Don't y'all forget me now ...

You've seen it before, but I'm showing it off again, because every post needs a little eye candy. I love this quilt! :-)

But back to the title of this post ... I'm giving myself permission to take a little time off from blogging (probably just a week or so ... not a long time) because my workload right now is MASSIVE. I want to be sharing interesting things with you, but most of the quilty things I'm working my way thru are just not really blogworthy (like writing patterns, preparing orders etc). So, don't you all forget me now ... and I promise to be back ASAP!! x o x

Gifties

Gosh - the picture is a bit of a mess! It was my plan to share a picture of the gifties and props that I've prepared for my Christmas in July classes which are tomorrow and Friday. Shame about the flash bouncing off all the cello wrap!

I've prepared four latte mugs with mats, two to give away each day, and some Christmas themed candle mats with cute glass votive holders.

The latte mugs contain some coffee packs, sugar tubes and some peppermint chocolate. Mmmmm chocolate :-)

Just need to finish up some quilting tonight, get lunches ready catch me some zzzzzz's. I'm looking forward to tomorrow, should be a fun day. Ohhh, and I have to say, I'm VERY behind answering my emails - I promise to catch up soon. Honest!

Relief :-)

There really is nothing like the relief of finally getting some things done that have been weighing you down for a while.

I've managed to package up three items that really need to go in the mail. Hopefully I'll get them posted this week. I have almost finished writing the directions for all the Christmas projects. Just one project needs to have the cutting directions finished, and then we're off to the copy-shop. I should finish it tonight ... let's see how far I get :-)

I'm going to make a couple of give-aways for the classes if I get the chance ... I'd really like to :-) I've had the most awful flu since we've been back from camping, so I think any sewing done will depend on whether I've managed to shake the bugs off. Thank heavens for Sudafed ... it's wonderful stuff. I'll check back soon.

Pictures

Taxes are done, so I can strike that off the list. Sadly Marty ended up with a huuuge tax bill, but we'll just deal with it and move on. Next year is a new year, right?

I wanted to share a couple of pictures from our trip with you. First up, while the guys and the kids were down in the cave, Petrina and I were safely up on the top of the earth's crust, busying ourself with a camp fire, and making damper for the hungry hordes beneath the earth. Marty wanted a picture, so here I am displaying our culinary triumph. Note the stringy hair, lack of make-up and grubby clothes. I suspect this is the first and last time I'll be sharing such a shocking image of myself with you *lol*.

And here are my not so tiny babies at one of the abandoned homes on the property. There are quite a number of old crumbling homes, they really make you think about the harsh climate and barren landscape, and how tough life must have been for the settlers here.

Nothing crafty to share today - I did manage to finish knitting Marty's black mitts earlier, but because they're black, I just couldn't get a good picture ... trust me, they're utterly darling!

I'll check in soon, with some quilty content I hope :-)

MIA

Thank you for those of you who sent concerned emails wondering where I have been these past few days. You're all so sweet :-)

My little family and another little family of besties went on a mini break to Yalpara Station for four days. Marty and Michael have been friends since school, and our two families often have adventures together. We did some serious 4x4ing, exploring, caving, had the obligatory campfires each night and got awfully grubby too.

I've included a picture of Marty in the bowels of one of the caves, and once I've checked out the rest of the pictures I'll share some more.

On a crafty front, I took along some knitting, applique and a little reading. All I did was a little of the knitting while in the car - not another single thing.

I have tax stuff to get thru in the next couple of days, so once I've got that out of the way, I'll check back in with you all ... ohhh, and after I've caught up on some sleep too!

New Applique Project

I've been asked to submit a project to teach next year for the guild at their annual camp, so it's time for me to put a project together for their consideration.

It's all drawn up and ready to go, and now all I need to do is pick out the fabrics and get busy stitching. This will be a needle turn applique wall hanging, and I know it's going to be fun to put together. Apparently there are usually many machine projects to work on at camp, but not so many hand work projects, hence my needle-turn applique choice. Not much to see so far, but this is only my efforts for this evening. Hopefully after this weekend I'll have much more to share.

On Wednesday I got the Among the Evergreens quilt and table runner into the mail, and the directions emailed off to the editor. Such a big sigh of relief, there is a lot going on right now, so as things are checked off my list I'm feeling a huge sense of achievement. Next week I'll get busy writing up directions for two workshops I'm doing the following week, and then things will be a little more relax-y for a few weeks.

I'm heading back to my applique now ... I'm really enjoying it ... have a great day! x o x

Nautical love

This is one of a pair of quilts Pam (a quilting customer) made recently. I think they're both identical, I haven't examined the other one closely yet, but they definitely share similar fabrics.

I have to say, I really love nautical prints! I've never made a quilt using them before, but I think there will be one in my future, I love the crispness of red white and blue. There's just something about it.

I got busy quilting on this one last night while watching the Wimbledon men's final. Around 12.30am I had to stumble off to bed. While I don't have to get up to get the kids to school right now, the tiny people still don't sleep in too long - therefore late nights aren't too wise :-)

Tomorrow it's my plan to get stitching on one of my new projects ... will it be applique ... or will it be piecing? I promise you'll be the first to know! Have a great day x o x

Chenille

This is a top I'm quilting for a customer. It's super cute, but I don't think I'll be making one for myself any time soon. I find that chenille is just not as easy to work with as regular quilt fabric. Having said that, this one is made up beautifully, and it will make a wonderful gift.

In Tazzie Quilts news, I have come up with a new quilt design I plan to work on soon. It's a scrappy star pattern, and I'm so inspired to get busy on it. I should really have been writing directions for the 'evergreens' quilt, but hey, why do something now when there's always the last minute to get it done! *lol*

Last night Amy and her school netball team were in the grand final. They played admirably with two girls injured, and while they didn't win, they took the opposition to their closest game in a long time. We're just so entirely proud of them all, they did so very well to get into the finals.

Lastly, I keep forgetting to write about our family holiday to the USA which is coming up later this year. So many of you have been interested in where we're going to be spending our time, so I thought I'd mention it now while I remember ... first up we're flying into San Francisco, and then spending some time with our friends in San Jose. Next we're heading to Las Vegas for a few days, then on to Anaheim for a week of kiddy fun time with Mickey and his friends. We then head back to San Jose, and Marty and Cameron will head home. Amy and I will stay on for a further week to spend time at the Pacific International Quilters Festival, and then it's home for us too. We're packing a LOT into our time, but we just can't wait and know we're going to have a wonderful trip.

Okay, best get back to preparing dinner ... I hope all our USA friends have had a super 4th July holiday. Talk to you soon! x o x

Bound

My 'Among the Evergreens' quilt is now quilted and bound. All that remains is to cut away the excess backing and batt, and to hand sew the binding on the reverse side.

I will write up the directions over the next couple of days, and it's my hope to have the quilt in the mail on Wednesday next week. IMHO this is a cute quilt, and it's scrappy too, but in a controlled way.

Something that always confronts me when I make up scrap quilts is how little the quilt appears to use up, and therefore the massive potential for further quilts from my scrap boxes. I don't want to be making scrap quilts forever, but I have a feeling it's something I'll be doing. There are people that never make scrap quilts, so I wonder what they do with their leftovers? Their scraps must mount up in a huge way.

It's growing late here, and I'm tired, so I'll check in with you all again later in the week. x o x