AJ's Antics

1 hour 46 minutes from unwrapping the Jelly roll to placing it on the floor...not too bad I think!

Miss Dove  has put forth a reading challenge for next year. Read 13 books, of the no-pictures-not-for-small-people variety, in the next 12 months. Sounds good I say. I've added a few books to my shopping list for Santa so hopefully they arrive and I've got a small pile on the table beside the bed ready to go! You can join in too if you like sign up here on this blog post and and your set!

Where did the last 2 weeks go? I thought after I handed in my reports I'd be able to slow down a bit. Obviously that was not the case! We have been SUPER busy! So busy in fact I don't know where to start! Each time I cross something off my list I add 3 more things! We did get a super cute Santa photo this year....in superhero costume! Aden needed his cape to be 'very brave' for Santa. I'm busy in the sewing room too....only 10 days til Christmas!

Aden has been accepted into the local private school for Kindy next year! We got the phone call a whole year earlier than expected which means he will be one of the youngest in the class of 20 but we are very pleased and excited and so is he! He already knows most of the letter names and we are working on the sounds and letter formations too (the only one he can do is 'A' and mostly it looks like a 'H'). Although I'm a teacher we're not pushing him and just letting him be naturally curious about letters and words. He will now often ask 'what does that letters say'  and he happily points out letters he knows/recognises in the environment and books we read. We are also encouraging lots of other 'school readiness' skills too! But all that is way off track, but slightly connected, to what I wanted to show you.....scissor skills!   Currently I teach year 3 and I'm astounded by the lack of cutting skills these 8 & 9 year olds show. ...

Last year Nic sent me this little piece of cuteness and this year it was my turn to send her something!   I went with a paper pieced centre, some wonky 'piano keys' around the edges and some plain cornerstones. I quilting by machine around the centre star and then added some echo stitching as well. I then also tried my hand at some 'hand quiltling' What I did was probably more embroidery but I like it all the same. I hope her small daughter enjoys tucking in her dolls under this one!   In return I got another stunning quilt this year!   The talented Anna  made these wonky houses to hang on my wall.       A row of little scrappy houses sit on a curvy hill.     There are little flowers and chimney smoke quilted in and little birds singing in trees.     There is also some lovely silver thread quilted in the sky area...so sparkly!     Thanks Anna! It looks right at home...

Back Blogging....20th November 2012 As a massive fan of dinosaurs we just had to try out the Lego Dinosaur range. Aden really is too little for proper Lego just yet. He loves playing with the Duplo and can manage it just fine but I'd forgotten how small Lego pieces can be! Lucky Daddy was here to help...so while Aden played with the Dinosaur and the man, Daddy built the vehicle.        He does look pretty pleased with himself if you excuse my bad photography!!     He has kept it together very well and safely put away when not being played with. I still don't think he is ready for a big Lego set just yet.....even if Mummy and Daddy are!

Back blogging....12th November 2012 My little sister has been asking and asking me to teach her to quilt....she has big plans! But I convinced her to start out with a simple pattern and get a few techniques behind her before getting too adventurous. So on Monday while we all had the day off work, Mum, Cee and I got quilting....while I didn't do anything execpt cut fabric for Mum, but we made some progress.   Cee learning to use the rotary cutter! She did really well and ended up with a nice pile of squares ready to join. The colours are not something I would have choosen myself but they work really well together. She started joining squares and I showed her how to join them into 9-patches and chop them apart again! I gave her some homework and I wonder how far along she is?? She has a blog...maybe she can blog her progress!     Mum on the other hand was up for some bunting...over 8 metres worth of fabric for her bunting...I'll show it to you when we ...

Only 1 month left! Have you sent me your FQ as your entry into the draw?

Milly  gave us a link to a fun idea for our online quilting group! A Jelly Roll race! I've heard of it before but never actually watched a tutorial for it. There are heaps on YouTube if you search for 'Jelly Roll Race' or 'quilt race' Here is one I found and watched. I have a Jelly Roll here ready for her to give me a time and date for the race but Milly needed to order a Jelly Roll and wait for it to arrive so in the meantime I decided to practise with a super cheap fake 'Jelly Roll' I had here at home from Spotlight.     It has a very limited number of fabrics and is much smaller than a real Jelly Roll but it was good for the practise....and there is nothing like a new WIP is there!! :)      Fabric stripes layout ready to join All joined together The longest and hardest part of the quilt it joining all the fabric stripes together at the very start. I did these ones with a diagonal join but I...