Good Intentions

Every year I make a list of New Years Resolutions and 9 times out of 10 I never stick to them. You know the ones - loose weight, exercise, keep up with the ironing, cut down on the fabric I buy etc etc etc. Well this year I decided to avoid all those boring ones and make some fun ones that had to do with sewing/blogging.

Well my first one was that I was going to blog regularly and unfortuntely with this one I have failed as it is now the 18th of January and this is my first post for the year - oh well. So firstly I would like to wish everyone a happy new year. I have been regularly checking out all my favourite blogs and have been very inspired by all the lovely projects that you have all been working on. I am also blown away by the generosity of you all with all the wonderful auctions that are happening to support the Queensland floods. Although I have no friends or relatives in the flooded areas my thoughts have been with everyone affected this past week and have been in tears on many occasions when watching the news reports.

Now two of my other NY resolutions was to attempt a zipper (yes I am one of these who have been frightened by the old zipper) and also to attempt bias binding. A few days after NY's I found the latest Quilts and More magazine in my local newsagents and in it was this cute little bag that required both of these things so I dug out some scraps, bought a zipper and off I went.

I was amazed at how easy it was to do both the zipper and bias binding and really enjoyed making this bag and it only took an afternoon - fun, quick and super easy. My daughter has now claimed it for her new Ipod.

Another of my resolutions was to finish at least two UFO's to one new project. This is a belated xmas gift for a relative. It is a Janelle Wind project and I have to say I really enjoyed making this. It is the first Janelle Wind project I have made and I found the instructions really easy to follow. I love the plum pudding stitchery and I used left over Glace fabrics from my Fat Quarter Shop BOM that I finished last year.

Another project which I have only need to quilt and bind is my Little Patchwork Village quilt which has now become a tablerunner. I have so many stitchery projects on the go at the moment and in order to get some things finished so I can start some new projects I decided to turn this into a runner instead. I had two stitchery blocks completed so I picked out my favourite stitchery from the remaining blocks, stitched it up and here you have it. I really need a new runner for my kitchen table so I am super keen to get this one finished.

I have also been madly stitching more blocks for the Stitch A Long project Gardeners Journal. I have gotten so far behind with this because of our big move last year and I doubt very much I will have it all finished by March for Girls Day in the Country at Nundle but I will see how I go.

I also have to make an Anni Downs project for the Girls Day in the Country swap and have also signed up for an Anni Downs swap with my Friends in Stitching online group.

In between all this stitching and work I have also been enjoying the school holidays with the family.

This is how we spent New Years Eve. Just 5 minutes drive from home is the Towarri National Park which has some amazing swimming holes that are very popular in this area. My husband and I swam there when we were kids and now our kids are enjoying them as well. We had a lovely few hours there with some biscuits and cheese and drinkies while the kids swam, snorkelled and explored.

Last weekend we decided to be spontaneous so at about 9.00 pm on Thursday night decided we would head to Nelsons Bay for the weekend. It is only about 2 1/2 hours drive from here so we decided a mini break was in order. We had a fantastic time at the beach and fishing and came back feeling very refreshed.

Happy Stitching.

Kylie xxxxx