A visit to the machine doctor and some sewing

Just over a week ago when I started up my sewing machine, I kept getting an error which I couldn't resolve. I read through the troubleshooting table in the manual and did all that was suggested but still no luck. Today, I decided it was cool enough outside to venture out so packed up the beast of a machine and took it to my local machine doctor.

I have been visiting this machine doctor for a while now and he has the tiniest little shop which is cramped with sewing machines in for a service and sewing machines in boxes for sale.

He and his assistant, immediately looked at my problem and decided on a couple of treatments, then the assistant noticed that the needle would not go down through the needleplate and the diagnosis was found, a buckled needle plate.  No idea how that happened but they took the part out back for some surgery and before long, all was fixed.  They packed it all back up for me and insisted on carrying it back out to the car (she is a heavy beast) and after all this insisted that I didn't owe them a thing.

So I'm back home sewing Rusty's quilt as I said I would get the rows built this month as part of my goals for January.

 

Fabric Stash Rethink

Some of you may recall that last year I got stuck into my fabric stash and made an effort to organise it a bit better than stuffing it in wire baskets. Have a look here if you missed it. I had great fun doing it but couldn't find anything that would make a stiff enough "bolt" base and all my fabrics started to look a little droopy.  This makes it very difficult when I want to remove some "bolts" for auditions or to use in projects.

The brainstorming began but no matter what idea I came up with, I just couldn't find anything that was cheap enough and stiff enough to do the job. Then, one day at work, I was filling up the big photocopier with paper (it loads a whole box) and was going to flatten the box and throw it out when it occurred to me that it was just the right thickness to do another job.   Just shows that ideas come at the most unexpected time.  Ok the cardboard was  the right thickness and they are white boxes which means consistency but the boxes have come from a warehouse and were marked here and there and some were dusty.  Ahhhh, I will wrap them in sticky contact to protect my fabric.

flattened boxes

contact wrap

finished bolt holder

 Takes a little prep time but not excessive and I actually find it fun... and they hold the bolts up nice and straight.  I cut each cardboard box into 6.5" strips (the width of my long ruler) and 12" high (which is a good height for my bookcase) to keep it all uniform and wrapped them in a piece of contact, sealing all sides.  The best thing is that the boxes are free and the supply unlimited and the contact cost me A$1.29 per roll.

See those first three bolts on the right, they are my new bolts.....standing straight and tall. LOVE IT! Only another 300 to make now! Oh dear, thats a lot.

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Blooming Beauty

No recent photo's here again this week.  Only mad dogs and Englishmen would go out in this heat for a long walk.......oh wait, I did yesterday for a short while when the sun was fading......and it was still extremely humid, but the doggies need a change of scenery.

I took some photos in the garden a few weeks ago when everything was still looking lush and healthy.

These leaves make an appearance every spring and summer and then we don't even see the plant until the next year. No idea what it is but they are very colourful leaves

lovely, aren't they?

And this is my white agapanthus as it was bursting into bloom.  It has since died off :( as has everything else!

Stay cool and seel the beauty around you!





 

What a Hoot

Well it feels hotter than ever today and we are all shut away in the air conditioning as the best way to escape the heat. Miss M and Ted turned up today to take advantage of the cooler conditions.

I really felt like I had to do something today so I searched through my books and patterns and remembered this one that I got at the last Quilt Show here in Brisbane.

It only took me a couple of hours to make and though it was intended as a hand sewn project, I cheated, and sewed it together on the sewing machine.

Normally I hate reading instructions and usually fuddle along but this pattern had step by step photographic instructions on-line which made the whole process much easier to put together

Without further ado, here is my little OWL PURSE:

I will be putting this little guy into my gift box for the time being and I am going to look for some more of the hardware so I can make some more.  I think it is just so cute!

And it will hold quite a few pennies

Go here if you want to see some more of these designs

How about this photo that appeared on the news last night.  Taken off Western Australia where there is a cyclone off the coast.

PHOTO REMOVED

That orange is a dustcloud blown from across the Pilbara.

  
Make sure you read about my give away. Click HERE or on the icon on the sidebar.

It's Heating Up Alright

This is so scary....look at that purple patch....temps of 54deg C!!! When I saw this weather map flash up on 'The Project' last night, I was mystified as I thought that was a cold patch until I saw this pic. Now apparantly it didn't actually get to that high temp but the thought of it is just unbearable.  Look at little Tassie......I can't wait for us to become friends.

For the last week or so, all anyone has talked about has been the weather, the heat and the fires. It's on the tv, the radio, when you go to the shops, at work and even when you bump into the neighbours. Miss M and I have spent the last 3 days indoors with the AC. Clover is here today as well to visit with Callie and Lila so we are going to go out and keep wetting their bellies.  This works better than dousing them all over with water as their wet fur traps the heat in.  Ahhhh, that livened them up, now they are having a little play!

Callie

Lila

 

Some Creation Inspiration

A week ago or so Chookyblue posted about her plans for the Stitch-A-long blog.  I really did have plans to join in but didn't think I could committ to so many projects even if they were small.  I already have  "Some Kind of Wonderful" on my bookcase but I really did like the look of "Red Home" by Natalie Bird. I follow this blog so when  I started to see all the lovely goodies being made from this book, of course I went straight on line and ordered the book.

It arrived today......

This is the little pincushion that decided it for me

and of course I love the quilt on the cover

 

A Chat on the Porch

It is so nice to see my give-away bowl fill up with names.....and I have climbed to 89 followers.  Yay for me and thank you for all the lovely comments which I so love to read. If you don't know about my "Runs all Year Give-Away" click here

I found out about a new link-in today, when I caught up with Debbie's blog, called Chats on the Farmhouse Porch.  Mmmmm....I don't have a farmhouse and I don't exactly have a porch, but I do love to chat so I am joining in

Patrice asks the questions and then you answer and link in to her page.

What was your biggest fear as a child?
I lived in Africa and I was terrified of a terrorist attack. At the time there was a war raging on the Angolan border (hundreds of kilometres away). I heard talk from other kids who said the small town where we lived had a bunker for people to go to if there was an attack. I didn't know if it was true or not and it worried me that if it wasn't, where would we hide. It was a very small quiet community and occassionally military planes flew low overhead, I would dive under the bed terrified.  It is so sad that so many kids live like that today.

Who taught you to cook?
My mum taught me to cook simple things like mac cheese.  I cook very differently to my mum so had to teach myself a lot.

Do you have a lot of books in your home?
I love books and have cook books, sewing books, photography books, dog training books, gardening books and tons of novels.  In fact my bookcase is groaning.  I don't ever think I will adjust to the concept of E-readers.

Do you like carrot cake?If you like that cake, what kind of frosting do you like best?
Yummy, I LOVE carrot cake especially with walnuts added.  Lemon flavoured cream cheese frosting is my favourite. In fact the last cake that I baked was a carrot cake back in October for my hubby's birthday.

What's did the last funny t-shirt you read say? (It doesn't have to reflect your personal feeling about the topic, just be funny and family friendly.)
You know I can't remember! I guess I don't take that much notice.

Errrr......seems I linked into the wrong week so had the wrong questions...will get it right next time.

Doing some work on My Garden and my Creation Station

I was quite shocked the other day when I walked into my Creation Station to find it looking like this. I am aware it was getting to this stage but just kept turning a blind eye.

During the Christmas season, this becomes a dumping ground for items that I "just want to put out of the way". No way any sewing can get done in here at this rate so time for a quick tidy up.

That done, I set up my machine to do some sewing but alas, an error kept coming up on the screen.....aaaarghhh!!! Might be time for a service.  Thank goodness I have my Pfaff as a back up.

With that all set up it was time to do some sewing........but not before I unpicked one of the blocks that was annoying me.

Yep, all those one inch strips had to come off because I had not sewn them on correctly and it became very evident once I had sewn this block onto the completed rows.

After I sewed it back together and reattached it to the completed section, I started on the first block of row 3.

And that is all I got done in about 3 hours while also watching a few episodes of "Fringe" (Season 3). The fact is, I had to keep leaving the room as it got too hot and I had to retreat to the living room and sit under the fan for awhile which is not a bad thing as it gave me a chance to also catch up on some blogging.

 

A Good Read or Not?

One of my non quilty goals this month was to finish my current novel "Voyager" by Diana Gabaldon.                                               
                                      Mission complete.

 I havebeen reading the series of books that started with Crosstitch  since 2009 when I bought the 6th (?) book without realising that there were ones preceding it. When I read Crosstitch, I couldn't put it down and wolfed through it like a person starved of food.  Then I couldn't wait to get my hands on the next book in the series, Dragonfly in Amber.  This was a little slow going and then it got interesting and then slowed down again but I couldn't wait to find out what was in store for Jaimie and Claire so I went out and got Voyager.  Well after the first few chapters, I knew it was going to be a slow one again.  A good story, but just too drawn out.  It has taken me 18 months to finish this book.  I sort of feel committed to reading the other books in the series as I have already got the 6th one but for the time being, I will be reading something a little different.

It has taken me 3 months to read this last little bit alone

Blooming Beauty

Hasn't been much of a weekend for sewing here. I was awake quite a bit on Friday night due to a migraine that developed while I was asleep and then I woke up on Saturday morning with no voice. So I slept quite a bit during the day. I took 9 paracetemol during a 12 hour period but the residual headache stayed with me all day.

 Don't know what happened to my voice. I thought I was getting a cold as I had a bit of a sore throat for a couple of days. The family have had a good laugh at my squeaky voice so I am reduced to whispering only when necessary. Makes it hard to talk to my furbabies. Miss M made a crack last night about it when she cheekily asked hubby if it had been a quiet day around here. Cheeky Monkey!!

Still it is Sunday and I like to post my Blooming Beauty on Sunday.  This week I am picking a some pictures I took in Ireland 2011.

Lavender in a memorial garden near Dublin Castle

Iris in memorial garden near Dublin Castle

Found growing in the wild - Lough Key (Co. Leitrim)

  Hope you find some beauty in your day!