A promise of quilt-making joy!

Have you seen this?

Kathy from Material Obsession has released her latest book through Quiltmania. 

It popped into my letterbox early this week...and it is stunning. Beautifully written and the photography is amazing (pics by her very talented husband!). It is VERY inspiring....just had my head spinning with ideas...lots of colour talk and just plain wonderful . My favourites are Kaffe Fanfare, Fractured, Turkish Crush, Red Centre, Chance, Sunburst, Fireworks, Pickle Dishes, hidden Woman, Wagga, Greenfields and Garden Party. Oh, but that does not mention all the others that I love too!

Kathy has filled me with inspiration...I just want to create!!!!!

If you love Kathy's style or want a beautiful, inspirational book....get this one as it is lovely!

A good distraction from this...

no colour here yet...oops, and no walls either!

 Cardygirl XX 

This week

With assignments complete, I need to plunge headlong into all the jobs needing attention. we are hoping to put the house on the market in the next few weeks so there needs to be a little more sprucing up done!

Mothers Day saw my darling Eleanore with her Robert home for the weekend...she has not been here since February and I do miss her, but that is life and it is lovely to see her and know she is always there for me. We didn't do anything interesting...cleaned up some of her stuff and just chatted...nice times.
I also quilted and BOUND this Schnibbles quilt for her to give as a gift to a friends newborn son...cute!

But, the main thing that is happening is the MAJOR tidy and decrap I mean declutter of the sewing room. SOOOO much stuff it is unbelievable the treasures I am unearthing...sort of like an archaeological site! Laces, ribbons and buttons from my Mum, and even some from her friends and goodness knows who else!
Before...

and during.

  You will have to wait to see the after pics!
 Some major sorting happening (obviously well overdue too) and I am feeling some sense of relief as this mess is finally tackled! A couple more days and I will be under control (I hope!!!).

I will leave you with some pics...

my autumn garden...

cat on a lead...

a happy dog!

Some mail yesterday...so I will be back soon!

Cardygirl XX

What was on our laps.

Tuesday evenings I meet with a couple of friends to stitch. 

Back in 1991 when I moved to this country town I met another young mum at the baby health clinic and she invited me along to her stitching group. Group members have changed over the years as people moved away or became busy with family commitments. We have had lots of stitchers or just a few. No pressure, no competition...just an evening out to chat, debrief, share, be inspired or simply stitch.  This is where I have met a lot of my friends including Lea...long time stitching buddy and friend. She is like me...we stitch, smock, embroider and cross stitch...whatever takes our fancy at the time. At present there are just four of us...a couple more who are busy raising teenagers only come occasionally (and are very missed!)...but it is great to just catch up. Recently Lea and I went to Del's daughter's wedding...other guests would ask us our connection to the family...on explanation they all knew who we were..."oh, you are the sewing girls!" Funny the bond that sewing has given us...and even an identity.

So (sorry to rave on) that brings me to last Tuesday...a cool clear evening as we headed off to stitch. I was framing some circle game circles and I looked up to see Lea binding her Lollipop trees...lovely to see all this lovely colour on our laps! Had to take a pic and share it!

 And here is a quilt Lea has been working on...just discussing borders. She has a character filled (read just a little bit naughty dog...who is also very lovable fortunately) who decided to gnaw out one of the centre cream squares as it lay on the floor...who would believe it? Lea had to unpick it and reinsert another. I think that is the worst sewing/pet thing I have seen...what about you?

Cardygirl xx

More circles!

As the assignment has been submitted, I felt there was an opportunity to do a bit of sewing.

Better than therapy, a bit of stitching time helps to clear befuddled brains. I am nearly to the end of my circle game blocks...they have been fun and I have remembered how peaceful hand piecing is...just love it! One more block to come and then it will be time to start assembling them. There is a month break before second semester begins...lots to do in that time, but at least there will be no study deadlines hanging over my head.

Here are my last three blocks...

some still need framing...

but they are fun!

Here are the blocks so far!

The house renos have started...tiles are picked...kitchen is next.

Just a taste!

 Cardygirl xx

Playing truant!

Some times the energy just is not there...I have been so distracted doing this current assignment...phone calls, thoughts about the house...it has been hard to settle down to writing an essay. I think all of this has physically manifested itself as a very sore neck and shoulder...time to take a break? 

Boy, did I take a break from study, house preparation and garden stuff. Thanks to Kate and her sweet design, Gathered In! I had seen the lap size version a little while back, and now she has a baby sized version from charm squares. Friends have just had a baby girl and I wished to make them a quilt...this looked perfect...even had all the ingredients at home...yippee!  So off I went on my cobweb encrusted machine, and a few hours later I have this sweet little top, predominantly in Ruby with a dash of Bliss. Will quilt it next weekend as I REALLY must knuckle down to that assignment!

Cardygirl xx

Spots and spotted!

As I have been sharing ( and am secretly thrilled about) I have bound three quilts last week.

There are still a few more to go, but at least I have started. Now my poor finger needs to heal so that I can start again. Most people seem to enjoy hand stitching the binding down as it is the final step of their creative process...I was impressed! Then I thought...hmmm...send out some of my pile to those who "love" binding... evil laugh! But then I know that I could not "let go" of my creations...awfully control freak of me, but that is just the way I am...stop sniggering Chookyblue!

So here is a pic of Number 3...started at our sewing retreat at Nundle in July 2011...this was a great pattern from Cluck Cluck Sew...easy and I love the look of it. SB thinks they look like red clown noses...I like staring at it and seeing the different patterns which form. No borders, just spotty binding...with a very happy spotty dog as embellishment!

Feels like winter is approaching tonight...ANZAC day will be off to a chilly start tomorrow!

Cardygirl xx

A better pic this time!

Still a bit dull here today, but I thought I would try for a better pic of the MO BOM.

Looks a little washed out but the light is not that great even though it is midday.

I must admit it is growing on me...quite pretty really.

Here is my second successfully bound quilt...I love this one and the pretty Kaffe prints.

Hope all is well wherever you are...uni work is calling my name!

 Cardygirl xx

Bind-a-phobia under control!

The true extent of my binding aversion was a source of hilarity at Nundle. And, yes, there are quite a few quilts waiting for their bindings to be hand stitched down. I am Cardy and I am bind-a-phobic (read plain lazy)!Dear Loz offered to stitch them down and their were loud cries of "...but that is the easy bit". But...still I procrastinated! So in that spare five minutes I struggle to find, I counted them...my "almost done" Hall of Shame! OMG...there were 5 bed quilts and 6 baby ones...eeek!

 Well, you will be pleased to know that the largest is done, as is another and a third will be finished whilst watching Whitechapel tonight. I have a decent hole in my finger (I hate thimbles) but I do feel better about myself. Not overly stressed about the baby ones but will get to them in good time.

Here is my MO BOM finally complete...I will try to get a pre dusk pic tomorrow as it looks a bit dull in the twilight. It is pretty, but I have never fallen back in love with her after our big fall out last year (or was it the year before?????). But she will be happy on the bed in DD's room ...the cat already loves her!

Lastly, here is my name tag from Nundle...Kerry asked us to make a nametag...great to see them all...I was lucky enough to win a Homespun subscription for my effort!

Back tomorrow with some BOUND quilt pics!

 Cardygirl xx

And now back to that post...

 Intentions to post don't result in a post...that I have discovered as time has spun by. I keep thinking about posting, but other issues have been more pressing . But I knew it was getting a bit too long when SB emailed and asked when I was posting again. OOPS! It must have been a bit long between posts. So here we go!

What has been happening...the study remains all consuming, but this semester will end late next month so there will be a break. House planning is still occurring...some work should start soon on leveling floors.

But there has been some fun too. A trip with my family to the Royal Easter show in Sydney was very exciting indeed. Obviously I didn't realise that we were wearing blue that day...I was in OMG we-have-lost-Mum-orange! I think they wanted me to have a lost child ID bracelet too- just in case.

Initially ambivalent about going, I was thrilled to be there... lots of fun looking at exhibits,

 cakes, wood chopping and even a ride on the Ferris Wheel (it was as much fun as I remembered).

Little time or urge to sew, I think there are cobwebs in the sewing room!

 I finished the clamshells from GDITC, but I am not sure if I will make them into a hussif. So at present they are waiting for inspiration...cushion perhaps??

A little quiet cross stitch at night...it is relaxing, perhaps the repetition is soothing for my jangled brain.

And just for Loz...some binding machined on today...aren't you proud?

Cardygirl xx

Pincushions, parties, pruning and play!

We are now in April...the leaves are falling from my trees and the year is whizzing by. This week has seen the submission of a major assignment (phew) and part of my working week covering my manager who was having some well deserved leave whilst addressing some very challenging client behaviours. Glad it is all over. 

Last weekend at Nundle seems a loooong time ago! Seems like the builder will start levelling floors in the new home after the Easter break...it will be nice to see it start.

Part of the GDITC was a pincushion swap from one of Sue Daley's patterns. Mine was a six pointed star...I was happy with it...but I will never know what the recipient thought...not a word or acknowledgment so I will never know where it ended up or if they liked it. Awful really as you go to all that trouble and you never see or know if it was appreciated or not. Oh well....you don't participate in swaps for accolades, but it is nice to be acknowledged. Didn't our Mums teach us to say thankyou?

 I received this lovely apple core pincushion from Maree! I have met Maree before and have long been blogging buddies...so it was great to receive this pincushion and some lovely pins from her. Thankyou, it is perfect and will be a reminder of Maree & GDITC 2012 whenever I use it! 

Little else of note has happened this week, some pruning in readiness for the house to be listed for sale, and that ongoing declutter.

 But yesterday I decided to play with the soul searching quilt...I had red strips ready( I love red), but could not get "into" it...so I swapped for pink instead...loving this! I did not realise how much I really do love pink...maybe that is part of the soul searching journey????

 Last night was Lea's daughters 21st birthday party...themed with songs from our childhood. I hate fancy dress so was in a quandary...here I am with a Blues Brother, Mouseketeer and me...as Sadie the Cleaning Lady (complete with original '45 from 1968...am I old or what!). Funny.

Missing all the fun of the Nundle crowd...glad they are home safely!

Cardygirl xx