Don't look now!

How good is Australia Post ...?

Well this afternoon after I collected the kids from school what do you think we found on our door step?

A little something from our very own Jodie! And what should be inside but the sweetest little Spring quilt!

She has done a lovely job! The hand quilting and embroidery is terrific! Well done Jodie!

I also love the backing ... can’t go wrong with a pieced back!

Megan has claimed it as her own and has planned a spot for it on a vacant wall in her room. Oh and you must see this card isn't it great! Wouldn't that make a fabulous quilt?! 

Thank you so much Jodie we really love it!

Megan must have hit the jackpot today because under parcel number one we discovered yet another package with her name on it and the excitement became fever pitched ... laced with the flurry of annoying but compulsory comments such as; “why does Megan get everything” and “why is it for her” and “why didn’t I get one” ...

So what was in the parcel I hear you ask ... well a little while ago I won a lovely package of goodness from the daughter half of the delightful duo Spoonfullofsugargirls (my word processor all but had a coronary over that word J)!

How cool are these fabulous oven mitts especially made for little hands! They were designed by Sarah and she won a pretty fabulous young inventors award for them. How proud would you be I ask?

Megan also recieved some lovely scrap booking goodies and a page weight! Thank you so much Sarah the mitts are great and the extras will be well used!

 

 

I’ll be back later in the week with my part of the swap and the next installment in my Sydney adventure!

Hope your week is turning out as nicely as mine!

Kellie

Spring in May ...?

We had a lovely night away on Friday. We stayed in Lorne at the Grand Pacific Hotel ... can't quite figure out the name though considering it overlooks the Indian Ocean.

And even better ... my darling husband agreed to the 'short cut' home ... which actually takes 2.5 hours longer than the regular route ;) ... and spent some quality time at Ballarat Patchwork. I collected a few bits and pieces that I have started using to make some Mother's Day gifts for the school stall.

 

Today I finally waved goodbye to the little quilt that I have been working on for the past few weeks. Those of you who have been with me from the start may remember that I missed the draw for the Four Seasons Swap and when I posted about this Jodie suggested that we do the swap together, which we did. We followed the same rules as the swap the only differences being that we weren't officially in the swap and we knew who we were making out quilts for. I must say now that Jodie noted on Friday that she thinks that it is better to know who you are making for and who will make for you ... and this may well be the case ... I hope she still thinks this when she still thinks this when she gets my parcel :)

Of course I added a little bit of Don't Look Now love (say nothing Tracey!)

It has been a harrowing experience for me to make for someone who I know is very skilled. Of course I have made for people before ... but they were all crafting & quilting illiterate, so to speak. I have agonized over colour and design, I have added and taken away and I have machine quilted that poor little quilt until it was within an inch of it's life ... but I always do that! Last night I finally said "enough is enough", I wrapped it up and this morning I sent it on it's way!

Unfortunately, I am not able to fully reveal my 'spring' quilt because I want Jodie to have a little surprise. So you guys will have to wait until I get the nod that she has received her parcel.

I also read somewhere this weekend that there is apparently no more boring a post than one that proclaims how busy the author is or has been. Unfortunately, I am guilty of this on more than one occasion :( ... sorry ... I have made a mental note to never do this again. :)

Anyway must go I have a million things to do .... :) only kidding! But I do ... this week I need to get back to that hand quilting and all of those clam shells,

... but first I need to finish these!

 

Have a terrific week!

Kellie

PS. Thanks you again to all who helped with the kids over the weekend! It was much appreciated!!!!

Escapism ...

This week has been one of those where you begin with a relatively long list of things to do and as the week progresses it becomes painfully obvious that it doesn’t matter what you do the list will not be completed ... in fact it ends up longer than it was on Sunday night!

Sick kids, bungled reports, schlepping all over Melbourne correcting some morons’ mistake, dress up days at school, information sessions for school camp at ridiculous times that no human mother could possibly attend, paper work for our business that I just couldn’t postpone any longer, self imposed sewing deadlines and the list goes on.... what do you think didn’t get done? ... mmmmmm

I had a baby sitter for Joshua during one of my sprints to achieve the removal of one of the items from my list this week. It was the first time for ages that I have left him and he was mildly anxious about the separation before I left. When I finally got home (after only 2 hours mind you) he ran outside to greet me and told me about how he had missed me so very much. As he stood up on the deck peering down at me through the railings he asked suspiciously, “Mummy has you still got yellow hair?”. I am not quite sure what colour he thought it would have changed to in his absence. I should say at this point that yellow is his term for blond ... the kids have all called my hair yellow at some point in their early years. I am not sure if this is a complement or something I should be addressing with my hairdresser.

Although I seemed to spend a lot of time in my sewing room in the evenings this week, I didn’t get a lot done, however, I do have a package that I have to send off on Monday ...

 

I will post more on Monday but for now I should run, my husband and I are off this morning for an overnight child free escape down the Great Ocean Road. Thank you to the fabulous tag team of babysitters that will be eaten alive by my kiddos over the next day & a half!

Before I go I have to show you some pictures of my little Witch and Wizard  ... it was “W” week at school this week J. The costumes are from Megan’s 7^th birthday party which was, of course, a Harry Potter Party. I made the 12 these costumes, with some help from Meg’s nanna (I can’t knit!). There were quite a few of the preps dressed the same as my two yesterday ... courtesy of their older brother or sister who attended Meg’s party. This year we are planning a Mad Scientist Party ... I need more room on my list!

A day for remembering, Anzac Day ... Lest we forget!

Have a great long weekend! Oh and to those celebrating Easter this weekend ... Happy Easter!

Kellie

It's all about the food & the kids ...

Last night we celebrated the 'other' festival that we celebrate in our home at this time of year! I enjoy the Seder and the kids get so very excited about all of the yummy food & the family gathering together ... plus they get to stay up late!

Megan has read the Haggadah along with the adults for the last two years. It never ceases to amaze me what a proficient little lady she is becoming ... I think it is that first child syndrome. Either way she makes me so very proud.

The kids spent the afternoon making portraits of our guests to act as place cards. This is a great distraction on days when I am flat out cooking and have no time for them. It is also a great source of entertainment for the subject! Ben's were great this year ...

On the front of my outfit he wanted to write the number of people that I look after but he couldn't settle on one so he gave me three. First he wrote 5 - because I look after 4 kids & Daddy. Then he wrote 8 - to include me & my husbands two kids as well. Then he wrote 3 - this version included only the 3 littlest kids and not Megan, Mike or Lisa because "they are all too big now"!   

Daddy got stars & love hearts!

And Granny got extra special red love hearts!

Josh ended up with two Ben's version and his own 'Jackson Pollock' styled self portrait!

I got some beautiful flowers for the table from Camberwell Market and I could resist taking some photos...

including some with my secret project ... matching colours and all, you know how it is! 

I have had little time for crafting this past couple of days but I have managed to do some binding ...

that is when Tiger will let me!

Now I am going to go and make a start on the label ...

Good yom tov!

Kellie

A little appliqué & a tag ...

Anyone who knows me will know that appliqué is my ‘thing’. I prefer it to any sort of piecing as my accuracy is not fabulous and I always seem to spending my time ‘making’ things work! There is a fabulous quote from a book by Piece-o-Cake designs I just love which goes something along these lines ... it will all quilt out in the end! This is my motto ... I wish it wasn't’t as I would love to be Ms Accuracy but I never will be ... so I make another plan.

Anyway, I was talking about appliqué. The lovely Lisa, who has just become an Stay at home Mum for a bit longer than she had first thought (yay for her!), recently asked me some questions about appliqué & tagged me at around about the same time so I thought I would combine the two, so here goes ...

Originally when I first started appliqué I used needle turn. I love this technique and would always use it if I had the time. It leaves such a perfect finish and you don’t need to muck around with fuseable web. I taught myself this technique using The New Appliqué Sampler by Piece-o- Cake Designs. Their technique is great and the diagrams & explanations are second to none. They also provide explanations and tips for left handed people which I have found invaluable.

This quilt is the first project that I did using needle turn ... as you can see it is not finished. I baisted it and I rolled over the edges & it has been sitting on Megan bed like this for at least 2 years. Now that my machine quilting technique has improved I will finish it ... some day!

These are pillows that I made for the girls also using this technique.

 

The next method that I have been using a lot lately uses fusible web combined with finishing off the raw edge with either sketchy machine quilting or a machine blanket stitch. Fusible web is a pain to use. I have always used vilsaflex, not because it is fabulous, but because we don’t have many other choices in Australia, that I know of. The web tends to lift off the backing paper if it is folded or crushed or older, so I tend to only buy it in small lengths. You have to be careful not to get it on your iron as it makes an awful mess. I have a separate iron that I only use for my quilting. I have also tried keeping a piece of the backing paper after the web has been removed to use as a pressing sheet ... but it takes longer so I never end up persevering. I also find that the appliqué pieces tend to lift off the backing fabric if moved around too much before being secured. It also can make the shapes ‘hard’ but you can overcome this by cutting out the center of the fusible prior to adhering it to the applique leaving only a couple of cm's of web around the edges of the shape.

I have recently read about another product that i am going to have a go at later this week called Floriani. I will let you know how this product compares.

I used sketchy machine quilting to secure the appliqué on both Jessica’s Garden

& Rainbow Lollipops... 

I used machine blanket stitch on the kids PJ's

& the 'secret' project that I am currently working on.

I had a bit of trouble trying to find an example of hand embroidered blanket stitch, all I could find was the first quilt I ever made which was Joshua’s original cot quilt.

I don’t do well with this stitch due to my 'anal' personality ... the length & evenness of these stitches drives me mad!

And now to the Tag!

1.       Why did you start your blog?

I started the blog on a whim. We had not long discovered that my husband was sick and while he was hospitalised I found solace in the beauty and creativity of the crafty blog world. So, I started one .

2.       How did you come up with your blog name?

I don’t know ... I felt quite self conscious at the time thinking that I didn’t really want people to look at my things or more to the point that no one would really want to look at them ... and dontlooknow was the name that came to mind. It has been a source of huge embarrassment though as my step kids & husband have not stopped teasing me as I also used dontlooknow for my flickr account and they managed to tack on a couple of numbers to the end (my year of birth) which I took no notice of at the time ... so now my flickr account is dontlooknow69 ..... I’m blushing!

3.       Do your friends & family know about your blog & what do they think?

All of my family know about it. I know that my current mother-in-law & ex-mother-in-law check it weekly .... for the photos of the kids. I think they like it. I know my husband is happy that it is providing me with a distraction.

4.       How do you write posts?

Usually I will have thought about it in the time leading up to writing it, then I just sit and write. Not a lot of thought goes into it ... should I admit to that?

5.       Have you ever had a troll or had to delete unkind comments?

The other day I got a weird comment left on the post I made regarding the kids PJ's. It was all very strange and had a very strong new age religious push to it ... I skim read it, deleted it and bared the URL. I don’t need that crap in my life! As for trolls ... I don’t know what they are ... although Megan is reading a fantastic series of books called The Spiderwick Chronicles and there are trolls and stacks of other strange beasties in them.

6.       Do you check your stats or care how many people read your blog. If you care how do you increase traffic.

Yes, I do check my stats. And yes I do care ... only about the usual visitors though. Don’t get me wrong I am pleased that lurkers take a look. I love the comments and I am thrilled that you guys have relieved some of the pressure from poor Louise who was my first regular! The only way I can think of increasing traffic would be to make sure you have good things to look at that are updated regularly ...

That must be it, other than to tag a couple of others; firstly I’ll tag Lacey who is a gorgeous girl all the way around the other side of the world and my other two Lisa’s Upstatelisa who has just got herself a pretty nice new banner! & Spoonfullofsugargirls the prolific mother & daughter team. Play along girls, if you like, otherwise don’t feel obliged.

Enjoy the rest of your week ... I have got some serious cooking to do for Saturday night!

Kellie

PS I never did get back to the hand quilting on the weekend ... my machine was just tooo tempting!

I just love fabric!

Just a quick post to share my loot from Amitie today ...

these are for my Tree of Life. I tend to run hot and cold with Kaffe's fabric ... at the moment I'm loving it. I love many of his prints and all of the shot cottons but I sometimes find that I have trouble blending them with other fabrics.

These ones are for a quilt that I had a dream about last night. As you can see I got stacks and stacks of white ... I am having a whole love affair with white at the moment, it machine quilts so very nicely.

These are to go with some other reds, blues, oranges, yellows and greens from my stash for another quilt that I have been playing with in my dreams ....

And this lovely blue floral is for a gift which I will share soon.

I also stopped off at a Scrap-booking shop, Paper Heaven, that I used to pass by when I worked in Sandringham and got a couple of sheets of paper and these lovely letter stickers.

 

They have some depth so I think I will frame up the girls names or something with these. A cushion with their names on it would also look great in this font .... mmmmm I really love fabric! Another project ... I don't know about you but I feel overwhelmed at the moment my ideas and planned projects are coming far to fast for me to keep up with.

I have been slogging along with the hand quilting for the backing of my Tree of Life. 20" done 60" more to go. Don't get me wrong I like hand quilting .... but I prefer it when it's not me doing it! It is just too labor intensive for me! And far too slow in its progress.

I also happened by Bronwyn & Tamara at Amitie it was lovely to meet you both!

Have a lovely weekend! Think of me and my aching fingers stitching, stitching, stitching. My Bernina is feeling very neglected!

Kellie

What are you doing tomorrow - episode 2

Remember last Friday well that was pretty good ... but tomorrow I'm going here! It just gives you goose bumps doesn't it?

I shouldn't actually be going because Joshua has kinder tomorrow which would normally go from 9.30 to 12md which wouldn't give me enough time to get there and back and neither would between 12md and school pick up. So because I can't get anyone to collect him from kinder, tomorrow he comes with me (complete with Nintendo & a portable DVD player!).

Not a very good parent I know ... look at his sad face because he can't go to kinder with his friends.

Oh so genuine! This is his reaction when he took a look at the picture of his 'sad' face ...

And finally I promised him that I would post this one of his favorite hero 'Wario' ...

he likes him best because he wears yellow and he is very 'stwong' ... important to have a good costume when you are a super hero!

I thought I should also include these ones so as not to leave out the others (plus I have no craft pictures today). The twins are compiling sound books in their class as a part of their home work they make a collage of pictures relating to the letter of the week. This week is 'M' so we had to have a picture of them with our best 'M' word of all ... Megan!

Have a great weekend ... I'll be spending mine folding all of the fabric that I am going to buy tomorrow!

Kellie

Not enough hours in the day ....

My husband is feeling pretty good about himself after receiving your approval regarding my birthday present. Hopefully this will encourage him to out do himself next year :) . I had a great time in Sydney although my plane left Melbourne at 6.30am not 7.30 as I had thought so that was a challenge - to make sure that I didn't meet myself going to bed when I got up at 3.30 in the morning. Poor Sue struggled a little with my colour choices & just took deep breaths regarding my need to enlarge the design ... but she coped (I think). The ladies that I met were all delightful and took very good care of me.

So to ensure that I get enough value from these classes I have decided that need to make sure that I get enough of the quilt done between now and the 2nd of May when I go up for the second class.

In the original quilt there are over 300 clam shells so mine will have even more than this as my quilt is that bit bigger. I worked out that if I do 25 a day for 14 days I'd have 350 completed which would be a good start. Plus, the quilt is 'quilt as you go' and she has quilted it using pearl 8 in straight lines across the center of the quilt 1" apart before completing the applique! When she said this I sunk deeply into my chair, thinking "I'll never get this quilt made". Then on the flight home I worked out that if I do 5 lines a day for 16 days I'd have finished the quilting and could make a good start on the applique before the next class. "Yay! I can do that", I thought.

Well it must have been the tiredness on the plane or something because although my plan sounded good it is not going so well thus far. I am 4 days into it and I have only managed 8 rows of quilting - it takes me 40 minutes to complete one row! The clam shell are going that bit better as I have 100 of them completed - they are easy!

In addition to this I have the 'secret project' that I should have had finished before the Sydney trip so I wouldn't need to worry about it now. The quilt top of this project has been completed so sometime this week I will try and sandwich it up and machine quilt it.

And last but not least I have another exciting thing lined up that I can't really talk about yet other than to say that I have another dead line - which is actually due the first Monday in June but because I am gong up to Sydney in May (which is where it needs to be delivered) I hope to take it with me then. Nothing like a little bit of self imposed pressure.

I should go because Joshua has just told me for the 150th time that he doesn't want a shower ... I want to know who told him he had a choice? Rush hour in our house isn't really rush hour ... more like rush 5 hours with homework, reading, play, bathing, eating & 'trying to kill Mummy' time who has time to post on a blog .... not me!

Kellie

PS. I have been tagged again, again! Lisa I will get to this very soon I promice! 

What are you doing tomorrow?

Here is what I'm doing and honestly I don't mean to make you jealous!

My alarm will go off at 4.30am, OK so I know this wont make any of you wish you were me but wait for it ...

Then after getting ready etc etc I am going to take the 30 minute drive to the airport, all by my self just like an adult without kids and catch the 7.30 flight to Sydney where I will catch a taxi to here where I am doing a class with Sue Cody to make this quilt, Tree of Life!

I first saw this quilt last year at the Sydney Quilt Show (another independent adult adventure) and I have been literally dreaming of it since. I never thought I would find a pattern or what's more a class so I set about collecting fabrics and dreaming about my version of this quilt - I have pages & pages of sketches and notes. Then about 4 months ago I saw a post here and one thing lead to another and now I'm off to make it, tomorrow ... YAY!

Just a few words of apology in advance to Sue Cody (I know she will never see this other wise I would never fore worn her!);

I have never taken a class to complete a project - I have only ever done technique classes and there is a good reason for this ... I just can't follow someone else's pattern / design, no matter how hard I try! It is an illness that I have. Life would be so much easier if I could just toe the line ... I may well be the worst student that she will ever encounter!

So I will go tomorrow complete with my own pictures in my head (I will refrain from taking my sketch book I think that that would be a bit too much don't you?), a plan to make it queen sized not the size that it actually is (? maybe double who knows) and a very excited demeanor!

I have my stash together and I topped it off with a big purchase from Amitie on Saturday of some delicious linen for the background.

Finally I should thank my sweet husband as this is my birthday present, because the quilting frame wouldn't fit in my sewing room! So there you have it this is what I will be doing tomorrow and the next two 'first Fridays of the month'.

Have a great weekend!

Kellie

My budding quilt artists!

As I have said before, I am a magazine junkie. Homespun is not one of my 'buy without previewing' regulars, but it has found its way into my home the last couple of months. I am not usually one to enter competitions either, I have that 'I never win anything so what's the point' attitude in most instances ... also my procrastination never helps either! Anyway, after a little encouragement to actually look at this magazines competitions by Meggie (not mine),I found a fabulous competition for Young Designers which has absolutely taken over the thoughts & activities of my girls.

Megan has planned a rather fabulous tree and we went for a little trip down to Amitie today to collect the fabric for her creation ...

My girl has some style! She has done hand piecing in the past and did very well ... I think that there must be some connection between small hands and small stitches. It will be interesting to see how she goes with applique.

Jessica, on the other hand, is influenced more by her mummy don't you think? And has chosen a more complex design so we have decided to use fabric paint to get the picture right.

It was very busy at Amity today we were lucky to see Louise & Cathy and I hate myself because there was another blogger there and do you think I can get the old brain cells to recall her name (help me Louise!) Ahrrr Cathy came to my aid it was the lovely Fiona who has FIVE kids, I am jealous! ... anyway the shop was full & I must say that my sweet babies sat so beautifully under the spell of their Nintendos for what must have seemed like an eternity to them ... mind you there were plenty of threats and bargains made prior to entry into the store!

Thank you everyone for your lovely comments about my 'secret project' I'll have more pictures soon!

Anyway I will go for now but I will be back in the next couple of days with something pretty exciting ... for me anyway!

Kellie

P.S Thank you Meggie for encouraging me to look at the competitions we are having some great Mother, daughter time because of you!