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

feeling blah!

hi all!
i have been feeling quite off colour for a week or so now and haven't felt like doing any craft (i know, i must be sick!!!!).  i have just been getting through with the little human enjoying the better weather the last couple of days, and living vicariously through visiting everyone's blogs - thanks always for sharing!

i have two projects that i HAVE TO FINISH!!!!!  i have made a blanket of love for Cheryll's drive - only 12 days to go the counter on her blog reminds me!!  i have made the quilt and attached the binding, but i have to hand stitch it down onto the back......
and i have to quilt my Boy Oh Boy quilt in the next week or two to get it done in time for the competition!

perhaps while the little human naps today.... ill see how i go!

on another note, we need two more people to fill up our Christmas Swap group 2!  if you are interested, or know someone who is, please send them to http://christmasquiltingblockswapsaustralia.blogspot.com or click on the button in my left side bar!  will be great to have the group full and ready to swap the year away!

hope you are going splendidly!
pugs and kisses
xx

crafty wednesday!

whew - i feel like i am back on track now!

i have completed some of my block swaps for this month....
some sneak peeks...

for Christmas Quilting Block Swaps Australia this month, i am swapping with mary who requested a traditional block in white, burgundy and sparkly blue

for Quilting Block Swaps Australia, i am swapping with Brigitte, who requested a log cabin block in red, black and white

and then got to work on some blocks for Cat's quest to make quilts for those affected by the earthquakes in NZ.  this is a DNP from the quilt that will be for my hubby....i love sharing that quilt around (but i am sure i will regret it when i need to make more blocks for it when i put it together!)

this is a Beginner's Choice block made with monochromatic fabric - love the contrasts

and my Pièce_de_résistance - i finished the quilt top for my Boy O Boy Quilt!!! yay!!! (it was a bit windy this arvo, so apologies for the low quality piccie!)  now i just have to quilt it!

so all in all very satisfying!

hope you got some quilting done too!

pugs and kisses
xx

trip to quiltaholics!

lucky me!  i had a training course to do this morning in magill, and once it had finished i thought.............hmmmmmmmmmmmmm................perhaps i should drop in on quiltaholics!  they have a huge shop with tons of fabric and i love just wandering around!

i needed to get a border and backing for my Boy O Boy quilt, but i also got a little distracted - whoops!

i saw this lovely farmyard fabric and thought the little human would love an eye spy quilt using it!  he is at that animal noise stage and i can imagine lots of moos, clucks, quacks, neighs and baas coming from this quilt (so i better get onto it before he is 10 and thinks it is SOOOOO uncool!)

but i did also find what i went for - i think this is a lovely contrast...

and the best bit..........the stars GLOW IN THE DARK!!!! how AWESOME is that!!! i love it!  i took the little human into his room and turned out the lights.  he appropriately said 'ooooooooooooooo'
good boy!

this is a close up of the stitching on the Boy O Boy quilt - it is definitely getting there!

gotta get a wiggle on though - not much time left!

it is a long weekend here in SA, and hubby, little human and i are taking the van out again (we are hoping for less wind this time!) so the plan is while we are away to finish the embroidery on the Boy O Boy quilt and hand stitch the binding on the back of another quilt - fingers crossed!

pugs and kisses to all
xx

Asher's pirate vest and boy oh boy quilt

where has this week gone?
im not really sure to be honest, but i know i haven't done a lot of craft-ing...

i have nearly finished hubby's nephew's pirate vest - can't you tell..... :)

not a great piccie, but it is a very simple vest with the shoelace type cord to go in the eyelets in each side, like a lace up effect

i am CRAP at dressmaking, so it is a very rudimentary vest, but should get the job done for dress ups!

have also been working on the boy oh boy quilt for the homespun design comp - im getting the embroidery done slowly.  started thinking about how to quilt it too - think i will do some in the ditch and the some hand quilting of bigger perle cotton stitches....not sure yet

hope you are all finding time for some craftiness of your own

pugs and kisses
xx

UPDATE! boy oh boy quilt

the top centre piecing is finished!! i am pretty happy with it i think - happy for my first attempt at designing something myself anyway :)

as you can see, it is 8 pieced 9 patch blocks around a centre, which will have embroidered words from the poem/nursery rhyme 'what are little boys made of?'

this is a close up of one of the corners - i totally cheated when putting on the setting triangles as i didn't know how to actually do it.  so i wasted HEAPS of material, but at least i got the look i wanted

and these are the threads im going to embroider the centre with

still have to think about an outer border and then binding. i definitely don't have enough left of my fat quarter bundle for a solid outer border, and i think that is what it needs to finish it off - not more busy-ness. so may have to have a trip out to Quiltaholics - not my LQS but the one that i know of that has the biggest range.  so i am thinking they may have a green to match in.  i tried to find more of the fabric online, but without success - must be an older line?


so overall a good weekends work! luckily for me, the little human has just discovered that hiding is so much fun, and so a big box in my sewing area has meant about 1 hour of happy play at a time - so able to do more in larger blocks, which always seems to achieve more than little bits of time here and there. but mind you, ill take anything!

pugs and kisses
xx

sneak peak! boy oh boy quilt (aka Homespun's design competition entry)

ive renamed this quilt to be more user friendly :) it will henceforth be known as The Boy Oh Boy quilt

ive started some actual stitching on my entry in the homespun's design competition!

this will be the top border

but still more blocks to stitch

it seems to be coming together ok i think - ive never really done anything like this before! so just on feel :)

pugs and kisses
xx