A couple of  weekends ago a few of my friends went away for the weekend to Sewjourn and from all reports there were lots of laughs, lots of creating and lots of eating.  Unfortunately I couldn’t make it for the whole weekend but did manage to visit on Sunday and had a lovely day.

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.

I said that I wanted to make some more time for sewing this year…….and in January I mananged to get a bit more than usual.

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!

A knock on the front door this morning and the friendly postman delivered this:

Which made me very excited because I knew that it contained this:

Haven’t had time to sit and read it properly yet but definitely know I am going to make this:

By the way, Nikki is still awaiting the return of this:

It’s been over 2 months since the last post! Which means I don’t really know where to start.  Or even if I SHOULD start.  Which has gotten me thinking over the past few days…..WHY am I blogging??

Everyone blogs for different reasons but these are my reasons.

1. I originally started reading blogs for inspiration……and there is some amazing stuff out there…..so I was inspired to join in.

2. I started to connect with bloggers and have met some really lovely girls.

3. As a record – of both the creative journey and family life.

4. To share with people what is happening at Sewjourn.

5.  Because it is fun.

But sometimes ‘real life’ is demanding and things need to be prioritised and it seems blogging was one thing that was put aside for me.  For a while I didn’t even read any blogs.  Over the past few weeks I caught up on some of my favorite blogs however and had time to discover some new ones.  And I’ve seen the enthusiasm of a gorgeous sewing buddy who has started her own lovely blog.  So I’ve come to the decision that I’m not going to make excuses and feel guilty for not being around but I AM going to give it another go.  But where to start talking about all that has happened?  So let’s start with the most recent and who knows I might go back and cover some other things if time and energy permit!!

Thursday night was Parent-Teacher interviews for daughter No.1 …….what an experience!  She started High School this year so parent-teachers were VERY different to ever before!  5 minutes per teacher and then the bell sounds and you are off to the next person.  Really not enough time to have a decent conversation about anything.  And all in a very noisy hall surrounded by other waiting parents and girls.  So, although I didn’t learn anything from last night, Ella seems really settled and happy and has grown up so much this year….catching public transport, getting herself up and organised in the mornings and organising her schedule of homework……we are so proud of her. 

This was her on the first day of the year…….

And here’s daughter No. 2 ready for her first school camp this morning…..much excitement!

And on the sewing side of things this week I’ve made a couple of cushions and inserted the zips a la Kellie style…..quite chuffed that they worked so well. *Too dark to photograph now so will post photos tomorrow.  (By the way – have you seen Kellie’s new quilt – Animal Alphabet???  If you head on over to her blog you can sneak a look and enter her great giveaway as well).  In just over a week this lovely quilt will be accompanying us to SLC.

Just a LITTLE BIT EXCITED…..off to Ballarat Patchwork TOMORROW for the Kaffe Fassett Workshop.  Promise to be back to report on it soon.

Yummy food, good company and a relaxing day of sewing surrounded by incredibly creative girls…….what a lovely way to spend a day.

The first few days of 2011 have been spent in the garden at Sewjourn.  Actually that’s not entirely true…..had a nice time on New Year’s Day with a picnic at the Hanging Rock Races followed by an impromtu dinner at Lancefield with friends before they headed back to Melbourne………a lovely start to 2011!  But yesterday and today we attacked the weeds (some of which were almost as tall as me) at Sewjourn and it’s amazing what a couple of days work can achieve!  It’s looking really nice again now.  Once the weeds were gone and the grass cut it was easier to see these little beauties.

Pity about the rose thorns and cactus prickles in my fingers and arms!!

And it’s SO good to be home!

Our 3 month camping trip to the north of Australia was truly magic……..fantastic family time spent in an incredibly beautiful part of this amazing country.

Then my 3 weeks back here were a blur…..no time to post or even to catch up on other blogs.  It involved settling back into school and routines, lots of work, dealing with a broken washing machine, back into organising our School Fair and even a quick trip to Sewjourn with the UFO girls which involved as much gardening for me as sewing!

And what little time for crafting I could fit into that was for the school fair…..but we have some amazing goods for sale so more about that to come.

There was the excitement of lots of packages  waiting for me on my return……..thanks girls and I’ll post more about that in the next couple of days as well.

Before I really even had time to unpack my bags it was off to Houston and a busy time at Quilt Market…….yet again Kellie’s amazing work was admired by all and my favorite American gal kept me entertained.   And yes, there will be more of that to come too with photos of market and a sneak peek at the fabrics I bought (because I really need more fabric!!) at Sample Spree.

And last but certainly not least it was off to Sewjourn (less than 24 hours after my plane had landed) to celebrate someone special’s 10th birthday.  (Why do they call them ‘Sleepovers’ when not much sleeping actually occurs???)  Happy Birthday gorgeous Lucy – we are so proud of you!

So it IS great to be home today.   And this is where I intend to stay for a while!

Last Saturday we had lots of fun making quilts for the Royal Childrens’ Hospital.  This is a spin off from the Bushfires Quilting Bees  of last year and it’s the third time we’ve gotten together since all the Bushfire Quilts were sent off………first to make a quilt to support a lady with Breast Cancer, then making 2 quilts for a Women’s Shelter but this time everyone was on a roll!  We made (or almost finished and gone home with lovely sewers to be completed) 12 quilt tops!!!!  What an amazing effort.  Who could have believe there was so much productivity buried under all that chatter and laughter?

(Sorry I forgot to take my camera………thanks Suzie for the photos……but somehow between our two computers the files are quite big so might take a while to load this post!)

Kay turned up with a bundle of appliqued hearts already done and these were made up into 3 quilts.  It was amazing to see the different effect from differently colored borders…….all the inner blocks were similar but all 3 quilts ended up looking completely different.

Bron turned bits and pieces from the boxes into this gorgeous quilt……another good lesson on working with what you have.

And as usual Maggie was head down and stitching…….she is amazing.

Along with the ‘regular girls’ we had some lovely ladies come along and iron and watch and learn………thanks Pam and Patsy and Elaine!

And the effervescent Jeanette brought along her Show and Tell……..a divine quilt she has done for her old High School to celebrate it’s 50th anniversary.  It was truly stunning.

BUT we still have lots of fabrics left to work with so there will be more opportunities to join in the fun and make some charity quilts later in the year.  Meanwhile we have another day planned on Saturday June 19th especially to quilt and bind all the tops that have been made.  Everyone is welcome so please email me if you would like to join us.

This poor little blog is a bit neglected at the moment.  Doesn’t mean there hasn’t been a lot going on.  Actually it DOES mean there’s been a lot going on!  Hopefully back on track now.  I don’t know where to start really.  So please bear with me over the next few days whilst I post about happenings that might be a week or two (or three or four) old.

Meanwhile I love this photo of my threads all lined up ready for use at Kellie’s workshop……it was refreshing to use so many different colors because when I do patchwork most of the time I use trusted ‘919’ an off white thread.  But it seems when I load photos from my new camera  onto the blog they lose sharpness.  Does anyone have any suggestions?  Maybe I am not saving the photos in the best format?  But they are much sharper than this loaded onto my computer or flickr…….and I’m finally learning how to upload to flickr.  As you can see I’d a bit of a novice when it comes to technical things……would much rather be sewing or cooking!