keelysews... sometimes

We've had a glorious summer here. Yes, I know I'm rubbing it in for those with snow. :) Of course, sunny, hot days demand a trip to the beach, so last week we packed the kids up and headed south to Curio Bay . This isn't a swimming beach as such, although there's great swimming in the next bay. Instead, this was a leisurely sightseeing trip (in an air-conditioned car! Very nice in the 30+ degree temperatures). On the way, we stopped at the Tunnel Hill walk - an abandoned railway tunnel, 246m long and pitch black. And we didn't have a torch. The minute we stepped in, all I could think of was the movie, Cloverfield, lol. DH and the kids went all the way through guided by cellphone screen light, while I kept my nephew company in the first half of the tunnel. Amazing to think the whole thing was dug out and built by hand. We also stopped at Purakanui Falls. The photo doesn't do it justice. Very pretty. Except for the toilets. Note to the authorities - calling it a

Thanks, Sherril for awarding me the Kreativ Blogger Award - although I feel quite fraudulent as I've not been feeling at all creative lately. Sherril inspires me constantly with the wonderful clothes she makes and her impressive ability to manipulate patterns to create 'knock-off' tops which are far better than the RTW originals. Here are the rules of the award~ 1. Copy the award to your site - done 2. Link to the person from whom you received the award -done 3. Nominate 7 other bloggers - ummm.... 4. Link to those on your blog 5. Leave a message on the blogs you nominated. I really haven't kept track of who has, or hasn't been nominated already so instead I'd like to point to Carolyn's post . I think she says it so well. I think all bloggers deserve an award for putting the time and effort into sharing their creative endeavours and a part of their lives with us. Through blogs I've learned about people I'd never have a chance of knowing otherwise a

I finally got around to making a quilt block for the PR Friendship Quilt . Thank goodness Deepika extended the deadline to the 19th. I'll pop it in the post tomorrow morning but I've no idea how long it will take to wing halfway across the world. It never seems to take too long coming this way. (As an aside: I am so impressed with Sewingpatterns.com - I ordered on Saturday Jan 3rd NZ time, which was Jan 2nd US time, and received them the following Saturday! Wow! Needless to say I'll be using this service again as the local Spotlight never seems to receive new stock. Not the staff's fault.) I used Kiwiana fabrics (except for the multicoloured border). The boots in the top block are decorated gumboots which just appealed to me. I'm not even going to bother counting this little bit off stash, lol. As I suspected, I found this small dabble into the quilting world quite addictive. I'm doing my best to ignore it though - the last thing I need is another stash to house

Oops, how on earth did I miss my first blogiversary? Ah well, maybe I'll do better on my 100th post - coming in another 9 posts! Guess I'll have to keep on sewing. Today's sewing was bought to you by the letter 'C' and the letter 'M'. 'C' is for cookie cushion.... Just to maintain DD's giddy euphoria from her curtains, I also made her a cushion. It's pink with horses. Do you see a theme in her room? :) I made a buttoned envelope-style cushion cover. Everything came from stash, including the buttons. That's another 0.5m for the Stash Contest. :) ..... and 'M' is for mitts. Oven Mitts to be precise . The old ones were just shudderingly grungy, despite soakings in Napisan, so I felt no guilt in helping the tear get bigger so I could see what was inside. }:-) It turned out to be towelling. I started out by creating a pattern from the old, grungy mitts. NB: The measurements do not include seam allowance. I added a 1 cm seam allowance

For about 2 1/2 years my DD has been waiting for these to get made. The Stash Contest over at Patternreview gave me the impetus to finally get around to it. That, and the thought that it may not be too long before an 8yo grows out of pink and horses (although the horse-mad 12yo has offered to have them despite the pinkness, so who can tell?) Because these are entered in the contest I've posted a review with some meagre details. I was adding the patterned fabric over partially made thermaldrapes, although it could have been easier to start from scratch, lol. Honestly, I just winged it - after all, they really are just big 'squares'. Despite that, for some reason I managed to keep the elastoplast manufacturers in business as I discovered the point of what felt like every, single pin. Of course, new curtains meant rearranging the bedroom. I managed to spend 5 hours in DDs room helping her rearrange, sort and declutter. Phew!

I'm kinda embarrassed to admit it but who could have thought that a mere 48 hours without a computer would be so hard? Luckily it's back and we now have a gruntier machine for the 'net. Of course we also have to get used to all the new bits and the fact that all the buttons etc are in the 'wrong' places, lol. I am a creature of habit I guess. One of those habits showed up in the stash stats for 2008. Despite my not working at a fabric store all year, I still managed to add 14.85 m to the stash totals. That's despite over 76 metres going out! If I was going to have a New Years resolution, it should be to reduce that stash. :) On the sewing desk at the moment - curtains for DD's room - but it's just too hot to be handling that much fabric!

I swear that the clocks all speed up at the end of the year! Towards the end of the year there, I was feeling like my productive streak had worn off and that I hadn't accomplished a lot. The funny thing is that once I started listing it, I realised I have got quite a bit done after all. I think it's the still-very long "to-do" list affecting my perception. There's only one way of fixing that - I'm throwing away the list.... :) One thing I could cross off the list was the Ottobre Hug Tees (01-2008-12) for my nieces, complete with matching leggings ( 04-2008 -2). I was so glad that Meggie Lulu pointed out there was a tutorial on the Ottobre Yahoo group! With pictures! I made these following the Ottobre tutorial, although at some point I'd like to try Mermaids method to have only the one layer in the front. Procrastination does have its advantages as it meant I didn't start DD's version until this year. It can therefore be entered in the Stash Cont