Hello!!

Hello all!!

My name is Johanna Beren. I meant to introduce myself to you earlier but my mummy keeps me so busy all the time. She either feeds me or changes my nappy, or plays with me...But I enjoy it a lot :-)

I turned five weeks yesterday and growing so fast which my mummy is not very happy about. She says "I wish you stayed this little so I enjoy soaking in your newborn smell forever". I told her we would have years together and would have so much fun. She is an emotional mother, you know...

Ok, now it's mummy's turn to talk; it's been a while since she was around. You will see me more often from now on. Take care!

Hi all!

As my girl said, it has been a while since I was here. Let me quickly tell you what I have been doing, besides having fun with this little lady!

I was lucky enough to have an easier and quicker birth this time. I healed very quickly and turned back to my daily routine. Actually, I was up and running as soon as after we came home from the hospital. This meant, I got back to my sewing pretty quickly. I will come to that a little later.

We are still busily preparing for our big move to Argentina. DH is trying to finish the work in our yard, I am going through clothes, kitchenware, etc and deciding what is staying here and what is going with us. We have only three months left in Australia; as the time passes, my excitement is growing more and more. I feel good about it.

I have done something crazy to add on top of what I already have in my plate. I enrolled in an online undergraduate program, Communication Design, at Swinburne University! I will have three years for myself in Argentine and I want to spend it wisely. This will allow me to change my career when we return and hopefully find a job I will enjoy doing every day. The course has already started; currently, I am studying 20th Century Design which is about modernism. This unit has made me understand what modernism is and how it is applied to our everyday life (including quilting, believe it or not!).

I am back to teaching Turkish too. My student wants to fully utilise me before I leave.

I will also be back to the Spanish classes soon and will continue learning with a private tutor when we get there.

When I was expecting my girl I started an improv quilt using my scraps and a jelly roll which was sitting on the shelf for the last four years. I have made some good progress on it; it is now a baby size. I just can't decide whether to keep it at baby size or just continue growing it. I still have so many pieces I can use- I mean sooo many. Each time I look at them I say to myself "What was I thinking!!" But, this project kept me sane during the last weeks of the pregnancy. I think I just cut and cut and cut, sew and sew and sew. I remember it was like therapy.  Here is a photo of one of the panels I put together. 

Now, if you follow me on IG, you heard the BIG news already. 

I am a proud owner of a Juki TL2010Q!!! She was my Christmas wish for last year but Santa didn't accept it. I must have been a very good girl this year so Santa decided to deliver my wish a month early LOL The best thing was that I didn't know about this until it appeared on my door step!

I received her last Saturday and finally today the power converter arrived- 2010Q is not available in Australia so I need a converter. I have a hot date with this baby once the kids go to bed tonight!!

So, these are the latest news. Hope you are all doing well and getting ready for the festive season.

Cheers!

 Sibling love!

So ready!

This, my friends, is how I am feeling currently...

Photo: courtesy of a Facebook share :)

It was my official due date yesterday. As you can tell, I am still waiting; and I knew that my baby would never want to be in the 5% group who came right on their due dates! I feel big-veery BIG- and tired. Having said that, for the last couple of days, I have a boost of energy; I finished my son's quilt and started an improv project with my scraps which I will share once I make a little progress. But I have to warn you: it might be the beginning of a new "almost never-ending" project like my son's quilt. God, I am so glad I finished it!!
Squaring up the quilt was the biggest challenge. I wore knee pads which I used while putting the timber floor when we moved into this house- and yes I did all four rooms by myself. Maybe my knees didn't hurt but I literally rolled on the floor like a whale on the shore trying to go back to the sea!

Here it is.

 I haven't washed it yet; it is 58.5"x77.5". This is the biggest quilt I have ever made.

I first complained about the colour of the thread choice but once I finished it, I really like its subtle look. It doesn't dominate the quilt and lets the colours in the fabrics shine. I am also very happy with the quilt pattern I chose; straight stitching on the stripy area and logs on the negative space worked very well together. The texture is amazing.

I am so in love with this scrappy binding and glad that I finished all the fat quarters I had to make this quilt!

Once I finished it, I called my son and said "look Kuzey! Mummy finished your quilt!" This was his reaction and I am glad I still had my camera to capture that special moment...

"Look monkey! Mummy finished our quilt!" he said to his talking monkey. Love him to bits!

Hope to give you my baby news in the following days.

Till next time, keep quilting. 

Cheers,

Nurdan

Trying to stitch a few blocks

Hi all,
It has been a while since I posted a quilting related post except for the regular Monday Makers! posts.  Before I move onto updating you on what I have been trying to accomplish for a while, I want to let you know that Monday Makers! is taking a little break until after my baby is born. My subscription to Inlinkz has expired last week too-good timing. I have to say that I will miss seeing your projects. I thank you for your participation and support to Monday Makers! You guys are awesome!!

I am in my last weeks of pregnancy; only four weeks to go now unless my baby decides to stay in there until 42 weeks like my son. I am praying for this not to happen! Daily chores are getting harder and harder to do, sleep is almost impossible; therefore, I am always cranky, feeling tired constantly...you know how it is; but all for a good reason lol.

You will remember the quilt I have been making for my son.

I made some progress on quilting it last week. I went to my quilty friend Monica's place (she is super talented, go check her IG!) to use her Sweet Sixteen to finish it. Well, I couldn't finish it because we kept on chatting, but I made some really good progress.

I just did freehand straight stitching on the stripy area with the same variegated thread, Superior King Tut, and I really like the texture and effect it has created. 

I had already finished quilting the grey negative space on my machine.

I have only this small area left to be quilted, then I will move to the binding business-God knows how long the binding will take!

I also managed to finish my July and August do.Good Stitches bee blocks-I know I am very late- and even started making the September one!

The theme was a super soft tulip for July and a super bright tulip for August with a low volume background.

 August tulip

July tulip

For September, our host wanted flying geese with a grey and orange combination. For this one, I decided to do something different than a normal, big flying geese block and did curved paper pieced geese for the first time. 

This block is 6.5"x6.5''. I am making another one to make it to 12.5"x6.5". So far, I really like it and enjoy making it.

I need some technical help. My photos look fuzzy once I upload them to the post. This has been the case for a while. If anyone has an idea about the reason and has a solution for it, can you please share it with me? I really appreciate it. Thank you!

So my friends, here is a quick update from me. I am going very slow here, with everything. I hope to be able to post again soon but can't promise anything to myself at the moment!

Stay well,

Nurdan