Definite improvement :-)

This busy little bee worked and worked, and cleared away all the crappage off the cutting table. And I'm pleased to advise that things are definitely looking up.

What still needs work is the pile of paperwork behind the laptop. I've given myself permission to slack off with that until Mrs Billings is in being basted. The basket on the left is my notions - they definitely need a clean out. And the basket on the right is my scraps from recent projects. I'd love to spend some time working them into my scrap boxes, but they're pretty much full too - given my complete lack of dedication to working with the scraps. It's like a stand off situation. Who will break first?? Probably the bottom out of the basket. I'm taking bets ...

The HORROR!!

Have you ever, EVER, seen anything like my cutting table right now?? Ohhh my goodness, the HORROR!! I've been so busy that it has become a dumping ground for all kinds of shrapnel. I think I'll need a shovel to dig my way out of this mess!

If I can see six inches of my cutting mat by this time tomorrow, I'll be a happy girl. You'll be the first to know if there is hope of cutting in my future, I'll check back in this time tomorrow ... Tazzie out ...

More hexagons ... and busyness ...

Don't worry - I'm not trapped under anything heavy, just super super busy! I've been working away at the hexagons for the final Mrs Billings border - a whole day's work really doesn't make a wonderful visual statement worthy of photographing. But here goes anyway:

I've made 31 (I think) of the large units at the top there, so I have 17 to go. Hmmm ... seems unlikely that I'll make my self imposed deadline of having the top finished by the end of February ... maybe the end of March is looking realistic??

And for the busyness factor - we have had a dearth of birthday parties and dinners to celebrate recently. Some captured in pictures, and some not. On Fri nite we celebrated the 18th birthday of my bestie Renee's daughter. The theme was supernatural, and they had the most amazing cupcakes made. Look at these spiders, aren't they just too cute to eat? Or creepy to eat ... depending on your perspective :-)

On Saturday I went to my dear friend Chris' 70th birthday, a lovely afternoon tea, and sadly I didn't take any pictures - I can't imagine what I was thinking. Then it was a quick dash home to get ready for a dinner outing. Marty had friends visiting from Canada, so we went with our friends and met up with our Canadian visitors down at Semaphore to try out a Greek restaurant. I just loved how my meal was presented - entirely delicious chicken ... nom nom ...

And lastly for today, my friend Kath and I are bandits for Downton Abbey, and we always watch it together. Our snacks to enjoy with the program seem to be becoming more decadent each week - and we'll have to tone it down soon or we'll be the size of houses. But this Sunday just gone we each had an Affogato - a little dish of ice cream, a shot of espresso and a shot of Baileys, each poured onto the ice cream. Ohhh yum!

Last night we were out at a local Pub celebrating my brother's birthday - how fun that I've barely had to cook over the past several days - but we'll all be feeling very uncomfortable in our clothes if we're not careful!

So, that has been my past five days. I'm really hoping to have some star blocks made soon so I can share - it seems there needs to be more hours in a day! Also, I'm hopelessly behind on my blog reading, I have 250 posts waiting for me in google reader - please be patient - I'll get there I promise! xox

Sightings ... two kinds!

I have a feeling that I'll be seeing quilts EVERYWHERE now! While watching a Tivo'd episode of Frasier the other day, I caught a glimpse of yet another quilt. This one was in the episode called 'Momma Mia' where Frasier and his date are visiting a country cabin.

Something I have just learned with my TV - when you pause it - it blurs. Not cool!

And here is my blurry close up. It looks like a Puss in the Corner block with alternate Pinwheel blocks. Cute :-) Have you been watching out for quilt sightings? Any you want to share??

On to a completely different topic: Of course you know that I'm a fiend for shoes - I was shopping at the plaza today, and these sweeties stopped me dead in my tracks! And when I learned that they were reduced from $120.00 to $23.00, well, it would have been irresponsible to leave them there! Perfect for the party we're going to tonight - every girl needs a bit of bling!

Alrighty, it's Camo pickup time, better run! Chatter soon :-)

I have an addiction ...

For the love of fabric, will someone please cut up my credit cards??!!??

These lovelies came into my life today - ohhh my goodness, WHERE am I going to put them?

If I could just cure my addiction to double wide backs and border prints, my fabric storage situation would be peachy. Or, I just need to sew faster ... either would be good :-)

Somebody stop me! (Actually, please don't ...)

I have been piecing like a demon since my last post, and it has been utterly worth it :-) Last night I attached all four borders to the quilt top, and this morning I pieced the little corner pieces and added them too. Go me!!

I should have shared a picture of the whole quilt, but that would have required me getting out the vacuum and dancing around the lounge floor with it for a bit. It's a cat hair thing ... heat + furry kitties = car hair all around ... and I just don't feel like spending an age picking it off the quilt ...

And speaking of kitties:

Apparently when you hide behind the hurricane lantern you're invisible. Who knew??

Because I suffer from a high degree of flakiness, I forgot to share my haul from last week with you. On Tuesday my dear friend Vicki and I took a little road trip. We went to Tricia's Fabrics (no website), which I've never been to before - Ohhh my goodness, I've never seen so much fabric outside the USA. Wow! I was actually overwhelmed and didn't buy any fabric, but got the great Barbara Brackman book. It was a great deal! And then we went on to Patchwork by Sea. Somewhere I don't get too often because it's on the exact opposite side of town from me. I picked up some William Morris fabrics for a future project ... and a pigma pen ... well, these things can be useful :-)

And last of all for today - I'm not sure I've shared that I'm teaching at Hettie's Patch - a gorgeous store. And when I was there Thursday last week, I collected these great Reece Scannell fabrics. My photo does them no justice (and I've inexplicably loaded it upside down?!?), they have a lovely sheen and look like silk. They're also for a project I have in my mind, and I'll get a few friends to go with them later on.

I have to get busy with some chores, because I've been really slacking off today - so I'll chatter soon. Hopefully I'll be able to get some of my sadly neglected scrap stars made this evening ... did you think I'd forgotten about them? I may have *lol* xox

Carb loading :-)

Hi friends :-) I'm still plugging away on my Mrs Billings border - this is the little one that will be attached before the final marathon hexagon effort. Heavens there seems to be a lot of piecing and not much to show for it!

I counted quickly last night, and I think I have about ten more of the squares (and associated triangles) to add for each border, so I should be able to finish them today. That's all four border pieces you see tangled together there. I see a lot of pressing in my future :-)

On Saturday it was stitching day at Shay's house. I arrived late due to basketball commitments, but still had a lovely time with the girls, and Loz had brought along the most amazing show and tell. She has recently spent time in the USA, and purchased the most beautiful vintage quilts. She had brought two with her, and being me I only managed to take pictures of one. The most gorgeous pickle dish:

 Aren't the sweet thirties prints just darling!

And I love the hand quilting - it really is just a gorgeous quilt. You have a treasure on your hands Loz!

And lest you be concerned about our energy levels with all the chattering and stitching, here are our snacks for the afternoon. Wonderful scones made by Loz, and served with jam and cream. Shay provided us with yummy chocolate and the most amazing chocolate dipped double stuffed Oreo's. Heaven help me, I was all but twitching from sugar when I got home!

It was great to see all the girls, and we'll catch up again in a month.

My chores are done for the day - and it's a hot one here again, so I'm going to make busy and stay cool with my sewing machine. Let's hope I can finish off this second to last border once and for all! Chatter soon :-)

And more!

How fun that I'm not the only 'quilt spotter' out and about. Of course I knew I wouldn't be, but what I didn't realise is how many quilts have been spotted - there are so many! I've been thinking on it since I posted about the movie quilt, and wouldn't it be a fun job to be a stylist on a movie set? I'd love that kind of work ... but not a lot of call for it here in 'lil 'ole Adelaide I'm sure :-)

And in a complete act of serendipity, the movie 'The Proposal' was on TV tonight - it was much mentioned in the comments of the last post. I tried my best for you, and got a super blurry picture of the quilt. May I present the Babymaker! My picture does it no justice - it was beautiful to see. While I'm on the subject of beautiful things to see ... Lordy, has Ryan Reynolds always been so ummm defined?? Hello abs, very nice to see you!!

Anyways, back to the quilt :-) ... I Tivo'ed the movie, so I'll try and get a better pic on the weekend - it's not easy. My hat is off to blogs like Hooked on Houses who always get great interior shots from movie houses. This quilt spotting could become my cardio I'm thinking ... yeah ... I clearly need some exercise *lol*

And just to show that I haven't been watching movies and slacking off 24/7, here is where I'm up to with my hexagons for Mrs Billings final border. I'm officially half way! YAY!

I also have some shopping spoils to share, but it's getting late here, so I'll save them for the next post. Chatter soon! xox

A fun find ...

So, I've been piecing and working on hexagons lately ... the same stuff I seem to have been working on forever! I promise when I have something noteworthy to share, I really will share it!

And because I seem to have a very short attention span, I've done things in-between like: Clean out the Tupperware cupboard (OMG!), rearrange my thread rack into colours (LOL), and a little bit more noteworthy, dumped a whole pile of old pictures out of the iPhone. Which brings me to my pictures ...

Quite a while ago, I was watching "You've Got Mail" on the TV, and at the point in the movie when Kathleen is home sick. When the doorbell rings, she gets out of bed, and OMG! Quilt sighting!!

How cute! Looks vintage! Must make!

I was pausing the TV all over the place and trying to take pictures - probably confused the Tivo terribly, but I got my (blurry) close-up too. I'm still in love with this quilt, and it's somewhere on my ever-growing 'must make' list.

Isn't it fun to have quilt sightings on the TV and in the movies? I have a feeling there was a really neat applique quilt in 'When Harry met Sally' too. Do you watch for quilt sightings? Do you have a favourite? :-)

Second to last border :-)

Ooops. Hello February, where did January go? Quickly, that's for sure!

So, what's been happening here? Camo is back at school again for the year. His version of the Summer holidays was almost eight weeks - that's a really long time! He was actually dying to get back with all his friends, despite so many play dates, parties, movies and a big trip to the beach house. So, to some extent, my time is my own again in the day time.

I've been busy quilting, and not surprisingly forgetting to take pictures. I've prepared soooooo many hexagons, and put quite a number of the hexagon units together for Mrs Billings. I have all the squares and triangles cut, and tonight I've started to piece the second to last border. Here are my beginning efforts:

There are miles and miles (or maybe a little less) still left to do, but it should be a breeze. Just need to remember to have matching triangles at the top and bottom. Concentrate girl, concentrate!

And onto a heavier subject:

This past week I think I've been avoiding the computer a little bit - hence my lack of posts. The sad news of our dear friend Karen's passing really affected me, and the avoidance was my way of dealing with it. Karen was/is so dear to me, and it's so hard to reconcile that someone far away is suffering and there's just not a darn thing that can be done about it. She's at peace now, and I feel lucky to have been part of her life.