We have been busy building Grace, what an epic drama, I am sure the pictures will say it all!

This is how she came very neatly packed into a couple of boxes - can't be too difficult to put together, right? Even a sweet little (almost old) lady does it in the instruction DVD, all I can say is don't be fooled, its not that easy!

Here's the legs and other bits that somehow fitted into a neat little box!

and then there was all these parts - it was like opening Pandora's box, stuff just kept coming out, nuts, bolts, wheels, cogs, locks, tracks, table tops and more - I take my hat off to who ever packed these boxes - I'd like to pay you to pack for my next holiday ;-)

This where the skills of my fabulous partner come into play, (I think I can put him on the books as my labourer) he has done a fantastic job of putting all those bits together in the right places! This is the table top almost done.

The legs, amongst other things sitting patiently on the soon to be outdoor lounge, waiting their turn to be attached.

My miracle worker, still going into the night!

So many more pieces to be assembled and attached - oh well there's always tomorrow :)

Look tomorrow does come - Grace is born - here she is with the first of my practice runs, I have tried, pantographs, marked design on the top and free hand stippling on this very (really - very) rough quilt - the family loves the stippling :)

Up close and personal pic of the stippling - it uses a lot of thread but does look really good so I'll do a whole-cloth stippled quilt using a variegated thread next  - lookout for it, it will be for sale on this site soon!

Remember that outdoor lounge room I have been going on about - well here it is finally complete - its a fantastic space - very usable all year round!

An Outage

Had a power outage today … so many things that could have been done without power in that time but did not get done! I sat on the hill as Wayne painted the gazebo floor with its last coat of sealer before the café blinds arrive to turn it into a neat little outdoor room, for our neat little cane lounge to live, while my neat little – well actually rather large quilting frame - lives where the cane lounge used to. I had a glass of champagne in hand having just finished talking to a friend on the phone saying that I would have to stop drinking if I am to ever shed the heart attack waiting happen around my girth! I read the latest Harper Bizarre wondering where does fashion and philosophy meet and more importantly how can I ever reconcile the yearning fashions I have in my heart and will my dreams of running my own business ever come to fruition?

I lay back on the lawn after absorbing the French provincial inspired photo shoots included in this month’s Harper and stare dreamily up through the budding shoots of the Jacaranda that will later in the summer completely the shade the suburban pool dominating my backyard! I found myself questioning how long will it take, will I really be able to pull it off, can I really create my own business while I am working fulltime and unknowingly sacrificing my personal preferences in life for family unity? How can one combine city chic with classic country while living in suburbia? Can it really be done, how do ‘other’ people do it – they are so much more ‘arty’ than me, or is it than my partner – he’s not ‘arty’ at all, he does not suffer fools and makes choices based on rational notions never pure aesthetics, I wonder why he suffers me? Am I just looking to use others as my reason for not being where I dream of? Should dreams be only dreams?

The more books I read on starting my own business the further away I seem to find myself. They say jump in, just do it, once you have begun everything else will fall into place … will it? How will it? How do I really plan for it, if no one really takes you seriously, if I don’t actually have time or is it space? How do ‘other’ people seem to work 20hours a day without concern? I can’t function without 8 hours sleep, how will I get this to come together? Can I concentrate long enough on one topic to get this off the ground? Do I really have the talent or am I just kidding myself?

The Frame

Well we have finally begun work on constructing the frame - a bigger job than first thought! It is now half done and will hopefully be finished tomorrow, I can then start some quilting. As luck would have it a new quilt shop has opened up just across the road from home (or maybe not so lucky for my bank account :| not sure about that now that I come think about it!) anyhoo I will pop in their tomorrow on my way home from work and pick up some practice supplies.

Will be uploading pics of the build tomorrow, I don't know where the times goes, we have been catching up with old friends, family, cleaning up ready for summer, working and before I knew October is almost over!

Well even if I haven't been able to blog everyday Blogtoberfest has definitely encouraged me to continue and so next year I will aim for an increase in my days of blogging until one year I manage everyday of Blogtober :)

Sooz

Not much to report

Well not much to report on today ... I still haven't taken my inventory of Grace pieces yet but I will do by the weekend, I will hopefully have some pics to upload then as well.

I am quite busy at work with several projects on the go and reports will soon be due so I can see the next few months flying by :) I was pleasantly suprised by one of my very young students today who brought her own personal project in to school to work on in my sewing class - it was a nine patch quilt top she is making for a single bed - very impressive and heartening to have such talented youngsters to work with!

The quilt top looks alittle like this

Ho Hum ...

Well blogging everyday is proving near impossible for me, between working fulltime, research and starting a business part time and occassionally cooking a meal or doing some washing, I'm exhausted! And when I do finally get five minutes to blog, everyone else (4 other people) in the house are all on the on the internet and complaining about how slow it has become (because I'm uploading pictures to the blog)!

So I think I'll leave uploading pictures until one day mid-week when no one else is home :) I do have some of the clean up to upload, mmm I should have taken pictures of the chuck-out pile!

I have made some headway with my research and am actually making a written business plan, my mind boggles at all the things you actually have to do to set up your own business - I take my hat off to those that have gone before me! I am now starting to think about and draft the layout of my website and research how best to set up an online store, do I go etsy, eBay, madeIt or accept only direct bank transfers & money orders???? More research, more fun.

I managed to break through the wrapping on the Grace today after I cleaned out all my fabric stocks and reorganised some space around the house so I can set the frame up. I found the instructions in the packaging and a DVD so I diligently watched it and then put it away until next weekend because I know there is just no way that during the week I will be able to get it done.

Well here's hoping I can get at least two blog entries a week for the rest of Blogtoberfest :) until next time ...

Sooz

Danger times ahead!

I am in danger of seriously piking on my commitment to the blogtoberfest so am vainly trying to post something (trite as it is) so as not to lose anymore days to nonblogging.

It is an interesting and hectic time at work for me and I have slacked off on the blog. I haven't as yet put Grace together so there is nothing to report and no pics - unless someone wants to see Grace all boxed up :)

I am sure over the next week or so I will have something more to say and this awful hayfever will subside leaving me with more energy and enthusiasism for whatever life throws my way.

Sooz

Day 12

Wow what a day - I had to go back to work today, that was a bit of a shock to the system!

Have started to think about what I will teach this term, I thought this little quilt will be nice and easy for some of my students - the idea is they make them and donate them to a local children hospital for use in the humidicribs. This one is made from flanelette.

I also spent sometime this afternoon reading and planning the business, there is a lot to be done, I can't see myself being bored for quite sometime.

Well I better get back to the grindstone!

Sooz