Girls' Night In

Last night was a Girls' Night In get together at Joys' house. Although it was small, we had a lovely time. Scrapbooking, great company, good food and coffee and a little bit of fundraising for cancer research. Definitely well worth it (although it was pretty cold going home at midnight).

 Me

 Joy

 Donna

There is no photo of the youngest member of our party (Joys' grandaughter) who started out scrapping, but couldn't quite go the distance and curled up on the lounge for a snooze.

Jelly Rolls

I've known about Jelly Rolls for some time but since I haven't been sewing much I've never gotten into them. Since the quilting retreat has renewed my enthusiasm I've bought myself a Jelly Roll, co-ordinating Layer Cake and Charm Squares. My friend Joyce has also bought Jelly Rolls, so along with our other friend Marilyn we may have a Jelly Roll weekend coming up in the not too distant future.

Moda 'Garden Party' 

One of Joyce's UFO projects at the Retreat. A Lisa Walton kit, 'Power of Three'. Doesn't it look fantastic? The hand dyed fabric is gorgeous.

Power of Three

More Scraps

My collection of squares and rectangles continues to grow. I was up at 6.30 am. this morning, started cutting straight away, and had a nice little pile by breakfast time.

 

Up until now I've been cutting up my collection of charm squares, but needed more lights (512 for an 8 block x 8 block quilt) so it was time to tackle my lights scrap box.

 

Scraps from the box

 What a mess

Why oh why didn't I trim those scraps as I went, instead of just stuffing them in the box! Now I'm being quite ruthless and any scrap smaller than 2" goes in the rubbish.

 

 The overflow

Some of the scraps brought back memories. The scraps (above) were trimmed from the end of the strip pieced set used in my 'Hidden Wells' quilt. I made this at my second Retreat (1997) in a Joyce Carter workshop. It's still one of my favourite quilts.

 Hidden Wells

 Since g.g.s. Zachary has now returned home I have had to clean up my mess and will have to be more organised. :-0

Zachary

Zachary and friends

Scraps

I had a lovely time today visiting my good friend Marilyn. I took my container of scraps with me and spent the afternoon cutting and increasing my pile of 2.5" squares for this quilt. It's amazing how much work you can get done when you're in the company of friends. We never run out of things to talk about,  even when we've just seen each other the day before.

Marilyn-C.Q. Retreat 2010-'Playtime Cards'

Best Blog

I came across this while blog hopping. I found it totally amusing and I just love it. Check it out.

I'm watching 'Hellboy' on T.V. at the moment and really enjoying it (extremely impressed by the exploding monsters). I think I'm just a big kid at heart.

Cards and Quilts

Telstra have finally updated their technical support for Apple's latest operating system which means, at last, my computer has a wireless connection. What freedom, to be able to carry my laptop anywhere in the house with no messy cords to get in the way. Now I just need to work out how to install my printers' wireless connection.

This is the card I made for Alicia's September card sketch challenge. I'm really happy with it.

I love the little bird on a branch, which is from a Stampin' Up! set 'A Touch of Nature'.

It's really quiet here at the moment because Jastine and Zachary are down the coast for a short break. This means I can leave my sewing supplies spread all over the dining table and not worry about little fingers. A week of sewing at the retreat has energized me and I've been busy cutting 2.5" squares with a view to making a scrap quilt. I think I only need to cut several hundred more and I'll be finished! Time to change my cutter blade.

Retreat Fatigue

I've just returned from my annual week long quilting retreat in Rockhampton. It was really great to catch up with old friends. I even managed to get some sewing done. This year I decided to work on my UFO pile, and was able to complete the top I started in a Jan Phillips 'Freedom' workshop in 2008.

The workshop featured freehand rotary cutting and curved piecing, and the top went together quite quickly. Just need to quilt it now!

Another project I managed to finish was my shabby chic table runner.

This was the first time I'd made Prairie Points and I really like the effect. Another quilting job to be done.

I also managed to finish my third issue for Free Block Frenzy.

Block #3.

Block #2

Block #1

Missing in Action

I just can't believe how long it is since the last time I was here. Life has been so very busy that blogging has had to take a back seat (way back!). Great Grandson Zach is growing like a weed and is, of course, just the most gorgeous little man. Oh to have so much energy.

Fortunately he goes to daycare every day or Grammy would be completely bonkers.

Daughter Jastine is on the home stretch to complete her Thesis, then they will be moving back down to the Gold Coast. They will have been with us for two years and no doubt will leave a huge gap in our lives.

I have managed to do some papercrafting. Here are some ATC"S I've made for swapping on StampHappy internet swap group.

Scrapbook Fantasies, my local shop, is running Copic marker classes and I decided I need to do them because the cards I've been seeing on other blogs are just gorgeous. Have a look at My Creative Slice &  Geri's Cards to see what I mean. I've only done three classes so far but they're great fun and a good way to de-stress.

The other thing I've been doing is participating in Free Block Frenzy mystery quilt at Janome Gladstone. The idea is that you pay $15 at the first session, sit through the demo and receive your 1st block pack, come back to the next session with your finished block, sit through the demo and receive your next block pack for free. If you miss a session you can purchase a pack for $15. It runs for ten months, so it's possible to make all ten blocks for $15 with the option of buying a kit for sashing and borders at the end. My aim is to make every block on time and enjoy some sewing as I haven't been doing much of that lately.

 

Using supplies and tools

One week into the new year and I've managed to make a couple of ATC's using supplies I've had for a long time but never opened. I bought some walnut ink crystals about 4 years ago and have always been afraid to use them. I don't know why, but it's the same with my heat gun and embossing powder. However one (?) of my New Year's resolutions is to boldly go where I've never gone before and don't be intimidated by my tools. What's the worst that can happen? I don't know yet but I'm sure I'll find out.
Here are the cards I made using my walnut ink for the first time.

Family

Stampit stamp used with blue archival ink on the torn dyed background. This was mounted on cork and then blue basil base. I added a small red heart brad and a plain red brad.

 

Time Together

Another Stampit stamp used with blue archival ink on dyed torn background, mounted on blue basil. A small dragonfly brad was added for an accent.