Where did the time go?

 Things have been busy. I managed to finish the placemats a while ago and finally I have gotten around to blogging about them. I am still reading all my blogs but not doing much in the way of contributing by commenting or posting.

 I made this mug rug for Debbies' birthday.

We had our last race of the season on our wedding anniversary, which would probably be OK if we both raced but Dave just came to watch. This is near the end with only about 1 km to go. I am surprised at how much I enjoyed competing and hope to race with this team again next year.

A tale of four Placemats

I decided to make placemats using the tutorial by Alissa over  on her blog, Handmade by Alissa

This is the the fabric and the placement I decided  to use.

 This is the first one I made. Soo I decided to have 2 like this and 2 as planned.

 This is the next one I made. Sooo I decided to have 4 different placemats!!!

I like them now they are done. I am quilting them now so hope to show the finished product soon.

Imitation is the highest form of flattery

At least I hope it is.


I have been very busy and so of course got sick too which has resulted in very little sewing time. It seemed like if I had 5 minutes to spare I would go in the sewing room and achieve nothing. Then I saw this little gem and decided it would be quick and if I copied it I would not waste time choosing fabrics and a design. The colours have been changed but everything else is the same and I love it. It will hang on the wall above my machine. Victoria has made a similar one to her original with colours inspired from blood oranges which is gorgeous and very vibrant. Victoria's blog, The Silly Boo Dilly is always inspirational and I have made a few wonky stars in my time too.

The colours are better in real life



The back all ready to hang!

Quilting, training and other things

 I have been busy with various things lately. One is training for outrigger canoeing. I have gone from a social paddler to part of a racing team so I have had to up the training.

 Rhani broke her tail. No idea how! She is a very clumsy dog.

 We went to Sydney and saw the Harry Potter exhibition. It was very good although they let too many people in at a time so it was very crowded.



 Quilted a top that I finished a while ago. I did some straight line quilting.I decided to do something different on the back which I like as much as the front. I have no idea what I am going to do with this quilt.

I started a moda bakeshop quilt called love beads with Kate Spains Good Fortune. I teamed it with Kona Ash which is perfect with it. I am doing the table runner version

I Love this Book

I bought this book online from fishpond without ever actually seeing it and I love love it. I want to make the cover quilt and my daughter loves it so hopefully I will make it for her.

I also love this one. Deb and I decided that we should start with a small project first so we will be making this cushion below.

However I could not wait so I made this cushion from a bag pattern. I really like how it turned out. I used some dark Kona charms with Kona Natural and Black.

I only wanted to use scraps as I am saving my black for 2 city quilts I plan/hope to make so I pieced the back with leftovers from the charms. My husband prefers the back!

When skill does not meet expectation

So what do you do when your skill does not meet your expectations. I usually try to change the pattern slightly. I decided to make the stacked coin quilt by crazy mom quilts from moda bakeshop. Once I had the coins assembled in rows I realised that my rows were different lengths. My cutting and sewing were not entirely accurate. If I had have thought of it before I started I would have used different widths of coins but it was too late for that. I knew it would drive me nuts when I sewed the columns because I would see that the coins did not line up. Sooo I cut 1 inch from the top of row 1,3 and 5 and cut 1 inch from the bottom of row 2 and 4. This is a bit weird as all the other coins are the same size but it works for me because it takes the pressure of matching seams. I had planned to make two of these exactly the same for my 3 year old twin nieces but not sure now. I think I might find a new pattern to try.

It looks alright but I don't think I will make 2. I think I will use this one to practice quilting and give it to a charity.

I just found the perfect coin quilt for me. It is the sliced coin quilt at Don't Call Me Betsy.



We are back in the Bay

 We have just got home from three great weeks in Perth. We caught up with family and friends and did some tourist things too. The only sewing thing I have to show is  the wall hanging I made mum. It is from a patchwork and stitching magazine. It is meant to be applique but I stitched it instead.

Here are a few photos of some of the things we did.