Hello..from the other side {breaking the silence}

It's been a year! Can you believe that? A whole year since I have blogged. I'm not sure anyone is even reading any more. And it certainly doesn't seem like a year. Time has flown by in the blink of an eye.

 
So, what have I been doing? Well, most of it is pretty much what you'd expect - working, looking after my 3 (not-so) smallies, trying to keep on top of exercising regularly, cleaning the house, cooking dinners - all the usual mum stuff.  There's been lots and lots of homework and music practice (them)......and a little bit of reading (me)...

Seriously, I don't know why I had the deluded notion that as the kids got older, I would get more time back to myself. The exact opposite is true. The older they get, the more homework they get, the more activities they are involved in, the more money they need and the more time commitment is required.  Time and money....quilting is an expensive hobby in both of these terms and sadly, I never appear to have enough of either to spare on quilting these days.

It's been a really busy year though - there's been lots of redecorating and essential upgrading in our house after 10 years of living here, a First Comunion and a couple of 40th birthdays (sob sob).

 

Lots of my friends turned 40 too - there were handmade gifts.

 

 I had my first quilt exhibition with the Modern Irish Quilters...which was really unbelievably fabulous and quite emotional.

 

I finally finished some long over due projects....some Christmas carol singers....

 

And decorating Miss R's room with long planned hoops....

 

And Miss E's cheerio quilt (yes, I did back it and quilt it - with dimple minky - but I forgot to take a photo).

 

I also finally made up this pattern I wrote which had been turning over and over in my head for about 18 months. (just need to finish quilting it)

 

I made some tablet covers...one for an iPad....

 

 and one for a Lumia tablet

 

 
Finally, I became an auntie to twins about 6 weeks ago. Such an exciting time for my brother and his wife.

Of course, it was the best excuse ever to make some cute baby gifts. Scrappy diamonds for my nephew, little baby C....

And scrappy circles for my niece, little baby A.....

 

I still haven't met my nephew and niece - they arrived quite early, and we have had to cancel 2 visits due to my kids and myself being sick but I have everything crossed for next week. The extra time allowed for some more crafting...little handknit cardis.

Anyway...its been nice catching up....hopefully as nice for you as for me. I'll try not to leave it as long next time!

Hoops, bags and bees.... WIP Wednesday on a Saturday

One of the hazards of this time of year is that sewing in the evenings after the kids are gone to bed means that the light is rubbish for photos. So today, I took advantage of the lovely bright sunny day to take some pictures of my work in progress.

I have a few different projects that I'm working on at the moment, which is nice, because only having one or two projects on the go at any time is not good for my sewing energy, I've realised. The busier I am, in terms of the number of sewing projects and the deadlines, the more inspired I am.  So this week my plan is to get moving again on another few quilt WIPs that totally stalled over this summer. But for now, this is my WIP list.

First up - Project Rachel's room. I've been slowly but surely decluttering the stuff stored in Miss Rachel's room (the peril of being the 3rd child and occupying the "spare room") to turn into a more girlie, fun space for her now that she is old enough to toddle round and play on the floor in there with her toys.

The head of her cot (and in future her bed) is placed in a shallow alcove, and its a perfect space for a  display of hoops to decorate it.I had some hoops, and filled them with lovely fabric prints I had - the unicorn is my favourite. I have lots more to do - I'm waiting on more hoops to arrive, and then, I couldn't resist ordering the princess print from FFA for one of them (although given the time its taking to arrive I suspect that the lovely people in customs may have snaffled it as it arrived in the country from the USA along with some lovely other bits I ordered.)

I'm also working on an embroidery hoop for her too. I got this as a custom design from Lilipopo, isn't it lovely? Can't wait to get it finished. I was short a few colours, in particular reds and blues, so now have restocked ready to tackle that toadstool!

I'm also working on 2 other embroidery projects, both intended as Christmas decorations this year. One is the Lilipopo stitchalong, which uses a lovely free download pattern of a winter girl. I decided to follow one of the suggested colour schemes for this one, so that it would be nice and relaxing with no decisions to be made, and so glad I did. I'm close enough to keeping up with the stitchalong, but you'd easily catch up with it if you still wanted to join in.

The other is the carol singers embroidery I started last year but had to abandon after my eyes started to protest. Hoping to get this moving again and finished will in time for Christmas.

My sidekick tote is moving along well. I didn't have woven interfacing so I used the regular fusible stuff and forgot how it creases up a bit after sewing. Need to go over that pocket with a very hot iron and try and sort out those creases. I'm also waiting for more of theWallflowers fabric to arrive for the strap for this (in the same package as the FFA). Sigh. Think I will get the zipper and lining done tomorrow and then its just a waiting game before I can finish it.

I am shamefully behind with my Modern Irish Bee blocks. I finally managed one for Anna, but I need to get my ass in gear and get the rest done. I do love her crazy scrapy block though - I think the idea to place the fussy-cut "centre" off centre was a bit inspired really.

Lastly, I have my charms cut for another baby boy quilt, this one for my sister in law's brand new nephew. I'm a bit behind with this one, as he arrived a few weeks ago but its ok, because being a newlywed, she is off on honeymoon :-) and I will have it done before she gets back.