I was tagged

 Camilla from Faffling was kind enough to tag me in a little game of blog tag as a way of getting to know me a little better. Now I have never been good at these "tag" thingos, and frankly I don't follow 11 other blogs to tag :( But I am going to be a sport and answer the questions that Camilla asked me and to let you know 11 things about me that you might not know already :)

11 Things about me

1. I am the first born in my family. I have a brother who is 2 years younger than me.

2. I grew up on a farm, and I still have an affinity with rural life.

3. I am a people person. I enjoy talking to people about what they do. This makes my job as a radiographer a lot easier.

4. I enjoy the challenge of learning new things.

5. When I was a child I wanted to be a teacher or a National Park ranger. I have a love of birds that I got from  my dad.

6. I hate spiders. I am learning to tolerate them more but am still of the opinion that the only good spider is a dead one!

7. My hubby and I met at high school. We dated for a bit, broke up and then didn't speak to each other for 5 years. We got back in touch and the rest is history!

8. Since we have been married, hubby and I have lived in 9 different houses, in 2 different states.

9. I yearn for a simpler way of life - and hopefully I will find this when we move back to the Barossa next year.

10. I like old things - particularly kitchenalia. I love that an object can have a story to it - a measuring jug that is 60 years old was once a housewife's prize possession, a rolling pin may have made a hundred pies before coming home with me.

11. I have dutch heritage - my mum emigrated when she was 15. This year was the 50th anniversary of her arrival.

Camilla's questions for me.

What is one of the best places you've been to?

I really enjoyed Tasmania...lots of unspoilt areas there

Where would you like to travel to, even if not possible at the moment?

Hubby and I would really love to travel to France and spend 6 months living there.

What's the best thing you've made?

Quilts for my kids. They love them and drag them everywhere.

Tom's woodland quilt.

What do your family/friends think about your blogging?

I don't really think they have much of a opinion!

What else do you like to do in your spare time other than make stuff?
I like to read. I tend to read non fiction more than fiction. I also like to bake :).

Yummy apricot slice

What's the last good book you read?

I really enjoyed "Off the Rails" by Tim Cope and Chris Hatherly, two mates who cycled across Russia and into China. You can read more about it here

What's on your "to read" list?

I have a few things on my bedside table waiting to be read, but nothing special.

What's your real job?

I am a radiographer. I am currently working for Breastscreen where I take mammograms

Would you choose it again? Why or why not?

Yes. It is an interesting and varied job and allows me to use my brain whilst having contact with people. It has proven to be a very flexible job and there is nearly always work available.

How many places (different towns) have you lived in since you were born?

Six. Crowther, Sydney, Newcastle, Tumut, Rowland Flat, Coffs Harbour

If you weren't living where you are, where would you live?

I'd be living in the Barossa Valley!

OK....Kate from ManicMumdays has offered to be tagged! So here are my 11 questions for her.

1. Where is your favourite place to visit?
2. How long have you been living where you are now?
3. Do you have a no-fail recipe? What is it?
4. What's the last good book you read?
5. What's your "real job"?
6. Would you choose it again? Why or why not?
7. What would be your dream job?
8. Are you a radio listener? Talkback or music?
9. Are you a sweet tooth or a savoury person?
10. What would be your ideal Sunday?
11. What's the best piece of housekeeping advice that you have received?

Good luck Kate!

Wombat Stew

It was such a relief to head to quilt group yesterday! After a month's hiatus due to moving and unpacking I was keen to get back into things. Finally I think that I have my sewjo back too :)

Kristy @ Quietplay is this month's Queen Bee in the Wombat Stew Bee and she had requested a sewing theme. When she posted the pattern for a seam ripper on our FB page last week I immediately popped my hand up and said "pick me, pick me" Kristy blogged about this pattern last week here

So yesterday at Quilt group I had a crack at the pattern. Kristy is a purple fan and likes a bit of Kate Spain so I dug out my leftovers from my big Terrain quilt (I will blog about this eventually!) and put this together.

I have got to say that this block came together like a dream - no unpicking, no pieces sewn in the wrong place...just beautiful! Don't you love when that happens??! And I have got to say, I think that has A LOT to do with the quality of Kristy's patterns. All the patterns of hers that I have used (there would be at least 6) have come together with no fuss. Everything is well thought out and the instructions are easy to follow.

This block is already in Kristy's possession...she was my table buddy at quilt group yesterday :). I was lucky to get it all finished in one sitting (it took about an hour) and managed to sneak a few pics before Kristy took it home.

Interested in Wombat Stew? You can follow us on Flickr

Sunday stash #11

It's a grey and wet day in Coffs today. After weeks and weeks of warm, dry weather it is lovely to see some rain. It's the kind of day for mooching around with a good cup of tea, and hopefully some sewing

We have had a busy week with moving house and packing up the other house. But the end is in sight - the cleaner and carpet cleaner are booked and everything is looking good for settlement next Tuesday. I haven't touched my sewing machine for more than a week and I can't wait to get into things today in between some baking.

I have a few additions to the stash this week. All come from Big W. The tradeoff for taking T to look at the LEGO is that I get to browse the fat quarters! All the fabric I bought this week was with a project in mind.

The black flowers are going to be used to make Shirley's November QCA Bee block. You can find the pattern here. Shirley has requested black and whites for her block.

The pink sewing fabric might come in useful for Kristy's Wombat Stew block. Kristy is Queen Bee this month and has requested blocks with a sewing theme.

The next two fabrics are both from Riley Blake collections. After seeing all the great projects on the Sew Seasonal blog hop I have been inspired to get sewing. Rather than buy lots of Christmas themed fabric, I am going to try and use reds,greens and white for some of Alyce's ornaments.

And lastly...some orange and some hot pink! This is for Lara from Luellabella. She is QCA Bee Queen Bee for December and has requested this fantastic feather block in colours inspired by Gemma from Pretty Bobbins. Gemma made a gorgeous triangle quilt in oranges,pinks and grey with a touch of yellow thrown in. You can see it here

I don't have a lot of orange in my stash, but should be able to scrap together some pinks. I am hoping that I still have some bright orange Terrain scraps floating around somewhere!

Today is Remembrance Day...I will be making sure that I stop for a minute and remember the sacrifices made for others. Kate from Kate's Quilt has shared a poem today that sums it up. Read her post here.

So, on the list of things that I need to tackle in the coming week:

* my Wombat Stew house block for Jane (it was due last month!)

* my QCA block for Shirley

* toss around some design ideas for Kristy's sewing block

* make the binding for the 3 quilts that came back from the quilter last week.

Linking up as always with Fiona from Finding Fifth :)

Sew Seasonal - A Christmas blog hop. Day 2

Welcome to day 2 of the Sew Seasonal blog hop! 

So last week I gave you a little sneak peek of what I would be sharing as part of the blog hop.

Any guesses??

Alyce of BlossomHeartQuilts and Kristy of Quietplay have designed 25 patterns as part of this blog hop and I was lucky enough to score the pattern for Mary and Joseph designed by Kristy.

This is a fabulous pattern and I had a lot of fun doing it. The fabrics that I used for Mary's outfit, and Joseph's beard and headware are all from Figgy Pudding by Moda - a Festive themed collection that was released in 2009.

Now, I am in no way a paper piecing expert, but here are a few tips for paper piecing that I find useful.

1. Keep your stitch length short - it makes removing the paper at the end so much easier.

2. If you have trouble visualising what you need to sew, you can always trace your pattern onto tracing paper or baking paper and use that to sew through. I did that for a while when I first started paper piecing. I know have enough confidence to sew using regular paper.

3. If in doubt, use a bigger piece of fabric. I hate unpicking, and most of my unpicking results from using a piece of fabric that is too small for the job. Use bigger pieces until you gain confidence.

4. Spray starch is your friend. 

5. When joining each piece of the pattern together, I find i get a better result if I keep the paper on the back. It keeps everything rigid and together and allows you to see where your seams should line up.

Now I made my little block into a Christmas card to that we will give to my son's teacher as part of her end of year Christmas thank you.

If you would like to try this pattern or any of the others featured in the Sew Seasonal blog hop, you can download them for FREE here and here

Don't forget to head over and visit Jane at WhereJaneCreates for today's other project!

Sunday stash #10

I have had some last minute additions to my stash this week. Kristy from Quietplay and Jane from WhereJaneCreates both live quite close to me, so when any of us do an international fabric order we check if the others would like to help fill the postage bag. Last week Kristy did an order with Fabricshack and put the call out for help to make up the 9 yards. I said "pick me, pick me!!"

So yesterday on her way to Spotlight, Kristy dropped in my purchases! I ordered two charm packs - always good for a small project and variety.

The first pack is Reunion by Sweetwater.

Such happy fabric! I love the bunting. There is also quite a few text prints, which are always fun to pop into a paper piecing block.

My second pack is Spa by Deb Strain

I actually hadn't seen this fabric range before, but was sold on the colours. Lots of blues and whites....kinda like tiles. You can see the full range below

Spa by Deb Strain - courtesy of sewingbox.com.au

I also ventured to Spotlight yesterday. There was 40% off all quilting fabrics, so what's a girl supposed to do??!! I picked up this pretty fabric from the Denyse Schmidt range...I thought it would make a good binding (i like spotty bindings!)

I also bit the bullet and bought close to a full bolt of white homespun - I got 13m (a full bolt at spotty is 15m). I also bought 5m of grey homespun. The total for my 19m of fabric?? $80! Now just to hide the bolt! This won't be too difficult as we are moving house next week and I have bought 2 new 80L storage tubs for all my fabric...am sure I can pop it in there and hubby won't notice.

Now I did also get some Lotta Jansdotter fabric love from Kristy this week, but I have zealously packed it away so I can't show that to you :(. Maybe next week!

Linking up as always with Fiona from Finding Fifth

Lots of little things

Ok....I have been quiet, but it's been a busy couple of weeks, and I am just trying to get all my eggs into one basket! In the last 3 weeks our plans for the coming year have changed. We are no longer moving to the Barossa at the end of the year - we will be staying in Coffs for another 12mths for my husband's work. And of course once we decided that, our house, which had been on the market for 3 months, has sold. So, we have to move house anyway! We are heading to a very nice townhouse that has a pool that I won't have to clean! So I'm in the process of packing some things, and deciding what I can and can't live without for the next 12mths or so - most of our stuff will be going into storage in SA. And of course all of this comes right in the middle of a time where I am working fulltime for the first time in 8 years!!!

Anyways - I have been managing to sneak in some sewing time and it's all been paper piecing!

One of my son's school friends had a birthday party last weekend. She is 7 and totally into Dr Who. After scanning the shops and not really finding anything Dr Who there, I thought that I would tackle a few of the awesome paper piecing patterns from Fandom In Stitches.

Dr Who Logo and Tardis

The Doctor's Sonic Screwdriver

I then sewed it into a pouch and lined it with some teardrop fabric and finished it off with a velcro closure. I forget to snap a pic, but my son's friend loved it, and has been bringing it to school everyday to carry her favourite things :)

The other project i have been working on is some blocks for Wombat Stew - the paper piecing bee that I am part of. Alyce from BlossomHeartQuilts was Queen Bee for Sept and she asked for sushi inspired blocks.

My first block was inspired by a japanese plate that I found whilst googling.

I showed the pic to the lovely Kristy from Quietplay - she ran it through EQ7 and here is the result - 

My second block was inspired by Japanese tea. I sketched the design and Kristy was able to run it through EQ7 so that I would have a pattern to work from - here is the result.

I used some Rice Bowls fabric from Lecien to make the teapot and to add an accent to the cups.

I believe that the pattern for this block and the Sunrise plate will be available in Kristy's Craftsy shop in the coming weeks :)

You can see the rest of the Wombat Stew blocks here on Alyce's blog. We have such talented stitchers in our bee! You can also find us on Flickr

And in other news - I am a late minute addition to the lineup for the Sew Seasonal Blog Hop! I am very excited to be involved and to have an opportunity to help showcase the great designs from Kristy and Alyce.

Here is a little sneak peak of what I will be working on - 

I hope you can join me here on November 2nd!

Sunday Stash #9

Just a small Sunday Stash for me this week after a 3 week hiatus. We have just spent some time away in the Barossa Valley. I did no sewing, nor did I get the chance to venture into any of the local quilting shops (there are two). Instead I spent my time with my hands in work gloves, mixing render by the bucketful and playing around with paint colours. Lots of fun.

But all good things come to an end and we are back in Coffs Harbour and Term 4 starts tomorrow! On our return, a little parcel of fabric goodness was waiting for me! I bought this little 1/2 yard bundle thru the Joshua Rack Medical Appeal charity auction in Sept. A very worthy cause. You can read more about Danielle and Joshua's journey here.

I have plans for this little bundle. A friend of mine who lives near the beach in Sydney has just welcomed a new addition to her family - a little boy called Henry. I think a quilt is in order, and that this bright seaside fabric fits the bill :)

I love the little crabs - too cute.

We have quilt group this afternoon - yay!! I have missed my quilty peeps over the holidays - looking forward to a cuppa, some fabric petting and hopefully a bit of sewing too. My Janome is still at the mechanics, patiently awaiting her service, so I will be digging out my Singer Featherweight and giving her a run this afternoon.

Linking up today with Fiona from Finding Fifth