Machine Quilting!

This week is going to be full of machine quilting as I have a deadline for finishing a quilt.

I spent a lot of yesterday quilting and have finished all the stabilising quilting on the quilt. Now it's time for the fun part - the decorative quilting. Don't you just love it when the pile of safety pins starts to really grow? You reach a point and think yep, I'm getting there.

So, what are your sewing goals this week?

Starting a Nine Patch Quilt

So I've begun a what I hope will be a beautiful quilt this weekend. And look at my mountain of chain piecing.

It is so much quicker to chain piece and do all the same steps of every block at once. The problem is that it can get boring and can take a while before you see real progress. The up side is after all that work you all of a sudden have a bunch of blocks finished. Awesome.

And yet I still jump ahead and make a few blocks to get a feel of how the fabrics will look in the quilt.

Sadly, (or not) this baby will be leaving home in a few weeks so I must keep on task and get this quilt finished quickly.

 

But don't you think the fabrics are delicious? I love red and aqua.

 

All the prints are lovely together.

 

And I love the odd quirky colours like this orange and green which will help bring the quilt to life. I've always though a really good quilt needs to have a couple of fabrics that you just aren't sure about. If everything is super blendy and matchy then the quilt can be a bit boring.

Down in the Garden - BOM plodding along

Back in 2009 I started Leanne Beasley's Down in the Garden Block of the Month (BOM). I love this quilt. The embroidery, the fabrics, the colours, the theme - everything.

But to be honest, the amount of work is massive! Or perhaps I am just a super slow embroiderer but each block takes me around a month of solid stitching every night and my attention span just does not last that long.

The first three blocks did get finished on time and I optimistically embroidered a date on one block:

But then Master Berry came along and life got on the way and the blocks remained untouched on the shelf until I finally picked it back up a couple of months ago and finished the centre block.

Well, I say finished but as I was taking some photos (and yes it was night so bear with me here) I spotted these flowers I missed:

Damn. I hate that. And I was ready to pack it safely away with the other completed blocks.

But I am happy to say that I quickly stitched them and almost as quickly finished the next block.

 

I haven't started on the next one yet and I am going to hold off for a while as I want to start a couple of small Christmas projects and if I don't start now they won't be done in time. 

The Summer Quilt

Friday is always sheet changing day. New sheets are put on the beds, the pillows and quilts are aired and fluffed and the old sheets are washed.


Slipping in between fresh cotton sheets at night would have to be my most favourite thing (and I mean my most favourite thing ever). Mr Berry usually lets me hop into bed first on Friday nights so I can savour the joy of fresh sheets. I also don’t like anyone to sit on the bed beforehand, as it takes away the fresh-sheet feeling. There, my one neurotic-ness is out. Ok it’s not my only one but let’s keep the rest private for now eh?



Anyway, because the weather has been so warm and this morning was the beginning of a hot day, I decided to put the summer quilt on the bed.

This quilt has a light cotton batting so it is perfect for the nights when you need a little bit more than a sheet. As you can see, I have left our winter quilt on the bottom of the bed in case the nights are a bit cold. I will wash the winter quilt once we don’t need it at night.

I just love white linen; it makes the room feel so fresh. Now, if only I can manage to keep Miss Berry off my bed today ...

Bare Bones Budgeting

I started writing this blog about budgeting last night and realized it was getting longer and longer – it’s no wonder a lot of people think budgets are too hard!

So I have included photos of a quilt and an outfit for Miss Berry that I finished over the weekend to help prevent brain overload. I deleted most of my original draft and came up with my bare bones steps of making a budget. Use a spreadsheet program or pen, paper and calculator.

1. Write down everything you spend your money on and sort it into general categories:

Loan Repayments
Rent
Groceries
Utilities
Insurance
Car
Medical
etc, etc, etc

Make sure the totals are for the same period as your pay. If you get paid monthly, divide annual bills by 12, quarterly bills by 3 and so on.

2. Add all the categories up and subtract them from your total income. The figure you get is the amount you have left over. Use this amount to pay off debt or save.

3. At the beginning of each pay period, take the left over amount out of your everyday account and pay off your debt or put it into another savings account – whatever you have decided to do with it.

4. Don’t touch this extra money!

5. At the end of the pay period, take any money in your everyday account and transfer it to debt or a savings account.

6. Don’t spend more than you earn – no exceptions.

That’s it, the very basic, bare bones budget that we are using now. This is by far the easiest and quickest way I have found to budget.

I have been using a personal budget of one kind or another for the last 14 years. Some have been successful and others not so. I have tried numerous tools from hand-written scraps of paper in a diary to a full software program. I have had times when I have been lax, times when the budget has been completely ignored and my spending has been horrific, and times when I have remained on track.

Before you go off thinking I am a saint, let me say that I love spending money! Living simply and frugally is very hard for me and I have times of relapse and spend like I used to. You do not have to be perfectly on track with your budget at all times (although that is the goal). If you have or are thinking about a budget, don't give up just because you might blow it on the first day; it may not ever be easy.

Budgeting is very, very liberating. It is a wonderful feeling knowing how much money you are spending and that you are spending within your means and are in control.