Blogtoberfest # (1) ~ Will you be a festival-goer too?

Diary of a slightly crazy and hyper excited festival-goer :)

Wednesday 30th September, 2009 @ 5am...
I woke this morning dreaming of my first Blogtoberfest post... (as hosted by TinnieGirl ~ pop on over to say "HI" and see the other festival-goers, hey maybe you'd like to join in, it's real easy & all ;)
Day one was to start on a high note, first up design a label for the recent baby quilt {take arty shot of dubious hand-sewing} make myself a nice steaming coffee {take obligatory photogenic shot of said coffee} bake a chocolate slice {of course cause they are so easy & photograph crumbly remains of eaten slice...} what a great blog post it will be!
Then I woke up... 
Hold on - what's that...
It's only 30th SEPTEMBER...
NOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo................
Oh well... I guess tonight will provide more dreams for tomorrow's FIRST post! 

Quilt 5 ~ Pinwheel Dreaming

IT'S FINISHED!!! Well sans the label... which I will blanket stitch on as soon as I get to the office to design one ;) which will be next year at the rate I'm going!!!

I love the design on this quilt, so simple - yet so effective! I finished sewing the binding down while watching Angel today and when I flipped it over to tie in the ends, I noticed that some of the top missed getting sewn down under the binding (so it was all unravelling and coming away from the binding *sob*sob* I could have cried, so I had to unpick a whole section of hand sewn binding PLUS machine sewn binding and re-do and hope it doesn't come undone again :( but all's well that ends well - she's finished!

 

A close up of the {very dodgy} hand stitching. I've decided I love hand stitching, but I don't love how mine is a) not neat, b) not even and c) too bleepin' big (stitches) compared to some I've seen in blogland. But you know what I don't care - I love it!

Hopeful to catch up with the bubby and her beautiful mummy this weekend!

Spring Clean 09 ~ Update.

Admittedly it's been slower going than I expected...

1/ Pink check Sundress for Miss K - 1/4 finished (thanks to dad who unpicked my big mistake and thanks to mum who has shown me a cheats way of gathering)

2/ Pink Wallet - 3/4 finished, need to decide whether to unpick the ribbon embellishment or leave as is and add a vintage button or closure of some kind.

3/ Bargello Table runner - NEARLY finished, it just needs the binding hand sewn down

4/ Teddy Quilt - NEARLY finished, just needs the binding hand sewn down

5/ Pinwheel Dreaming - Needs sandwiching, quilting & binding Photos on next blog entry!

6/ Mushroom Bag - Needs handles

7/ Make it Perfect Sunhat

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And just because it's not on the Spring Clean list... doesn't mean I can't do it!!! Hee hee hee.

I've been wanting to make a few skirts for Miss K for a while, so today I pulled out this gorgeous purple gingham and got sewing. Two rectangles, some cursing, some elastic, more cursing and some 'no don't wanna try the skirt on mumma's' later I finished a skirt. Not bad for a first attempt and no pattern. 

Next I will try a frilly ra-ra skirt - wish me luck!

Organising, Spring Cleaning, Sewing...

Today has been all about those mundane jobs around the house that I've been neglecting... vacuuming, mopping, sorting out the insurances, yelling at the power company, making an organiser that actually works for ME. Sewing Round Robin Blocks... just the usual really!

Here's a sneak peak of September blocks!

 

RR Sneak Peak - August

August blocks for the Round Robin are {FINALLY} completed. We were given an extension, which is probably a good thing, since it's been one of those months... September blocks are cut out & half pieced! 

 

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Winging their way to a post box near you... shortly...

Keeping Busy...

My beautiful Nanny passed away yesterday. As I've mentioned in past entries - she along with my dear mum were the two that introduced me to the world of crafting & she will be sadly missed. I'm doubly glad I still have my crafting to remind me of her ~ I'm sure it will provide solace in the months to come. I am seriously struggling with her loss and feel that if I stop I might break, so I'm keeping myself busy, so expect many mundane posts over the coming days (or maybe there will be no posts) all I know right now, is I have to keep busy.

So without further adieu,

Today I have finished two more cards for the Deck of Me Challenge

Week 13 Prompt... what's on your mind

As I'm in my final days of a creative writing course, I've had nothing but words and letters, similies and metaphors on my mind... seemed very fitting!

 

Week 14 Prompt... Birds

Blog-land Love

Check out this giveaway that Corrie is having over at Retromummy!

Today there's been...

Lots of chain piecing...

 

Some measuring...

 

 

Too much unpickin'...

 

But I do have a finished block to show for my troubles... unfortunately I cannot show YOU... It's part of the EB NQ Round Robin Blocks ~ sneaky peaks to come tonight / tomorrow.

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Yesterday a trip to spotlight yielded just the thing to complete the Week 12 "Believe" card for the Deck of Me challenge. This was a bit of a joke (on my part) I believe in a lot of things, but thinking along the line of whimsical... and with Christmas just around the corner (YEEHAA) I thought of Santa and how mum used to say "if you believe, he will come"

Mummy... I still believe and he keeps forgetting me :( 

Aren't these little tin santa's the most grooviest thing ever? I got two, so will have to think about what to do with the other one!

The back...

If I could turn back time...

If only it were as easy as turning back the time! We had {another} bout of vomiting hit our home, this time Miss K got it worse than before, so another full night spent sitting up with her... tell me something - WHY does the vomiting bug almost always hit at night? Combined with more teething related wake up calls - makes for one very tired mummy. Existing on COFFEE and lots of it to get through the days!

Through all this, I am slowly getting some stuff created - just not what I'm supposed to be doing :)

This week - I must

- Hand Sew 3 buttons & top-stitch my giveaway

- Finish August RR block (first is done)

- Cut and sew September RR blocks

- Finish hand quilting L's Quilt and sew the binding on

- Finish 2 more super secret gifts

 

This week - I must NOT

Look at these gorgeous tutorials that I've come across in the past few weeks

Ruffle Sleeve Top

Cheesy Vegemite Scrolls

Re-usable Sandwich Wrap

Coffee Mug Wrap

Dishcloths

Ipod Cozy

 

Honestly the ideas are flittering at an alarming pace through my brain, I just don't know where to start and find myself jumping from one thing to another... heck I even went to Spotlight and bought more wool yesterday so I can crochet a bag... honestly when on earth will I find the time to crochet this bag???  I am hopelessly addicted to craftin'

Stay tuned - there will be photos later today!!!

Return of Inspiration!

We were struck down by the dreaded gastro, which by the time it ripped through our house and popped on over to the inlaws (I'm so nice sharing huh?) we ended up losing nearly a week of sleep, sanity and general day2day life. Combined with a teething toddler who thought sleep was for the weak and resulted in mummy sleeping in her 'princess bed' with her for several nights during the same week - meant for some very shattered & stressed mummies and daddies... but now we are on the other side and seem to be back on track. The teething has resided (for now... 4 teeth to go... so I'm sure it will hit once more) and everyone seems much recovered ~ thankfully!

Needless to say crafting was at an all time low, although I did manage to get the baby quilt basted and made a small start on the (Very dodgy) hand quilting... I am hopeful at finishing it later this week! The most we managed, after a few too many tantrums from the toddler (probably due to an increase of television viewing & no activities until mummy could catch up on some sleep) was folding and sorting fabric... which she loved helping with <3 :)  too cute, but she kept telling daddy, folding rabics (which when pronounced sounded awfully suspiciously like rabbits... to which the husband had to wonder whether I had turned all fatal attraction in my lack of sleep and may or may not have been roasting bunny rabbits...  LOL )

Anyhow... I digress.

I managed to find my way into the room on Monday morning with the toddler in toe and got busy cutting and sorting and just getting back into the crafting world once more - and I had FUN!

Some cutting for my giveaway... plus a few extras just because (how much easier is production line sewing???)

More Wrecking!

Dyeing calico in preparation for Christmas (yes folks... it's that time of year once more!)

So it's safe to say ~ I'm back!!!!  

and the winner is...

The trusty random number generator has chosen some numbers on my recent giveaway!

And the winners are:

Becky who said...

Happy Blog Birthday!!
Happy is a good night sleep, a new baby boy, a happy toddler and a husband who is my best friend.
Happy is also a comment left on my blog, I love the fact that someone has read what I say, and has cared enough to take the time to reply :)

 

Skipper who said...

0:) YAY! It's nearly Christmas!!
What makes me happy??
Hmm...
The sounds of saturday mornings - enjoyed from the warmth of my own bed. My baby girl singing in her cot about her family, "Mummy, Daddy, Jah Jah, La-La, Milly, Nanny, Larlie... Jah Jah". My older two laughing loudly, calling to each other and playing. My husband breathing next to me - as long as it's not ON me. Ahhh tis BLISS!!
But what WOULD make me extremely happy is winning a spending spree either in a fabric store in the USA or in Ikea. :) Ahhh a girl can dream!
Happy Blogbirthday Car. :)
xxxx big fan Skip the Drip

 

Kylie said...

Happiness is my family healthy, a good book, a patch of sunshine and a glass of white!

 

Congratulations Girls! Can you email me your addresses to carrose21@hotmail.com  and I will get something in the post to you before the month is out :)