Waiting for the Doctor...

I know I am not the only one just getting through the day and waiting for tonight's 50th Anniversary Doctor Who, so I will keep it brief.

Today started with sorting, flinging and tidying; I went through the contents of the girls' room, with notional assistance, and dear hubby had the pleasure of dealing with the boy stuff.

We literally filled a car with bags of rubbish and the tip is now home to a lot more paper and plastic of unspecified origin than it was before.  It took hours, but the rooms do actually look much better for it, so worth the effort.

Whilst putting away the birthday presents I remembered that I hadn't shown you the bookmarks that I made for the Birthday Four.  One is currently residing somewhere within the pages of Morrissey's happy life story, so it avoided the 'blimey it's getting dark already and we've only just had lunch' photos...

Love those Kokka Robots and Penguins.  And it's not lost on me that the bow ties must be more than a coincidence!

Staying in...

Haven't had a Saturday at home in a long time; bit of a lie-in, couple of horrible, necessary hours cleaning and tidying but a noticeable, and way better vista when I was done, and some happy mail.

When Brenda/Pink Castle was having a 30%-off event just over a week ago, I nabbed some half yard cuts of Alison Glass's Text prints...

I didn't get them all, but these coloured ones really are beautiful.

I also did some sewing for 'me'.  I decided on my Brit Bee III colour scheme, and got down to it.  I think I better consult with the rest of the gang on what I am allowed to tell you, because we are mixing it up this year, and it's going to be a-maz-ing!!

But what I can remind/ask/beg you, is to check out all the entries over at Fiona/Celtic Thistle Stitches' Holiday Memories competition, as voting is now open. 

I would love you to vote for my mini quilt, however as I have friends entered in the same category too, all I can ask is that you do cast a vote.  Fiona worked hard for this competition, and the sponsors have been generous, so it would be great if you could show me/us/her/them some love. 

Thank you for stopping by, I hope you got some 'me' time too; and have a peaceful rest of the weekend one and all xxx

Extra extra...

Sorry to all the non-Miranda watchers out there if I caused confusion with my turn of phrase recently; so here is a rather long You Tube clip, which will give you a pretty good idea of what I have been on about...

... Such fun!

And so, on to what I have actually been doing, (and resisting the urge to say,"what I like to call, sewing"), a couple of little extras to go with my Pretty (Big) Little Pouch...

I had forgotten how stressful it is when you get to this stage - I am finding it really hard to ignore the pressure of the Extras game, but I hope my partner will not be disappointed with what she receives.

Needle book & pin cushion on the lining of the main pouch.

I finished the actual pouch earlier too, but it was dark by the time I had stitched the turning gap closed, so I will take photos of the whole package tomorrow.

As it is, the house is tidy, we all have clean bedding, the fridge has been stocked and all is looking promising for a day of more stitching and a little relaxing tomorrow.  The last remaining item on my January To Do list is the Lucky Stars BOM.  Hopefully I will be able to come to a final decision on what fabrics I want to use, because I have changed my mind about 50 times already!

The Good, the Bad and the Snuggly...

The Good... in the form of great mail days.  I have had a couple recently, but haven't yet shown you.

Benta went into production-line-mode on her lipbalm holders, and I was a lucky recipient... 

How brilliant that i. it has MY name on it, so the girls know it is not theirs for the taking, and ii. that it will clip onto the key fob in my handbag, so no more rummaging, and even better, no more searching the footwell following those sudden breaking episodes!

More Good from Alyce - Blossom Heart Quilts.  I was so lucky to have won her brilliant SMS Giveaway Day prize of some lovely Japanese Christmas fabrics, and also one month of her splendid Etsy shop's Japanese Bundle Club; so I am able to extend the joy, and have another parcel of lovelies to look forward to next year.

Thank you again ladies, I really appreciate The Good in my world right now.

The Bad... the central heating, or rather, the lack thereof.  We woke up cold, and I managed to finally trick the system into action at about 2pm, the engineer arrived at about 4.30pm, but because it was working, he was none the wiser; but they will return tomorrow, with their electrical testing gear, and hopefully we will be sorted this side of Christmas.  The lurgy is slowly beating a retreat, so hopefully we can put the Calpol/Night Nurse back in the cupboard soon.

The Snuggly... where I am planning on being as early as possible this evening. I will hopefully get the chance to catch up with a few blogs too, have I missed anything huge in the last couple of days? 

First though, I need to cut the pieces for the last 3 Christmas gifts that I have to make, and who knows, I may even get the chance to move onto the optional extras!

It's oh so quiet...

...well it was, for 6 whole hours.

The kids all merrily trooped off to school this morning, and I had the house to myself for the first time since the beginning of the holidays, all barr about three-quarters of an hour a couple of weeks ago!

I was home by 9am; by 9.30 I had whipped up a new lanyard for work, (heck, I have been wearing the standard issue too long, and if I have to be there, I'd like a little FMF for company!)...

Then I parked myself out in the garden and stitched some more of my Spring Carnival...

Obviously by 3.30pm all semblance of relaxation and calm had been forgotten, but it was lovely whilst it lasted.

Saturday Stuff...

Today was one of those Saturdays, the house had to be put back into some semblance of order and the level of cleanliness raised somewhere above pigsty; this was followed by traipsing round the supermarket to replenish the sad looking fridge, whilst hubby got to endure a 5th birthday party with the monsters.

I did get my FQ Retreat Name Tag in the mail though, so my partner should be getting that early next week.

Late afternoon I managed a little comfort sewing; I now have half my Precious Retro Flower curves sewn up, and even managed to take a photo between downpours to prove it...

Now you will have to excuse anything untoward about this post, I am using the new Blogger interface for the first time.  I don't like it, but I've have got bored reverting to the old one and nothing is where it should be!

Anyway whilst you're here, please could you make yourself useful and pop over to The Quilting Gallery and vote for a few of my favourite people in the Just Squares & Rectangles Competition...

Krista's Full Circle
Sarah's PictureBox
and t'other Sarah's original Stained Pink.

Pretty please ;) 

I am so glad you can vote for up to 7 entries, and there are loads of others you may wish to consider (but not vote for) too.

Chores done, I should get some more sewing time tomorrow, although I'd like a lie-in that goes all the way to 5pm if that's OK x

Good Day Sunshine...

I had a lovely day.

All kids in school, and a non-volunteering day, so straight home before 9am for an hour and a half of gardening in the most amazing Spring weather.  I don't actually garden per se, but I gathered up a wheelie-bin full of dead stuff, so it is starting to look less bedraggled, and that's the main thing.

I then completed the piecing of my Stained quilt top.  Have you seen Susan's?  I love her wider border, so I sat in the sun and unpicked the two sides I'd already done, and then got the rest sewn up...

I need to order some more white for my BIG borders, as I want a continuous strip on the longer sides which is more than I have on hand, but no problemo.

Then I sat in the sun for an hour before going back to school.  My kind of day!

So now I have company again and things aren't so peaceful, but that's OK too; it's amazing what a bit of me time can do!

Not so pretty...

Today I finally got round to replacing this...

I realise that this is possibly the most gross bit of fabric to grace my little bit of the interweb, and I apologise. 

Do you hang onto things well past their 'use by' date, when really the emotional attachment is quite silly; have you ever taken at look something like this revolting, holey, burnt and stained ironing board cover and realised that your grandma would probably be more disgusted than touched that you hadn't updated your nearly 8 year old wedding present just because she gave you an M&S voucher on your big day!?

I am going to try and salvage some of the cute, unsoiled prints from the edges and use them in a future project, but the rest is destined for the bin!

So now, instead of having to protect all my stitchery, blocks and clothing from the manky old board, I will be protecting the board from them!  Ta da...

I am not under the misguided impression this will make me enjoy ironing, but hopefully it won't be quite so depressing!

The agony of the long distance quilter!

I woke up thinking about the Pips... I cleaned the house as quickly and obviously thoroughly as possible and then armed with backing, wadding, top and spray, I got to basting on the deck.

OK, so it was a bit breezy (masking tape to the rescue), the sky was a bit grey (thankfully no rain), but I got everything 'stuck' together pretty easily and decided to get it quilted and the binding attached in time to hand finish it in front of the Eurovision Song Contest (I'm blaming Verity!).  Hmmm...

I got 27/40 of my horizontals finished, when disaster, a total 'non-calculation' of the thread I'd need, meant I ran out!!!  Cue emergency call to the local fabric shop, and a very odd conversation along the lines of:

Me: Can you see if you have any Gutermann thread number 732 - it's a very light pink?
Old lady:  Have I got any red what?
Me: No, thread...
Old lady:  Yes, what number?
Me: 732...
Old lady:  The lovely green?
Me: No, light pink...
Old lady: DMC or Anchor?
Me: No, Gutermann...
Old lady: Let me check.... No...

This look about 5 minutes!

So my quilt has stalled, and I wasn't about to make an hour round trip to town, so it will have to wait until Monday.  Poo!

But I managed to start something else that I will hopefully be able to show you tomorrow.

So in eager anticipation... Bonne nuit, Gute nacht, Dobra noc!

Sunny Saturday...

After the frost of all frosts, today was
B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L!

I popped to the fabric shop to see if I could get some cheap backing for my Boutique quilt, but to no avail.  I then tried one of the charity shops, avoiding the sheets (I just could not go down that route - eugh!) so it was curtains for me!  A pair of plain, cotton, creamy-flecked linen-type affair which will be useful for a few projects for £5.  Result.

As much as I wanted to tinker with my dresden plate, the sunshine was too tempting!  So I finished an old project at last, the Conran filing cabinet has finally been Hammerited!  The underfloor heating is currently finishing the drying out.  It looks so much better than that old fablon!

And then I sat in the sun... bliss.

More sewing, less worrying...

This evening I am going to spend more time sewing and less time listening to the creaking, groaning, thumping and knocking emanating from my airing cupboard! 

We narrowed it down to a motorised valve, and the plumber is going to take a look on Monday evening - the full flush may be the way to go, thanks Terri.  I will refrain from attempting a little self-help, as we all know what happened last time! (me + pipe + hammer = water + plumber + £).

I am also deliberating whether to go to Brighton on the weekend for the Creative Stitches & Hobbycrafts show...anyone else going?  The list of exhibitors is rather tempting, especially as The Eternal Maker have a stall.  'Mmm Echino' ... in my best Homer Simpson voice!

We are having more deliveries tomorrow, plus a roof gully re-bedded, and a burglar alarm chap and tree surgeon are all coming round - thank goodness it's hubby's turn for a 'day off'!!  I think I better write a list so he can make sure he remembers who, when and what is going on, just in case he thinks he has time for a nap!

Bang bang...

Hmmmm....???

We have been in the loft, outside, under the sink, under the stairs... where is that noise coming from?  Like tinnitus, but lots louder...

A bit more like home...

This morning we built the 3 bookcases for the bedroom, so we just have a chest of drawers left to tackle tomorrow then we can move back downstairs for some more building and sorting there. 

I also put up our light and it looks pretty lovely, especially as it has a dimmer and moves from a soft warm glow to bright white.

I also received these little beauties from Sandersons in the post, the fabrics that I am eyeing for my chair...

I think I am at risk of heading down the slippery slope that I began on my C&G, collecting as many samples as possible because they are free!  It's quite addictive, and as we know, resulted in my first quilt! 

Gentlemen Callers and another Giveaway!

Today I was home to a number of deliverymen, who have filled the house with flat-pack shelving units, bedside cupboards, desks and more.  Plus the monster TV arrived!  It isn't actually that big, thank goodness!

So I have been building furniture and moving things around all day, and putting together a million IKEA Kassett boxes - if you are familiar with these and their screw fittings, you will know the agony my thumbs are now suffering :(

However, the lounge is now looking a little more like the plan!

Enough of me, how about popping over to Mandy's and entering her '400th Follower Giveaway!' How awesome would 400 followers be!?  I've mentioned Simply Solids before, and I make no apologies for mentioning what a brilliant site it is, or how smashing Mandy is again!  The chance to win a scrummy FQ bundle of the 12 Melissa Averinos 'Swoon' collection is one not to be missed.  Congratulations Mandy!

Ch..ch..ch..ch..changes...

Today we have gone from this...

... to this, the beginnings of a playroom, and a full loft above...

From this...

... to this, a bit toxic-smelling at the moment but squeaky clean and ready to paint.  A night in the cabin should clear the air...

... and whilst I took a shower and made lunch, the gang returned from the paper shop with these...

I think that constitutes a good day! 

A stitch in time...

Today I got to pick up a needle and thread for 5 minutes... to sew on name tapes for the new school uniform for tomorrow!  I am definitely the most nervous about this; dear son is saying how excited he is, and he is definitely still too little to just be being brave!

So I am going to be having an anxious day tomorrow, waiting for 3.15pm to roll around to hear tales of the first day.  Good job we've got a lot to do to keep me occupied... like packing up half the house! 

3 more sleeps...

New toys...

Today I treated myself to a well-earned upgrade to my poor old camera in the Sales, (we popped to Curry's for a tumble-dryer vent hose, and well, came out with a Samsung ST61!).

To test it out, what better way than to show you my best Christmas presents!

Super-duper Father Christmas read my blog, and even got Emily Peacock to send me a personal note!

I did get loads of other wonderful things, and my dad gave us each a stained-glass leaf; I will definitely photograph them to show you once they have been given pride of place in the new conservatory.

This time next week we will still be surrounded by boxes, but in the NEW HOUSE!!!

I cannot believe that tomorrow is New Year's Eve - 2010 was pretty good, and a real turning point for us, but I cannot wait for 2011!

Boxing Day!

Well today was very busy; trips to the solicitors, the post office, the tip and supermarket in rain, snow and sleet, and then back home to more packing.

So, it had to happen eventually...

See you soon my lovely books!