Crazy Quilt Class Block

I'm not overly happy with this block but I am going to use this as the block to learn with for my Crazy Quilting online class... I am hoping that I can balance it all out with the embellishments I use...

Hope to get to work on my machine tomorrow for that letter pillow for my friend. She is coming to visit a few days after I get back from Sweden! 

A Day in the Life: A "Lazy" Friday

The girls and I have colds at various stages at the moment, and since today was Aisling's Friday playgroup and Aine and I couldn't have our regular date at the swimming pool with our colds, I decided to let Aisling play hookie from school, especially since she has been clingy lately.

I took a lovely bath this morning and got through quite a lot of my book club book, while the girls destroyed trying to keep them tidy, they are having too much fun, but I do make sure Aine helps me tidy them up before bedtime every evening. If she makes a mess she has to clean it up, or at least be trying while mommy probably does most of it played in their room next door. They love imagination games and Aine takes out her dresses for her teddies every day. I've given up for expedience! Aine has her thousands of teddies she plays with on her mattress there in the distance...she has been sleeping on her "Barbie" blow up bed as a special treat as Daddy is painting both beds PINK! I will dye their sheets pink to make the room even more horrible, lol...Eventually I will make quilts, etc, etc...

It is 11am and the girls are still not dressed. Aine is baking me a block birthday cake with lego flower decorations. I just blew out the candles and am eating the pink block with the letter K on it...

I think I will update this blog today as I go along...don't worry I won't do this again probably, but I thought it might be fun to try, there will be some quilting and crafting in the afternoon, I promise. And some cookie baking with kids, and some play-doh...and...

Okay, I'm back...we've made some Halloween sugar cookies, and Aine even fashioned her own "dad" cookie, LOL. The girls had fun, we made a mess...what's not to love...will clean up that mess when I start dinner... I have my priorities, I have been recently attending a teddy halloween party upstairs. Aine sang many songs for me while I peeled off the freezer paper from my Dear Jane...Aine finds it too boring apparently, so looks like the job falls to me!

DJ top to "flimsy" stage!!

Here she is, my Dear Jane top, done this afternoon!! The outside border will stay plain till the quilting is done and then will be cut into a scalloped border, yikes!

I've got to peel off all the freezer paper templates from the back of the quilt and fix a few frayed seams I've already spotted, but she is ready...to go to SWEDEN!!

Barbara and her DJ quilting friends in Vasteras (outside Stockholm) will be helping me to baste this quilt! And Barbara, who teaches hand quilting at her LQS, will get me started learning hand quilting on a few small pieces. The Dear Jane quilt won't be quilted until the new year, she will take a well deserved break for a while as I practice my hand quilting for a few months! I hope to say that this quilt is all hand sewn and quilted in the end.

Oh yeah...and I also finished my other mitten, now I have a pair! We have our knitting group tomorrow and I plan to work on the matching hat.

I've also got a crazy quilt class at www.joggles.com to get started on, and... I'm also dying of a fluey cold thing...hmmm maybe I am doing a bit too much me thinks! Especially with Aisling's 5:45am wakeup call this morning... Off to bed now, I'm tired! 

I Have "Knitten a Mitten" and other things...

This mitten knitted up so quick! I just started it Wednesday night... It is fun learning the new stitches again (increases, decreases, etc) and seeing something useful emerge from your needles...I was so darn excited to make that thumb, LOL! I plan on working on that and also getting my 4 inch strips for the edge of my DJ quilt cut out...

I will be starting a Crazy Quilt class next week and somehow feel that a trip to get some beads, some fabric and maybe some more wool might be formulating in my mind for today. I hate city center driving in Europe, I am no good a parking and parallel parking in Ireland is on the opposite side of the road that I learned on, to add to the complications, LOL! But I will brave the wilds of Limerick my local "big city" here in the name of my crafting!! I think. Aine has a cold, and while she is fine, I might just be all mommerly and hang around playing puzzles with her or something. She won't be able to go to her usual Saturday swim class, as her cough is pretty chesty...

I took my DJ quilt up to our bed yesterday to see how it will fit...pretty well, but I have to figure out how to make it look nice on our IKEA Leksvik sleigh type bed...the bottom corners will be a challenge.
Here is a still life I put together on top of our wardrobe. Two antique quilts and lots of baskets, one on the left was my grandma's, middle one was thrifted, and last one I bought in a French market. I love baskets...they are everywhere in my house, and I can even make my own willow ones, took a few classes, LOL! I liked the girl head statue and bought that a local garden centre. 

My DJ top is done!!

Well. Almost...just have to add the scallop around the edges...but all the blocks are sewn up into the quilt! Just took a little over a year and a half to get to this stage...started early February 2005 and it is all done by hand! I have found it very relaxing to work on the blocks a little at a time, my evening therapy for stressful days chasing after two dynamos ages 2 and 3!

Aine wanted to pose this morning with her apple, LOL! She will help me peel all the freezer paper templates off the back, she's been a great fan the whole way through. 

Knitting Progress!

Lots of us quilters seem to be starting up knitting again! I got started with Aine's scarf in August and finally got this hat done yesterday to match it. It was way to wide for her, despite having checked long the way for correct measurements etc, oh well! I fudged a better fit for her, and while not totally pleased with it, am happy enough.
While unpacking more boxes this week, I found a knitting project that should have been a sweater, but it stalled about 10 years ago and I eventually turned it into a pillow! It is a design with two trees intertwined, a sorta romantic symbol of our upcoming wedding at the time...boy did I learn a lot about cable stitches then!

I nearly finished sewing my last border together, I hope to start sewing it onto the quilt at my patchwork group tomorrow...

Need to start thinking about crazy quilting soon, I start my online class this weekend!

The Quilt that Swallowed My Husband!

It is taking over the house! It is getting so big now, it is very hard to get a good shot of the whole thing, so here is one of the corners. I've started on the last border now, so am getting excited!

Going to get out the knitting for a bit before bed, though, as I have a knitting group to go to now! About 6 local moms meeting in each others houses each Thursday. Very cool, and very nice people!

Corners of My Home!

Look what I got in the mail! My friend Katy, friend from way back in college, and fellow Bob Dylan fan and quilter, sent me this! We are both from Maryland, and both living in Europe, she is in London with me here in Ireland. It is nice, we usually meet up once a year or so. This year she was over for a Dylan concert in the summer, lol! Check out her nice work here. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU KATY!!

Here are a few photos of the house as it is developing. We had the tilers remove the hideous carpet in the kitchen and lay our new floor today...it is still a bit of a mess so kitchen photos another day!

The living room is getting nice and homey, and the second sitting room we ripped out the fireplace, and set up a kids playroom... I love that big bookcase for storing the kids toys!

I have three borders of the DJ done now, but will post that later, when I get my quilt holder away from the telly! 

Making Progress...

This is the view from our local library! I take the girls there every other week or so now and love this view! I'm really enjoying the patchwork group, and bring my Dear Jane quilt there to work on while I chat about quilting! How cool to find other people in real life that like quilting and fabric as much as I do...

I've finished the 3rd border on the Dear Jane quilt and now have to attach it. After getting the last border on, I'll need to do another plain border that will eventually be the scalloped edge...90 inches of straight sewing plain muslin is not going to be very exciting, especially done 4 times! Oh well!

Everyone seems to be posting goals for the month, so I think I'll join in!

1. Finish Dear Jane top
2. Start Crazy Quilting practice and Joggles.com class!

Since the first goal is a doozy, I don't think I'll add much to this list. I think this year I am not going to do too many hand made presents... in November, I will try to finish a baby quilt for a friend I will see in December, and maybe something for my parents for their new house, a small quilt...everything else will be bought!