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Power up :>

This weekend has been fun fun fun! We caught up with some friends and she made us a really good dinner, and the kids enjoyed themselves very much too.

I also felt that Benji has grown a lot in these past few weeks. As he turned 15 1/2 months, he took his first steady steps last week and today he managed to stand himself up without holding on to any furniture, or legs, or walls. And he also finally figured out how to get in and out of his favorite push-car! It’s great to see him playing with the older kids and learning to be more independent because of his newfound mobility.

My parents came back from their vacation and they were exclaiming how much Benji has grown (in 10 days) and so many new tricks learned. One thing’s not changed – he still has his bib around his neck! Yah, my son has a MAJOR drool issue.

Over the weekend, I power-sewed. I cut up the borders for my Tales & Tidings quit, I also caught up with AmandaJean’s Star Quilt-A-Long and also cut up the fabrics for the 12 setting blocks. Phew! Chain-stitching frenzy! Half-way through to making the 48 X 4-patch pieces.

Here’s Week 3’s block. I ‘fussy-cut’ this orangey bloom fabric, which I don’t like very much. I think it turned out quite nice here! :>

This is Week 4’s block. The colours turned out more orangey with this camera. Just try to imagine it more ‘yellow-y’ :>

This is Week 5’s block. Tiring, but pretty block. After all the triangles, it was just good fun to cut strips and squares to work on the setting blocks.

All in all, I’m pretty happy with the progress made so far. Fell back a few weeks because of vacation, etc. But once you get into the swing of things, the blocks came together pretty quickly :>

Busy Weekend!

It has been a busy few days for me here. A good, quilting kind of busy.

I finally got my Tales & Tidings quilt kit fabrics all cut up, and am almost done with the block piecing, except for the borders. I’m missing the backing for the quilt though! Was going to get it on fabric.com during the sale but it is

sold out 🙁 Anyone any ideas where I can get a good deal for it online??

And on Saturday, I attended a quilt session with a couple of my quilting mates. We started with a Trip Around The World – and it was so much fun! But I also spent some quality time with my seam ripper because of the boo-boos I made (piecing wrong sides together, skipping one strip, etc). BUT I made good progress that evening when I came back and its up on my design wall! Still left some piecing of strips to do, and borders to cut. But all in all, I’m pretty happy with it. Not too saccharine sweet, just nice for me ;>

Off to a trip to the land of Smiles (Thailand!) this Thursday through the weekend with family and some friends. Hope to buy some beautiful fabrics back! :>

On the roll!

For the past few evenings, I have been browsing craft blogs, reading quilting/sewing books, and getting the sense that the Bernina is beckoning me to the worktable… Finally, I got round to visiting the quilt shop and bought fabrics and hexagon templates so that I can actually START SEWING instead of marking out the pages for ‘future projects’.

It is week 2 at Crazy Mom Quilts’ Star Quilt-A-Long and I’m just done with week 1’s block. Will be working on the 2nd block soon, I hope! I’ve decided to make this a ‘yellow’ quilt. I don’t have much yellows at home, but I think it will go quite nicely with our Birch dominant theme in our home. :>

And I got into English Paper Piecing and I’m working on the hexagon flowers with the template I picked up from the shop. I was going to start off easy, picking out a big-sized hexagon template (2.6cm), thinking of making coasters, table topper, etc. And I’m using the 1930’s themed fabric for this project. Not sure what I’m going to do with it yet, but I’m just going to keep at it… who knows, it might just turn out to be one of those ‘grandmothers garden’ quilt! :> I keep the project in a clear plastic file box and it is so easy to bring along and work on it while I wait at the clinic, etc.

AND I’m been ‘inspired’ to join Bonnie’s Orange Crush Mystery as well. I think I should begin with gathering the scraps first, or perhaps stop looking at the craft blogs ;>

Anyway, this Saturday is the Colourwash workshop. Will be working on a ‘trip around the world’ quilt! AND there will be a sale starting Thursday at the quilt shop. A good start to the month, eh? :>

Slow and steady

I’m really excited about how the projects are turning out! The ‘banana milkshake’ shrug is waiting to go into the wash and then it will be ready for wrapping up! Still thinking about how I can package it as a belated birthday gift for my good friend. Hmmm… For my own 2-yarn shrug, I’m just finishing picking up the seams with the crochet needle… Exciting! 🙂

And then my sampler quilt is still waiting for me to finish up the border, but I’m still saving my sewings for the new machine when it arrives early next month! 🙂 Here’s a shot of the quilt just before I added all the sashings.

In the month of February, I treated myself with a couple of online shopping sprees, growing my stash just a bit more 😉 Bought beautiful fabrics from Norton House and also found some really good buys from Fabric.com. BUT I have to tell myself to keep away from the shops in March to let my wallet cool off just a little. It felt really good to have those parcels coming through thedoors! Here’s a peek at what came out of the box from Norton House!

Wish I could work more on the projects but work has been busy and a bad case of stomach virus kept me away from the studio. The upcoming arrival of the new sewing machine will be a great motivator to get the projects moving. Can’t wait! 🙂