Special Mother - Daughter Time

As I mentioned the other day, Mikayla and I had cut fabric for a small project.  It was just right for a beginner 12 year old and her new sewing machine.  Well we finally got back to it and it is now a finished basket.  She was very enthusiastic and pleased with herself when it was finished.

All set to go

All cut out.  Mikayla's on the left and mine on the right

A work in progress

All done!  Mum's on left, Mikayla's on right.

Like I said this is a great little project for the younger ones.  If I can work this properly I will put the link here Pink Penguin Tutorial Fabric Basket

CMC Rocks the Hunter 2012

WOW - we had an awsome weekend at CMC Rocks the Hunter.  We are so lucky to live close by (only about an hour).  Rodney and I along with our friends, Susan and Jeff took our caravans (minus the kids) and totally enjoyed our three full days of music.  I wish I had thought to take some photos.  We arrived around 11.00 am on Friday ready for the gates to open at midday.  The sight of so many cars, caravans, camper trailers and all sorts of accommodation was amazing.  It took us a couple of hours to get in and the traffic kept coming for hours.  It was amazing to see all these camp sites popping up from the bare paddocks of Hope Estate winery.  We enjoyed the non stop entertainment from Friday to Sunday.  There were both great American and Australian artists.  The highlight for me being Derks Bentley and for Susan was Tim and Faith.  Not even the occasional shower of rain could put a dampner on our weekend and we certainly can't wait until next year.  We have come to realise that we will only have one more year by ourselves as our oldest boys will be pretty much driving themselves in two years time.

I don't know where the time goes but I really need to set aside some time for the sewing machine very soon I hope.  The weeks get so busy with the little people's (some not so little anymore) activites I just don't ever seem to get to the sewing machine.  Mikayla and I cut out a little project the other weekend and still didn't get to the sewing part. School holidays will be good for this as there will be no tutoring, football training, netball, horse sports at school(yes thats right I get to take Isla's horse to school every Tuesday) and Pony Club.  Only two weeks to go!  Hopefully in my next post i might have made something.

Girls Weekend Away

Each year a group of us have an annual weekend away with our sewing machines.  Usually we head off to Nundle where we have a sewing retreat with Kery Swain at her shop.  Unfortunately some of us couldn't make it this year so we decided to wait until next year again.  Circumstances changed for some and we made the trip to Craigmohr Mountainview Retreat for the weekend.  It was fabulous.  We sewed and we sewed and we sewed.  In between sewing we relaxed with a few drinks and some DVDs.  We were sewing by luchtime Friday and we were still sewing on Sunday afternoon.  There is no mobile reception which is lovely but a couple of husbands did manage to get through on Gai's landline.  Gai did an exeptional job and fed us all weekend (she is a fabulous cook).  Everyone had a relaxing weekend (no interruptions from the little people) accomplished some nice work.  I myself took the easy way out and used charm squares and a jelly roll.  I also finished the quilt I started last year with Kerry.  It should have a 'piano keys'' border bit I have run out of fabric and I do quite like it the way it is.  It is for Jack's bed and as he was 15 yesterday I think I had better get it quilted soon!  Here are some pics.....

Quilting

Yesterday I quilted a quilt top that I had made quite a while ago.  It was a gorgeous little table topper from Faeries in My Garden.   I stitched a simple quarter inch from the seams of the squares and ditch stitched around the embroidered border.  I got brave and decided to attempt free motion quilting on the outer border.  The idea was to stitch a similar pattern to the embroidery although it wasnt crash hot.  For the fourth and final side I decided to stand and found it a lot easier(still far from perfect).  I guess we need to start somewhere.  I will try and get some pics on here.

I have decided to try and finish all UFO projects.  I also finished slip stitching the binding on another quilt.  It had so little to go it should have been done a long time ago.

Heading off with girls for the weekend in the morning.  We will all be armed with sewing machines.......     Will let you know on Monday the results(hopefully some finished quilt tops).