Perfect timing! My internet is up and running, just in time for the third border! I also got the borders done just in time, lol! I think it is looking great, don't you?

You can find the patterns at JJ's over here. Becky from Patchwork Posse who is hosting this quilt along has posted about it here. I can't wait to see how everyone's borders turn out. Please let Becky and I know when you are done and send us photos!!

In other news, we nearly have all our junk... er.. valuables at the new house. School is back in session in our wonderful sunroom that is both a sewing and school room.


There is still a lot of sorting and unpacking ahead of me, but at least there is a spot for Bernie and Nina - they are both in use at the moment. Elizabeth is on a rag doll roll again, and this time I will take photos, Di :)

I finished quilting the Crazy Kitty. Now to turn it into a cushion for Elizabeth's bed...


Oh, forgot to mention that I am quilting the round robin as I go. It is all very experimential.. I will keep you posted on how it is going - so far so good. I'll also post one day on how I am doing in, in case anyone is interested :)

I'd better get back to school... I snuck off to post :) Have a good week everyone and happy sewing!

I have just put up block 3 on JJ's. I'm early, since tomorrow I shall lose my internet for a while :( But I shall be back in time to give you the next border for the Round Robin quilt, never fear:)

So, for block 3 of Fruit of the Spirit ~ Words to Live By ~ go HERE! And please send me photos of your finished blocks so that I can post them on my blog. I know you are out there doing it because I can see how many downloads there have been! So take pictures and send them my way!!!

We've moved most of our stuff to the new house - yay!! It is still a big mess, but I am slowly getting there. I have the kitchen pretty organized and am working on the school/sewing room. I need to have that ready for school starting again next Monday.. not tomorrow, the following Monday. I should be able to manage that.

We have no internet at the new house yet. I am sitting on a camping chair in our lounge at the old house hastily typing up this post to tell you that I will have a blogging break for a week... I'll still check emails when I come to the old house, but I hope dh will be getting the internet going pretty soon. So, I'll be back before you know it :)

While I am gone, please sew for me :)

They are here!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yep, I made a start. With packing. Unbelievable, eh?! I started with the above tea set that used to be my grandmother's. Isn't it pretty? I have it all boxed up now for a safe move. All the rest of the crockery will just get dumped in a washing basket inbetween tea towels and taken straight from one kitchen cupboard to the next. Since we are only moving 10 min away, I figure this will work well. We shall soon see, for they assure me we are GETTING THE KEYS TOMORROW! Sigh... seeing is believing.

In the meantime, I managed to find a use for my envelope opener from Saudi:


If there was any doubt that I am a hoarder, this proves it. I got this envelope opener, along with two others, from a guy at the souvenier souk (market) in Riyadh. 8 years ago. He gave us one each for the kids who were then 9, 7 and 5. Needless to say I didn't give them to the kids, them being sharp implements, and put them in a drawer.... In the past 8 years I got rid of two of them..... since really, since when do we get letters other than bills and who wants to open a bill nicely???? I kept one for sentimental reasons and finally got a brain wave today. It comes in handy for packing! It slices the paper nicely, and the tape,for the box. Maybe I will keep it for another few moves....

Other than that, I finished appliqueing the crazy kitty, and started quilting it. Here is a quick photo of it, sorry it is dark, but it is night time...

Don't look too close :) I think that should be the new name of my blog.... :) Still, even the quilting is getting addictive, so look out, I may be good at it one day!!!

I called Alice today. She is slowly going crazy and is sick of boxes. But she did unpack both machines, AND did the first jelly roll block :) She is going to try to send me a photo from her phone somehow.... Her sewing room is unpacked and set up, and her kitchen is nearly ready. Priorities you know :) Internet? Not for a while yet. She really needs to go to McDonald's, have a cup of coffee and use theirs I think. Well, soon it will be my turn to be without the internet.. but hopefully not for too long, and not yet. I will warn you all when the time comes!

I'd better head for bed... the keys will come tomorrow.. the keys will come tomorrow....

While I was waiting for the elusive new house keys to arrive, I decided to be productive and catch up on the round robin. I still have to finish the little white flowers, which I thought I would use buttons for instead of felt. You can also probably see I made a few other changes... because I made a mistake and ironed the basket down before I put the stems on. So I made the "doily" to go on top of them and hang over the basket. I think it turned out quite cute.



For the first border, I grabbed my bag of 2 1/2 inch strips. I have a bunch of them that I cut whenever I have enough leftover while I am cutting other projects if that makes sense at all. Very handy for something like this. I am going to one day make a big scrappy braided quilt, but for now I pinched a few to use :)



They were all a bit too long (I always cut them 6"), so I trimmed and now I have more little scraps.. hmmm.... Oh well, one day they might come in handy too.

Once I added the border, I went back and did the applique. I am going to try to do a quilt as you go with this project.... so I cut out some batting and used Kellie's applique method that I learned at her classes. This is how good I am getting:

See how close to the edge I sewed? Don't worry, I am not getting a big head, because here you can see how bad I still am:

See how FAR from the edge I am?! I need to keep practicing :)

Well, that was yesterday. Today I got to do some more sewing because the key still didn't arrive. Sheesh, I would have been all moved by now... hee hee... Oh well, I sewed instead.

I got the first block done for the Jelly Roll Quilt Along:


Ok, for some reason the photo has turned itself around. Don't you just love technology? It stills looks nice... I think this is going to be a pretty quilt :)

And then I kept working on my charm quilt:

I pinned and put some of the sashing on... getting there, getting there.

So, the keys should arrive TOMORROW!!! Inshallah. God willing. I do hope so, I would really like to start moving. I mean I might run out of sewing projects at this rate!! School is out for two weeks while we move, but really,... we need to move or else school will have to start up again... sigh... and that would mean no more sewing all day while the kids get square eyes playing Runescape and Wii.....

Alice update: Still no internet. Her wonderful dh downloaded the first block for the Jelly Roll Quilt Along so maybe she is getting started on that.

Well, on with the show.... Hopefully I will be able to tell you tomorrow that we have keys :) Until then, back to the kitchen (to sew of course).

It's Party Time at Joy's Quilts because I started blogging here a year ago!!! This morning I went through all the comments and added them up to find out who has left the most for the year. It was quite fun! And I'm happy with the results :) Since the Winter Olympics have just ended, I think it is only appropriate to give out medals..... and prizes will be in the mail once I have moved :)

So, the BRONZE MEDAL goes to:

Wendy from Unexpected Creations!!!! Yep, the third most comments came from you Wendy, which is exciting since you are one of my "new" friends, made after I started blogging here.

The SILVER MEDAL goes to :

Mama Hen from Long Days, Short Years!!! I'm so pleased because I have "known" Mama Hen from my old blog :) She was a very faithful follower then too, and has become a great friend.

And the GOLD MEDAL goes to:

Tracy from Beyond my Picket Fence!!!! Tracy wrote the most comments for the year, and also happens to be a real life friend!!! We don't see each other often enough, and in fact, we were supposed to be going camping together next weekend, but we are moving instead... So I am glad you won the gold medal Tracy!!

Now, I am not really sending you medals, but I will send you all a little something for being such an encouragement to me. Once I move. (Yes, I am moving.. really....) So send me your snail mail addresses and I will blog when I get your parcels ready to send :) I'm going to choose something special for each of you :)

Thank you also to everyone else who has commented and visited my blog. I appreciate each and every one of you. You make me smile when I see your comments pop up in my inbox, and I love visiting your blogs too. I wish I could give you all something... hmmm... maybe I can come up with a surprise.... you know, something for you to download... and make... Well, I'll have to get back to you with that one :) For now, I'll just say it with words....

Moving update: We were supposed to get the keys for the new house today, but due to solicitors problems, we did not. I get to postpone for another day... although I am really itching to start moving stuff. We are hoping that we'll get the key tomorrow...

Alice update: In case any of you were wondering how Alice is doing - she is fine. She has moved into her new house, but has no internet access yet, and probably won't for another week (sob, sob!). Their shipment of stuff from Australia arrived so I assume she is busy unpacking. I hope she will unpack Hillary or Hannah first and sneak in some sewing time :)

Enough for one day. Tomorrow I'll tell you what I got done today... and no, it wasn't packing!