"Make a gift on the 25th" club......

I have joined the "make a gift on the 25th" club!! The what you ask?

Well first I must make my pledge....."My name is Yvonne and I will not proCRAFTinate any more. I promise to "Make a Gift on the 25th" and I will have a relaxing holiday this year! LOL !!"

So that done I will share where my inspiration has come from. You might like to check it out yourself on the sew many ways blog.

Karen has confessed to being a proCRAFTinator, as well I can be myself, and challenged us to join the "make a gift on the 25th" club in order to motivate us to get those christmas or other gifts done and underway well before the Christmas Eve rush! A great idea in my book and fully my intention this year. I have already started the process with one gift already out of the way and the others planned or even underway.

Here is the idea.....
For the next 5 months...July - November...you will start, make, complete or continue to make one gift on the 25th of each month. You can start a new project of your own choice or finish one you've already started. If you can't do it exactly on the 25th of each month, try to participate during the "week" of the 25th. Having a designated time and day will help eliminate proCRAFTination.

If you  jump on over to Karen's blog (sew many ways blog as per the link above), she has a button and instructions on how to put the button on your blog and join the club.

Come on, join us and get motivated!!

Luv Bonnie xxx

Preparing early for Christmas this year :)

I was very motivated to keep up with the 2010 Mystery Designer Christmas Block of the Month. It was so easy to do, the fabric beautiful and the fat quarter shop was so generous with fabric that it made it easy. Here are some of the blocks I completed over the year.....

Well this is how it all came together!! Very nice I thought and I am just wrapped with the result......

Off to the quilters it goes next!! Can't wait to see how they quilt it!..........



I'm still here.......:)

I know it has been a long while since my last post and that was totally unintentional. Life just gets in the way doesn't it? Well finally I have dragged myself to the end of the term and to a therapeutic term break. It has been really tough going for the last half of this term. A small list of some of my accomplishments are: marking a gynormous mountain of student work, writing exams, marking exams, writing 4 report comment data banks, writing 150 student reports (obsessed and possessed over 3 weeks of my time), planning a new semester of work (or beginning), meetings, and all the time still teaching. Aaaah, I feel sooo tired thinking of all this again. There were times I didn't think I would make it and I shared a few tears with the closest person.

In the middle of this all I am not sure how I achieved anything on a personal level but there was some things weezled away on. Here is to share the happier part of my life! :)

My apologies for the unedited photos but I figure better to get them up than not at all :)

First of all I got another four farmers wife blocks done......

 

 

Then there is block 3 and 4 of Country Blooms.....

That makes four altogether now :). I love how they are looking and coming together, don't you?

Working on number 5 currently!

I finished the last mystery designer xmas block of the month from the fat quarter shop. Be watching for the next episode on this quilt! Lol. Sorry it is side-on.

I started the 2011 block of the month from the fat quarter shop. Have I told you just how generous they are with their fabric allowance and the instructions are very easy to read and follow. I just love them. I have a half tub full of left over fabric from the christmas one so at some stage i will make matching cusions for me and for gifts.

The 2011 block of the month is a theme of flowers and uses the beautiful strawberry fields fabric by fig leaves/moda. It is very sweet. The photo is not the best unfortunately - probably taken at night. This one was whipped up in under an hour and whilst I was home sick mind you! I have had a lot of time home sick - four bouts over six weeks so I had to put some of it to good use.

Well now that I am on holidays I have started a "sewing-thon" to make up for lost time. I hope to achieve lots although its turning out to be busy socially too so we will see. Life is about flexibility right?

Luv Bonnie xxx

A great weekend of accomplishments :)

I have just come back from a great weekend of sewing. But it wasn't just about the sewing! I helped to organised a quilting retreat for our local group, The Ballarat Quilters. Our location was in beautiful Lancefield at The Grange Conference centre so you could guess that we were very spoilt with food, service and gorgeous accomodation. This was the first year that I took a single room, encouraged by my friends, and I just loved it! The freedom of leaving or organising your stuff as you want it, walking between the bathroom and bedroom without embarassment (we'll leave it at that!), going to sleep and waking when you want and being able to turn on the light if you can't sleep was all pluses!

Some beautiful quilt shops in nearby Gisborne was a fantastic bonus and some lovely local shops provided us with a break and some retail therapy! I brought some gorgeous true reds at The drapery in Gisborne - hmmmm yum and will go nicely with the red/white swap I am participating in.

Sally was the first to have a quilt to show off, on the first day! I think some of it had been pre-done. This was the first year we offered a three day option - 3 days and 3 nights of sewing was just delightful!

This next one was done by "accelerator-Kym" as I dubbed her. She is so fast with machine piecing and her accomplishments, that we can't keep up with her. But she does provide us with inspiration!!

Well after that I lost track of what others were doing as I was so busy focusing on my own project. The quilt was called Scattered Stars which I am making for one of my besties - Trace - whom I have known since high school. This was my MAIN aim for the weekend, however it wasn't my ONLY aim for the weekend - I had brought several other projects besides, but they never made it out of the boot of my car. However I did accomplish a lot in this quilt with all 36 stars complete. Next is the hour glass pieces on each block, put them together, add a small border and a final pieced border. This will be my main aim in the next month to finish.

Today I am home with my youngest - missed her totally along with the rest of my guys. At retreat, I was really cold on the first night and thought it was just cold Lancefield as I snuggled in my flannel pjs, 2 doonas, and a quilt. Still not warm I felt forced to turn the heater back on. When I woke the next morning with a sore throat and headache I assumed it was from the air conditioner. I remained headachey that day, felt a little better on Saturday but Sunday was croakey again, headachey and feeling nausious. Why does this happen when we choose to stop and have some fun? When I returned home I found the rest of the family home sick too. So conclusion, it wasn't the air conditioning at all, we all obvioulsy shared a bug before I had left. How kind?! Today I can only squeek and I must have sweated 5 kg's off over night so it is time for another day at home! Pity I am not feeling well enough to continue sewing? Well off to the doctor soon then perhaps I should do a little tidying up of the weekend before an afternoon cat-nap.

Happy sewing all :)

Your opinion needed!

A couple of weekends ago I sewed and sewed to finally make a curtain for the bathroom that I had planned a few years ago. However when I finished and hung it I was really disappointed with the end result. Hubby kept telling me that I was being too harsh and that it looked good. But have you ever had an end vision and it didn't turn out the way you had hoped?

Here was the first version.....

I used what I thought was the last piece of curtaining in this style that I had and I figured I would just have to put up with its width since it was all I had - it was just, but it doesn't look right to me. Then lo and behold, out of the material cupboard I had dragged down to the shed falls a plastic bag and in it, more of the curtaining, lace and the tape! Yaah. So I decided I would be redoing it despite hubby's protests. Last weekend didn't work out for this and I think inwardly I was putting it off. So this weekend I pushed myself to sew it at the last part of this avo (I work well to deadlines - can't you tell?). Here is the second effort which personally I feel outstrips the first!!

Now this is where I need your opinion. I have bunched up the curtain in two different ways - the first with scallops down the bottom and the second with roughing all the way down. Now I need to know what you think looks better as I can't decide!

Oh and ignore the fact that the sides down hang down straight yet. I raided hubby and son's fishing table for a sinker to weight down the bottom of the curtain so it hangs straight and does not crimp inwards, but they didn't have a sinker heavy enough so off to the tackle shop myself I think!

Ok I will wait for your opinions :)

I need your help....

Firstly I will share with you some of my accomplishments.......

I finished the eleventh block of the Christmas Mystery Designer BOM with the fat quarter shop (www.fatquartershop.com). Only one more to go - I am waiting for it to arrive in the mail - very exciting to be so close to the end. And I have just LOVED this BOM - not only has each block been very different with very good instructions (all set out the same despite a defferent designer each month), it has also been very economical $13 Australian and such amples of fabric! I have been cutting the scraps left from other blocks first before using the new fabric sent and I have quite a pile of untouched pieces. So I will be making some matching cushions too I think.

I have started on a beautiful quilt called "Country Blooms", another gorgeous design by the Black bird girls. I just love their work! For many years I have searched for just the 'right' quilt for my sister to whom I am very close. When I first started quilting I made Burgoynes path for her in greens and cream with a maroon border and a scalloped edge. At the time she had a Maroon colored couch and the back of it was scalloped so I thought it would be perfect on the back of the couch. At the last minute I decided to add a hanging pocket just in case she preferred to hang it behind as the scallops of the couch made it a little impractical to put a quilt over them. However she decided to hang it in her dining room rather than the lounge. Years later she tells me she is fussy with quilts and I keep thinking of how plain the Burgoynes quilt was and think she really must hate it (but doesn't want to insult me!). So when I was on holidays last summer at Port Fairy, I just had to visit one of my favourite shops, The Fragrant Cottage in Warnambool (which has unfortunately closed now). I picked up a new blackbird design book I had not seen before and walked around the shop for the next half hour with it clutched to my chest, trying to look at other things in the shop, but preoccupied with thinking about the quilt I had seen and how much it was my sisters style. So another hour later, with hubby and kids sent off to the bakery and then to sit in the car and wait, I had selected the fabric and was ready to make what I endear "a very special quilt". The blocks are 20" each and there are only 9 in the quilt. The applique pieces are very large. I love it! I started and have already completed the first 2 blocks in my first month. Here they are...............

 

I have also finished a project from the latest homespun magazine that inspired me! The centre is embroidered and colored with derwent pencils. This is sealed for laundering with a jo sonya textile medium. It was the first time I have worked with this and isn't exactly the effect I was after but I am sure it will improve with practice and I can live with it :)

I made the insert from some quilters sheeting I purchased for $6 per metre and stuffed it with batting scraps I had been keeping after trimming each finished quilt. It was a good feeling to recycle and be so economic.

 The cushion is going to live on the window seat in our bathroom next to this other one I made some years ago. This weekend I intend to make a flat cushion to go over the seat area and my second attempt at a lace curtain to hang over the window behind.

Now here is where I need your help! Several weeks ago I cleaned up the sunroom area where I keep all my quilting and other craft stuff. And I decided to finish it off I need to get another set of these drawers as I purchased a number of years ago. They are the perfect size for what I need and will match side by side. After trooping around town to all the shops I could think of, a lovely lady was very helpful and it turned out her husband used to work at a shop called 'plastics unlimited'. Yaaaah finally I filled in the missing puzzle piece of where I had brought them! However the shop no longer exists here in Ballarat. There was one in Werribee too and that no longer exists either. The short of it is that they are still available but since this shop I was at was small and didn't deal in this type of drawers they were unable to purchase just one for me. It is the brand Zag as you will see on the top left corner, which is a line of goods made by Stanley products. The drawers are a little unique in that they clip in and don't fall open when moved - see the red tabs at the top of each drawer. I would love to find another. If you see a set like this, could you please let me know. I would also like to replace the broken drawer but can continue to live with that if I could just have another matching set of drawers :).

 

Well that is me for now :). I am off to do some more applique on the 3rd Country Bloom block :) :) :).

Hope to talk again soon. As next weekend is my quilting groups annual retreat - this one being our first 3 day retreat! - I think I could have much more to show you when I return!!

Luv Bonnie xxx

YAAH, Yaaah, YAAAH!!

I am very proud of my achievements today. This one is ahead of schedule (if that is possible)! I intended to finish this at my quilting groups retreat towards the end of May but picked it up during the holidays and finished the star blocks and sashing strips. I had previoulsy completed the BOM stitchery blocks.

Today I had the pleasure of stitching with a new christian craft group called "Gifted Hands". It was their first meeting today and they invited me along. My intentions were to finish my cushion cover and another xmas BOM, but could not lay my hands on the BOM I had carefully cut out this morning, so plan B (in the last hour) was to get the 'just in case' project out of the car - this quilt top - but not a top at that stage.

I did not get it together whilst I was there, obviously in the hour remaining, but I did gain some motivation and continued to sew tonight and have just finished. It is now a top and ready to quilt next!! I am very happy with it. Here it is.......

This brings my April finishing total to 25 blocks and 4 finished projects!! Yaah, Yaah. I had a couple of other things almost finished today but that will just have to count towards May now - more tomorrow :)

Love Bonnie xxx

 

The last of my achievements these holidays

I think this will be the last of my achievements these holidays. I had plans for sewing tomorrow but the kids want to go motorbike riding and I need to do things with them as well. So I will have to delay my well laid plans. So today I zoomed away and finished a few blocks.

First there was one.....

Then there was more......

And finally there was even more!!

Yaah another 16 blocks to add to my total! These stars are part of a bom called 'Twas the nite before xmas'. I had hoped to get the quilt top together but now it will have to wait to my quilting retreat in May.

Luv Bonnie xxx

The generousity of fellow crafters!

I am always blown away by the generousity of others who also share the love of craft, despite any religious backgrounds, cultures or other differences. Craft seems to bring people together regardless of anything else. When you stitch together, how many times have you seen or even experienced the generousity of another crafter when something has been left behind, or you don't quite have the right color of cardstock or fabric, or you have forgotten a technique, or can't work our a pattern. I have to say that in general, 'crafters' are self-less.

During the last 12 months I have joined the cyber world, particularly by observing people's talents on their blogs, gaining inspiration and started to share my own accomplishments on my own blog in the hope that others will be inspired. Again, I have been conscious of how generous 'crafters' have been with a lot of give aways and incentive prizes to motivate our level of achievements.

Today I find I am the recipient of one of these generous giveaways. Cheryl from Willowberry blog contacted me this morning to ask me for my mailing address so that she could send me this wonderful pattern. It is so sweet and when I saw it a little while ago, decided it definitely had to be on my to-do list.

and there is more.....



Check out Cheryl's blog here - http://willowberrydesigns.typepad.com/willowberry_designs/2011/04/baby-tweet.html. She does some beautiful work :)

I am off, beaming of course, to chose the range of fabric I will be making this sweet set from :)

Bye all and happy crafting! Remember to add something to someone else's life today! :)

Bonniexxx

Holidays are coming to a close :(

Yes it is sadly true. My school holidays with the children are coming to a close. The good news this time is that our holidays were a little longer than usual with the inclusion of easter and anzac day at the end of the hols making them 2 1/2 weeks long instead of the usual 2 weeks. I still have another 2 days and I am planning a fair bit of sewing in that time still! After all, why not take advantage?

Last post I promised to come back soon with more accomplishments - in fact I think I promised the next day! Well that obviously didn't happen and I can tell and show you why!

I decided it would be a good idea to do some 'minor' rearranging to my craft area to both tidy up and find some space for the extra projects I have recently acquired (somehow! Maybe the easter bunny?). I forgot to take a photo when I started, but of course in order to make it better, you have to make it worse first! So part way through the rearranging this is what things looked like!

A fair amount had to be loaded into YES - that's right - the bathroom! My craft area is a longways passage area that leads to our toilet/bathroom. It is what is left over of what used to be a sunroom until we relocated the bathroom to the end of this area rather than the middle of our house. I say 'used' to a sunroom as it sees little sun these days, in fact none if I can help it. I had a sunblock blind made for the window that is behind my racks to stop fabric and card stock fading.

I guess by now you have figured out that it took me a little longer than a couple of hours!! In fact a lot longer!! Try 2 and a bit days! But I am happy with the result even if a little crowded. Do you love the wall of containers? Each contains either a quilt project or two, stamps or scrapbooking accessories. I added the sea grass baskets - I didn't have these before but it was a concept I have wanted for a while. Each one is dedicated to a different use - one for batting (the biggest!), one for stuffing and left over small bits of batting that I use as batting, and the third for scrap fabrics. Well I can't thrown them out can I? They could make another quilt or so!?!

The other side of the room....

Here are some of the feature "gloating" areas!! .....my collection of quick kutz die cuts...........

......and my collection (so far, he he) or go-cutter dies!!

So not a lot else has been able to happen. I have been working on these lately and after my 3 day break from it, work resumed on these tonight for a while. I am a little over it now. Check out how small the pieces are! Using paper piecing I have made 28 of these so far and need to make another 24.......a job for tomorrow and hopefully to show you what they are for, and hopefully, more.

So for tonight, I am going to continue on this stitchery and I think I might be able to finish this block so that I can stitch it into a...........oops.....nearly told you......a...ah.a..project tomorrow or Tuesday. I will show you when I am done! :)

For now, it is goodbye. Hope everyone is enjoying a lovely break over Easter :)

Love Bonniexxx