Saturday, December 31, 2011

A new year!

I've been enjoying all the 'wrap up' posts on people's blogs, especially the blogs that have wonderful mosaics of the writer's achievements over the past year.  I haven't photographed everything I've made in the last 12 months, but here are a couple of my favourites:


I made this simple scrappy quilt to feature some fabrics my daughter gave me - blogged here.


This hourglass design is so sweet, I'm going to make it again some day (well, it's on the long list!) - blogged here.

I haven't taken photos of all the small things I've made this year.  I've made lots of bags, purses, ornaments and runners.  I think a big photo session is needed!

I had a lovely Christmas with my daughter, although it was quiet with just the two of us it was also pressure free and very relaxing.  We had a family get together a few days later that was full of noise, food and fun!

Hope everyone has a wonderful New Year's Eve - I'm here with my daughter and a niece and nephew, and I am sure I will be in bed before them.  I do like to make a few New Year's resolutions, in fact I try and make six monthly resolutions as I find that going 12 months is a bit long for me.

  • Blog more regularly!  I've had such a long break from blogging and honestly I think that I just got a bit overwhelmed by work getting busy and getting my daughter home from uni for the summer holidays and having another person in the house again, lovely as it is.  
  • Improve on my 'start a project' and 'finish a project' ratio.  It's so easy to start things, and much harder to finish them!  I made this a resolution last year, and I did improve, but there's still a way to go.
  • I'm going to perfect some of what I see as the more difficult bag making techniques.  Using buckles, stiff interfacing, professional looking straps, zipped pockets and metal catches.  I love making bags, but I tend towards 'safe' patterns, this year I want to challenge myself.
  • Destash WIPs that I will never finish.  I made a start on this in 2011, but there is still some projects that I really have to decide to either finish or pass on to someone who will, or throw them out.
  • Perfect machine sewn binding.  I usually machine sew one side and then hand sew the back, but I want to be able to neatly machine sew both sides.  
  • Get more adventurous with free motion quilting.  I have a handful of basic designs that I use over and over - it's time to expand on these.
There's also some projects that I want to make this year, particularly quilts that I am really excited about.  It's minutes away from the end of 2011 so I will document them another day.  

Hope everyone has a wonderful New Year's Eve and a fabulous 2012!

Thursday, December 8, 2011

Things got busy...

I've just done our local Christmas market.  Lots of fun, lots of birdie ornaments and LOTS of work.

I'm doing another market this Sunday, and trying to restock in a hurry!

Meanwhile, check out this lovely post by one of our local Horsham bloggers.   Let's go Moerkabout took some great photos at our market, and she's such a sweetie to mention me!

I have bad blogger's guilt for not posting for a month, making for the markets has consumed all my spare time.  And I've been to the city to move my daughter home from Uni for the summer holidays.  And the day job has been Hard Work and Long Hours lately.

Regular transmission will commence soon!