OPAM

August finishes total 6

A noodlehead divided basket

A May Chappell All sewn up  sewing kit for Illene

Filled with some sewing goodies for her birthday on Friday.

Heat packs...1

2 and 3

and 9 little houses for a swap -

only I haven't included them in the total because

by the rules they aren't a finish.

There's one more thing I finished but I can't share yet

as the recipient hasn't got her hot little 

hands on it yet...soon.

So my total for August is 6.

How many things did you finish?

Soak

My first order has arrived!

I ordered hand cream, foot cream, nail polish,

flatter and a soak kit complete with yarn.

My daughter asked me if I bought it for the yarn.

I told her no...but it did influence my purchase...slightly!

The hand cream is lovely.

I'll be trying the flatter out later today - I'll let you know what I think.

Miss Kate

I could resist temptation no longer.

I had to open Miss Kate.

It felt so good!

I opened 2 jelly rolls.

I am creating theses...

Do you think it would be ok to set my class a

task for the day so that I can sit and sew in the

corner for the day - because I want to make 

more of these!

I think that Miss Kate might very well now be my favorite.

I know we shouldn't have favorites...

What's your favorite Bonnie and Camille range?

Presents

Lots of secret sewing around here lately.

I finally have 2 of 3 presents wrapped and ready to post.

Keep your eye on the postie ;)

Stitcherina

Does it again!

Rina looks after me so well - and her service is fantastic!

I love that we have developed an online friendship now.

I love that she spoils me!

I love that I have more Miss Kate and now I feel

I can finally cut into her.

If you want good service and good prices - visit Stitcherina on Etsy.

Rina is awesome!

For those of you who are wondering this was ordered before

my fabric diet - I haven't broken it, yet...

A sticky situation...

A while ago I was having trouble with HSTs.

I just wasn't as precise as I wanted to be.

For some reason they weren't all sitting as they 

should and it was frustrating me.

I went on the search for a new method.

I found glue.

Yep glue.

At first I was all "no way, you can't do that"

and then I thought maybe I should try it.

OH MY GOODNESS!

I ordered this little lot from Purple Daisies Quilting

I will let you know how they work out when I use them.

Retreat

On Thursday and Friday the staff at my school went on a retreat.

2 whole days.

It was so nice to get away and work on spirituality and Choice Theory.

We stayed in Inverloch at the RACV resort.

The weather was amazing!

Although I didn't make it to the beach, the blue sky was enough for me.

The gardens at the resort were lovely.

The whole things was very uplifting and calming.

When I got back home, a little person told me

that he had survived without me.

He was very pleased with himself.

For me, revisiting Choice Theory was wonderful.

A couple of years ago I had the opportunity to spend a week

in the school holidays doing the basic course.

I'm now considering doing the intensive training.

I love the personal freedom I find in Choice Theory.

Choice Theory was developed by William Glasser.

If you want to have a look and learn a bit more 

you can go to Choice Practice who did our recent training or to here.

Tell me what you think - do you know Choice Theory?

Angel

This angel lives at my school.

She spends a week at a time with someone.

It is all done anonymously - we never know who has given her to us.

At the end of our week we put her into someone else's

pigeon hole, someone who has been an angel to us.

She has just spent a week on my desk.

I have no idea who gave her to me,

let alone what I had done to deserve it, but I was

truly thankful.

I can't really explain how I felt when I opened up

my pigeon hole and found her in there.

It made me feel valued, special and appreciated.

It also drove me nuts - as I wracked my brain trying to figure out

who put her in there.

Then I decided to just enjoy her.

The kids in my class were funny about it.

They know about the angel - she travels a lot.

They kept asking what I had done and who gave it to me.

Their ideas on how she ended up with me were very sweet.

I like seeing the world through the eyes of a child...

Knitting news

I recently bought some yarn from a store in the US

called Webs and they have a fantastic

range and great prices too.

They offered a wide selection of yarns that

I hadn't seen here before and they had a huge stock to

select from, great prices too!

 Manos Del Uruguay Fino

This is a cowl - a free pattern on Ravelry.

It's progress is slow as it's a very fine wool, soft and beautiful

to work with and has a little bit of silk in it.

It's a grey blend and is rather lovely.

Madeline Tosch DK

Another cowl - I seem to have a 'thing' for them

and it is also another free pattern on Ravelry.

It is a much thicker yarn and knitted on bigger

needles, hence much greater progress.

This is after four sessions of "The Block".

I do enjoy knitting - easy, portable, soft, fun.

I miss quilting though...

Craft Alive

Was in the area on the weekend so I went for a look.

If I'm honest i was disappointed.

I'd had high hopes of finding Miss Kate there...

I did buy this kit - because it was functional and rather cute!

I also bought a new ruler.

sorry for the awful pictures - bad lighting here today.

hopefully it saves time - the lady cut over 200 2" squares 

in front of me and they were straight and perfect.

Took less than a few minutes.

I immediately thought of binding strips!

Justifying

I have been thinking a lot lately about how much

'stuff' I buy.

How much is useful, needed, relevant, essential...

How much is because I can and online shopping is so easy...

This box arrived on Friday.

It contained various Kona cotton solids.

I have a big and beautiful rainbow.

Did I 'need' it?

No...it was a want.

I wonder sometimes, how much of my fabric I will actually ever use.

I have trouble cutting into it - what if I need it for something else, what if I can't get anymore...

It;s actually all rubbish.

There will always be new fabric, I can always buy more - it might not be the same, but there  will

always be more and newer and prettier.

I'm not going to add up everything I have spent so far this year -

I think that would just horrify me way too much.

i am going to think long and carefully about what I buy and how much I buy

and why I'm buying it.

Is it because I love it and want to use it straight away?

Is it because everyone else is buying it (hello quilting-pressure, just like peer pressure but for grown ups)?

Is it because I'm going to stash it and never use it?

I think I need to stop buying and start sewing.

I think I'm going into rehab.

I'm officially on a fabric buying diet.

Just like I did with books.  Couldn't tell you when I last ordered a book.

So, apart from what is currently on order and paid for,

the few clubs I am committed to I am not

buying anymore fabric.

Yep - no fabric -

unless it is required to finish a project ( linings/backings etc)

or Bonnie and Camille bring out another new line.

No more Instagram buys.

No more 'but she's got it' buys.

Will power people.

Lets see if I can manage a month...

Busy

Life has been busy here lately.

The husband has been away for work  and so

that means all the running around has fallen squarely on

my shoulders...argh I'm a taxi service and a restaurant!

Lucky for me this little cutie

doesn't care about any of that - she just sleeps and eats

and sometimes cuddles.

Next time - I'm going to be a cat.

No fabric for me...

Well for the next little while anyway -

(apart from what is already on order)

because I had a BIG shopping spree on Saturday.

A 60" smart TV

and a new dishwasher.

This dishwasher plays a little tune when it's done.

It's so quiet i have to keep checking to make sure

it's working!

Goodbye dishpan hands!

Slowly but surely

The unpacking of my craft supplies continues.

I had already used one pack of these to mini bolt my

Bonnie and Camille fabrics and ran out,

so I ordered more.  

They arrived late in the week and I had some time

over the weekend to do a bit more fabric wrapping.

That's when I found this;

Wow - never had that before.

I must say I was pretty pleased, the husband, less impressed.

Thank you fabric.com you made my day.

It was a low volume text print too!

Another club

Of the Aurifil kind.

It's no secret that I have been using Aurifil threads for a long time.

I really like them.

I use others as well but there is just something about Aurifil.

So when I saw on Instagram that the lovely Sarah was

running a club - I was in.  

I think I may have even cyber-stalked her a little about this.

See the level of my excitement?

The first installment has arrived, including the plastic storage box.

'Squee'

So each month now, Sarah is going to send me a bundle of

Italian goodness.  I think Aurifil has overtaken my love of

pasta and that's saying something!

Well I'm off to start at my threads, 

enjoy your Saturday!

Happy

It's funny how sometimes the smallest things

can make you feel the happiest.

I had made my own tags and labels

a few years ago and had run out.

I knew in all reality I didn't have time to make them

again myself  and I knew this meant out-sourcing.

I found a company here in Australia that make to order.

They have arrived.

I couldn't be happier.

They are just what I wanted.

Plain and simple.

Now I just need time to use them.

Happy Friday everyone!

At my house

Lately there has been some of this;

Chain piecing HST...

Uncovering my fabric stash and playing with it.

Mini house manufacturing.

Some new arrivals.

And (shock horror gasp) I even cut into 

this loveliness too.

More pics of what it became soon.

Better later...

My Christmas in July parcel was slow in arriving.

I put it down to the North Pole being such a long way from here.

(Or Australia Post taking their sweet time.)

Inside the box was this beautifully wrapped bundle - 

I almost didn't want to open it all.

Each of the 3 gifts had the cutest little ornament attached.

I love red white and green together for Christmas.

A table mat and angel figurine.

2 hand towels - I love these

because the family can't walk off with them and dump them!

And a tree.

I think I scored rather well, wouldn't you say?

Thank you to my partner Narelle.

Thank you too to Cheryll for organising the swap.