Log Cabin quilt commences

I have been setting up my sewing space into a more function workplace.  That included borrowing all the extra picture hooks from the walls of other rooms, so I could hang all my quilts.  Correction, hang the quilts that I liked.  The ones that are out of favour are still sitting in a pile! 

I have also been using my new Go cutter and new 1.5" die to cut strips from my reproduction fabrics.  This seemed like a good idea at the time because a) my reproduction fabrics are in mainly housed in that cane basket in the bottom right corner of the above photograph (e.g. I knew where they were)

b) I have always wanted to make a log cabin quilt and c) I had a new book and magazine with log cabin patterns in them.  This is my progress 39 blocks so far!

 I am still thinking about the splash of cheddar, black and light blue and I think that I will just continue the way I started.  Which was to pull out the smallest pieces and cut them up, followed by the colours I was missing.  I had cut two prints which I thought might read as lights - a cream with green print and a cream with coral print.  However in this photo I can see that they read more as darks and I wont continue using them.  These blocks are making me very happy and have been a good way to spend a couple of very very hot days...days where friends were being evacuated, we could smell smoke in the air from fires far away and all the news reports were about bushfire's.

We picked apricots off our tree two days ago.  As you can see from the twenty cent piece they are not huge, but they sure pack a punch in the flavour department.  We ate some and lots got made into jam.

Mum came around and deliver a hands on class in jam making 101.  Mum is a dab hand at making jam after 40 odd years of experience, every summer!  It was stinking hot (eg 43C) outside and slightly better inside, as the air conditioner struggled to keep up.  Confession, I sewed log cabin blocks and Mum made the jam.....I did help with the cutting and odd stir, but basically she made it! 

Happy quilting Sue.

Our new house

This was the sized truck we needed to move!  Lucky that we have a big front yard, they were impressed they could park off the street!  

I thought I did a good job of decluttering and re homing things we no longer needed. 

But given I am still unpacking and trying to find a home for everything, I clearly did not throw enough stuff out!

 We have spent one week in our new house and have enjoyed every minute of it.  Well perhaps not about 3 hours yesterday where I was madly running around trying to help DH move a very large book case, so we could put all the books away and  get the spare room ready before his parents arrived to stay.  Anyway this is the view from our family room of the fernery, not a good shot of the lovely plants inside as the jasmine hangs down to shade them from the morning sun.

 This is the other side of the fernery, the little bit of lawn out back and the clothes line.  You have never seen such an excited woman as me hanging out three huge loads of washing on day 2 of life in our new house....and there was plenty of spare room on the line!  I wanted to do another load just to see how much it would hold...but I was in danger of running out of pegs before that happened!  Believe me I did have more washing to do!

My in laws like to sleep in (fair enough my FIL is still working full time) so I can only show you a few rooms, as they are still in bed!  Obviously this is our bedroom, walk in robe and en suite.  I have never had a walk in robe before and was impressed with how much crap  stuff I could store in there!  Please note as per the pile of pictures in the corner we are yet to finish all the things on my moving in list!  If I just could find a hammer I would be hanging those pictures myself (loving plaster walls v brick ones we had in Adelaide), but poor DH's shed is only 5% unpacked.  I have hung things everywhere there was an existing hook, but also trying to hang my Christmas wall hangings up.

This is the lounge room, recently abandoned by our boys to eat breakfast -hence recliners still reclined and quilts in action...they are now back in there with full tummies, watching cartoons under their quilts, waiting for Pop to get up and play football!  

Can you see my lovely "new" oak cabinet, full of quilts!  I am very pleased with this Gumtree purchase, it was a bargain and I will be on the hunt for something similar.  Because....

...this is my sewing "room", the back half of the lounge room!  And as you can see still half unpacked.  The reason it is half unpacked is that 

a) we only installed the bookcase yesterday (it is so big DH has to secure it to the wall first) and there were books and magazines in some boxes 

b) the kitchen dresser I was using to display and store sewing items on is now in the kitchen (duh!) and

 c) well I have no storage!  

Yes, I let DH (formally primary breadwinner, now sole breadwinner) use the previous owners custom built sewing room....as his office!  Did I ever mention that DH works from home full time?  Yep, well the downside of that is that he needs his own room full time.  The upside is that  his boss doesn't care where he lives and hence we have moved back to my home town, the town where we met : ) and where all my family still live AND which is only 3 hours from his family v an 8 hour drive from Adelaide. 

 I have been sewing, but its all packed away now that my in laws are visiting.  But in order to do any more sewing (and find anything) I need to buy/acquire some storage system/furniture.  

So there you have it, a quarter view of my new house and all the reason I haven't been blogging!  

Happy quilting, Sue SA.