We are about to start major renovations Chez Stanyer and so the last month has seen me and my boy wonder side kick (son, not husband) trawl every tile supplier in Adelaide trying to find the perfect splashback tile for our new kitchen. Really I blame Pinterest and Houzz for my obsessive search - they have set the bar very high and as most of the pictures of kitchens I have fallen in love with are from America, I can't find exactly what I want here in Australia. But I am happy to report that my First World problem has been solved and everything is in place for the chaos of home renovations to begin from mid-December (Christmas is a great time to schedule renos, right?). Ethan has been a little trouper visiting kitchen showrooms, Harvey Norman, plumbing suppliers, floor showrooms and curtain makers. A more organised mother would have packed toys to keep him amused on our quest but instead I gave him paint chips and laminate samples to play with and we had a deal that he had free reign in the kitchen showrooms. We probably weren't too popular there but really, if your doors can't handle a toddler opening and shutting them repeatedly then is your work up to scratch?
The kids and I went to our shack with my dad a couple of weeks ago and I finished the blocks for my On A Whim quilt there while Ethan was napping and Scarlett was fishing with her Poppy - can that girl wield a pink rod!
Back to On A Whim, I really like this quilt, I think it looks gorgeous and the pattern was great. But if I were to make it again, I would do it one block at a time and really enjoy the fruits of my labour. With this quilt I went all Henry Ford and chain-pieced like a maniac, and production lining those squares in a square and then trimming them all back was so boring!
Over the last few days I transformed the blocks into a quilt top. Here it is dangling from my clothesline, the quilt is a whopper, even with my clothesline wound up to the super tall setting and spun around to the slopey side of the yard it was still dangling on the grass.
The light wasn't the best this afternoon when I took these photos, but we'll just pretend that the dappled light is arty. I am going to piece a backing from some left overs and make a nice label because this quilt is for someone very special but shhhh, it's a surprise. Here are some close ups of my favourite blocks.
Now that this is done and all the house decisions have been made I feel like a weight has been lifted and I can't wait to get stuck into some Christmas craft because, good gravy, I love Christmas!
On a side note, today the kids and I spent the afternoon swimming at my dad's. Now I have curly hair and chlorine isn't a friend to the curls. When I was photographing the quilt this evening I noticed that my shadow was casting a freaky silhouette on the quilt and when I got inside I looked in the mirror and saw that I had mascara streaked all over my face.
And I kind of looked like a blonde version of the old Liz Lemon here. It wasn't pretty.
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As usual, I'm linking up with Lee
I'm going to head on over there now and check out what everyone else has been creating while I've been wrestling with paint charts. Have a great week everyone, hopefully I'll see you again in a few days. Lemon out!