And again, more scraps out and more scraps sewn.....

Now this post is especially for my dear young friend Jennie.  Jennie has just started to follow my blog after recently discovering I had one.  We have been friends for several years now and don't get to see each other too often as Jennie has  very full life with full time work, almost full time study and four grown kids to keep her occupied!  Jennie is also a quilter though she doesn't get to sew anywhere near as much as she would like to for all the above reasons. 
Anyway, I normally post last thing at night before I go to bed, and during the school holidays that has been quite late (or sometimes quite early!) Jennie has told me that this has to change as I am posting after her bed time and she can't stay up late enough to read it.  Poor dear!  She just isn't the party animal she used to be.  Never mind, this post is early Jennie, just for you!

Tonight I am not going to bore you with the details of our ongoing clutter busting war but suffice to say we are winning the battle - but I am pooped! So that deals with more scraps out!

I did manage a couple of hours sewing this morning, and I mean very early morning as I had a rare bout of insomnia and gave up trying to sleep from 445am onwards and sewed till 8am when my husband woke up. 
I also managed another couple of hours sewing from 4 till 630pm and HOORAY!  I managed to complete all the blocks for my Scrappy Wonky Log Cabin Quilt for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge! 

And here it is laid out on the carpet ( I sew need a design wall!!!)

Tonight's task, and I have the rest of the evening to do it, is to sew it all together.  the pile of blocks is sitting on the machine waiting for me, all neatly numbered so now that I have posted for Jennie, she can go off to bed and I can start sewing!  Don't tell Jennie, but if I finish in time I might even post the completed quilt top later tonight...but we will see.
For now, sweet dreams Jennie
And Happy stitching everyone else!

Jan-Maree

scraps out and scraps sewn!

Wow!  Been a busy couple of days!  Scraps out and scraps sewn?  Well, the scraps out are the result of my husband and I getting in and tidying our teenage son's bedrooms, while they are away.  Guitar Hero left for a holiday in Perth with friends of mine on Thursday night, so first thing Friday morning we started tidying.  I wish I had taken a before shot but the after shot will have to do. These shelves were loaded with lego and meccano models but Guitar Hero decided that he didn't want them on display anymore so out they came.  Only problem?  Not much left to go on the shelves so I put his caps there.  Both units have cupboard doors on the bottom though that doesn't show here,  I actually didn't throw out all the contents of the second one - it was pretty much full of empty storage boxes so we just removed those!

Today Fly Boy left to go abseiling with the Airforce Cadets so as soon as he left......more tidying!  I didn't take photos of his room, not as easy to do, but loads of junk came out of his room and lots of dusting.  For both rooms - lots of things found that had been "lost" or "taken' by the respective brother.  Amazing what turns up when you tidy!

My husband and I are really working hard at clutterbusting this month.  In fact this afternoon we took all the seats out of my van and loaded it full for a tip run!

So that is SCRAPS OUT!  And there will be many many more to go but another day!

Now, scraps sewn!  

This block comes from a Moose on the Porch Quilts Book called Simply Charming.  I love this block.  I have used it before and have decided that I am going to make these blocks every month and then decide what to do with them at the end of the year.  I am still making scrappy wonky log cabins but didn't get any blocks finished to show tonight so they will have to wait till tomorrow!
Now to bed.  Tomorrow we start tidying part of the boys' chill room - it is where their book's have been stored (which they are now too cool to read darn it!) and also where their PS3 is (more popular).  Every room is getting a big tidy and clutter bust - much more to come and lots to go I hope.
Happy Stitching!
Jan-Maree

How Exciting! I have been tagged!

Joyce was tagged by Cheryll, for this award and now Joyce has tagged me and I am delighted!  Why don't you visit Joyce's blog and check out her fabulous stitching but also her great drawings and envelopes.  Wish I could sketch like her.

I'm going to continue to share the award and name some fellow blogger friends who I'm sure would love your company also.  If you choose to participate, the rules are:  1)  Tell your readers who tagged you; 2)  Add a link to their blog. 3. Award 3-5 bloggers who you think deserve this award.

Inform them & post directions to your blogspot. Please don't tag people who already have 300 followers. The goal of this award is to get more publicity to blogs that are good, but not so well known.

So in the spirit of the award, I'm tagging Celia , Angela, LaDonna and Diana and Lisa.  I hope you will check out their blogs and enjoy them as much as I do!

And, P.S. I am keeping my fingers crossed that all my links worked as I didn't know how to do that until this post and I can't believe I got it right!

Happy stitching!

Jan-Maree

Finshed and resolved!

A good day today.  Started out doing errands, lunch out of the way and then time to sew - yay!  A bit of work on my second Christmas quilt, laid it all out on the floor and still wasn't happy with it so decided to think on it!  Suddenly realised that the quilt I am making for my girlfriend has to be completed and packed into my son's suitcase tomorrow so I had better get that binding sewn!  Another family movie night tonight (The Bank Job - not too bad except for the bits that we had to fast forward thru coz we didn't think they were suitable for the 14 year old Fly Boy and Guitar hero!).  Watching the movie and getting that binding sewn.  Done!  Time to make a decison on the Chrsitmas Quilt and realised that I had to unpick all the sewing I had done this afternoon but that was okay - it filled in the second half of the movie.  I am not good at sitting in front of the TV with empty hands anyway!!
So, here is the completed quilt for Tracey...

 It is just as well I am giving this to Tracey, a friend of mine for at least 30 years, and it is just as well I don't have time to make another quilt as I really love the colours!  At least it is going to a good home.

 The pieced back - not quite as happy with it as I wanted to be but that is ok!  At least, for the first time, I remembered to write a label and incorporate it into the backing before I quilted it - I have been meaning to do that for AGES! and never remember til it is too late!  I hate sewing on labels!

 And this is my Christmas quilt!  The red blocks still need a final red strip along the bottom but no time for that tonight as I have to cut more and it is almost midnight!  Still it is enough for me to see that I like the direction now!

 The red star fabric and the green fabric on the left of each block is a really sparkly, and I mean SPARKLY!!!! fabric and I just love it.  I wish it showed up in photos but it really shows up in my living room!

Well, that is enough for me!  Tomorrow I hope to get the red strips on before I go to Quilt Group and then in the evening I will get back to sewing scraps as I have finally decided how I am going to complete my scrap quilt and I have a few other projects in mind!

And, now to bed!!!  or I won't be awake enough to sew tomorrow.....

Happy Stitching!!!

Busy day!

Been flat out like a lizard drinking today - or at least a lizard madly sorting thru all the Christmas decorations she owns, which is quite a few.  It was time for another sort, tidy and cull of the family ornaments.  There is now a box ready to go to St Vinnies, some ready to go to my cousin, some to try on EBay and some to give to friends.  

By then it was lunch time.  In the afternoon I cut out some more blue bits. Didn't get any sewing done on the blue bits today but cut out a few more ideas and decided how I am going to complete my quilt.  You will have to wait for that progress in a future post. 

First I want to show you the photo that I finally received from my nephew of them all wearing their aprons. 

From left to right we have my sister Glenis, her youngest, Naomi, her son, Joel, and his lively girlfriend, Sara.  The aprons were a great hit.  Yay!

And this is what I have been sewing tonight - 20 odd blocks for my second Christmas quilt.

I have to lay it out on the floor tomorrow and see what I think before I decide where I am going to go with it next.  I would love to get up and sew to morrow but I have to go out and run some errands so maybe tomorrow afternoon.  On Wednesday my quilt group is meeting so I will be out most of the day.

Oops it is after midnight - time I went to bed - Good night

oh and happy stitching!

More sewing the Blues!

Okey Dokey well I said I might make some more blocks and I did!  Another bunch and ended up with 27 blocks in total.  I chose a hot pink for the middle of these ones purely and simply because I had fifteen squares already cut in my scrap squares drawer. I have decided that for these Rainbow Scrap Projects I am only going to use scraps, and only if I absolutely must, pieces from my stash!  I won't buy anything new to go with the scraps and that includes the backings. 
This is what I have done so far.

 OOPS - that is not a scrappy project, that is my best puppy Maisy.  She is so cute - you only have to look at her and she wags her tail!  And she is lying on a blue pillow I couldn't resist including her!  Now back to the task at hand!  This is what I have done so far.

I decided to cut the blocks randomly on the diagonal.  I think it gives the quilt lots of movement. Only problem is that I want the quilt to be bigger so I am trying to decide what to do next.  Do I sew more blocks with different coloured centres?  I could add some sashings in say white or hot pink and then some more blocks or a chinese coin type border.  Tooo many decisions and too late to think straight about it now.

Any suggestions?  Please make a comment and let me know if you have any ideas!

Till then, Happy stitching!

Rainbow Scrap Challenge - feeling BLUE

I have joined the Rainbow Scrap Challenge that Angela from superscrappy.blogspot.com is hosting.  Sorry I don't know how to do all the fancy links and had to cut and paste the button above - will get there eventually, just not yet.  Anyway I have at least started the challenge which is within my technical limits.
this month's colour is BLUE so i pulled out my blue scraps and started sewing!

Twelve blocks later this is what I have.  They are very random and still have to be trimmed to size.  They will be nine and a half inches.  The problem is that I still have too many blue scraps leftover but I have used up most of the strips so I think I will cut some of the remainder into strips and sew a few more blocks as these twelve aren't quite enough for a quilt.  the cream centres were also scraps and they just happened to be the colour I had 12 of so I will look again and see what other squares I have in multiple colours that I think will be suitable and they will be the next lot of centres.

It is going to be really hot here today so I will be inside in the aircon sewing - today's task is to pin and quilt a gift for my girlfriend who is having my son to stay for a week's holiday in Perth.  He leaves on the 6th so finishing it is a priority.  So now I am off to layer, pin, quilt and then bind - see you!
Happy stitching!