Warranty Worries

I have NEVER been  good at keeping receipts with warranties and then posting the necessary paperwork off. So, in my endeavour to improve my organisational skills, I have bought myself a portable filing box. Today I went through all of my manuals, warranties and receipts and wrote out little labels for the system. Here's hoping it works.

On Saturday afternoon I also made another notebook cover. This one is for our family budget and finances. Looks so much more appealing now.

I used these precut 21/2" squares that I bought from Teesha from 'Craftwerx Studio' and then I raided my stash for some solids and Heather Ross prints.

We moved to the north coast of NSW 3 years ago and I can count on my hands the number of times that we have just thrown on our swimmers (bathers), jumped in the car and gone to the beach for a swim and dinner. We used to live in the river town of Tumut, NW of the Snowy Mountains and about 6 hours from the nearest south coast beach. So you think that we would be beach bound more often and I can't honestly say why we are not. (Although it has rained a LOT this summer!)

Owing to our harsh Australian UV rays and inherited Scots-Irish fair skin, our family doesn't venture out until after 4pm in summertime.

We met a couple of other families from church down by the river at Shaw's Bay. The kids had a blast swimming in the small swells on the little beach and then chasing eachother and seagulls later. All for FREE!

Well not quite! We did order some takeaway fish and chips for dinner.

And got to watch the fishing trawlers head out to sea as the sun set. A beautiful end to a Sunday.

Menu Plan Mondays

This is what's on the menu at our place this week....

We are having the home made chicken burgers plus the beef and been tacos from last week (I forgot to buy the beef mince!)

My youngest and oldest wanted to help prepare the vegetables for Monday night's Pad Thai noodles with chicken.

It's in the (activity) bag!

Last Wednesday I was asked if I could sew up 30 little bags for my daughter's PreKindy class. Each afternoon they have a 'siesta' but many do not sleep, so the teacher wanted to put together some quiet activity bags to keep children 'resting' but quiet during this time. 


The teacher wanted to pay me but, after some thought, I refused. I'd rather donate my efforts and leave them more money in their budget to buy activities to put IN the bags!

So I got sewing on Saturday night when the kids were watching a movie and my husband the cricket. I had a lot of 'boys' material left over from my son's I-spy quilt last year. I also used 2 fabrics from my 'ugly stash' (you know the ones that you can't really use in a quilt, or anything really?). See if you can guess which 2 they were.

So there's my pile of 30 little bags of various sizes. I used my overlocker mostly and the fastest bags were the ones I made from quartering a pillow case.

February QCA Bee - Scrappy Log Cabin Update


It's nice to get 'Bee mail', as I have termed it. Makes heading out to the letterbox a merry affair and a welcome change from the usual bills and statements. So far I have received from 6 of the 11 other Bee participants. So that is over 50% of the quilt blocks and it is only February 8th! Aren't my fellow bees wonderful? Such hard workers!

Some of the ladies have been generous enough to sew 2 or even three blocks to donate.

Monday's 'bee mail'

Today's 'bee mail'

Here they are together

and then mixed in with 5 of my blocks

Isn't it looking delicious? Like a log cabin gelati!

This week's stats:
Completed projects - 1 (but technically 30 little activity bags)
New projects - 4 (but technically 2 blocks - by the end of Feb, 1 custom strip quilt - will start when I receive 50% deposit later this week, 1 Feb  scrappy log cabin quilt - once all the blocks come in)

Currently in progress - 3 dolly quilts to back

How has your WIP week been?

2012 Challenge to Myself

"Aim at nothing and you are sure to hit it"

Now Australians are not, by nature, over achievers. Our mantra is more "stay modest and try your best" than "You are a winner!". But I do think that setting some goals is helpful in life. So I have set myself some goals to achieve in 2012. And here is the list:

Quilting

1. Participate in a 'block swap". I have already signed up with 12 ladies from my online 'Quilt Club Australia' group. My block is slated for February, and I plan to do a scrappy log cabin. 
2. Participate in a 'BOM - Block of the Month'. Again there is a great online one with video tutorials from Craftsy.
3. Make a few quilts using real patterns. Including a 'Civil War' churn-dash, a traditional 'Star' block, and a 'Fussy Fairytales' one with my '1001 Peeps' fabrics.

Sewing

4. Learn how to sew in a zipper and then make many many pouches.
5. Make a layered skirt using an Amy Butler pattern.
6. Make a few pillow cases and cushions.

Organisation

7. Write and stick to a family budget.
8. Establish a working and practical Household Notebook that has easy access to important information.
9. Sort through the moving boxes in the garage that have not been touched since we moved in 2 years ago.

Computing 

10. Learn to use my Creative Memories computer programs and templates to create pages. 11. Learn some blogging tips. 

12. Get back into photography now that I have a new digital SLR camera.

That's all I can think of for now...but 12 seems achievable. I am sure there are many sub-goals that will be reached along the way.

Writing them down is a start at least...and it will help me to stay accountable by making them public.