Pinwheel Progress.

Squares, half square triangles, iron, cut, sew, iron, cut, sew....

Ahh Pinwheel........

And look the points are pretty good too!

5 down, 67 to go, Imogene's quilt is moving forward.

Finished Top!!

Charlotte's quilt top is done, Yay!! Don't look to closely there are some rather largish mistakes! The butterfly and ladybird templates are from a pattern by Kellie of Don't Look Now, I needle turned them on, then embroidered some antennae and flight paths for the ladybirds.

Onto the backing, I'm going to piece some leftover coins horizontally, and I was also thinking of adding in a pieced puppy block. Not sure yet.....

The storm yesterday didn't end up hitting at all, we got only a couple of drops of rain, very disappointing!

Here comes the rain.....

View from the front door.

View from the side door.

(Its not blue so much as dark dark grey)

View looking out over the back.

The way the light is hitting the trees with the storm as the back drop looks way cooler then my bad photos can show!

Linen and Beans......

So I got some sewing for me done, The skirt I made a couple of weeks ago now, it is a very basic A-Line with a drawstring waist, Made with a Grey linen/cotton, very comfy. I made a black one as well, which is exactly the same but a little bit shorter, not much though, I'm a prude when it comes to showing my legs. These skirts are my favorite things ever right now, with a constantly changing waistline (weird stupid hormones) its nice to have something that will still fit at the end of the day.

The Singlet, is well a bit of a mess really! it looks very much like I made it myself, in home-ec in year 7, if you know what I mean! Navy blue, cotton knit with a lot of firm stretch, cream lingerie elastic around the top and for the front straps, re-purposed adjustable pale blue bra straps in the back. I didn't use a pattern, just traced it off a much loved singlet that fit well.

And some beans........ Yep they sprouted and have survived a few days, lets see just how much longer it will be till I kill 'em.

On other things, I think I have worked out my blog addiction problem, I'm separating the blogs in my feed into two folders, Must reads, and general reads. So far so good still have 200+ blog posts, but I have at least managed to look at and leave comments on a lot of my fave blogs today.

Preoccupied

Lots of Spring stuff going on around here, A new Veggie patch and a lot of organising, cleaning still to come (arghhh) Which is leaving very little time for sewing.

Veggie patch with, Tomato's, chives, basil, mixed capsicum (peppers), dwarf stringless beans, then a few nasturtiums in front. This is Veggie patch #3, Long story short I change my mind a lot!

We needed to clear some space in the garage to make a play room for the kiddo's so a garden shed was in order. This was a lot of fun to put up, Adult Meccano!! I highly recommend it as a great way to use up an entire weekend.....

This beautiful rose bush, is a bit of a surprise, I knew that it was there, but this is the first time I have seen it flower, previously it wasn't getting any where near enough sunshine to get it going.

I have been sewing a little mostly this:

A few butterflies and ladybirds here and there across Charlotte's coin quilt, My original plans got scrapped, so I will have to find a use for that massive amount of Bias that I cut, lol!

I'm having a bit of a blog crisis at the moment, I have too many in my reader,(200+) so I'm cutting it down, well trying too anyway, right now I have over 200 unread posts and that is only 2 days worth. I need to get ruthless. (but I will miss all the pretty pictures!) Thoughts? anyone else out there a blog reading addict?

Green and Brown Quilt............

"Mindfulness"

Made for my wonderful mother for her birthday.

Every border was quilted differently, with the inner section done in a cross hatch, then in the 1st border stippling, 2 lines in the 2nd, then a stipple in the 3rd border, a continuous leaf pattern for the 4th, another stipple in the 5th, and then another straight line all the way around for the last. I did a wide binding and I'm so glad I did, I think it sets off the whole quilt nicely!

I used a bamboo/cotton batting which was a dream to work with.

I am so proud of myself, I really love this quilt and I had a hard time parting with it!

But the fact that my wonderful mummy, really, really loved it sure made it a whole lot easier!

My Favorite Food ~ Mum's Quiche.

Quiche, Crustless Quiche, Impossible Pie, Egg and Bacon Pie, I've heard all these names used for similar recipes, Here we call it Quiche, In fact I never knew that quiche was supposed to have a crust until I was an adult!

This is the recipe that I had for my birthday dinner, every. single. year. My all time absolute favorite comfort food! So I thought that I would share......

Mum's Quiche - serves 4-6

Ingredients:

• 4 rashers of bacon (give or take) chopped
• 1 medium brown onion chopped
• 1 cup of grated cheese
• 1/2 cup of self-raising flour
• 1 -1/2 cups of milk
• 3 eggs
• 2 tablespoons of margarine/butter melted

• Pre-heat oven to 180C
• Mix the bacon, onion, cheese and flour in a mixing bowl.
• In a separate bowl, beat the milk and eggs.
• Mix milk mixture into the bacon mixture.
• Mix through the melted butter.
• Pour into an oven proof dish, mine is approx 20cmx20cm and 7cm deep.
• Sprinkle mixed herbs over the top
• Bake for 45 mins or until firm.
• Serve with Salad, and/or Fresh Bread.

An over simplified recipe, for an extremely easy dinner!

Let me know if you try it, and I would love to know what your all-time favorites are too!

Sewing........and buying!

So in case anyone was wondering why on earth I made 900 inches of bias, well I think I overestimated, by quite a bit!! I'm using it for a "vine" type thingy on Charlotte's quilt, which I have finally got back to.

I whipped up a little pair of bloomers for Jocie last night, totally winged it, they fit OK, and will do the job of hiding the very boring disposable during summer, I'm planning on a couple more, so will do some tweaking. The top is the Peasant blouse from Blueprints, which I have made quite a few times before, It is a bit wide for Jocie, but will do, and I will make them slightly smaller width wise next time. The colours are pretty off in all these photos, the blouse is actually more of a candy pink, and the bloomers aren't quite that bright, my lovely (newish) ironing board however is even brighter then it looks here!

And the buying............ So I went into my local oppy again, not looking for anything in particular, when I spot a cute dress on the baby rack, it wasn't quite right, but while I was looking at it, Jocie grabbed the dress behind it, started squealing and kicking her legs, so I have a look, and Ta Da! the perfect little summer dress, in the perfect size and in fabulous condition!! The best part it was only $1!!

Next I had a look in the sheet section and there right in front of me is this funky old double sheet for the very easy to part with price of $2, It will be perfect for the backing of my "vintage sheet quilt" (which I haven't started yet!). Gotta leave retail therapy at that price!!

Off to do some more on Charlotte's quilt, while watching The Librarians, and United States of Tara, Ahhh Wednesday, my favorite TV night!!

900 Inches

900 Inches of 1/2 inch bias tape = a heck of a lot of hand sewing!!

Happy Fathers day to all the Dads out there!!!

Cushion #3

So this is the final (at least for now!) Cushion for my lounge room, I really liked playing with the Log cabin blocks, working out the best arrangement etc. I quilted this one again with orange thread but this time in a square spiral, which was fun, and I really like the effect it gives.

I also fussy cut the fabric for the buttons on the back of this one, to give each button it's own little flower.

I other news, It was our 4th wedding anniversary last week, and my darling husband, bought me Material Obsession 2 and Sea Sew by Lisa Hannigan!!!!! I have been lusting after both the book and CD for months! We also went out for dinner, and by "We" I mean, all. of. us., And I have to say that my darling little girls were so perfectly behaved that I am still in shock, I mean usually they all muck up, carry on, make a mess, generally leave us wondering why we thought it was a good idea. But this time, nope, every one of them, was a little darling, They all ate their food with there mouths closed,( OK maybe not Jocie, but she isn't even 9 months yet so she doesn't count when it comes to mess and lack of manners, but she didn't cry!!) They didn't even argue!! Ahhh it's moments like those, that make me realise that we must be doing something right!!

And finally, I called into my LQS, actually the only independent quilt shop left in my large town, 2 others have closed down in the last year :( , To find they had not only moved and had a new owner (one of the ladies that has worked there for years!) but were also having a sale! I picked up all but the stripes for $3 a FQ!!

I hope everyone has enjoyed the first day of spring or autumn/fall if your on the other side!!