Dropped off the face of blog land

Wow, that's just mindboggling, 6 weeks of no blogging and more or less no sewing??? It's about time I give a bit of an update!

1) Uni{que}versal was NOT accepted for AQC. That in itself is alright (though of course I am disappointed), but as I have blogged about it vefore, I won't be able to enter it elsewhere - bugger!

2) Fireworks is close to finished with just one more border requiring pebbling; while I like the resulting effect, I am not pleased with some of my travel stitching - and I am quite over quilting a large quilt, too! I'll have to wash it and see what it looks like then.

3) I have all my bits and bobs together for sandwiching and quilting Tokyo Subway Map, just need to make a start.

4) As you might have seen over on Suz' blog (All the good ones are taken), major fundraising going on at school this year, I made a colouring-in book & crayon bag for a little person, now I just need a book & crayons and some Easter eggs to be ready for Batons up next month.

5) While I haven't started yet, a teddy needs his leg re-attached, middle DS needs a little pouch for his iPad Mini and my MacBook needs a bag, too, hmmmm

While (and because) my work takes up most wake moments, we have made the hard decision to sell our paradise in the country and move into town:

Reality is that mother guilt is biting very hard, my children don't get to do sports or other outside school activities or even just go to friends because their mother woukd have to take them - and I have no time. They can't walk anywhere from here, they can't even get home from school on their own (no bus for one and a 4km walk along a busy highway without any footpaths for another - too dangerous). Now that I have gotten my head around it I am actually looking forward to the idea of walking to the park or a cafe, however, it's been on the market for a few weeks now and there hasn't been any serious interest yet. Four more Open Homes to go (meaning we have to go out every Sat & Sunday...).

We are having some fun though, too, I am playing a bit of music again! A local musican and photographer has organised a 'Meet the Mozarts' concert for next weekend and working towards that has been heaps of fun.

With the usual autumn (sniff, summer is truly over...) gluttony, I have bottled peaches and will start on the feijoas soon. And DH found some Mascarpone mix at the supermarket, so I might even make some of that :)

And in only a few short weeks we'll have a family trip away;)

Work has been stressful and fun, it's been great to extend myself in various ways (content, ways of delivering, size of audience etc.). I'm getting myself involved in more forms of 'blended delivery', e.g. I presented online last weekend for TeachMeetNZ as part of the Festival of Education (live-streamed and recorded). While I can't stand the sound of my recorded voice, I'll dabble in that some more, might give you a taste of it some time;) (for my e-learning blog, visit thebelbird.blogspot.com). I've also been interviewed for an article on Minecraft in 'education Aotearoa'! So that's all very cool, there's two conferences next term I would like to be part of, too. I'm very good (!) at self-doubt, so being given these opportunities and receiving positive feedback has been good for my ego and hopefully for further job prospects when this contract finishes at the end of the year - does nothing, though, for MOTHER GUILT!!!

Plans for today? Well, I better finally get up and check that the house is in a ready state for open home (it is clean thanks to Donna!). Washing etc., organise somewhere to go this afternoon (Suz, are you home???). I'll pull out some fabrics for the bags (probably after teddy surgery). What is going on in your part of the world?

Happy Sewing!

And now to the boring part...

Do you get all excited about new projects? Can't wait to get going? Once a project starts dragging on, it gets a bit boring? I think this is the reason why I like making bags. I've thought about it, DH had complained "Why are you making yet another bag?" (see my post here) and I think it's simply the instant gratification of starting and finishing a project in a short period of time. AND you get to use the finished product. AND which girl has enough bags anyway??? Well, I'm going to take my new little bag away with me this coming week and we'll see how it does - maybe I need to make another one soon? lol

Well, with my AQC entry completed I am now up to the boring part also, the waiting to hear if it is accepted of not. After taking 200 odd photos of it over the last few days and more than a few naughty words I finally entered it today: 

Here are a few of the pics:

 

My biggest issue was taking pictures with enough contrast and in the required size; my point-and-shoot does the right size but not the contrast, and DH's super-duper-flash camera did great pics, but it took me to about pic 197 to figure our how to change the format so I wouldn't have to crop lots left and right and therefore end up with too small a file (you wonder why on earth I work in IT / e-learning, don't you?). Whatever happens, I found Uni{que}versal a home in our entrance where it can take turns with Frei and with Against the Odds.

Now it's back to quilting Fireworks:

A few more bobbins of grey and I am up to the pieced border... Dragging a bit, too... So my mind has started to wander to this: www.callforentriesfestivalgallery.com. Think looking at your adopted home from the home you grew up in....

Well, I have wasted all morning with the photographs, so I better go and get some work-work done... Oops, did anyone feed the kids???

Happy Sewing!

Gazillion (noun)

describing the number of threads needing to be buried in a quilt - do you think we could get that added to Wikipedia? Well, they are all buried YESSS so right not now my AQC14 Challenge piece is in the washing machine, to be followed by a gentle cycle in the dryer (I don't trust my line or the birds around with all that white...). Handy girl here even put a new plug onto the end of the cord of the dryer (amongst a little bit of language not suited to be repeated here - but it's done!). This is what the piece looked like before washing:

and it actually has a name now, too: "Uni{que)versal" because our hands and fingers, the basis of our decimal system, are both able to make gestures that are more or less universally understood - peace, thumbs up, agression, pray / beg etc., and they also bear our unique identity in our fingerprint (in the background). Yet to do: One teeny-tiny detail, label, hanging sleeve. I'll have to figure out a way to photograph it well...

Friday night I just felt like I had to start something new lol and I finished it this morning:

I used the pattern I shared with you recently:

Do you recognise the material? It was one of my German Ikea purchases that turned out to be polycotton. Using such a creamy fabric is a risk for a bag that will travel in cargo holds on planes, but I just love how it turned out! The lining is the remainder of the passport stamp print bolt I had adopted more than a year ago for mum's quilt There's a Square in There. I had everything in my stash except the nylon webbing.

I made a few alterations:

- Instead of 1.5 yards feature fabric I had 1 meter of fabric (I didn't measure the width but it was wider than quilting material)

- Instead of 1 yard for trim I used 1 FQ; as a result the trim for the 'flat' magazine pocket is pieced, and the trim above the zip on the pleated pocket is just 1/2" not 1".

- I did not 'get' the instructions for the pleated pocket. I spent a long time on it and I am sure it's still not the way the designer had it. However, I was over it by that time and just used what I had made.

- My local sewing shop did not have 2" wide webbing, so I zig-zagged two lengths of 1" wide webbing together.

- When it was all finished, I didn't like the look of the zig-zagged seams on the inside so I used the remainder of the lining and bound them - it's not the tidiest but it serves the purpose of hiding the seams.

I can't wait to go away now!

Where to next?

- I still have to finish quilting Fireworks.

- My black batting for the Tokyo Subway Map quilt is ready at the Country Yard and the remaining thread has been ordered.

All under control - but then once again Ms. Lottie has mentioned a challenge (think Houston...) which is leading my little brain astray....

Happy Sewing!

Burying threads....

There's approximately one gazillion of them - anyone like to help me lol?

One more little detail to add, then on to label and hanging sleeve; might make it with some time to spare before 21 Feb?

Schools are all open again which means the treadmill is starting up (11 visits to schools tentatively planned until end of next week). Today is Waitangi Day, our National Day, and after weeks of dry (not quite drought yet), it started raining last night - yay! One of our two water tanks had run dry last weekend, so that's a much appreciated refill!

On Tuesday Mstr11 started at highschool in y7:

Lots of anxious tears in the morning, but...

much happier after he had met his lovely form teacher and his new class mates!

Hmm, better get dinner organised after hiding in my sewing room all day...

Happy Sewing!

A workout...

for the seam ripper but finally it's all in one piece:

Now onto hanging sleeve, binding, stitching down the the rest of the connecting strips on the back before I concentrate on threadpainting the final and vital missing element...

I will take decent photographs when I have something that's worth showing!

Happy (not reverse )Sewing!

That's better...

... now onto the final borders....

Spot the mistake?

Hey-ho, hey-ho, it's off to work we go...

Well, in my case this has actually meant working from home for most of the last 2 1/2 weeks! The boys are still at home, the youngest starting tomorrow (TG!), middle DS next Tuesday, and oldest DS is supposed to learn from home this year with his application getting completed today - fingers crossed he will get some work sent soon :)

The boys have been scrapping heaps, it's really about time for them to go back to school! I am looking forward to getting back into my schools, too, I have been to a meeting and held a workshop but I'm not one for doing the 'sitting-around-getting-paperwork-ready' for too long...

My nerdy playing-with-computers persona needs to be balanced with some more creative endeavours, so here are some pics of what I have been up to lately:

Tokyo Subway Map Quilt in a few pieces...

... and as completed 'flimsy' (at 100"square, flimsy doesn't quite seem to fit?)

Completed baby quilt

- with fleece backing from the always so generous and helpful Suz! -

 - because the ordered backing, the minky with the peace symbols, arrived on the day of the baby shower...

My latest project had my scratch my head lots, trying to piece my QAYG hands into a 49"square wall hanging...

Trying to achieve a balanced random look is not that easy...

Lots of trial and error for the connecting strips; the irregular sizes of the blocks meant lots of calculating!

I bought a new pattern, too - wouldn't that be great for a retreat??

Happy Sewing!