Ouch.....!

Really OUCH!

I've done something dumb. Really dumb....and right now it hurts.

I picked up a hot baking dish and ....well....held it...till it registered that it was H O T !!!

I've burnt my finger tips. It's really bad on my left pointer finger. It's blistered and it's sore.

You seriously don't realise how much you use your fingers (and their tips) until you start doing things...like taking clothes off the line....and typing....and worse....pinning. When you're a quilter, burnt finger tips and pinning is NOT a happy combination. I'm just thankful it's not my right finger (whilst it is burnt, it's not as bad as the left) as I have an exam on Wednesday and I'll be hand-writing (and writing and writing).

On a lighter note (or should I say less burning issue....!). Here is L at his swimming carnival today.L is very lucky to be part of a fabulous program here in Adelaide known as SASRAPID. It's a Government initiative sporting program for kids with integration difficulties. It's terribly underfunded and as a result L has been on the wait list for a permanent swimming spot for years now. But our acceptance of fill-in lessons has paid off and he's had 2 terms of one-on-one swimming lessons. He's almost there. Today was fun. In the little pool for some fun activities - everyone wins a prize. He's walked home with 3 x blue and 1 x green. I think he's a bit smaller though... he jumped in at 1.30 and didn't come out till 3.30! And he won the raffle! You can't be unlucky (like my fingertips) all the time!

Panda-monium....

I finally finished the top of my black and white log cabin. I say 'finally' because it's been on the production line since late August and has been picked up, put down with the last run of construction in between some heavy duty major assignment (which was also a group assignment and groups are harder than solo efforts sometimes!) and studying/revising for my exam on Wednesday. Needless to say, I was beginning to get a little over it but am now extremely pleased to get the top finished and basted last night ready for quilting after my exam.
So in honour of the drawn-out construction phase, squeezing university study in between family life and the pandas, Wang Wang and Funi, flying over our house at 10.20am to commence their ten year tenure in Adelaide, this black and white quilt will now be officially referred to as the Pandamonium Quilt. Now back to the books....just wish this subject was as black and white!

One I prepared earlier....

....like way back in January 09!

This is a little quilt I made for a client who was having a baby. She knew she was having a boy and she's a lady who loves bright colours and I was looking for a small project, so it was easy to settle on a turquoise and orange stroller quilt.

Looking back I can't believe I survived making this quilt - I think that's why it's only little! It was in my 'early days' when I really didn't have much of a clue, much less a machine that was capable of being able to attach a walking or darning foot! This little number was fully constructed using my 1986 bottom-of-the-range Husqvarna...the very same one that I saved up for all those years ago and that I still love to use for piecing. Whilst I have been able to find a darning foot for it, there are no walking feet available for this machine now. But I haven't been game enough to try the darning foot....that's for a day with a quiet moment, a bit of scrappy material and some experimentation.

Up to pussy's bow....

Do you ever have those weekends that are chocker-block crammed full and involve co-ordination that's close to military precision to ensure everyone gets a fair share and everything that needs to be done, gets done? Well we've just had one.
Friday night was a synchronised effort so I could have drinks at Government House (sounds selfish but I've said 'no' for the past 3 years because R had ballet and she's given that up so how could I say 'no'?) and for L to get to a party at the same time, rendevouing with R who was also invited and was going straight from basketball practice. Then it was pick me up, get changed and back to the party to pick the children up. Home again, for a bit of tv and hand sewing the binding on my scrappy mini quilt. This is the one that was going to be the back of the other 'completely made from scraps' maverick star quilt...but it was too nice for a back, so it became it's own little festive mini quilt. It'll make a great placemat on Christmas Day.

Saturday was shopping (is it still only Saturday?!), R's basketball (they won their first game...yeh!), swimming for L and two consecutive parties for R. I managed two chapters in a vain effort to try and catch up on my study and a bit of sewing. I'm making covered books for the teachers' end of year gifts. Thing is, both R & L both have a shared teacher arrangement (so that's 4 before I blink!), plus L's speech therapist and special ed co-ordinator....and what about the music teacher....! I chose Anna Maria Horner and Amy Butler fat quarters and have a mix of ribbon ties and elastic button closures for A5 sized notebooks.
Then today, finish off a chapter, Joe only played 9 and then it was off to R's end-of-year junior string ensemble presentation. R performed very well with two solos and an ensemble presentation. Then back for a little more sewing, 3 more loads of washing and cleaning out the shed because it's our council's hard rubbish week! (of which half the rubbish we've put out is already gone thanks to the neighbourhood helping themselves before the truck comes!) I'll have to go to work for a rest I think!

Crazy is as Crazy does....

Last week, Amanda Jean wrote about using the little triangles that are cut off when joining 2 1/2" wide binding strips on the diagonal. They make great little maverick stars when joined to a 2 1/2" square. Well it turns out that I too have quite a little stash of these triangles along with a 'glad bag' full of white off-cuts. So out of all of these bits I made this.....It's all scraps.....except for the binding....but that's allowed because the triangles I cut off the binding were put back in the bag for the next quilt!
I did attempt to make a scrappy pieced back. However, it was so nice, I couldn't bear the thought of randomly quilting through it so I've kept it as a second mini quilt. Wait till you see it....it's red and white and perfect for Christmas....(to be continued....)

Quilter by day.....

Rocker by night..... (sort of!)

Last night Pearl Jam performed to 20,000 Adelaideans. Not a massive crowd by any means but those who know Adelaide, it was enough to pack out Adelaide Oval, the home of the South Australian Cricket Association and one of the most picturesque playing fields in the world as it sits in the shadow of its spectacular scoreboard. Eddy and the boys may as well have been talking to me (whilst I was propped up in my gold seat eating an icecream*) as he told us that he loved coming to Adelaide. He recounted tales of previous visits (all of which I was in attendance...what a PJ groupie!), that Pearl Jam certainly loved 'this beautiful oval', made a joke about lip synching and that it was the audience's karma that presented the band with a balmy 25 degree (celcius) night as either side has seen 8 days of 39 and 41 today and tomorrow. Just perfect.

* the lines were too too long for a plastic cup of wine and seriously who wants to drink hot wine out of plastic?

Here's a few snippets of the action.

The famous Adelaide Oval Scoreboard welcomes Pearl Jam, Ben Harper and Liam Finn.

Close up of the scoreboard.
Look...you can see Eddy on the screen!

Final stage dressing nearing the end of the concert. At one stage Ben Harper returned to jam with the boys and all Pearl Jam backdrops were removed....what good guys!

The screens either side of the stage go full colour.

And by day...yes the other me....the quilter! I've been very diligent of late and managed to put in some hard yards completing my black and white log cabin blocks. They just need a bit of trimming, joining and that's the top done. I'm under a bit of pressure to get this one finished as it's slated as a Christmas present but my attention span keeps waining with other things I'd like to be doing...no wonder I have so many WIPS!

Like Mother....

Maybe like daughter?

There's this harsh reality that Mothers face when they realise their kids are not the same as they are. Their baby thinks differently and arrives at conclusions in a completely different way to the way that they would have thought obvious. It's not wrong...it's just a different thought pattern. So you can imagine my delight when R outlined her plan to make a bag out of calico and to decorate it in buttons....knowing exactly what she wanted.

I had the calico in the stash but my collection of buttons weren't quite right...so off to Spotlight we went for the bulk bag of buttons for $9. (Gosh...have the button people discovered the art of sweeping up the left-overs just like the cheese people who package up pre-packed bags of cheese...?)

Anyway... is it like Mother? Maybe.....but I know R. She has a short attention span....she's an Aries (and I'm a Picesean) and it's full-on at the moment. It might be gone tomorrow...so let's not get too excited about it just yet. In the meantime it's a nice project.

PS: Done sewing for tonight..."It's hard...". (Yehh...I know!)

Busy....

Interstate travel to two States in two days for work and an assignment to finish. But I have managed to squeeze in a bit of housework!

Over the moon....

My circle quilt is finished!

(Sorry about the wishy washy, poorly framed photo but I wanted to shoot it straight away but straight away was 11pm and I asked Joe to hold it for me, but not show his feet or head and he was complaining that his arms hurt....perhaps he shouldn't have played golf that afternoon - wish I'd thought of that response last night!! :-))

I can't stop staring at it. I just love these fabrics....always have.
Here's the back. If you read this blog you'll recall I wrote that I chose the front fabrics because of the back. I picked oranges, blues, greens, yellows and reds from the Katie Jump Rope range the same colours that appear in the hearts (except the pink). It's an Ikea fabric now sold in lengths of 120cm x 3m.
The binding is orange basket weave from Katie Jump Rope.
The quilting was a bit traumatic. I thought that the circles lent themselves to loopy stippling. I started and then panic set in. It was much harder than the practice piece. But I couldn't find my 'quick-un-pick' so I soldiered on. My loops aren't very consistent and that bugs me. But overall, and it took me to 3/4's of the way through to accept it, it's not too bad. I think it will crinkle up well over time.

The quilt measure 128cm square which is about 50". I have another one in mind for someone special....funny how that happens with quilting!

Scrap buster

You know this stuff?

That is trimmed off the sides of quilts?

Well, it's fabulous to re-use it for this.

Now there's no excuse not to make some of these!