Ciao, ciao 2010

Before we ring the bells to see out another year, I thought I'd do up a mosaic of my crafty efforts this year. It's pretty light on, but given the high-octane pace of 2010, I guess it's not too bad!

1. Poppy skirt with applique tee, 2. Panel skirt, 3. Too-whit too-whoo, 4. Book bag, 5. Butterfly applique top and matching skirt, 6. Dot's Bouquet, 7. Susan's Stars, 8. Tristan's Hungry Caterpillar, 9. The House That Jack Built, 10. Abigail's pram quilt- front, 11. Walk in the Park, 12. PIF gifts, 13. Rom's spooky new skirt, 14. AH skirt, 15. Allan's Lagoon

Wishing you and your families a happy, safe and prosperous 2011.

Allan's Lagoon

I finally finished the lap quilt I made for my father-in-law Allan, using fabric from the Lagoon range by Michael Miller. It's based on an Oh Fransson pattern.
I quilted it with an all-over medium meander, which adds to the sea-like quality of the fabric. Unsurprisingly, I called it Allan's Lagoon :)I had hoped to have it all wrapped up under the Christmas tree, but it wasn't quite finished. At least it's done in time for his departure after lunch today!

Next up is finishing Romily's single bed quilt that I began about two years ago...I'll get there, albeit slowly :)

Goodbye 2010

Poor, poor, neglected blog. Poor, poor, neglected readers! You want reasons? I got 'em:

• First, I got too busy (work, schmerk).
• Second, this is my 500th post and I wanted to run a give-away (sorry about that).
• Third, I haven't really been crafting (sad, but true).

Since my last post (IN SEPTEMBER WHAT THE?), I have made one dress (that fits!), started quilting my father-in-law's quilt (that I am supposed to be gifting to him on Christmas Day - whoops), fixed Romily's scratchy Tinkerbell costume waistband (with a strip of batting/wadding!) in time for her last day at Preschool (it was dress-up day), and finally made Tristan's Santa stocking (which I started before LAST Christmas). He now has a matching pair to Romily's, which I made back in 2007.Dire, dire, dire effort! In my defence, I have been ultra-busy at work, so much so that I am exhausted each evening and have no energy to study, craft or write anything much at all.

I did, however, manage to turn out a Christmas story, which will be published at 3pm on Christmas Day (Australian time). You can read it here, with a bunch of other Christmas-themed stories (but not in the cheesy, Xmas kind of way!): Mixed Tapes Volume 1, Deck the Halls. Make sure you become a 'fan' of the page so you get all the links to the stories :)

I hope you are all well and looking forward to spending some time with your families over Christmas. I am looking forward to 2011 - this has been a tough year for so many people in so many ways. Onwards!

It's spring! Need a skirt?

Well, yes, don't mind if I do! My lovely and generous colleagues gave me the best farewell present when I changed jobs recently: a rather large gift voucher for my favourite fabric shop - Addicted to Fabric (great name isn't it?!). I went and spent it last week and came home with some gorgeous dressmaking fabric, including some Alexander Henry Mocca Floral in black, white and yellow. It screamed skirt to me - what do you think?
It's lined and has a zip, as well as two tiny pleats/darts. I used the skirt part from a dress pattern I bought as part of my haul and modified it, created a self-facing waistband, added some lining and a zip and voila! A dress is next!

Wordless Wednesday

Spring is nearly here - time to do some sewing!

The blossoms are out, the bees are abuzz and the days are warming ever so slightly. And thank goodness! We can now take the kids outside without layering them in so many clothes they can barely move. All this excitement was inspiration enough to see me drag out my poor, neglected machine on the weekend and whip up a skirt for Romily and a pair of pants (or very long shorts) for Tristan. Two old faithful Ottobre magazines were found (after only a little searching). Otto 3/2008 for some more #7 'Aqua pants' for Tristan in some lovely, soft aqua babywale cord. I love this pattern and have made it a couple of times now. Lots of pocket detailing and top-stitching make them look so cute.

And 4/2007 - the #20 'Corduroy Skirt' for Romily using some very cool printed corduroy from Michael Miller (Cool Cords), which I bought a while back from Crafty Mamas. The skirt has real insert pockets (the first time I've ever tried that and it was pretty easy really!) and lots of top-stitching. I love the cute skulls (who knew that was a possibility?) and so does Rom. She wants to wear the skirt next time she sees her far-away cousins, 'cause she knows they like skulls. (Arrr!)

Tristan is two!

It's not until you experience it yourself that you understand how quickly children grow! I cannot believe my baby is two years old - but he is. And he's adorable. Most of the time ;)


And it's so wonderful to see the children getting along so well (again, most of the time!). Carl and I feel very blessed.

(Look at my growing-up-so-fast girl. This photo is scarily prescient! And yes, the buttefly pyjamas used to be Rom's!)

Canberra Quilt Show 2010

Warning: Quilt-related content!Rounding out a supremely busy week, was a trip to the Canberra Quilt Show today, where I had two quilts on display! Well, one. Well none actually entered for competition...!
My calendar challenge quilt, 'The House That Jack Built' was on display with all the others - I'm 'Miss October'!'Susan's Stars', which was the collaborative quilt some of my work colleagues and I put together for our friend who was badly injured in a car accident, was on display too - they were down on numbers this year, so Susan asked if we wouldn't mind having it included. Why not?! With each entry comes the obligation to 'volunteer' for a shift. I chose to do a stint at the 'Quilts for Others' stand and enjoyed playing with a new Bernina 440 QE - with table! It fairly hummed along, and I was able to finish a medium-large all-over meander on a lap-size quilt in two hours. The quilt is destined for a local hospice once its bound. The Canberra Quilters gift many such quilts each year and it was nice to be able to do my little bit to assist. The quilting was by no means perfect, but it did the trick. It's the first time I've quilted with an audience - there were lots of ladies (and even a couple of fellas) who wanted to know how I was doing the quilting, so it was lots of fun telling them I'm a beginner FMQ-er - a lot of them didn't believe me! I encouraged them all to give it a shot. It was pretty funny, as I was sitting next to Pat Godden, quilter and mother of Helen Godden, whom, if you've been reading for a while, I admire greatly - she is one of the best machine quilters in the world. Helen was on duty as well and I was a tad embarrassed to be sitting there having a bunch of women admiring my very basic meander while one of the best quilters in the world was watching!

Here are some of my favourite quilts from this year's exhibition (click any image to enlarge):

Beth and Trevor Reid - Hot Lava II - Best of Show

Close-up - check out that marvellously textured quilting. Amazing.

Brenda Gael Smith - Dreamlines #3

Helen Godden - Chameleon (yes, the chameleon is trapuntoed - quite an eye-popping effect)

Diane Firth - Stones

Dell Armistead - 40 Shades of Green

Diane Firth - Drainage Basin

Helen Godden - Swanning East

Helen Godden - They Grow Up So Fast

And the Australian Best of Show for 2009 - unbelievably well done in concept and execution. This photo does not do it justice.

Marlene King - Travels

And the Australian Patchwork & Quilting Challenge quilts were also being displayed. Some of my faves:

Erika Krieg - A Snapshot from My Heart

Robina Wickerson - Flanders Poppies

Poppies close-up

And, finally, here'sEB quilting buddy Leah's quilt - it's massive! Well done Leah!

Leah Clark-Vial - Country Dresden Garden

I'm hoping to enter my first quilt for competition next year, but with all I've got on my plate these days, I'm not committing to anything! That's one of the good things about quilting - there's really no rush except our self-imposed deadlines!

Rom's party

Today was Romily's party - we held it at The Farmyard Nursery here in Canberra (it's just across the road from our place!)
It was very cold but sunny - the cold doesn't seem to bother the kids though!
A fun time was had by all - especially the birthday girl.And her little brother!
We fed some very hungry lambs.And had some yummy cake - Romily's request was for a 'Dora and Diego jungle cake'. I was happy to oblige!I would like to thank my parents for the parties they threw for me - I now have a new appreciation for how much work my Mum must have done!

Anyway, a fun time was had by all - especially the big five-year-old birthday girl.

Happy birthday to my darling girl

I cannot believe Miss Romily is five! But she is. Such a beautiful, happy, crazy child. I love her to bits.I baked her a cake to celebrate - the Lazy Ladybug from the AWW Bake cookbook. We all sang happy birthday tonight after dinner and she blew out the candle. Here she is with Carl just after we turned the lights back on.And two dozen cupcakes to share with her preschool friends today. Here they are in the Cupcake Courier I bought a while back. How cool is this contraption?! (There's another layer, but I only needed the two today! The lone cupcake without decoration is for one of Rom's friends who apparently doesn't like icing...strange child! LOL)Romily's party is on Saturday, so stand by for more baking and fun photos! I'll also have to post a couple of her riding her new bike - she was so happy to receive her present and said a very genuine thank you. I think at her age I would have been so interested in ripping open my other presents that I wouldn't have even thought to say thank you!

She's such a wonderful kid. Happy birthday my little friend.