I See London...

And soon we'll see France! We are having a nice time so far in Katy's house. I even managed to get a quilt started and completed for her daughter Olivia's Birthday! Thanks for letting me raid your scrap basket Katy!! Olivia loves dolphins, so...


I also finished another of the ballerina slippers that I will felt. I finished Aislings and they look very sweet, but she has been wearing them and I couldn't find them to photograph before we left. Here is their size beefore they are felted, it always amuses me!!


I also wanted to show the Halloween stitchery and cute pumpkin we had in the house before we left on holidays...guess I will finally be starting some seasonal decorating!!


We are heading into Central London for some sightseeing with the kids tomorrow and then our adventure starts in Paris. I have learned that the Paris quilting shop Le Rouvray is not far from Notre Dame so I think a small stop might be arranged during our afternoon in Paris. Then it is off to Disney for a few days before coming back to have Halloween in London with Katy and family!! You might see me blog again if I get inspired by Katy's good habits, but more than likely I'll be updating after our visit to France.

Golf Widows Sewing Retreat!!

Last Friday DH left for 3 days of golfing, and I got down to work!! Don't worry, I still managed to feed the kids and even go on some walks to clean up the rubbish on the roads (Aine's idea to tidy up the environment, so cute!!). I managed to get several projects finished and even a few project started and finished over last weekend!! Tell me, why is it easier sometimes to be more productive without "help" from DH :)

First two long term project finishes!! My ocean waves quilt top!!


And the first of the pink socks...now to start and finish the second one before Christmas!!


I also decided to make some jack o lantern bags for the girls to bring on our trip to London (to see Katy and family!) during our midterm break at Halloween. (We are also spending 3 days in Paris at Disneyland for the kids!!) I made up the bags as I went along and they are machine quilted and using up scraps of batting. I wouldn't want them compared to really nicely finished bags but they are lined and have strong but not perfect straps...and are cute :) I had the girls design their own faces for the pumpkins and I translated them to fabric...Aine's is the scarier one! I used strips of halloween fabric I got from someone ( I can't remember who anymore, how sad am I?) so the backs of the bags are cute too.


With scrap strips from the Halloween fabrics I inserted a muslin center and downloaded a halloween stitchery I traced the design over the weekend and started stitching this week.


I also made a pillow out of a hand quilted motif I did at a class in April when I was visiting mom in Bend. I used tons of small squares in the same variegated colors of the quilting thread for the back. I like how it turned out!!


Not to mention I built the two Ikea bookcases and a drawer unit from my successful shopping trip that DH didn't get around to making during his evenings home during the week. And made homemade (can't buy pancake mix here!) pancakes and sausage dinner for the girls one night, and did our little walks and litter collections...and kept the house tidy...very productive few days I had!!!

Of course, once the week starts I am off and running again and it took me till this weekend to get this blog post sorted...Only have worked on the stitchery in found moments this week, and catching up with the emails in my inbox. I really appreciate all the comments and encouragement from everyone and hope that you all continue to visit, even if my blog posting is fairly sporadic at the moment!!

Haven't given an update on mom in a while. She is finished all treatment and the cancer is gone, may it never return!! Her hair is growing back in and she is so much better within herself, getting out on her own, having a lot morre energy... I am so glad she is in a better place these days. Love you mom!!

I hope to do some shopping on my own tomorrow when DH is here with the kids...need to get a new laundry basket and a new basket  for their dressing up clothes...not thrilling but a little retail therapy on my own will do no harm at all. I hope to layer and quilt the halloween stitchery this weekend as well...and work on the angel story quilt...very slow progress there.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!! I'll leave you with the crazy poses the girls did with the sock when I got it out to take a photo of it.

Are You Still With Me??

What was that about trying to do weekly or more posts? I have fallen far short of that goal. It has been a busy month, lots to do but not a lot of crafting to show for it. We have also had our fair share of colds and flus coming through and holding on to reinfect us...the joys of seasonal changes.

One thing DH got done for me was getting my Dear Jane up on the wall!!

I'm making progress on the pink Marilinda sock, I've done the heel and am working on the foot now, then to start the second sock...ugh...I do like that 2 socks at once thing...I like finishing a pair together. It is a complicated pattern, but I am enjoying it, keeps me on my toes. I think that I will do some more scrubbies and facecloths for Christmas gifts, but my next project to start will be a felted bag, it will be weird using big needles again!! I also need to make some socks for Aisling and ballerina slippers for Aine...add to this list all my quilting and stitchery stuff and I need 48 hours in a day!!


Last weekend I decided to make a few birthday presents. I had some insulbrite for ages and so made 6 potholders. Two to replace the sad ones I have (why it took me years to do this I don't know). I did some green ones for my mom's kitchen, some purple and turquoise ones to match a tea cozy I knitted for Dave's mom, and some red ones for me, and just free pieced them with scraps and some pieces that I had in my scrap stash already pieced by other quilters and passed on to me with fabric scraps I got!! I used them as practice for my free motion quilting...I think they are actually a bit too big, so I may have to whip up a few smaller ones next week...


I also did a little DIY decorating for the girls room a few weeks back...some dust ruffles for their bed to hide the ugly storage containers I have under there... I used pink scraps, and then put the gorgeous quilts Barbara made them on top.  I like it much better than the Dora and Tinkerbell covers!!

I also got a Betz White covered tape measure kit on Wednesday and whipped this up in record speed...aint it cute!!

I also have to say a big THANK YOU to Paula who sent me some great Civil War repro fabrics from Australia, I owe you big and will gather some embroidery goodies to send back in return!!

I am very excited about a road trip to IKEA up in Belfast, Northern Ireland. I am going up with the girls for DH's mom's birthday tomorrow and DH will be home from his weeklong trip to Barcelona for work (poor guy had to have a sea view at his hotel and visit a winery too!). Sunday he is taking the kids for the day and I am doing a road trip!! I will take my sister in law with me and get some bookshelves, and then just browse and get tons of little bits and pieces too I am sure. We should eventually get an Ikea in Dublin, hopefully next year...

I really hope I don't take 3 weeks again for my next post. I am going to make an effort to finish the 21 blocks I need for my ocean waves quilt, so maybe next week I'll have that to show!

I'll leave you with a quilt I made in action at a teddy picnic... More soon, sooner rather than later, I hope!!