Still Here

Just in case you were wondering whether I'd falled off the face of the earth... I did in fact survive the second week of the holidays and two whole weeks back at work/school.

I made progress with my log cabin quilt... finishing the striped back, basting and starting the long process of quilting such a big beast.  But wait, I'm getting ahead of myself... somewhere along the line you wonder what sort of quilting you are going to do... all those possibilities... so after basting:

I used thin clear plastic sheets (like what you used to use on overhead projectors) and a permanent marker to audition various designs - this proved my idea of a square spiral over the log cabins and various spirals in the background would work:

After quilting:

The thread - a perfect combination of colours:

Organic straight lines (very organic!):

Auditioning a background thread:

Yip - this one is a match:

It's all starting to come together... about half way so far:

From the back:

In other news... the kids had school photos in the first week back at school.  Since we are watching our budget (and almost had a heart attack after reading the prices of the available photo packages), I decided to only buy the class photos this year, and have our own photo shoot after school.  This was one of the out-takes:

But I did get some pretty nice ones too!

And in Swoon news... managed to squeeze in the final piecing of Block 5 before the end of July.  Rock on Block 6.

Week One - Survived!

I think the title says it all!  Over the last week we have had a mixture of beautiful weather, and really crappy weather - and done a few fun things.  During some of the crappy weather, we've resorted to doing puzzles... but not just any old puzzles... ones with 3D pictures, and glasses to go with them as well!  I bought these last holidays, but we only got the Space one done.  So far we've completed the Animal and Bedroom ones...

And at the moment this one is all tipped out on the coffee table... looks tricky!

Being part of the Spot What family, there is still more to do once you've finished the actual construction - there's the things to find within the text on the puzzle, plus some harder things to find listed on the box.  That's once you've sat there looking at how cool it looks with the special glasses on (the puzzle looks cool, not you with the special glasses on... when you already wear glasses to see - wearing two pairs just looks plain geeky!)

I've also made progress on my Swoon Block 5.  Not that it's finished or anything... I am on holiday after all.  I started with the central star - it would have looked good just like this (I'm a bit of a sucker for star blocks).

Over the last couple of days I've been slowly piecing together the outer units, and behold, progress so far!  I've also finished listening to my audio book (Dragonspell by Donita K Paul - No 1 of 5, so I presume it is also a series in written form).  I did have to have it turned up quite loud to hear it over the sound of the sewing machine, but it also prevented me from going too fast!

My friend Ms Lottie has been showing off her new studio.  We had discussed design walls - mine is soft board covered with cotton batting attached with spray adhesive.  So how well do things stay stuck on?  Well, these bits poking out the side of my swoon block have been there since before Xmas! and haven't shown any sign of falling off.

These blocks for my Gail Pan BOM have been here since last Friday (my last post) - while they are not attached to each other... there is significant piecing and applique - and haven't shown any sign of moving.  However my 26" blocks for my log cabin thingee just wouldn't stay on... it that any help?  Do you have a design wall?  What is it made of?

Also motoring it's way through the sewing machine has been the backing for the log cabin quilt.  I had an idea that I wanted to use the floral fabric on the back, as it has many of the colours on the front... only problem being that I only had one yard.  Solution - cut it into strips and make a stripey back.  It hasn't been without it's problems, but nothing that couldn't be handled or compromised.

I have also made Lemonade for the first time, from my very own lemons and lemonades - you know I've never tasted "real" lemonade before.  It's quite nice!  Must be those two cups of sugar!  I also experimented for the first time with the juicer attachment on my Magic Bullet (remember those from a few years ago?)  Well, let me just say that wearing glasses was an advantage for that too.

OK, roll on week two...

Linking up with What a Hoot.