Ticking lots of things off the to-do list this week! Only one or two more things to go and then I can tackle the Block of the Month Quilt. Hooray!! So much satisfaction in finishing things. Of course, I can't show some of those because they are presents, but what fine presents they are. Even this sneaky look makes me glad.

I see it and think: "I know what this is, but you have no idea. He he he!"

Meanwhile, the latest set of bunting has been finished and is proudly decorating the living room. It makes me want to get out all the bunting. I asked Steve if I could this morning and he said: "I don't think I could stop you." Too right!!

It makes everything more fun!

Basics and Deadlines

So I know in my last post I was all excited about the Block of the Month Quilt and I talked about how I was working on the new design and what not, but the sad news is that though I'm excited about the Block of the Month Quilt, it is the only thing on my to do list that does not have a deadline. Everything else there actually has to be finished by a specific date. So, though I'm excited about the Block of the Month Quilt (and I know you are too :P), it's been put on the back burner while I finish things that actually need to be finished.

Here is a sneak peak at what will probably be the basics of the new layout though. ;)

On to things that have a deadline. Number One - Birthday present for the little girl next door. I don't even know when her birthday actually is, but mid October every year (without fail, since the exact weekend we moved in) the people next door give her a birthday party. So I think it's soon.

I've been pretty slack about giving next door presents for their little girls (they have two), but I do love to sew and it is a great excuse. Who knows, one day, maybe Sophie will get these dresses back as a hand me down. This dress was made with a Five and Ten Designs pattern which I love. Had the material in my stash, so just needed the bias tape and the buttons. Sewed it up in two days (during nap times). Love it!

Other things I'm working on include Birthday presents for people who actually read this blog (sigh, no spoilers sorry!) and more bunting, which will probably be the next thing I tackle after the Birthday Presents. That will be fun (mostly just because it's bunting!).

Sewing has taken a major slow down since my little weapon of mass destruction can not be trusted around Sally or Olivia. Today, she found the tissues and like a good reporter, I took photos of the destruction before doing anything about it. :)

Cooper's 3rd birthday was yesterday and he liked his present (I wish I could say "loved", but the fact that it didn't have Lightning McQueen on it dimmed his response somewhat :P). We set it up in his room for him and then he took it outside to play with. I'm glad he did have a play in it. 

The problem with presents that you've made is that you've invested so much time into them that when you finally give them, you really care weather or not the person you've given it to actually likes it. And it's tricky when you're giving it to a three year old boy. You never can tell with three year old boys. I do think it was a win though.

Last week, as it was October, Ruth and I got together and sewed the final squares of the Block a Month quilt. I didn't bother sewing one lot, because they are just spacers, and I won't be using them anyway because I'll be re-doing the layout of my quilt.

This is the layout of the quilt as suggested. I didn't like it before, but I just thought I'd see, and no, I still don't like it. It's super bitsy. :P The quilt top is pretty massive, and it was way hard to get an actual photo of the whole thing that didn't look stupid, so you'll have to ignore the angle that this is at and use your imagination.

I think I managed to balance the colors well, though the Log Cabins (top left corner, the brownish blocks around the blue) are very dark in comparison to the other bright colors. I still hate the Spring Blooms (the blue spiral-type ones, in the middle right). I played with just replacing the things that I didn't like, (Spring Blooms with some fun yellow squares and the dark Log Cabins with some fun pinky ones) but I still don't like the layout.

I've worked on a new layout, but I'll have to actually put all the blocks into place and have a look before I make the final decisions. I haven't been able to do that yet because it's something that has to be done when Sophie is MIA. Now that she can crawl she is a weapon of mass destruction to most things I like to do. :P

 A busy and productive morning. Seventh thing about to be crossed off my to do list with this post! Hooray!

I finished sewing up the hem on my latest skirt. The way I've folded it for this picture either makes me look super skinny or the pleats look massive. Don't fret, the skirt has neither of these qualities, I just folded it strangely.

Also finished off the June block for the quilt. Finally got some background fabric which I'm pretty chuffed with. :)

And yep, more bunting! This is for the cubby house, so it's not finished yet (I'll measure it first), but I strung it up to get a hint of what it may look like. I love the look. Scalloped bunting is harder to make and I don't like it so much, but it will be perfect for the cubby. Time to go feed Sophie. 

So it turns out Sally has the ability to blanket stitch! Who knew?

I've been working on Christmas presents again, so I can only show a sneak peak, but I'm loving what I'm doing. :D Can't wait to show off the real thing at Christmas time.

I also made a skirt last week which is pretty swish, although I need to take up the hem. No photos of it yet though. Sorry kids. Just bask in the knowledge that I've been busy,

Also painted the door to the cubby house at my parents place. It's all ready for Sophie to have a play. Though, I am going to make some bunting for the outside. Really it can't be considered complete until there is bunting.

Having a baby means that you get a lot of gifts. And I mean a lot. I was watching a friend of mine open the gifts at her baby shower on the weekend and thinking about all the lovely little things that were given to me before and after Sophie was born. Practical things like wipes and wraps, and fun, cute things like onesies and dresses.

I really tried to make sure that if I was seeing someone who had given Sophie something wear-able, that she was wearing it. Or I'd make sure I took a photo and sent it to the person. It was a way of saying thank you, and showing them how much I appreciated the thoughtfulness of the gifts. I am blown away by how much people love this. Little old ladies who have given Sophie one dress are absolutely delighted to see her in it.

It makes me think about the gifts that I have given to others, especially gifts that I have made. I love to see people using their gift. Or wearing it. When I see someone using something I've given them, I'm delighted. I don't' have to be referenced or need credit. I just feel good knowing that what I gave them is being used.

Steve and I gave a gift once that we'd made. We had painted three canvases and then collaged them with photos from their wedding as well as the bible verse that they had read. I knew they had wanted something for their walls in their new house, so when we gave it to them and they put it up straight away, I was pretty chuffed.

About a year later and I noticed that they had changed the wall decorations. Life goes on, and I probably wouldn't have even thought about it, but the new art bore a strange resemblance to what we had originally given them. Actually, what they had done was cut out the pictures off the original canvas, and then stick them one some new canvases.

I had a hard time describing how I felt when I realised what I was looking at. Sad that the time had come where they wanted new wall decos, hurt and outraged that they had just cut up something I had put a lot of time and thought into for them. Disappointed that it had meant so little to them, that they could just cut it up (and sadly too, only save the photos, not the bible verse).

Life goes on again, and even that art is gone, replaced by something new, but I was thinking about all of this in relation to gifts today. God has given me gifts, and he delights when I use them. He picked out these gifts exactly for me and he loves to see me use them. He's like the little old ladies who have given me a special dress to wear, and he's waiting to see the photos.

And I think about the times when I'm not using the gifts God has given me. When they are left on the shelf, or put in a cupboard. Or worse, when I use these gifts for things that are not what he wanted. Or when I've cut them up and tried to use them somewhere else, only to find that that's not going to work either. How hurt, outraged and disappointed he must be. How sad he must be, for gifts that never give him delight.

What are you doing with your gifts?

Last week's tangent project was making a Tulip Wrap Dress for Sophie. I got the pattern for a size 3 online somewhere and managed to scale it down for her. I used material from two work shirts of Sarah's to make it. I'll probably never use female shirts again, because they a) have less material than a male shirt and b) are much more tailored to fit. It was very fiddly but I'm happy with the result (though, annoyed that this photo is not centered :P)

I did add buttons on the front, which you can probably just see in the next picture. The total cost of the dress was $1. Seriously. YAY! The shirts were from Sarah, and the bias binding was from Mum. those darn buttons were the things that broke the bank. That said, I did spend a good two or three hours on it (thanks fiddly shirt material :P) so if we are counting time spent... this is an expensive dress. :P

Sophie wore it to a baby shower of a friend of mine, along with a pair of modesty pants. I should have taken photos before we went to the party, but I forgot, and as a result, this was the best shot I had of her in the dress. Everything else she was backwards or moving or crying.

The other thing I made to take to the baby shower, was a Nigella Chocolate Honey Cake. It was easy to make and delicious. I will make this again.

I can't believe I took twenty photos of it, and yet this is the only one that I feel is good enough to blog. Bah humbug! The Chocolate Honey Glaze over the top was a bit lumpy because I didn't sift in the icing sugar - not a mistake I'm likely to make again. Do you like my marzipan bees with their goofy smiles? I'd put them on later next time, so they don't sink into the glaze quite so much.

These little guys live happily in a big pot in my garden. One of the most fantastic perks about having a house is the chance to grow things. I have to admit, there is also a massive downside to having a massive garden/lawn and the associated weeds, but on the whole, I do love the green. I've had the chance to grow lots of things that I never thought I would. Most of these things are herbs (the pot pictured above has Italian Parsley, Rosemary and Thyme).

These herbs were inherited from some friends when they had a move last year and both the parsley and the oregano have gone through phases of great growth and also near death. At the moment, the oregano is having a bad reaction to Sophie's new bath soap. Curash was not a problem, Johnson and Johnson is not so plant friendly.

This mint makes me feel really excited and glad because I grew it from a cut bit that I had left over from some mint I bought from woollies. Just put it in a cup of water, watched the roots grow and then put it in the ground. Now it's thriving. Yep, I know that mint does that, but I still feel good. Life! Hooray!

Sophie's new modesty pants in action. Yay!

Flower Basket

This week I'm again giving myself permission to take it easy and just finish one thing at a time (with maybe one or two side tracks). So yesterday, I focused on finishing the August/September block for my Block a Month quilt.

It's come together quite nicely, and I think very pretty. I did stray from the original pattern, added petals to each flower and decided to blanket stitch everything on rather than do a lot of fiddly hemming stuff, but I like the outcome. I also like hand sewing, I think I've said before, for the change of pace. :)

On Saturday, Sarah and I had a sewing day. It was fun getting the sewing machines out (her's is newer than mine! The next model up in fact, but still has the same thread tension problems that Sally used to have. Poor unnamed sewing machine of Sarah's). While Sarah worked on making some cushion covers with fabric from Ikea, I cut up some of Steve's old work shirts and made some shorts for Sophie.

I originally wanted them to just go under her dresses to cover up her nappies, but they turned out to be super fancy, and possibly too big. Oh well. They are cute and I'm glad I got to use up some old shirts. I like reusing material like that.

In our bible study on a Wednesday night, we've been looking at First and Second Peter. It's been rather good, and I really enjoy the casual way we are reading through and sharing with each other. Last week we hit 2 Peter, and verses 5 to 9 really jumped out at me.

In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone. The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But those who fail to develop in this way are short-sighted or blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their old sins.

I often think that I just need to love people. I believe in Jesus, and he's told me to love, so I'm going to do it. The trouble is, it's actually hard to love people and I, more often than not, find myself failing.

Reading through this passage in 2 Peter made me realize that actually, there is a process to getting to love people. I need to take baby steps before I'll be able to get up to the stage of loving people. I need to have goodness, knowledge, perseverance, self control, affection for those people and then finally love.

I know that it's a long road (that's what life is all about though right? A long process of getting us ready for heaven. Making us more and more like Jesus.) but I think I can have more chance of actually making it if I consider getting a handle on the small steps, rather than trying to leap to the end goal too quickly. Lord God, please give me the patience to follow the steps for your glory.

 This week, I tried to allow myself to not do much, but rather, give myself a break and just focus on finishing one thing. I find I often have a to-do list of immense proportions, not full of things that must be done, but full of things that I dream of doing. This is very daunting when you feel like even if you got around to doing these dream things, they'd be rubbish anyway.

So I took a break and decided I'd just finish one thing. This one thing was the crocheted rug I've been working on most of winter (usually at Frisbee games while "watching" Steve play). I only had about a third to go, so I allowed my self to put on some DVD's, sit next to Sophie and just crochet. Sophie certainly enjoyed playing with the wool as I worked. 

Rug is now complete. :) I've told Steve that if I ever pick up the crochet hook again and say the words "I think I'll just make..." then he is to stop me, with force if necessary. I can't crochet well, I don't know how I made the mistakes I made and I've even less of an idea about how I managed to fix them. Let's leave the dream of crocheting where it is: in dream land.

On the plus side, my right arm is so buff from all the crocheting, and on the down side, I managed to pinch a nerve or something in my shoulder because I was crocheting so much.  Such is life. 

Updates and Jeans Quilt 2.0

Christmas Presents, I have defeated thee! Or, most of thee in any case. :) 

It's a little bit sad when you have it all done before the Christmas season is even here, but I feel super organised! Yay! Just a few final things to do. :) More time then to actually celebrate Christmas. Here is a sneaky peak at what those colorfully wrapped presents contain: 

I have also finished the Jeans Quilt 2.0! Went to spotlight and they were having a sale on fleecy fabric now that winter is done, so I got the backing material for $5 a meter. Score!

Here are the two Jeans Quilts side by side, being friends. (no idea why this picture rotated...)

Denim Aprons

Today's great new discoveries: Jeans can make more than a quilt and I can finish things I start. :)

I've made two fun aprons for future kids to wear while doing crazy dirty kid stuff like painting. It's just a leg of jeans that was split open and then the pocket reattached. I had a heap of waistbands left over from when I cut up all the other jeans for the jeans quilt, so I used them for the neck band and waist tie. I love the way the buttons and holes all clip in together. :) They are big for kids (they fit me around the waist easily) but you can just put some knots in the bands and hey presto, it's smaller! 

Now onto finishing some other things on the to-do list, the first of which is some things for Christmas presents, which of course, means I can't post about them without giving away the surprise. Expect radio silence from me for a while I guess. :P 

I'm standing in the kitchen to type this for a number of reasons. Firstly, I'm making crepes for dinner tomorrow. I'd have to say though, it's more like failing to make crepes. Turns out I can't make crepes for the life of me, so goodbye to the dream of Salmon Crepes becoming a regular dinner, I think this will be the last time I make crepes. Possibly forever.

Secondly, I've put Sophie to sleep in the living room. I has this spur of the moment idea that it'd be good if she could sleep anywhere - and let's face it, she actually can already, but there is no harm testing and trying the theory. Now she's asleep in there though, I'm wondering if it's ok to sew.... probably. So far I've tried to walk past quietly and managed to trip over the power board (currently powering Sally the Sewing Machine) and run into a chair. Sophie didn't even blink. Win!

That said, I've still got crepes to fail at making, so why not use the time productively and post in the kitchen while I go! I've got some lovely stuffed tomatoes waiting to be popped into the oven for dinner cheering me on here too. Yum!

So today, in any effort to actually finish things before I get carried away starting new things (I have so many work-in-progresses at the moment it's a bit disgusting), I finished another Jeans Quilt top. I've yet to back it, but that will require a trip to Spotlight to procure some fleecy fabric, unless by a miracle it fits the back of the fleecy tiger rug I found under the couch, but I'm not hedging my bets.

I'm not exactly sure what is next on my agenda, that is, after the fail-crepes are made, but I'm sure I'll think of something. Steve's family are coming around this weekend for Harrison's Christening (Nephew Number 2), so maybe I'll tidy up the house.

So I say to Steve last night: "I still can't believe we've got a kid! It's crazy." And he says to me: "You don't believe we've got Sophie?" And I say: "Yeah, I can't believe she's ours."

And Steve says to Sophie: "Sophie, your mum doesn't believe in you. Good thing you aren't a fairy."

Cafe Church Quilt and Presents

Managed to get the last Cafe Church quilt made before the last semi-cold Cafe Church of the year last night. It was tight, given that I made a spur of the moment trip to Melbourne to visit Fiona during the week (Tuesday to Thursday with Sophie in tow!). I think it looks pretty good, although I'm a little annoyed that I didn't spend more time on the placement of the pocket pieces, because I have two of the same pockets in two of the rows. :P (Hence I'm not posting photos of all of the quilt, hiding the shame.)

I used some leftover squares from one of the previous quilts and a lot of denim squares from a number of jeans that I'd had saved up as well as a stack that Melissa gave me. :D Anyone with jeans they are going to throw away - please don't! They make great quilts!!

I have also recently made a really cool present for our nephew's third birthday in a month or so (and when I say made, I don't mean just with a sewing machine, but I actually used a drill as well! :D). I wish I'd taken some more obscure photos of it, so it won't be a giveaway, but hopefully the intended recipient won't see it before the party (well, that's probably a given since he's three and I'm not sure he can use a computer yet, but it goes for his parents too). In any case, here is Sophie testing it out for me. :) 

I'll post cooler photos of it in actual use when it's been unwrapped by it's recipient. :D 

Ops, I did it again. I've made more bunting! Hooray!! 

This bunting was made with Ikea fabric that I had leftover from a number of different things (couch covers, curtains, bags and most recently, a chair bag for Sophie). Thank you Ikea for providing such great quality, fun and colorful material at an affordable price. :D 

The house is super fun again. It makes me glad to come in and look around. The big-small nature of the bunting is fun, although I had an uneven number of bigs vs smalls so the layout was tricky. I'm happy with the result though.

This is the most recent thing I've made for Sophie: her chair bag. I was explaining what chair bags were to Steve, (you know, the thing you had in primary school that hung on the back of your chair and held your books and stuff?) and he said he didn't have one! Crazy! Sophie's is not for books, but rather for bibs and facecloths. So often I'm starting to feed her and I realize I've forgotten one or the other and this way, they are in a great handy location.

Made from some fun Ikea fabric, the bag is fully lined with two pockets for easy separation of bibs and facecloths. I used some piping I salvaged off an arm chair cover that was donated to church that I cut up a while ago and used in a quilt. The bag looks great and is so useful. :D I am well pleased with it. Here it is in action: 

What am I teaching her? In the last week, this thought has been going around and around my head. What am I teaching her? Because, weather I like it or not, just by the simple fact that Sophie gets to spend a lot of everyday with me, I'm teaching her things. I'm teaching her how to walk and talk. I don't have to do anything special, she is learning just by watching me.

And I wonder, what am I teaching her? When I don't eat breakfast until 10:00 some days. Or I leave the washing in the sink. Or instead of putting away my sewing stuff, I just leave it randomly around the house. Is she seeing me make an effort to go for walks and exercise to be healthy? Does she know that we go to church on Sunday because we want to, not because it's the "proper" thing to do?

It's a bit convicting and scary to think of, and the responsibility gets me down sometimes. And I wonder, if Sophie is learning so much from me, just by being around me, how much could I learn from God just by spending time with him? If I got into his Word everyday and took the time to pray, wouldn't I be being influenced in the same way Sophie is?

I think the answer is yes.

Thanks to the intensive cupboard clean out that Steve and I have had in the last few weeks, I now have numerous old work shirts of Steve's to use for sewing. The internet has a number of "Shirts into Dresses" tutorials for inspiration, so I've spent some time making a few.

It's really fun to sew with shirts, because the buttons mean that you don't have to worry about zips or things like that - they are already there! Hooray! This dress looked a bit too school girl to start with, so I ended up adding pockets (my first ever pockets!) and the caped sleeves and tie on the waist.

I like it. :) Too bad it won't fit Sophie for oh, I don't know... three years or so? :P She was pretty sad that I was taking photos of a dress that won't fit her for a long time, so I bought her in to help. 

She does enjoy eating things.

Just thought to myself, maybe I should do tags or labels or something on these posts so that when people want to see all of my quilting posts (for example) they just push a button and there they all are.

Then I thought: I've no idea how to do that.

Cafe Church Quilt Collection

Another quilt bites the dust!

That's three quilts now for Cafe Church. I am loving that they are using up all of that rubbish arm-chair fabric that was donated (no offence to the person who donated, it's just yucky to sew with). Finished the pink-backed-squarey one this morning. Managed to somehow break four needles on the last little bit. Anyone would think I was sewing through wood or aluminium or something.

But they are done, looking fun and ready for Cafe Church this Sunday night! Exciting! Now to sweep the house and put Sally the sewing machine away for a few days. :D

Little Things

This is what I've been working on. I say working on, what I mean is, what I've done in the last two days. It's not all I've done, but it's the prettiest and most photoable. :) The skirt is a place mat that cost $1 from Ikea. We are pretty big spenders around here. It's the first time I've ever done chain stitch, and I think it turned out rather well. Whole skirt only took about 15 to 20 mins. Hooray!

The fox on the overalls is felt. I think he needs a smile, but he's a bit cute and jazzes up the overalls quite nicely.

I also finished another quilt for Cafe Church, out of the donated fabrics (mostly arm-chair fabric which was yucky to sew with. :P). I just pieced the top and then sewed it to a blanket that was donated as well. I was going to practice quilting on it, but then thought, nah. I still have two blankets to go, so there is plenty of time for that. Besides, given that it's thick yucky arm-chair fabric, it would be crazy times to try to sew over again now that there is a thick woolen blanket on the back as well.