a new year.

The general consensus is that 2014 was a hard year. So let's put it to bed and move on.

I do like this holiday; there's something a bit nice about the idea of starting fresh. And of course we can do that every day or week or month, but it's nice to have the prospect of such a large chunk of time devoted to getting a bit better. I like to choose resolutions that focus on growth (as opposed to those that focus on whittling down; you all know what I'm talking about). Though I rarely do resolutions myself, to be honest.

I started this year with a freshly organized stash.

(Trust me, it needed it!)

I started this year with the cutest babies on the planet. They even play together nicely sometimes.

I started this year with this great guy by my side. Every step we take, we take together.

I started this year off with a finished group quilt top, ready to be quilted by yours truly. It's a stunning top and Tash did so much work to make it happen.

And another long term WIP just about finished. So far 48/64 blocks are done; the last sixteen are just waiting to get started.

A good start to 2015.

My husband and I usually drive the babies to sleep. We talk in the car, and listen to music, and it's actually time for us to reconnect as partners, not just be parents. Sometimes we drive to a nearby hill we call the Sunset Spot. Tonight, on the first day of the new year, it did not disappoint.

My friend Amy chooses a word every year, and I think that's a good idea.

I don't know if I have a word. More like a set of ideas. Scaling back my involvements (no blog hops, swaps, bees, or running anything) was a hard but important decision. Piper starts preschool and the parental involvement is really high at her school; I want to be present for that.

I want to write every day. I did this for 2.5 years and it was amazing. (I write probably 27 days a month, so this isn't a stretch for me. Sometimes it's ten words, sometimes it's ten thousand.)

I want to connect more. I'm anxious, introverted, and naturally a homebody, so eye contact and learning names is terrifying. (I tend to put on this bright, false face and just talk the whole time.) So working on that would be a step in the right direction.

I want to sew almost exclusively from my stash.

I want to keep thinking critically and increase my knowledge.

I want to read more books (and mostly books by female authors). I want to seek out points of view of people that aren't already represented in my life, to gain better understanding and insight. I want to act with intelligence but more than that, compassion.

I want to do no harm, but take no crap.

There's a lot more, but that's just what's at the top of the pile right now.

Happy New Year, everyone. x

sunday night plan #6

Oh man. I've been feeling the urge lately. The moving urge. I come by it honestly: my mother, every few months, would systematically rearrange the furniture to make it feel fresh and new. I did the same in my bedroom and then in my first few apartments. I like moving house because it's a great opportunity to shed the unnecessary things and move forward with a fresher, simpler outlook. Or so the theory goes!

Anyway, I've been struggling with where my sewing desk is because it's in the part of the living room furthest from the windows. My fabric shelving was blocking any light I could get. So we swapped them around! Of course this happened at 10pm so we'll see how the new configuration goes tomorrow. At any rate, we're going to spring for an Expedit bookcase (this one, on its side) so even when Piper gets mobile, she can't pull it down on her head. Winning!

This week I am keeping the planning simple.

Sewing projects:

x Happy Camper quilt top
x Mom's quilt top
x Downtown dots quilt top
x Lolly Fields quilt back

Planning:

x Plan the HST quilt
x Sunniest Day quilt

Writing:

x Any. I'm doing terribly at NaNo this year! It's shameful. (But I'm back to writing every day!)

Well, I'm running scant on five hours' sleep--NOT the baby's fault, but a bout of insomnia! I'm yawning like crazy so I'm going to seize the moment and head to bed. Night all!

Fabric Friday #3

I know, it's Sunday, but I promised a Fabric Friday and I intend to deliver! Even if I am a couple days late. (Oops.)

Firstly, I want to tell everyone that despite tempation I am still going strong with No-Buy October! I haven't purchased a single centimeter of fabric. I almost accidentally bought some on Etsy, though. I convo'd someone and hmmm'd and had my finger on the "buy" button before--WAIT! It's NO-BUY OCTOBER! Whew. Disaster averted. Sorry, Hunky Dory yardage. You can wait until 1 November.

Secondly, perhaps my willpower isn't that great. I bought three new templates and a book on foundation-piecing. But since the point of No-Buy October is to work with my existing stash, I call templates and foundation piecing books a step in the right direction. Especially since I picked up the Scrap-Therapy book and have decided that every time I have a largeish scrap, I'm apple-coring it to add to a larger, ongoing project: a Scrapple Core Quilt. (See what I did there? Ahh. Puns. Best.)

Thirdly, I did get some fabric in the mail this week, hooray! My half-yard Across the Pond set arrived on Thursday and two gorgeous yards of complementary brown-stripe Lecien My Folklore arrived Tuesday. I was a very happy camper. Check out this Lecien; it's the same colorway as my very favorite fabric ever.

I'm kind of freaking out. I want to frame it! Anything I sew with it won't be good enough! I love it so much! Exclamation marks!!

But I love Across the Pond, too. Especially the cranes. Oh, how I love birds.

It's so blue and orange. I can't wait to cut into it. I am thinking a kaleidoscope quilt.

Of course, when my best helper watched me tear into those pretty parcels, her eyes got huge. I know just what she was thinking.

"You bought EVEN MORE fabric?"

I love that face. Check out her mad sitting-up-in-the-Bumbo skills, too! Her little neck is so super-strong, people stop to stare. I try to explain I'm not a bad mother and I'm not letting her head loll everywhere, she actually LIKES to be craned backwards like a gymnast. If I try to snuggle her head close, she shrieks and does this little cough-cry-hiccup thing. Which is way worse than My Baby, The Human Rainbow. So we love the Bumbo. Crane away, kid! I'll just be sewing with my pretty new fabric.

Next week I should be getting the last of my mail-ordered fabric (a Sophie fat quarter set) and then the real drought begins. I'm just hoping for time to sew this upcoming week! It's been a hectic weekend and I'm only just now sitting down enjoying some free time. Time to get out my handwork and sew another hex square... seven down, 166 to go... yikes!

sunday night plan #3

This week was busy in strange bursts, so I managed to squeeze in bits of sewing here and there. I have to admit, I thought babies napped a lot more than this...but Piper likes to condense her sleeps into the evenings, leaving the day with just a few grizzly short naps. Yikes. But I can't complain too much. She's so gorgeous and bright, always looking around and taking everything in.

I didn't get very much done this weekend, owing to aforementioned Miss Grizzles, but we did manage to finally buy a pram this week! I am looking forward to walking in fine weather. We took the inaugural walk to our favorite café and it felt amazing to stretch my legs. I forsee many hours out and about in our future!

A quick look at this past week before I get down to the nitty-gritty plans!

An explosion took place, and my goodness, the amount of Napisan it took to get that out! Of course I think all of this is hilarious. For someone so tiny, she can make a LOT of mess!

That picture is definitely going in the "21st Birthday Party Slideshow" file!

We caught up with Ellen and Joel. Ellen and I were pregnant together! They have a brand new baby girl, Olive (she's not even a week old!) who is eight weeks younger than Piper. Ellen is my age-ish and it is so nice having a friend close in age who is also a new mum. Where we live, the mums we encounter are mostly post-career women, in their mid- to late-thirties. This is Ellen, Joel, and Olive (in the sling).

Mr Poppleton's school friend Aaron and his wife Floss were up this weekend from Melbourne, so we took Piper to meet them. She especially liked Aaron and didn't complain once while he held her! But then he's always been charming to the ladies.

And of course, we distracted Elle. She is always sneaking off to have a hold of Piper, and always gets in trouble at work! Shame shame.

So we have been very social, and as a result I had a very cranky, overtired baby on Saturday afternoon and most of today. But she is happily sleeping now, so I can plan my week!

Sewing projects:

x sew J3's quilt top (still, I know I know, I'm SO slack)
x sew J5's quilt top (which I cut and pinned last week)
x design, work up, and cut out 2 cot quilts
x finish Happy Camper quilt top
x finish wrap shirt
x finish hand sewing last three curved hexagon blocks

Writing projects:

x diagram story
x write something every evening (even if it only 100 words)
x structure story toward a finish line

I have a few other things to do this week, in the "life projects" pile. We're considering a new dining table & chairs, so I'd like to sell my existing set. I also have four chairs I bought and reupholstered, and I just need to give them another coat of paint (or five!) to make them worth selling. I'm also converting all our media from physical to electronic, with a view of having a less-plastic lifestyle in the near future. So that's an ongoing set of projects to keep me busy. For now, I'm going to watch an episode of Gossip Girl and finish sewing this curved hexagon block. Maybe if I am really clever, I can get two blocks sewn before the end of the show! A worthy goal.

PS I read a fantastic book and I am going to write a review of it, so keep your eyes peeled!

progress, ever slow...

Well! The fates aligned this morning and I got some work done!

I had my "fake coffee" (aka my glorious decaf), in my special favorite mug:

I had a pile of ironing seams which went wonderfully quick!

I had Chuck and Blair to keep me company (oh, the intrigue)!

And, best of all...my favorite tiny terrorist decided to grace me with sleep!

N'awwww... well, she woke up and I had the quilt blocks half-laid out so J3's quilt is not quite put together yet. Maybe tomorrow! Until then, I've got a block to design for J5's quilt top. Toodles!

mondays are good.

I did get some things done today, not all of them crafty, but important tasks nonetheless. I'd been putting off making an appointment, but I bit the bullet and rang the doctor to make it. I had blood drawn for postnatal checks. I posted all 120 birth announcements five weeks later than I finished them. I bundled up the Cotton Candy Quilt so it is all ready to post on Thursday. I washed and dried my nephew's and nieces' quilts, chain-pieced the four-patch blocks for J3's quilt, and started working on my curved star hexagon blocks (there are six, and I am hand-sewing them). And I cleaned the kitchen!

But the real reason today is such a good day? My friend Ellen had her baby. Welcome to the world, Olive Margaret! I am so excited to meet you!

Now, I am off to bed with my very own big, demanding baby, and my very sleepy husband. I'm not going to leave the house tomorrow, I've decided. It is much nicer inside sewing, after all that excitement. So perhaps tomorrow night's post will be even more victorious. I aim to be replete with sewing smugness!

sunday night plan #2

Okay, okay, so technically this is a Monday morning update, but shhh. It'll be our little secret.

From last week's list I managed to finish a few key projects, but the one I am the most excited about is George's quilt. Honestly I'd been hemming and hawing (or perhaps hawing and NOT hemming) about stitching just three feet of hand-quilting, so tonight I finally just rolled my eyes at myself and finished it. YAY!

Another accomplishment? Finishing the quilt for my niece Sissy. I machine quilted it, but I hated it pretty much the entire time. Even with a walking foot I felt like the stitches were uneven and bodgy. I love hand-quilting so much. For J3's quilt top (67" square) I am probably going to spring for professional machine quilting. Tonight for Sissy's quilt I finally chose the binding and attached it, and except for four lines more of stitching it is DONE! I'll be able to post it on Friday to my tiny, excited niece! This is what it looked like all taped, but not yet basted or quilted.

Also I made her a matching Viewfinder bag! She specially requested one just like mine. I was only too happy to oblige!

I'm feeling obviously super chuffed.

I'm sad to say I got very little writing done. I need a good nap day so I can sit down and diagram the story. I used to go through phases, where I'd write a lot, then I'd stop almost completely and sew a lot...I think I'm on a sewing upswing at the moment. But I need to get back to writing. Boo for me.

So for this week, my sewing projects are:

x finish J3's quilt top
x cut out J5's quilt blocks
x design & start two new cot quilts
x sew wrap shirt

And my writing goals:

x 500 words per day
x diagram the story on index cards

I'm going to spend a bit of time working out my new cot quilt designs, and it's really exciting because, well, I SOLD ONE THIS WEEK! I'm so proud that my efforts have been rewarded! It is always really great to make something new and beautiful but for a complete stranger to love it enough to pay hard-earned dollars for my creations is just the best feeling ever. Seriously, best best best. This is the quilt I sold, the Cotton Candy Kaleidoscope Quilt:

Please go visit my store for updates, and I will try and include new stuff every couple weeks.

Here's to a happy, busy week!

sunday night plan #1

Sundays are the planning evening in our house. We do all the ironing, I try in vain to finish up whatever lingering sewing projects I have, and we tidy the house for the week. I'm carrying that over to this space so I can keep myself accountable, or at least keep track of my myriad projects!

I found some time to work on my sister's quilt this weekend, and I realized after how I needed the sewing time. I feel more centered, more like myself, when I find the time to sew. Now I just need to carve out the time to write so I can be balanced on all three points: mother, writer, and crafter! The magical tripod of my sanity. I am armed this week to hunker down and do some serious work, though, Piper-permitting; I have index cards, new Sharpie Pens, and a burning desire to finish this story so I can turn it into a manuscript, then pitch it and try to get it published.

(Wow, okay, that is the first time I have written that, or even said it. Yes, this is the one I hope to publish. The last five completed novels were just practice. And that is A-OK.)

This week's upcoming sewing projects are:

x finish the "walk in the woods" quilt top
x baste Sissy's quilt
x decide on and cut piecework for j5's quilt
x finish the dang "happy camper" quilt top
x make a new sling for warmer weather
x finish georgie's quilt (two lines of quilting left, yeah!)

This week's upcoming writing projects are:

x diagram the novel
x 1500 words by friday

And hopefully my little mini-me will behave this week...she has grown to an astounding 5.27kg and finally we got past the awful Miss Grizzle week! She looks pretty sweet and innocent here!

My favorite time to sew. Too bad I miss her when she sleeps and I end up wanting to cuddle her...and then I wake her up. New momma fail!