And now for something completely different.

When a very very good friend who doesn't crochet, kept on pinning lots and lots and lots of crochet related pins on Pinterest, I had to ask myself, WHY?

Was it because this friend was so excited by my crocheting skills that she really wanted to start crocheting like she said she did three years ago,  when I bought her a how to crochet book, some yarn and some hooks, none of which has been touched since.  Or, was it because she was trying to be subtle, hinting that she would like me to make something for her?

Having heard the swear words after her last attempt at crocheting, I concluded that it was her cunning plan to get me to crochet something for her.

What to make?  After a lot of deliberation I decided on something that would be useful and bright and cheery.

What exactly is it? You ask.

It's a bag.

I followed the tutorial on Attic 24. There are fabulous crochet tutorials by Lucy on her blog, very good for beginners.

(That's a not so subtle hint for my friend!)

Ooops I seem to have disappeared for almost three weeks

Sometimes time just flies.

As usual, not a lot to show, but I have had a finish and almost a finished quilt top.

What have I been doing? Not much really.  Life has been tootling on and I just don't seem to have the time or inclination to get into my freshly rearranged and tidied sewing room.

A bit of this

and Scooter is finished.

Scooter

I was inspired to make this quilt after seeing this. I don't enjoy copying, I like to put my own spin on things. This is one of those times that what I had in my head and what I made, is not the same. I don't hate it but I don't love it.

Quilting in progress

Backing and binding

It's backed with a cute flannel and I'm not sure of the name of the fabric for the binding. I wanted to use something from my stash, but was having trouble finding what I wanted,  J went through the fabrics she had brought up here to work on, found it and it was a good match.

Crinkly after washing

Speaking of J, she has started on a hand sewing project which is absolutely gorgeous.  Personally, I think she is crazy, but unlike me, J is disciplined and will finish her projects.

It's a design by Sue Cody called Gelato Rose. Quilt as you go, so at least after finishing each block, the batting and the backing is finished as well. All you need to do is sew them all together.

These are the first two blocks she has completed.  Only 18 to go!!!!!!!!!!!!

I also played with Kirsty a couple of weeks ago. We went to the  Brisbane Stitches and Craft Show, you can read all about it here.  I bought a few things, including these blues.

Wow, Kirsty is a great photographer, but she introduced me to Happy Street, a time sucking game that is addictive.  I want to curse her.  I have Angry Birds on my iPad and phone and hardly ever play it, so was delightfully, blissfully unaware of what would happen to me if I started playing Happy Street. Take my advice and don't play it, but if you do, I would love to be your friend so that I can move through the levels quicker, mwah ha haa.  It is addictive. Be warned.

A couple of weekends ago I pulled out this pile of fabric and started cutting.

Fabric pull

I was very smart. I planned to use some white charm squares for some of the triangles in the layout, to save having to cut a WOF strip. So off I went, and cut 5 inch WOF strips of all my blues and greens, then cut the triangles. Next step, to cut the triangles from the charm squares. Hmm, as usual, I didn't think it through before hand or do a test run. That's me, jumping in feet first and worrying about the details later.  It often kind of makes for some interesting design ideas/choices though.  I then realised that  even though the triangle was 5 inches high, it's more than 5 inches wide, so the charm squares weren't big enough.
I swore,
quite a bit,
took a breath,
and then had a play.
I used the off cuts from the WOF strips and added them to the charm squares to make them big enough to cut, and voila, an interesting addition to the layout.

Two pairs of rows ready to be sewn together

I became more creative with the cutting as I progressed.

That was a couple of weeks ago, and I still haven't finished the top. I've sewed the rows and even sewed pairs of rows together, and I'm crossing everything that I will have this project finished very soon, so that I can move on to something else.

Pyjama Party Sunday

This post could probably be called - Should have..........

A month or so ago I had the opportunity to buy reserved seating tickets for the Australia v New Zealand rugby match that was on in Brisbane last night. I had brilliant seats lined up, 7 rows from the front and near the try line. Instead of buying a ticket for me, I organised tickets for friends. They had a fabulous night, said the seats were in a fabulous position, and the game was excellent.
I stayed home and wished I had bought a ticket, sigh.

During the week I was invited today to a BBQ lunch on the Gold Coast. The weather forecast was for crappy weather so I declined and stayed home.
The weather was beautiful today.

Despite my really bad judgement calls, I made the most of today, and stayed in my pj's until way after lunch time and finished a couple of crafty things. So as I stayed in my pj's I'm hosting Pyjama Party Sunday. I don't know why, as I wouldn't exactly say it was a party around here today, more like a pity fest. See above ⬆ and below⬇.

Firstly the block for Kat. Kat asked for a scrappy log cabin and bright colours. I'm pretty sure I got the bright colours, but oh dear I  really have a hard time with scrappy. This took me ages to make, because I kept on changing my mind on the colours/fabrics. This will probably be the first and last time you ever see a scrappy block from me. I kind of enjoyed making it, because it was interesting to see how far I could go out of my comfort zone, BUT, I will never make a scrappy quilt for me.
I've finished it a bit bigger than the 15 inches Kat asked for so that it can be cut down to size.

I also finished the Tiggly Winks quilt top. It almost ended up an art installation. When sewing the last three panels together I managed to sew the first one where the third one should have been. I was mildly pissed off, but persevered and started to use my trusty seam ripper, after a few choice swear words echoed around the house.  I was resigned to undoing it and sewing it back in the right order, then I realised I had started undoing the wrong seam.  It did get tossed on the floor at that stage, but I didn't quite get around to setting it on fire. After swearing A LOT more and walking off to take a break, common sense prevailed and I sat down and unpicked the correct seam and then sewed it all together in the correct order.

Don't look too closely at it, there are a couple of seams that leave a lot to be desired. I'm not pointing them out, because it annoys me enough and I took this pic from far enough away you can't really see them. It's not very good lighting, the colours are a bit off, and I just whacked it onto the design wall without flattening it out, as I wanted to quickly try and take a pic before I went out.
Despite the not so relaxing finish on this, I kind of sort of don't mind it now.

Now for the fun bit of my weekend.  Because I didn't go to the Gold Coast today, I was able to go out for late afternoon drinks with a girlfriend who I haven't seen for weeks.  We had a lovely relaxing time and a drink or maybe two.

Hastings St, Noosa Heads

It was quite busy on Hastings St (even though it doesn't look it from the photo) the sun was out, it's still winter and the temperature was about 22 C (72F) at 5 o'clock in the afternoon. So despite the pity fest earlier, I had a very nice end to the weekend.

So few photos, but a great break away

MELBOURNE

Photos

Fabulous sunset

Not in focus, but you get the idea!

Blue sky, just like home, not quite the same temp though.

St Kilda

Playing the didgeridoo at the St Kilda markets

Vikki. moi and BP.

Stash Enhancement

The only fabric I bought at the fair.

I bought these at the fair too, a Sew Slip to put under the quilt like a Super Slider (I hope) and I thought I'd try the Quilt Halo. It works as a way to hold the quilt while FMQing and means that you don't need to wear gloves. If it works it will be great as here the humidity is high most of the year which means wearing gloves is not pleasant and very sweaty. Lets see if that makes me more productive in the quilting department.  I also bought some U shaped pins which are supposed to be great for matching and pinning seams together and they are very fine so you can sew over them.

 Denyse Schmidt yardage from Spotlight, it was on special so couldn't resist.

That's all folks! 

 Not much to show but lots of great memories.

Favourite Things Friday

This week my favourite thing absolutely has to be birthdays.

I wonder why?

Let's see.

Presents

A shower cap, love the fabric

Balloons

Yesterday.

A beautiful day in the middle of winter

Lovely views with a celebratory coffee glass of champagne, and sunlight sparkling on the water

Dinner with family, oops no pics.

(If you are ever in Noosa the food here is superb.)

Well wishes from lots of friends.

Mucking around with BP taking photos with photo booth on the computer, and thinking, gee, I don't look too bad.

Two are not necessarily better than one.

More celebrations with friends to look forward to this weekend.

More balloons

Oh crappity crap, it's back to front, lol.

 Life's good.

Pop on over to Shay at Quilting In My Pyjamas to see more favourites.

Pyjama Party Sunday

It's Sunday so it must be time for a Pyjama Party.

It's late afternoon Sunday and I feel a bit like this.

Bailey

I haven't spent any of the weekend at all in my pyjamas and I haven't been the remotest bit crafty, but I've been having a ball. More friends visiting, more sightseeing, more eating and drinking, I love it. It's just not so great if you want to show any progress shots on anything resembling quilting or crocheting or hand sewing.  As a crafty pyjama party it was an epic fail. Never mind, there's no Pyjama Party police around here so on with the linky party anyway.

Photos of another sunset cruise, it's a great way to spend the late afternoon.

After a late night, this morning we went early to the local Farmers Market. The rest of today we have been eating, drinking, talking and sightseeing. It's been wonderful.

As I usually show something crafty for my Pyjama Party,  here are the only things that are even remotely crafty. Firstly Friday night, I almost finished another paper pieced flower, that makes three now, wow I'm so fast................ha!

It's a stretch referring to this being crafty, but,  I've enhanced my stash this week with some red and white fabrics. I have a plan for these...................... eventually, after I've finished all my WIP's and most of the things on my mile long want to make list.  I just couldn't pass up this lovely bundle from Fort Worth Fabric Studio.

So all in all a very unproductive weekend, on the other hand if you look at it from a different angle - eating, drinking and socialising, I aced it!!!!

I hope everyone else had/is having a fabulous weekend. Please join in below, grab the linky button, you can find it on my side bar, and share in the joy of Pyjama Party Sunday.

Remember pj's are optional!




Thanks so much to everyone who linked up last week, it certainly makes for a fun party, the more the merrier!