What we've been up to!

I know it's been ages since I blogged, please accept my apologies! It's been a wild ride the past few months and we still haven't truly adjusted to our new home..or finished unpacking...

The bonus of moving is that I get to see my kids sleep. We generally don't risk waking them up by peeking into their rooms at night, so it's wonderful to be able to just lie there and watch them in peace and quiet.


 In the past few months we were surprised with the news of a last minute move to a small town. We had to say good bye to our sweet chickens as town ordinances wouldn't allow for us to keep them unless we had a huge lot, and when you're renting in a town without many rentals available, that's just not an option. We moved into our rental and adopted our first dog, Daphne! She's a total Daddy's girl and she is a total sweetheart who thinks she has to clean us daily! She's got a few bad habits to work on, but don't we all?! ;)


I have been sewing, I just haven't been sharing on the blog, sorry! I'm very active on Instagram, so feel free to follow me on there as "RooibosMom"!

I've just finished up my first BIG twin-sized quilt, and it only took me 1.5 years! Ha ha ha! To be fair I took many breaks from it, and only recently powered through the quilting to finish it up. Missy loves it and I am so happy with the finished product! It's a not-very-scrappy Scrappy Trip quilt. ;)

Front

Back

Close up.
Sorry it's rotated to the right, I swear my flamingos and mermaids etc are really right side up!

A few of the other items I have completed, as well as a few snapshots from the past few months:






 And I promise to blog as often as possible and keep everyone updated with what we're up to!

Hexie Obsession

I have a new obsession. HEXAGONS!

I made some during a pincushion swap... and I just couldn't stop there.

So this is what I did on Sunday:

L to R : prepping 80 hexagons on cardstock, making a cute tower, sewing hexies in the van.
Bottom: 54 hexies basted!

I printed out 4 sheets of hexagons from a year old post by Texas Freckles. I just LOVE her for sharing this template! That my dears, is 80 hexagons in total. I spent a little while in the morning cutting them out and then making a cute little tower...which led to the photo shoot.

Then on Sunday afternoon the opportunity presented itself for me to make as many 1" hexies as possible. You see, we took a trip to Trader Joes in the afternoon, and for once I was a passenger. Normally when I am playing passenger I simply chat a bit, stare out the window, or spend a wee bitty too much time on Facebook in between stomping on an imaginary brake pedal. ;)

But this time I decided to make better use of my time and be productive. As it turns out 3 hours (roundtrip) = 54 hexies! I was getting faster with them by the end so who knows, maybe next time I could double that number!

3 hours might be a little absurd for a grocery store run, but it honestly IS the closest TJ location. Also, I need to get more familiar with this route and the length of the drive anyway. You see, that's how far we need to travel to see an orthodontist for our son. But that's a story for another day.

Here's the pincushion I made for the swap, the one that started this obsession:

And of course, it has one of my favourite tags from Night Owl's Menagerie.

QuiltCon 2013!

Not only was it the first quilt show I'd been to, it was also the very first QuiltCon ever! Wow!

I could only make it to Austin, Texas for one day so I made the most of my precious time there!

Now before I go any further I am going to apologize for the photo quality and the fact that none of the colours are quite what they should be. I was rather silly relying on my cellphone for photos. You see, I tend to forget that while my phone does take photos, it is most certainly not good enough to warrant leaving my camera behind. And relying on it to capture true colours or great moments is just silly! I promise to bring a better camera with me from now on.

The Austin Convention Center, it's just beautiful inside!

 I took a class first thing Saturday morning: Beginner Freezer Paper Piecing with Penny Layman.

My workshop room! 

Penny Layman, our instructor!

All our jugs! Mine is on the far right, third from the top (yellow background with blue jug and green base). I definitely think that I am now addicted to freezer paper piecing!

Isn't she a beaut?! I would loved to have taken her home, but my husband would have sent her right back, ha ha! So not worth all the effort. Besides my machines are very good to me :) 

All our Y-seam practicing! Mine is red, blue and purple, and it's the 2nd from the right in the 2nd row from the bottom. 

I met Rene from Rene Creates, in the workshop!

I also met and shared supplies with the lovely Cecilia...except I didn't think clearly and forgot to ask for contact info. Oops!

After the workshop I walked back to the parking garage and swapped out my big carry-all bag for a smaller cross-body bag (Fishsticks Designs), so that I could walk around the quilt show without getting sore.

This quilt is so bright and beautiful when you're standing next to it. I forgot to write down who made it, but I managed to stumble across the blog on accident today! It was made by Jen from A Quilting Jewel.

I am finding myself drawn to hexies lately. This mini quilt is so simply but perfectly done. I just love it so much.

The colours are really washed out here, but in person it is bright and truly beautifully done!

I just had to take a snapshot of this quilt in a vendor booth. I tend to forget the background doesn't have to be white . This grey background really makes the colours pop on the quilt.

This quilt was GORGEOUS up close. This photo does absolutely nothing for it. It's a linen background which complements the fabrics chosen perfectly. Stunning, really stunning.

Isn't this Texas quilt just fabulous?!

I am not sure I'd have enough time to get this done before the youngest's 18th birthday , lol, but I seriously LOVE this quilt and I may break down one day and order the pattern!
The Pattern is called Animal Alphabet, by Don't Look Now!

I am very intrigued with this Quilt Halo. I saw it demo'd and I am seriously thinking of grabbing a couple before the next quilt project gets sewn together! 

I met Amy Ellis! She was giving away signed copies of her new book at the Babylock booth, and I just happened to be there at the right time! She's very sweet and I am honoured to have met her.
Plus, this quilting newbie now has a fabulous pattern book to read through!
*Photo taken by Babylock