Finish Along-Quarter 2 List

Dear Blog Buddies, 

I apologise in advance for assaulting your eyeballs with the same unfinished quilts that you've already seen approximately a million times before and further inane chatter about how I really WILL finish them this quarter. 

If I had been more organised in the first quarter of this little linky party you may have had the pleasure of seeing at least one or two projects that hadn't been the subject of umpteen million previous blog posts. I started the year with the best of intentions to finish a goodly chunk of the projects on my WIP list before I started anything new, and while I've resisted the urge to start any aforementioned new projects it appears my will to finish the remaining WIPS has fled along with just a teeny bit more of my sanity. 

When I wrote my list for the first Quarter of 2014 , I was clearly delirious because I put 7 projects on it. I'm going to get a bit more sensible for Quarter 2 and make a list that is rooted in some form of reality. Football season has recommenced Down Under so I am officially a sport widow until Grand Final Day (late September in case you were wanting to book tickets- my team won't be there based on what I've seen so far this season)and since I find no pleasure in watching 8 matches of football over the weekend(and listening to Mr. P's armchair umpiring antics) this is the start of prime quilting season for yours truly. 

So here is my list for the second quarter....

Project 1 - Dresden Quilt.  If this isn't finished by the end of the quarter I'll strip naked and walk down Rundle Mall wearing only a feather boa. 

Project 2 -Hexie Flower Garden. I'm not making any promises about getting naked if this isn't finished because its being quilted by a friend who would hold up the process just to make me follow through ... 

Project 3- Stupid Triangles. Our wonderful hostess Katy has suggested I give this away to some other poor unsuspecting sucker.  My return suggestion was that I use it as a firestarter for a bonfire in the back yard. Mmmmmmmmmm...better not. I'm going to finish this one if it kills me because I don't intend to ever make a triangle quilt again. 

Project 4 - Seville Quilt. 31 peels left to go ...then I have to sew it together, baste it, quilt it and put the binding on. What could possibly go wrong?  

Stick around for tears, tantrums and lots of whining ! 

Finish Along -First Quarter 2014

Katy over at The Littlest Thistle is hosting the FAL for 2014 and since I have WIP's coming out my wazoo I figured I'd better come up with a plan for finishing stuff. There is nothing like publicly committing to finishing things to get you off your arse and moving. Plus I can procrastinate for ages with this FAL because we only have to 'fess up 3 monthly.

So here, in no particular order, are the projects I'm vowing to finish in either January, February or March. Goals and I tend not to be friends but I'm determined to get rid of some of this stuff - sorry, finish these works of art -so I can start other cool stuff .

Dresden quilt 

If you started following my blog after October 2011 you wont have seen this one. It's been a completed top for so long now it's pretty much an antique. Unfortunately I only have pictures of the blocks so you'll have to imagine this with pink sashing. This one needs to be quilted ( And I've sent this out to the quilter - sue me if you think that's cheating) and when it gets back I have to put the binding put on.

Hexagon Flower Garden Quilt

I started this quilt in October 2011 but didn't finish the top until last October...This one is going off to the quilter too ...so for me the only thing that has to be done is put the binding on...I reckon I can blitz these two projects. 

Triangle Quilt

Started this one in February last year - quickly got sick of it because it had bias edges and when I put the first 5 rows together it resembled a Mexican wave...I unpicked the lot and have so far managed to sew two whole rows back together. This is going to require a bit of patience. Don't expect the points to meet up!

Tshirt Quilt

Poor Mr. P's Tshirt quilt - started with such enthusiasm, and then chucked in a corner when it was less than half quilted. There is probably a few hours quilting left on this and then it'll be close to done. 

Postage Stamp Quilt

Started as a way to use up my scraps which appeared to be breeding in their plastic tubs. I did three trial blocks  and then ignored for about four months until January 1st. This has been getting a lot of attention since new year so I'm quietly confident this may be my first quilt finish for 2014.

Pom Pom De Paris Dog Blanket

Once upon a time (last November) I decided on the spur of the moment to make Indy and Lola a new dog blanket because two of their other ones were so putrid I had to throw them out. I got to the "finished a flimsy" stage on the same day and then and totally piked. Indy and Lola don't care about fancy quilting so in theory this one should be a snap to finish!

Chenille Baby Blanket

I have so much chenille lurking around Maison Pyjamas I'm drowning in the stuff. I've just pulled the fabrics for a baby blanket for one of the girls at work who is having a baby in a couple of months. Lets see if I can get this to the mother to be before the baby starts school.

My list looks pretty full but with three weeks holidays stretching in front of me I feel like I can achieve  at least some of this...and there's still plenty of time to link up if you want to play along.

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.

The Best Laid Plans ...

So I've been working on my secret project for about a week now and it would be completely finished if it wasn't for one minor detail ...

Meet my re-useable menu board. I loved this idea because it cuts down on writing my weekly menu on paper. I saw this somewhere when I was trolling round in Blogland and naturally can't recall where- dear person who had the original idea - I'm sorry I can't give you proper credit.  Anyway, it's cute and adds a pop of colour to my kitchen, and nobody else I know has one. There's just one small problem.

I added 8 magnets to the back thinking that would be enough to hold it to the fridge. Nup- slid straight off ...so I figured 16 magnets would do the trick . Twice as much is always better. Apparently not in this case - I'm pretty sure that those extra magnets added dead weight and yet again the menu board slid down the fridge. Now I'm stuck with a non magnetic menu board that has 16 useless magnets stuck to it with Tarzan's Grip that I have no idea how I'm going to get off...

In desperation I contacted the magnet shop dude ( or it could be a dudette for all I know)  to ask them exactly what kind of magnets I should use because the ones I bought from the craft store kind of stink.  So if you could all just pretend this is on the side of my fridge looking pretty that would be great - thanks. I'm rating this project 10/10- and my execution of the project at about a 5.

Oh and I made one for Miss P too. Hers wont stick to my fridge either...

In other craftiness this week, I finished piecing Little P's Alphabet quilt.  

Ta Da! The Front

And I did the back too. Goal achieved.

I took the bull by the horns and started putting the Snowball quilt top together. This is number 3 of my PhD projects from 2010. I'm half done and I like the way it's turning out. Miraculously some of my seams are matching up . As usual some are not.  I am beyond thinking about perfection and am only focusing on a finish.

It wouldn't be Sunday without  a Dresden update. 3 more done except for the applique which I'm hoping to get done before bedtime tonight.

4 left to do. I will confess I'm starting to get a bit tired of Dresden's.

I must admit since I've been doing No Fabric February my mail has been a little dull this month. This was rectified by the arrival of exciting mail this week. I recently won a giveaway over at Taradiddle and Malarkey. My book arrived this week and it was wrapped in these cute fabrics. Thanks Ms. Taradiddle. I can see these adding some zing to a spiderweb or other scrappy quilt sometime this year. Thanks for thinking of me in my month of fabric-less-ness.  I pretty much rolled around on top of the fabrics for a full 10 minutes after I ripped the package open. Mr.P said it was sad to see a grown woman acting that way .

Oh and I dropped by the op shop this week and this was calling my name.  If my kitchen dresser ever gets finished this will look fantastic as a display piece.  The little things often make me happy.

It's going to be a busy week at Maison Pyjamas. Miss. P finally exits the teen years Wednesday, it's the end of Frugal Grocery February tomorrow,  Autumn starts Tuesday ( I can hear my Northern Hemipshere friends perk up in anticipation of us Southerners returning the sun )   and I am going to try and squeeze 5 working days into three and half days. Should be fun! 

Goals for this week:

Decide which project I'm going to start next while I contemplate my navel fluff
Finish the remaining Dresden blocks -then shove them in a box for a while
Put the rest of the snowball quilt top together
Order new magnets !

I Am The Quilting Queen Of The World!

My post title works so much better if you can conjure a mental image of me standing on my sewing table screaming that sentence  at the top of my lungs...

My working week is now over and I am free to be me for the next 3 days. Op shopping with Miss and Little P is planned for tomorrow and then we are going to come back here to do a craft project which I may or may not show depending on how it all works out.

My vow this week was to sew my little heart out - even after work - no matter how tired I was, and try to spend less time on the computer and more time achieving concrete things with my life. I know many of you think I get stacks done but the truth is I still spend at least  40 hours a week on the computer at home. Imagine how much more I could achieve if I spent that time doing other things! This week I decided to put that to the test.

So this week after work I got all of Little P's ABC blocks finished . See that block in the front at the left. I'm seriously thinking about trying hand stitching something on that. It could get ugly!

The Lounging Around quilt binding got cut, sewn and pressed

I sewed 65 more Dresden fans.  

And Lounging Around got squared up and the excess fabric and batting was cut off.

Tuesday night I turned 65 Dresden fans  right side out and pressed them. When I get rich I'm going to hire a presser to do all my seams and other quilting related ironing...Mr. P already does my clothes so the only time I touch an iron is when I'm quilting.

I machine sewed the binding to the front of " Lounging Around" and contemplated the upcoming horror of hand stitching it to the back.

On Wednesday night I  designed and printed my first ever  quilt label for Mr. P's quilt. Kate sent me fabric sheets to play with. Bless you Kate and thankyou again. I'm a convert.  I cant show you the label  -it's a secret until the official unveiling of the finished quilt. I also made two more Dresden fan circles. I would have made more but my machine was being temperamental and by 10pm so was I.

I'm looking forward to Friday Night Sew In. I'm going to work on this box of neglected snowballs. I see another PhD finish in my future. You will note I am avoiding the Christmas quilt I started last August. Why didn't someone have the guts to tell me it was truly ugly when I proudly showed it off?

Maybe tonight I'll treat myself and veg out in front of the TV, with a bag of something ...like snowballs.

P.S. I was a guest blogger at 13 Woodhouse Road this week. Pop on over for a look.

Long Weekend Roundup Post

All evidence of Christmas was erased from Maison Pyjamas on Saturday. It's always exciting to put all the decorations up but I'm equally happy to take them down again when it's all over. A little bit of Christmas goes a long way and rarely makes it past the first of the new year here.

I finished blocks 5-7 for Dresden Heaven.   All of the quilts I have in the concept/development stage at the moment actually have names.

I started thinking about  a quilt for Mr. P. since my husband has never scored a quilt  from my efforts.  So "Loungin' Around" was born. This is going to be simple and fast. Unlike the other two quilts I have on the go at the moment.

 

Miss P bought me this cookbook for Christmas. I felt like baking yesterday and thought Jam Donut Cupcakes sounded yummy. They were. Past tense. 

I've set myself a challenge this year to try some new recipes and food combinations.   I want to break out and eat something new at least once a week.  Tonight's delight was Little Miss Sunshine's  Kon Loh Mee or if you're as unclassy as we are at Casa Pyjamas -2 minute noodles with prawns. Delicious no matter what you call it.  

One of the indisputable facts of my life  is that Mr. P is a hoarder and a bower bird. This had pleasant consequences this week when he came home toting this freebie.  Before you get all " Good Grief,  she's going to spin her own wool. Everybody run and hide " , this is for decoration only , which is just as well because it has bits missing. However, Mother of Pyjamas has two of these in case I ever feel the urge to knit socks from wool I spun from dog and cat fur I picked up from my very own carpets.

My week last week  was made complete by the arrival of a parcel  from the beautiful Beck over at Sarcastic Quilter. I would like to publicly announce Becks is an Oreo pusher. That girl knows all my weaknesses. There was fluffy fabric too but lets all just bathe in the gloriousness of the Oreo's shall we?

I haven't re-touched this photo at all. Can you imagine the consequences that red dye is having on my ability to sleep at night. Mr P has rationed me to three Oreo's a day. It's like he's the Oreo Warden or something.

I've been on a fabric buying spree lately (40 yards in two weeks at last count) so thanks to a brilliant idea from Kate at Life in Pieces  I've decided to put myself on a yardage allowance for 2011.  I'm committing to buying under 100 yards this year. I'm feeling panicky just thinking about it. Isn't it good to know you're influencing the world for good and not evil Kate?

I am back to work tomorrow for three days then on holidays for several weeks. I'm planning for creativity and fun to abound while I'm not at work.  Words fail to adequately describe how delighted I am at the prospect.

I hope your week is fabulous!