Craft & Quilt Fair 2012

I had the immense pleasure of attending the Craft & Quilt fair this week here in Sydney and I'll tell you what: it's good, but even better twice! I went on opening day (Wednesday) for the quickest stickybeak before Spiders' Group, and then Mr Poppleton and I loaded the wee one and her enormous purple pram into the car and drove into the city to see it all over again today. He had never been to the Craft & Quilt Fair before but was a very tolerant participant...especially for someone who glazes over at the mention of anything quilt-shop related!

I was also very, very happy to NOT be 8 months pregnant this year, like I was last year. Oof, that was some hard work!

So yes: SWAG TIME.

My first stop is always the Material Obsession booth. Last year I browsed the shop and chatted. This year I went knowing exactly what I wanted to get: a Cog Wheel template set! Of course I got plenty distracted chatting to Cath, Liesl, and Kathy too. Such great ladies!

(I might just have a teensy little addiction to acrylic templates. But I do love to collect them. They are so easy and fun to use, and even though I know the book includes patterns, I prefer to pay the extra little bit for the convenience and assuredness of getting it right the first time!)

I already came up with an idea, and a few chop chop snip snippy minutes later, I had a block up on the design wall. I'm sewing it (and all those lovely curves) in every spare moment I can muster. :)

And I am officially crazy, because I picked up a copy of Brenda Papadakis' Dear Jane book. I also got the rulers, because why not? I am not even close to starting this, but someday...someday...someday I want to make a Baby Jane quilt. So it'll be perfect to start once I'm overwhelmed with scraps and have a spare eight yards or so of nice light background fabric. :)

I got the book and the template set at Patchwork by the Sea booth.

Another booth I always make a point to stop at (and it's not hard to find since it's right behind the Material Obsession booth) is Reece Scannell. Listen up, ladies of Australia: this guy is a quilting best-kept secret. He makes silk-like cotton for quilting, prewashed and prepressed, and he had these gorgeous packs of ten different colors in roughtly 8" squares. I got five different color packs and I am already dreaming of all the beautiful things I can make!

Just look at these colorful cottons. I love how the subtle difference of warp versus weft color changes can make a whole piece of fabric shimmer.

You can order directly from their website, or if you're able, head to Material Obsession to pick up a few half-meters, or the Rocks Markets. They are definitely worth their weight in gold!

Another stop on my circuit is the Studio Mio booth. I love to make little purses and the tiny purse frames are fantastic value. They do have lots of sweet fabrics and trims as well as patterns and kits, too.

I also picked up a Marti Michell 60º Triangle Ruler (the larger size) from the always excellent Punch with Judy booth. Their website is also top-notch and they are prompt shippers. I didn't find them super-friendly, but they were crazy busy so that could be why. Anyway, I forgot to take a picture of my ruler, so pretend I did.

Finally, I found a place that sells Valdani thread (as well as Superior/King Tut)...unfortunately they are not online! What a bummer. I picked up a few spools of perle cotton and then as we were leaving I got distracted by the awesome stuff at coat check...like this too-cute MUG! I had to have it. It was just the best.

So I think I did pretty well! It was a fun time and I really enjoyed hanging out with my husband and daughter at the Craft & Quilt show. I did take pictures of the quilts I liked but I'll save those for another post. Now, it's bedtime and I've got a pair of pajamas to find. :) Cheers everyone. xx

Sunday night plans.

It is Sunday here at Poppleton Place and we are taking it EASY. Like hang around and watch Disney movies easy. Homemade pizza and icecream with butterscotch easy. Let the baby play with the CDs she knows she's not supposed to play with easy. Because we are beat. Gah!

I finished two quilt tops this week and I should get on to dedicatedly sewing the Os so I can get that one underway, but I have been so busy writing that I want to take a break from sewing. Or maybe I don't: I pulled out several solids and my Kona Color Card and pulled together a loose plan for the half-yard bundle of Across the Pond I bought, like, a year ago. Since that was the first bundle I ever bought, it is super precious and I feel ultra guilty for not cutting into it yet. (What is wrong with me. UGH.)

Anyway, an idea...

I also have to show off my borders for my Mendocino quilt. In truth, it should have just been a solids quilt - the solids themselves really shine and the Mendocino fabric, while amazing, is quite minimal. It's a bit like a treasure hunt! I loved making this stripey inner border and the charcoal really ties it together.

I can't wait to get this one quilted! I've been stalking Quilting is my Therapy and daydreaming about her methods...the problem is, stippling is so quick and I'm pretty good at it, so I am loathe to change to another method, especially one that requires practice. Haha. I'm so lazy!

I also finished my Garden Fence quilt by adding all the sashing and white borders, and you guys, it is WAY off. I squared the blocks faithfully, I tried to center them, I even took extra care with my sashing seams...and it is so off. It's a gift, but I feel kind of "meh" about it, so I really hope the recipients don't notice my really wonky seamwork. I feel devastated by how off it is and I am now really reluctant to incorporate sashing into future quilt tops. :(

This week is going to be busy! Not only is it Spiders' Group (yay) but it's the annual Craft and Quilt Fair! Nanna is coming early to play with Piper so I can sneak off for a few hours of gazing cow-eyed at all the beautiful booths. I'm planning on going on Wednesday and possibly Saturday, too, if I don't think I've seen enough and I feel like braving the crowds! I'm really looking forward to eyeballing some straight-stitch machines, talking to a few longarm quilters, browsing a few key booths (please see Amy from Badskirt's excellent breakdown of booths) and getting to talk to like minded quilters. I'm really looking forward to just spending time by myself, too.

Speaking of time to myself...or ourselves...tomorrow is the Queen's birthday which means it's a public holiday here in Australia, so Mr Poppleton and I are sneaking off to see the Avengers! I'm really excited - it'll be the first date we've had since Piper was born (over 10 months)! We had had sneaky dinners but they are always guilty and hurried and fervent, nothing like a real date! We are even going to walk to the movies and get a coffee beforehand. I am such a happy mama but I'm looking forward to being just a wife again for a few hours! Best.

Busy continued: I have to get the car booked in for a service, get quotes for the gutters to be repaired, the fences to be repaired, and I have to go investigate some shelving options for the sewing room. I mean, "the study." (Teehee!) I also have to measure the gaps under the house to get our lattice sorted out, and make a decision about the railing along the laundry porch, and install the hooks, and repair the flyscreens, and wash the windows, and take out about six ugly bushes in the back garden, and build raised beds, and start composting, and order seeds for spring...I am exhausted just thinking about it all! Though I am happy to be busy! :)

Busy or not, though, I am really looking forward to tomorrow!

Time for that pizza, and then some writing!

Cheers,
Penny xx

WiP Wednesday Fun Times

It's that time again!

I have a confession to make. (I do a LOT of confessing, I've noticed.) I haven't been able to properly focus on sewing because I have been writing. That's right, writing! I don't know exactly when I started, but I'm guessing it has been maybe a week and a half and I'm at roughly 35,000 words. And it feels crazygood. My characters are surprising me, and I have finally begun tapping into what John Green has described as the problem of a novel. (Like a math problem, not a flat-tire problem. Like the novel is something to suss out or solve.) Anyway, I've been working with words.

Since that's what I am (a writer!!) this is super exciting. I have been taking my laptop in the car so when Piper falls asleep, as she inevitably does, I can just flip the top and work on my story. I miiight be going on lots more long, soothing drives to get those naptimes... :)

Unfortunately I seem to cycle between writing and sewing, so I don't have many finishes this week. I'll get to it!

Finish: My Mendocino top. It's mostly done, but it doesn't have a name, or either of the two borders. Still, I managed to get it all pieced with a relatively cranky baby so I am feeling pretty great!

(You can find me on Instagram, too, just search for Penny Poppleton.)

I made a little change around the house, and moved this into the lounge room so we could have a comfort corner. We have lots of blankies, pillows, comfy jumpers and my handbag too!

We have also been enjoying some of the most amazing coffee – Finca el Topacio. So delicious with honey and milk. I have a cup every morning and it's just the nicest.

I had happy mail this week, too. Some much-coveted magazines came in the post!

And I finally bit the bullet and began drafting plans for an appliqué quilt. It's going to take a year or more, so I'm just in the planning stages, but I did grab some freezer paper. It's not something you can get in grocery stores in Australia, did you know that? :)

And I also made an amazing butterscotch cake. I got the recipe from How to Be A Domestic Goddess by Nigella Lawson. It turned out really well! I sneakily added salt to the butterscotch and oh. my. word. AMAZING. We ended up eating spoonfuls of butterscotch and while the cake was delicious...I'll be making that butterscotch again for ice cream, SOON.

Onward to textiles. Craft Depot is having their midyear clearance sale. They pushed it back to June this year because of some parking lot resurfacing issues...and I have been really holding back. But not enough. Look what I found in the sale piles! SQUEE!!

And this is Folksy Flannel for an absolute steal!

Everything is on sale. Even charm packs. So I snagged this beauty, too. I love Aneela Hoey.

But back to WiP Wednesday.

In progress: I organised my Os into a pile on my work tray but have stalled there.

And, I FINALLY sashed the Garden Fence blocks! They still need borders, though.

Finally, my stalled projects are still the same.

No progress:

• Handwork (curved hexies)
• 30s repro tumbler quilt
• My sister W's Swoon quilt

I've got to get the inspiration for these soon...especially the tumbler quilt (which is easy peasy!) and I must MUST get started on that Swoon quilt.

I do have some issues with quilts staying ON the design wall though... ahem.

Caught in the act!

But who can resist this face?

I know I can't. :)

Have a good week, and tell me how your projects are going!

Cheers,

Penny xx

WiP Wednesday at laaaast :)

Wow. Blogging more than once per week! Are you double-taking right now? I know I am. Look at me, actually linking up to Freshly Pieced and talking about projects other than the house! WHAT. CRAZY.

Finished:

So to begin, I'd like to share the project dearest to my heart for a while now, my Sophie Makes Tracks quilt. I started this thing with help from Sel and Claire, inspiration from Jeni over at In Color Order, and spent an embarrassingly long time cutting out and assembling the bear claws. I used only Sophie fabric and I think it turned out just beautifully.

I'm sorry I don't have a better picture! I forgot to snap one while Nanna was here to help look after Piper this morning. (Though my featherbrain is a direct result of the head cold I'm developing, I'm sure.)

The second finish? I finished unpacking. That's right. We have been moved in for less than a month and everything is unpacked. Partly this is due to the fact that we don't have a garage to store stuff in, and partly this can be blamed on my Type-A personality. I won't lie to you. Those boxes made me anxious. Those boxes made me fret. Those boxes had to go. So Monday, they went.

And my third finish was a different type of craft for me. In the whole house we made a conscious decision to have bold, bright wall colors but glossy white trims. On Monday I went out to Bunnings and picked up some cheapy spray paint and tackled the picture frames around some really treasured family paintings, and I had just enough to spray my collection of embroidery hoops, too. Yesterday I hung the paintings and tonight, at the eleventh hour, I put snippets of my favorite fabrics into the hoops and hung them on the dining room wall.

They look pretty nice, don't they? Some really treasured fabrics in there. I'm happy they are on display in still-useful pieces if I ever run all the way out. :)

Works in Progress:

The Mermaid quilt is still churning steadily along. I've sewn all sixty strip-piece blocks, pressed, and starched them. They sound pretty metallic if you thump them but I like my starched blocks to stand up on their own. Kevlar-style quilt blocks are going to be all the rage, I predict. Ahem.

I've been working on a few "improv" blocks to use up the 42 little squares I have.

I can't wait until tomorrow to get my design wall up so I can start laying these out! My in-laws are coming over in the morning so my father-in-law (and his pickup) and I can go to Bunnings, while Piper plays with Nanna! I'm using MDF and a staplegun and a roll of quilt batting but the only difference is, I'm doing it in sections so I can hide it in the nook when company comes over!

Another project I have begun is the Os quilt (from Scrap Basket Sensations). I forgot to include a picture of the cut out/unpieced blocks.

Haha, YIKES, right?

These are a few of the blocks I've already done. I just love how smart and sassy these look.

Stalled projects:

• Handwork (my curved hexagon blocks)
• Garden Fence quilt
• 30s repro tumbler quilt
• My sister W's Swoon quilt

I just need to buckle down and sash the Garden Fence rows. That is it! How sad am I? The 30s quilt is an easy afternoon of chain piecing; I just need to find that afternoon. And I know as soon as I start my sister's Swoon quilt, it'll just roll right along.

And I just can't even find my handwork bag. Where is it! Argh. I put it somewhere really safe...so safe I couldn't find it again, obvs!

Well that's me for the week! I hope to wow you guys next week with something amazing. It's nice to be back in the saddle and working on things at a normal, not-insane pace. And it is really nice to be unpacked. I can finally relax a little bit now! But just a little. Got lots to do still. :)

Have a great week and be sure to link up with Lee!

Cheers!

xx

home at last.

First of all, my kid is famous. Check it out. Someone has been practising her walking in the most unlikely places...Cottage Quiltworks, one of our favorite local quilt shops! Don't worry, she's not walking yet...but she has been given free rein (reign like a queen? or rein like a horse! what on earth DOES that saying mean) of the house, so she's been walking around the furniture, finding the flat part of her feet for weeks now. Sometimes she stops, with one hand on the bookcase or bed or whatever, and stretches out her other hand as if she's going to take that all-important first step...and then she drops to her knees and crawls superfast instead. We have lots of booboos and Mama kisses it all better approximately 8,567 times a day. Oh except she hates to be cuddled when she hurts herself because it makes her mad. But you'd better not leave her alone or she'll howl. Definitely my kid - she's all contradictions! :)

We have been thoroughly enjoying being moved in and mostly done. Sitting at the table for breakfast. Enjoying the golden sunshine pouring through our still-dusty windows, peering out at the yard below, eyeballing the washing on the line - is it dry yet? Or a few more minutes? Let's just have another cup of tea.

The books are unpacked and arranged by color. I need more shelves, but for now, these are beautiful and I love them.

Sometimes, heading into the kitchen, I just stop and admire the view. It's so blue. And so beautiful. My sunny, warm little kitchen is where everyone congregates in the house. Whether it is Nanna and Granddad visiting for Mothers Day Brunch, or Piper's godmother coming to see her, or friends of mine, the kitchen is the place to be. It is little but so precious.

Piper has been enjoying naps in her own room! And there is room for everything. It is amazing.

And we as a family have been enjoying our new bed in our new bedroom...complete with a finished quilt for our bed! Sophie Makes Tracks was completed shortly after we moved in and promptly turned into a bed quilt. I batted it with wool so it would be extra warm for chilly mornings! So far so good!

Sometimes it still feels unreal. After all this time, we're here. We're in. It's ours and it is really bloody fabulous.

We have had houseguests, too! My good friend Lucie came to visit. She is Piper's godmother and was there when Piper was born. Piper remembers her of course and spider-crawled over to her, even though she was grumpy and needed a nap, and she was SO happy to see her Aunt Lucie we simply couldn't stop the smiling!

Oh yeah, she has teeth now. There are six in that photo but this weekend another one popped up (what) and its little friend is struggling to make its way out too. Eight teeth by ten months! Might as well give me a heart attack right here and now kid. I can see you're going to be a handful. :)

Aunty Lucie was not Piper's only visitor. Mr Poppleton's cousin Kilian is studying in Sydney and dropped by to meet Piper and have dinner with us. I'm afraid he ended up with oodles of noodles - I gave him my leftovers because I am convinced that college boys are all starving husks with poor nutrition!

These two had a good time...once Miss Grouchy got over her shyness! She's at the age where big strange men are scary and she stuck her lip out, but eventually got over herself and gave up some of those beautiful smiles.

I wanted to also talk about my favorite room in the house: my sewing room. (Well, we call it the study, but really, my husband is just borrowing a few walls of my sewing room!) I have it mostly organised and have spent the last few weeks unpacking, tweaking things, and finally have it more or less the way I like it.

I put my computer behind my sewing desk so I can easily swivel if I need to, and there is a narrow gap between my desk and my fabric shelf - handy for getting those fabrics out, and it's where my lamp goes! I love the light, the shelves, and a room that I can shut the door on the mess when company comes over. Too bad I always end up showing off this room anyway...no chance to hide the mess when I'm always crowing like a rooster about finally having a sewing room! :)

I've been working, too. These are Os for a scrappy quilt I started cutting out at scquilters a few months ago. The pattern is very simple and suited for 2.5" wide scraps. The book is Scrap Basket Sensations and is the same book my mother's Flower Basket quilt comes from!

I've had a few magical Fabric Fairy visits this week, too. I love the postman here. Because we don't live down a terrifyingly steep driveway (like in our unit), and our house has a level walkway to the front door with a protective little nook, if I'm not home, they just leave the parcel on the front steps. Which means I don't have to strap the baby into her seat and drive up to the post office! I LOVE having a house. Brilliant.

Some Alegria from Cloud 9 fabrics. It's a step outside of my usual but very interesting fabrics and colors.

I completed my Heirloom fat quarter sets. I just couldn't resist.

And, it was time to branch out and pick up a FreeSpirit Designer Solids color card. My Kona color card is on loan to a friend and though I am eager to get it back to compare the colors, I am already a fan of these! I will order some and try them in a quilt soon. For now, the card is enough.

And, finally, my little "in tray". This is where my current big projects go. I spent a few weeks fretting over these Mendocino mermaids but when I finally settled on the "how" of the quilt and began cutting, it didn't seem so bad! This fabric is super hard to find but I know that JaneyMacShop on Etsy has a lot in stock. She sells it in fat eighths (her shop is where all of mine are from) and in bundles too.

I am using a lot of solids and letting the Mendocino shine. All Kona, in Charcoal, Bright Pink, Cerise, Pomegranite, Robin Egg, and Ice Peach. I think the yellow is Mango? Maybe School Bus? I need my card! Haha. I've been sewing and starching and pressing like a madwoman.

So, because it is Sunday and I like to make plans, here is what I'm doing next week.

Tomorrow I have to paint a bathroom, book the car in for servicing, and go to the hardware store to source two more sheets of roughly door sized MDF in the same thickness as my existing piece because that will be - TADA - my DESIGN WALL! I'm planning to make it in three pieces so I can move it to the "nook" when company comes over, but still put it against the blank wall of the dining room. There it should have enough space around it I can mull over and change my quilts as I make them. No more shouting at everyone to BE CAREFUL THAT'S MY QUILT and IF YOU RUIN THAT LAYOUT YOU BETTER FORGET ABOUT EVER RELAXING AGAIN. Ahem. Not that I would ever say that. Ahem ahem.

But ahh, it's late, and I should haul my exhausted self to bed. It has been a big weekend - Piper got a "big girl" car seat (sob! growing up so fast!), I made sixty quilt blocks in three hours (ahhh) and the grown-up faction of this household is rapidly approaching Cold City - we both have sore throats and sniffles! So it is time to cuddle up together under the new blanket, in the new bed, in the new house, and sleep.

It's a new life and I am feeling GOOD.

we are in!

I dropped off the face of the blogosphere, didn't I? Sorry about that. I have a good reason for that, though! We moved into the house, and we have to wait for the internet to come back. A few more days until I can upload pictures awaits but now, my phone and laptop can share a 3G connection so I can BLOG! Sorry about the lack of photos, though - partly it is the limited uploading, but also because I keep seeing things that can be tweaked before I do the "before and after" blog post!

I will say, though, that the move, while stressful, was over quickly and I was 90% unpacked within seven days. Pretty good for a gal with a baby who is THISCLOSE to walking, right? I have to finish up the dining room, paint the bathroom, and get started on a plan of action for trimwork painting over the next month or so.

We were in by our wedding anniversary, and it was so nice to wake up, the first morning ever, in the new place and recognize that the three years of marriage we've shared helped to get us where we are right now. I say it now and then but it bears repeating: my husband is the best person I know. He is kind, absolutely polite, fearless, dedicated, loyal, loving, trustworthy, and handsome too. He always makes me laugh. I love watching him with the baby: he is so gentle but fun and she adores her daddy so much. I got VERY lucky three and a bit years ago when we said "I will" to each other.

There will be pictures soon, when our internet returns, but I just wanted to pop in and tell you all I was still, in fact, alive.

Cheers!

Penny xx

the last push.

This weekend promises to be hellishly busy, but I am prepared. This will be the last push. Moving day is set for Monday, and if I have to live without a fridge or a shower screen then I'll make do, because we will move in on Monday. (I may have just done the fist-clench to the sky.) Anyway: moving day is fast approaching, so I'm spending this week packing my apartment.

Yesterday I packed all of my fabric (except a little bit of Kona Snow for sashing my Garden Fence quilt) and it was so hard. I love my craftiness and my fabric is a significant investment, so putting it into brown moving boxes was tough. I kept trying to leave things out, as if I would somehow magically make time to sew in the next six days! I know my limits but my heart wishes I had a wealth of time. I kept it to two projects, the aforementioned Garden Fence quilt and my Sophie Makes Tracks.

I managed to pin baste my Sophie quilt, though!

How amazing to finally have the backing and batting firmly sandwiched to my quilt top. It's ready for me to wind bobbins and as tomorrow is Anzac Day, I am letting my hair down and treating myself to some quilting!

I have a great little helper, though, don't I. :)

"Who, me? I'm definitely not rolling all over your quilt in my sleep bag, looking all cool..." My goofy kid.

Now, the floor polishers have been hard at work for two days. We braved a visit tonight to "check the mailbox" (or peep in the windows!!) but we arrived at the right time: they were just about to put the third coat of polish on the floors. Just as a reminder, this was our dining room floor on Monday morning.

It looked like a big golden retriever rolled around on fresh glue. I did my best to prise up the big chunks of glue, but it still looked awful. I was scared it wouldn't come up, but when we stopped by the house, the floor polisher explained that, five sandings later, it all came up.

And WOW.

CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT IS THE SAME ROOM? I could not stop grinning! Mr Poppleton was equally impressed and we both couldn't stop talking about it. I can't wait until Thursday, when we can go back in and look it over with shining, home-ownershippy eyes. It is just beautiful. The wood came up so nicely - I never expected it to look this warm and knotty - and I just feel so happy. It's close. It's so, so close.

So: back to the moving tasks. But I have a new wellspring of hope, having seen the beautiful "new" floors in our little house o' dreams. It makes it easier to sort our belongings, to get rid of the old and worn and make way for the new, when I know that I have a home worthy of nice things. It's a good feeling. It makes the work lighter.

We are so close. So very close!

Ta ta for now!

Cheers. xx

on the home stretch

We have been beavering away on the house, and it shows. We're nearly done. And it is a miracle we haven't gone spare, that is for sure. This renovation has tested me in so many ways. As a normally competent, capable person, it has been really eye-opening to rely on others for help and expertise. If I only had the time to learn how to do it all myself...but I don't, so I can't, so we have lovely Clark to help guide us. He hasn't steered us wrong yet!

I have a few pictures.

The tiler finally turned up. Two weeks and two days late. I tried to ignore him but unfortunately I had to let the benchtop guys know about the road resurfacing that was happening. Anyway, there he is. He's done, and we paid him. Thankful that's over with!

As I said, the benchtop guys turned up on the same day...with my gorgeous Caesarstone. How I love it. They set the sink in and the tap in but didn't install it, so those are just floating there, but dang. It looks so great. And it is SO cold - perfect for pastry!

I worked on the wardrobe in the master bedroom a bit, worrying over configuration of shelves, the trouser hanger (pictured), and the clothes rail. The wardrobes are 2.4m high,  but we have 2.8m ceilings so there is plenty of room for them...and a bit on top for my A3 box collection!

And we put in our new front door. I was outvoted on the handle - both Clark and Mr Poppleton thought it should go on the top of the lock! I protested but even though I knew it was wrong somehow, I was outvoted. The next day Clark sheepishly admitted that because the lock was so high up and the threshold a step up from the stoop that yes, I was right to want the handle lower! Thank you very much. :)

Oh. And I painted. We went with a glut of blues. As you progress toward the back of the house, it gets deeper and deeper. In late afternoon, the darkest room, the dining room, is where you end up. But during the day it's like looking down into a very blue tunnel.

And looking back the other way, toward the light.

Of course my hands were a casualty. I think I could be convincted of Smurficide with that as evidence, eh?

The study got a fresh lick of paint, too. Pink along three walls and the same deep grey along the back cabin log walls. It works so well, the pink and grey!

On Friday, I took a Tips and Tricks class at Cottage Quiltworks and my in-laws and husband took out the floor coverings. When I came to visit, I had nothing but bare floorboards to greet me. Even unsanded, they look amazing. This is Piper's room.

And our room (note the finished wardrobes, so super pretty)!

But the dining room didn't fare so well. It looks like the glued the vinyl down, and it's all hairy and stuck to the floorboards. I have been experimenting with getting that fuzz up, and it looks like a stiff brush  cleaned out often is my best bet. What a pai, though - it's a HUGE room.

But then I have the consolation of the gorgeous living room to think of. Oh how lovely it will be when they are all done!

And of course the loveliest thing of all - the dearest and sweetest girl in the world, my gorgeous Piper. She was so tuckered out the other day that she fell asleep in my arms - that NEVER happens. I took the time to sit and enjoy it!

Since the floorsander is in on Monday, we have one more day to finish everything up. I have trims to paint, and three ceilings, and fuzzy floor to rescue, and a hall cupboard to finish. (It was horrible just to get the frames done - I'm so grateful all we're doing to finish are doors and shelving!) After Monday, I get three beautiful days to spend at the apartment, packing. I want this place spick and span by Monday afternoon. Mostly packed and totally spruced up - the floors cleaned, the spots on the wall painted, the drapes at the dry cleaner, everything. I'm packing two to five boxes a day at the moment trying to get ready...because we move in a little over a week.

I'm not sure when next I'll post, so here's hoping it will be sooner rather than later, but if not...hang in there, I'll be back soon!

Lots of love,

Cheers. xx

muddling along

Well, the house is still not finished. SURPRISE. I feel like the world's biggest jerk, but I'm so disappointed that it's taken us TWICE as long to move in. It's money wasted on rent. By my original timeline, we should be well moved in now, and just unpacking. Instead, we're still without a tiled bathroom.

So we're doing small things, getting lots of other projects finished up. This week my goal is painting. Unfortunately, my little one has her first cold. She's not feeding well, absolutely hates the aspirator, and will not sleep. (And she really needs sleep.) I went so far as to turn the heater on because we've had such a cold snap the last few days, I am sure she needs to be kept toasty warm.

This cold, though, means she's a very sweet, snot-covered little barnacle, which limits the amount of painting I can do. This weekend will have to be THE weekend. I will be finished BY SUNDAY EVENING!*

Some things have happened! Like my drawer units have HANDLES. ALL in preparation for the benchtops coming in on MONDAY.

And I bought interior doorknobs, sash lifts, and window locks.

I gave the fabulous front door a prepcoat!

Bedroom 3 received the final prepcoat and now we're on to the dining room.

I scraped the ceilings, windowsills, and walls of the nook and caulked all the gaps to prepare for a prepcoat.

We chose the paint for the last room! Atlantic Mystique. It's a very oceanic house. Three of the rooms are blue, the bedroom and hallway are grey, and even Piper's room is green!

And I spent a minute just standing on what I refer to as the "laundry porch". This is overlooking my neighbor's back garden. But I like my pergola. I want to hang strawberry plants on those hooks.

And...here is my finished Nicey Jane quilt. Still needs a name! "Nicey Girls take the long way around" perhaps?

I am so exhausted. It is time to give the baby more medicine, and rock her back to sleep. We are listening to Angus Stone and trying to take a nap. Hopefully she will sleep. My poor girl.

Cheers, folks! Enjoy your midweek. :)

*I hope.

Hanging in there!

Renovating is one of those things that turn you into a bad friend. I am guilty of that and because of that I'm watching birthdays and weddings fly by, invitations forgotten, because I have been too busy to keep in touch. I'm sorry, friends. I love you and I miss you but I must get this house done.

Progress has been made, somewhat. There are architraves on the windows in the laundry and there's a loo now, so we can work at the house longer than two hours at a time! The wall faucets work but not the basin - it's not connected to anything!

We took the door off of the back hallway where the bathroom door used to be. The hallways is now useless (it leads to another back door, but we'll almost always use the laundry door) so we are thinking of closing it up and turning it into a shed, accessible only from the outside. For now, it is just another great source of light for the dining room!

The laundry room now has a door on the inside! This is for privacy. It still needs to be painted but hey, a door's a door, man.

And this...this is my future sewing nook. Mind, that is only the pre-prepcoat so it looks pretty rubbish BUT the log cabin wall will be a dark, moody grey and the walls a nice sweet pink. The reason for the "feature" wall is because the original exterior walls (i.e. the log cabin walls) have lots of spaces which, when painted white, show up. I don't want to gap-seal all of them. So we're painting them dark.

My kitchen cabinets are coming along nicely, though. They have handles.

And fancy light switches for my fancy undercabinet LEDs.

And oh hey, check out my cooktop, right smack on my drawer unit. It hasn't been installed as we're still waiting on the darn benchtops.

I love looking through the blue of the kitchen into the afternoon sunlit dining room. Such a change in color and tone. Makes such a difference!

In our bedroom we've begin building the wardrobes. They look SO enormous!

And finally, Clark has begun the skylight. It has a villaboard lining and he is setting in the corners so I can sand and paint those very soon. I might as well, since the tilers (&^$*ing tilers, UGH) flaked out AGAIN and are now two MORE weeks late getting in to tile this bathroom. We are now a MONTH LATE moving out of this apartment. I'm not happy we're still renting. It's costing us money every day we're not in the house, and they are directly affecting my budget. GAH.

The good news is, the bathroom is ready for the tilers. All of that waterproofing is just brilliant, isn't it!

It's not all negative. We do have some pretty roses in the garden to console us!

Well, until I take a walk and see how much more there is to do. But this can wait until after we're moved in! (That's my sewing window. It does not open both ways. So it needs to be repainted, and unstuck.)

I do find my patience wearing a bit thin, especially with tilers. (Actually, more or less, ONLY with tilers. Everyone else has been GREAT.) And I want to be moved in. The worst part though was that this long weekend, the perfect weekend for getting things accomplished...we got sick. Piper first, then a couple days later, ME! UGH. I really don't like being sick. It interferes with my whole "get up and go" personality! I knew it was a beautiful warm day outside, perfect for getting work done, but by the end of the day all I could do was get a few stitches in at the sewing machine. Boo. We are on the mend now and feeling much better, but I'm still tired and my ribs ache. I did manage to get the study/sewing room prepcoated last night, in an unexpected burst of inspiration!

Well we're off to get coffee and have lunch with the family for Easter! Hope yours is equally lovely. Cheers!