Yes. I am quite proud of all 18 inches of it, and she's actually at a great age for actually using a doll quilt, which is always nice. Although I am still a sucker for the wall of doll quilts decorating technique. There must be 7 work-in-progress doll quilts lying around the sewing room just waiting to be enjoyed by some friends daughter or cousin... but this is the first one actually finished. Slight problem (okay, maybe a big problem...I had to rip out 3 corners) with the binding however. See below:

That's what happens when I try to complete the binding on a quilt without this handy dandy continuous binding tutorial from Heather Bailey

At least the pillow turned out alright.

Lately my mind has been looking like this:

• Call Grandma on Mondays, because that's my assigned day (but remember to quickly pick up the phone at 6:30 a.m so the kids don't wake up... because she calls nearly every day, thinking it's been weeks since we've talked. I'm still trying to figure this Alzheimer's thing out. Do I pretend like everything is normal? Remind her about every overlooked or forgotten detail? Just the important ones? Prob. just the important ones that are upseting her, right? I just really miss her.)
• Remember to bring back the plastic tub (freshly washed) when we pick up our new CSA produce basket. I love this local food... and the drop off couldn't be closer. Just a few blocks away really. So why am I worried about forgetting this small detail?
• New shoes for Lauren. That she'll actually wear without tearing up (very sad sight). No clue where to start.
• Present for my parents upcoming big anniversary. Seriously. I need to get them a good present to make up for the ten years or so I haven't gotten them anything. Which makes me feel like the most terrible of daughters. Somehow anniversaries mean alot more to me this year. I'm going on 9 and it seems like a really big deal at this point. And 39 years of marriage. Wow.
• Our local home school support group has us sign up for the county (one charge) and the city/community (another) before we get the updates on classes and park days and the like. So I've been stuck in the middle without even knowing it (I just signed up with the county). And now that I'm all properly signed up (I think)I have so many socializing/fieldtrip opportunities, I'm actually having to say no occasionally (alot actually), just to get some schooling done on a regular basis. That feels weird.
• This weekend is our home school EXPO. I'm so excited I can hardly stand it. But I'm putting myself on a very tight budget (promise honey!) since theoretically I have all but 2 subjects covered for next year (kindergarten/1st). And this makes me nervous. I can save money all day long if I stay close to home and never pull out of the driveway. It's only when I go out into the world that the money starts to run away from me. I'm a sucker for a sweet talking sales person and good marketing. Glycolic facial peels ("Honey, those crows feet age you 10 years... you've got to do something."). I'll take one. (But isn't 33 a pretty normal age to get lines around your eyes? I think so. Or I remembered that I thought so once I got home from Nordstroms that day.) Bath and Body works 2 for 1 deals? I'm in. GapKids shorts: Buy 1 get one at 50% off? Yup. Give me a sales person with a nice smile and a pitch, and I'm a goner. So lately, like so many other Americans (since the gas and grocery bills are completely unpredictable these days) I've tried to keep things nice and lean around here. If we don't really need it, it can wait. So for me, that means I can't leave the house. Except for groceries, and gas, and parks, and playdates and doctors, and Jamba Juice. And maybe the occasional trip to Antique Alley. I'm in for a big test this weekend. The biggest temptation for me, bar none, is books (and bookcases). I think I'll have to leave my wallet and checkbook at home and go cash only to play it safe. I'm weak! (This was written last week and although I didn't go cash only... I was much more selective than I have been in the past. I truly wish I could claim my character has suddenly taken a much welcome frugal bent... but I've a feeling every housewife in America is watching her pennies with all the bad news out there right now. I don't care what Bernanke says!)
  
• My sweetie wants some new pictures of the kids for his office. (no big deal, right?). Framed. (Big deal.) For some reason getting pictures framed is making me very anxious. (Where to I go? What style? How much?) Such a simple thing really.
• Why is my 2 year old daughter not going to sleep until 10pm? This worries me. Already tried naps, no naps, cut out sugar, lots of daytime play, solid bedtime routine, etc. Still no sleep until 10. I think she just wants to watch all the Jane Austen movies I've ordered from Netflix with me. Persuasion is on tonight. (Mansfield Park) With earphones.
• My orthodontist was supposed to call me a week ago to set up my big appointment to put on real, hones-to-goodness, braces. Now, I could call myself. But they said they would call me with available days, and I'm getting ornery in my old age and fully expecting them to follow through. Whew. They called, and I have an appointment on the 21st of May.

I still have nobody to vote for this year, and I'm seriously considering sitting out this election.   Or hoping Ron Paul runs as an Independent.

I did these, too.  They are the brown blocks for our Woven Ribbon Stars block swap.  I don't love brown.  Well, I don't hate it, it's just a colour I wouldn't normally use on it's own.  Some love brown though, so I put them in the swap early, to get them out of the way, then I can get on to stuff and colours I like.  Like eating the pumpkin and sprouts first when I was a kid.

My husband says there is no logic in that.  Obviously he was never made to sit at a table until his plate was clean.

I have the green ones cut out and in neat little piles ready to go, though they should be sewn already.  The next lot are "own choice", so I will probably do those in 30's prints, or maybe CW repros.  Yay for own choice!  :D

Back later to inflict this week's youtube excursion on those who like a little ramdomness (is that a word? ~ probably not) in their lives.

Le rispondo: ok, se sono in più da te...

Quando mi arriva il pacco ci sono dentro quasi 10m di stoffa americana, tutta roselline e toni tenui come piacciono a lei, e anche a me ovviamente, tra l'altro sul suo buon gusto non si può discutere. Accipicchia che sorpresa ! E ora ? Mica si possono riporre nella scatola senza neanche provarne qualcuna eh ?

Contemporaneamente mi arriva un ordine da Honeysuckle Cottage nel quale c'è il libro "An Angels Story" di Anni Downs di Hatched & Patched e sfogliandolo ci sono vari personaggi allampanati, angioletti protettori di qualcosa, e cosa vedo ??? Una signora angelo del thé. E' mia. E' proprio adatta. Anche se le ali poi non le ho fatte...

Divertente attaccare questi micro pezzettini di stoffa per creare questo quadretto ! E la tazzina in fimo di Paola quale "inno al thé" ci sta proprio bene...

E le stoffine ? Hanno fatto da corredo ad una borsa...

Quiltatura solo per alcune delle strisce di stoffa per un effetto più soft !

Ah, c'è anche il gatto...come nelle migliori tradizioni !

We hebben enkele mooie nieuwe Nikes binnen voor dames en heren, namelijk de Nike Dunk High Supreme CROATIA, Nike Dunk High BRAZIL, Nike Dunk High SWEDEN en de Nike Blazer Mid Premium PATCHWORK!

I wanted to add more length to this quilt so I thought it would be fun to add some of the remaining hodgepodge scraps. I decided on a simple one-patch strip on the top and bottom and I'm chain-piecing the 2-inch squares together now. When stitched, they'll measure 1.5-inches square, the same size as the bright yellow squares found throughout my Hodgepodge.

What better way to use up leftover scraps?

Mother's Day was nice.  A huge bottle of Oscar from Michael, a pashmina from Bloss and a hug from Patrick ~ who told me he'd buy me a gift when I funded him.  LOL

The nicest bit was that, for a change, we were all at home together for the whole day.

Another round of appointments with surgeon, physiotherapist and GP with Patrick.  His finger should be bionic by now for all we've spent on it.  I can't help but feel that if we didn't have medical insurance his finger would be every bit as mended as it is now, only without the specialist appointments and for much less cost.  It's very disheartening to spend $70 of a physio appointment and receive only $24.10 back, especially on a recurring basis.  His brother is at this very moment telling him he doesn't represent "value for money".  Thankfully, my children have the kind of egos that let them survive each other.

Michael has just told me that Patrick dared him into eating a raw egg last week.  Maybe he is worth the money.  Ages?  10 and 8 (in sense of humour years); chronologically they are 24 and 16.  I tell myself that this too, will pass. 

The last week (or two) in pics:

My effort for Four Seasons Quilt Swap ~ Spring.  It's in the mail, but I downloaded the photos of completed quilt at work and haven't remembered to email them to myself yet.  Although I, as usual, over-thought this and made it harder for myself than it needed to be (and consequently ran late), it was fun to do.  Sign-ups for the Summer swap are on now, so scoot on over and check it out.  There is a link in my sidebar.

Patrick and the tiny-but-dynamic Jen.  The things you have to put up with to get a half decent photo!

My Pansy Park blocks I found when someone asked me for a loan of the Block 10 pattern I had misplaced.  I have decided to make a block each Monday night until the darn thing is finished.

I love Thimbleberries fabrics, I have metres of them, plus the Vintage Garden and Hometown Christmas kits.  I'm just not particularly keen on country quilts, so they are never the fabrics I cut into.

A little fabric for a little project.  Can't show you the project because the intended recipient keeps an eye on me.  LOL

There was more (I think) but that's it for now.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=230250625221&ssPageName=STRK:MESC:IT&ih=013

fresh picked for YOU!

Amazing moda patchwork recycled denim jean drawstring bag...

loads of decorative stitching on both sides,

distressed denim strips & on the other side two roomy patchwork trimmed pockets...

two more roomy quilted pockets on the inside as well!

Thank you,

Mary

What I did yesterday was creating this:



I am not sure what I will do with this trial Cathedral window mini quilt, But I am sure I will find a use or a good home for it.

till next time
(*ü*)

Tutorial Link :  Welsh Quilter

The effortless ability to quilt on a large scale is unbelievably liberating. No more struggle with draped weight at the regular sewing machine. No more aching shoulders. No more small scale design work....

The day after the machine was set up, I was ready to learn. I decided to practice on a small, 44-inch throw-away quilt top.

Once I practiced some easy meandering, I made some feathered plumes. Then I began stitching some free-motion flowers.

Okay....practice session over! Time to try a REAL quilt. I wanted to attempt using a pantograph.

The first quilt I pinned into the frame was the top I made a year ago called Spring At Bloomery Mountain. The quilt was made exactly one year ago, to celebrate a day trip over to Bloomery, West Virginia where we trekked into the backwoods. The colors chosen included all of the greens and blue greens, so significant in that region where grassy hills and small mountains create the beautiful countryside. (More about that escapade and making the Bloomery quilt here.)

Quilting this was very easy -- very fluid. The stitches glide across the patchwork.

Once I had completed the quilting, I re-rolled and echo-quilted along one edge of the design.

The backing was pieced from leftover sections and stash.

The binding was stitched down on the front yesterday.

Today, while it is raining and raining, I will hand-stitch the binding to the back.

I haven't been doing a lot lately just finishing things up.  I've now finished the binding on Blue + Tan and will label that this weekend, finally finished hand sewing the binding onto the last remaining 8 placemats and I got Asian Pinwheels up to a point where I could quilt it at quilt class.

I went to quilt class yesterday and quilted most of it and then last night when I couldn't sleep I finished it off.  I'll attach the binding by machine tonight.

I'm also going to get some hearts ready to applique onto the background for Doreen's Hearts so that I can take them with me to do when I have down time.  I have been doing this with my placemats but now they are thankfully all done :D

I'm also going to concentrate on finishing off Memories of Spring.

It was funny at quilt class.  One of the ladies asked me how many quilts I've got on the go.  And I said that I wasn't sure but then I semi worked it out in my head and it's around 8!!!

So I definitely think it's time to start finishing them off.  Although except for Memories of Spring - which needs the applique done - I don't have any other completed tops, they are all quilted so it's not that bad....

I also got to see Tazzie's Cinnamon Xmas quilt which has the balloon fabric in this post on the back which I've fallen in love with and also the quilt top (it's beautiful).  I also know which quilt I'd put it on the back of.  Now, just to save up to get it!

Well, I'm now off to do the binding on Asian Pinwheels.  I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend and a wonderful Mother's Day :)

***

So, my current list of things to do as at 8/5/08:

• finish applique on Memories of Spring
• attach binding onto Blue + Tan by machine - 15/4/08
• attach binding onto Blue + Tan by hand - 5/5/08
• finish butterfly placemats - 25/4/08
• hand sew binding onto Jan's placemats - 9/5/08
• attach binding to Asian Pinwheels
• handstitch binding to Asian Pinwheels
• applique hearts

This is a method of reverse applique developed by the H mong ('mung') people who are dispersed through parts of Vietnam, Thailand and Laos (and more recently, of course, places like Australia and America). It's one of two basic methods of cloth decoration they favour: the other is a very colourful figurative embroidery, and there are many examples on the web. This is an expert-level flower cloth with an 'elephants' foot' design:

The 'flower cloth', as this is called, is formed by folding a square of coloured cloth, making tiny cuts in the edges, and unfolding it again, then cutting and sewing along the lines formed. For this step, I suppose you might think of making cut-out snow flakes in primary school. Here's my very first try at a basic pa ndau star, folded three times and basted, with chalk where I measured the places to cut:

There's an extra cut on the long side, for reasons that will become clear.

Then unfold, and you'll find you have concentric circles of notches. These will guide your reverse applique.

Place the coloured cloth on another piece of cloth (the base). Baste. The H mong will often add a third, but I'm going to quilt mine and need it to be thin.

This photo unfortunately doesn't show the notches up very well (the cloth is too dark) but you can see where I've marked a star shape by joining them up. When that's done, you simply reverse applique along the lines of the star, making sure that you don't get too far ahead with the cutting and you don't let one side get too far ahead of another (stability is the key). You can see here that I've started turning and sewing.

Keep going with the centre star, then the second and subsequent stars. There are three in this beginner's style block.

When the stars are done, there will be an extra cut on what used to be the diagonal lines. These are, usefully enough, the inside points of the stars. They are for decorative little accents, viz:

I'm not that good at applique, but at least though it's wonky, this is firm.

This block was originally cut a bit bigger, because I had a feeling (justified!) that I'd be marking and cutting a little wonkily on my first go. It's easy enough to trim back.

I'm not sure that this is really a good guide to get started. I'll think about explaining it better when I do another one: I want to try an elephant's foot, now!

Here's how an expert would make this block:

Patches in this block: a measly 2!!!

Patches so far: 290

There is no PDF for this as it's not really meaningful. See for examples, photos, and links to more information: http://www.lib.uci.edu/libraries/collections/sea/hmong.html

Innanziatutto il mio modello è fai da te e se lo volete usare anche voi scaricatelo qui, altrimenti createlo a vostro piacimento, è una forma molto semplice !

Prima di tutto dovete assemblare l'esterno secondo la tecnica che più vi piace (potrebbe anche essere un'unica stoffa...), Katia l'ha fatto usando il crazy e sottolineando le cuciture con punti di ricamo.

Una volta fatto il vostro blocco, si taglia la forma seguendo il modello, si taglia tutto, stoffa esterna, vliselina (che io infilo anche nel caffé ormai...) e stoffa interna. Si taglia lasciando un margine di cucitura di circa 7 mm.

Le stoffe per l'interno sono la fiorata per il fondo e l'altra per la tasca e qui manca qualche foto dei passaggi ma spero capirete lo stesso. La tasca è arricciata quindi va tagliata più larga del lato corto dell'armchair (e fin qui... :lol: ). Si prende un rettangolo di stoffa alto quanto volete che sia alta la vostra tasca + 5 cm (la parte da ribattere per creare lo spazio per il cordoncino) e abbastanza lungo, questo dipende da quanto volete che sia arricciata la tasca. I due lati corti del triangolo devono essere sagomati secondo la curva dell'armchair, nella posizione in cui va esattamente cucito. Forse la foto sotto vi aiuta...

Nella foto sotto vedete la tasca sul rovescio, ho messo una striscia di vliselina e al centro delle striscia (prendendo stoffa e vliselina) ho fatto a macchina due piccole asole (che vedete già sopra nella foto). Poi ho ribattuto la stoffa a creare il passaggio per il cordino.

Sempre con la macchina da cucire, nel solo pezzo della tasca fate una cucitura moooolto lenta (ovvero passanti lunghi - si chiama filzetta) nel contorno che andrà cucito all'armchair. Infilate il cordoncino partendo da un lato, fatelo uscire dalla prima asola, lasciate un po' di gioco, riinfilate nella seconda asola e terminate nell'altro lato. Fissate bene il cordoncino ai lati. Poi tirate delicatamente la sfilzetta in modo da arricciare e una volta raggiunta la dimensione giusta spillate il tutto sulla stoffa interna e date una bella cucitura di assemblaggio in modo che stia tutto fermo (soprattutto il cordoncino...).

Ora prepariamo le linguette portaaghi, ovvio che voi potete fare anche una tasca dall'altra parte. Nel modello sono tracciate grossolanamente i contorni di queste due linguette, potete riportarli in una altro foglio e farvi due piccoli modellini. Io ho usato il feltro che poi ho rifinito con lo sbieco di stoffa.

Digressione sullo sbieco: in commercio se ne trova già di bell'e pronto, lo sapete, salvo che i colori sono spesso inopportuni per quello che dovete fare, allora io me lo confeziono, lo so, si spreca tanta stoffa e ci vanno tante "giunte" ma è sicuramente più bello. La stoffa va tagliata a 45° in strisce di 4cm di larghezza. Le varie strisce vanno poi unite per creare la lunghezza desiderata. Per Maria, la prossima volta che mi servirà fotograferò i passaggi per farlo e per montarlo, così vedi come gira nelle curve, ok ?

Una volta che vi sarete arrabbiate ben bene con lo sbieco (ma lo avrete poi montato...) posizionate le linguette sulla stoffa e cucitele sotto ad un'altra striscia di sbieco oppure un nastro, come vi pare...

Qui si vede meglio il risultato finale. Siamo pronti per il montaggio, si sovrappongono i tre strati, esterno, vliselina e interno che poi andranno cuciti assieme con la striscia di sbieco di shantung di seta. Anche in questo caso lo sbieco me lo sono costruito, ma voi fate come volete... promesso, lo faccio il tutorial su come si attacca lo sbieco, abbiate pazienza...

Questo è il nostro risultato finale, anzi, quello di Katia, le ciliegine sono degli yoyo riempiti, il puntaspilli è un cilindro di feltro imbottito e preso ai lati. Gli spilli sono quelli di Paola...

Buon lavoro...

Paducah se localiza a oeste do estado de Kentucky, às margens do Rio Ohio.

Ao lado do porto fluvial, no centro da cidade, vemos um enorme muro, com painéis pintados, e em cada quadro vê-se um pouco da história da cidade, da conquista do território, os índios, a urbanização, a extração de madeira, as indústrias, até chegar aos dias de hoje. No centro também podemos tomar um bondinho que leva a todos pontos de interesse da cidade.

A região é de fazendas, com grande parte da população vivendo na área rural. Esta é uma época linda naquela região pois estão em plena primavera, com as árvores desabrochando, cheias de minúsculas folhas verdes, clarinhas, e botões de flor nos galhos das árvores e em toda parte. Lá agora a ordem é reformar canteiros, plantar novas mudas de flores, e vestir o jardim de primavera!

Por toda parte encontrei cartazes de saudação e boas vindas às quilteiras, e a maioria das lojas e restaurantes estava enfeitada com quilts, retalhos, e objetos alusivos a vida no campo e à arte da costura como é praticada por lá e também como era nos tempos antigos. Há muitas lojas de antiguidades, onde também é possível comprar de pequenos objetos antigos, dedais, objetos de toucador e mesmo móveis, até jogos de blocos para quilt, esperando apenas para serem unidos e quiltados. Mesmo o Shopping Center da cidade dedicou uma grande área para que os artesãos de patchwork e quilt montassem seus pontos de venda.

O Museu Americano do Quilt se localiza bem no centro de uma praça ajardinada, ao lado do porto, num belo edifício térreo, moderno, com três grandes salões de exposição, loja, e espaço para aulas e palestras. Lá se encontram os quilts premiados de festivais passados, e antigos quilts, que tem sua datação histórica, aproximada, da época da colonização americana, que por seu estado de conservação ou especial design, mereceram estar entre os destaques do museu. No momento estava ocorrendo uma exposição de trabalhos de quilt em miniatura de tirar o fôlego de tão lindos, e uma outra exposição de quilts artísticos, modernos, que teve a curadoria de Ricky Tims, conhecido e famoso artista dos quilts que ainda toca e canta.

Proximo ao Museu localiza-se o espaço de exposições da cidade, onde ocorreu o evento. Um grande espaço de exposições principal, e mais dois salões de exposição ao lado, todos cheios de lindos quilts dos mais varidos temas, e de lojistas de toda parte dos EUA que trazem as novidades em materiais.

É incrível, mas vi gente de boa parte do mundo por lá: grupos de japonesas, grupo de holandesas, indianas, inglesas, francesas, espanholas, italianas, nós as brasileiras, e muitas que pela língua falada ficou difícil de localizar...Vi muita gente do povo Amish, com suas roupas tradicionais, suas toucas delicadas. Vi um grupo muito divertido das garotas do Red Hat Society, que vestidas a caráter, fizeram questão de ajudar como White Gloves (guardiãs dos quilts) durante um dos horários.

Eu também me inscrevi como “White Glove”, e por duas horas trabalhei como guardiã de uma ala da exposição, ajudando a controlar os visitantes mais empolgados para que não tocassem os trabalhos, e fornecendo informações sobre os mesmos.

É verdadeiramente emocionante ver aquelas maravilhosas obras de arte, que muitas vezes nos pegamos pensando mas “como se faz isto com tanta perfeição?”, ver a delicadeza dos arranjos de tecidos nos trabalhos, e ver que alguns são mesmo um pouco exagerados segundo meu gosto brasileiro.

Uma das coisas que me fez mais feliz, foi logo ao começar olhar a categoria painéis de parede ver o trabalho da amiga Hila Leslie, de Niteroi – RJ, um magnífico trabalho todo à mão, que eu já havia visto no festival de Gramado em 2007, onde fora premiado.

Foi uma viagem empolgante, divertida, proveitosa, de onde além das imagens inesquecíveis dos trabalhos, do povo, da região, pude trazer também alguns queridos “paninhos”....

At last I have something to show my loyal readers who may have forgotten this started as a craft blog. Blushing started life as part of a bag of scraps gifted to me by a friend who had quite a lot of bits and pieces. She has been making bags and scarves with her pieces and I was unsure for a few weeks what I would do with the strips as most of them were quite narrow...around 10 to 15cm with a few 25cm wide. I like the idea of table runners come bed runners come wall hangings so decided that it would be a challenge to work within the limits of the colours in the bag. I divided up the scraps into one large pile of medium to heavy weight linen mixes in taupe with charcoal and blush and another pile of beige though copper to peach rusty orange. There are also a few scrap strips which I have put aside for use in my strippy throws.

I sewed various strips of the taupe pile together after arranging them in some semblance of order, then pressed it and took a photo of it hanging from a cupboard so that I could get an idea of if anything needed to be taken out. Sure enough once I loaded it onto the computer I could see that one strip was standing out too much so I took that out and rearranged that area a bit and then it was time to hunt for the second hand yet as new curtain for the backing that I just knew I had somewhere in my garage! After about thirty minutes I found it and was delighted to see that it was even better quality than I remembered.

Then it was simply a matter of sewing the back to the front by machine and then I did some top stitching with perle thread to finish it off. All in all a simple project made challenging by the limited colour scheme and size of the pieces. We have however found that it is probably one of the most attractive things I have made, probably due to the quality of the fabric. It also goes incredibly well with our dark red curtains and has made the room have a more contemporary feel.

An online friend suggested I might enjoy sewing this little project called Double Pocket. She had made several in various colors and they turned out very pretty. So I decided to try my hand at making one.

It has a pocket in front and back of the buttoned tab.  I had a bit of a problem sewing all the pieces together and getting them all on the right side but eventually I did figure it out. I am going to make a second one just to see where I went wrong. It turned out good. It will do what it is intended to do. And that is to hang from a belt to hold small items such as keys, coins, cell phone, etc when you are out partaking in your favorite form of entertainment or exercise.

Here is how it looks hanging from the denim tote I made. I used the same denim and printed fabric. You could use fabric leftover from other sewing projects. Would be perfect to use up some of your scraps.

Supplies used to make Double Pocket:

• 1/4 yard denim
• 1/4 yard printed fabric
• one decorative button
• 3" navy satin piping (for button loop)
• navy thread

Measurements: 7 1/2" height and 3 1/2" length

Pattern used: Double Pocket from the book A Pocketful of Whimsy, Wee Patchwork Gifts by Kathleen Rindal Brooks, pages 28-30. Full size pattern pieces are in the book. I scanned the pattern pieces and printed them out onto hardstock paper.

I was planning to do a quilt but I might settle for something less time consuming such a few throw pillows, wall hanging or perhaps both. I just don't know as of yet but what I do know is the most time consuming and tedious part is the template tracing and cutting out which needs to be done definately before I can have the fun of putting it all together and have the finished product. Ooooo, I just love seeing things coming together. :-)

intanto le dolcezze che fanno sempre moooolto piacere e poi, nei pacchetti c'era un quilt "tovaglietta da thé" originalissimo ! Guardate voi stessi

Bellissime le stoffe tutte coordinate e moooolto particolare la sottolineatura dei disegni come quiltatura !

E poteva mancare una pecora magnete fatta da Martina ??? L'ho inaugurato per la pausa pomeridiana di oggi, mio marito è stato molto soddisfatto dai dolcetti, ma lui non può capire...

 Grazie Veronica !!!!

Well, I'm still busy!

I just had a weekend off which for me is quite rare as I usually work them (at my choice) so it was nice to pretend to be "normal" for a change :D

Friday night I hung/hanged at a friend's house for a few hours before coming home to drop into my bed exhausted.

Saturday I went to Big W and bought a container to put all the clothes that I no longer want into it.  I then went out with my friend Tony.   We started at Officeworks as I needed a new ipod cause I accidentally drowned my old one in my handbag - I put my water bottle in my handbag not realising that I had left the top open.  Result, a drowned ipod and a very wet handbag!

Then we went for lunch at a yiros place on O'Connell St before heading down to Semaphore for some icecream.

That night I went to learn how to put movies onto my new ipod and accidentally deleted my whole iTunes library.  I was not happy but was expecting it as when I was deleting I wasn't sure if I was doing the right thing or not.  Obviously not!  Lesson learned... do a system restore point on the 'puter before you delete important stuff.  Or at the very least, back it up.

So last night was mainly about learning how to put movies onto my ipod and also downloading all my songs again as well as starting to upload the ones that I do have on cd.

Today I did heaps of things.

I started with my wardrobe(s).  They have been bugging me forever as they are really messy and full of clothes that I don't really want.  So I tossed a whole heap of clothes on the floor and will put them into the container that I bought yesterday.  I'll see if I can give them away to friends/family and if not, I'll try to sell some on ebay and then give the rest away.

They look much nicer and neater now :D

So then I went to Spotlight cause I needed some more fabric for the baby quilts that I'm making.  I'm really proud of myself.  I only bought what I needed and no more than that.  One of my cheaper visits!

From there I went to Caltex to put petrol in my car, then I washed my car, dropped into Woolworths for some groceries to tide us over till Friday when I have the day off again, Gloria Jeans for a coffee and finishing my outing at Foodland for some ham - Grandma thinks that theirs is better and keeps fresher.  I don't really notice the difference; but, it keeps her happy if I get it there.

Then when I got home I put some washing in the machine, continued making a backing for Asian Pinwheels, uploading songs and leader/endering the baby quilt - Green Ladybirds.

I then pinned Asian Pinwheels ready for Thursday's quilt class - can't wait - had some dinner and then did a little bit of hand sewing on Blue + Tan.  I don't have that much to go and once that is done, I just have to label it, wrap it up and wait for the first weekend in June.

So that's what I've been doing this weekend.  Sorry it's not set out any better but I need to go to bed cause 5.20am is really early and I need my beauty sleep :)

Quick question though for those that have read to the end....

Should I:

(a) pay off my loan first or;

(b) start saving for a house deposit that I will need in the next 3 - 5 years?

I know what a financial planner/accountant would say and I know that if I pay off the loan sooner I save money in interest and all that but that doesn't really help me if I need to move out in the next couple of years.

Cause when I have to move out I would really like to buy my own house and have some stability instead of renting.

Thanks in advance :)

pin pillow

Originally uploaded by laluandmatt

With only one tiny pillow. But it's a start.

These Depression era babies are just four inches tall, and the maker embroidered the names of each block in the sashing underneath. What's more, the quilt's owner Gayle has been making a set of patterns. You can also click on the quilt on her page to see it large-scale in Flickr.

http://sentimentalstitches.net/free-stuff/midget-blocks/

Designer Gráfico - Artesã

Recife - PE

emaildefatima@yahoo.com.br