Wiped-Out Wednesday

I have this cute little notepad that is designed to be a To Do list. Knowing today was my day off, I filled that list last night, and have spent the day ploughing through what feels like a million things.

I've been to gym, cleaned the bathroom, vaccummed the house, finally sourced wheat for my wheat bags (for market), shopped at the supermarket and washed my car (first time since August!).

I've whipped up a Blueberry Frangipane tart for tomorrow; my Candian friend is visiting from San Fran so I wanted to make something super yummy. Haven't made it before, though it was pretty easy. Just wish my pastry wouldn't shrink, no matter how careful I am!

Also turned all my leftover triangles from the Mystery BOM into HSTs...I'll work out what to do with them once the 12 blocks are done.

Still need to visit my grandma later today, then I might be settling in for a relaxed evening in front of the TV. That's everything on my list and I'm exhausted!

Sunday Sewing

I spent yesterday lazing by a camp fire listening to the Triple J Top 100, but today was back to reality. My mum and I decided that the weekend deserved a bit of fun, and we treated ourselves to lunch at Mama Baba. It was divine! We had spaghetti and meatballs, and pork belly, and a few other yummies.

After lunch we popped in to see how my grandma is going, then came home so I could get stuck into some sewing. I was determined to finish the borders on my Cuzco quilt and I did.

 

I'm very happy with how it turned out. Just need to get it quilted now, as well as sew all my scrappy tripalong blocks together (all 36 are done).

2012 BOM Block Eight

'Lime Sherbet' by Bonnie and Camille

Bliss Clear Out!

It's time to clear the shelves of Bonnie and Camille's Bliss to make way for the upcoming Happy-Go-Lucky. This range is hard to come by now, so if you want a little bit for your stash, now's the time to grab it.

I'm clearing it out for $12 a meter. Postage is $2 for 1 meter, $6.20 for up to 3m, and $10.55 after that. First in, best dressed!

Aqua Medallion 0.3m

Aqua Polka 0.7m

Aqua Marmalade 1.3m

Brown Floral 4.3m

Scarlet Tulip 0.45m

Scarlet Marmalade 0.8m

Lime Polka 5.3m

Lime Check 4.5m

Lime Marmalade 4m

Lime Tulip 3.7m

Lime Tonal 4.5m

Cuzco...

I just want to quickly say thank you for the lovely comments I've received this week, every single one has made my week just that little bit better. Yesterday was a bit of a shocker, but I've bounced back today and tackled that Cuzco quilt!

I did a bit of sneaky maths and worked out that I could stitch my too-small triangles into pairs to use them as side setting triangles, with a little bit of Fandango thrown in to give me the required number. I must say I'm quite pleased with how its looking!

 

 

It still needs a trim and then two borders, but it's not a bad start to January. Hopefully I can sneak in a bit of time tomorrow to get it finished.

 

 

I have a lovely weekend of socialising ahead of my; my oldest, bestest friend got in touch and said "let's catch up Sunday, breakfast or lunch, yours or mine, home or out, it's up to you". Who doesn't love friends like that!

Squeeee

What does a sensible girl do when she finally ditches the guy who has time for everyone but her? And I mean the type that can't even be bothered to send a postcard from overseas?

She heads to Europe of course! I've been wanting to do this trip for a while, and now it's clear I don't have a travel buddy, I'm heading out on my own. I just booked today and I'm so excited. I'll be doing 4 days in each of London and Paris, then heading over to Italy to spend two weeks travelling around (map below). Pizza, pasta, gelato!

My friends and sister have also been totally lovely to me the last few days; I've had lunch, dinner and movie invitations coming out my ears which makes me feel so special. My grandma (who is recovering well from her head injury) may have even had a few things to say to cheer me up.

I snuck in a little sewing time last night and today (sticking to my resolutions!), with six more scrappy tripalong blocks to show for it. I've now got 20, and still lots of strips, so I've decided to go the whole hog and head for 36!

Friday's task will be to get back into the Cuzco quilt; I think I've solved my triangle problems, just need to see if I can pull it all together.

Then There Were 18

I've snapped myself out of my little funk; the person causing all my stress is gone. So I have plenty of time to get back into my quilting, and just enjoy life in general without being weighed down by the drama. It feels good!

I snagged a little time today to quickly whip up two more blocks:

I thought I was only up to 14 or 16, but I laid them all out and there are 18!

I'm not quite decided on whether to aim for 25 or 36...I guess we'll see how fat those fat quarters streatch with a few scrap bits thrown in. It's like organised chaos!

Multitasking Fail

I thought I'd be smart and take a break from the Scrappy Tripalong so that I could dig into the Cuzco quilt I've been planning since November. All the fabrics are sitting there ready to go, the pattern is downloaded onto my iPad, and so I thought I was all set.

Apparently not. Forgot to buy binding. Misread the instructions and cut some of the Layer Cake squares for the setting triangles, only to find I should have used larger squares...so that's five squares wasted that would have brightened up the quilt a little. Then went to start piecing the rows, only to realise you need to trim the squares down to 9.5".

 

Big fail today! It could be the heat, it could be the fact I'm a bit stressed (this year has not run smoothly so far). The pattern is very well written, so I only have myself to blame for misreading it.

 

On the upside, it's coming together really quickly! In less than two hours I've got all the strips cut, and the major rows pieced. Just need to piece the sashing rows, and sort out my triangle dilemma. I'm thinking maybe a little bit of Fandango might just save the day. I might retreat back to my scrappy blocks for a little while...

Four More

A couple more blocks for the Scrappy Trip Around the World.

Glad I finally found some dark blue to include!

Instagram hash tag is #scrappytripalong if you want to take part.

Scrappy Trip Around The World

I took the plunge yesterday and started in on this quilt along. I started cutting strips from fat quarters and a a handful of scraps. It's made me realise there are a few colours missing from my collection, namely dark blues and all types of green! It's going to be a very pink/blue quilt.

I got four blocks whipped up quite quickly; I'm not hurrying this project, especially as I'm starting a Cuzco quilt as well.

If you want to join in, the hash tag on Instagram is #scrappytripalong, and instructions can be found by googling 'scrappy trip around the world'.

2012 BOM Block Seven

Welcome to 2013!

Block 7 arrived over Christmas, and despite it being 40c today, I plugged myself in at the sewing machine. My pressing leaves a little to be desired, it's top hot!

Block 7 is "moonlight serenade" by Sandy Gervais.

I've also been taken in by the 'scrappy tripalaong' which has been booming over on Instagram. It's such a simple idea with stunning results. So I've dug out all the random fat quarters I've collected over the last few years, and am hoping to dig in as soon as the temperature drops.