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

GET PSYCHED! November FNSI!!!

i am pumped! nothing to stand in my way this time (i hope!)
get signed up for Friday Night Sew In at Handmade By Heidi's blog - there are some great prizes this time around too - cool!
19th of November - put it on the calendar
click on the button in my sidebar to take you straight there!

pugs and kisses
xx

FNSI Flop :(

unfortunately, FNSI did not happen for me this month!

it was my hubby's birthday on thursday and we were going to go with his family today (Sat) to the beach, but the weather has turned for the worse here in adelaide! (SO SICK OF RAIN!  I know we need it, but the little human is CLIMBING THE WALLS!!) :)

so instead, they graciously invited us to dinner at their place last night - which was lovely
but no stitching (i did manage to come last in the card game though!)

hope yours went better!

pugs and kisses
xx

FNSI!!!

get ready for October's Friday Night Sew in!

October 15th it is - so head over to Heidi's blog (click on the button in my side bar) to sign up for the crafty fun!!!

pugs and kisses
xx

September Friday Night Sew In Report!

i did FNSI in front of the footy last night - big game between Geelong and Collingwood - both hubby and i were hoping for a great game, and we didn't get it :(

but i did get some embroidery done....

its only a sneak peak because it is part of a gift for a friend....and i don't want to spoil the surprise!

i will have to make sure that i am back out at my sewing machine for the october FNSI and get some serious sewing done

hope you had fun!

pugs and kisses
xx

Get ready to sew!

September 17th - get in on the calendar, in your diary, on your hand, on the fridge, whatever
that's right - FRIDAY NIGHT SEW IN
head to Heidi's blog to join and get ready for a night in of just sewing - heaven!

Friday night sew in August report!

hubby and i managed to get the little human into bed before 7pm - so that meant i was off to my sewing space then! lucky me!

i was very disciplined, bordering on boring, this FNSI - i restricted myself to UFO's only.

first i finished off my mother in law's blocks for her 60th birthday quilt.

then i got to work on my hubby's requested tv watching quilt. his challenge was to make it entirely from my stash (he is a bit of a tight-arse!) as then he would enjoy it more. i decided on a disappearing 9 patch some time ago, as it would hide my mismatched points more easily!

i had kind of just been going along cutting 3" squares and piecing them together, but i thought i should get organised with some colours etc, otherwise there wouldn't be a spread of the fabrics....

so i got all my colours out and started cutting....

then grouped them into piles of 9 separted by the insert from some flat fats i had...

then i pieced a few together....

getting some idea of what it will look like...

then i called it a night!

much fun - it is nice to put a whole night aside and be out by myself doing craft.  glad i have the excuse to do it once a month with FNSI!!!

pugs and kisses
xx

p.s. for those in Oz, don't forget to vote today!!!  despite what our Mark Latham might think, making your vote count is more important that protesting by donkey voting.  if you don't like what you are seeing in the major parties, consider a minor one or an independent.  but whatever you do, make it count!  people have fought and died for our right to choose our government

oooo august friday night sew in sign up!!!!

lucky i checked on Alex's blog tonight!  it is always a good read of course, but she reminded me about FNSI!!!!
so get signed up for next friday night and get ready to stitch, stitch, stitch

pugs and kisses
xx

Friday Night Sew In July report

FNSI wasn't as much an event this month as last month for me unfortunately.  ive been crook, little human has been crook, and hubby has been working over time for the last month due to end of financial year......so the house is a disaster, im behind in the washing and cleaning etc etc etc.

BUT

friday night sew in is friday night sew in....and not to be missed!  so, got the little human to bed, "tidied" the house (ie piled the dirty dishes, put the laundry in the hamper, hid the ironing!) and sat down with hubby in front of the footy. 

my aim was to make 3 softies for The Toy Society......anyone reading this who has any experience making softies probably is laughing at me.....i didn't even get one finished!

but at least i feel like i am on track with project toy society :)

i got out my old scrapbooking paper to use for envelopes.....

and 'collected' all my gear together (yes that is a empty nappy box - can't remember what i used to store stuff in before i had the little human?!)

this is the kitty softie i was working on...

and this is where i was up to when i called it a night last night....started to stitch the front and back together

so all in all, not too bad, and at least i got something started :)

hope you all enjoyed your friday night sew in too!!!

pugs and kisses
xx

project toy society - underway!

today i took a still-not-entirely-happy little human with me to our local spotlight to find some bargains to use in toys for the toy society.....

and man did i come home with a stash!

my very nice hubby is always happy to get behind a good cause and he has found some spare money in the budget to go towards the endevour.  so i have decided to buy some gear, and then keep it separate so it doesn't get frittered away on other projects.  so here is the starting 'pile'.....

some plain acrylic felt....

some funky acrylic felt.....

some cheap cotton fabric (all $4 a metre!)....

some purply flannel and some purple minkee...so soft!

and them some fabric ribbon for that extra special-ness....

i am sure that this stash will last me years!!! there must be 100's of toys in it surely...?  i hope so anyway....hubby's generosity only goes so far ;)

hope to get at least 3 toys done at FNSI so i can drop them on saturday with the little human - should be a lovely experience i hope!

pugs and kisses
xx

the toy society - time to get orgainsed

i joined the toy society some time ago - random acts of kindness in soft toy form - winner!!!
but i haven't actually done anything about it yet, other than admire from afar.
so - crunch time
this friday night sew in will be dedicated to the toy society
i have a new book that i love - simple softies
so i think i will try some of these

off to buy some felt today with the little human - took him to the docs this morning and we both got anti-biotics - me for my throat and he for his ear infection (ahh can't wait til he can talk and say 'mummy my ear hurts' as opposed to AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR etc'

he he

pugs and kisses
xx

feeling sick :(

not much sewing has been done lately.  i have had a cold type thing for a week now, but the last 4 days has been a ridiculously annoying cough and a very silly voice.  it is freaking out the little human a bit, as i don't sound anything like usual.
last night for the first time in as long as i can remember, i sat and watched television without stitching anything!
i must be sick!
better rest up for friday night sew in!
pugs and kisses
xx

Friday Night Sew In - July

just found out!!!  Friday Night Sew In is on again!!!! July 23rd - can't wait!  click on the button in my side bar and join in the fun :)

Friday Night Sew In report!

project 'friday night sew in' started first thing - the little human and i cleaned up the house and i think he was a little confused that as soon as he put a toy down it was back where it belongs before he could turn around!

dinner was made in the arvo and put in the fridge ready for hubby when he got home. the little human had dinner early too



and of course still found time to laugh at his dad!



then into the bath



and off to sleep. what a good little human!

hubby settled into a comfy chair to watch the footy and i headed out to the sewing area in our shed. i took some extra 'supplies' with me - the choccie hubby bought for me as a surprise (i guess i must have been talking about friday night sew in a lot for him to remember!)



so i was ready! i had two projects i wanted to work on - a disappearing nine patch quilt for hubby to keep him warm while watching the aforementioned football, and the little monsters quilt for my little human mentioned previously

as you can see though, i spent zero time actually cleaning up my craft area before i started :) a very bad habit - but not one to change on friday night sew in!





so i spent some time sorting through my stash for my the DNP quilt - one of the specifications from hubby was that i am not allowed to buy ANY material to make his quilt. so thought i would just sort some lights and darks in blue and brown and have a bash.

these are the 3" squares





and this is the finished DNP block! i was surprised at how complicated it looked, and how easy it was! i followed this tute on line.





then it was time to have a go at making a little monster! love doing quilts like this - choosing colours for characters and seeing their personalities take shape.

here is the pattern - I love Don't Look Now designs - all of them!


and here is my finished monster, compared to the original. isn't he gorgeous!


i called it a night at around 11.30am. the little human still gets up early even if i have been up late (what is the deal with that! he he), but i was thrilled to have a night to myself, to do whatever craftyness i wanted.

SOPPY ALERT (cue violins) - i think one of the reasons it was so enjoyable for me was that i don't have any crafty type friends in my physical world. my love of craft is something that i am usually jokingly mocked for by my family, and not understood by my friends. i have only recently discovered the awesome community that is online - and am loving it! i loved the idea that last night (or today depending on time zones!!) others all around the world were stitching along with me, loving it too! so thanks for organising this Bobbi and Heidi for conceiving and organising! can't wait to read everyone else's reports!

pugs and kisses
xx

Friday Night Sew In

it is on! its confirmed! you need to go to craftyvegasmom to sign up as handmadebyheidi is busy moving her family across the US! good excuse i reckon!
anyhoo, im in, its on the calendar, and im excited!
join in and lets get sewing!

pugs and kisses
xx

Friday Night Sew In

just found out about the COOLEST thing! Friday Night Sew In! You can register at Handmade by Heidi's blog, or click on the button in my tool bar.

Friday 18 June is the next one, and she hasn't opened registrations yet - so you'll have to check back. Ill let you know when it is

will be great to sew knowing that everyone else is too! Join Up!

pugs and kisses
xx