Sunday, March 13, 2011

I've been feeling like a fluffer...

Spoiler Alert
*if you're one of the awesomely fantastic people I'm lucky to spend my work week with, you might want to skip this post. I'm blogging about your Easter gifts and you don't want to blow your surprise. Come back tomorrow or go read another post or something.

Up to 4 pm Saturday I managed to achieve exactly nothing but write a blog post about mild drunken-ness and my latest fabric acquisitions. Then I got mad with myself for wasting time and sitting on my bum. This spurred me into action. I despise inactivity.
 
The menu board is  done. The new magnets cost six times as much as the rest of the project and had to be mail ordered from  interstate but that's not the point. It looks awesomely fabulous if I do say so myself.


The garden edging for the stair garden  is finished. (Thank you Freecycle for the bricks and edging)  This will stop all the dirt washing down the gutter. Sadly it will not stop the dogs dancing a tango in the garden beds. Only hobbling them is likely to do that and it seems a bit drastic.


I am excited because I have managed to keep my parsley and rosemary alive through the whole summer. I celebrated this unexpected  longevity by buying herb markers...


However,  my boston fern is looking very sick. It is possible I am still  a serial killer but that my tendencies are just in brief hibernation.


Happy Dance Time! The Dresden Fans are finished. All excruciating 500 pieces. They're off to live in a box until I feel like looking at them again.


My thoughts have turned to Easter and I started working on this tote bag as a protoype for  gifts for the girls at work.  I have 8 of them to do. I'm sure at some point I'm going to start muttering about feeling like a sweatshop worker.


The delightful Clare at Clare's Craftroom has a tutorial for making stuffed fabric carrots. I decided to jump on the vegie bandwagon and  make some. I raced out today to buy fabric because I have minimal orange in my stash. It's OK- I blamed Clare when Mr. P raised his eyebrows. Plus I had a voucher for 10 bucks from Spotlight so this lot only cost me $6.25.


SOP(Sister of Pyjamas ) and I headed up to the Hills to check out the Lobethal  Markets this morning. The weather was glorious.

Our trip was in vain since the markets aren't running anymore. There was only one store open that sold fabric. SOP says I planned it that way.  The lady who ran the stall was apparently making up prices depending on how much she liked your face. This bundle of 10 inch layer cake squares were priced at $18.00 and there are about 200 of them there. The navy , yellow and red are the colours of Mr. P's favourite football team.


And this damask fabric which will be perfect for the Dresden quilt back is almost 9 square metres and was going out for $28.50. I got both for $15.00 which was slightly more than the 50% off she was advertising.


We stopped at Norton Summit on the way back to have lunch at the Scenic Hotel but circumstances conspired against us so we went to Assaggio instead. That was also a no go so we ended up somewhere else having lunch at afternoon tea time.  Third time's a charm.

 
 

It was a lovely way to spend the day.Fabric Bargains, lunch (eventually) and laughs.  SOP even picked up!


It's a public holiday here tomorrow so I'm hoping to get the carrots started, the tote bag prototype done  and the snowball quilt knocked off after Mr. P and I head out for a romantic breakfast together.  All that should bring me up to lunchtime. Any ideas what I can do for the rest of the day?



P.S. I gave up on the mirror mosaic that's been in my sidebar as an unfinished project since January 2010. Does anyone need lots of broken mirror pieces? It's been sitting outside for 14 months gathering dust. Time to face facts and chuck it.

21 comments:

Sara said...

I'm loving jumping from Australian blogger to Australian blogger seeing what people used their $10 spotlight vouchers on. It seems like everyone's done a post on it this week. So question: does the fabric bought with the magic $10 count toward your yearly fabric buying budget?

Shay said...

Crap! I hadnt thought of that Sara. How much fabric in 200 Layer cake squares? I'm screwed...

Unknown said...

Oh Dear your Boston Fern needs some Serous TLC..at least the Herbs Survived...
what a busy fabric day you have had...Great Bargains.
WooHoo Your Dresdens look Gorgeous...Hope they don't sit in the box for too long..
Enjoy your day off Tomorrow...hmmm Romantic Breakfast Huh...what's That!
cheers

Marg said...

You certainly made up for the doing bugger all most of Saturday!
Love love love your Dresden's, you have converted me to repros. That is a miracle!
Pleased to see the garden is getting work done in readiness for "The Visit"! I think your Boston Fern may need a drink.
Love the orange fabrics for the carrots, they are on my list of to do's which is getting longer by the minute.
200 layer cake squares for $10 a great bargain, are you counting money spent or yardage in?
SOP's (boy)friend is very tall. He wouldn't spend much time lying down on the job!!

Sara said...

In my honest opinion, precut fabric is like the broken biscuits at the bottom of the pack - they don't count.

Sara said...

Oh, and just in case that was a serious question you wanted an actual answer for:

36 inches long by 44 inches wide gives us 1628 square inches per yard.
10 inch squares have a total area of 100 square inches.
100 inches times 200 squares is a total of 20,000 square inches.
200,000 divided by 1628 is 12.285 square yards.

Or, if you want the length of standard 44 inch wide fabric you would have had to buy to cut those squares:

4 squares across, needs 50 rows of squares to make the 200 squares, is 500 inches long divided by 36 inches in a yard is 13.889 yards of fabric but you've lost out on the 4 inch strip at the side.

Baa-Me Kniits said...

LOL Sara has just left my brain spinning!! I love the damask that you got for your dresdens..perfect match! I bought some of that orange spots at Spotlight with my $10 as well! What are these carrots you are making? Are they for easter bunnies?
Have a lovley romantic breakfast and enjou your long weekend :-)

Kate said...

Love the menu board and the dresden blocks. Wonderful fabric acquisitions, the damask is beautiful.

Sounds like you had a wonderful time with SOP. Though it does look like her pick up is a bit too stiff for her.

Have a great holiday tomorrow.

Larri said...

You certainly made up for sitting on your bum earlier! What's a Spotlight? The Dresden's are incredible! Well done! Can't wait to see your Earth bags and carrots.

If it makes you feel any better, I cannot keep any plant alive. DH has to constantly remind me to water and deadhead any flowers I purchase. He usually just shakes his head when I bring home new plants to kill.

Enjoy your holiday! Happy Monday! :o)

Sara said...

Spotlight are big craft/fabric/homewares stores that kindly send us $10 vouchers occasionally, probably to make up for all the times they accidentally overcharge us. I used to work at one, so I can say that.

AnnieO said...

This needed to be split into about 4 posts because there is so much to comment on! The Dresdens look gorgeous. Yay for the brick, herbs, and menu board. Awesome oranges (and no I am not going to put stuffed carrots on my list, thankfully) and fabric deals! And hope your day off goes exactly as desired.

Jenny said...

If I did even a tenth as much as you do I would be so exhausted I couldn't move.

Maybe you could ...ummm... heaven forbid, read a book and rest up a bit - ha!

Mistea said...

Gorgeous dresdens.

I'm with Sara broken bits don't count. Good score all those 10" squares.

Glad you got the industrial magnets to do the job on the menu board it looks neat.

Have a lovely day off.

seabreezequilts said...

Basically I think your screwed on the 100 yard limit for the year. Maybe you should have made it 6 months or maybe 3. The dresden is looking fantastic.

Looks like you had a great day out. Have no idea what you can do today, I'm trying for as little as possible. Have finished all the blocks on my latest quilt this weekend. Need to give them a final square up and then put them all together and right the pattern.

thea said...

Let me comment, in order:
The menu board is fantastic! Glad the industrial magnets worked ...
The star garden looks great. If the plants don't work out you can always just use mulch. It'll still look good.
Jealous on the herbs. I've been meaning to grow some but haven't done it. You are my inspiration .. I'm partial to basil so that'll be my first one. I like the pots you've used.
You're not in Boston so the fern is probably homesick.
The Dresdens are absolutely beautiful.
The bag is so cute -- can't wait to see how it turns out. Different fabrics for each? or the pink/green? and the carrots, how fun ...
Yay on the fabric buys. I"m with Sara, cut pieces don't count...
Sounds like you and SOP had a great time ..

As for what to do for the rest of the day, you can come to my house and work on my quilts or we could just sit around and have tea or whatever ... I'll take the day off.

Donnie said...

I need to go take a break. Man, you do more in half a day then I do in a week. Take care.

Terri said...

I think your Boston fern would do better in a shady place, with lots of watering. (Potted plants outside usually need more water than the plants in the ground.) Your climate is probably like CA and gets all it's water in the winter and dry hot during the summer. Ferns don't do well here either. Hope this helps... it still has some green!

Paulette said...

First, your Dresdens are gorgeous! I could look at them all day. Nice deals on the fabric. Sounds like a great day with SOP.

Deb said...

Now Shay, dpon't you dare leave those absolutely adorable dresdens in the box for long. As I have told you before they are beautiful and you will feel fabulous when they are all together. Good bargins with the fabrics. Hope you have had a good day off.

Elizabeth said...

Oops. The comment about the Dresdens was meant to go on this post. I'm working my way backwards here. So, putting the comment in the appropriate place:

Yay you! Those Dresdens are fabulous! Love them.

Your front walk looks absolutely fabulous! As does your menu board. Love the polka-dots. Did I tell you I'm making a quilt entirely of polka-dotted fabric? Anyway, love your dotted menu board.

And yay for growing herbs in pots. Cut all that dry stuff and anything that looks wilted out of the fern and see if she'll come back.

Can't wait to see what you do with the layer cake and your outing with SOP looked like so much fun. Wish I could've come too.

And finally, what is up with making Easter gifts for the gals at work? You already make the rest of us look shabby with everything you get done on top of working nearly full-time. Now you're just rubbing our noses in it.

xo -E

Pokey said...

Have you heard the saying, "I'm a day late, and a dollar short"? That's me in your comments. Aw, well,it looks like you enjoyed your sis! I made mention of your lovely, inspiring dresdens, too, come see, and thanks for the inspiration!