It’s been a long time between posts – sorry!  Last week was an exceptionally busy week.  Monday and Tuesday I went up to Lancefield both days and tried to organise some more decorating for Sewjourn – hung a few more things on the walls and then took some pics to take with me to the Craft and Quilt Fair.

Then it was four days at the Fair from Thursday to Sunday……..it was exhausting but SO much fun.  Thanks to all the lovely ladies who came up and made themselves known to me – it’s really great to meet you in person and very encouraging to know you are reading my blog!  I had a great time helping out on Somerset Patchwork’s stall – it’s always so busy (which is great because I get to talk to lots of people about Sewjourn) and I learn SO much from Karen and Meredith and come away ready to do more quilting – they inspire me to push my limits!  So, here’s hoping there will be some projects completed and some new ones started in the near future.

I was very disciplined over the four days and all I bought was some Harper’s Ferry fabric which I plan to do a hexagon quilt with – can’t wait until the other half of the range comes in!

In the midst of the four fair days I also managed to go to a School Fundraiser (saw Mamma Mia and had lots of laughs!), attend a going-away party (Good Luck in Hong Kong Trudy and Kev) and go to a friend’s 40th (Happy Birthday Jodes!) so today I am having a rest!!!  This week I need to go and welcome two baby girls (who are now 3 and 4 weeks old!), catch up on some housework and washing (piles of it) and do some work (which has been sadly neglected lately).  Also waiting for two more babies to be born!  As far as Sewjourn goes we need to finish the bathrooms ready for our first guests.  Also organising a weekend with my girlfriends in a couple of weeks as I thought we should be the first to officially have a Craft Retreat/Girl’s Weekend away!

Here’s a few more photos from Sewjourn and I will post more during the week…….

Thanks to Donna (my sister) and Karelyn 10 ladies had a fun and productive day at Sewjourn on Saturday……….there was lots of talking, laughing, eating and card making too.  Here’s some pics of the day………

   Thanks also to Dale for all your help – I am lucky to have such special friends!

FINALLY getting around to doing some more decorating at Sewjourn………the plan was to have it all done before the Christmas in July days but that didn’t happen so now it needs to be done before our first guests come to stay.  We’ve hung this painting done by a kinder mum who has now shifted to Queensland in the lounge area – for the past 8 months it has been sitting in my dining room at home and I was a bit sad to see it go but this is where it was always intended for!

Also in the process of making some fabric hoops to hang in the studio………

The girls were getting creative at the same time – Ella is really keen to learn to quilt……..just need to find the time to teach her (but not sure if my husband is ready for TWO quilters in the house!)

Another thing that needs to be finished before the first guests arrive is the second bathroom (not so minor detail) but my husband and father-in-law did make some progress on that this weekend also.

At least the hole in the wall between the new bathroom and the bedroom is closed up now!  Still have wall tiling, painting and fitting vanity and toilet to go….

Back into the routine of school and all the other activities today…….just need to fit in a bit more quilting to get the quilts for Sewjourn finished!  First on the agenda is to quilt the Miniature Christmas Quilt we did on the weekend and then I might get onto the one with the Sweet Daze fabrics……one day I’ll get back to the Tate Stars quilt!  Meanwhile here’s a few more photos from last weekend (thanks Louise)

On Saturday we had the second of our ‘Christmas in July’ days and 13 ladies came along and joined in making a miniature Christmas Quilt.  It was a very busy day but hopefully everyone had fun.  Looking forward to seeing lots of lovely photos of your finished quilts girls………

Back in Melbourne now after two weeks in Lancefield so finally have easy access to the internet again!!!  Had a busy couple of weeks at Sewjourn but the last week was not because of renovating but because of a couple of events……

On Friday my youngest daughter turned 6!!!  Hard to believe but certainly not a baby anymore – she’s reading, confident and independent (and lots of fun).  So on Wednesday we had a party to celebrate – the studio is such a fantastic area for a party of any age!  It was a lovely sunny day (one of the few for the two weeks) so all 17 children got to run around outside as well……….and drag in lots and lots of MUD!  Oh well, it only took another day to clean up!  Here’s some pics of the fun……..as you can see we even got crafty!

We bought this dresser on eBay with the intention of making it into a vanity for the bathroom but when we got it I couldn’t bear to let my husband cut it up!  So…we got another vanity and now have this lovely dresser in the studio!!

There was a last minute effort last week to get things as close to ‘in order’ as possible before our first Christmas in July day………we were cutting it fine with the bathroom in the studio but all is well that ends well and after a super effort from my husband it was ready in time.

My mother-in-law has been spending hours in the garden and it’s starting to take shape whilst the Cottage is looking more and more like it is meant to every day….Still a couple of Queen Anne beds to finish painting and lots more things to hang on the walls, a few more curtains and blinds to hang but we can see light at the end of the tunnel!

I have hung these trees in the kitchen and think they are lovely, and I’m really happy with the dining area.

The tables in the studio (complete with power points to plug your machine into easily) look fantastic!  And all of our chairs have finally arrived today…….why, when you buy 10 chairs on the internet do they send them all separately???

Looking forward to this week when 13 ladies are coming to spend the day and do a miniature quilt.

These are the gorgeous mugs for the studio – I decided months ago that this was the design I wanted but of course they are discontinued…….but with some helpful searching from my sister we have managed to track enough down……seeing them in the cupboard makes it worth the effort!