FINISHED! November Christmas block swap - whew!

this is a sneak peak of the block for the lovely Teena!  she asked for a star in traditional colours - i hope she likes it!

on the puglet front, i had my 13 week scan today, so we got to the see the little person up close!  already moving arms, legs, turning around and waving at us.  unbelievable.  got to see its little heart pumping away too - a true miracle.

thanks so much for all your kind thoughts re my morning sickness - i too hope it eases up soon.

pugs and kisses
xx

November FNSI report!

so keen i was - this one was going to be sooooo great!
i had an average day on the morning sickness scale - 6 out of 10 - morning vomiting followed by all day nausea and dry retching.....not too good, but not too bad
i had been HANGING for the little human to get to bed and get to sewing

so the plan was
1. finish block swaps (2 to go)
2. finish Hilda the hippo for Toy Society Swap
3. start cross stitch birth sampler for puglet

ambitious, yes....but i thought i should be able to give it a fair shake. some new simpsons eps on the TV followed by Indiana Jones movie - all good!

so i sit down to make the lovely Sylvia a yellow and blue block in any style....

this is what i make

quite nice, im very happy with it, but then i realise it looks quite small for a 12" block
duh, im using a 9" pattern

ahh well, try again

this time i go for the 'beginners choice' block because that is CLEARLY what i am today!

argh - i realise after i have sewn the 4 square part that this is a 9" block too!!!!  why do i have all these sooooo misfiled in my folder - soooo angry.  decide that i might as well finish it now that it is all cut out

right.  go onto the internet, print out a 12" block pattern - double check it.  get hubby to double check it.  right.
go back out and cut the material - triple check it.  good.  sew it together.  measure - whew - it is 12.5".  whew!

so sylvia will end up with a few extra missized blocks - i hope she can find a use for them.  this is a sneak peak of what i sent officially.

and after all that i decided to call it quits.  but i did get one block done - and that is an achievement worth celebrating!!!

on a different note, and one to blow the horn of my LQS, i went there on Friday to buy a 1/4" foot without the guide for my machine.  the one with the guide drives me nuts because it always moves, it isn't quite 1/4" and it is easy to stuff up (which as we have seen i do quite well with no assistance thank you very much!).

anyhoo, they let me know that my normal general purpose foot will do the same thing if i choose the 'piecing' setting on my machine, which moves the needle over 1/4" from the edge of that foot - AWESOME!  it is SO much easier to do a 1/4" seam now - i find that i am much more accurate that trying to line it up with something on the plate or some other line on my foot.

so thank you LQS - you did yourself out of a sale, but made a customer very happy!

hope you all enjoyed your FNSI and achieved something too :)

pugs and kisses
xx

FINISHED! November block swap - Oz and International!

whew! glad i got these done today

the first is for Jen in the USA for the international swap. this month will be my last one - ive decided the oz one and the chrissie one are enough for me at the moment. but i have enjoyed swapping with the ladies in america.

Jen asked for a log cabin block in batiks. i must admit that i didn't know what that meant and when i went and found out i realised i had NONE in my stash! Jen said she was also happy with bright modern fabrics - so i used some of my funky pile!

here is a sneak peak....

this one is for nolene in NSW for the oz swap. she asked for my new fave of log cabin in black and white with red centre. here is a sneak peak..

i still have my christmas swap and another oz swap to do - they are on my list for FNSI!!! yay! can't wait!

pugs and kisses
xx

an announcement.....plus craft update

sorry i have been absent for some time and i must admit i have been BLOWN AWAY by my bloggy friends' concern for me - thank you all so much

as some of you may have guessed, the doctor's know the reason for my unwellness of late - i am pregnant!

hubby and i are very excited (little human is still nonplussed) about the arrival of our little 'puglet'!

i have had a pretty bad bout of morning sickness (unfairly named as it doesn't just last the morning!) with lots of vomiting and nausea.  this has upset the little human a lot, particularly over this past weekend when i was sick quite badly after possibly overdoing it at the craft fair (photos of purchases to follow!).

i still have to have my major scan (got to see puglet today though - already kicking its legs and moving around!) and have all the blood tests for the congenital defects (argh!), so won't know the 'low-risk, high-risk' stuff for another month.

but i have had my first appointment with obstetrician today, all is going well so far, and the morning sickness seems to be waning - whew!  but enough puglet talk - here is the update on all things craft!

i received this lovely block from sylvia as my november block swap partner - with a lovely card and some beautiful flower tissue paper - thanks syvlia!!!!

this was the block i made for Sue for the Christmas Block Swap for October that she has now recieved

this is the block i received from Teena for the November Christmas Block swap, along with a beautiful William Morris card - i know i know, i need to get a wriggle on with my swaps for this month!!!

and now for the booty from the craft fair!!!  i had a lovely time (until i barfed - luckily i made it to the loos - that would have been embarrassing!!!!!)   my main aim was to get a new rotary cutter - i think i am happy with my new olfa!  you can also see some fat 1/4's and a bag pattern from Kids Quilts

a close up of the fats - there was a stall there that had all fat 1/4's for $3.50, so at the end of the day i went there with all the money i had left over and spent up big!

so pre-packed material to make some of the melly and me softies, plus the turtle pattern - too cute!

and a tatty teddy birth sampler for the puglet!  suitable for boy or girl

and lastly, what i bought with my winnings!! i won a $50 voucher for Blue Willow Cottage to spend online or at the show - and i got some cream fabric (always needed for swaps!) plus a kit for a great bag

and you will be happy to know i FINALLY finished the boy oh boy quilt (officially named 'and all things possible') for the Homespun design comp.  i had it finished and at my mum's for photography when my dad rings and says quite innocently 'why did you write - and crazy tall talls?'  after i fainted, i checked and sure enough - i had mistake in the spelling on the embroidery!!!! if you enlarge this piccie you can see it...

and here it is fixed - crazy tall tails!

and here are some of the nice ones i will be submitting for the competitions - cross your fingers for me!

thanks for reading and i hope to 'be around' more as the weeks and months progress.  but please be patient with me if im not!!!!

pugs and many kisses
crafty
xxx