Rudie and Me

I started this small wall hanging earlier this year, and have surprised myself by actually managing to finish it in good time to hang up this year.

Christmas treats

For our family Christmas party on Sunday, I made a gingerbread sleigh, with colourful iced gingerbread cookies. Even I was surprised by how well it turned out, given the short amount of time it was made in.

Mums Birthday present

For mums birthday, I made another cushion for her to match the one I made last year.

Spider quilt

Well I had planned on trying to finish the quilt for Halloween, but didnt finish it until cup day-only a day late not a bad effort. It is quite cute if I may say so myself.

Slowly getting there

So the last few weeks have been very slow. I am slowly getting through my Halloween quilt, dont think it is going to get finished in time, but there is always next year (if I can fit it into my bag) or just to put up for fun.

So true

I saw this pattern in a book and just had to make it-who hasnt had days like this!

Bon Bons

For the last few years I have made bon bons for Christmas, and made my own little fillers for them. While going through my stuff trying to clean out, I found some partially made bon bon fillers that I obviously didnt finish or werent needed so I never made them up. As they were half way completed, I decided that I might as well finish them off, and then I can hang them on my tree.

I have now finished off two of the years, and have one left to do.

Distracted

As is my way, I got distracted while trying to finish the cross stitch I was working on (teddy bear I started last year), and have started a quilt wallhanging for Halloween. I am hoping....hahaha thats funny....to have it finished for Halloween. I have quite a lot of work cut out for me to get it finished.

Quick teddie

After finishing the second ballerina teddie, I really wanted to do the third one. I impressed myself with being able to both start and finish it in the same week-not a bad effort for me.

Finished alphabet blocks

Finally got a photo of the alphabet blocks finished.

Alphabet mat

For my nieces birthday I made an alphabet mat with pictures you put under the letters. It was a complete success, as soon as she got it she sat down and started putting the pictures out-so nice to know it was loved.

Zip success!

To finish mums birthday present from last year, I had to try and put a zip in-something I havent done for nearly 20 years. I finally got up the courage, and attempted it! And there was success-well the lines are a bit wonky but it is in, it works, and the zip is on the back where you never see it so I am calling it a success.

Ballerina teddy

The finished bear.

Next project

Having finished the bear last night, I had to decide on the next project I was going to tackle-why not do one that I started not that long ago. This cross stitch I only started after I got home from my holiday last year, so has only been on the go for just over a year-perhaps I can finish it within 18 months, not a bad effort for me!

Getting there

At the start of the year I wrote a list of all the projects I would like to try and finish before leaving for Africa next year. There were 41 project on the list-scary considering I am sure it is not a complete list! Having completed quite a few of them over the last few months, I counted how many were left-only 21! Cant believe I am nearly half way there-although I have quite a few rather large projects left, and have finished a lot of the small ones.

Teddies

This bear was started when I finished the first in the series of 3, then with a couple of hours of backstitching left I got bored, and put it away-guess it is time to finish it and maybe even do the third in the series as well.

Triplets blocks

For the triplets first birthday I made them each a block with letters of the alphabet on it. I finished them nice and early, sewing the last seam 5 minutes before leaving for dinner. Because I was rushed to leave I forgot to get a photo of them finished, so will get one when I see them again I will get a photo, and post it them.

Blocks partway finished.

Christmas...in July

This Bauble embroidery I started last year just after I got home, and actually basically finished it within a couple of weeks, but it has taken me about a year to buy the hanger, and finish the last touches of it. Every time I went to the patchwork shop I would forget to buy it....finally remembered it yesterday, and today it is finished.

Its a hard life....

During the sunny period we had a couple of weeks ago, my cats found it hard going, lying in the warm sun sleeping all day-its definitely a hard life for them.

Slowed down

So the last week has been a bit slow for me-work has rudely got in the way, so not so much crafty stuff has been getting done.

I have managed to finish another two appliques for my bright quilt, leaving only another 7 to do-very exciting.

Wall hanging

This was a pattern I found a while ago and was playing with. I finally got some batting and finished it off. The only problem now is finding somewhere to hang it. A present for mum is always a good idea, then it is no longer my problem :)

More quilts

So...I am not very good at finishing quilts apparently. I was sorting through my craft stuff/unfinished projects and found three more quilts that are either almost finished or a fair way through, far enough that with some dedicated work, it should only take a short (that is relatively short) time to finish. In theory at least, I love theory!

Quilt one is an applique flower quilt made from flowers I got from my grandma. I got as far as appliqueing the flowers on, and laying it out and then got bored so put it away. It only needs to have the squares sewn together, then a borders put on, quilted and bound-not too much it is only a small quilt

Quilt two is one of many quilts that my grandma did and then when she passed away they were divided up around her children. A couple of years ago, my Auntie gave me this quilt and said that if I finished it I could keep it, a gesture I found very kind. Unfortunately it then sat in my cupboard for a couple of years until now, when it really is high time I finished it. So I have gotten some backing fabric, and batting, and am in the middle of tacking it together so I can try and quilt it this winter while it is still cold enough for me to be able to hand quilt-once the weather warms up it will have to be put away again until next winter-fingers crossed it gets finished next year is going to be busy enough as it is!

Quilt three is a scrap quilt I started when my grandma was dying and she was teaching me how to do patchwork. It took about 7 years to finish the top, and it has been sitting in the cupboard since then. I decided not to work on this quilt at the moment, as it only requires backing and quilting, and I dont really want to hand quilting projects on the go at once, and this one is going to take a lot longer to quilt than quilt two-but at least I know how I am going to quilt it-around every hexagon, of which there are over 1000.

Chiquita

I got new pj's for my birthday (which are sooo nice and warm and cozy), and Chiquita decided that she liked them very much as well-she didnt want to get off my lap!

Feeling crafty!

Because my parents are on holidays, I decided to move doing my craft stuff inside to the lounge room where there is a heater. As a result over the last 7 odd weeks that they have been away, it has been taken over slightly, and is somewhat of an organised mess-I know where everything is but mum would have another way of describing it (I promise it will be completely restored before you get home mum!)

As a result, I now only have 10 odd days left in which to finish the projects that are laid out before they need to be packed up and moved back into my room where there is considerably less room to spread out-got me a lot of sewing to do! (the most important of which is appliqueing 8 stars and 4 moons so I can finish the large bright quilt currently taking up most of the floor space)

Mums pillow

For mums birthday I decided to make her a pillow cover for one of our large square pillows. I got as far as making one of the blocks before her birthday, and said that I would make the rest and finish it off on an IOU.

Well that was 7 months ago, and it really was high time that I did something about making the other 3 blocks, and finishing the cover off. This is the completed top, now I just need to finish it off with making it into a pillow case-patience is the key, you wouldnt want to rush these things :)

Puzzle quilt

This quilt I started while several years ago (probably while I was still in Uni), and then didnt get any further as I was unsure of how to quilt it. When I decided that I was going to finish my projects, it was at the top of my list, but I had to wait until winter, as it was too hot to try and hand quilt it during summer.

After a couple of weeks of hard work, I eventually finished quilting it, sewed on the binding, and have a lovely lap quilt, or as the case actually is, another quilt to add to the pile on my bed to keep me warm at night.

Crafty stuff

So I decided that it would be a good idea to try and finish as many of the crafty projects I have on the go before I pack up my stuff and head back overseas. I have a bad habit of starting something, then getting bored with it, and then moving onto something else, and not finishing the old project.

Unfortunately, when I started going through my stuff to make a list of what I needed to finish off, I began to find out just how long the list was, it was almost 2 pages long!!!! Now I knew that I really did have to do something about a lot of those projects.

So, that was 6 months ago (I dont do new years resolutions, but I made the decision at that time that I really had to do something about these projects this year), and although the list really isnt getting any shorter (I blame it on me still finding projects I have stashed away half finished and not on my starting new ones) I have made some great progress on several of the projects which were quite large, and finished some of the smaller ones.

Lest see how we go for the rest of the year blogging my slogging through and progress of above goal.

Attempting to lay out a quilt (which has been in progress for a couple of years). Unfortunately, there is not really enough room, and the cat helping also didnt make it easy. Now if it will just stay like that for the next 2 weeks while I can get it appliqued and sewn life will be great!

Lunar eclipse

Ok so what do you do on your birthday? Getting up at 4.30am to see the lunar eclipse seemed like a good idea at the time. However, come 4.30 and it was freezing and suddenly it didnt seem like such a fun thing to do. I persevered though, got my camera and tripod, and went to view the eclipse.

Now standing in the garden with a camera in my pj's sounds silly but it was worth it, a lovely view of the moon being covered up, turning red and then sliding behind the trees and out of view, where I promptly went back to bed. Unfortunately I then got a message telling me the moon looked really nice and I should go and see it. I proceeded to wander round the garden trying to find a spot I could view it from, that didnt involve climbing on the roof, or wandering the streets in my pj's when it was 3 degrees.

It was nice, it was worth it and I did spend another half an hour taking photos until the haze covered the moon and made haste for the warmth of my bed.

Live below the line

I have decided to participate in the "Live below the line" campaign. It is a campaign to raise awareness and funds for those living below the poverty line. The challenge is to buy all your food for 5 days (16-20 May), with less than $2 a day-no food from the pantry, all ingredients, including salt, oil etc.

Today I bought my ingredients,

Rice- $1.60
Pasta- $0.79
Lentils- $1.82
Tinned tomato- $0.79
Pumpkin- $0.99
Soup pack (veggies)- $2.99
Apple- $0.55
Mandarin- $0.37
TOTAL $9.90

I then decided to cook most of the food for the week, and freeze it in portions, rice and dhal for breakfast, pumpkin soup with pasta for lunch, and lentil/tomato soup with pasta for dinner, with carrot, apple and mandarin for snacks.