March Finishes

Setting a goal on the first of each month has definitely helped me to achieve a lot more in March than any other  month.

March Finishes

1. 'Gelato' scrappy log cabin QCA bee - finished 29/3
2. 'Gelato' scrappy log cabin QCA bee (back)
3.  'Gelato' scrappy log cabin QCA bee (binding)
4. Quilted book covers - 
5. Duck notebook - finished 4/3
6. Happiness notebook - finished 7/3
7. Dolly Quilt 2 - finished 10/3
8. Dolly Quilt 3 - finished 10/3
9. Little Dolly Quilt A & B - finished 14/3 & 15/3

Block Finishes

 Craftsy March 'String' block - finished 4/3

 Craftsy March "Broken Spider web' - finished 3/3

March QCA bee blocks in grey/black and gold - finished 2/3

Unfinished Projects

The only project I didn't finish was the basting and quilting of this gorgeous 'Fussy Fairytales' quilt in Heather Ross 'Far Far Away 2 & 3' fabrics.

That will go into the project list that I will create for April. That starts tomorrow - Yikes!

What about you? How did your March list of projects go?

I am linking up with...

The TGIFFriday Party Is HERE!

I can't tell you how hard it has been for me to get set up for hosting TGIFF this week. Not because it is difficult but because I am technically challenged and always have been! I've had to  join inlinkz and compose a thumbnail link for this post and I am hoping beyond hope that this actually works.

Also I have been challenged to have a finished quilt for this post too! Last week was a sewing write-off as I had the Big Tidy Up happening and then an 8 year old party to organise. Then this week was spent getting x-rays, nursing a broken toe, helping the 8 yo prepare a talk on wallabies and attending two important meetings to support the boys with schooling and socialisation.

So I really worked hard to get the Gelato Log Cabin basted, quilted and bound by today. I feel like I deserve a gelato myself!

'Gelato' scrappy log cabin. Blocks by Quilt Club Australia Beehive#1
Piecing and quilting by me.

Block size 8.5" Finished quilt 40" x 56"

Binding in reverse grey polkadot

This quilt is to be donated as a fundraiser for a local Broadwater/Woodburn mother of two, Kayla, undergoing treatment for leukemia in SE Queensland. Proceeds will go to pay for her accommodation for herself and the 2 children as she is in outpatient services. 

There is a HUGE Fun Day planned in April/May to raise more money. This is where the quilt will be auctioned off.

Thank you to my fellow Quilt Club Australia worker bees for the blocks and even extra fabric that they contributed to this delicious scrappy quilt - Erin, Marieka, Kristy, Beverley, Kate, Jane, Laura, Jodie, Kay, Shirley and Lara. 


Linking Up

So how did you go this week? Any finishes? starts? throw it under the bed failures? Don't be afraid to vent, preen or sob. We are all human here. Do please stop by each other's blogs to comment and encourage.

Easter Give-Away

I had no requests for my Easter prints in my Stale Stash Swap last week and so I am putting them up for grabs. I'd rather them being used that languishing in my stash unused. Perhaps someone can make a nice Easter fabric basket - too hard for me.

2 uncut FQs of Spring Tidings - Fabri Quilt
2 uncut FQs of Aqua baskets - Me and My Sister Designs   


All you have to do to receive half a yard of each print is tell me one of your Easter traditions. 


The number generator will pick a number at 8pm (Australian Eastern Time) on Thursday 5th April This give-away is open to Australian and overseas followers of my blog and a valid email address (you can join up if you need to).



Stale Stash Swap Update
                                                           


I also posted off 1.5 yards of fabric to Marian in Idaho today as part of the 'Stale Stash Swap'. 


Eggs, Sugar Bowls and Harlequin Trios


The lovely Rachel, from Nancy's Tea Shop, contacted me last week to say that she had found two Colclough sugar bowls and would I be interested in them before she listed them on her Etsy store. I snapped the both of them up in aqua and buttercup. And yes she included the Easter eggs - what a sweety!

Then she also listed these delicious Harlequin trios.

Here's what she wrote about them...


This lovely trio would look great at a vintage tea party with other china or on its own with your favourite blend of tea and a home made cookie!

Colclough Bone China was founded in Staffordshire in 1890 by Herbert J. Colclough a former mayor of Stoke-on-Trent, England. Herbert Colclough was a china lover and brought fine bone china to ordinary people rather than the rich few, making Colclough an important part of antique bone china history. The brand became part of the Royal Doulton Group in the early 1970s and was discontinued in 1996. This trio is likely to come from 1950s.


How could I resist?

So here is my tea set stash (is that a quilty word making it into mainstream?). It started with 2 tea sets from my mum and the rest is from Rachel's store.

I highly recommend Rachel's store. She photographs her china so beautifully and her prices are soooooo much cheaper than anything I have yet found in Australia at op-shops or antique stores. Not only that but she, or her mum, package everything up so carefully for the journey to the Antipodes.


I have to show some restraint but there are about 10 things in her store right now that are tempting me. Check out the sweet Scotch Thistle creamer and sugar bowl and this stylish 1950s tea pot.


Thrifted Thursday


I am linking up with...


                                               


I had to get an x-ray on my toe in Ballina on Monday and so, even with a broken toe, I managed to hobble into 2 op-shops this afterwards.


My discoveries

$3

too cute to miss at only $4

50c each - for Zakka Projects

pillowcase 50c embroidery $1.50

Cancelled Relief

Thank Goodness It's Finished Friday will be HERE in 2 days! So don't forget to come back once you have turned your WiPs (Work in Progress) into TGIFFs. Hehehe!


A 'No Show'


It seems that I have been given a reprieve from my impossibly busy week by the cancellation of the HTTYD 'How to Train Your Dragon' performance in Brisbane tonight. It seems that the dragons had not been behaving themselves...or more likely the vikings. I have been able to reschedule at a discounted rate for Saturday afternoon instead. Phew! That has given me back time today and all of tomorrow to continue working on my 'Gelato' quilt.

WiP - 'Gelato' Scrappy Log Cabin QCA Bee Quilt
I had about 3 hours today, before my SAS meeting, to get quilting on this project.

 So I zig zagged around the edge first.

Then began shadowing the ditch around the blocks.

I am using white thread for the first time ever.

So far I have done the verticals and horizontals.

And I have taped the diagonals ready to quilt for tomorrow (which I have now got back from the dragons!).

This week's stats:
Completed projects - 0

Currently in progress   - 'Gelato' log cabin quilt - basted and now straight line quilting.
                                               -  'HR Far Far Away 2&3 Fussy Fairytales' quilt to baste and quilt 

New projects - 0 (but April starts on the weekend and this list # will jump up dramatically)

I am linking up with....

and also entering this quilt into the Festival Of Scrappiness competition at 'Stitched in Color' but I am #264 on the list so I don't like my chances. Imagine the job of judging that one!

The Week that Will Be

You know some weeks of life just have their own momentum. They appear on your calendar quite neutrally at first. An appointment here and a commitment there and suddenly a benign little week just turns into a monster!


That's how this week is shaping up for me. Like a MASSIVE juggernaut that I can't possibly stop.

TGIFF Will Be here THIS Friday!


Earlier this month I signed up to host 'Thank Goodness It's Finished Friday!', but not really expecting that I would be scheduled so soon. I am hosting TGIFF here this Friday! That's 5 days away! I have read all of the instructions from the site and have even sorted put my 'inlinkz' linky post. Finger's crossed that it comes online Thursday evening without any hiccups.


So remember to come back and visit and link up THIS Friday 30th March for your finished projects.


A Project to Finish

But I still need a finish right? And I had 2 March projects unfinished - the Quilt Club Australia Bee quilt top and  another Heather Ross 'Fussy Fairytales' top. Both need basting, quilting and binding. I think  that I have found a wonderful cause for the 'Bee' quilt to be donated to by May - and so that is the project I hope to finish by Friday (more crossing of fingers).


A mishap


I can't cross my toes because on the weekend I broke one! My left big toe. It was quite comical really...and I wish I had video footage of it myself...but we had a 10 Pin Bowling Party for my 8 year old son, Duncan, on Saturday and myself, my husband and one of the other dads decided to get our own lane and bowl along with the kids (in between helping them with their games). 

On about the 5th frame I got off balance releasing the ball and then stepped over the 'no go' line on the lane way and fell head over turkey twisting my foot and toe in the soft shoes. I went down hard and kind of lay there like a stricken rugby player calling upon my hypnobirthing breathing techniques that have served me well for 3 labours. I kind of slid off the laneway when others wanted me to stand up. I was able to finish up bowling the frames and lose gracefully.


I was bruised and limping but managed for the rest of the weekend. Today I just went to the GP to have it checked out. A bunch of X-rays let me know that I had fractured the first phalange of my left big toe.


A Meeting


I am meeting with Tristan's Early Intervention teacher from 2010, in the hope that I can utilise funding to engage her as a special support teacher for him at school.

A Presentation


I have to help Duncan prepare a talk and a powerpoint presentation on a pet - as we live in a 'no pets' estate - he has decided to focus on the wild wallabies that hang around our house. 

Another Meeting


Starting in May, Duncan has been accepted into a new program through Aspect here on the North Coast called 'Secret Agent Society'. I am going to a 2 hour training afternoon this Wednesday afternoon. The basic premise is that these children with Aspergers are put through a program where they become secret agents to spy on scenarios to gain social skills. It sounds absolutely wonderful and practical. He received his initial letter in the mail last week written in code and was intrigued as to why they would want to train him as a spy. "Do they even have spies in Australia mum?"

A Show


We are also taking our 3 kids to see the Arena version of 'How to Train Your Dragon' on Wednesday night. We have to travel 2 hours north to Brisbane and stay overnight with my folks and lose a day of school. The kids and I are so excited....but it means I lose a lot of sewing time this week.


I am also chasing up some deposits from MOPS mums so that we can go on an overnight retreat in May.


A Meal Plan


Here's what's on the menu at our house this week...

I'm linking up with...

Sunday Stash #6

Long before I discovered it, there was a gorgeous Denyse Schmidt line called 'Katie Jump Rope'. By the time I did discover it...on the Denyse Schmidt site...it was long gone from shelves and shops. (Told you I am often late to the party!)

Anyway, the smart-thinking Kristi from eaudebean had put some away for a rainy day...and I just happened along to her Etsy store in a downpour. Thanks Kristi. I bought her collection of 24 FQs. There are a few more from the original collection that are missing but these are happy together.

Yes...a total investment indulgence but I think this is my favourite DS collection. I am so attracted to all the bright colours and especially salivate over the brown colourway prints. I have a crush on brown. Not many fabrics come in brown. Thank you Denyse!

And because the order was a bit delayed, Kristi popped in some 'cute-as-a-button' Japanese whimsy fabrics as well. Now isn't that nice...when she didn't have to? Some Etsy store owners have service above and beyond!


The Big Messing Up


Hot on the heels of the 'Big Tidy Up', week that was, this post is proudly brought to you by our family. After scoring a really great Real Estate Inspection report, (and a bottle of champagne from my husband as a thank you for all my hard work) real life resumed with full force. It took just one day for things to from perfect to putrid!

thankfully now looks slightly better...

 Fran's room after 'rest time'...!

 Tristan's room after 'rest time' too!

And even our bedroom!

Arrrrrrrgh! Houses would be clean without people!

But to be fair...my husband did cook and serve me breakfast in bed this morning..andI got to watch Stephen Fry's World on iview. Bliss!