Stash Enhancement and November Goals

Well, the craft fair is over for another year!  I had a great time working there, as well as shopping there ;)  I also loved the quilt exhibition-no photos were allowed but I got lots of inspiration from seeing the quilts.  Here's a picture of some of my stash enhancement efforts:

I picked up a couple of other things (thimble, hexagon papers, small couple of kits) on some of the other days, but no cross stitch or knitting as I have more than enough stash in those crafts!  Some of these purchases I have plans for, and some are waiting for inspiration.

I mentioned in October that I wanted to set myself some goals for November, and even though it's over a week into the month, I'm still going to set some, just for some focus.  I have an exam on the 22nd, so that will be a priority, but I will still be making time for some craft.

November Craft Goals

1. Finish stitcheries for my 'Tis The Season' quilt
2. (Re)start this cross stitch 
3. Finish knitting second sock of pair for Caitlin
4. Start my Favourite Things blocks (maybe 2?)
5. Dig out some finished cross stitch Christmas ornaments & make them up as ornaments
6. Sew/piece quilt top using jelly roll from craft fair
7. Sew up one of the small kits/patterns from craft fair   

Also a few family updates-Ron is participating in 'Movember'-I'll upload some pictures soon. I think he's going for something like this ;) (this is actually pretty close to what he's started-not sure it'll be quite as bushy....)
 

After enrolling Caitlin in the same high school as Luke for next year (it was her second choice), she was offered a place yesterday in her first choice.  We thought it might cause a bit of a dilemma as it is the school a lot of her friends will attend, but she has stuck with the same school as Luke as she feels it will be better for her academically.  We're proud of her mature decision making, and relieved it didn't cause too much anguish!

Tap, Tap.........

....is this thing still working? I knew I hadn't blogged for a while, but I really didn't realise how long until I popped back here. I've changed the name (it really needed something snappier than "Leonie's Blog"), template and header, as well as updating things in the side bar.  

So, what's news?  Well, today is my daughter's 13th birthday-I now have two teenagers, although I think that's been the case for some time-this just makes it official.  We are going out to dinner tonight to celebrate, with cake at home afterwards.  Due to it being a week (and school) night, we have postponed the viewing of Harry Potter until Saturday.  

I also received my race bib for the half marathon here in Adelaide on 28th August-the fact that it comes in a plastic sleeve reinforced the fact that the weather may be less than ideal. Training in the Hills should stand me in good stead-I'm hoping we don't get a day that is too warm!  This is my first half marathon, so I'm feeling a little apprehensive, but I've had a good training plan, and only had a mild virus to interrupt my training, so I'm sure I'll be fine (sore, but fine).

I have been crafting here and there-but just at the moment I've got the quilting/sewing bug.  Not that I have much experience in this area, but still...........  My current project is actually a stitchery block which will become a small wall hanging-I started this some time ago with thoughts of doing the whole quilt, but have since shelved that idea.  

I've got some more ideas for future projects, including a larger quilt/wall hanging for Christmas, and several projects from this book.

Actually, there aren't too many projects I don't want to make from this book-I may change a few things here and there, but I love the bags, needlecase, and quilts especially.  

Another project that will be in the pipeline is a Hexagon Quilt.  It's made using paper piecing, and is hand stitched, so I should enjoy that as it's portable and not so far out of my comfort zone.  You can also use scraps, so I can use stash for it.  I have a surprisingly large fabric stash for someone who hasn't really quilted or sewn much before ;)

 I have also been knitting, but as it's a gift for someone (who might read this blog), this is all you get to see for now-the project tucked in it's travel bag.