Thursday 2 August 2007

Time for an update

As we are going to the snow next week, I thought I really SHOULD get around to updating the blog...

I have been busy trying to finish off my tote exchange parcel, and the dreaded hand stitching and end stitching in on the little blanket of love quilt, but both have been sent off now, and the tote parcel has been received already! So what has taken me so long getting back into the swing of things? Well lack of sleep for starters.

Austy had us up all night last Thursday night as he couldn't breathe or sleep himself, and his temp wouldn't come down with the panadol. So we called the locum at 2am and he didn't arrive until 7:45am! DH and I took turns with the boy, trying to let him sleep as much as he could and trying to keep him cool. Turns out he had a bit of a flu, and that had turned into bronchiolitis hence the difficulty breathing. He's a lot better now, no more medication required, but still has a bit of a cough that we are hoping will clear up before the weekend. At least he's sleeping through again.

Unlucky for DH and I though - we both caught his flu, and mine turned into a chest infection. With urgent deadlines at work, I forced myself to go in Monday and Tuesday but was absolutely exhausted by yesterday, when I finally decided to go to the doctors myself and try and clear this thing before the snow trip. So between nursing a sick child, and trying to rest up myself, not a lot of crafting has been going on. Instead I have been browsing the net and finding lots of quilt fabrics to spend money on! I think this is going to become a new favourite hobby of mine (along with the knitting of course!) as the fabrics are just too enticing! And with the Aussie dollar doing so well at the moment, it works out much cheaper to buy fabrics from the US so I have been drooling over at equilter and the fat quarter shop and planning my next quilting project. After Austy's big boy bed quilt of course! I think the size of Austy's quilt puts me off a bit, and the fact I want it to be perfect but I know he will love it if I ever get it finished so must push on. But I plan to make more of the cute little blankets of love as they are the perfect size for me nto practise on and try out new techniques, plus they go to a good cause. I also have a "Disappearing 9 patch" scrappy quilt in the planning as the girls in the EB quilters group are running a fabric swap and sew along when we receive all the fabrics. I picked browns and aqua's and looking forward to seeing what turns up in the letter box. Here's what I sent:





I can't show pics of the blanket of love in completion mode as it wasn't allowed to be published anywhere under the comp guidelines but I was happy with it in the end. I can share my tote exchange pictures though - I managed to stitch up a nice little needle roll to hold all her knitting needles, and also a cute little simple pin cushion. They were a single night of sewing, nice and quick and worked out well. I really should make myself a needle roll like this one, because my needles are in an absolute shemozzle at the moment, mixed up in an old pencil case which I can't zip up because the needles are too long for it!

On the knitting front, I have made Austy a matching scarf, mitten and hat set. Not completely finished yet - the scarf needs blocking to stop it rolling up, the mittens need the string attachd to stop them being lost, and the hat needs stitching up. This time I made the large earflap hat as the medium didn't have quite enough coverage to keep him warm, although the large is a bit too big - it fits me! I also started a zippered jacket, from the sirdar "Cheeky Chinos" pattern book the lovely Helena gave me (I am so very lucky!) I am half way through - it just needs sleeves and finishing, but it's size 3 (like the star jumper) sop will fit him next winter as well, with any luck.
Talking about lucky - I also received MY tote from the International Tote exchange, last Friday.

The very talented Ann sent it over for me, all the way from Wisconsin. You can see my excited thankyou post here with all the luscious details. She also spoiled me BIG TIME with loads of other goodies like FIVE skeins of Cascade wool (perfect for felting - it's what she made my bag from) , and loads of bag patterns, since this was the first time I have ever knitted a bag, and she is a bit of a bag guru. She even found a bag with a pocket for finger puppets ( with the finger puppet patterns included) especially for Austin, as I'd mentioned how I'd love to make finger puppets for him one day. My Nanna made them for us as kids to match all the fairy tales and nursery rhymes and they were always a big hit. We used to make little plays up with them and play together with them - I thought they were a fantastic imaginitive play toy, much better than some of the cheapo plastic toys you can buy these days. So Austy gets a knitted bag next - will be great for carrying toys around in when we go to the inlaws for dinner.


Next week we will be ploughing up the ski fields in Falls Creek so I won't get much crafting done then, either but don't worry - we'll be having lots of fun!

2 comments:

Cass said...

Joy glad to hear you are all on the mend. Enjoy the snow

Lily Mulholland said...

Joy have fun at the snow...am a wee bit jealous! Great work on the needles tote. And that pincushion looks familiar!