hello! i'm alive!

Phew! What a week. What a fortnight. I'm exhausted! Aside from making these little guys, I had a BIG couple of weeks.

I did pretty well destashing my fabric. There were a few things I thought would go but didn't. And I have given up trying to sell my less popular quilting fabric. I might as well donate it. Apparently The Fabric Cave is now somewhere/something else, so I'll ring them up and see if I can drop my excess yardage and patterns off there. I am always happy to contribute to a good cause and Achieve Australia is a GREAT organization.

The Australia Day weekend was a biggie for me. Since I had two significant events happening on Wednesday the 29th, I had to work like a beast to get everything in order!

Friday night I hosted an Appreciation Night - basically me and my best three gal pals get together and watch a movie with someone we can "appreciate". For example, Ryan Gosling! Or Karl Urban! (Actually those might be the only two we appreciate.)

HOW CUTE ARE WE ALL THO.

Saturday, Mr Poppleton did a big bushwalk and Kris came to hang out (and keep me company!) while he was out. That Sunday he went to an Australia Day party and the next day, Monday, the public holiday, since we were both home (and had two sitters for the kids, thanks Kat and Kris!!) we decided to move the bookcases out of the dining room into the living room.

We have a LOT of books. Once the books were on the dining room table, we moved the units themselves, and fixed them to the wall! LIKE ACTUAL ADULTS! But oh, geez, I was kind of glad we had friends over to watch the kids because if there is one thing we Poppletons fight about, it's MOVING OR BUILDING FURNITURE. But it looks okay for the time being. After it was all done, Mr Poppleton said it finally felt like a real living room. I know exactly what he means. Books make a home.

Since we still have to put the TV somewhere, we simply put the Expedit bookcases in front of our proper, adult ones.

Someday I'll mount that TV on the wall above the fireplace. Then those two Expedit units can join forces and become a cutting table for my studio. :)

After the bookcases were done, I turned my attention to the sewing room. I had to clear off all three bookcases. Now, my husband's bookcase was easy to clear out - he'd never used it!! (Shocker, I know.) But you've all seen my stash. It's involved. So we stayed up embarrassingly late Tuesday night clearing those bookcases. My poor stash had to sit in a pile all night. Crowded. Unloved.

My excellent builder/friend Clark was back at 10am sharp on Wednesday morning to add rails and shelves to these beautiful bookcases. Clark is AMAZING. I sent him a little chicken scratch over email, had a five minute conversation about shelves, and he divined exactly what I wanted – and absolutely exceeded expectation.

Look at those perfect rails.

And those perfect shelves!

Best builder EVER.

From two shelves to six. He added twenty shelves total, and the new shelves are totally removable (you know, in case I ever start a fabric shop and need them to be bolt-height)!

Even though I was supposed to stain the new shelves, I couldn't help but stack a little bit of fabric on them...just to see how they look...

They looked so great I added more fabric...

And some more fabric...and notions too...

Before I knew it, I was loading the shelves all the way. STAIN SCHMAIN. I'll do it later. When the kids are in high school, probably. :)

Something else MOMENTOUS happened on Wednesday. My QUILTING FRAME arrived!

Wednesday night we were both so knackered that we ended up collapsing in a heap! But Thursday afternoon my husband got that wonderful, determined look on his face, and he whipped out his power drill and Leatherman and BROUGHT IT.

Mister Blister in the bouncer because he refused to sleep! Too bad, we are busy building!!

Drill baby drill!

This is it, mostly done! Don't mind the carriage on backwards. That was just to get it off the floor!

Then I had to piece my hexagons together. I stayed up all hours Saturday night to get this mini quilt top finished! This is the class I'm teaching at Kim Bradley Creations. But I'm starting next month!

I LOVE THIS. It is one of the few things I've ever made for myself. I can't wait to quilt it! For now, it's hanging at Kim's!

And, where the bookshelves were in the dining room? We put the table. And behind that, my favorite ever quilt.It's not properly hung but I don't care. I love having it up and I can't wait to stare at it while I quilt!

That's it for now - dinner is ready!

Cheers!

Penny xx