I'm Back!

Wow - I cannot believe that I didn't blog for almost 3 months! I guess that just goes to show how busy life has been. The family moved from Germany back to our home town in Australia during January, then kids to school, hubby back to work and some of life's obstacles, both good and bad - sees 2.5 months just disappear!

For Quilting, I have completed some Cobblestone blocks for a swap and almost 2 x baby quilts. Photos of blocks when I receive the swap and photos of the baby quilts after I have given them to the respective mums-to-be.

My nice indulgent purchase at the opening of the Quilters Bazaar was these yummy fabric morsels in the following photo - the range is called Country Haven and it is just perfect for my Lori Smith Golden Memories Sampler pattern. There is no doubt about it. As we Quilters know, when you see something just right for the job, it jumps out at you. Now I have to be patient and wait for our shipping container to turn up so that I can get the pattern out of the box... Ho Hum...

And, now a few hours later, I still can't find the Camera lead - arrggh! Never-mind, I'll upload the pics tomorrow.

Merry Christmas!

Look what Santa sent to me - some gorgeous reproduction purples, a couple of cute buttons and a "gucci" fold up small shopping bag. Those gorgeous Aussie girls - Lorraine, Sandra and Rosie got together and a little salvation package arrived in time for Christmas Day.

Then I got to thinking about the lovely "Golden Memories" by Lori Smith quilt sampler pattern which I have... And wandered if my reproduction blues and browns would match the purples....

And I think that the mix is not too bad. A couple of colour changes are required, but I now have a basic palette to start the quilt with. Very satisfied!

Aracnophobic Einkauftasche

Today I decided to put the final bindings on einkauftasche, which has been sitting around for about a month, on the floor next to my machine. I had been procrastinating somewhat as this is not a simple task.

First, my sewing lamp fell and hit me on the head after I turned it on, so I had to tighten the loose screw.

Started sewing. The needle on the machine broke. Changed it.

While changing the broken needle, I felt something crawl on my ear. I brushed away what I thought was hair. I felt crawling on my face. Brushed again, still thinking it was stray hair, only to realise it was a 2cm long spider. AAARRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH. I'm still getting shivers up my spine while typing this blog entry a couple of hours later. There were about 5 mini spiders crawling out of the bag too. I am thinking that they wanted it for their new home because I removed all cobwebs from the ceilings and heating vents this past weekend.

Here is the offending bag, which still needs the binding finished on one side, almost ready to hold my scrapbook items.

A positive note about this bag, apart from the fact I have an immediate use for it, is that it been a great 'stashbuster' because I only needed to buy the zip and wadding. All of the fabrics and thread came from my stash - and I think it's really pretty.

The rest of the binding will be finished tomorrow because it is very hard to sew on and I need a break from sitting at the machine.

Santa Claus and Baubles

OK - well you can't see Santa and the Baubles yet. All the wonders of modern technology don't work if you forget to charge the batteries! The camera is as flat as a tack. I will upload photos later when the camera is happier.

This week, I made 2 more baubles and a Santa Claus costume. DS1 was Santa in the school Christmas play and there were no boy costumes available anywhere, only the hats. One hat does not make a costume, so we went to the "cheap" clothes shop to buy a red long sleeve t-shirt and pants. I then sewed quilt wadding onto the clothes for the trim, cut a beard from wadding, a piece of black fabric for the belt and the middle of a cushion for the belly. He was seriously cute!

I have two goals for this coming week: 1 - complete the binding on einkauftasche (bag) and 2 - complete quilting, then bind and label a baby quilt. When these 2 projects are done, I can start 2 other baby quilts (from 1 jelly roll and a co-ordinating fabric), which will both be Irish Chain, ready for babies who are due to arrive in the first few months of next year.

Now it's off to pack my bag with some show and tell for the quilt meeting this afternoon which will be my last one here in Germany.

Cookies or Goodies?

That is the question I asked when told the Kris Kringle Goodie Bag was called a Cookie Bag. This very cute bag, which has a bizarre method of being put together - quite like making big cookies in fact - makes a really nice evening bag. Just the right size for phone, wallet, lipstick and tissues. I hope that _________ who is my recipient enjoys her bag and the gift inside it.

The sewing group I belong to when home in Australia has a Christmas Dinner every year. Each person who chooses to be part of the Kris Kringle gift giving gets a name to buy/make something for and then you have the fun of making the bag/stocking/hat which has been chosen by the Organisers to hold the gift in.

The Organisers then have the dinner room decorated and lots of Christmas cheer is celebrated with the bags being given out during the night. Lots of ooohhhs and aaaahhhs over the different fabric choices for the bags and eyeing off each other gifts.

Now it's off to the Post Office to post my bag so that ________ is not left without her bag and gift.

Frustration

A lot of frustration! With an international move coming up just after Christmas, I seem to be continually chasing my tail. I have had 1 whole week of no sewing and there are 4 or 5 things on my sewing table, which I know just need 1 or 2 days each to be "done done".

However, not all is lost. I did manage to make a cake for my sons' birthday and have far too many 6 and 7 year olds in my house for a party. Just 30 mins after the party ended, the sky dumped an inch or so of snow all over the place.

Here is the cake. The gold and silver balls on the cake, the kids thought were real, so they were stealing them to take home - vbg........

And, here is our back garden at 6:00pm. Completely dark and full of snow.......

Time for some strong coffee and to face the rest of the day. :)

Stained Glass...

...well not the real stuff, but a quilted Stained Glass, using the "Stack'n'Slash" technique. Furll of Aircraft Fabric. I made this quilt for DHs 45th Birthday. The centre panel is from a pattern in Australian Quilters Companion - issue 26. It was perfect for the fabrics and as it was Quilt As You Go, I was able to showcase the individual fabrics in large pieces on the back.

Flying Free

Looking out the window
You can see the planes flying
In the freedom of the skies.
Where the eagles dare,
The planes have soaring adventures
Diving, turning, aerobatic stunts
Living only for the moment
In that undefined space
Between the outer world and earth

I also managed to finish off a small circular sewing bag, that has been waiting for 3 years to have 2 button holes added to thread the cord through. Pretty happy to have 2 finishes of projects in one day!

Tomorrow is Monday, wonder if I can start another UFO project that has been hanging around for a couple of years? Or should I finish the large carry all bag which needs a lot of binding attached? Not sure, let's see how I feel tomorrow morning. What I need to do is prepare a submission for my Creative Writing Group on Monday week as my turn has come around again, so maybe not much sewing or new writing, but a re-work of a previous piece. Watch this space to see what happens next!

Baubles...

... are such pretty things! And on Wednesday this week, my friend Jane and I ran a class to teach other people how to make them. We had a ball. I would have to say the day was a resounding success.

I had pre-made kits for the ladies to purchase (because cutting the squares of fabric takes quite a while), made lots of coffee and tea and served cake as they folded and pinned the fabric squares to polystyrene balls to make the baubles while talking up a storm. The next 2 photos shows a few of the baubles completed in the class, with each persons choice of colours.

They are simply 2 colours of 2in cut squares pinned into polystyrene balls. A bit of braid covers the edges around the middle, add a ribbon with a bit of glue and a pin, then you can hang it on the tree. The next 2 photos show the ones I had made earlier.

Now I need to go and make a few more of my own, as the ones I had made earlier became gifts.

Great minds....

...think alike and I I found a great mind that thinks just like mine in Berlin. I got to meet my 'quilting penpal' of 2 years - Nicole. She is another "Aussie in Germany" and we were able to spend some quality time together with our families in Berlin. It was fantastic. I am hoping that she and her gorgeous family can come to Cologne to visit us. How great would it be to go shopping at the Christmas Markets with such a like-minded person? The other bonus of the trip to Berlin was to be able to spend some time with my 'best friend' from Cologne who moved to Berlin a few months ago. The wonderful thing is that she and Nicole met, live near each other and will get to do coffee and lunch together. This is just nice.




Now, it's focus time after just having a wonderful 2 weeks travelling through Eastern Germany, Czech Republic and Austria. More about our holiday and the fabrics I purchased in Austria in the next post, along with the completed Aircraft Stained Glass Quilt.

And 2nd prize goes to........

Me! I found out this morning that I have won second prize at the Blue & White Challenge with the quilt Cosmic (see below). I am really excited and doing a little happy dance! I am yet to see photos of the quilt which won, Congratulations to Karin for being the winner.