Overcoming Laziness

This week I had to dig deep to overcome laziness. What I really wanted was to find a sheet or duvet cover which perfectly matched the colours in the boys Bot Camp quilts so that I could avoid piecing the backs... Unfortunately (or fortunately) despite going to a number of different stores, I didn't manage to find anything that would work. Don't ya just hate it when that happens?

So... I pulled myself together and decided to set myself the challenge of using every single bit of fabric. My first pieced backing is below. I am rather happy with it... it means the quilts will be reversible. Although I don't quite know how long the white will stay crisp like that...



Here's a closer shot of the centre piece...



I am in the middle of piecing the second and have decided to make matching pillow cases and possibly a cushion or two if there is enough fabric left over. I don't have enough sprockets to border the second, so I'll be using the blue check.

The wonderful Amy over at Park City Girl is thinking about setting up a recipe swap... I think this is a fabulous idea! Coming up with meal ideas is my least favourite part of the day! Pop on over and leave her a comment if you think it would be a good idea too!!!

By the way - does anyone know how to add a button to your blog? I wanted this to be my Sew n Tell Friday but I don't know how to add the button? Thanks in advance!

Lara

Stippling

It ought to come with the following warning: "Extreme patience and perseverance required. Do not attempt when tired."

I took a stippling class tonight. I need practice. A lot of practice!

A few more pictures from the quilt show...

Housework.

It doesn't do itself (unfortunately!)!! It's how I spent my afternoon... but earlier today I visited the Wellington Quilt Show and Sale. Lots of ideas and inspiration to be found. A few favourites below...





Check back tomorrow for a few more :) Right now my sewing machine beckons.

Lara

Pay it forward!

This sounded like such much fun that I was very happy to take Rafael's Mum from Adventures in Quilting and Sailing up on her kind offer to play Pay It Forward! I am loving this online quilting community. It is so much fun meeting other like minded people and getting so much inspiration!

What does this all mean? I am looking for 3 kind hearted people to accept a little handmade goody from me along with a few other treats from NZ. Sound like fun?! How does it work?

1. I will make a handmade gift for 3 people (the first three to leave a comment) and will include some other fabulous treats from NZ.

2. Your gifts will be delivered within 365 days... you will need to email me your address details and a little about yourself. Or if you'd like me to make a gift for someone else, tell me a little about what they might like.

3. The rules say you need to have a blog - but I'll happily accept anyone with a Flickr account too! The more the merrier I reckon :) I hope I am not breaking too many rules by opening this up a little but it seems the blogging quilting community has a lot of opportunities to take part at the moment so why not invite more?!

4. In turn, you will need to make 3 little handmade gifts to pass onto another 3 people who accept to Pay it Forward with you!

I am new to blogging - so if you happen to know someone else who'd you like to nominate for a gift too and would happily accept the challenge to Pay it Forward - please do!

Lara x

Do you ever have those days...

when you spend half the morning looking for your keys? Only to find them still swinging in the door from your first excursion for the day? Or when you stand in line after entering your PIN, and wonder 'what number did I just put in?' while you wait for it to accept? Or those days when you arrive somewhere and you can't for the life of you remember how you got there? You'd be on automatic the entire time?

I have those days often. They often become those weeks. But yesterdays act of stupidity sure exceeded all others!

I met a friend in town for lunch yesterday. We were long overdue for a good ol' girly catch up! I parked outside the daycare where my two little boys will be starting back very soon because I needed to pick up their new enrollment packs after lunch. I parked, paid the metre, set up the buggy and strapped the boys in, locked the car and off we went.

Lunch was lovely. I always like ending the week with something fun like lunching with a friend. Exactly 45 minutes later I arrived back at our car to find Oliver's door wide open! My heart skipped a beat thinking our car had been broken into (not that there is anything of any value in there!). But as I got closer and checked the car over - nothing was missing - it became very apparent that I had left the door OPEN. What an idiot! Fortunately everything was still in its place and the rain had only just begun to spit a wee bit!

Do you ever have days like that?? Done anything super silly? Please share. I would LOVE to know that I am not the only one whose brain is disconnected from the rest of my body every so often!

x L

You always know...

there is trouble brewing when the house goes quiet... A month ago the house went very quiet except for an annoying beeping - which I thought at the time was the smoke alarm battery. And this is where I found Oliver. In the fridge. Self sufficient already!

Today when the house went quiet, I knew he was up to no good again... but this time he was robbing me in daylight! Aptly named Oliver, my son is turning into a little pocket picker! He proudly showed me his collection today. His money box is getting to be quite heavy. He tells me he wants to buy a drill. Umm?! Ok then!

Anyway! This is another work in progress I have almost completed. Just need to decide on a binding and get it done!



It is for my sister-in-law for Christmas! I sure hope she likes it!

Have a good day all!

Lara

I really have been sewing...

We had a pj party at our house yesterday! It was so nice to have a rather lazy day after our weekend getaway!

As promised, below is a picture to show that I really have been working hard most nights at the sewing machine! I have made two of these Bot Camp quilt tops (both identical) for Oliver and Gus.



I have started piecing the backings, but my LQS didn't have any 28mm rotary blades in stock... The 18mm is definitely my preferred cutter. I tend to get a bit "happy" with the 45mm cutter and end up slashing my fabric which isn't so good!

So... I am busy hand stitching the binding on Gus' cot quilt (finally!). What a chore! Any tips??

Happy Wednesday All!

Lara

and this little piggy went wee wee wee wee all the way home...

We had a little long weekend getaway. We left last Thursday to Taupo, then onto Auckland, back to Taupo and then home to Wellington yesterday... It was nice to get out and about and to see the sights and the sounds of the country. Although A LOT of time was spent in the car with children! They were pretty good though - and rather than travelling to make good time, we took our time and stopped often.

No crafting was done over the weekend though. I thought I might enjoy a wee break, but I actually missed it!! Back to the sewing machine tonight though :)

Hope everyone had a lovely weekend!

Blogger's Quilt Festival... My far from perfect entry

The very lovely Amy over at Park City Girl is hosting a Blogger's Quilt Festival. I have loved looking through the entries! So much talent and inspiration! Thank goodness we increased our broadband :)

I really wanted to take part in this years fun - but I have only really been quilting since July this year... so I have lots of finished quilt tops but not many finished quilts! Something I hope to change come next years festival!

My far from perfect entry is a wee table topper I made using the very talented John from Quilt Dad's first (of what I hope will be many) tutorial on the Moda Bake Shop.




This table topper was made for my Mum who celebrated 36 years of marriage this week. I made a resolution at the start of the year to try make as many gifts as humanly possible... I love giving handmade gifts. They seem to be soaked in LOVE.

It is far from perfect but 'happiness filled'. Growing up my Mum always answered "How are you?" with "happiness filled" - and the colours in the Sweet range by Moda are just that for me... the soft pinks also reminded me of her yummy marshmallow slice :)Something I have missed since moving out of home!

It is hopelessly flawed but made with love and although it is not as perfect as I would've hoped for her, I hope she'll love it all the same. I kept reminding myself that this is the same woman who displayed my mac n glitter magnets until I was 17 (LOL).

As a novice - I appreciate all the help and advice I can get and John's tutorial was awesome! I still managed to make a couple of mistakes but I learnt a lot!! And as you can no doubt tell - I am no photographer either! hehe

Thanks so much Amy for organising this awesome festival!

Easily Distracted...

I am not very good at this blogging thing... I am too easily distracted. I also didn't stick to my list and was once again too easily distracted by new fabric (which just happened to jump into my cart online and somehow arrived in my letter box a few days later!). I have however been busy sewing most nights! Pictures to follow soon :)