I'm Being Stalked By Gingerbread

Winston Churchill was known for being a famous politician, and Mother Teresa for working towards world peace and helping others.   I think I'm forever going to be known as the chick who got her arse kicked by a gingerbread house. Thank goodness I have all of you to turn to for support to make me feel better and make me laugh. First, Cardy sent me a foam gingerbread house kit which completely negated any future risk of unstickable or imploding gingerbread.

A couple of weeks ago,  Little Miss Sunshine sent me a Gingerbread Christmas Tree Kit a couple of weeks ago in case gluing the foam ginger bread house together fails. Or because she wants to read about my failure with a gingerbread tree next. Whatever the reason , receiving it made me laugh. A lot. 

And now Jill has gotten in on the act by sending me a picture of a DIY gingerbread house that apparently even I can manage...

I'm starting to think I may never live this down...

After a self imposed fabric drought, a little bit of new fabric has found it's way to Maison Pyjamas over the last couple of weeks. Little Miss Sunshine was having mad de-stash and gifted this rather significant pile to me. Imagine, if you will, the pair of us on Facetime doing a fabric fashion show I could pick what I wanted from her de-stashing efforts. And why is it that I find that other people's stashes so much more exciting than my own? 

And this past weekend, Tara, Claire and Lorraine and I hit Tricia's Discount Fabrics and I bought these lovelies home with a specific purpose in mind. There is no better way to spend a Saturday than a fabric road trip with some of your besties. 

But before I can start any new projects I still have to clear a few more WIP's ...so I finished the postage stamp top yesterday and have got it to the stage where it's all basted and ready for quilting...

I also have it on good authority that my Dresden quilt is on the frame and is being worked on by my quilting fairy. Is there some sort of rule about how many WIP's I can still have before it's acceptable to start something new? 

P.S. Ugh - Its Monday again. Already.

Life is A Merry Go Round

My first quilt finish for 2012 is  done. Merry Go Round got the final stitches in the binding this afternoon.

I don't usually blow my own trumpet . In fact I'm often self critical and deprecating. That being said I am completely , utterly and hopelessly in love with this quilt. I'd go so far as to say it's my most favourite of all the quilts I've ever made. It's close to perfect. 

My original vision was for this quilt to be done in 30's repros. But then I saw the Tonga Hard candy line I ordered that as well as the repros. The second the fabrics  arrived it was no contest. 

From the fabric to the quilting (Thanks Sharon - you did an utterly fabulous job !) I LOVE it. My cruddy pictures don't show this well but it's quilted in variegated thread the same colour as the fabrics. 

To the binding which caused me so much grief on Saturday and led to an almost tear fuelled breakdown with some very sailor like swearing....

I love the back and I think it's very "me"

In all it's glory.

This one is staying here to be loved and used by me ! I love every single stitch in it. 

In other news I went on a fabric buying kick a couple of weeks ago and this parcel of yumminess arrived today from Fabricworm.

Pinks and Greys 

Im loving chocolate and blue at the moment. 

And check out this "scrap " pack. Scraps ! They're huge and look at how beautiful they are. And only $13.50 for all of this. Amazing!

I also may or may not have done a run to Spotlight today where further fabric buying may or may not have occurred....but I'm just going to absorb that into my stash and pretend it never happened. I can't resist a sale. 

The "I Haven't Been Quilting My Butt Off" Post

There hasn't been a lot of sewing of current projects going on here this weekend. I spent Friday with Miss and Little P at my sister's and then was back there yesterday for Grand Final. Collingwood got pasted. I just want to say that out loud because I was going for Geelong. 

Apparently it's rude to take your sewing machine to other people's houses when you're supposed to be socialising so I had to take some hand stitching. That meant starting another new project (that would be number 8 in my current queue)  I'll do a round up of current projects later this week because even I'm starting to lose track of what I have on the go and what needs to be done.

The eventual plan for these blocks is for them to be a part of a much bigger quilt with flowers and butterflies and 9 patches in 30's repro fabric. I am still at the concept stage because I had to bang together something to do 10 minutes before I went out to my sisters yesterday, so this hasn't had a lot of thought yet.

I got the urge this weekend to use some of my other creative talents and wandered out shopping and bought about 100 bucks worth of scrap booking supplies. We'll see what eventuates from this lot.

The wonky block top is half together. I'm really liking how this is turning out. Let's hope nephew No 2 does too. I don't think I've uttered one profane word yet while making this. Spooky- and most unlike me.  

And a bit of retail therapy today with a Spotlight gift car yielded the perfect binding for the brown and Blue quilt . Of course I got it home and realised I already have some of that blue and white dot in my stash but that doesn't mean I love it any less. 

And the perfect backing for the Merry Go Round Quilt. I love it when I get things on HUGE sale. Half price! They'll be able to see this quilt from deep space without the aid of the Hubble telescope. 

I'm hoping tomorrow which is a public holiday (yay a free day off !) provides an opportunity for some actual sewing to get done although it's been relaxing being a bit slack for a change.

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. 

Gadgets, Bargains and Fabric

Naturally a girly weekend wouldn't be complete without some form of shopping.  One of us did so much in fact that purchases had to be posted home in order to avoid excess baggage. Guess who?

Before Little Miss Sunshine arrived, I expressed a wish to learn to crochet while she was here. When she arrived she presented me with this gift. I think she was being incredibly optimistic or possibly practicing blind faith.

It says 20 easy projects on the front cover.  Let me say with the benefit of hindsight  -that's bullcrap.

But before I knew that I raced out and bought these because I believed a granny square blanket would be easy. It said so right there on the cover. Aren't those yarns pretty? In fact they look so pretty I'm thinking of leaving them like that forever and putting them in a basket with crochet hooks somewhere highly visible so it gives the illusion that I know what I'm doing.

Unusually for me , I resisted buying a jelly roll in these fabrics and just stuck with  the fat 8ths and coordinates. As you'll see later -that was fate.This is the the Pom Pom De Paris collection . Not my usual fare are they? Man , I'm hoping this doesn't end in disaster like the pastel quilts I've attempted. I have no idea what I'm going to do with it - any suggestions?

A fantastic quilt store has just opened up 5 minutes from my house called A Quilters Odyssey. The weekend wouldn't have been complete without a trip to at least one other quilt store.  They sell some pretty fabrics including these pieces which didn't cost me much and are perfect stash builders. Notice those girly bits on the bottom left ? Again , I ask,  what was I thinking?

Since I'm as classy as all get up, my threads have formerly been stored in ziplock bags like this...

I lashed out and bought one of these....makes it look much more like I actually know what I'm doing.  

It's OK don't panic - my black and white threads still live in this little old lady op shop tin.

 And I bought one of these too....which is just about the best invention ever. You should all rush out and buy one so I can kid myself I'm a trend setter.

We did pop into a couple of op shops Monday and I found this.  How fast can you say "quilt backing"? Probably about as fast as I snaffled this up- elbowing two German tourists and a little old lady out of the way to get to it .  I'll get at least two backs out of this and it'll be perfect for one of Little P's quilts. Crazy bargain. According to Sara's theory of fabric logic (which is a universally recognised theory just like Newton's Law of Gravity) this doesn't count as actual fabric because it's a doona cover.

And I found this  too  and thought it would be great to work into a quilt border or something  at some stage. It's the bottom of a linen dress and there's 40 inches of it and I can use the white linen dress part for a cushion front or something. Not bad for a buck.

And I acquired these two jelly rolls as well...this one was a gift from a friend. That's the bit that was fate because it's Pom Pom De Paris to go with my weekend purchases. Sometimes the planets do align.

And I bought this Lilac Hill fabric just because it was pretty-the more I look at it the more I love it. Again -I'm clueless about what it will end up as...oh the possibilities!

And I was totally kidding about leaving my yarn in balls...Marg actually taught me how to do crochet  while she was here. She uses aversive teaching techniques which helped me learn really fast because she threatened to slap me every time I made a mistake.. So I learned really fast that I can do it !

Mr. P and I will be living on two minute noodles and dry bread for the next two weeks. I really need to get a second job since I cannot stop buying craft related paraphernalia....anyone want to hire me?  

P.S.  Haven't touched the crochet since Little Miss Sunshine left. I'm thinking about unpicking it and knitting a scarf. I can knit proficiently. Or perhaps I should do some more of those poor neglected stitcheries. Or start my paper piecing blocks. Or finish the zig zag quilt....

Adventures in Shopping and Amazing Events

It's been raining here. This has been the view from the front of my house for most of the day. Dreary, rainy and cool. Autumn has hit with a vengeance.

I met up with Sara yesterday morning for our shopping expedition to Spotlight. Sara and I have a lot in common. Since I don't have the maturity a woman my age should and Sara has the maturity of someone older than she is - it worked out about even.  Meeting people from the Internet can be fraught with danger. For example Sara was hoping I wasn't a 50 year old guy called Irving who owned a trench coat and I was hoping she wasn't a serial killer. Neither of us were what the other was hoping we weren't and we got down to the business of gossiping and drooling over the fabric bolts at Spotlight pretty quickly.

 

When I walked into  the quilting section it seemed there was a lot less full of fabric on the shelves than usual. That's because Sara had already chosen about 324 bolts  to take to the counter to purchase. I thrust a diagram at Sara and blurted out something like "Ooga Booga" and some other stuff that sounded like Norwegian Arabic and she understood perfectly and broke out that cool maths brain of hers. Who knew she was multi lingual? It normally takes years for people to learn Shay-ese. Anyway once Sara had worked out how much fabric I needed I started to look at fabrics.  I was being quite indecisive because if it isn't in a fabric range people - I am a complete ditherer.  Eventually after about an hour I made my choices.

As we staggered up to the counter (It took two trips -I am not joking) the sea of waiting people parted and looked at us in horror. There was a general melee while people dashed to the numbers you have to take to get served , obviously realising if they got stuck behind us they would have no hope of getting home before dark. Sara rugby tackled an 80 year old lady to the ground to get poll position and we took great pleasure in holding up that line for about 45 minutes.

OK - the rugby tackle was a bit of poetic licence but seriously - she had so much fabric people were staring and one lady couldn't help coming to ask what Sara was actually making. I guess when you look like you're about to collapse under the weight of that much fabric people are curious about what you're up to. My 6 bolts looked pissy by comparison.  Yes I bought some fabrics. Yes I blamed Sara when I got home. And yes,  I blamed Becks as well since this was for her quiltalong.  

Then we  hit Lincraft so I could get some more fabrics. More hilarity ensued, more fabrics were bought along with books I don't need except for the pretty pictures  and then we went for lunch. I had chicken breast fillets and chips in case you're interested.  It was a lovely way to spend a Saturday. Thank you Sara. You are everything I thought you'd be but even better.

So this was the damage for the day...

Fabrics from Lincraft and Spotlight for the Paper Piecing Quiltalong

Books from Lincraft (Crazy Bargains!)

I finally splurged and bought  a new cutting mat ...and some new backing for the long dormant Christmas quilt because I don't like the idea of  spots anymore.

Sara also brought me these gorgeous fabrics  from her personal stash.  I've already started making something with them. I can't resist repro fabrics.  In honour of Sara, who can make a quilt out of just enough fabric so that there is only about a quarter of an inch left over after cutting ...I am making something out of this fabric and am vowing to have a minimum of fabric left over instead of my usual 3 metres. I'm going to try and use every possible scrap. And also in honour of Sara I'm going to make this quilt as fast as I can.

In other amazing news, Miss P came for a sleepover so we've had the pleasure of her company for much of the weekend.  Yesterday she asked me how I make the carrots I'm doing for Easter and decided without begging , cajoling or interference from me to give one a go herself. MY DAUGHTER DID CRAFT! Today, I walked into the lounge room to see her doing another one. Here's the proof! 

It is with huge pride I show you this finished collaborative project made by Miss P and Mrs. P -Easter Carrots 

Honestly , seeing her with a needle in her hand almost gave me a heart attack. (but made me very proud of her at the same time ) There may be hope for her after all.

May the craft be with you.

P.S. I know you're wondering what I did this weekend aside from shopping. I did a lot of sewing but honestly this post is wayyyyyyyy too long already. I'll be back Tuesday to share.