Here’s an excerpt:

A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 2,500 times in 2011. If it were a cable car, it would take about 42 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

I travelled to Sydney in January, February, May, June, August and December.  Twice for work and the rest for holidays.  I travelled to Mount Gambier on New Year’s Eve 2010 and 2011.

I didn’t work much at my second job but I did work some crazy hours at my first job.  I had 8 people leave my team (with another one on the way as we speak) and I trained another 8 to take their places.  Right now, I’m still one team member down and with the one that is currently leaving this will take me to 2 down and I still have someone going on holidays for 3 weeks in January.

When I did have a full trained team it was awesome.  Unfortunately, those times have been far and few between.  I learnt how to juggle even more and I also learnt how to be flexible and also how to ignore work.

For the year ahead; I want to learn how to be more balanced, how to actually walk out the door on time.  I plan on going to the gym more often and also more consistently.  I have applied to uni to study a Degree in Management with the view of going onto the Diploma in Project Management.  I’ll also help my Dad with his business and work are currently talking to me about a new role that is completely different to the one that I have.

I started going to quilt class in 2011 mainly for the company and to meet people that have the same interests as me.  It was good and I really enjoyed it and look forward to going again next year.

This lead to me sewing more.  I finished 12 quilts (10 quilts, 1 bed runner and 1 quilt cushion) of which 5 were WIPs/UFOs.

2011 Finished Quilts

I also started a few more tops than I finished and I finished quite a few from the bits and bobs stage to a completed flimsy top; there are 13 in total, but I could only find photos of 11 of them.

2011 WIPs

I bought 3 lines of fabric; Sunkissed by Sweetwater, Kingdom by Jessica Levitt and Woodland by Natalie Lymer.  I drooled over Countdown to Christmas by Sweetwater and I very nearly bought that as well but I managed to restrain myself and only purchased a Jelly Roll.  I also bought lots of other bits and pieces.  Some to finish quilts, others for backing purposes and some just ’cause it was pretty

I spent a lot of time on the computer reading blogs and hence I have quilt a few more quilt ideas in my head that I haven’t even begun!

And now, I just want to wish you all a very Happy New Year!

May it be full of growth, fantastic opportunities, challenges, ups and downs (to appreciate the ups), new friends, old friends, fresh starts, inspiration, creativity and enough to do it all in

When I got home I cut the black homespun up so that I could finish Made in Cherry.  Unfortunately, it seems and that black is not always black

Anyways, I trolled through my stash and found some black homespun that matched in a quilt kit that has the fabric for Asian Bricks in it.

I re purposed one 3.5′ strip and finished off Made in Cherry.  It ends up being 60′ square so it’s quite large.  I can see that I’m going to have fun (not!) quilting this eventually!

Made in Cherry (60' x 60')

From there, I started sewing Asian Bricks together.  Asian Bricks is quilt kit that my Mum bought when the local quilt shop in Mount Gambier closed down.  I thought that she had forgotten about it but she keeps on making comments about me finishing it in time to give it to her for her 60th Birthday – in October…..

So, knowing that this year is going to be busy (helping Dad with his business, possibly going back to uni and still working FT) and that as the quilt is (to me) a monster 83′ x 85′ it will need to go to the quilter as I certainly won’t be able to quilt it.  This means that I will have to be extra organised with it to ensure that it is finished in time to give to the quilter and then give her time to get it back to me as well.

Asian Bricks

It’s coming together quickly which is good but as the 3 main bricks are 9.5′ x 16.5′ it makes it a bit hard to manuever both on the sewing machine and also on the ironing board.  It will look awesome when it’s done though.

Unfortunately, my holidays have now come to an end and I’m back to work tomorrow which is a pain as it will seriously hamper my sewing time   Although, I’m thinking that my credit card thinks that it is a good thing!

Anyways, it’s late (for a school night that is) and tomorrow will be an early start so I guess I better head off to catch some zzz’s.

Sweet dreams y’all

{Nearly} Made in Cherry

I’ve been sewing on and off today on my Made in Cherry Quilt and all day I have been umming and ahhing about whether I should make a trip to Tricia’s or not.  I rang at 2.45pm to find out what time they closed and they advised in 15mins so that kind of sorted that for me

I then kept on sewing but I hoped that I had enough fabric to finish the top.  I took a break around 4pm and came back to it at 7pm and continued sewing until about 11pm.  This is where I found that I didn’t have enough fabric

As I’ve been sewing the quilt together I have also been thinking about the quilting and binding.  I think I will go with my bodgy squiggles all over (but change the thread colour for the star and the black blocks) as I think if I do a grid it will take away from the star pattern.  I’m also going to bind it in plain black for the same reason.

Just 13 more 3.5′ square black blocks and I would have finished it.  Oh well……

Off to the fabric shop tomorrow!

Actually, it’s funny.  I knew that Christmas was close but it was only today that I worked out that it is next weekend.  That’s only 5 business days away!

Anyways, when we finished I came home and started sewing on Made in Cherry again and after stopping for dinner I have now finished it to the halfway point.

Made in Cherry (Halfway)

I can’t believe it is coming together so quickly.  I wasn’t sure about how it was going to turn out but now that I have done half I can see that thankfully it will work with the scraps that I have on hand.

I’m thinking of quilting it in a grid form like Rita (Red Pepper Quilts) on her latest quilt.

The only problem that I can see with quilting it this way is that this quilt is going to be 60′ square so doing it in a grid form means that it will take forever to actually quilt it.  Even knowing this, this is the option that I’m leaning towards.

The other option is to quilt the star in a beige thread in my squiggles and the black fabric in black thread in squiggles.

If I was better and cleverer at quilting I’d do something fancy with the star and then feathers or something similar in a contrasting thread in the open black fabric.

Binding wise, I’m thinking black or perhaps red or even the orange (Michael Miller) fairy frost that I used in Rolling Along.  I’ll have to think about it some more…..

Although, I’m not sure how long I’ll be able to think cause I’m leaning towards finishing this one next instead of Pink Windy Days or Choc Coconut Ice.

Anyways, I’m off to bed to catch some zzzz’s and I’ll finish this quilt tomorrow.

Sweet dreams y’all

I have just returned from a week and a half holiday in Newcastle visiting my Dad who lives there.  His birthday is at the start of December, so I like to visit then so that I can celebrate it with him.

In the lead up to this visit I had been doing a lot of work on my hexagon quilt and I had started doing the pink borders.  However, I found that after I sewed quite a few rows onto it I didn’t like it as I felt that there wasn’t enough contrast with the fabric values and it looked ‘muddy’ and it also didn’t really fit in with what I had already done.

The Hexagon Quilt

 With that in mind, I went on a fabric buying mission whilst on holidays and anytime Dad took me somewhere I would Google to see if there were fabric shops in the area we were going to

Sew & Tell {Berry}

On the Friday that I arrived, Dad took me down to Nowra to visit his friend and we stopped in Berry for coffee and snacks on the way.  I visited The Berry Patchwork Shop and Sew and Tell as well. I bought fabric at both shops.

The Berry Patchwork Shop {Berry}

The Berry Patchwork Shop also had an owl quilt on display that was absolutely gorgeous so I bought the pattern for that as well.

Jukejema Quilting Barn {Nowra}

From there we went to Nowra and by chance went past Jukejema Quilt Shop.  Dad was going to continue driving past but I made him stop   I got more pink fabric and also a jelly roll of Countdown to Christmas by Sweetwater that I had been desperately wanting for months.

SewCity {Hamilton}

My next quilt shop visit was in Hamilton at Sew City where they also sell Janome machines.  I bought more fabric from there as well.

Patchwork Product {Rydalmere}

After that visit my credit card was feeling slightly flat as I had also ordered Jessica Levitt’s book online at Sew Mama Sew so I gave it a rest knowing that on the following Friday I would be visiting with a family friend in Sydney who also quilts and she would take me for more fabric shopping at Craft Depot and Patchwork Product.

Craft Depot {Pennant Hills}

Both trips were very successful and I came home with more pink fabric.  There were also some blues and greys that wanted to come home with me and who am I to say no to them?

The Entire Loot

The next worry was that I may not be able to bring them all home with me as I didn’t know if I had (a) enough room or (b) enough weight room.  I weighed the fabric and it was 1.6kgs.  I then knew that I came across with 18kgs and I had 5kgs to spare so the question was then what else had I bought?  Dad kindly repacked my suitcase so it all fit in and then when the suitcase was weighed it came to a grand total of 21kgs so I made it with 2kgs to spare!

I haven’t cut into any of the fabric just yet as I have been doing some work for Dad, undoing the pink hexagons that I had sewn together and I started another quilt last night (like I need another WIP!).

This quilt is a version of Sarah Fielke’s Made in Cherry quilt.  The pattern is a free pattern on the Lecien site but Chelsea of Pins and Bobbins blogged about alternate sizes and that you could do it in 3.5′ squares.  That then reminded me that I have a whole shoebox full of 3.5′ square sraps that I wanted to decrease so I thought with some black fabric this pattern would be perfect to decrease those squares.  I have done the first 3 rows so far but I’m a bit worried about how it’s going to look in the end.  I think it’s either going to all come together and look amazing or it’s going to look terrible as it is all scrappy.  We’ll see…..

Then, updating my 2011 finishes page, I have realised that I have finished 12 quilts this year and started 12.  Which means that my ufo list isn’t really progressing!  I’m starting new qst as I’m finishing them.  The only good thing is that I seem to be finishing them as I’m starting so I won’t have too many carry over to next year.

Anyways, I think I’ve rambled enough so I’m off to sew some hexagons whilst I wait for Grandma to be finished with the eye doctor

I finished Rolling Along on 27th November 2011.

It was started on 25th September so it was a quick quilt

It only took 9 days to complete the flimsy.  Once completed to flimsy stage though it did sit in my sewing room for a while.  I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with it or who to give it to.

Then, my mind jumped to the fact that I was going to visit my Dad in Newcastle in December so I thought I would finish it and take it with me and then Dad could give it to one of his friends if he wanted to.

I started quilting it in the middle of November.  From memory it was the first weekend after Grandma got out of hospital so it would have been the 19th November that I would have pinned it and started to quilt it.

I had half of it quilted and my mind then went to what colour I would bind it with.  I was thinking a raspberry colour but when I took it to Quilt Class I got Sharon and Joss to help me and we ended up with a Michael Miller orange Fairy Frost.

Rolling Along

On the 26th I was re-energised to finish the quilt, that and the weekend after I wouldn’t be able to finish it as I was flying to Sydney on 1 December.

So, after doing the normal weekend errands I sat down and finished it.

I really like how it finished up and I really ♥ the orange binding as well

Chelsea Steps (61' x 61')

Chelsea Steps is a UFO from 2008.  It came about from my cousin coming down to my house one weekend for a coffee and her looking in my sewing room and deciding that she would like to learn how to do patchwork.

I picked this pattern out of Australian Patchwork and Quilting as it was a pattern that I did want to do and also it was easy enough for a beginner.

I had all of the fabric already for mine, so when she went home I cut out all of the fabric that I would need and then I waited for her to have time to come back down so that we could go fabric shopping.  Unfortunately, the fabric shopping excursion and sewing lessons have yet to happen.  As you can see though, I went ahead and made the quilt anyways.

I’m not sure when I finished the flimsy but I do know that it has been complete for a while as it has been sitting in my sewing room waiting for me to finish it by doing it’s quilting at least since January 2011.

As it’s so big, I took it to Quilt Class in August to pin.  I like taking my quilts to pin to Quilt Class cause everyone helps and it gets it done heaps quicker than me doing it on my own at home.  That, and the tables are bigger so you don’t have to keep moving it around.

As it’s quite big, it took me much longer to quilt.  I think it was around 16 hours whereas I can normally get a quilt done in perhaps 9 hours (without attaching the binding).

In February this year I visited Patchwork Product (OMG amazing shop/shed!) in NSW when I was there on holidays and when I was there I saw this green wide back on sale.  I didn’t really have plans for it other than it was cheap and it would be good as a backing.  I wasn’t planning on using it for this quilt as I already had a backing in mind for this quilt (or so I thought!).

As this year has rolled on, I have found and started another Christmas Quilt (Starry Eyed) that I like much better.   Having found this quilt and started it allowed me to be able to give this one away.  As I had worked out that I would give it away I didn’t use the backing that I had in mind and went looking through my stash to see if I had anything else that would be suitable.  That’s when I found the green backing and declared it perfect for this quilt.

I didn’t have anyone in mind to give it away to, so I asked my Grandma if there was someone that she would like to give it to.  She said she wanted to give it to her hairdresser Clarinda, then when I asked when she wanted to do that she said the day that Clarinda will come and do our hair for my cousin’s wedding (October 17).

So, I said ok and put my butt into my sewing room chair and got to work.

Chelsea Steps

I ended up binding it in the same fabric as the border as I didn’t really want to buy anymore fabric for it.  However, if I had of bought fabric I would have purcharsed a dark green to complement the inner border.  I think that it still looks ok, but the green binding would have made it look better.

It was finally finished on 4th September 2011 with plenty of time to spare

When we gave it to Clarinda she was speachless and in tears.  She absolutely loved it and apparently the backing matches her bed cover!

Kingdom

I couldn’t be happier with it.  It’s my favourite   And I’ve also got 2 friends that want it too!  I would make them one each as well but the focus fabric of the quilt is very sparse on the 2 sites that I bought the fabric originally from so I think it will stay one of it’s kind

It’s already kitteh approved too…

Kingdom is Kitteh Approved

This quilt is one of my favourites already and it is definitely going to be sent off to be done on a long arm.

♥ ♥ ♥

Quarter Finished {12/11/11}

A half finished quilt!

Half Finished {13/11/11}

I can’t wait to see this one completed.  I’m also leaning towards getting it professionally quilted cause I don’t think that my quilting will do it justice.

‘Scuse the crappy photos and poor staging areas!