off over both Saturday and Sunday.

The quilting is done, oodles and oodles

of straight lines and corners...

The binding is sewn on and clamped down,

ready for stitching and I got almost halfway done

by bed time, a rather good effort I felt.

And finally a little bee I am happy with.

I was a lot more generous with my pieces of fabric 

this time and I starched before doing anything.

I think both things helped or maybe it was that

I held my tongue in the right position - it has

been brought to me attention that I sometimes 

sew with my tongue out.  That's got to be 

a good look!

Green Helicopter

I happened to mention that my Friday night

did not go according to plan

and that there was a 

green helicopter involved.

Well ask no more...

It is a small remote controlled helicopter

that I stupidly bought for baby bear #1.

I say stupidly because he keeps flying it just where I need to be.

It's not very pleasant to have this thing come buzzing towards you!

This is it on Greg's hand.  They have graduated

to hand landings and take offs.

An almost crash...

This was a crash.

Oh and even the pink kid got in on the act.

This is a very small house.  

My sewing space is just behind where these photos were taken.

so you can all imagine how unsafe

it was to try and use a rotary cutter in the same space

as this out of control helicopter.

It might be small, but it packs a punch!

Oh and I shared a couple of hours with this lump 

on my legs last night as I watched a

movie on my bed and knitted.

So, there you go, the story of the 

green helicopter shared.

Not that exciting really.

My Friday Night with Friends

Well it was planned to go one way...

life happened.

As a result what I had planned in my head to 

achieve in reality was greatly reduced.

Never mind, things have a way of working out in the end.

So my sewing involved this book

this fabric and a little bit more that I didn't photograph

and a green helicopter...

Told you sometimes things don't go to plan.

So how did the rest of you go, get lots done?

More yarn and a couple of patterns

I'm not sure how this keeps happening 

but there was more yarn with the one

I showed yesterday.

Things keep arriving on my door step...

This one will  be for another scarf.

This one came with 4 of its brothers and sisters.

There were also these 2 patterns.

This cardigan is going to be my favorite.

Oh and there was also a note at the bottom of the

order form saying that there were more balls coming

on back-order.

I think I should put myself in a program

and not spend anymore money for

quite some time...

apart from next weekend.

Woo-hoo its Friday!

A tale of yarn

I love yarn.

I collect it.

I have storage containers filled with the stuff.

And for some reason, 

I feel the need to buy more!

Go figure.

This turned up yesterday...
along with some others.

It is currently becoming a scarf
and it is just the softest yarn to knit with.
It is beautiful.
The colour wasn't quite what I was expecting
but I still like it.  It's always a bit of a risk
buying from a picture.
Even my photo doesn't show the true colour.
It is a free patter from Cascade Yarns
and it is called Magic Rib.  The best part, you only have to memorise
one line of pattern as the the pattern repeats
every line!  Too easy.

Call me...

Bag lady.

I have a thing for making bags.

I have often wondered about these bag templates from Clover.

So over the school holidays while doing a little

on-line browsing I happened to stumble

across these on Amazon.

Now they live with me.  

Stay tuned for more bags...

one day soon.

New things

I returned to work yesterday and was

rewarded upon my return home.

2 of the 3 new books i had ordered had arrived.

So many lovelies inside these pages for me to sew!

Signing up

I've noticed a few of my blogging friends are involved in this;

I am a little late in joining, but better late than never!

So my plan for the 3rd quarter is to get these done...

I'm going to continue turning this pile of fabrics in to this quilt
(so far I have cut it up and sewn 4 blocks together)

I want to finish quilting and then binding this monster -

my Marcelle medallion

Finally there is this gem.  It was sent to me by 

Julia and while I didn't sew the top

I have the honor of quilting and binding it.

This one has to be done before September, so 

hopefully by joining the finish-a-long I will get it done in time.

Sadness a heavy heart and confessions...

Sadness - because holidays are over and it's back to work.

On that note a very wise woman did bring to 

my attention that I only work 5 days a week'

so 50 days are for school. 20 days are for sewing

and then there is a 2 week break.

Much better when you break it down like that.

Heavy heart - didn't get half the stuff done I was going to:

1.tax ready for accountant - no

2. Marcelle medallion quilted - no

3. wardrobe cleaned out - partially

4. quilt done for Julia for Phoebe's anniversary - not yet

5. Swoon (that I started waaaay back) -no

I won't continue with what I didn't get done.

I did get quite a bit done and a lot of it I can't show

- it's the secret swap sewing variety.

Now for my confession...

I suck at paper piecing.

attempt #1.

Epic failure!

attempt #2.

Slight improvement.

Showed husbeast...he said it was better than the first one 

and then asked me if it was worth it.

WHAT?????

Silly man of course the pressure and frustration is worth it.

I need to be able to prove to myself that I can do it.

It's all those pesky little pieces.

So anyone else out there have issues with these sorts of things that they have conquered?