Completed items 2009 and 2008

MY FINISHED PROJECTS 2009

JANUARY
Mystery Designer BOM 7 (doesn't qualify)
Miss M's bag
FEBRUARY
MARCH
Sudoku quilt
Rocket quilt
APRIL
Mystery Designer 8, 9, 10 (Don't qualify)
MAY
JUNE
JULY
Eye Spy Quilt
Mystery Designer 11, 12 (Don't qualify)
G's Quilt
AUGUST
SEPTEMBER
Luke's Frog Quilt
OCTOBER
NOVEMBER
DECEMBER
Four eye spy quilts
Nanna's name plate

Completed Projects for 2008

• Mystery Designer Block of the Month 1 - 6
• Block for Lilly's baby
• Dolls Quilt for EB Swap
• Frog quilt top
• Table Runner for EB Swap
• Jungle Quilt
• Baby Elephant Sham
• Yellow and Blue Disappearing Nine Patch
• Kira's sheets
• Kira's pillowcase
• Drawstring bag
• Red, green and blue raggedy edge

2009 Reading List

I want to save my 2009 reading list, but not keep it on the side bar. I need the space to start 2010! This is the only way I can think of to do it! There's a few stats about my year of reading at the bottom if you are interested.

• 55. Fever of the Bone - Val McDermid
• 54. Breaking Dawn - Stephenie Meyer
• 53. Eclipse - Stephenie Meyer
• 52. The Household Guide to Dying - Debra Adelaide
• 51. Devil's Brood - Sharon Kay Penman
• 50. Jeff in Venice, Death in Varanasi - Geoff Dyer
• 49. New Moon - Stephenie Meyer
• 48. Prince of Darkness - sharon Kay Penman
• 47. An Open Swimmer - Tim Winton
• 46. The Orchard - Drusilla Modjeska
• 45. Running with Scissors - Augusten Burroughs
• 44. Dexter in the Dark - Jeff Lindsay
• 43. Dearly Devoted Dexter - Jeff Lindsay
• 42. Darkly Dreaming Dexter - Jeff Lindsay
• 41. No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency - Alexander McCall Smith
• 40. Dragon's Lair - Sharon Kay Penman
• 39. The Good Husband of Zebra Drive - Alexander McCall Smith
• 38. The Slap - Christos Tsiolkas
• 37. Look Me in the Eye - John Elder Robison
• 36. The End - Lemony Snicket
• 35. The Spiderwick Chronicles - The Field Guide - Tony DiTerlizzi & Holly Black
• 34. My Father's Keeper: Children of Nazi Leaders-an intimate history of damage and denial - Stephan & Norbert Lerbert
• 33. The Penultimate Peril - Lemony Snicket
• 32. The Miracle at Speedy Motors - Alexander McCall Smith
• 31. Celluloid Serial Killers: The Real Monsters Behind the Movies - Paul B Kidd
• 30. Time and Chance - Sharon Kay Penman
• 29. Cruel as the Grave - Sharon Kay Penman
• 28. In TThe Winter Dark - Tim Winton
• 27. The Grim Grotto - Lemony Snicket
• 26. Breath - Tim Winton
• 25. Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
• 24. I am the Messenger - Markus Zusak
• 23. Somebody else's Child - Torey Hayden
• 22. Handle with Care - Jodi Piccoult
• 21. Tales of Suspense - Edgar Allen Poe
• 20. Infidel - Ayaan Hirsi Ali
• 19. The Slippery Slope - Lemony Snicket
• 18. The Fresco - Sheri S Tepper
• 17. Report for Murder - Val McDermid
• 16. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - JK Rowling
• 15. A Respectable Girl - Fleur Beale
• 14. The Carnivorous Carnival - Lemony Snicket
• 13. The Hostile Hospital - Lemony Snicket
• 12. Abandoned - Anya Peters
• 11. The Reckoning - Sharon Kay Penman
• 10. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince - JK Rowling
• 9. Broken Lives - Estelle Blackburn
• 8. The Effects of Light - Miranda Beverly-Whittermore
• 7. Why Weren't We Told: A personal search for the truth about our history - Henry Reynolds
• 6. A Love Story - Denene Miller and Nick Chiles
• 5. The Vile Village - Lemony Snicket
• 4. Falls the Shadow - Sharon Kay Penman
• 3. Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix - JK Rowling
• 2. Defending Gary: Unraveling the mind of the Green River Killer - Mark Prothero and Carlton Smith
• 1. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - JK Rowling

A few stats.

56 books started in 2009
55 finished (don't see me finishing my current one tonight!)
31 authors
39 adult books
16 children's/young adult's books
9 non fiction.

Series I have read:
Wire in the Blood (Val McDermid)
Twilight (Stephenie Meyer)
All of Sharon Kay Penman's historical novels including the Welsh Trilogy, the Henry II Trilogy and the Justin De Quincy Mysteries
A Series of Unfortunate Events (Lemony Snicket)
No 1 Ladies Detective Agency (Alexander McCall Smith)
Harry Potter (JK Rowling)

Currently reading...

My Life Among the Serial Killers by Helen Morrison M.D and Harold Goldberg.

I've read less of this stuff this year than I normally do -  only three others I can see as I peruse my list. It's not a matter of losing interest, more of finding it harder and harder to find good stuff. I find Helen Morrison a little arrogant and condescending not only of her readers, but her peers. She has a theory, it's the right theory and everyone else is wrong. Most probably not what she means to portray, but the way it comes across. She is very willing to completely discount the effect of childhood experiences on these depraved killers, which is something I don't think is correct. Then again, I'm not the trained forensic psychiatrist who has spent countless hours interviewing and studying serial killers.

During our trip away I also managed to read a few other books. Apart from finishing off Eclipse before we left, I finished the series, reading

Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer 

and

Fever of the Bone by Val McDermid (the most recent Tony Hill/ Wire in the Blood book)

I've really enjoyed keeping track of all these books this year and plan to do so again next year. Any one else interested in keeping track of their reading? No target, just a way to share what you are reading. Let me know, I love to see what others are getting into - lots of good ideas!

And the Winner is... (Finally!!)

So sorry for the delay! As I should have predicted, things got way to manic towards the end to even think about drawing the prize! We got back yesterday (2 days later than planned, but we were having such a good time!) and I've finally had time to sit down and do the draw.

I took the highly scientific approach of writing down everyone's name and assigning them numbers before heading to random.org to generate three winners

Which came up with:

27 - Becanne (who gets the FQ's)
22 - Amummy (who takes home the scraps)
5 - Jazzyjaes (who scores the strips.)

So thank you for taking part. Hope you had fun!

Inspiration

y but I have been a busy blogger today! I've just finished fixing this bag for a friend.

Can you see what it's made out of??

Yep! Buttons - the whole bag!! The handle had broken so I sewed it back together and now I am all inspired. I'm thinking boxes....

Please travel safe these holidays.

This video celebrates the 20 years of Australian Transport Accident Commission  commercials. Please be warned the video is graphic. I flinched several times while watching it. This is a link to an article about it as well. It is, however, a timely reminder. If you are traveling this holiday period, please do so safely.

Nanna's nameplate

When we were in Newcastle the other week, we went to visit my grandmother. She is in a nursing home and I noticed that all the other residents had lovely name plates on their doors. Nanna hasn't been there long and doesn't have one, so I decided to make her one.

It's my first attempt at applique and I must thank Barbara Brandeburg for this super simple tutorial!

This is the back.

I took the opportunity (given the back is not likely to be seen by many!) to quilt it using a contrasting colour. I'll take it down to mums at Christmas as I know she will be seeing her shortly after.

Time for a Giveaway!

So in celebration of me finishing my November challenge I thought a giveaway was in order. In fact, I'm having three! Rules are simple:

1. Post a comment here giving the prizes a preference of 1, 2 and 3 (gets you one entry)
2. Tell me which of the four I made you like best and why (two entries)
3.  Link it to your blog (three entries)

First, a picture of each of the quilts.

1. The red border

2. The yellow border

3. The blue border

4. The on point quilt

Highly original names I know! They were actually named after the people who received them, don't worry!

Second, the prizes!! As I said, I have three different things to give away.

First off, three fat quarters and one 10x42 inch strip. The fat quarters and the strip are of the backing fabric I used on the quilts.

Fat quarters

and the 10x42 inch strip

Second is ten 5x42 inch strips left over from a jelly roll I used.

Finally there is a bag of scraps from the quilts

We leave on holidays on the 21st so I plan to draw the winners on December 20. They won't be posted until we get back on the 28th.

Good luck!

Finished!!!

Woohoo!!! I've finished the remaining three quilts!!

I knew two were going to be for Kira's current carers at daycare, but wasn't sure about the last. Then it occurred to me that Kira changed rooms half way through the year. Problem is, there are two carers in that room and only one spare quilt. Then I remembered this quilt

which I finished back in July! For various reasons, it never made it to who it was suppose to go to, so I have decided to give it to one of Kira's carers.

So, finished, and pretty close to deadline! I think the sewing mojo is back. I put the machine in for a service when I finished the machine stuff the other day, and got a call last night to say it was ready so I'll go pick it up today. Have a few ideas of what to do. I'm also still planning that giveaway, so keep an eye out in the next day or two for that!

Lastly, thanks for all the comments and encouragement! It really has helped to keep me on track.

Currently reading...

Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer

Thought I would sink my teeth into some light holiday reading. (and yes, you may groan out loud at that really, really bad pun!)

So did I make it???

Close! I got the one for Luke's teacher finished which is good since today is the last day of school. I am pleased to say I made her cry!

The other ones need to be finished by Tuesday when Kira goes to daycare. So, I'm off to sew!

(BTW, am planning a giveaway to celebrate all this. Not sure what yet, but stay tuned!)

Currently reading...

The Household Guide to Dying by Debra Adelaide. Yet another book I picked up at the library because it looked interesting. Delia is dying of cancer. She is a writer who has written a series of household books - The Household Guide to the laundry...the kitchen...the garden...you get the idea. So as she comes to terms with her own mortality and tying up the loose ends of her life, she writes her final household guide.

I am, by the way, morning the end of my Sharon Kay Penman jaunt. Over the past 12 months I have read or reread her entire list in chronological order. Truly the best way to learn history I feel!

Will she make it??

OK, so I have until Friday to finish these four quilts - can I do it??? I have all four quilted, bindings on one side and all I have left to do is sew the ends in, stitch the binding down and label. Even if I don't get it all done, I reckon I will come close!

So, some photos. I ended up quilting each of them a different way. First up is the one with the yellow border.

(apologies for the dodgy photography. For this I chose the beetle fabric for backing. I quilted it in an all over yellow stipple. Quite happy with the result - my stippling gets better every time I do it!

Next is the on point quilt.

This was backed with the shell fabric. I stippled the solid triangles in a matching thread. This is my favourite. I think it's the most effective.

Next the red bordered quilt.

(again, apologies because you can see the edge of the blue one underneath!) Backed with the crab fabric. This was quilted with a beige/ mushroom thread. I took something from each square and quilted it on the whole nine patch. Great idea, didn't work quite as well as I imagined. The close up shows a bottle, see what I mean by it didn't work as well as I thought it would??

Finally the blue bordered quilt.

Backed with the African print. Again, quilted with the beige/ mushroom thread, I quilted a star in each  nine patch.

The sashing on each except the on point has also be quilted using a matching thread. Either swirls or stippling. All of them were stitched in the ditch first and all have the beige/ mushroom stitching on the back.

So, what do you think?? Will I finish by Friday?? Off to sew some ends in! (after I fold the washing!)