quilting and more quilting

I am busy trying to get this quilt finished quilted - as the plasterer/painter is supposed to be coming back later this week and I am sewing in the room he will be working in..........nothing like a bit of pressure!! 

I'm trying really hard to get it finished today - with lots of breaks on the computer or hanging out washing (its actually a sunny summers day - not at all like the summer we have had so far!)  and then I will be able to work on the binding when the plasterer/painter is here........maybe.....or maybe not as we have alot of work to do round at my Mums house, we finally have a buyer - pray that, that all goes smoothly!! - I'm pretty stressed about it all. 

Sandwich making

Today I worked on this quilt sandwich - with my loyal little helper, Mister.  I am hoping to start quilting it tomorrow - if I can get organised!!  This is one of my WIP's (Works In Progress)- last year I did my best (in between all the horrible stuff) to try and get some of my WIP's finished - and not start new ones....I did re-learn to crochet and made a couple of blankets - but that was all I did that was a new project - I worked steadily on my old projects - I need to see some finishes, rather than a whole lot of starts!

Yay for 2012!!

I think I made one post last year..........it was a horrible, horrible year.  My Dad died, Blair and I both went through restructures at work - both still have our jobs thank goodness, I got concussion (or however you spell that word when you bang your head really hard and give yourself a head injury!)  Blair had cluster migraines and ended up in hospital for 3 nights, my Mum had really bad depression and I had an emotional breakdown and had to have time off work, I broke my tailbone iceskating.........it was a nasty year.
I didn't blog - I didn't feel I had anything nice to share - and I didn't want to share all our misery.

I did get a few crafty things done - not much and I don't have photos to share at this moment - might hunt some down....  But I just wanted to say that I'm so, so glad that its a new year and I am hoping with all my heart that it will be a better year.

Its no wonder I never get any sewing done!

I've just spent 1/2 an hour looking for my basting pins....I REALLY need my own sewing room!

Abby and her friends are off at Parachute music festival this weekend, on the Friday night it poured with rain, and then Saturday it was blowing a gale........I hope the rest of the weekend if better!  Her best friend Kate sent her Mum a text saying that "it rained, but now its stopped, we are camped near the youth group leaders, we have had enough to eat.....etc"  and we got one from Abby saying "I'm really sunburnt and I'm going to get a chunk of my hair dyed" - thank goodness for Kate!!!  I'm wondering what colour the dyed hair will be lol.

I am trying to get motivated to finish my table runner that I had hoped to have done before Christmas but with all the parent drama that I had going on it just didn't happen.  As of last Tuesday both my parents are now in resthome care - Dad in the secure wing.  So that is a load off my mind - although now I still have to deal with their property which is a mess.  But I keep reminding myself - a little bit here and there adds up and eventually it will be done.

Right I am off to do some basting! (unless I get otherwise sidetracked.....lol)

Today's craftyness.

My daughter and 2 of her friends are going together to Parachute (a music festival held every year near here) and they wanted something cool to wear, they decided on tutus but couldn't find any at a reasonable price or size - lots of little kiddy ones but not any for adults!
So I did a quick search through the blogs I read and found a couple of tutorials - we used this one and this one.  I took the girls to spotlight today and they got their materials and we came home and put them together this afternoon - they are easy peasy to make!! And look how froofy (is that a word? - I mean full and puffy) they are - the girls were very pleased with the results.

They even make great headdresses!!!

Goodbye 2010....

Good things about 2010
We got a new car
We got a new kitchen
I got to run Chapel Stitchers (I don't know how well - but they haven't fired me yet so I must've done okay!)
I didn't get my hours cut at work like lots of other support staff

Stuff that sucked in 2010
My Mum had another two strokes
My Dad broke his nose and had hyperthermia
My husband had a blood clot in his leg and was off work for 2 months
Only one person on my husbands side of the family remembered my birthday - and even my own Mum forgot it

Welcome 2011, please bring more of the good things not more of the sucky stuff!

An update from me.

Mmm, where to start - I have been busy since I last posted lol.
Yesterday we brought a new car - we pick it up next weekend - I can't wait!! Its a Holden Cruze like the one pictured below.
A weekend or two ago I had to go to a ladies retreat craft day and demonstrate how to make some felt flowers and then the ladies had to make one, below is what was left after I had made 35 of them for the ladies in my craft group - a few ladies were absent on the night I handed them out - they were to go with a devotion I did on God being the master crafter.If you fancy making some felt flowers I used the following instructions - and mix and matched them too!
Peony Flower tutorial by Yoonie at home
Loopy Felt flower by Sister Diane
Paper flower tutorial by Dozi
The ladies seemed to enjoy making them and none of them had one the same as each other - one lady even made hers into a fushia!
I have been working on my "Over the river and through the woods" stitchery for the quilt - its going slowly - I only pick it up now and then - but its making progress........slowly!The photo above shows you one of my Mother's day presents - look behind the chair! It was a new light so I can stitch while I watch TV - the lounge light isn't nearly bright enough for me to see easily so this is perfect!!
I also started another runner - its using this pattern by Monica of the happy zombie. I got this far and then realised I didn't have a suitable backing fabric for it - so until I go shopping for that it will have to wait! I was hoping it would go in my lounge - but as you can see from the picture above and the picture below - they are two different reds - so I think it might grace my dining table if (opps I mean, when) I get around to finishing it!(whoops the photo is sideways - sorry I can't be bothered going and changing it - so just tilt your head to the right - okay?...lol)
I think that will do for this post - don't want to scare you away with a novel!!

Never believe me when I say I'll post tomorrow...

because I probably won't! - I'll get side tracked and forget........lol

So I said I was going to show you my craftyness of late, well here it is:

(Frame above by Faith True)

I'm trying to work on it in the evenings or when I have a spare moment - not enjoying stitching those wiggly snow lines along the roof lines lol, and there are alot of them! And since I have my photoshop reinstalled I have been churning out digital layouts and loving the creative process!! Here are a few:

font:Pea Natalie
Template by Karen Lewis
Small pink flower by Sarah Jones
Alpha by Fee Jardine
Everything else by Faith True

Font: Rough TypewriterFont: Arial
Layered template by Ingrid Fasquelle
Stitching by Carole Neale
Everything else by Peppermint Creative

Items used:
Black Paper by Mandabean
Border doodle, 2x frame doodles, Arrow stamp, Small tag, silver brad, Heart doodle,
Stitching, Heart doodle line, by Fee Jardine
Grass border, Stapled blue border by Heather Roselli
Stamped doodle, painted doodled flower, by LReid
Ribbon Bow by Dani Mogstad


And today I made my first pinwheel scones - they were delicious - normally I make plain scones but today I was adventurous! Yesterday afternoon Abby and I went to Tirau, the boys had gone to Hamilton to help someone move so we went off and had some 'girl time', although we didn't look at many shops because Abby's old knee injury was acting up - but I found the best place for Chai Latte!!
Tomorrow we are going to Rotorua and taking Abby's best friend with us to do some bead shopping - poor Jack will have to tag along but he will survive!!

Lakeside and a birthday

(frames used above by gwenipooh, button by NTurnidge, font for numbers: Estrangelo Edessa)
1. Looking across toward the boat ramp and jetty from SIL's batch.
2. Blair and I.
3. The kids and one of the cousin's sitting on the end of the jetty, waiting.
4. Off in the boat on the lake to go biscuiting.

I said I would be back to tell you about New Years at the lake - it was good, we stayed up until after mid-night - the kids had glow sticks that they made into bangles, necklaces and hoola hoops! (I forgot to take photos of that!) Then on January 1st it was Jack's birthday - we had taken a bag full of pirate birthday decorations and so we had a surprise pirate party - it was good - Gran and Pop gave Jack a blue glittery hat - but he popped his pirate party hat on top of that and wore the gold earring for all the time it took to take a photo as it was rather tight!! lol.(All elements used above by Maria LaFrance)
So now my baby is 12yrs old - not really a baby anymore is he!!
Although the other day he tried to buy a PS2 game at the warehouse which was restricted to 13yrs and over and they wouldn't sell it to him - he was pretty bummed out about it lol (I did quietly explain to his sister that I could easily go and buy it for him but that I thought it was a great lesson for him to realise that somethings you just have to wait for!!)

Well, I think that will do for this post - I'll be back tomorrow with a more crafty post.
(Although from the pics above can you tell that I am loving having my computer fixed and photoshop reinstalled!)

Happy 2010!

So far 2010 has been good.
But back tracking to Christmas for a moment, it was good. It was fairly quiet as usual. We had Blair's parents over for dinner on Christmas eve - Blair's Mum brought silly hats or headbands etc for us all to wear........
Then the next day we opened presents in the morning - I got a much lusted after willowtree nativity.....isn't it gorgeous (I forgot to take a photo, so this is one I just googled - but its exactly the same as mine)
I also got a new cutting mat for my quilting and some fat quarters (all red - that's what I asked Santa for.......lol) - I haven't taken a photo of those either! But we had a nice lunch with my parents who came over and then stayed on for dinner too. I did think to take a photo of my Christmas - sorry I can't edit out the undies hanger next to it........lol my computer is being a pain again - and I only got this one in October - it won't read any discs so I can't reinstall photo shop - but I finally found my receipt today, after much hunting!! and so tomorrow I will take it to get fixed as it is still under guarantee.
Oh and good news, Mum really liked her tablerunner that I made her - although she did say it was a pity it was in Christmas fabrics as she would like to keep it out all the time........lol. Maybe I will be inspired to make her another everyday one sometime.
I was going to post about our time at the lake over new years but I think that will be another post as this one has grown quite quickly with all the photos I've posted!

Merry Christmas!!!!

Wishing everyone a wonderful, blessed Christmas

(remember the real reason for the season)
and a fantastic New Year!!If you remember last year, neither of my children would pose with Santa for me.........well, it was the same story this year, but instead of making the dog have a Santa photo I got my Dad to!!
It was kind of cute too, because as we were driving off Dad waved at Santa and I said "He was a nice Santa wasn't he Dad?" and Dad grinned and said "yes, and he just waved at me!" (There are some silver linings to having a Dad with head injuries!)
Today we have been madly cleaning and cooking and getting ready for our first Christmas celebration - (its Christmas eve here if you are an overseas reader), Blair's parents are coming for dinner tonight and then tomorrow my parents will be coming for lunch.
I will probably weigh another 5lbs after that..........lol. Blair always cooks enough to feed a crowd - even when there are just a few of us!
Well, Merry Christmas everyone, I hope you all get spoilt and have a wonderful time celebrating.

Whats kept me busy today...

has been finishing this table runner which I started yesterday, I followed the tutorial by Mini Gray (Helen) only I didn't add a border to mine, I considered it and decided against it. This will be for my Mum for Christmas - as she has a blue lounge suite it should look good in her house. (I used a charm pack of Moda fabrics called 'Royal Holiday' that Yvonne sent me.)


I hope she likes it - she usually dosen't really like stuff I make her........, a year or two back I made her a bag - she said "It's nice, but I'd use it more if it was black" (it was blue).......but oh well, if she says she dosen't like this table runner I will take it back because I quite like it!

Here is a close up of my totally freestyle quilting........lol, I decided to try a swirly kind of design rather than my coral design that I did last time.
I'm tempted to make one for myself (incase Mum actually likes this one!).
Its the school holidays here now, I haven't had a decent sleepin yet though as Blair keeps buying things over the net and couriers keep arriving at my door at 7.00amish - although I must admit that this morning the courier had a parcel for me, yay! It was the rest of my fabric for my "Over the river and through the woods" BOM quilt that I am getting from Grandmothers Garden - I'm hoping to actually start it these holidays!!
Well, off to eat my tea now, hope you are all getting your bits and pieces needed for Christmas done.

Is 2.00am a good time to post?

Because thats what the time is here! I can't sleep, overtired I think and so I'm reading blogs and thinking its maybe time to do a post myself!
Last month I went with a few girls from work to a fundraiser evening at the Christmas Shop in Tirau, it was great they gave us drinks and nibbles and then a demonstration on decorating your Christmas tree the 'correct' way.......lol, whats in and whats out (tinsel is a big no,no!) How to hang your lights etc - it was quite entertaining and fun to watch, and then they showed us how to do simple but effective wreaths and table displays.
I brought a table wreath (is it a wreath if its not round?) and below you can see my efforts, its obviously not on my table, but on my mantle. I didn't buy my pics from the Christmas Shop (at around $7.00 a piece I couldn't afford to!!) I instead visited the $2 shop and got mine - and if I say so myself I think it looks just as classy as the ones they made at the Christmas Shop!

In November Jack sang in a "Kids for kids" concert which featured Susane Prentice (famous NZ singer) - can you see her hand, thats Jack in the dark stripy shirt - he was smack bang in the middle of the stage. And see how excited he looks.......he looked like that for the whole concert! He told me later it was boring and he only did it to get out of class for the practices........lol, at least he was honest I guess! Still it was a good concert to watch, Susanne is a great entertainer and it was for a worthy cause, the money raised from the concert goes to world vision.
Then last weekend was the school ball, I'm the one on the right, I only stayed for an hour before I headed home, I had a nasty virus that was making me feel very unwell! And we all went shopping and brought the gloves, flowers and shoes........seeing the photo here I think we could have skipped the gloves, they are a bit tacky and clash with our shoes!!But it is always fun to go to the ball just to see the senior students all dressed up in their finery, they look so different and grown up, and some of the girls dresses are simply stunning.

Well, I'm feeling like I could go to sleep now, so I'll head back to bed and try again!
Good night or morning or day..........lol, depending on when you are reading this.

what I've been up to..........

well, I've been working on my swap for my church stitchers group..........I had planned to make a runner, but then got sidetracked and ended up making this:
The bottom photo is to show off that she is wearing bloomers too - I was all for leaving her bare down there (read: tired of this project, ready to move onto something else!) but my Mum insisted that I make the bloomers - so I did that today. She still needs her hair trimmed - putting that off as I am a little worried I might make her look silly! After I trim her hair I want to make up a little page/sheet/something? to go with her about the story of the candy cane.

Next I'm hoping to work on that jelly roll quilt I started ..........lol - trying to make myself finish some things before I begin anymore........story of my life!!

a post for my digi friends

I came across this blog today with some really cute digital doodles - I just lost all my digi stuff when my old computer died last week - don't worry I got me a new one.........but I haven't put my photoshop on it yet.........and now I'm on the look out for a few freebies to play with like the one I started this post talking about.........lol Go Here to Angelica's digiscrap blog and make sure you scoll down and get all her cute goodies!

more fabric and I couldn't resist!

Okay so last post I said I would show you the fabric I had brought to make my item for my Christmas swap.............so here it is and I was planning on making a runner like the one that I got from Terri, well above you see that fabric - which was all good until I realised that the lady I am making for loves bright colours and well, the above fabric looks more dull than bright......so then I went to Grandmothers Garden yesterday - my first visit! I've never been before because it is kind of out in the country and I thought I would get lost but I put the address into Blair's GPS and it lead me straight there. What a wonderful shop, even my kids said it was a great shop - although that could have been the cute cat wandering around the shop that let them stroke it lol. Anyway back to what I was saying..........I brought some more fabric, which you can see below - brighter and more what I think will appeal to the person who will be getting it - and I've changed my mind about the pattern of the runner - but its kind of in my head as I don't have a pattern - but when I get it started I'll let you see - its simple but I think it will be effective.

And I also said below that I would work on my Christmas swap before I started on a jellyroll quilt from the book I brought in my last post but as you can see from the photo below.........I couldn't resist starting! So far I am loving how it is coming together and the instructions in the book are very clear and helpful - plenty of pictures - I'm a visual person!

and now I am off to have a shower and watch a movie in bed..........this weekend has just flown, have a great week everyone!
I have no idea why that whole paragraph above is linking to the image.........weird.......but here is the Grandmothers Garden link in case you want to check it out - I did link above but as I said....weird!
(Frames around photos in this post are by Karen Hunt of Scrapbookbytes)

waffle about a couple of books.........

So, I went to my local quilt store today, with the intention to just buy a couple of Christmas themed fat quarters for a swap we are doing at the church stitcher's group..........and came home with this as well!

I was going to look for it at the library but when I saw it in the shop and flicked through it I knew I wouldn't be happy just loaning it from the library.........I had to have it to keep lol. There are lots of really nice quilts in it and good clear instructions and they give you the instructions for if you don't want to use a jelly roll too.......so its quite a versatile book, IMHO anyway. Now I just need to find some time to get busy and make a quilt from it, hopefully I can make a start before the next school holidays.......although lately that's when most of my sewing gets done.
I got lucky last week and found this book:

Denyse Schmidt Quilts

at the library, although after looking through it I wasn't as impressed as I thought I would be.....kind of disappointed after all the hype of reading about it on other peoples blogs and seeing all the quilts made from it on flickr. I felt a little like I did as a teenager watching Dirty Dancing the movie........I was disappointed as there had been so much hype about it that by the time I saw it for myself it just didn't live up to my expectations. Its a good book, but not one I can't live without.
BTW, I did come home with some fabric for my Christmas swap........if I get organised I'll show you what I got and what I hope to do with it - perhaps I should tackle that first before I get sidetracked with jelly roll quilts!

Guess what!

My parcel from the paperbag swap arrived today - all the way from Australia, from the lovely Mandy!
It was all wrapped up like this .........I could hardly contain myself to take the photo, and not rip into it straight away.......lolAnd this is what was inside - a wonderful peg apron, Mandy certainly surprised me, I would never have guessed this would be what she would make me - but I LOVE it!! and its perfect timing because my peg basket on the washing line is hanging on by one arm, the other is broken and so now I can throw it out and use my beautiful new apron.

Jack did take a few photos of me wearing it but they all turned out blurry..........except for this one when I bent down to see Mister - he was extremely keen on my peg! - don't worry I didn't let him have it.And I have to show you the card that Mandy sent with it, her little guy William made it - I think its adorable and when I showed Abby she said exactly the same as me "Awww, thats so cute!!!"

So a big "Thank you!!" to Mandy for being my partner and making me such a wonderful surprise - and make sure William knows that I loved the card too.
And Thank you to Maree too for organising this fun swap, it was exciting from the start to finish.
(Frames around the photos in this post by Karen Hunt of SBB)

Finished (almost!)

So I finished up sewing the binding on my quilt this morning.........and I'm rather pleased with it.
I just got Jack to hold it up for some photos so here it is:
Front - with Jack's little peastick legs at the bottom....lol
The back - Blair asked me why I did that patchwork stripe down the middle, I told him thats what all the cool quilters do - but he didn't seem convinced.
And here is a close up of my funny stippling - I think it looks kind of like corral..........but I am embracing it because it is the best I can do at present........who knows what I'll achieve with a little practice - its definitely better than my first try.
And I had to say that I was almost finished because I need to sew in a couple of threads to be completely finished, but I couldn't wait to show my bloggy friends!

good day

Yesterday was a good day, my paper bag swap partner - who I can now reveal was Mandy, got my parcel, and whew! she likes what I made for her. I can show you what I made now.
I made her a bag and a needle book and I also added two yummy fat quarters and a big block of New Zealand chocolate for her to share with her family. For the bag I used this pattern, with a few alterations of my own, like using two different fabrics on the outside and adding lace and a flower.
This afternoon we went for a drive to Taupo, it was cold but nice to get out of the house - Blair has this week off so it was a little family outing! Blair was kind enough to take me to a quilt show put on by the local quilting group - it was lovely, lots of inspiration - but I didn't take any photos sorry, I didn't think my family would appreciate me doing that, they would think it embarassing - or at least the teenager would! We had a quick look through a few shops and then headed home again, stopping on the way at the Huka falls. Blair and I had been there before, many years ago on our honeymoon! The kids hadn't though and I had forgotten quite how fast the water rushes down to the falls. We took a few photos there as other people were doing the same thing so it wasn't embarassing at all.......lol.
Today I am working on my quilt - its nearly finished, I am telling myself to "embrace your personal stippling style, Priscilla! You can't expect to be perfect on your second try at stippling, and it looks different to everyone elses because it is your's - embrace your stippling" .........lol, I'm now up to the binding, maybe I'll finish it tomorrow and then I will show you photos.