WHAT? Is this?

C'mon Hunney, I know I'm not well, but I won't stand for this. You have a whole study upstairs to dump your stuff in and you're overflowing into my stitchy space down here.

I've been back to the doc, and been signed off work for another week and have more tablets to take. Much as I want to get on with this project, I didn't do a thing to it yesterday, I may do a little today though, I'll see how things go.

*

Take care.

Time for something different.

Well it's finished. Look it even has a label. Don't look too closely though, I made the label on Monday when I was at my yuckkiest!

And here it is on the bed. He wants it side ways. Next week it will be upside down...
and as all mothers of teen age boys know, the week after that it will be screwed up on the floor. The immaculate bedroom? LOL You can only see this little bit.

*

Over the last couple of days I have prepared more blue and more scraps, getting myself ready for another bloke quilt, but as I sat last evening closing the binding on Big H I found myself hankering after and planning something completely different. Something soft and girly. No scraps this time, all new fabrics. And maybe I will get to practice some twirly curly quilting.

*

I'm looking forward to this.

Take care.

Bizarre

First, because you can't have a post without a picture...... My valentines lilies.

The roses have seen better days and this morning as I gave them a good tidy up I had to throw out two of the lily stems. That meant I could finally get everything into one vase though, up to now they have been spread over two! Hopefully some TLC, fresh water and flower food will help them to last a few days more.

*

What is bizarre? Well I didn't really get viral, although the doc was sure I would. The fevers only lasted a couple of days and never really took hold. Not a one today. Someone suggested that maybe it's that time? Not unheard of at forty, but does it come with lightening headaches? They just arrived at the weekend along with the temperatures, they only last a few minutes, then they wear off. It's like someone switches them on and I'm in pain, but before I can take anything to ease them, they wear away to a dull ache which I can forget about if I do something...... Any ideas? Aside from the headaches I do feel better, but as the doc has signed me off work all week, I'll take it! Being so busy last week and all the worry with Jonny, maybe it's just stress and I need the rest. Something the Doc did wonder out loud. She told me to rest, so that's what I'll do.

*

I did do a bit of sewing yesterday afternoon and got the second quarter of Joe's quilt quilted, then made inroads on a third. Today I have completed the quilting and put the quarters together. (See I told you I feel better, though I took two headache breaks.) I've also attached the binding and now I'm about to curl up on my armchair and close that up. Photo of the completed quilt tomorrow.

*

Thanks for the get well wishes, Jonny and I are sharing them, but I think he still needs them more that I do.

Take care.

Swap Received.

Remember I mentioned a few weeks ago that I was taking part in the pot holder pass swap? Well today I received my share of the loot, it arrived in a plastic baggie, and here's what it said.

My heart sank, Uh oh! What am I going to find? The package was only a little bit bashed and the contents are just fine.

I found two beautifully warm richly coloured pot holders and some hand made jewellery.
They've come from Kari. It may just be that I have a fever, but try as I might I cannot figure out which one of my swapees is Kari! It doesn't help that round two is now open for sign ups and loads more names are now in the mix! LOL

*

I'm still resting and taking the tablets. I have done a little sewing and a lot of surfing, I hope I get well soon, my list of bookmarked 'must do' projects is getting longer by the day. And I keep changing my mind about which one is next.

*

Keep warm, cool, dry.............Just be comfortable!

Be careful what you wish for!

I know I said I wasn't ready to return to work yet and would love more time off, but I really do have to be careful what I wish for! I have a temperature and pains in my ears, neck, shoulders and back. And I'm starting to snivel! My Doc says I have a viral infection! This wasn't the more time off I had in mind. I'm feeling so yeuck! It's taken two whole days to quilt in the ditch on only a quarter of Big H.

Now can you see them Joe?

For those wanting to see my 'quilt as you go' method for finishing, I found a tutorial. I followed this tutorial waaaaaay back when I made this quilt. No point reinventing the wheel. When I was making the Dresden quilt I thought it would be my hand stitching in the back seams that would require my attentions, probably the first time I washed it! LOL In fact those seams have held up well, the plates on the other hand have required some TLC. I didn't use any kind of stabiliser and quilted them a little too lightly, most of them have had attention of some kind as they have begun to come away from the backing. I do still favour the less is more style of quilting.

Finally.

I kept meaning to take the camera to work on a snowy day. Yesterday I finally remembered.

There isn't a lot of snow here, just a couple of inches.
It was actually falling as I was walking in.
It's falling again now.
It's been an exceptional year, I for one have enjoyed a snowy winter, it's so much nicer than the wind and rain we normally get. But I'm ready for spring.

*

On the sewing front, I haven't done anything since layering and pinning the quarters of Joe's quilt. Work and life and stuff have just got in the way. I'm shattered too, I'm back to those nights where I just can't stay asleep. I was up at 5am yesterday and again today. I have been planning what to do next though. I'll be back in the scraps box.

*

Jonny is still not well. He was hoping to rejoin the boat on Monday, but he is still getting flushes of temperature and pains in his ears. He is not resting properly and allowing himself to heal. I am so worried about him.

*

I'm off to get a cuppa. Take care.

More Snow?

Typical, the day I go back to work, we get more snow. Not too much though, just a dusting. This will be gone before lunchtime.

I'll think about cosy quilts all the way to work! Speaking of quilts.....

*

Maybe I shouldn't have told him there are fluffy bunnies on it! I didn't let on about all the flowery pieces that crept in, and he can't find the ugly which I chopped two slices from. Phew!
No I didn't forget that I wanted to quilt as I go. What you see here are 4 quarters, and lots of pins. What I see laying on the floor here is a neat pile of layered and pinned quarters, just ready for me to pick up and quilt when I get home later today. Hmm, it's cottage pie for tea, maybe after I get that started. This one took it's time talking to me, but once I got it all laid out it told me I couldn't get too fancy with the quilting, I get to stitch in the ditch, basically making a whole load of big H's, and it wants to be called Big H. Joe doesn't get that! I think I need to have a word with his teacher!

*

Right, where's my boots? I'd better find my scarf and mittens again too.

Take care.

My last day of freedom.

Well that's how it feels anyway. I could quite enjoy not having to work for a living. LOL Back to work tomorrow. I should have a great sense of achievement, the house got a good clean, I finished a huge quilt and it looks like I'll certainly have another top ready to quilt. I'm just not ready to go back to work, I want to play some more.

*

Yesterdays trip to the shops was pretty good. I found another curtain sample! LOL Like I need more. It's in a pretty lilac colour and looks like it has huge eyes!

I also found three beautiful plain buttery table cloths. (This picture does neither of these two fabrics any justice, but it's the best of a bad lot). I'm undecided about using the table cloths as quilt backs, or I may embroider on them. Some one had been having a good clear out. There were several, some quite large, table cloths there already covered in pretty embroidery. Someone else snatched those up, yes snatched. I heard her boasting to her friend that she puts them on ebay and sells them for huge profits. There were several pieces of man made fabric that felt ew! And lots of wool fabrics, Meters of the stuff in several colours. I didn't get any of that.

*

DS Joe's quilt made a huge leap forward yesterday, and I have half of it ready to layer and quilt.
It's in two parts, top right and top left.
That odd piece of blue stripe is a cotton sheet from the Hospice shop. Joe has consented to have that as a border. But we found nothing to use as a backing and in the end I purchased a plain blue cotton sheet.

*

I promised details of the pattern I'm using and here it is. Thanks to Paula for the reminder. ;-)

It's called 'Precious Pieces', though I think I'll have to come up with a name change for Joe's version.
It is in volume 18 No 2 of Australian Patchwork and Quilting. The cover quilt is a good scrap user too.
The postie brought me a surprise yesterday. A Huge, king-size piece of Dream Green batting. I love using that stuff! But I wasn't expecting it. I knew I had ordered and received two pieces recently, one is already inside the Seeing Stars quilt I recently finished, the other I didn't even unwrap, it was sat under my table waiting for me to be ready to quilt this current project, and here's the postie with another piece! Hmm...... When I place an order on-line I keep the email confirmation in a special folder, and a copy of the confirmation page too. Then when the order arrives, I usually remember to get rid of them. Well last week when the second piece arrived I got rid of two order confirmations obviously mistakenly believing I had forgotten one at some point! I really don't remember ordering three pieces, two yes, but not three! I must be going funny in the head. Never mind, it will get used and I don't have to feed it.

*

Time for a quick read with a cuppa tea, before I get the second half of Joe's quilt finished, maybe I'll even get the parts layered today.

*

Take care.

Not A Rainbow.

In spite of my best efforts and bargaining,

DS Joes somewhat blinkered taste
Regarding colour
and pattern
has left me with a limited
palette.
I wonder now if breaking the fabrics into their colour groups was such a good idea. Perhaps it would have been a better idea to chuck the whole lot into a basket and go for pot luck when making up the blocks. I'm having problems trying to visualise this one. Maybe once I start putting all the blocks together things will work out.

*

I'd been wondering what to do with the backs I had taken out of all the curtain samples I've been given. They make great foundations!
I want to quilt as I go, I keep on saying I will, then forgetting and having to force huge quilts through my poor little household machine. I think if I quilt as I go, the smaller more manageable pieces will mean that I can try some more complex quilting. First though, I have to find an acceptable backing fabric the maestro has rejected everything I have offered so far! Wish me luck with that.

*

DS Jonny is home, still unwell, but so much better than he was.

*

I'm off to do a few chores before I go to the shops.

*

Take care.

Feeling Blue.

I didn't do very much yesterday, I don't know if it was a weekend of worry about Jonny that caught up with me, or if it was all that blue fabric, but I really started to feel a little blue myself. I stopped work on Joe's quilt and sat instead in front of the TV and finished off the last of the place mats, then I put the feather stitch and some beads onto the pear.

When Tony came home I was asleep with an old homespun in my hands! To be honest I'm not feeling 100% today, but I'll make a start on another colour for Joe's quilt.

*

Take care.

Sons and Lilies.

Jonny is slowly mending. His throat is still pretty swollen, but he is able to eat and keep food down at last. He's still only picking at ice cream and jelly, but it's a start. Thank you to everyone who sent healing thoughts and good wishes.

*

A colleague of mums has given me a huge pile of fabric. There are lots of quite big pieces, some off the roll and some samples. Curtain fronts and backs as well as some old cushion covers. There were one or two pieces of polyester, they barely stayed in the house 10 minutes! LOL Ew! I hate that stuff.

There are also a couple of pieces of linen. They are both quite big and I may use them as quilt backs. What do you think?

*

As a thank you I made her a shopping bag. Well, mum had been boasting about my bags.
(Scuse the laundry awaiting it's turn) I just made up a quick very basic bag which she can carry a few purchases in. It has a pocket to keep her keys and purse from being buried at the bottom.

*

Once that was done I set about making some sense from the fabrics DS Joe had chosen for his next quilt. I let him lose in the scraps box and he promptly rejected 90% of the contents, after a little reasoning and some bargaining we came up with enough fabric for a good sized quilt.
I started with the blues, but I assure you, there will be other colours. I've never done foundation piecing before, I quite enjoyed the experience. The pattern is from a back issue of Australian Patchwork and Quilting. I'll give more info another time.

*

My dear Husband bought me the most beautiful Valentine card, filled with love heart sprinkles and there was a delivery of Stargazer Lilies (Christmas Lilies). I don't think there could have been any left in the shop. There were also some red roses hiding in there. We spent the evening together watching a movie. Though I was also stitching away, closing the bindings on my place mats.

*

My time off work is running out and I feel like I'm not going to achieve all that I wanted to. I'm off to sew for a while.

*

Take care.

Did I tell you how much I dislike hospitals?

Jonny is still in hospital. He is having difficulty breathing and cannot keep food down, not even ice cream. I did go in to see him yesterday and will be there with him for a while today. I took cordial and jelly (Jello) yesterday. Today I'll take a Thermos with ice cubes!

*

I really couldn't settle to anything yesterday and flickered through magazines and books. I rifled through my scraps and after a few hours came up with a pear!

I'll need to put some pretty stitches up the seams. I couldn't believe the mess I came home too. Did I do that? There won't be much happening today, maybe tomorrow or Monday I'll start cutting more scraps for my next quilt. I'm off to do my shopping before I go see my boy.

Not so quick finishes.

I wanted some quicker finishes, so set about something I've been planning for a little while. I pulled out my stash of Kiwiana fabrics and started to make myself a set of place mats.

While we were in NZ I kept looking at all the beautiful mats, showing wildlife and birds as well as beautiful scenery.
The birds in particular I adored. But I never actually got around to buying myself a set.
Well, now I almost have my bird mats! These little pretties are Fantails. Aren't they adorable?
I just have to sew down the binding. I have a set of six large and six coasters. Three each in black and white backgrounds.
I couldn't bring myself to quilt them, if I had meandered around the birdies on one side it would have spoiled the kiwiana on the other side. It's the same for the kiwiana, if I had tried to work into that, it would have spoiled the birds. At 10 x 11 inches I'm sure they will be just fine without any quilting.

*

The pile of hand sewing beside my seat in the sitting room is getting larger by the week, maybe over the weekend I'll make time to sit in there and get on with some of it. Hopefully I'll get to see a little of Jonathan. Right now he's in hospital. He started with a throat infection on Tuesday while at sea, when it became obvious that he wasn't going to be able to fight it alone his skipper brought him in and he was admitted at 3am this morning. He's getting fluids and antibiotics through a drip, but they are confident that he will be released later today. He'll need a few days R&R and may be able to rejoin the boat next time she comes in. (They got him to hospital then went straight back out to sea). I don't do sitting in hospitals, not even for my own son, his father is with him though and will keep me informed. So today is a busy day, a doing day, there's no way I could sit still and do hand work. What to do?

*

Take care.

The Finished Quilt.

It's all done. I put it on the bed this morning for a quick photo shoot.

Before folding it up and leaving it here.......
It will stay here for a while, then get a turn on the bed in a couple of weeks.

*

I think it's time I got on with some smaller projects and did some finishing of other projects. But the scraps box is still calling! What's a girl to do? Well today I have chores to do in town, before I do anything else. Maybe I'll pop into the charity shops and see what they have while I'm out.

*

Have a great day and take care.