Autumn is Here!

Hooray! Autumn is here, which is probably my favourite season. There's still a little warm weather around-low 30s tomorrow with a fire ban. Hopefully, a last hurrah before some cooler temperatures.

Family-wise, it's been busy-ish. Luke has started uni, and seems to be enjoying it. He also turned 18 which he celebrated quietly-a family dinner, and dinner with his friends. Dell has started year ten at OAC (Open Access College) which in on line study. Work has been ongoing as usual for Ron and me. We celebrated our 22nd wedding anniversary last week, which coincided with the arrival of our new car. It's a Holden Calais, replacing our other car for towing. Ron's softball team made it to the grand final last Saturday, but unfortunately didn't win this year. We have decided not to head to Barmera in the Riverland for Easter this year. It should be a good break as Ron has taken time off between Easter and Anzac Day.

I also got to meet up with a new on line friend Cassie who loves quilting, which was great as we have quite a lot in common. More meet-ups are planned!

On the crafting front-I finished something-I know it's been a while, but this was cross stitch, which can be on the slower side. It's 'The 12 Days of Christmas' by The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery.

I haven't framed (or ironed in this picture!) it yet but Christmas is a long way off ;) This is the only item I've got for this month of OPAM but I'm glad to have it done. 

I've received my first quilt block for the Modern InstaBee-it's from Letitia, and I love it-it should be a colourful quilt when it's finished.

I can't show you the block I made yet, as the recipient wants a surprise. I was quite pleased with how it turned out, although because I didn't read the instructions properly, some of my seams are extremely bulky, and a few of the points don't line up as well as I would like, so I may end up making another one for my partner.

I've got a few things on the go, or in the pipeline, but I'll talk about those another time. The rest of this week will include some costume sewing as Dell has plans for a new costume for Comic-con. I'm sure it will be a challenge as garment sewing isn't my forte and it tends to be sewing without a set pattern-definitely a challenge!

To finish, here's another cute cat photo ;)

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Summer is Hot

Just thought I'd state the obvious, but still.... We've had some very hot weather, with many days around the 40C mark or over (I think we got nearly to 45C one day?) which is 104C-113F for those who use Fahrenheit. Even though it should theoretically mean that there should be hours of time spent in front of the air con crafting away, this doesn't seem to be the case. I think that the less than usual deep sleep has something to do with it.

Consequently, there hasn't been a lot of crafting, or indeed anything major happening. It's all been about conserving energy, keeping cool, and when it does cool down, catch up on things. I did go to see 'Saving Mr Banks' which is (roughly) the back story of Walt Disney getting 'Mary Poppins' made into a movie with the permission of P.L. Travers. As a lover of both the books, the movie, and the musical, I enjoyed it a lot. There's a fair bit of 'poetic license taken with the story, but nonetheless, I enjoyed it a great deal.

I've signed up for two 'a-longs' this year. One is the OPAM, or One Project a Month, where the aim is to try and complete one craft project a month. The other is the Australian Modern Instabee, which is a bit like a stitching round robin. We will all have the same book which has quilt designs especially written for quilting bees, choose a design, and then each member of your bee will contribute one block for your quilt which you assemble yourself. I think it will be a lot of fun, as well as a great learning experience. I have some great girls in my bee, and can't wait to get my book and choose which design I want.

 

New year, new post

I've been reassessing my blog recently, after neglecting it for another six months or so. We have been struggling and working to cope with our youngest's mental health, and many things we once took for granted have been affected. At this stage, I don't want to go into too much detail, as this is a public forum, and I don't think it is fair on our child to put it all 'out there'. It's a hard decision, as so much about mental health is not talked about, and I may talk more about it in the future. At the moment, we are waiting for our appointment with a specialist psychiatrist which will have taken five months when we get to see him. We are still going with Open Access College, possibly with a reduced subject load-we will play it by ear. 

In other family news, Luke has completed Year 12-he was doing the International Baccalaureate, and did exceptionally well- ATAR of 97.9 out of a maximum of 99.95. He's been accepted into the courses he applied for- Bachelor of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, and Bachelor of Computer and Mathematical Sciences at Adelaide University.

My plan for the blog will mainly focus on my craft, with a bit of family updates here and there. I'm starting with an initial plan of a weekly post at this stage. I've had some finishes and progress, but I'll have to go back over my photos for the last six months to find them all. 

Halloween Sampler by The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery

Finished Jelly Roll Race quilt-first finished quilt, hand quilted

Finished charm square quilt-hand quilted.

Jelly Roll race quilt-fabric Boho

Jelly Roll Race quilt, basted ready for quilting

'Old Yella' ready to head off in the Bay to Birdwood Rally-car restored by Ron

 Finally, I'd like to introduce the newest member of the family, my birthday gift, secretly bought by my lovely husband.

 It's not the best picture, but it's the Janome 6600P-I'm loving it so far, and have started quilting the above quilt on it.

Hopefully, I'll have some more craft progress in a week's time-we have another hot week ahead of us, so there should be plenty of quiet time near the air-conditioner.