Terri's Place

Ooopps!!!! Fail!!!!

2011-12-15T13:26:00.000+08:00

I have failed in my goal to make regular blog posts this year. Never mind ... only 2 weeks and a new year starts and I can make it a goal for next year :)

The reason for my apparent laxity is the fact that I am very involved in my genealogy and have recently been spending a lot of my free time in researching my family tree. It is very absorbing as I have contact with a cousin in the UK and between the two of us we have found lots of exciting information as, for example, my great-grandfather co-wrote a book with a famous cyclist and a Pre-Raphaelite artist painted a portrait of my great-grandmother which she donated to The Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery 2 years before she died, among a lot of other equally fascinating, to me at least, stuff, which will be of no interest to you unless you are related to me. :P

Anyway, I'm here now and it appears I have a bit of time to catch up with, so I'd better get started. I won't bore you with lots of words, I will just put up a few pics of things I have been doing. I will probably do a few posts over a few days so I can totally catch up with this year before it ends.

This is a table runner I made for my daughter-in-law ... front and back. These are her favourite colours. I also made her a Bag-bag in the same colours.

The following are a couple of a number of peg bags I have made. The left one was for a friend and the one on the right for a different daughter-in-law, whose favourite colours are also red and black. (Doesn't allow a mother-in-law much in the variety stakes when sewing for them :(

A single male friend, who lives in a unit and uses a communal washing line, (and loves fishing), saw them and wanted one for his pegs, so I made him a nice masculine one.

Living in a small place leaves me wanting for storage, so I am thinking of making different ones of these to store things in different rooms/cupboards around the house. I want to redesign them slightly so they close in the front. When I have got to them I will put up some pics.

For those of you who don't know, my next door neighbour and I rescued 8, 5 day old orphan kittens last Friday and are hand-rearing them. They are progressing wonderfully and are now 11 days old. Here are some pics I took over the last couple of days.

That was a month, that was!!!!!

2011-07-03T17:01:00.002+08:00

Hello all my faithful and patient followers. I am feeling a little guilty that I tell you at the end of May that I will be updating soon and it is July before I get around to it. However I have a reasonable excuse and I know that I will not forget June 2011 in hurry.
To bring you all up to date, as many of you will not know, I had to fly off to the UK in a rush as my mother died rather unexpectedly, on June 2. I had not seen my mother or been back to England for 13 years, so the whole trip was quite emotional on a number of levels. However, the beauty of England never ceases to amaze me and at that level was most inspiring. My family comes from the heart of Sussex and lives on a hundred acre farm which consists of about 60 acres of working grain farm and 40 acres of woodland, which, in spring, comes alive with bluebells and primroses. The area teams with wildlife of course, and within the first couple of days I had seen squirrels, a family of pheasant, (daddy, mummy and 2 babies), a couple of foxes, a young deer frolicking through the oats ... .well you get the idea. Unfortunately I didn't get many landscape photos, but I will pop 2 on here that I took of a couple of fields.

Overlooking a field of young corn to the woods on one side:

and looking over a field of young oats on the other

with a footpath between the 2 that leads through the farm to the village. It is wonderful being able to go back 'home' and stay in such beautiful tranquil surroundings, listening to the sounds of the English songbirds. It makes one not want to come back to the noise and bustle of the city.
My mother is buried in the village churchyard surrounded by trees, with birds singing and overlooking a field with grazing sheep. It is such a beautiful, peaceful spot and I know if she had picked where she wanted to buried, she would have picked it for herself.

____________________________________________________

Moving on. I arrived home to a sick daughter, who, incidently, turned 18 while I was away, and decided to develop a raging temperature withing 24 hours of me getting home ... thank you sweetpea for saving your sickness for mum .... and passed it on to me, though I didn't get whatever-it-was as badly as she did, though combined with jetlag did make me feel pretty grotty.

Then to top it off, I find that Google, in their wisdom (or is that stupidity) had messed around with one of their accounts, of which I, in this instance, am unfortunate to have as it had never supported blogger before. It was set up in a different account but using the same email address, which Google now decided to separate. To cut a long story short so I don't bore you to tears, they requested that I update and move my blog so that I can use it with my account. Does it work? No!!! Everytime I log in it tells me that I am not the author of any blogs and would I like to create one. Huh!!! So I then have to set up a new email address so I can access my blog. I am telling you all this incase there is anything different about my blog that you notice, (maybe the email or blog address?), and wonder why. However, now that I am able to access my account again, I will try and update a little more consistently as I know I have been rather remiss recently.

Apologies for absenteeism!!!!

2011-05-28T23:20:00.000+08:00

I would like to apologise to you all for not updating my blog for about 6 weeks ... it is not that I haven't done anything, rather that I have been doing so much I have barely had time to keep up with my emails ... or housework ... and certainly very little crafty stuff, though I do have a few bits and pieces to show you, once I upload the photos to my laptop.
However, it appears that things may begin to quieten down over the next week or so and therefore, hopefully, I will soon be able to resume normal activities and get some serious craft happening ;)
So, to all my dear friends and followers, please don't give up on me yet .... I will be back soon.

Giveaways

2011-04-06T22:09:00.000+08:00

There are some lovely giveaways online at the moment and I particularly love this one from Raggedy Station ... a gorgeous bundle of Black and White fat quarters and a beautiful lace button.

Mug Wraps and Coasters

2011-04-03T10:16:00.000+08:00

Thought it was about time for a post so I thought I would show you the swap I did recently with a friend from the forum.

The swap was a mug wrap and coaster set and I had never made one of these before, so it was a bit of trial and error from a novice. However, I finally got it together and was reasonably happy with the results. I used insulbrite as the wadding to give a bit more insulation for the wrap, though I don't know what my excuse is for using it in the coaster ...... just brain-deadness I suspect. ;D

Here are some pics of the beautiful set I received from Leanne.

Here is the set I made for Leanne. It is reversible.

And the winners are .........

2011-03-21T21:24:00.000+08:00

Well, it's still Monday. Just. As promised I have consulted Ms Random Generator and she picked out 2 winners for me.

The first winner is:

Quilt kitty

Tracee, would you like to choose which gift you would like
and your fabric choices and let me know.

The second winner is kimba4.

You will receive whatever Tracee doesn't choose, Kim,
but of course you will still get the fabric of your choice.

I look forward to hearing from you ladies and being able to send your gifts to you.

Hugs Terri :) x

Nearly time for the draw.

2011-03-20T07:51:00.000+08:00

Just thought I would remind everyone that my giveaway will be drawn tomorrow.

Here are some pics of what you could win, but to see full details and to comment, read my blog post: 'Giveaway' and/or 'Panic'

(1)Gorgeous Spice Market

coupled with Metro Mirage from Marcus Fabrics

(2) Beautiful pink Loralie Paris Hats with pink Flutter

(3)Some fun sewing-themed fabric

Hugs Terri :)

Panic!!!

2011-03-14T19:46:00.001+08:00

Oh no!!! What to do!!! I promised myself that I would have a giveaway when I reached 50 followers. Guess what??? here we are, in the middle of a giveaway and I got home from work today and there it was.

50 followers :D

Thinking! thinking! Okay, I've thought!
Here's what we'll do.

I will draw 2 winners from the giveaway and then the first name drawn can choose between the pattern + fabric OR 4 fat quarters in the fabric of their choice from the 6 shown in the giveaway, and winner 2 can have have what winner one doesn't choose. Does that make sense? Is that fair?

So, keep commenting everyone ....... oh yes, one more thing. In view of this unexpected happening, I will extend the giveaway and it will be drawn on Monday March 21st ... the day of the equinox and the
official first day of Autumn (in the Southern hemisphere)

Giveaway

2011-03-11T10:52:00.003+08:00

Good morning all :D

Well, my blog appears to be running properly again. I will be making some changes to it over the coming ~~days~~ weeks, but for now it is fine, thanks to my lovely son.

So, on to the giveaway.

I have a lovely pattern, which I gave you a preview of yesterday, from Bizzy Bee Patchworks. There are 2 different sized sewing satchels on this pattern. It is to carry your small sewing items with you when on the move.

The satchels use 2 contrasting fabrics in the construction and based on the fact that we all have different tastes, I have chosen 3 different combinations of fabric and the winner can choose the one she/he prefers. [Trying to be PC here ;-) ]

So these are your choices;

(1)Gorgeous Spice Market

coupled with Metro Mirage from Marcus Fabrics

(2) Beautiful pink Loralie Paris Hats with pink Flutter

(3)Some fun sewing-themed fabric

The winner will receive the fabric to make the larger of the sewing satchels.

All you need to do to have the chance to

win this giveaway is to leave a comment on my blog

and I will pick a day, yet to be decided, when I will consult Ms Random.org

and see who she chooses to be the lucky recipient.

Hugs Terri :)

Giveaway.

2011-03-10T14:58:00.003+08:00

My #2 son turns 37 today, and I was going to have a giveaway. Unfortunately, my blog seems to be having some commenting issues, and there's no point having a giveaway if nobody can comment.

#3 son is my techno child, and of course the whole family runs to him with their computer issues, me no less than anyone else. So I duly performed as expected, and he is going to have a look tonight and fix it up for me. Thank you sweetie. x x

Sooooooo!!!!! I thought I would give you all an advance warning of a giveaway tomorrow, March 11.

Would you like a little preview? Okay then. Here is part of my giveaway.
I will add the fabric tomorrow.

Now remember, you can't actually enter this till the 11th, so check back tomorrow, and hopefully everything will be all fixed up and organised.

Hugs Terri x x

Andrea's Table Runner

2011-03-04T17:16:00.000+08:00

Here is a pic of a table runner I am making for one of my daughters-in-law.

It is the first one I have made and I still have to put the binding on which
I am going to do in black.

Red and black are her favourite colours and she is a Saints (St Kilda) supporter, so she can wear it round her neck during the footy season. ;D

I have backed it with red flutter.

The same daughter-in-law wants me to make her a bag bag so I thought I would make her one from the left over fabric.

I took the risk of putting this up here because she doesn't go on the net very much, and I don't think she has ever looked at my blog. Knowing my luck, this will be the first time she does. Oh well!!!!!

And the winner is ...........

2011-02-28T09:09:00.000+08:00

What a great blog hop we had. Many thanks go to Gail for suggesting it and doing all the hard work to get it up and running. Thanks also to those who stopped by my blog and left a comment. And to my new followers, thank you for thinking my humble blog is worth a second look ... I look forward to seeing you around, and having lots of fun with you all. Look out for a giveaway in the near future.

Together with Ms Random Generator, we have drawn the winner of my giveaway for the blog hop.

So I am happy to announce that the winner is .........

Michell.

Congratulations Michell. Contact me via email to let me know your address
and I will get your parcel in the mail to you.

The Blog Hop Ends!!!!!

2011-02-27T21:29:00.003+08:00

Well, after an extremely successful weekend with over 50 new members on our forum, it is with sadness that we have come to the end of our blog hop. I'm sure everyone has had lots of fun ...... I know I have.

There is one more fun thing to do, however ....... the draw for my giveaway. With the help of Ms Random Generator I will do this tomorrow, so don't forget to come back to see if you are the lucky winner.

I will be having a giveaway in March, just because ......., so keep an eye out for what I have lined up for you then.

Until then, I wish you all good luck for tomorrows draw.

Hugs Terri

2011-02-25T08:33:00.002+08:00

Thank you for joining Our Craft Forum’s blog hop.

So what is “Our Craft Forum” a craft forum for like minded people who love crafts. Mostly patchwork, stitching, quilting and the like. It’s a safe place to make new friends who share a love of craft & to have some fun and a little bit of laughter along the way & to join in on swaps of all types.

This week end is designed to tell our blogging friends about our wonderful forum and to invite you to become a part of it .

Several of our members will be offering tutorials, giveaways and some tips of the trade.

The blog hop starts at miss~nances blog so if you want to join us on the whole journey please go to
Miss Nances Life and follow the links at the bottom of each post to find the next blog along the way.

Each person who joins our forum from this blog hop will go in the draw for a craft pack. So to join our forum, please go to Our Craft Forum and register. Entries close at MIDNIGHT EDST (Sydney time) Sunday 27 February.

So join in on the fun and maybe find a new forum, new blog and new friends along the way. You never know you may even learn something new or win a great prize.

Thank you for stopping at my blog in your travels round our blog hop. I am a fairly new sewer and quilter, so, as you can see, my blog isn't only about sewing and crafts, it involves many things that I love and I hope will be of interest to you.

I have been a member of the craft forum for nearly 2 years and can recommend it as a fun place where you can learn lots and join in many activities, chat and meet lots of people. They are a friendly bunch of ladies with many years of combined ability and are always willing to share their knowledge and to help out if you have a problem. So why don't you pop over to Our Craft Forum and have a read and see what we are about.

I have a giveaway as part of this weekend, so leave a comment on my blog to win a pattern for a:

Daisy Tote Bag from Giggle Buttons

and in keeping with the floral theme, you will also receive

a fat quarter of 'Poppies' from Alexander Henry

and a fat quarter of Dahlias by Faye Burgos

To win this giveaway, please leave a comment on this blog, telling me what you like to read about on blogs. Commenting for the draw only becomes valid after 12pm. Any comments left before that time will not be counted.

I would love you to become a follower as well, but it is not requirement to go into the draw.

If you register and join Our Craft Forum you will receive a second entry, so if you join don't forget to come back here and let me know.

The next step on your journey is Karen's Korner and you can find her lovely blog here:
Karens Korner

Fluffball

2011-02-24T13:13:00.000+08:00

Here is a pic of a baby that I am handrearing. His/her mum is busy feeding 4 other babies belonging to another a bunny, so I have taken over the job of mum.

I don't know how it came out pure white ... its mum is charcoal grey, its grandma is chincilla grey and its dad (dec'd) was chocolate brown.

Blog Hop

2011-02-18T10:36:00.004+08:00

On the weekend Our Craft Forum is hosting a blog hop, from Noon Friday 25th to Midnight Sunday 27th February EST.

So what is “Our Craft Forum” ? It is a forum for like minded people who love crafts,

particularly patchwork, stitching, quilting and the like.

It’s a safe place to make new friends who share a love of craft with some fun and a little bit of laughter along the way & join in on swaps of all types.

Next week end is designed to tell you, our blogging friends, about our wonderful forum and to invite you to become a part of it.
Several of our members will be offering tutorials, giveaways and some tips of the trade.

The blog hop starts at miss~nances blog, so if you want to join us on the whole journey please go to http://missnance.blogspot.com/ and follow the links at the bottom of each post to find the next blog along the way.

http://missnance.blogspot.com/
Each person who joins OurCraftForum from this blog hop will go in the draw for a craft pack. So join in on the fun and maybe find a new forum, new blog and new friends along the way. You never know, you may even learn something new or win a great prize.

Hope to see you join in on the fun and the forum too.

Our new fur baby

2011-02-09T21:18:00.001+08:00

My blog is about the special things in my life that I love and want to share with you so I thought I would show you some photos of the latest member of my family.

This little girl needed a new home because her last mummy wasn't able to keep her. Her name when she arrived was Champagne, but my daughter decided that name wasn't any good and renamed her ~~Soapflake~~ Cinnabun.

Apparently she is about 9 months old, and being an only child has been quite spoilt so she enjoys lying on the lounge watching TV

while having dinner!!!!!!

She has been introduced to her new husband and is currently getting used both to him and the other bunny family members, but having come from a family where she was the one and only, she didn't realise there were other bunnies in the world and it has come as a bit of a surprise. However she is not in the least fazed by Blaize, our wonderful protective old canine person or by the feline fur people Mink, Obsidian and Bob.

2011-01-30T11:57:00.000+08:00

Well, my new goal hasn't continued in the way I intended, only one post for January so far and here we are, only 2 days till the end of the month. My excuse is that I am trying very hard to sort out, clean out, get rid of clutter and generally get organised so I can settle down and do some fun stuff, like sewing. I have made some progress but everything I have sorted out in my living area has ended up in my bedroom. I have made a pact with myself that I would spend at least 1 hour a day in there ... so true to my pact, I actually spent 2 hours in there today. However, that 2 hours was spent sleeping, not sorting ... oooops!!!!!

I am back at my craft class on Tuesday after the Xmas break ... doesn't that seem eons ago .... and I am going to be making a quilt each for my 2 middle grandsons, 6 and 8. I am going to make them identical except for the binding. I have collected 14.5 metres of fabric in Star Wars/space and sporting themes. Do you think that will be enough!!!!!? All washed and ironed. :c

Not quite sure of the how yet, but I thought maybe I would do the star wars in 1 x 8" squares and then piece the rest as 4 x 2" to make 8" blocks. Have I expressed that right??? Not sure whether to sash between the blocks or not, but if I am going to use both the space and sport fabrics I may have to so it is divided up. I may not use all these fabrics, or I make have to find another sport one so it doesn't look odd. Any suggestions or ideas would be gratefully received.

2011-01-01T03:11:00.001+08:00

I hope everyone has a great 2011.

I do not make new year resolutions but I do think of the start of a year / month as a good time to put plans into operation and set new goals. One of my goals this year is to improve my blogging, so to get myself off to a good beginning, it now being 3 hours into the new year, here is my first post for 2011.

I recently made a Ballerina Bag and an apron for my youngest granddaughter, Rebecca. I forgot to take any photos of them before giving them to her so I asked the family photographer, my son Terry who is also Rebecca's dad, to take some.
Here are a couple of pics of the bag. They have gone away for a couple of days holiday, .....the family, not the apron and bag, though they may have gone too.......but that is the reason there are no photos of the apron yet. Hopefully in a few days I will have one up here.

In my heart

2010-12-15T07:41:00.002+08:00

In memory of my beautiful eldest son.

Thinking of you today, your 38th birthday.

Trevor

15 December 1972 - 27 February 1999

Forever Young

Summer Bag

2010-12-13T12:36:00.000+08:00

Here is my latest contribution to the world of bags. It was a Butterick or McCalls, one that I picked up from work. Anyway, in my considered opinion, they should stick to dressmaking patterns ... always assuming their instructions for clothes are better than for bags. However, I finally got through it, with the help of the teacher at my quilting class. The border was our design, is was not part of the pattern. After sewing the blocks together I realised that the picture on the front of the pattern was deceiving and the bag was a lot smaller than I expected, so I decided to enlarge it.

I'm reasonably happy with it, but I don't like the pink squares in the middle. Kind of catches the eye and detracts from the rest of the panel, but we live and learn. I won't use that pattern again.

School Ball 2010

2010-12-12T20:59:00.000+08:00

Here are some photos of my daughter, Xochitl, on the night of her year 12 school ball. I meant to put these up earlier but my move and other inconveniences deterred me. Anyway, better late than never :)

14 of them shared a beautiful white hummer and went off in style.

My latest project

2010-11-30T19:07:00.001+08:00

Here is my latest project. A mat for my cats. I find that my bed sleeping felines make a very furry mess on my quilt so I decided to make them their own personal rug to sleep on.
This was the first time I had done binding on a quilt and I was happy with the result. The 4 corners are appliqued with cat things. The side panels are a black background with little paw prints all over it.
I backed it with fleecy so in the cold winter months they can cuddle up on the warm side ... spoilt pusses!!!!
It seems to be very popular so I may have to make another one, or maybe two, so I can cover the couch as well. But I will make them larger ... this one is just not big enough for 4!!!!

Front

Back

A happy, sleeping Bob cat.

Is it me .... or is it them????

2010-11-07T13:15:00.000+08:00

I am currently feeling very frustrated with the new templates on blogger. I find I cannot make the adjustments I used to be able to make. For instance, having my title centralised in my header.
I spent about 4 hours yesterday trying to tart up my blog with new backgrounds, buttons and boxes with about 3 of those hours wasted on what I shall refer to in future as 'the title in the header saga'.
As is normal, I just want my title to sit in the middle of my header but do you think I can find where to adjust it? No, of course I can't. Now, I ask myself, have the wonderful people who have written this program left out a vital piece of info somewhere? Mmmm!! However, looking at everyone else's headers', with their titles' beautifully situated in the middle of their headers, where they should be, I have begun to suspect the problem is mine and I am unjustly wanting to pass the blame due to my incompetence.
So lovely people, if you happen to pass by here, and see an empty box at the top of the page where writing should be, and above the empty box writing where there should be none ...blame me!!!!!
And if you should happen to have any info that could help me rectify what has become to me, an insurmountable problem, I should love to hear from you.
Thank you for listening.

Hello again!!!!

2010-10-23T06:11:00.000+08:00

Well!!! I seem to be getting more organised though I must confess I am not quite there yet. Got curtains up in the bedrooms and lounge today ... next thing is to get rid of the vertical blinds that I hate. Looking forward to getting my new lounge suite and then I will be able to get my lounge properly organised.
I have also recently transferred from my previous place of work to a nearer store but am doing a few hours more each week. More money for fabric, less time to sew :?
Have managed to achieve a little bit of sewing amongst these crazy few months.

I recently did an apron swap on the forum and received a wonderful apron from my swap partner.

The top pocket is cut out of 3 pieces of fabric, grapes, blueberries and cherries and all fussy cut and attached to make a pocket with a circular bottom and stitched on to the bib which is strawberries.
The neck ties are made from the same grape and cherry fabric.

The skirt is tomatoes and the pocket is capsicum, basil and chilli and the ties are onions, red on one side and brown on the other.

The inside is plain red with a cute mushroom motif appliqued on the bottom corner which is designed from mushroom fabric.

This apron is truly designed to motivate in the kitchen ..... and is almost edible in itself :))) Thank you, Guiliana, for a marvellous apron that you have obviously put so much thought and work into. I will wear it with pleasure and pride.

The one I sent in return, (that was 6 weeks late due to my move), was not so intricate and I even forgot to sign it :/
I used retro fabric with a cream background that was patterned with kitchen appliances, crockery and other paraphernalia from the 50's and 60's and coloured in reds, greens and yellows.

As you can see the straps, ties and trim is red and the shoulder straps fasten with buttons at the back waist.

The neck edge and pockets are finished in red bias and the bib is decorated with 2 red buttons.

Moving Madness Prevails!!!!!

2010-09-01T21:32:00.001+08:00

As many of you know, I have moved house with all the attendant stress and madness. What made this move worse was that finally I am going to be in a permanent home after many many years of nomadic wanderings around the country. Not that this is worse in and of itself; in fact, it is a wonderful, joyful experience to be settling down after a lifetime of being a semi gypsy (or traveller, to put it into it's modern day PC language) and living in rental properties with the constant expectation of moving, but when one constantly moves one collects stuff because what looked good in the last house doesn't look good in the current house but just may look good in the next house .... so I kept it, just in case. Which possibly explains why I have 5 dining room tables. So here I am now trying to get my new house organised and spending a small fortune in replacing just about everything as virtually nothing I had before fits or suits this place. What an excuse to shop!!!!!!!
As far as pastimes and hobbies go, I haven't yet achieved that goal. I do know where my sewing machine is .... sitting in the middle of my lounge room floor. I'm finding it really difficult to push down the foot pedal!!!!
So, that is where I am at in the moving saga. Hopefully my next update will have more organised news and I will try not to leave it so long to come here and post again.

2010-06-12T22:48:00.001+08:00

Wow!!! I must be on a roll. Not even halfway through the month and here I am again. When I started my tafe course I used an overlocker for the very first time ever and it was great, so I decided I needed one. Not being the richest person on the planet I knew it was going to have to be a secondhand cheapie and was expecting to have to pay at least between two to four hundred. So I started looking and look what I found.

It's a Bernina Bernette 334DS .... with differential feed!!! And guess how much..... ....$40!!!!!! Is that a great buy or not? I got it serviced which cost me $76 and it is perfect. I am so happy with it and consider myself very fortunate to find such a bargain :))

Another new toy I recently bought myself is a new camera, a lovely little 12MP Samsung. It's a fabulous little camera, neat, compact and very user friendly. However, it didn't have a case so I decided to make one. I saw some very cute cases on the blog of one of the forum ladies and decided it would be perfect, so I found the website they came from and made one out of these lovely fabrics that just went together perfectly.

Thank you to Sew Mama Sew for this free tutorial at

http://sewmamasew.com/blog2/?p=740

2010-06-02T20:12:00.069+08:00

Hi all :) I can't believe it is June already. I I didn't even manage a single update last month!!! I shall be so glad when my 2 current tafe courses are finished. I find they are taking up a lot of time and don't leave me much time or motivativation for other sewing or blogging. I did manage to catch up on a couple of things though, one of which was sending out a dozen or so patterns of the finally named Baby Snug Seat to some ladies on the forum I belong to. A number of the ladies sent me gifts as a thank you; here are some of the things I received:

How spoilt am I?? Thank you so much, ladies. I feel very spoilt by your generosity.

Just recently the subject of UFO's came up on the forum and, like most of us in the quilting world, I have a number hidden away in a basket that I try to ignore. However, as I am not feeling up to either completing or starting any large projects due to the aforesaid tafe courses, I thought that it would be a good time to try and finish a couple of the smaller projects that were sitting around. I am pleased to say I have completed 2 small items, so I am feeling quite pleased with myself. The first was a tote bag ... my first, and it didn't turn out too bad, though larger than I was expecting.

The other thing I made was a cute little offset wrist pincushion, compliments of Planet June. If you would like to make one for yourself, you can find the pattern here:

http://www.planetjune.com/blog/offset-square-wrist-pincushion-tutorial/comment-page-2/#comment-95253
I'm really happy with it because I can use really long pins and still not practice body piercing on myself. I couldn't decide what to stuff it with so I used a combination of sawdust, toy stuffing and rice.

2010-04-12T23:17:00.002+08:00

I love tins and today was my lucky day. We had a delivery of lovely tins at work, and being a tin-oholic, the temptation was overwhelming. I chose one for Xochitl because it was Alice in Wonderland and I think you all know by now that she is a fan.

Then ... problems!!!! I couldn't chose between:

Hmmm!!!! Not sure about the Wiser bit, but the other 2 are pretty accurate!!!!!

Then there are 2 lovely ones about women and friendship

Problem solved!!! I bought them all!!!! Ah well! my excuse is that they were 50% off + staff discount, and it makes a change from buying fabric LOL Just got to decide what to put in them now :)

2010-04-03T20:26:00.000+08:00

I made this pin board yesterday for my daughter. I used an art canvas and glued thick poly wadding to it then covered it. The decoration in the corner is a black rose and the 'X' hanging from it is my daughter's initial. She loves it.

Potholder Swap

2010-03-28T13:19:00.000+08:00

Feast or famine with me, isn't it!!! You either get nothing for weeks or can't keep up with the posts. Ah well!!! such is life ... as some bright spark once said.
Anyway, moving on ... I recently enjoyed a Potholder Swap with my online forum and thought I would share my potholders with you.

This is the one I received ... a perfect fit and oh! so useful. Thank you so much Donna :))

and here is the one I made for Doris ... I think she liked it ;)

2010-03-26T20:34:00.001+08:00

How quickly time goes past. Here we are at the end of March and school holidays looming, which means I wont have to go to TAFE for a couple of weeks. Maybe I will get some real sewing done. I really would like to make a pretty quilt for my bed before winter gets here, and I want to make a quilt for my son who has recently got a fly in / fly out job up North and I think it would be nice for him to have a little bit of love to take with him.
Meanwhile, here are a couple of photos of things I have made over the last few weeks.

First, my beautiful daughter dressed as Alice in Wonderland for the disney concert and wearing the apron and frilly garters I made . Yes she is the same daughter that had the black hair in an earlier photo, not a blonde twin :))

Next are a couple of tool aprons I made for putting personal sewing equipment in while I'm at TAFE. I made the pink one for one of my fellow students who doesn't own a sewing machine yet and the red and black one is mine. I put an extra pocket in mine for my scissors. They are so handy. I also use mine at work and I think I will make a couple more for round the house.

I wont bore you with photos of the pillowcases I made at TAFE, but FYI, I made 2 plain ones and a frilly one with Peter Rabbit fabric for my daughter. We are moving on to cushions and bolsters next week and if I make anything outstanding I will pop up some pics. In the meantime, I will see if I can get back to some serious playing ... real quilting!!!!!!

2010-03-04T12:50:00.000+08:00

Hello my dear friends. Well here I am again. I can't believe it is March already and the equinox signalling the beginning of Autumn is in 18 days time. After the summer we have had here in the West, I must say I am certainly looking forward to the changing season.
I have been busy with my new job and finally the training has finished ... not that I feel much more knowledgeable than I did 4 weeks ago, but hopefully something has gone in :)
I have just started a TAFE course doing soft furnishings. The course is fairly basic and a lot of the girls have never even used a sewing machine before, but there are a few things that I want to learn which is why I am doing it. I must say that using commercial machines is a real treat. Just hoping it doesn't ruin me for my little Janome. We get to use power tools also, which, with my history and ability with tools should be hilarious and very entertaining for my fellow students, but who knows, I just might master the skill with the correct tuition. Only time will tell and I will keep you informed of my progress ... or lack thereof!!!!! I am looking forward to learning how to make pelmets which is one of our projects. I will post pics of the different things I make.
I have finally finished the pot holder I made for my swap partner on the forum I belong to. It took 3 times longer than it should, but it was my first attempt at this design (thats my excuse) and I found it more difficult than I thought I would. I know! I know! it's only a pot holder but this is me we are talking about here. Anyhoo, I will post a pic soon.
My daughter is off to a Disney show this Sunday, and she wants to go as Alice in Wonderland so I am currently making her an Alice apron ... another first. Fortunately she has a dress that is Alice-ish because having to make one of those is way past my skill level. I will post a pic of that when I have finished it.
Anyway, I will hopefully get in here more regularly from now on so I wont have to write a book to keep you updated on the projects I am working on.

2010-01-28T10:26:00.000+08:00

Hi all, Just in case you think I have forgotten about my blog, I just want to say this is not so. Having started my new job last week and going through the training process, I find I am working more days, though not more hours, than I normally will be. However, I am finding that the process of getting up everyday and having to go to work is very disorganising and consequently I have had less time than normal to both sew and blog. But I will be back soon. Next week I start the job for real and will be doing my regular shifts so hopefully will be able to get properly organised. In the meantime I am working on a potholder for a swap on the forum, but I can't tell you more in case my swapee pops in here. I will post a pic when I have finished it and she has received it.

2010-01-10T12:44:00.005+08:00

I have finally achieved a goal!!!! I have made a bag!!!! I am so happy with myself :)) The colours aren't my first choice but I didn't want to use my favourite fabric on my first attempt just in case. However, it turned out really well and I am pleased with the result and will be quite proud to use it. However, if I make another one I will make the handles a little bit longer, just a couple of extra inches. These ones are not quite long enough for me personally as I prefer to hang bags from my shoulders.

The pattern came from a Quilts and More magazine, Autumn 2008. It has a single internal pocket but the outside has 3 pockets on each side. It was so easy to make .... I mean if I can make it anyone can.

Now I have done this one I feel I can make any .... watch out Gucci !!!!! LOL

2010-01-09T14:10:00.000+08:00

Time passes so quickly. A whole week has gone by and I seem to have missed it. I have been trying to work out how to put links and other cute things on here, but it seems to be taking a rather long time to work it out.

In the meantime here is a pic of my baby seat thingy ... and my gorgeous youngest grandson. I know a number of you have seen it .... and are waiting for the pattern. It's coming, I promise, I'm just trying to get my head around how to do the pattern.

2010-01-01T20:52:00.000+08:00

This is the newest member of our family that was born on November 15.. It's not that I don't already have enough bunnies (or other animals come to that) but my (very spoilt) daughter coerced me into letting her keep it. I think it's a boy and his name is Peter.

2010-01-01T19:09:00.000+08:00

Here are some pics of the raggy quilt I made for my youngest granddaughter. It was my second project apart from a few small projects like oven mitts and pot holders.

I did the back in 3 different coloured flannelette ... not a good idea, because I didn't want 2 of the same pattern next to each other. I nearly made it, but not quite, and it took a long time to get it sorted. Next time I will do the backing in one fabric only. Ah well!!!! we quilt and learn :))

2010-01-01T11:58:00.009+08:00

2010 has arrived

Here we all are at the beginning of a new year .... it gives us all a fresh start even if we don't make resolutions and personally I don't bother. My most successful changes are the ones I have thought about for a long time and the starting date is not important, it is reaching the goal that counts. However, I do hope to achieve certain things this year, but I am not starting them all today :)))

Some of my THINGS TO DO for 2010 include: Improve my quilting skills; Get a part-time job; Wii at least 5 times a week ( I already started this last week); Make lots of yummy natural moisturisers and body butters; Get my webpage up and running, and of course maintain my blog and hope I don't bore you all silly :))

My webpage is based on Aromatherapy and will have lots of info about essential oils and how you can use them in your home, on your body and there will also be recipes for making your own yummy natural products.

You can have a look at the humble beginnings here: Vanilla Rose

My First Quilt

2009-12-31T23:21:00.009+08:00

Here is a photo of the first quilt I ever made. The pattern was in BH&G and I thought 'I can do that'. I made it for my daughter who was about 7 years old at the time and she picked out all the fabric herself. I am embarrassed to say it took me about 4 years to complete .... but I guess the good news is I did actually get it finished. Originally she picked out bright orange for the backing fabric, but by the time I was ready to complete it, she had grown out of orange, so off we went for a re-shop and she decided on the fun Betty Boop fabric you can see in the photos.

2009-12-30T05:24:00.008+08:00

Here I am with my first blog post. It's a bit exciting that I have finally arrived at this point .... it's taken a long time to get here. I hope you enjoy sharing my online diary as I write about my life, my family, my pets, my quilting and my aromatherapy.

Thank you for sharing my journey with me.