Updated To-do List

Whilst awaiting (not-so-patiently) the return of my sewing machine, I am compiling a list of everything I want & need to do to get myself motivated once more. I work better with lists, but the last one was too ambiguous and did not have enough oomph in it, so a fresh start and off we go...

1. Quilt (blk/red/wht) - tie in ends, sew on label {finish: IMMEDIATELY}
2. Knitted Scarf (celtic waves) - half finished {finish: end of next week}
3. Crayon Rolls {finish: Christmas}
4. Knitted Washers x3 {finish: end of July}
5. Blog Giveaway Gift {finish: end of July} (stay tuned!!!)
6. Granny Blanket {finish: mid July}
7. Crochet Beanies {finish: before winter 2010 ;)
8. make it perfect sunhat
9. Cut out my block for RR & sew but need to unpick it!!!
10. Cut out 2nd block for RR & sew
11. Cut out a swing top for K to test the size
12. Think of some quilt designs for upcoming births
13. Start on Boys I-spy Quilt Top
14. Start on Girls Mav Stars Quilt top
15. list some items on ebay (books / dvds)

Cuppa Tea?

We had a Dorothy Tea Party here last weekend for Miss K's 2nd birthday. I made these little teacup bikkies for the kiddies (& well one or two may or may not have ended up in my tummy too ;)

Very Easy to make - although I'm fairly sure you aren't supposed to use red icing, but seeing as I was in the midst of icing the rose - I decided to use it to stick the pieces together!

Busy little bee...

Today I have...

• Finished an Amy Butler "Frenchy" handbag

Made with left over fabric from my Christmas Bag frenzy last year, an op-shop remnant of cord & lined with a cute vintage cot sheet :)

 

 

• Cut out & packaged up my fabric for the Round Robin Swap

 

 

• Made more progress on my knitted scarf

 

 

• Started a book idea that's been niggling at me...

 

As a bonus I've managed to: 

• Attack the bookwork with gusto
• Long overdue catch up with friends' blogs
• Slowly reading my way through 150+ entries on bloglines
• Started reading To kill a Mockingbird 

Looks as though my creativity & energy has returned!

So what did you do today?

4 in 7

7 days to go till we reach mid point of 2009 ~ 4 books to go till I read mid point of the 50 for 2009 Challenge :)

Can I do it? Honestly I don't think so, but pleased to see after a crazy few months I am still on target and surprisingly I'm not feeling pressured to hurry through the books just to get "numbers" I'm still genuinely enjoying the reading!

I've just finished reading The Friday Night Knitting Club *sob*sob* you girls shoulda warned me to have the tissues handy, totally NOT what I expected even up to the final pages - it sort of hit me from left field and had the daughter not been running at my feet and the TV blaring, I'd have been a blubbering mess. I really did enjoy it though, after a slightly stilted start (the writing was a bit too stiff for my liking to begin with) but it loosened up and I knocked it over in less than a week ~ not bad considering I managed to throw a party and cast on a scarf that is now a nice 20cm long (might be exaggerating on the length there folks ;)

I'm off now to read The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society ~ hopefully tis easier to read than the title ;)

Dorothy...

This was the cake I made for my DD's 2nd birthday party over the weekend!

Happy Birthday Sweet Pea

My little baby turns TWO today ~ happy birthday sweet pea!

I'll be back with more regular blogging AFTER I get through this busy, crazy week!

Quilt 4 ~ 2009

Finished last Wednesday night! I actually finished the Quilt top for this one way back in 2007 when I first started quilting. I really loved it - but when I attempted the top that the magazine had pictured, it was all wrong. So it stayed in the cupboard. I pulled it out several times, but just couldn't find that final 'oomph' it needed.

I pulled it out again a few weeks back and had the great idea to applique Kaylee's name on the top piece and used a pink polar fleece blankie that was given to her from our Great Nanna Rose (I got the idea from Corries' blog) I just pillowcased it and have only top-stitched the edges. Eventually I will go back and do some quilting, but for now it's out of my sewing room and the most important part is my baby girl has already had several afternoons rugged up with it on the couch :)

Nice and easy & Quick!!!

 

In the words of Maria 'do re me'

Let's start at the very beginning
A very good place to start

 

I'm feeling bogged down, that is BOGGED not BLOGGED and this week is fast shaping up to be a horrendously busy week of planning, organising and limited or no crafting :o

I've written a massive to-do-list & now in the words of Maria, let's start at the very beginning a very good place to start (& most likely the least most daunting of tasks) so here I am blogging down my last week of craft - so I can cross one thing off the list and start moving onto another :)

Yesterday I left my baby girl in the more than capable of hubby dearest and took myself into the big smoke of Bris-vegas for a long overdue birthday catch up with my 2 best friends. We met up at Tangled Yarns and OMFG ~ I think I might have died and gone to heaven. How on earth I left that shop without pulling out my brand spanking, hardly been used full of credit credit card - I'll never know... Luckily my darling friend had thought to include some moolah with her pressie to me (isn't she a sweetie) and believe me I managed to spend it ALL!!! I could rave all day, but I will settle for just showing off my pics :)

~ bought with b'day money ~

Awesome little travel gadget :)

~ A small indulgence just for ME ~

since I gave away my recently completed cable scarf, I simply had to buy this lovely lace scarf pattern, delectable malabrigo wool and a new interchangeable circular needle to cast on with ;) 

 

~ tea for me ~

Ok I'm a complete sucker for advertising and when I saw these little kits with the wool, pattern and tea, I simply couldn't leave it there to gather dust now could I? I bought the two wooden buttons to complement it and am hoping 'ONE DAY' I will be able to crochet that gorgeous retro tea cosy in the back :)

 

& that's it... ummm... where's the rest you ask? Honestly I'd spent far too much on little indulgences, so I had to restrain and dream for the day we visit again...

 

**************************************************************

Across the road, we enjoyed a late lunch at wagamama and I'm afraid this is as far as I got with my photographs (slack)

 

**************************************************************

A browse in the bookstore saw me leave with this book, I've seen it popping up on blogland a bit recently - so am very much looking forward to starting it! If it's anything as good as the first little bit 'about the authors' which nearly had me in tears - I'm in for a wonderful read :)

and as we were leaving for the day, my other friend gave me this book

She read it recently & said it's brilliant & un-put-down-able read & that everyone she talks to who has read it agrees! I've been warned though ~ apparently I will fall in love with the the lead male character as does everyone she has spoken to.... hmmm... I wonder though - can he beat Edward...??? 

Loving Saturdays!

Remember my recent tears over the darn coffee machine carking it on me?

Walking through The Good Guys earlier today ~ this little machine (FULLY AUTOMATIC*) practically jumped off the shelf at me & as it had freebies to boot, how could I leave the poor darling there! Now I'm armed and ready with a nice new shiny machine & a kilo bag of coffee beans ~ Expresso anyone? (now to work out how to use the new fangled machine...)

* it froths the milk for you!

*******************************************************

A sideline trip to Spotlight for some quilting needles saw me walk away with a sidewinder bobbin thing-a-ma-jig! No more re-threading the machine, every time I need to change the bobbin colour

*******************************************************

An afternoon spent writing, reading and designing birthday cards for a little persons upcoming 2nd Birthday!!!

*******************************************************

A wee bit of machine quilting ~ still loving this quilt!

*******************************************************

And casting on a beanie for my little person ~ 100% bamboo from Spotlight is deliciously soft! I've been wanting to buy some for ages, but at $5.95/50gm ball, I couldn't justify the purchase... But they have the current spend $100 get $30 off voucher happening once more. As I was already buying a toddler bed for Miss K (on special 50% off * plus the extra $30 off too * absolute bargain!) I figured this wool would pretty much be free ;)

More Giveaways...

I swear I'll make it to 300 just by blogging about the giveaways I'm stumbling on around blogland :)

Xena is hosting away this fabulous giveaway to celebrate her 100 posts! Go check out her blog, anyone who hearts Bon Jovi is a friend indeed! LOL

 

Not too much crafty-ness happening here, I've managed to finish the backing of the secret squirrel quilt and am hoping to go sandwich, baste and hand quilt it shortly (as long as the toddler does not awake) We've been struck down with a few toddler crisis' of late. Another hour spent on the couch 'waiting on these blasted teeth to come in' and some creepy crawlies have arrived in our house ~ ewww... so between sleepless nights and de-bugging, I've not had much time. I didn't even have the energy to buy much from Spotlight today. I did however manage to throw 2 balls of 100% bamboo  into the trolley ~ must cast on a beanie for toddler this weekend!

To Do List

Knitting

• Large Washer
• 3 small washers [finish: august]
• Socks [finish: ???]

Sewing

• Crayon Rolls [finish: K's birthday June]
• Coasters [finish: K's birthday June]
• Journal Covers - To sell [eek]
• Dolls Quilt - To Sell [eek]
• Change Mat - To Sell [eek]

Crochet

• Granny Squares [finish: whenever...]
• Granny Square blanket [finish: whenever...]
• Beanies [finish: before winter...]

Quilting

• Blk/red/wht Quilt [finish: asap]

This should keep me busy for a while :)

Giveaways and a Work In Progress

Wow, Blogland really is wonderful to be a part of at the moment. Everywhere you look there are giveaways ~ check out this Fabric giveaway over at The Fabric Shopper! What I could do with all that fabric...

I've had a busy day and as life is about to get a whole lot busier for me (there are wheels in motion for big things happening just around the corner) Wednesday seems to be my only real day of getting anywhere with my sewing pursuits! Today I started the day early piecing borders to little 4 patch blocks I whipped up a few days ago.

Yes that is the quick unpick. Silly goose I sewed the same colour borders not the contrasting border to each patch ~ doh!!! A quick unpick and I set about sewing the correct contrasting colour to each block. I had finished the first half of the borders before we headed out to mothers group and upon returning home managed to finish the borders off before my little girl woke screaming (darn teeth) upon resettling, I managed to get piece the blocks and piece the rows together before she woke fully an hour later. We had a quiet (long) afternoon together and she helped me in the sewing room (read got into everything! but it's all good) and I managed to add both borders to the quilt by the time she went to bed at 7:30... One Quilt top complete!!! good thing too since it took me an hour and 15 mins to settle her - darn teeth!!!

I'm intending to photograph it tomorrow ~ but won't be able to do the full reveal until I gift it to the new baby! I know his gran reads this blog on occasion ;) but I'm hoping his mummy might be too busy to pop in here until AFTER I manage to deliver this little beauty!

I absolutely LOVE this one! The colours are so vibrant ~ it's gonna really hurt to give it away!

Giveaways Galore!

BrisStyle have just listed the June giveaway on their site! Go on over and check it out!

After numerous comments on numerous giveaways over the last week, I've not managed to win anything :( oh well... better luck next time hey! I'll be having another giveaway in a bit as I'm fast approaching that magic 300 (my god - I can talk!!!) I will also be having a series of Pay It Forwards ~ I know, I know these have been going around and are getting old, but do join in when the time comes!!!

But now my friends, the time has come to get dressed, pack the lunches, get the child up and feed said child. Daycare run and work once more... fun, fun, fun!