CHARM ABOUT YOU

Here's a little round up of what I'm working on (not a full WIP report because it's too depressing!)...

I have attempted some short stints at my machine and quickly appliqued this robot, using this tutorial. I'm not making a quilt of them though, just a cushion and hoping to have it finished very soon.





Then this afternoon I had 2 fabulous visitors! My wonderful friend Rachel and her daughter, this was the first time I'd met her beautiful daughter (carrying a cute hedgehog bag!) and she so kindly made these beauties for the baby:



How gorgeous are they?!! So sweet of her. She had also made some scrummy biscuits (devoured by me and later hubbie!!) and Rachel gave me a jar of marmalade, which I will sample in the morning! I feel spoiled by these lovely treats, thanks ladies!!

We spent a nice time chatting and they really are so down to earth and funny. It was fun to have some company and hopefully they'll be back soon to meet the little one :)

Speaking of the impending arrival, my biggest WIP, I had a midwife appointment today and she suggested bouncing on one of those exercise balls to get the head engaged fully (it's hovering a bit apparently). So I will be spending the evening doing that!

Due date is tomorrow, husband is trying to point out that it's not officially late yet (doesn't help!!), but I hope it arrives within the next week so I can avoid having a sweep. Please send 'get out now baby' thoughts my way ;)

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I wasn't going to but what the heck?! I might as well list some things I'd like to get finished and join in the Finish-A-Long hosted by Leanne!



So inevitably the first thing I'd like finished is this pregnancy. What, doesn't that count?! Well I still want it done ;)


Realistically once the bub arrives I don't know how I will sew (I'd like to think I'll master multitasking, quilting and breastfeeding simultaneously but there's that slight concern about needles, rotary cutters etc. Damn it!) but should I have any spare time at all I would love to get these finished...


Rolling over from the last FAL:

- Blogger's BOM quilt- quilt top still needs borders (all nice and wrinkly because it's been folded up on my desk!)

- HFWYG? QAL quilt - I am way behind because it's hard to sit at the machine for long but hopefully once the bump has reduced I might get back to those gorgeous blocks!


Also in piles on my sewing desk:

- Tooth Fairy cushions - I have a stack of three designs all 'bondawebbed' and ready to applique, just need to do it!


- The Braid Quilt - again this just needs borders



So we shall see. No pressure. Obviously taking care of children is my priority but there may just be the odd hour when one is at school, one is at playgroup (or Granny's house!) and one is sleeping. Finger's crossed hey?


Speaking of kids, last night over dinner we were trying to explain what wishes are... here's the three wishes they'd each ask for from a genie (total 'mum' style I wrote them down immediately!):


He is 4 and she is 3 and this list just perfectly sums up their little personalities!

I admired the growing pile of blocks and their little in between friends:


I made a Bee block for the lovely Christiane (the triangles aren't sewn together because she may mix them up):



We made more cardboard creations over the weekend - this is a space station, being pulled by a moon buggy:



And I have been stroking the lovely Amy Butler fabric I got last week to use as backing, in the sale from ChristaQuilts. Ordered after Christmas and only $10 international shipping - bloomin fast!

It started when the generous and delightful Hadley sent me this lovely package of paper and fabric hexies she cut. I was going to wait until the baby had arrived to sit and do something with them but I'm impatient (clearly!) and couldn't resist jumping in.
I had originally thought of making a cushion but since we are getting prepared and got the baby car seat out of the attic, I decided a cute car seat quilt would be a nicer idea.
Huge thank you again Hadley!!






The binding was made of scraps of binding I'd used in other projects - love that, it's like it's ready made!
Because I stitched the hexies onto the background it looks a little 3D - I like that it makes the hexies stand out:




I used the Summersville I embroidered on the back and happily she loved it!

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Doing things a little topsy-turvy round here. Since I can't really go anywhere I decided to doll myself up a little, slap on some Mac russian red lipstick and paint my nails with Maybelline Express polish in Cherry. I think it gives a nice retro touch to my swollen hands ;)


My kids have been cracking me up, I was cleaning in the kitchen while they were playing together - all of a sudden I heard the boy say to his sister "STOP! I have some sad news... Christmas has been cancelled because Catwoman and the Joker have not been put in jail". They then proceeded to play an imaginary game of catch the baddies and once incarcerated Christmas was declared back on! I think I'll be hearing about Christmas until at least Chinese New Year (we celebrate all sorts!). Gotta love that comic book play though :)

In discussion with my son about clothes and colours  - being all liberal and telling him boys can wear pink if they want to - I explained that "in olden times boys wore pink" and he snappily replied, "well I won't wear pink in the olden times"! I am making some headway on all toys being ok for both genders though - he was happy to have my approval of him playing with a my little pony, just as I'm ok with her playing with fire engines etc. Amazing how much school has influenced his perception of gender.


I have been playing with the shapes to join my Rose Star blocks and piecing them together from the fabulous set of charms I got from the Low Volume swap organised by my incredible friend Rebecca at Making Rebecca Lynne.


I love all the fabrics! A couple are a little on the bold side and I really want my rose stars to stand out... one such fabric was actually one of the ones I contributed to the swap so I kind of feel bad it's brighter than I thought it would be (I had the fabrics sent to Rebecca so I'd not seen them irl).
It's nice to have some be a bit bolder in low volume quilts but I don't want competition between the blocks so I just turned it over and used the wrong side of the fabric facing out:


I'm still basting and sewing these little beauties and I think I might start sewing them to the blocks since I'm not sure how many I still have to make and it'll give me a clue.
I don't think I'm organised enough, or will have the chance to lay out all the pieces once I'm done making blocks anyway so I'll just bodge it together as I go along and hope it works!

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Also got these two untangled after much effort ;)



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Welcome 2013! Cheers to all of you!


I have spent the majority of 2012 being pregnant so it has been a roller-coaster - hormonally, emotionally and physically.

My highlights include meeting so many lovely bloggy friends, the Fat Quarterly Retreat (sobbing I'm not going this year), the Festival of Quilts and overall just how much I've learnt, developed and created.

I've made 12 quilts, so appropriate for 2012! - you can find all the details about each one on my quilts page:



In March I started doing some embroidery, you can see more on my embroidery page but these are some of my favourites:


I LOVE embroidery and will certainly do more.

I even made an embroidery pattern, you can find it with the other tutorials I did this year!

Being included in the Fat Quarterly for the Winkerkist challenge was a huge highlight for me.

This is just an example of some of what I've made, I've also done lots of awesome making with my kids, I've made cushions, zip bags, pincushions and lots of fun blocks for the Bee I joined. This year I've joined another two! I have no clue how much sewing I'll do this year because the baby is due to make its arrival any day now but I'm hoping by being in the Bees I will be able to at least make three blocks a month.

I also have English Paper Piecing to keep me busy - this is my other true LOVE! I'm working on a sweet project just now and should be able to show you later this week.

I was also so fortunate to get some sponsors this year - currently I have to say a huge thank you to Cindy and Christa, whose shops are obviously brilliant but whose service is outstanding and their dedication is much appreciated by me. Please go visit Fluffy Sheep Quilting and ChristaQuilts and show your support for these excellent businesses.

I'm sure they'll be tempting me with more fabric purchases this year!

Finally (and I know people sometimes moan about reading this stuff) I have to make apologies for not commenting on blogs or replying to comments left here for me. It is sometimes just too overwhelming. I am way too tired to sit still in front of the computer for long.

I am reading though and have loved seeing all the fabulous rundowns of 2012 that have been popping up.

Sorry for not being a 'good' blogger but the thing is I imagine this is kind of going to be the norm once I have my hands full with the newest addition.

My point is that I read your blogs, I read your comments... I'm just a bit useless at entering into a dialogue at the moment. I can't be sure when normal service will resume but I am hugely grateful just knowing you are out there reading, writing and creating!

Here's to an amazing 2013 my friends xx







If you'd like to keep me amused and want to have a go at guessing the gender of the baby go right ahead and let me know what you think (judging from the comments on the last post, where I posted this picture of my pregnant self, people think boy - that's my feeling too!). We have a concrete girls name standing by but are a bit stuck about boy names, we are 85% sure of one but if you want to put forward suggestions for boy names go ahead (we'd like it to be old-fashioned - our two kids are called Fred and Joan - so nothing modern or too popular), I'd love to hear some...







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