Weekend Preparations

So I'm starting to get super excited about my upcoming Saturday Midday to Midnight Quilt-a-thon at Somerset Patchwork and Quilting.

I have been doing some preparation work to make sure that I have the projects ready that I want to take.

Friendship Challenge fabrics

I have been busily cutting 4" squares to start sewing together the quilt top for my friendship challenge with my girlfriend Simone from Quilting is my Down Time. As I cut out my fabric and was counting my squares, I came to realise that I didn't have enough for my lights. So after raiding my own stash for fabric to go with the challenge pieces above, I was ready to seek out fabric elsewhere. So around at my Mum's I raided my inheritance. Yes that's right, my inheritance. My Mum and I learnt the art of patchwork and quilting together. And when I say I raided my inheritance, lets just say that my younger sister has no desire over any of my Mum's sewing or fabric items and they have already been bequested to me. So when I need a little bit extra, I just check out what Mum has in stock.

I blogged about the Friendship Challenge here. 

I've also decided to take my cut fabric for my friend Bec who is having a baby in November/December. 

If the baby decides to arrive on its due date it will be my birthday. I thought that I would take this in case I get tired to sewing half square triangles. I plan to use the QAL from Crazy Mum Quilts as the design for this quilt and as Bec wanted orange as her feature fabric, this quilt is in shades of oranges and blues with white.

And of course I have to take my hexagons. They go everywhere at the moment. I've made some progress.My design looks like this but ignore the rows of colour because it isn't going to look like that at all. It was just a way for me to work out where I wanted the colored hexagons to go.

I also cooked some Double Choc Chip Cookies to share. Perhaps it the country girl coming out in me but I usually like to make something sweet to share with others joining in on the fun. It reminds me of my Nan and how she always like to make things to share around, and what better thing to share that yummy food.

Can you tell that I'm excited yet....

W.I.P Wednesday

I missed out on catching up with everyone last week for W.I.P Wednesday. So this week, I'm heading over to visit Lee at Freshly Pieced for another W.I.P Wednesday.

So for all who have happened to read about my eventful start to last week, my 2 year old has bounced back with gusto. Not only has he stopped snoring, his sleeping is more settled. He has started to babble and hear things all around him. We were beginning to wonder if he would ever talk beyond a few words and we knew that he wasn't hearing at all. The wonder on his face when he can hear what is happening is priceless. Just to hear "oh Dad" brings a smile to our faces.

So I thought that I would show my progress with some photos. I have taken some recently to keep up to date with my projects.

hexagon diamond 20

hexagon diamond 21

ready to cut for friendship challenge

hexagons galore

Christmas placemats for TOMG swap

I am really excited about the upcoming weekend. I'm off to Melbourne which is a 4 hour car drive away to attend a Midday to Midnight Madness Sew-a-thon or Quilt-a-thon however you want to describe it. I will hopefully show heaps of photos but its going to be lots of fun. I'm having some solo time whilst DH and the kids have a play with Nanny and Pa. I think I deserve some time off and there's nothing better that a quilt workshop or activity to attend to make that time more fun.

My week so far...

So my week has been a little out of the ordinary for sure.

Sunday started with catching up with a group of amazing ladies who are also share my love of patchwork and quilting. It's my day off. It's my sanity day. It's my day when I get to be me and fulfill my addiction. My girlfriend Michelle from Daisy Hill Quilts has been making some amazing projects. Go and check out her blog. Her work is just divine.

Monday. My DH and I took our 2 year old to see another Dr about his adenoids and tonsils. We had a surgery date with another Dr but its just taking too long and we kind of wanted things to get better for him. Well, to  sum it up, the Dr was shocked and wanted to operate before his holidays in September. So he had a vacancy for Tuesday.


Tuesday. My 2 year old had his surgery. It was worse than we knew. Dr was glad to had been able to correct it for him but it was not good. All fixed now and we had an overnight stay in hospital. 


Wednesday. We were discharged from hospital with the promise that if he didn't start eating and drinking we would call the Dr. Apparently, little kids often don't like it when they have to stay in the hospital and refuse to eat or drink. Thank you McDonald's chips and cookies. The drive home was a huge relief because our 2 year old started to eat and drink again. I can see people grimacing as they read this. We were actually told to give food that is textured and to let our 2 year old eat everything. Go figure.


Thursday. After a full nights sleep from all, our 2 year old has decided that he will eat with gusto. The best thing is that apart from the fighting to give him medicine and pain relief, I don't think people would believe that he actually had surgery on Tuesday. He is just full of energy and bounding around the house. 


So this week has been definitely interesting, stressful and tiring. I can't wait for next week to come around. The remainder of this week will be spent recuperating by everyone.


I did receive a parcel in the mail today. So excited but I'll post pictures later.

W.I.P. Wednesday

OMG!! It's Wednesday again. I can't believe how quick the week has came around again. So I'm heading over to visit Lee at Freshly Pieced for another W.I.P Wednesday.

This week has just flown by for me. 

But I do have some achievements for sure.

1. I finished piecing together my Christmas placemats for a swap. I just have to baste, quilt and bind them. They were so much fun and a Moda Bake Shop recipe. Stay tuned for some photos.

2. I took the Jelly Roll 1600 Quilt for a trial run. I had heaps of fun. I'm a slow sewer so it took me nearly 3 hours to piece it together. But its definitely fun and will be thinking about using the concept for a quilting weekend I'm organising.

3. A non quilting achievement this week. We have redesigned our kitchen and added more cupboard space. It looks amazing and to make it even better we were able to match our previous cupboards and bench tops with the original kitchen we put in nearly 5 years ago. Woo Hoo. It feels like a completely different room. DH and I spent a few hours reorganising today and its feels great to have it done.

4. I finished off my friendship bracelets and they are currently on route to the United States. I hope that my swap partners like them. They were so fun to make.

5. I also worked on some hexagon flowers that are going to be added to a special gift. I will post some pictures when I have finialised the gift.

The Jelly Roll 1600 Quilt

I first heard about this quilt challenge in May this year. It caught my attention because 1 Choice 4 Quilting decided to hold this challenge as part of the Indy Racing weekend. So I went " a huh, interesting idea" and thought nothing else of it. 

So when one of my blog followers made herself her Lasagna Quilt  I was intrigued. So I checked into it further to discover the team at Heirloom Creations are behind this novel idea.

I watched the YouTube clip of the sew-a-thon is just one way to describe it. I was in awe of the finished product.

Seeing that I'm currently organising a quilting weekend getaway with a few like minded friends, I got to thinking that this could be something that we could do. I had to trial run the process so I could get my head around the concept. Friday night I stayed over at my Mum's to keep her company as our respective men went away for a golf trip. I collected my craft stuff and off I went.

I had a few different jelly roll lying around at home. 

So I grabbed one of my Max and Whiskers roll and started the Warm Up lap. Here is my 1600 pile.

Well needless to say, I'm not a very quick sewer and I like to take my time. The winner on YouTube took 35mins to complete her top. I took 2hrs 40mins to finish mine. Here it is.

I had fun and would recommend it to anyone to give it a go. It is only a jelly roll and it's a nice size quilt for a kid. Mine is going to Alicia's best friend Sam for his 4th birthday in October.

W.I.P. Wednesday

Can you believe that its Wednesday again already. I've been a bit slack and have not caught up with everyone for a couple of weeks. So I'm heading over to visit Lee at Freshly Pieced for another W.I.P. Wednesday.

The irony of this week is that the kids and I are sick yet again. The weather here has been glorious but it hasn't stopped us from getting another cold.

So I thought for this W,I.P. I would share some photos of my progress. It may not be everything that I want to share but its just some of the things that I have been up to lately.

Fabric for a quilt for Liam

Design of Liam's quilt with a white border for his new bed.

Christmas Placemats for a TOMG Christmas Swap

Back of placemats

Fabric for a baby quilt using the 36 patch QAL at Crazy Mom Quilts

Practice bracelet for the Friendship Bracelet Swap

I love seeing what everyone else is doing. Its great to catch up and see our successes. 

Until next week.