Frenzy

My days off this past week have been filled with pleasant stuff, faffing about and doing pretty much exactly what I felt like. That included a lot of sewing, minor amounts of housework, limited cooking and a fair bit of sleeping. I had one day in my pyjamas and forced myself to get dressed in actual clothes the rest of the time. I swear if I didn't ever have to go to work, pyjamas would be my uniform. 

During my week off, my grand sewing plans mostly came to fruition, and I even managed to squish in a shopping trip for fabric, dragging Patty Pie (Mother of Pyjamas) along for the ride.  It took 3 shops to get everything I needed, but I'm all set for another three quilts to be started (and finished-fingers crossed). I've left out the boring white fabric I bought and well as a ton of batting, which is currently residing on the sewing room floor being used by Lola as an impromptu dog bed. Miss Lola is such an opportunist.

My rather eclectic and out of character purchases 

I started and finished a simple baby blanket/play mat /change mat on Monday. I think I've nailed this FM meandering gig and need to move on to something else. One side is for a girl and one side is for a boy because I don't know what kind of baby its going to be, as the parents have chosen to be surprised. I'm assuming they have had an ultrasound and already know they aren't having twins because that'd be one heck of a surprise and I've only made one quilt.

My second Irish Chain quilt is done and ready to be donated to the Mary Potter Foundation. Quilted in a simple diagonal serpentine stitch in wonderful 50 weight Aurifil thread. I've started using Aurifil for piecing as well not just quilting because yes - it just rocks that much.  As an aside , having now made two Irish Chain quilts in a row , I am so over them that I'm ready to move onto something completely different. I see curves in my future. And swearing and tantrums due to the curves. 

I've made progress on a third donation quilt as well. The postage stamp sized bits were driving me slightly batty but I finally have enough cut and sewed to the point where I can sew them into 16 patches. Once this quilt is finished I'm going to give donation quilting a rest for a bit and concentrate on some of the projects on my FAL list for the last quarter (my efforts on that list for this quarter have been seriously abysmal)

Lucy Boston has been stuffed in a bag and I'm now working on Miss Elizabeth instead from a pattern by Cherry Pie Designs that I saw at the Quilt Show in Melbourne in April and immediately fell in love with. Progress has been made cutting a bajillion hexies and honeycombs. Mental note to self: When glue basting these suckers don't forget all the rude things everyone said last time they had to help you unpick the paper bits from the hexies.You probably don't need to glue everything to within an inch of its life. I'm feeling more optimistic about this project, although I'm sure it wont be finished until sometime in 2016. That's OK -hand sewing is all about slow going in my book. Its the journey - not the destination. 

And this morning I sucked it up and cut out all the bits for the Moroccan tile quilt that is meant to be finished by the end of September and I'm delusional optimistic enough to still think I can pull that off. 

This is where I left things before calling it a day. 

I'll leave you with some gratuitous food shots...I made up for my lack of cooking this week by pulling my finger out and hand making pot stickers from scratch for dinner tonight with a honey ginger sauce. My confidence took a battering the first time I made these which was some time last year I think. The hot sauce was so f****** hot even Mr. P had tears streaming down his face. His power of speech was affected for about two hours after dinner, or perhaps that's because he couldn't think of anything nice to say about them?  I gave up and ate a sandwich and have been too chicken to make them again up until now. New recipe- much better result! 

And for dessert we had chocolate cupcakes with mint cream cheese frosting dipped in chocolate. You can never have enough chocolate.....

And while I'm on a sugar theme- this should send you into overload. I received a care parcel this week from Little Miss Sunshine which contained all the Halloween Candy I never had as a child in one box. For my Northern Hemisphere friends- don't bother looking for any Halloween Candy in your neck of the woods- I have the worlds supply at my house. I'm kind of hoping we get some Trick or Treaters this year because I will have the best supply of candy in Australia to give them. I'm pretty sure it will make me a neighbourhood legend. 

I'm back at work tomorrow but I'm determined to finish that Moroccan tile quilt under my self imposed deadline so it looks like its going to be a busy week. Enjoys yours. May it bring sunshine and good things. 

Not Quite Sure Where That Week Went....

It looks like I've turned into a once a week poster.  Lately I haven't been doing much that's particularly blog worthy or exciting and I'm sure you don't want shots of me making the bed, doing laundry or playing on my iPad.

Work continues on the guest room makeover. Mr. P is a crazy anal good painter and has insisted on doing 5 coats on the dressing table to get it to his satisfaction so I'm still waiting for that to go in the room. I have house guests next week so he's been told he is on an actual time frame and cant fluff about taking his sweet time like he usually does. 

Progress was made on the Seville Quilt this week. These orange peels are haunting me in my sleep. I counted them up and I still have 33 to do.....this quilt is starting to feel like I've been making it forever and 33 isn't all that close to a finish. But I will soldier on and I will prevail! (Yes it really is starting to feel like this is war) 

I've just come from Katy's blog where she talks about a photography course she's been doing , which just reinforces how crappy my own photos are!

My Not The Farmer's Wife sewing group met this weekend. There was a lot of laughter and some hot topics of conversation (missing planes, changing careers to become a phone sex worker, and ladies hoo ha's- don't ask!) No shots of the lovely ladies but I did get shots of some fabulous finishes.

Claire's orange peel quilt. She is now jiggying me along to finish mine, seemingly without the realisation that my peels are 10 times the size of hers... 

Val's Star Wars quilt. I think the force was with her on this one. It is fabulous. 

And Lorraine's scrappy stars quilts (she has recently discovered the joy of rotary cutting and is churning quilts out like nobodies business) 

I dragged out my poor neglected triangle quilt this weekend and added a few rows to the total. This picture was an "in progress" shot...Somehow I don't think this is going to make the finished list as I had originally planned for this quarter.

Some Saturday Stash enhancement for the yet to be started Lucy Boston quilt...not my usual colours and it was quite challenging stepping out of my comfort zone and purchasing these.

And lastly from the quilty front I'm currently working on a restoration project for a friend. This well loved quilt is about 15 years old and has been adored by three kids and really needed some TLC. It had no binding left so I've started with replacing that and I'll see what else I can do as I go along. 

I also worked on hemming curtains this weekend..but since that still isn't finished the results will have to wait for the next post and I have a feeling I'm going to be doing some weeping and wailing about them being different sizes. That'll be a fun post! 

Superhero

Aside from knocking off a couple more appliqued hexies since I last put in an appearance I've been busy working on "THE LIST".

I should be calling it "THE RIDICULOUS LIST" (in capitals no less) because I think I must have been smoking crack when I set my July goals. I genuinely thought it was possible that I might finish everything on that list when I wrote it and now, almost half way through the month, I'm starting to doubt myself. I'm going to push on regardless and try to surprise the crap out of myself. Progress has been made and I'm going to remain blissfully optimistic that I can pull this off. A couple of people have mentioned recently that for various reasons they have been internet -less for varying amounts of time and they have been amazed at how much more they have managed to get done sewing wise during their respective enforced hiatuses. So I'm having a self enforced media free weekend from 5pm tonight until I go back to work Monday to see if that helps with my sewing mojo. I can see myself up in the far reaches of the back yard behind a tree surreptitiously checking my Hay Day Farm on my Ipad at some point, away from the prying eyes of my husband.  I'm sure the question on everyone's lips is "Can Shay really survive 64 hours without the internet ?" 

This week I finished Superheroes 2 and gifted it to the very excited recipient. I'm really happy with how this one turned out. (and I am never doing spiderweb quilting again)

And even though this next one wasn't on the list I'd already started it so it didn't count as a new project. I made this stroller blanket for one of the girls in my office who is having a baby girl in a couple of months. The brief was to make something that wasn't totally girly but still had touches of pink about it. The Mumma to be thought it was perfect. Nailed it !

The back - gorgeous vintage swirly chenille ...which was gifted to me by Amanda a while back . It was the perfect size and colour for this project. It always hurts a little to say goodbye to pieces from my chenille stash but this was for a good cause. 

Last weekend I met up with my Not The Farmer's Wife sewing group and we headed off to a fabulous place called Quilters Quarters. It would appear not starting any new projects doesn't mean prevent me from buying new fabric. I pretty much went on a crazy lady binge with no regard for the final total. 

Scandinavian Christmas by Lynette Anderson-I've wanted this forever ....

French General and a binding doodad which I have also wanted forever 

Fat Quarters that I didn't know I needed until I saw them 

Quilting Hangers  that are going to look super awesome in my sewing room, hopefully with actual quilts hanging off them !

Happy Birthday to my awesome fabulous Dad who is 8 years old today . In our family you start counting backwards when you reach 40 years of age so I'll leave you all to work out how old he really is. Have a fabulous day Dad !

I'll see you all on Monday assuming I survive exile. 

P.S. Linking this post up to Elizabeth's monthly linky finishing party - A Stitch in Time because I keep saying I will and then totally forget!