Anyway,  last time Mal ran the marathon, or did the Marysville to Melbourne event he jumped straight on a plane to London that night…..this time at least he waited until the next day!  But this time he’s working in London for about 4 months and so our exciting news is that we have decided the whole family will join him.  So, the girls and I left this Sunday night.  Haven’t decided yet but think we’ll do a separate blog with our travel adventures and just pop the crafty things on here.  We’re in Dubai with Mal’s sister at the moment and having a ball. Today we fly on to London.  The girls were fantastic on the plane, very excited and well behaved.  Still it’s nice to know that two thirds of the flight is over and it’s only 7 hours on the plane today.

If anyone needs to contact me for Sewjourn you can TEXT me on my mobile or send me an email.  We plan to be home for the start of the school next year.  Hopefully a less crazy lifestyle over the next few months will mean more time for blogging…..and crafting!

Dates available are: Friday 21st October until Sunday 23rd October.

Here’s some of the sewing they achieved…… 

And Jetta made a gorgeous framed stamp picture and I am kicking myself that I didn’t get a photo of it.

I managed to get quite a bit done in the day as well.

A bit of ‘secret sewing’, followed by constructing my sewing bag and then some new cushions for the lounge room at Sewjourn.

 And as I type this out I realise that I didn’t show photos of my weekend at Sewjourn with some other lovely girls….way back in July.  (Wow, a whole term has passed since then but it’s been a busy one and LOTS of things have happened at our house…I’ll post about that in the week to come).  But this  July Sewjourn is where I started the handquilting on my little sewing bag.  It’s a Rosalie Quinlan pattern that I’ve had for years and from fabric I bought in Houston last year.  Really happy with how it looks.

And Meredithe and I both finished our Kaffe Quilt tops started at his workshop at Ballarat Patchwork way back in February.  It wasn’t at all competitive as we sat next to each other and zoomed away but there may have been smoke billowing from our machines they were working so fast.  And of course the gorgeous Miss M won the race! (And she even has hers quilted now and it looks fantastic!)

I think they both look great!  Can you believe that the blue used as the centre background is the same fabric in both of our quilts??  It’s amazing how different it looks surrounded by the different colours.

And then after this relaxing weekend I spent a couple of days in Bendigo where my mum showed me how to crotchet (again…..I DID do a whole blanket of granny squares when I was about 15…)  Learning to crochet was one of my resolutions at the start of the year.  And it’s great.  So far I’ve done a cushion in double crochet….which will also go into the lounge room at Sewjourn when it’s sewn together (hopefully in these school holidays).  Photo to come…….thought there was one on the camera but no!

And also during this last crazy term of school that seemed to fly by….. we had lots of gymnastic comps and a few cross-country runs.

And a couple of fun parties……but that’s another post.

There’s at least 10 people joining in the fun and you can see everyone’s progress photos in this flickr group.  It’s not too late to join in if you are keen – we have all of September to get the first border done and M will announce the next border at the start of October.

On Saturday I visited Quilts in the Barn which was great as always.  Linda does such and amazing job organising this great event which raises lots of money for Breast Cancer Research.  This year’s display feastured Jo Morton’s  gorgeous quilts.

And Sunday although it was Fathers’ Day I spent a HUGE proportion of the day at gymnastics comps.  The two elder girls both competed (which is why I was there for SO long) and both did a great job but the proud mother part in me can’t resist telling you how well Lucy did in her level 4 comp…..individually she won first on floor and bars and first overall and her team came third!!!  Well done Lucy, we are so proud of you and your hard work.

I’m using my Prints Charming  Panel as the centre piece…..

And this gorgeous fat quarter pack that I bought in Houston last year…….

With some other fabrics thrown in.

I want my Medallion Quilt to be fresh and modern and will be using a lot of white with the crisp greens and blues.  Meredithe is using the same centre panel as me but has chosen different colours to coordinate with it.

So, if you feel inspired please join in the fun.

It’s back to school and routine today - holidays have been relaxing which was well needed by all in our house - but it’s nice to be back into everything with fresh energy.  There’s even been a bit of crafting over the break which I’ll show soon.  For now though there’s 2 things to ask:

1.  There’s a couple of spots in the Don’t Look Now class at Sewjourn next Tuesday and Wednesday.  Please let me know ASAP if you are interested and I will email you the details.  You can either come each day for the class or choose to stay at Sewjourn overnight as well.

2.  The Sewjourn copy of Nikki’s new book ‘You Sew Girl’ has gone missing……has anyone picked it up by mistake when packing up their belongings??  Please let me know if you find it at home.

And lastly, if you haven’t seen the Hottie Exhibition at Open Drawer  yet it’s on until July 24th.  There’s loads of amazing hottie covers on display and all funds raised go to the Margaret Pratt Foundation which supports research in Lung Disease and Transplantation…….a really worthy cause.  There’s a good coffee shop next door as well.

And speaking of America…….I’m leaving tomorrow morning to go to International Quilt Market with Kellie!  Can’t believe how quickly it’s come around….just feels like we got back from Houston but that was 6 months ago!  I’m hoping to post whilst I’m away but won’t have my laptop with me this time so we’ll see……

Enjoy your week.

Me:  ‘Girls, can you turn that down please?? 

Turned down (a fraction)….

Me:  ‘Sorry I sound like my mother’

Daughter No. 1: ‘What do you mean?’

Me: ‘Grandma used to say that to us….’

Daughter No. 3 (the cheeky 8 year old one): ‘But what did you have to turn down back then?????’

Well, you know we had those old grammaphones that you could wind up…..

My yoyo count  is steadily increasing and I’m just about up to the number required to make the curtain for the Princess Room.

And I sewed all my Around the Block  pieces together into a quilt top which fits perfectly on the bed in the Princess Room.  It went together really well in a couple of hours one night last week up at Sewjourn.

I started a cute little sewing bag using a Rosalie Quinlan  pattern that I’d had for ages and some fabric from my Houston stash.  Now I’m up to handquilting the outside with some Perle thread.

Which reminds me that I haven’t shown my purchases from Houston. 

Fabric bundles from Sample Spree including  the gorgeous Sherbet Pips by Aneela Hoey, Quite Contrary by My Mind’s Eye for Riley Blake, Anna Griffin’s beautiful Carmen and Just Wing It by Momo, which is really special.

Anna’s divine stand was opposite us at Houston – so nice to look at for four days. 

Not that we had much time to look as Kellie’s patterns and stand attracted LOADS of attention as usual.

Including attention from two of the best – Kaffe and Brandon!  And speaking of which, the Kaffe Workshop at Ballarat Patchwork  in February was great fun…..more on that later but here’s Kaffe talking about my quilt.

I was lucky enough to spend the following day at Sewjourn with some lovely girls and so got most of my quilt top sewn together…..just need to finish the middle section but haven’t actually pulled it out since then.

March didn’t see me doing much sewing even though there was a short stay at Sewjourn during the holidays – I did make lots of Welcome Cards for the guests coming to Sewjourn though. 

Oh and I did go to a Sashiko Class at Kimono House  which was lots of fun…..I think sashiko could become quite addictive.

And in April I spent lots of time sorting out my stash and did make two cushions that I love.  I was especially happy with the way the zips worked out as I’ve had a bit of a block when it comes to zips…..but really it was very easy.

It would be nice if I could say at the end of May that a few of the half done projects were finished…..we’ll see as there is 2 weeks in the US and then planning (and cleaning) for a special birthday party at the start of June.

PS  Sorry for photo overload……you’ve done well if you have made it to the end of this post!