May and June Round Up

Some sunshine and gardening has kept me away from the sewing machine again these past two months.

Holidays - A long weekend to the Queensland Gold Coast to stay at Sea Word Resort with day trips into Sea World, WB Movie World and Wet n Wild fun parks.

Quilt - Polaroid 9 Patch. Blocks made by Quilt Club Australia Bee #1 members plus a couple of generous other bees - Waverlee and Christie.

Blocks - Dr Seuss, midcentury modern by Wombat Stew and Bee blocks.

Chooks - Two new layers, winter coats, curiosity, warm porridge, egg stashes, excavating in the gulley and pumpkin patch.

Harvest - avocados, davidson plums, mandarins, pecans, limes and oranges.

Planting - peach, pommegranate, orange, mandarin, daffodils, fresias, sweet peas, grevillias, pumpkins and sweet potato.

Weed Control - even in the cooler months there are many areas to tackle.

Down the slope with the weed eater, hand mower and sowing rye grass

Lantana in the gulley

Pruning 

Lilli Pillis

Palm Felling

Books -  I have reached my goal of reading 13 books in 2013. You can read my reviews on Goodreads. 

March 2013 Round Up

It's been a month for runners.

I finally finished my double sided Tall Boy runner and I retro-fitted my Dresser runner to be double sided.

I managed 2 out of the 3 blocks for the month of March.

New to Me - Raising Seeds

Books

You can read my review of this book at Goodreads.

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Without my online Wombat Stew Book Club I would NEVER have bought a copy of this book. The blurb on the back would have warned me away for sure. I must admit that I really struggled to read it from the first realisation that missing speech marks, first person narrative and little back grounding of the situation was part of the style.

What was it that irked me so much about it as I persevered into the middle of the book? Possibly the fact that Offred seemed to accept her plight without challenging the system she was oppressed by. I like my heroines to have a strong will and a plan. Offred had none. She was at the mercy of her circumstance. I wanted to reach into the pages and give her a good slap.

I have to say that I could not predict where the narrative was going even after some back grounding was revealed in later chapters. That was a good thing. I did not predict the ending either. And the surprise historical note at the end saved the book for me.

Overall I am glad that I read this book. Totally out of my comfort zone but very thought provoking. And for a book penned back in the 80s there we some surprising parallels to real historical events since.

View all my reviews

February Round Up

Sewing

New to me - Chickens

Books

I guess it was a slow month after all.

January Round Up

Blocks

Holidays

'New to Me' - Backyard Chickens

Books 

November Round Up

It's been a big month for purging and organising but a little month for sewing and quilting. I don't really mind though. Sewing has been a respite from everything else going on.

Home Organising 101

Bathrooms
Mudroom
Master Bedroom
Family room
Dining room
Lounge room

Purging

Pantry
Master closet
Baby clothes
Kid's clothes
Toys - Fisher Price Little People, Thomas trains, Bob the Builder
Children's books
Games, puzzles, stationery

In 14 days we move to our first permanent home in 10 years of marriage.  This is what it looks like. It's on 5 wonderful acres and has 3 chickens in a chicken house.

So December will be a big month for packing, moving and unpacking again. Yuck! After 6 rental properties and move nearly every 18 months, I hope to not move for a good many years!

'To Do' First December 

I have not added anything ambitious to my sewing list for December.

Quilts to Make

Mystery Quilt - to make a back, baste and quilt
Sherbert Dreams - to start

Blocks to Make

QCA December Bee block - paper pieced feather for Kate

Sewing Items

Wombat Stew Secret Santa gift

Home Organising 101

Master Closet
Sewing Room
Kid's closets

Packing

books
dvds
cds
linen
office
garage
LEGO
toys
clothes
Kitchen appliances, plasticware
Games, puzzles

oh and the whole house by the 14th December!

Linking up with Fresh Sewing Day at Lily's Quilts

October Roundup

Sewing

Even though it had 31 days - and I blogged on every one - October went FAST! Too fast for me to achieve all of my sewing goals.

Achieved
House block for Jane
6 Halloween pillowcases
Gingerbread embroidery (Duncan)
Polaroid blocks
Low volume 'wonky cross' blocks for Kate
Embroidery pouch for Duncan
Empire State Building Needle Case for Duncan
Snowglobe embroidery 
Hot air balloon embriodery 
Repurposing a zip pouch

Not Achieved
Mystery Quilt back
Baste 'Katie Jump Kites'
Start 'Sherbert Dreams' quilt
Craftsy BOMs from June, August, September and October


Home Organisation 101

I think I achieved far more with Home Organisation 101 though.

Sorting and Tidying

Purging - off the the dump

Giving Away - toys

baby items and clothes

and, even though the last 5 days I had to write in advance and schedule, I managed to BLOG everyday of October!