Thursday, September 01, 2011

Moving Right Along ...

It's officially the first day of Spring Down Under. Get ready to hand over the sun Northern Hemisphere-ites!


Thank you to everyone who commented on the Flying Dutchman quilt. At 80 x 80 inches it was the biggest quilt I've ever made. It was a real challenge to push that quilt through this space on my little sewing machine. I bet you're all even more impressed now that you know I sew on a very basic sewing machine aren't you?




Mental note to self: Always send massive (by my standards) quilts out to be  quilted by my quilting Yoda in the future. 

Since the Flying Dutchman quilt had been taking up so much space (both figuratively and literally ) I decided it was high time to concentrate on one of the other four quilting projects that are  lurking round here laughing at me.  And since the sewing room looked like it had been ransacked by marauding goats I decided that needed to be my first order of business because seriously people I can't find a damn thing in there when it looks like this. 



I feel much more creative now that I can see my grubby carpet. 



In other news, I've had very exciting mail in the last week from amazing people. 

Melissa from clothwork did this post a while back about some prototype purses she made.  I fell in love with the linen and lace one and following my comment and series of emails, during which I promised her my next born child, cried, pleaded , begged and cajoled, she sent me the purse as a gift. 


But that wasn't all...the parcel was a mite bigger than I was expecting because it also contained a pincushion (with Babushka's - I love Babushkas!) . And can you see that little pin that looks like cake? I wanted to eat it up. Thank you Melissa. It's all so beautiful. I really need to find a talent so I can swap pretty gifts with people instead of copping out and sending them Haigh's chocolate.  


And from Helen(who doesn't have a blog) who I met through Nanci , this gorgeous hand knitted mohair hat all the way from Canada. Check out that colour!  She also thought of Mr. P  and sent him a black Fisherman's cap which I am going to have to prise off his head come wash day. I really wanted to get a picture of me wearing my hat but I'm having a bad hair day and I'm not wearing any make up. I don't want to scare anyone. Thank you Helen. I love it. 



And a fabric delivery this week. I have been looking at Soul Blossoms FOREVER and finally jumped on the bandwagon and got some. This is not my "usual" type of fabric and now that it's here I have no idea what to do with it. I just didn't want to want some in 6 months and not be able to get any. That's addiction for you.


Lastly, I have officially turned my Mother In Law over to the crafty side. We went shopping for a sewing machine for her yesterday. Sadly, she now has a better machine than I do. And I've already told her she needs to leave it to me in her will. 



22 comments:

  1. My sister has stipulated in her will that I get all her fabric, sewing machines and unfinished projects if she "goes" before I do. Oh, how I covet her long arm!

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  2. You have been busy! Your craft room is really cute... I wish I had a whole room.

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  3. Wow! You made out like a bandit in the gift dept. :-)

    Way to go on the sewing room. It's amazing how quickly they can become disorganized.

    Drool...fabric..., I have 3 quilts and a wallhanging to do. I look at fabric, but haven't dared to buy or I'd never get anything finished.

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  4. Good score on the mail department! I can say with confidence and experience that Haigh's chocolate is a good trade :)

    Good for you for cleaning that crafty space! I got about 20% through mine, lost interest, and it now sits looking like even more of a catastrophe than before as the contents of the closets are now spread all over the floor. Whatev. Will get to it eventually. When we give you the sun, I will have plenty of indoor days to look forward to!

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  5. p.s. my sewing machine is equally unimpressive....a clunker bought on sale for under $200 at Sears! Can't justify buying another when I could buy more fabric instead ;) But....full-heartedly agree that I need to send some out to a long-arm!

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  6. Yay for you finding the bottom of your sewing room again! And nice mail scores. Although I take exception to the fact that you say you need to find a talent. Hello crazy huge quilt goddess... I'd say you have pretty darn good sewing talent. Maybe mugrug mini quilts? They seem to be all the trade.
    Think your mil would notice if you broke in one night and switched machines with her? LOL
    PS My word verification is mandest. What's with that!

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  7. Gorgeous Purse Lucky You!
    Nice Fabric Shopping & Glad your on the Ball with the Will..lol
    cheers

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  8. Wow,lucky you. That pincushion is adorable.
    How long will your sewing room stay like that?

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  9. Good work on the sewing room. I had to clear a space to get to my computer...mine still has the marauding out of control goats rummaging through it. I've decide I need some of that crime scene tape to put across the door so people won't look in there and if they do it will be their own fault.
    Love your fabrics...the project will find you don't worry!
    Great gifties too!

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  10. You'v made me feel much better. My sewing area looks pretty much the same as yours did before the clean up. I don't feel better because you cleaned your s up, just the fact that I'm not the only person in the universe who makes a mess when I'm sewing.
    You struck gold in the mail didn't you.
    I can categorically state that Haigh's chocolate is THE best trade and I will gladly accept it anytime you want to send some.

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  11. Love, Love, LOVE the before and after pics of the studio! I did some serious fabric folding in mine and I am now kicking myself I didn't take a before pic! P.S. You can have the sun, I am tired of sweating...

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  12. Dont you feel so much better now youve tidied up the most important room in the house? I did mine the other day cos it was getting out of control. Yours is very organised, and i think ive got cutting mat envy cos yours looks bigger than mine. Love Soul Blossoms, i made myself a patchwork skirt out of it! Cant wait to see what you do with yours! Enjoy the sunshine!

    x

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  13. Amazing quilting job -- on any sewing machine! Nice job on the sewing room. Always nice to have a clean area to start work .. now that creative mojo can come out. Very, very nice gifts! The fabric is really pretty .. Fun that you and your MIL will now do crafty things together!

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  14. Look forward to seeing what you come up with next in that neat space!
    MIL will probably wear her machine out now that she no longer has that work commitment.
    Lovely gifties - that purse sure is gorgeous.
    Enjoy your pretty fabrics.

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  15. One day I will sneak over to your place and simply steal all that georgous fabric from you...oh how I envy you for your stack...I would know what to make out of it...only I don´t have time :-(

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  16. You make me laugh. Like you don't have a talent. Ha! I beg to differ. And I want your sewing room. Can you leave me that in your will please.

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  17. Sending loads of sunshine your way! ☺

    My, my, my, your mailman has had quite the busy week. Is he tired of lugging packages up your walk? ;) What a lovely surprise to receive all the pretties in your mailbox.

    My MIL swore off sewing a few years ago, and I inherited yards upon yards of fabric, and her machine. LittleGirl has expressed interest in sewing in the last few weeks, and DH decided we needed to make room for MIL's machine in the Sewing Room. Since my room looks like your 'before' photo right now, guess you know what I'll be doing this weekend. ☺

    Happy Thursday night! Hope the extra hours of sunlight don't distract your sleep! ☺

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  18. It's Spring!! Excellent spring clean of your sewing room!! Mine's much more like your first photo! Awesome surprises in your mail box!! Bloggy buddy friends gifts are the best!! I love the soul blossoms range but have only bought a couple of fqs. You've got the whole range to play with! Nice one!!

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  19. My machine is as basic as they come, too. I take some comfort in that, like "well, this quilt is poorly done, but look at the crap machine I have compared to all the other quilters out there.". Incan never get a "good" machine, because then I'd have to accept that my crap quilts are MY fault, not the machine's fault.

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  20. Glad you got your sewing room all organized (want to do mine?) Very cool packages indeed. How about a pic of Mr. P in his "cap"? The fabric looks gorgeous.

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  21. Yes, I am MAJOR impressed that you did that quilt on a regular machine!

    Thank you for showing your sewing room in disarray, it makes me feel a little better, although mine looks worse, and your cleaning it up made me feel bad again because mine only gets cleaned when I'm going to have company.

    I love the Amy Butler fabric! I have every confidence that you will find a great use for it.

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