Just got this quilt back from the quilters – it’s made from the ‘Summer in the City’ range by Urban Chiks.  I love it because it’s simple and fresh.  It’s going to look great in the front room at Sewjourn.

The quilting looks great too – well done Gail.

Thanks to some great help from family and friends last weekend we fitted the new benchtops in the cottage kitchen AND laid the floating floor in the studio this weekend.  Feeling quite exhausted but it is looking good.  Forgot to take photos of the kitchen (but trust me it is looking great) but here’s some of the floor – GREAT effort guys and THANKS! (Have promised them all I’ll let them have a boys weekend at Sewjourn!)

Had a lovely day up at Sewjourn on Friday with a good friend talking about decorating ideas – it’s all ready to go now.  The girls and I will spend the school holidays up there which will be lovely and we’ll be able to get lots done…………..and of course our ‘Christmas in July’ days start also.

It’s been a long term so we are all looking forward to Friday.  School reports came home yesterday – there was one prep student in our household who was so excited to get her first report she grabbed it out of her bag as soon as she ran out of school…………and dropped it in the mud!  We managed to save it though and it didn’t dampen her excitement.

Haven’t managed to do much quilting this week – did I mention I’ve decided to do my ‘Tate Stars’ quilt by hand?  The girls in my sewing group just laughed but it really is fun………..if only there were lots more hours in the day…………..

My husband has spent most of the weekend working on the tables – 2 for the studio and 1 for the dining area of the cottage.  They are all BIG and look fantastic – he has done a great job.  The ones in the studio are on locking castors so they can easily be moved around – most of the time they will be pushed together and will comfortably seat 12 people that way – each with their own power point to use if they are sewing with a machine!  Separated each table will seat 10 people – still enough power points to have one each!!  They are mainly made from wood which used to form a mezzanine area in the studio.

More wood was needed for the legs of the table for the cottage though so yesterday daughter no. 1 and I got to escape and go for a lovely drive up to Heathcote (about 30 minutes north) to get some more wood from the building recycle yard up there.  It’s a gorgeous drive and the countryside has really greened up again in the last few weeks.

Also managed to visit a couple of antique and second hand shops and buy a mirror and two picture frames – they need a bit of work but I think they will come up fine.

I did do a second coat on the kitchen tiles so the kitchen is looking good – just needs the new bench tops installed, and the appliances refitted and it is finished too.

The cupboard knobs have been fitted since these photographs were taken so it looks even better!

We have a big working bee planned for next Sunday which involves lots of kind friends/family – hope to get the flooring in the studio installed and all the skirting boards fitted – this time next week the studio will look a lot different to when I left yesterday afternoon…………well that’s the plan.

The front door of the cottage has been put back painted, repaired and put back in place – we think it looks good – what do you think?

1. Plumbing is finished

2. Lots of help from family over the weekend

3. Boards looking great

4. Kitchen in studio half re-installed

5. Stained glass window fitted to studio bathroom – looks excellent

6. More gardening – weeding and mulching – done………as long as it looks tidy this will be a WIP over the next couple of years!

7. Going back today to do some touching up of painting

8. Tables (2 for studio and 1 for cottage) – all BIG! – well on the way to being made

9. Great response to ‘Christmas in July’ days

10. Another booking!

11. Have Tate Stars class tonight and haven’t done my ‘homework’

12. Under pressure to get things ready!!!!

13. Sent out newsletter to people on mailing list – quite a few bounced back so if you didn’t receive and think you should have please contact me – or if you would like to receive do the same

14. Both feeling exhausted but the results we are seeing keep us going

Hope everyone has had a good week – will post some photos tomorrow.

Tonight I start my Tate Stars class with Meredithe at Somerset Patchwork and I can’t wait……..it’s ages since I have done a class.  These are my fabrics – they are quite different to those I have been working with lately which is a refreshing change as well.  They are all reproduction fabrics – the aim is to complete this quilt to hang on the end wall of the studio.  If it’s not done in time I will hang another favorite Amy Butler one in the meantime.  I WAS hoping to have all my other projects finished before starting this class so that I could concentrate on this quilt…….but things don’t always go to plan do they?

This is the start of a third quilt for the front room.  It’s basically from my stash of scraps which makes me feel good!

There’s another two that I would like to do for that room also……how many hours are in the day?

I am heading up to Sewjourn tomorrow morning to do the last little bit of painting in the cottage and to paint some furniture.  Then I will be starting to sort out decorating items.  It will be good to take some more things up to Sewjourn as this is my front hallway……full of goods again.

And this is in my dining room……….

And there is plenty more things tucked away in cupboards or piles all over the house – it’s going to be so exciting to finally see it all together……..and exciting to have more room to move again at home!

My weekend consisted of 10 hours at a gymnastics competition followed by a 12 hour shift at work on Sunday…….the up side of the long shift is that I now have the next 3 Sundays off work so there will be no rushing back from Sewjourn which means more time to get things done……..and boy do we need the time to get things done!!  Everything is going really well but there is still quite a bit to do and time is running out….!

The floorboards are finally finished, I haven’t seen the end product yet but had a sneak preview when I made a flying visit on Saturday night to drop off 3 tired gymnasts to ‘help’ their dad on Sunday.  Anyway, it was looking great then and the photos look good so I’m sure it will be fantastic – it was a fine balance between having all the heating and fire on to warm the place enough so the polish would dry and letting the cold air in so that the flammable fumes didn’t ignite!  The joys of renovations!  My husband deserves a medal (and a holiday!)  Here’s a couple of sneak previews……..

Anyway, we have poured over the project plan again tonight and all going well we will be ready for July…….which is great for all the lovely ladies who have inquired about our ‘Christmas in July’ days.

Matteo came back on the weekend and fitted off most of the electricals……and more importantly as far as I’m concerned hung two of my chandeliers in the studio.  Again the photos look great but I can’t wait to see the real thing.

The outside painting is finished now and looks wonderful – I love the lace work back up on the studio.

Cottage

 Studio

And the wood shed is built to protect all our wood for some lovely fires next year….