Molly and Me and Baby Makes Three

That didn’t quite work.

2011-12-23T10:58:00.001+11:00

For some reason the dogs’ names didn’t end up where they were meant to.

So to clarify, the little black Maltese Shi-tzu is Ebony (Ebby) and the Labradoodle is Molly.

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-23T10:54:00.001+11:00

To those of you who enjoy to read my blog, my two furry babies and I would like to wish you a Peaceful Festive Season.

Ebby Molly

A Quilt For Mara

2011-12-20T18:04:00.001+11:00

I have a lovely friend here named Mara, who will be celebrating her 80th birthday just after I leave for my new home in Victoria. She’s very proud of becoming an octogenarian and won’t mind at all that I have told you she is turning 80 soon. In fact Mara is my role model…..if I am half as active as Mara is when I turn 80 I shall be awfully proud of myself. She takes long walks, is considering taking up tennis again, is very socially active, and is also a keen gardener and mows her own lawn. She also drives extremely well, and get this, takes a yearly trip back to England to see her brother and other relatives. I tell you, this lady is amazing!

Anyway, when one of Mara’s daughters told me she was about to turn 80 and that the daughters were getting together to buy her a new bed, I decided I would make Mara a quilt for her new bed. Mara loves bright colours so I thought that finally I’ve found a project to use up at least part of my stash of Kaffe fabrics. And yesterday, just as I completed writing the label on the quilt, who should come knocking on my door, but Mara bearing a lovely Christmas card.

So I thanked her, and asked her inside as I had something for her too. She was just totally floored when I gave her her first ever quilt. She is absolutely thrilled with it and it now takes pride of place on her bed. She tells me she needs to make new curtains now. When you look at the quilt you will see that she will have endless options for choosing colours for her curtains.

And that is my final project to be made during my four year stay in Tasmania. The sewing studio is looking rather sad now in its packed up state.

OH MY!

2011-12-08T12:08:00.001+11:00

I have sold my house now and thought I had better make a start with the packing. Even better, I thought I would start with the sewing studio.

The good news is that I still love everything that I have (indeed I am a very wealthy woman fabricwise), the bad news is I had NO idea how much gorgeous, lushious fabric etc I actually own and have to pack. Only a mad woman would try to move with all this stuff. That says it all I guess.

Before I sold I thought I would fill in a little bit of time with some Christmas decorating. I don’t do big trees and lots of stuff everywhere cos I detest pulling it all down again. But I do love what I manage to do with a few twigs each year….pretty simple huh?

As soon as settlement happens, our architect will be ready to start work on our house. He has all sorts of great ideas for this simple little 1930’s house and I’m dying to see how it all works out. Meanwhile, I will move into a rental house close by and try to curb my impatience.

We’ve bought a new home!

2011-11-18T22:47:00.000+11:00

And the first thing we are going to do is rip it apart and then put it all back together again. It stands on half an acre in Tecoma in the Dandenongs and I’m really looking forward to moving there once my home in Tasmania has sold. I can’t say I enjoy the selling process…doing lots of housekeeping and having perfect strangers traipsing through my home aren’t my favourite things, but I just tell myself that this too shall pass.

I haven’t had much time for quilting, but I have put together a quilt top for a friend who will turn 80 in February. She loves bright fabrics, so I dipped into my lovely stash of Kaffe fabrics. Hope she likes it.

Flora and Fauna

2011-09-18T17:13:00.001+10:00

I don’t have much to show in the way of sewing this time as I’ve been working on a project which is to be a gift for my Christmas Gift partner Gillian. It wouldn’t do for her to find out what this gift is in advance…might just spoil the fun a bit!

It’s a little bit sad at our house this week as Rhyll is leaving for Canberra permanently on Friday. For a couple of years she has been doing her job remotely, but the time has come to step things up a bit and take promotions etc. We get along really well and will both find it strange to just talk to the walls (and in my case the dogs and cat). So keep ourselves busy we have been putting little finishing touches to all the painting we have just completed…here is Rhyll hard at work. Not sure that she is either flora or fauna, but here she is anyway.

The garden is starting to look beautiful and it is wonderful to just wander and see what nature has been up to. I decided to plant some Silver Birches in the front garden last year and they are growing so fast. There a lot of Azalia bushes in amongst the Birches and it is going to be very pretty as the trees grow.

Last year a friend gave me some plants which she called Euphorbia. I’d never seen them before, so obviously they weren’t something that grows in Brisbane. This little patch of them is looking stunning and they are such an amazing plant to see

And this last flower photo comes courtesy of my neighbour…because I thought the bush looked ugly in my garden and ripped it out before I knew how fabulous the flower is. What a duffer I can be at times!

I visited my daughter in Upwey in the Dandenongs last week and had a wonderful time. I was pet sitting while they attended a wedding on the Sunshine Coast in Qld. Of course I just had to visit the gorgeous little patchwork shop at Tecoma a couple of times, and had a lovely visit with Ramona….my but her house and garden are just gorgeous! I also visited a display village of Granny flats and was SO impressed with them. So at present I am making plans to live in the Upwey area in a gorgeous granny flat, and join in all the fun that the quilters have there. Can’t wait! It has taken me most of this year to finally decide to go to live in this area but I am really pleased with my decision now.

Spring has sprung, the grass has ris…

2011-09-02T17:08:00.001+10:00

I’ve no clue if anybody is still bothering to check out my blog, but just in case you are reading, Hi!

It’s been such a strange year…most of it seems to have been tied up in house renovations…just little stuff, but when you are doing it yourself it takes ages. So all the painting is done, the carpet and vinyl have been laid, all the new curtains are up. And now I’m sick of it all, so I’ll sit back and enjoy it .

Not a lot of sewing has been happening, but I have enjoyed making my version of Bluebirds and Berries..only two more blocks to go now….and you can see the new carpet behind the blocks.

Next week I shall be visiting Andrea in Upwey which I am really looking forward to. I love to see my daughter and I love that part of the world, so it will be great. Let’s just hope the weather stays as perfect as it is at the moment.

Happy Easter Everybunny!

2011-04-24T18:29:00.001+10:00

I’m not quite sure where the first four months of this year have gone, but suddenly it is Easter, and you know what that means don’t you. It means that next time we draw breath, everybody will be talking about the fact that it will soon be Christmas. Spare me!

I’ve been a very quiet little quilter lately, probably because I was feeling decidedly ‘average’ for a few months. However I now have my energy back and have been busy sewing, playing with the dogs, and continuing on with painting the inside of my house. Actually the painting is almost completed now and the house is looking quite gorgeous..all white with creams and beiges here and there. It looks so spacious now. The only disappointment is that we shall be selling it later this year to move back to Canberra. How I am going to miss my beach walks with the dogs.

I do have some sewing to show you, though I’ve yet to take a photo of the quilt I’ve just completed, apart from binding. Might get to that tomorrow. I’ve been working on three BOM’s, once of which is the Leanne Beasley one in Vignette. I haven’t completed the first block of it yet, so there is no photo.

But here are the other two blocks I’ve done…both from my rather substantial stash.

Berries and Bluebirds

That is a Kaffe quilt I’ve been working on.

This is Sunny Days that I did as a BOM through Annie Downs shop…still have to apply the final border…it is a huge 86” square.

This is On Freedom’s Wings

And this is a Grandmothers Flower Garden I’m working on…still a long way to go. I’ve been using Sue Daley’s papers and the Sewline gluepen. But I keep thinking whistfully about how much more speedy it is to use the Inklingo method. Might have to return to doing my GFG’s this way.

I hope I don’t leave it so long before blogging again..it’s been fun.

A late start to the year

2011-02-15T15:52:00.001+11:00

It’s probably not a good way to begin the blogging year by completely missing a month of writing, but what’s a girl to do with no access to her computer!

I have been a vey dutiful Mother and went to Upwey in the Dandenong Mts outside Melbourne to do a whole month of pet sitting while ‘the kids’ went to the US. They spent most of their month away high up in the mountains of Colorado surrounded by snow and ice. They said they never wanted to leave, but this Mother is terribly glad they did eventually come home so that I could get on with my life.

I did manage to find two lovely little patchwork shops..Foothills Fabrics in Tecoma and Mrs Martin’s Quiltshop at Monbulk. Both of them gorgeous shops with lovely owners who made me very welcome. I did return home with a little more luggage than I took. I know there were many more quilt shops in the area, but one of the dogs I was looking after has horrible separation anxiety and I didn’t like to be gone from her for too long.

While I was away my dogs went to doggy daycare for two days a week so Rhyll could get her work done…and one day while they were there they had a bit of a spruceup. This is the first time Ebby has had a full clip and I was so pleasantly surprised to see her when I arrived home..just look at her…so cute. And of course Molly is looking gorgeous too.

They love to take up their positions on my bed…that way they can see out to the street and down the hallway…no need to miss a thing. And when nothing is happening there is always the pillows to drag around the bed. The furry cover is left in place so that Miss Ebby doesn’t feel the need to chew on the quilt underneath.

I have been stitching quite diligently, but can’t show any of it to you as it is Secret Women’s Business. So instead I will show you a photo of the cutest little bunny a friend gave to me for Christmas. Said bunny is sitting beside my favourite new birdcage which contains a beautiful scented candle. I love bunnies and have quite a nice little collection of them. Bunnies and sheep actually are my favourite collectibles, but there are no new sheep at the moment. And I also adore birdcages. No surprises then that I had to buy the new Petals and Patches BOM called On Freedom’s Wings. Can’t wait to have a moment to jump into that one!

It’s Starting To Look A Lot Like Christmas

2010-12-24T12:19:00.001+11:00

We like to keep our decorating simple…Very simple

My daughter Rhyll gave me the pattern for this quilt last Christmas, and finally I have bound it and hung it…two days before Christmas. Gosh there was a lot of stitching on this one and I do love it.

I have also completed the little dress quilt that I showed last time…

It is such a little cutie and was fun and easy to make.

And lastly I must show you this absolutely decadent pile of pressies..tomorrow is going to be huge fun!

To all my friends and followers I would like to wish you a very Happy Christmas and a happy and healthy year for 2011.

Two little quilts

2010-11-25T17:17:00.001+11:00

It’s been a long time since I had something to show you. I have been sewing away every day, honestly, but because I’ve started so many projects and have a mind like a grasshopper, there has only been a little progress on many projects. And really nothing that I felt like photographing for my blog.

But this week a little quilt that I have worked on all year has come home from the quilters and I am thrilled with the result. The hand stitching on it took me forever but I enjoyed every minute of it. I’ve yet to put on the binding, but at least I have chosen my fabric for it.

The original pattern by Crabapple Hill has flying geese all around the border, but to my mind it looked too heavy and I decided to go with a plain border.

And this second tiny quilt is still a work in progress, but it is sooo cute. Pattern is by Rene Plains, and I went fabric shopping in my stash. I still have to finish adding the inner border, and then a blue border goes around the outside. And I really do have to remove one of those buttons and align it properly (otherwise it will bug me bigtime).

It is just starting to warm up down here, and I have spent a lot of time out in the garden. It is just starting to grow up now, as I removed most of the overgrown rubbish that was here previously, and virtually started again. A couple more years and it will be delightful. It’s raining at the moment so can’t take any photos, but I’ll get to that another day. We’ve had a huge amount of rain during spring which has been lovely, but two days ago we were rather surprised to have a day well over the 30 degree mark. Bit of a shock to the system!

Now to go and cook something yummy for dinner. My son is coming to visit for dinner and I’m looking forward to hearing all about his trip to Canberra and his visit with his rapidly growing up children (my grandchildren).

The Crow’s Christmas Gathering

2010-10-24T09:33:00.001+11:00

It was a big day yesterday at The Quilted Crow. The occasion was the Christmas Gathering. These Gathering days have always previously been held at the old hall at Campania, but now that the Crow girls have moved their nest into the beautiful old church building at Newtown, they decided to hold it there. And I have to say it was a huge success.

Our guest tutors for the day were Sue Daley of Patchwork with Busy Fingers and Simone Gooding of May Blossom. Both had beautiful projects for us to work on for the day if we wished, and they also brought along samples of the goodies that can be made using their patterns. Oh my!! Temptation abounded. I did bring home a couple of patterns for Sue’s designs plus the paper pieces for making them. I have always been a big fan of paper piecing, but was blown away by Sue’s designs.

Unfortunately my photos haven’t turned out too well because of the lighting, but here are a few of my favourites.

And here are some of the very cute things that Simone designs. I would have loved to have made some of these things, but I can’t stand to touch wool…so I just admire from a distance.

And here are a couple of photos of some of the ladies enjoying their day out. I feel so inspired by all the beautiful work I saw yesterday that I shall spend several hours sewing today. Just need to decide which project will claim my attention.

Back to Dear Jane

2010-10-15T09:21:00.001+11:00

For over two years now, my Shabby Jane has been on hold. I couldn’t remember why I stopped working on her, but I thought if I joined the class at The Quilted Crow it might help to motivate me. As soon as I opened my book in class to the next block to be done, I realized why I had come to such a screeching halt with my quilt. It was too darned difficult for me.

But Paula, our teacher for the class, has such amazing techniques and I was quickly on the path to making this little block. It did take me three weeks, but that was mostly because I was receiving treatment for a frozen shoulder. I literally had almost no use of my left arm for quite a while. Anyway, treatment by my chiropractor has my shoulder and arm all freed up now, and the second block which was almost as fiddly, was completed in a day.

So I’m giving myself a big pat on the back now, and absolutely loving being back to my Baby Jane. Here are my first two blocks since I have restarted. I think I’m somewhere in the middle of the third row now.

Alice In Wonderland Quilt

2010-09-04T22:31:00.001+10:00

O n my second day of wandering around the Sydney Quilt Show back in June, I spied, in the corner, just draped over a chair in the Patchwork On Central Park booth, this very sweet little quilt. Of course I just had to buy the pattern and was really happy when I was able to source the fabric that is the central theme of this quilt. It is Alice in Wonderland by Kokka.

It was a very simple quilt to make…it is a disappearing 9patch with a little bit of stitching on a few of the blocks. I then quilted in the ditch by machine and hand quilted large circles. I wish I had used a heavier thread and larger stitches for the hand quilting. Hindsight is wonderful. But it is also a lesson learned and I will know for next time.

Last Tuesday I went to the Tuesday stitching evening at The Quilted Crow. Their gas heating still hasn’t been installed, but with the oil column heater sitting under the big sewing table, we were all pretty cosy. It was an excellent night and I’m really looking forward to being a regular visitor to this evening.

I was handed a brown paper bag by Leonie. Don’t you just love brown paper bags!!!! Couldn’t wait to see what was inside :) What I found were 12 lovely pieces of fabric, 12 2” cardboard hexagons, plus a plastic template to use for cutting out the fabrics. I was told to baste the 12 hexagons during the week, keep 6 and return 6 the following week (or when I next return) and then I would be given another 12 cardboard hexagons which I would then cover with my own fabric…keep 6 and return 6. And so it goes on for however long i want to play the game. I find this exciting..something so simple, and yet I can envision a fabulous quilt coming from this bit of fun.

This Followed Me Home

2010-08-30T08:54:00.001+10:00

I resisted buying this very cute quilt of Lynette Anderson’s until last week, when I succumbed to the idea of just taking home one block at a time. Sigh! As if I don’t have more than I can manage already! But I love this quilt…it speaks to me so enticingly.

Don’t you love it too?

Isn’t This A Beautiful Patchwork Store!

2010-08-29T20:37:00.001+10:00

The girls at The Quilted Crow recently moved from their premises in Hobart city, to a truly beautiful location in Newtown…one could say it is Divine!

It is a fabulous experience to go there, and I’m really looking forward to joining the Dear Jane group. It must be almost two years since I’ve done any work on my Shabby Jane and it will be great to see it grow again.

I have just completed another block of my Civil War Bride quilt..it seems to be taking me a long time to get through these blocks, but I guess that’s what happens when there are so many projects on the go at once. No room for boredom in my

sewing room!

I Made Another Cushion

2010-07-19T11:21:00.001+10:00

During the earlier part of this year I joined in a Mini Round Robin with SCQIS, and as well as learning a couple of great new techniques I can use in my quilts, I also ended up with a very cute little quilt. I decided it would look very sweet as a cushion and set about making it into one. Here it is…now tell me this isn’t one cute cushion!

Block 3 of The Civil War Bride has been completed for a little while…every time I look at it I think how similar her legs are to mine (they resemble tree trunks).

The dogs are telling me that I haven’t shown pictures of them on my blog for a while and that I had better rectify the situation. Here they are, firstly playing tug of war which they love to do. And then all that fun has to be followed by a little nap (on Mum’s bed of course).

Tripping around

2010-07-02T16:46:00.001+10:00

Following on from my trip to AQC in Melbourne, I decided I just couldn’t live (happily) if I didn’t visit the quilt show at Darling Harbour in Sydney this year. So off I went and for two days I immersed myself in quilts, quilts and yet more quilts. Had a wonderful time and took a few photos of the quilts I loved. Here are a couple.

I wish now that I had written down the names of those who created them.,,they certainly were inspirational.

And last week I took a quick trip to Brisbane to visit with my lovely friend Lynette. We always have a ball together, and this time was no exception. Silly me forgot to take my camera with me…there were so many great shots I could have taken.

First day we spent at the Textile Show at the Convention Centre..what a great little show that was, and not too crowded so we could really enjoy ourselves. My mate Karen was there at her stand The Quilters and Embroiderers Shop, so we made a date to spend the entire day at her shop on the following Monday. Lisa Walton was also there with all her gorgeous dyed goodies (sometimes I wonder if Lisa and Peter actually ever get to spend time at home). There were lots of people selling the most wonderful yarns and wools. Finally I gave into temptation and bought 4 separate lots of wools. At the rate I knit, they will last me a lifetime. But they were too beautiful to resist them.

The day passed all too quickly, and in the evening a group of us went to Southbank to a Turkish restaurant for dinner. Delicious! And it was great to be with a bunch of my Brisbane friends…Suzy, Melinda, Michelle and Lynette.

The following day we vegged out a bit, and knitted, and shopped, and ate. Lynette now lives upstairs from some fabulous restaurants. If I lived there it wouldn’t be too long before I couldn’t fit into the lift.

Then Monday came and we really did spend all day at The Quilters Store. It is closed for the day on Mondays, but we had ‘mates rates’ which allowed us in :) Oh what an alladins cave it is. Seeing as I couldn’t stuff another thing into my small suitcase, I had the bright idea of asking Karen to post my goodies home. They arrived home the day after I did….and I certainly had shopped well.

It was wonderful to spend ages chatting with Karen…Lyn, Karen and I go back a long way and although none of us see each other too often these days, we always seem to pick up the threads just as though it was yesterday. Good friends are the jewels in life.

Rhyll has just reminded me that it is time I started making dinner as my son Mark will be joining us tonight. So off I go to throw a chicken in the pan.

A little gift I made

2010-06-15T17:16:00.001+10:00

My daughter Andrea had a birthday last week and I decided to make her a cute cushion. She loves it.

Tomorrow I shall be jumping out of bed at 4.30am to catch a 6.30 flight to Sydney.

Darling Harbour Quilt Show here I come! How excitement!

A little late..but…….

2010-06-09T18:09:00.001+10:00

I’ve never wanted a big deal made out of Mothers Day…but this year I decided I wanted to be spoiled a little bit. So Rhyll set out to find something for me that would be rather special. To say I was delighted was an understatement. What do you think?

This dear little bear is made from cream linen, with just the tiniest touch of pink floral on her bow. Her little facial features are done in grey thread and she looks very sophisticated in a ‘bearly’ kind of a way.

On a different note, I took of photo of Rhyll’s new Personal Assistant….Miss Haggis is her name…and she tends to fall asleep on the job just a little too often!

Another block done

2010-06-07T16:25:00.001+10:00

I’m not the fastest kid on the block, but finally I did complete this block. I did it all by hand as I couldn’t see how on earth I was going to get it done by machine.

I think there is only one block to go for this quilt now, which I am halfway through doing…then of course, there is all the putting together…which I’m sure will be pretty interesting also, seeing as we have been told to save all our scraps for it.

Good Grief! I’m Blogging!

2010-05-22T09:45:00.001+10:00

I know, I know, it’s been far too long again. I blame the dogs…they are also the reason I achieve far too little in the sewing room. They are just furry little attention seekers.

However, this afternoon I have put my foot down and taken myself out to the sewing studio for a good old quiltathon. And now I am continuing to ignore the furry ones and getting some words and photos onto my blog.

Since I last made an entry I’ve been to AQC in Melbourne which was wonderful. It was the first time I’d been and although I didn’t do any classes, I sure did help the local economy. I stayed in a townhouse across the road from where AQC was held, with my mates Lynette and Dot and we had ourselves a good old time.

My first photo is of the beautiful building where AQC was held. I took so many photos of this building both inside and out as it is so stunning.

One of the first stands I came across was that of the Quilted Crow girls, Leonie and Deirdre. I thought their stand was a real standout as it was so different from all the others. Though I did enjoy quite a few of those too :) L & D are presently in the US where they are showing off their goodies and are being extremely well received. Good on them I say!

Something that really appealed to me was a stand showing all the beautiful bonnets that had been made by volunteers. The aim is to make one each for each of the women who were incarcerated in the Womens’ Prison in Hobart in the early years. (I think I have that right). I really meant to pick up a pattern and make a bonnet….but time flew by, and I didn’t. However I’m sure that if I do a search on Google I will be able to locate a website dedicated to the initiative.

Of course there were hundreds of beautiful quilts to be seen, but here are a couple of photos of quilts that really spoke to me.

Cancel cancel

2010-04-23T15:56:00.001+10:00

After I wrote my previous post about changing back to my Typepad blog, dear Lizzie wrote to me and told me how to overcome my frustration with the Blogger site. So just cancel my last post, I shall continue on here.

I’ve achieved a couple of finishes this week…one was a fairly quick one and one has taken me months to complete…I’ll leave it to you to guess which is which. And by ‘finish’ I don’t mean I’ve completed whole quilts…oh deary me no! I just mean I have completed blocks in a couple of different quilts.

First up, I am doing a BOM with The Home Patch called Sunny Days. This is a pattern by Jan Patek.

The following is the second stitchery panel of a series of three in another quilt I’m working on.

Don’t hold your breath waiting for the third…it is huge and will probably take me until Christmas to complete it. But it is so gorgeous, I think it is worth the work.

Moving House Again

2010-04-23T12:00:00.001+10:00

I’ve decided to move my blog back to my Typepad address. Please find me at

http://kalisquilts.typepad.com/molly_and_me_and_baby_mak/

I found the magazine Julie!

2010-04-12T16:16:00.001+10:00

Yes, I’m speaking to you Julie D. It must be a week or two ago that you asked me if I had Quilters Companion No. 18, and although I searched high and low, I couldn’t find it anywhere. I was quite sure I still had it, as I began making Candied Hexagons while I was living in Canberra…and I was equally sure that I hadn’t thrown any of it away.

Anyway, in the middle of the night last night I woke up and thought again about the magazine and the hexies, and suddenly knew exactly where they were. In a basket, hiding under the Lynette Anderson quilt that I had also begun making but haven’t yet completed. I wasn’t quite sure where that basket was, but I knew what it looked like. Seeing as our weather has turned very wintery here in Tasmania I didn’t dive out of bed and go out to the studio to begin searching immediately, but I did do that this morning…and went straight to that basket, and there was the magazine, the hexies and the templates. How about that!

I know you have managed to obtain a copy of the magazine now, so I won’t send you mine…in fact I may just make the occasional hexagon and see if I can’t at least make a mini quilt from them.

So here are the photos of my find…

I have been a busy little beaver the past couple of weeks, and have also completed Block 2 of The Civil War Bride

I also spent 3 to 4 hours every night for a week unpicking the quilting I did on my Reindeer Quilt. I had thrown it in the cupboard in disgust after I quilted it just before Christmas as I had used an inferior batting and this little quilt ended up looking like something the cat had dragged in. Finally I was inspired to remove every single quilting stitch and will now set to and quilt it again. This quilt is about lap sized and is very cute.

The nights have become very long down here again now which is great for getting lots of sewing done…I’m waiting for the postie to deliver my next BOM block from Material Obsession and from Annie Downs. I don’t think I’ve shown you my block from the Jan Patek quilt that I’m making from The Home Patch, and I can’t find it on Anni’s site either….so I’ll take a photo in my next blog to show you.

Other news….I’ve started once again on Tony Ferguson to whittle away the excess kilo’s I’ve put on recently…boy it makes me feel good. Hope I can continue for ages on it.

And my exciting news is that my mate Lynette phoned me and enticed me into going to the Australasian Quilt Convention. She and a friend will be there for the week doing all the classes. Doing classes drives me insane cos it brings up all my insecurities, so I’ll just take my time viewing all the gorgeous quilts and goodies for a couple of days.

More next time…..

It’s The Easter Ebby!

2010-04-03T21:54:00.001+11:00

Rhyll thought Ebby would make a good standin for the Easter Bunny…..and I have to admit she did look pretty darned cute!

I hope you are all enjoying the Easter season. Don’t eat too much chocolate…it sticks to the hips.

Here We Go Again….

2010-04-03T18:47:00.001+11:00

I’m not even going to mention the fact that it’s been too long since I last blogged……..

But life gets busy…You all know what I mean. Even here in good old slow paced Tassie.

This morning Rhyll and I went to breakfast with our lovely friends Michelle, Angie and Barb. Talked up a storm as usual, and traded Easter eggs..of course! And Michelle brought along a copy of Quiltmania that she had just found in the newsagent. That was a new one for all of us, but it is utterly divine. So I’ve subscribed for that. It is from France, but they do an English version. But where you subscribe online is all in French…boy did that test out my highschool French. Mostly I guessed, but fingers crossed the magazine will find its way to me. I love love love that publication. In fact I’ve had a long running love affair with all things French….I must go for a visit one day. Only problem is that I may never want to return to Australia.

I seem to have been munching on chocolate all week…next week the dieting begins. I’ve been telling myself to get back to eating protein for weeks now…but just before Easter just isn’t the right time for that. But this coming week had just better be the right time…cos I refuse to buy clothes in a larger size.

Last weekend we were at The Gathering…organised by the girls from The Quilted Crow. We really enjoyed ourselves and the guest tutors for the day were Marg Low and Gail Pan who both have some wonderful designs.

I particularly liked Marg’s projects, and I had a mini-epiphany (if such a thing exists). I realized I just don’t need to be making full sized quilts for the rest of my life…..I will be just as happy to make smaller quilts such as lap quilts, wallhangings, pin cushions and the like. I still can’t have a quilt on my bed as Ebby is still prone to chewing holes in them, so now I will make things I can display and furnish my home with. A much better idea methinks. I’m sure a large quilt will still manifest itself from time to time, and I’m halfway through a couple of major productions which I shall finish, and then I look forward to making smaller items.

Rhyll and I are continuing with our painting saga. At the moment the hallway is being painted white. There are five doors leading off the hallway, and all of them were brown stained wood (which we hate). So we’ve had to use a special undercoat on all the brown stained timber before we could apply the coats of nice shiny gloss paint. It is still a work in progress, but when complete I will show you how it looks. It is looking twice as spacious, I can tell you that!

Playing Catchup

2010-03-05T20:30:00.001+11:00

I admit it, I am the Queen of Procrastination. It has been forever since I felt like adding anything to my blog, despite several of my internet buddies requesting an update.

However, this morning Judy Grant from Michigan asked me ever so sweetly to put some new pictures and words onto my blog and it has spurred me into action.

This past few months has been about getting the craft studio painted and then making curtains for several rooms here. I would adore to be able to just buy new curtains, but when I look at the cost I revert back to ‘homemade’. And I have to say I love to use quilting fabrics for my curtains.

I have just made some curtains from white Kona cotton for the craft studio and that fabric was a dream to sew. I wanted something really light and airy that wouldn’t cut down too much on light, but which I could draw in winter to keep the warm inside. So behind the Kona cotton I put triple phase lining…I’m sure that will do the job.

Did I show you piccies of the craft studio after painting? I can’t remember, so here are a couple for you to see. My end is still in a mess here…it looks a little better now, but not a lot.

Whereas Rhyll is Mrs Neat and everything is totally organised and looking gorgeous. She didn’t get that trait from me!

So apart from boring old curtains, I’ve been sewing a block of this project, then a block from another project…never actually completing anything. But I guess one day all the various things I’m working on will come together.

I’m making a baby quilt for Rhyll’s friends in Canberra. I know how cold it can be Canberra, so this is a little flannel quilt to keep the baby nice and cosy.

I am working on my first block of Civil War Bride…I adore this quilt.

I’ve done a couple more blocks of Sue Ross’s BOM

And there is my second block of the Kim McLean quilt I’m making using Kaffe fabrics

Rhyll makes all sorts of wonderful things in her craft cubby…but this is one I particularly love..she’s such a clever girl.

I hope you’ve enjoyed my little show and tell. I’ve enjoyed getting back into the swing of things on my blog and will try to update regularly.

Susie’s Garden

2010-01-11T15:25:00.001+11:00

I visited my friend Susie last week. Susie is passionate about gardening and when I visited I was totally in awe of what she had created…especially as her entire piece of land is sitting on a huge slab of rock.

This garden is absolutely beautiful and we spent quite a long time wandering around as Susie told me the names of various plants that I’d never seen before. Her collection of Clematis is astounding and they were to be found winding their way up many trees and bushes.

As we walked and talked we were accompanied by Susie’s two gorgeous Labradoodles…the cream one is Ollie and Katie is the ‘baby’ at 8 months and is towering over Ollie already. I call her Elle as her legs go up forever.

So here are a few photos in no particular order.

CHRISTMAS IN ANTARCTICA

2009-12-31T17:50:00.001+11:00

I have a good friend who travels to Antarctica regularly as part of her work in studying penguins at The Antarctic Division here at Blackmans Bay. This year Barb will be away for three months, two of which have already passed…how time flies.

They have quite a comfy base down there and the staff work hard to keep everybody entertained in their offduty hours. Christmas is always a huge affair, and Barb sent me some piccies of the day this year. They chose a tiny little Santa with big strapping guys as his elves. And as you can see, Santa arrived in style in his ‘sled’.

A few days earlier a bit of a snow storm was starting to happen.

This is one of the penguin colonies at Amanda Bay.

It’s been as hot as hell here today (35) which doesn’t happen too often in Tassie. So I’ve been entertaining myself looking at all the snow photos Barb has sent me. During the afternoon she phoned me and told me it was about –2 degrees…sounds pretty good to me!

Happy New Year everybody!

Lunch With A Visiting Scquilter

2009-12-30T21:48:00.001+11:00

Yesterday I received an email from Anne Saunders who is currently travelling around Tasmania with her husband Bob, letting me know she had two more days in Hobart and could we meet up. Well I don’t need to be asked twice to go and have a chat with a fellow scquilter, so we arranged to have lunch at The Dome Cafe at Sandy Bay.

I had previously met Anne when she still lived in Buderim and hosted a Scquilters lunch that we both remembered vividly as it was such a fun day. But it was only weeks after that day that Anne suffered an aneurism and we nearly lost her. After that we both moved interstate and life took us in various directions, but here we were having lunch today and having a great time reminiscing, sharing stories, discussing our quilting sagas.

Anne had with her the 140 hearts she received during her recovery time, and I have to say, I had chills down my spine looking at the truly beautiful hearts that so many wonderful women sent to her. Anne is still deciding how she wants to assemble the hearts, but they sure are going to make a beautiful quilt.

The View From My Sewing Studio

2009-12-30T11:31:00.004+11:00

As promised to my friends on Scquilters, here are a couple of photos of the view I enjoy from my sewing studio. Actually 'studio' sounds a bit grand doesn't it...I usually call it the cabin.

I took one photo yesterday evening and the other is taken this morning. If you look closely at the one taken this morning you can see some of the smaller boats in the Sydney to Hobart yacht race sailing up towards the finishing line. There has been a constant procession of them this morning which has been lovely to see. Though they have been sticking to the far side of the river, which is a long way away, making it impossible to see which boats they are. Every year I tell myself I will buy some binoculars...hasn't happened yet.

How Excitement!

2009-12-26T15:53:00.002+11:00

As many can attest, I am rather technically challenged. Others would say I am challenged in many more departments than just the technical one. But I digress.
The reason I changed my blog back to the Blogger site is that it seemed easier to make changes to the appearance of my blog than on the Typepad site.

For some reason, when I transferred my Typepad blog to this one, I can only see half of each photo, but I'm not too concerned about that. Especially when I have just succeeded in making my blog look pretty....clever me! And, I just put up a new photo in the About Me section...explaining where the name of my blog comes from. See here..

Successfully moved House

2009-12-24T17:12:00.003+11:00

Thanks to daughter Rhyll, all my entries on Typepad have now been moved across to Blogger. Now to work out how to make my blog pretty.

I thought I would show you an oil painting that Rhyll has completed this week..I love it to bits!

Merry Christmas to all my wonderful friends, I hope you truly enjoy your day tomorrow.

2009-12-22T07:57:00.000+11:00

I've decided to move my blog to Blogger. You will find me at my new address

mollyandmeandbabymakesthree.blogspot.com

I hope you will come and visit me there.

Moving to a New Address

2009-12-21T20:50:00.000+11:00

I've decided to move my blog to Blogger because I've spent so many hours knocking my head against a brick wall in an attempt to make Typepad work the way I wanted it to. I realise I'm a bit of a dummy when it comes to computers, but at least if I'm using Blogger, and I can't do something, then I can ask somebody who does know. I have my fingers crossed that this idea will work for me. I'll keep you posted.

Friday Flaunt

2009-12-04T23:48:00.000+11:00

This week I completed Block 4 of my BOM from Material Obsession by Sue Ross. Lot's of set in seams, but I found it went together really easily.

Amazing fabric choices, and would never have chosen them myself, but I actually do like it.

I've also been working away on my black redwork stitchery that I wrote about in the last post, as well as doing the next block of my Kim McLean quilt that I also mentioned in the previous post. And as though all that wasn't enough, the fabric panel from Folklorique jumped out and grabbed me yesterday, so I've begun working on making a fairly simple wallhanging with it.

Aside from stitching, my world has been full of good news this week. First my younger daughter and DH found rental accom in Melbourne where they can take their 4 pets, so that they can get down to the business of buying a home after their house building dreams came to nothing. I was quite convinced they would never find a rental that would allow all their pets, but it just goes to show that there are some understanding landlords in the world.

Then eldest daughter has now had two approaches workwise. Her old boss wants to hire her to work remotely cos nobody else can do what she does...and a new employer is also interested in her.

Then today...went to the doc for my 3monthly diabetic checkup. He is my new doc cos my regular doc left to have a baby. He has a very good reputation and I was keen to have a more experienced doc. I walked in, sat down, he looks at me and says that I don't have diabetes and I never did. At the worst I have a mild case of insulin resistance. Halla-bloody-lulia!!!! It's what I've been saying all along.

My numbers have been too perfect for somebody with diabetes. So no more 3 monthly visits, and a million other checkups. I'm just a normal person now...and that feels so good :)

Two new projects

2009-11-26T01:18:00.000+11:00

I have to say that since the weather finally warmed up here in Tassie I haven't done a whole lot of stitching. More time is being spent at the beach with the dogs and the lovely people I've become friends with on the beach. And the garden has also claimed a lot of my attention. Today I had 8 bales of pea straw delivered to put on the garden. It's a great way to keep the moisture in the soil, plus it is highly nutritious...and the worms love the stuff!

For my birthday in October my daughter Rhyll gave me a gorgeous pattern by Crabapple Hill which I have talked about previously. Well, I have completed the first large block of it and I'm really happy with how it is going. I was able to buy Cosmo Threads from The Quilters Store in Brisbane which I have loved working with, and I'm working on aged muslin..... so far the whole thing has been a pleasure to make. I have the next block all traced out and ready to go now.

The other project I'm working on is a quilt by Kim McLean called Flowerpots. I decided that this quilt was going to be made on the machine and I must say I'm enjoying how quickly a block can be made this way. I'm often quite hard on myself for using machine buttonhole, but I decided to get over it and just enjoy playing with the gorgeous Kaffe fabrics. So here is my first block.

Yesterday I also cut out the pieces for the MO Sue Ross BOM...again, gorgeous colours, and I hope to have this one stitched up in a day or two. (Depends on how involved I become with laying down pea straw!)

My friend Barb who works at The Antarctic Division sent me this photo a day or two ago. This is her finally arriving at her destination (Davis)after a rather long ship voyage on the Aurora Australia. Isn't it amazing that these days somebody bobbing up and down on a little ship enroute to the Antarctic can still keep in touch with the outside world via internet. I heard all about Orcha mother and baby sightings, counting ice bergs, seeing the first pengies (Barb is a Penguinologist), about how helicopters had to be sent up to try to find a way through the hard ice. And all about the fabulous food the chiefs on board were serving up meal after meal! I'm looking forward to hearing all about life in the Antarctic for the next couple of months...I really do find it quite exciting. So here is Barb. She is a tiny little firecracker, and still manages to look great in all that extreme weather clobber.

Almost a Lost Dog

2009-11-03T02:09:00.000+11:00

It's been one of those days folks, where the unexpected keeps happening. It started this morning while I was walking my dogs on the beach as I do every morning. We three were at the far end of the beach for the second time when suddenly Miss Molly just wasn't there!

I quickly walked around the big rock to make sure she wasn't there. Nope...not there. Nobody else had seen her disappear either. Molly is just always close by! Anyway, I figured there was only one way she could have gone, and that was back to the start of the beach (and hopefully not across the bridge and onto the main road :(

I walked as fast as my arthriticy little feet would allow, Miss Ebony in tow. Even if I could run, there was no way I could keep up with Molly as she runs like the wind. Staying calm..deep breathing...happy thoughts. Got to the end of the beach and still no Molly. But looked up and saw my friend Marina crossing the bridge with Molly in tow on the end of a leash. Marina had found Molly running down the Esplanade (no doubt looking for my car). Thankfully Molly knows Marina and came to her...but we are all still totally bewildered as to why she did a runner. I'm sure even Molly wouldn't know the answer to that one...she has days when she is just plain fizzy!

Anyway, I was so darned happy to be reunited with her that it didn't even cross my mind to be cross with her. Darned dog!

When I got home I decided I would get out the weed spray as the front garden was totally overgrown with weeds. Used up the whole bottle and retired into the house for a cuppa. Did a million other things during the day, and went outside to do some more gardening. Glanced at the 'weedspray' bottle, and suddenly realised I had done my weeding this morning with bug spray...How dumb is that!!!!!

I will have the healthiest weeds in the street. As I said to my daughter, it pays to have a sense of humour as you grow older and the brain goes into semi retirement.

Anyway, enough of that. I finished block 3 of the MO Sue Ross BOM...here it is

I am presently attempting to quilt a Robyn Pandolph designed Christmas quilt. I detest quilting and don't do it very well, and am so slow at the whole deal. Would love to be able to afford to have professional quilting done on all my quilts...I can dream. Here it is so far.

A Great Day at The Gathering

2009-11-02T02:35:00.000+11:00

Finally the weather here has warmed up and I've been out in the garden scratching around like a mother hen. With all the rain we've had the weeds have created a jungle. But it is wonderful to see flowers appearing on the roses and all kinds of other plants are flowering too. For the first time I've planted lettuce and begun harvesting it, and the tomatoes look as though they are ready to go crazy too. I've also planted a deep pink Magnolia tree, and four Silver Birches...so my yard really will begin to look like a jungle soon. I'm following Jackie French's theory that if you plant enough plants, there is no room for weeks to grow. Still a way to go with that though.

I'm slowly quilting a wallhanging. I've used dubious batting and all I can say is 'never again'. Everything is slipping around like a drunk...and all because I was too lazy to go to the store and buy some decent cotton batting..tsk tsk.

Twice a year the girls at The Quilted Crow organise a lovely day at the old hall out at Campania, and yesterday was the Christmas/Halloween event. It was really the Christmas one, but as the day was also Halloween and Deirdre is a Halloween nutter, we all played along with that. The guest tutors this time were Rosalie Quinlan and Leanne Beasley and what a really lovely and fun pair they are. Friends since they were 14 years old, they worked together as a fabulous team and had the whole room buzzing with fun and excitement.

It was also fabulous to hear a little bit about Leonie and Deirdre's recent trip to Houston. Though I kinda think that a lot of what happened at Houston stayed at Houston!

I attended with my friends Michelle and Angie and Sue. Barb would have been with us, but her ship to Antarctica departed on the previous day as she is about to do further research with her beloved penguins. So here are a few piccies for you Barb, and for my other dear friends reading my blog.

I didn't get any photo's of the whole room which was decorated with a Christmas theme, but in this first shot you get a great view of some of the quilts that lined the stage, and Leonie is about to introduce Leanne to us.

As you can see I was peering through the Goodie Bags. Next photo is one of Mystery girl Michelle and Angie who were fun company for the day.

And you can also see a couple of Rosie's quilts hanging behind the girls.

Next comes a photo of THE most gorgeous little bear that Michelle had just finished making. She is only 2" tall or even less, and the detail on this beautiful bear is absolutely amazing. I have sat her on a smallish reel of cotton so you can gauge how tiny she is.

When Rosalie and Leanne visited our table and were introduced to Tiny Bear (as I call her, as she is unnamed), they just couldn't believe their eyes.

Isn't that the most wonderful photo of Rosie and Leanne? I love it. Mind you, Sue in the background will probably shoot me for not cropping her out of the photo...sorry Sue! You can also see a couple of Leanne's quilts hanging on the far wall. Silly me forgot to take more photos of the quilts...was too busy just having a good time :)

My completed yoyo quilt

2009-10-09T19:36:00.000+11:00

I saw this little quilt on a magazine cover many moons ago and just thought it was a little bit cheeky and just begged to be made.I whipped up the quilt in no time at all, but it took me quite a bit longer to be bothered sewing on all those little yoyo's. But it happened finally this past week, and here is the finished quilt.

Another Block Finished

2009-09-25T19:41:00.000+10:00

I haven't done very much stitching since my last post as I was really ill with flu. But since my recovery I have completed Block 2 of my Sue Ross BOM through Material Obsession. I am totally loving the wild colours in the fabric the girls send me as they really appeal to my inner 'wild child'. I must say that I totally freaked when I first saw the block that was to be done as I'm such a hit and miss kind of a girl. However by treating all those bias edges very carefully and thinking twice before taking every step, I've managed to pull it off. I'm quite chuffed with myself!

Something to Show...Finally!

2009-09-15T20:55:00.000+10:00

It would appear that I've done very little for quite a long time, but if you know me well, you would know that I've been quietly plugging away at many different projects and eventually three of them have come to a close. I'm actually very happy with each of these quilts and the pillow.

But before I go on, I must tell you all what a truly fabulous short stay I had in Brisbane earlier this month. I caught up with 3 of my besties which was so wonderful! I stayed with the lovely Lynette who took care of me so so well. Lynette had me eating out for every single meal which was divine as a special treat (I still daydream about those fabulous waffles for brekky Lynette...when I'm not daydreaming about the amazing breakfast we had, ostensibly celebrating Fathers' Day.)

On day one we visited our friend Karen's beautiful quilt shop The Quilters Store, now at Salisbury. And there we met up with Julie D. who came all the way from Ipswich...thankyou so much for doing that Julie! Talk about a gabfest before we got around to doing some serious looking at the fabulous merchanise. My tiny brain just wouldn't stand still with all the excitement, but I did manage to bring home quite a few lovelies from the store. It was so lovely to meet again with Karen's daughter Leah who is looking so wonderfully well now following her kidney transplant. This was followed by a calorie laden lunch...yummm! And this in turn was followed by an evening spent with Lynette's friends at their regular Friday stitching evening.

Unfortunately Karen was on holidays when we visited her store, but we had already arranged to visit her at her holiday home on the North Coast. Karen was busy sewing up shop samples and we saw some of the most fabulous ideas for using honey buns. I'm definitely going to make some cushions very soon. It was soo good to catch up on so much news from Karen too. I really don't think any of us has changed one bit...still fabulous, only looking younger :)

Next day was Fathers' Day. And following the fabulous brekky, it was off to Carindale. We spent 6 hours there till we were finally thrown out at closing time. But several pairs of should were bought, not to mention Christmas and birthday pressies. Lynette and I had a ball!

Monday saw me flying back home to Hobart...how beautiful it was to fly over my new hometown. And as soon as I hit the ground I got busy putting the bindings onto the two quilts that I'd just had quilted by Maree Kennedy. She did a wonderful job on my little quilts.

But first, here is the cushion I made for friend Barb's birthday gift.

Next is a little lap quilt I have made for my friend Susie...I hope she likes it. It has very cute little embroideries on it.

And last, this is my version of a quilt designed by Kerrie Gillespie...I made it completely from my stash and I love it.

Sue Ross BOM

2009-08-20T03:23:00.000+10:00

When Material Obsession announced their new Block of the Month by Sue Ross I was very intrigued. It promised blocks with all sorts of techniques that would most likely be new to us. And as I am a huge fan of the wild colour combinations that come out of Material Obsession I decided that I would love to join in the fun.

When the first package arrived in the mail and I saw what the first block was, I quickly wondered if I had bitten off more than I could chew. But launched into doing the block and it was a most enjoyable process. I'm really looking forward to seeing what the later blocks will entail.

So here is the result of lots of angst, nail biting and self doubt...tadaaa!

Big Foot Lives Here.

2009-07-23T22:54:00.000+10:00

A little while back my daughter Andrea and Son In Law Joel came to stay at my place while their new house is being built. Could take a while as the local council is still sitting on their plans. Anyhooo, we are all getting along just fine, as are our assorted dogs and cats...4 dogs and 3 cats.

Joel has a very fetching pair of slippers that he likes to wear around and which scares hell out of my cat.....

Understandable really, isn't it.

Also, I bought fabrics from the Wonderland range which I adore..so lovely and bright. I've begun working on designing my own quilt with it. I guess what would be the sensible way to do it would be to draw up a pattern. But I'm just winging it and sending up a little prayer now and then that it will end up looking okay.

Shortage of space is the main problem at the moment, with nowhere to spread the quilt out. I guess I'll end up sticking a sheet up on the wall in the hallway so that I can see where I'm going with it.

Then I shall probably have to book a day at my sewing machine. Andrea is learning to sew on it at the moment and rather loves the novelty of it. Sooner or later she will have her own machine though. I'm awfully pleased that at least one of my daughters is learning to sew.

I've Been a Slack Tart

2009-06-05T00:32:00.000+10:00

I know I've been a slack tart, cos my adoring fans keep telling me so! So just to keep you happy for a little longer here are a couple of photos of the quilts I've been working on lately.

The first is one I call the Yoyo quilt for obvious reasons. I've really enjoyed working with these lovely fresh, bright colours. Not so enjoyable is sewing on all those yoyo's...in fact I'm thinking it now has all the yoyo's it's going to ever have.

And the other little quilt is one I started after The Gathering last year. It is quite unusual and I guess I was attracted to it cos I love anything with circles on it. I used fabrics out of my stash and they've all gone together quite well I think. So far it is only a top, but I have a new craft table arriving soon, so then I can pin it up and quilt it.

We've had quite a bit of rain the past few months, but today is the first day that it's been heavy enough to prevent me and the dogs from going walking on the beach. The dogs aren't taking it well, and come to think of it, I feel as though something is missing from my day too. Hopefully tomorrow we can go again. And tomorrow Rhyll will be arriving from Canberra for 5 days of holiday in Paradise.

My friend Susie has told me about a delightful little restaurant at Cygnet called Lotus Eaters...so I have made a booking for tomorrow for Rhyll and I to go and enjoy a delicious meal. I must say, when Rhyll comes to visit, we do go and find some lovely eateries, and always find time to drive to Peppermint Bay for one of their absolutely, fabulously divine muffins. I guess that will happen on Sunday or Monday.

And next week I go Mecca. Others may call it the Quilt Show at Darling Harbour, but for me it is Mecca. Well really, it is mini Mecca...Big Mecca would have to be Houston or Paducah. Obviously I haven't grovelled at the Alter of Fabric sufficiently for the Grand Poobah to grant me a visit to one of the Big Mecca's yet. But it WILL happen! Hopefully while I am still walking :)

Now, I need to go and do a teensy bit of unpicking to get the binding right on my Yoyo quilt, and then I can get on with playing with an even newer quilt that I have on the boil just at the moment. I'm so attracted to the lovely bright fabrics around these days, so I bought a Layer Cake of Wonderland by Momo, plus some yardage, and now I'm kind of 'designing on the run'...I hope it turns out okay. When I think of all the patterns I have, why on earth would I decide to design my own??? No...don't answer that!

Update on projects

2009-05-10T02:08:00.000+10:00

I haven't actually made a whole lot of progress on any of my current projects, but I did start a new one which I am loving making. It is a hexagon quilt, but I am using the Inklingo method which is incredibly accurate and fast. No more fiddling around with papers. Just put the fabric through the printer and there you have a heap of hexies all beautifully marked on the back of the fabric, ready to cut out and sew along the lines. A lot of it can be sewn by machine, but I prefer to do it by hand. But it only requires a running stitch instead of the usual whip stitching. You can tell I'm enthused can't you!

So I've just completed the inner part of a quilt for my bed, and here is a photo for you to see. The inner part is diamonds, and the outer part will be circles of all different shabby colours.

Way back before I started on the hexies I completed block 5 of Breast of Friends. I'm terribly behind on this project which I also love, but remind myself that it doesn't matter as I have the patterns and the fabric, so can get it done in my own time. So here is Block 5 which took me absolutely ages to complete!

Cute isn't it!

I thought that I might continue on with Breast of Friends for a while now, but no, I, Myself and Me have decided to do some work on another of my projects that I started a while back. I only have the borders to do, so maybe I'll just get this little quilt completed now.

I ordered some fabric from Hancocks of Paducah today...jeez I love that store. If I do one thing before I shift off my mortal coil, it will be to visit that store. Anyway, the fabric is Momo which I fell in love with when I first saw it, and have been trying to resist ever since. Well today I weakened, and spent a bit more of Mr Rudd's money. I know, I was meant to shop in Australia with it, and I have done that for the most part, but this time the USA gets a bit, and heavens knows, it needs it too!

My other news for the past little while is that daughter Rhyll came to stay for 3 weeks of holidays which was just lovely. We took some short trips, and did daily walks on the dog beach and that three weeks just disappeared so fast!

And in a few more short weeks, I will have my younger daughter Andrea come to stay. Along with her husband Joel, her 2 dogs and 2 cats. I have a tiny house, but I'm sure we will all fit in nicely. I have been busy moving furniture around and re arranging the bedrooms so that everybody will have their own little space. And there is also the studio out the back that is going to come in handy . Might need a bit of heating out there though! We don't know how long the kids will be here, it's all up to the Melbourne City council who so far, have taken almost a year to approve their house plans. Still waiting..ho hum! Once the plans are approved, it will be another 3 months while the house is built. Fortunately Joel can work remotely.

Gone to the dogs

2009-05-10T01:40:00.000+10:00

I know! It's been eons since I last posted. Life has been busy, but not 'that' busy! I put it down to the fact that Miss Molly totally objects to me sitting for too long at the computer. Now that I have realised why I am being so tardy with replying to emails and entering rivetting news on my blog, I shall endeavour to ignore her, and get on with my computer life.

Of course I shall cover the dog news first!

While my friend Susie has been away, I have been having her puppy Labradoodle named Olly (Ollie?) over the play a few times a week. The three dogs go absolutely nuts for several hours and then they all collapse in a heap. They are so much fun to watch, but I'm exhausted when play time is over. So first there is a shot of the dogs hard at play.

It took me a really long time to get a photo of Olly's face as he moves so fast. But finally I got one slightly fuzzy shot of his very cute face.

When all the play is finished Molly puts a lot of effort into relaxing.

And to cap off a perfect day, I finally was able to take an absolutely gorgeous photo of Ebony where you can actually see her cute little face. Because she is black, her photo's usually make her look like a lump of coal.

Block 3 Breast Of Friends

2009-03-26T22:32:00.000+11:00

At last I've finished Block 3 of this gorgeous quilt. This block seemed to take me ages, until I remembered I did take a week out to sew dog coats for the dogs living in the Victorian bushfire areas. The poor things have had to sleep outdoors since the fires and it's getting a tad chilly up in the mountains. Barb and I made 8 gorgeous coats between us, so by now there will be 8 lucky dogs feeling a whole lot warmer at nights.

Today my car is being serviced, so as I am stuck at home I might as well get going on Block 4 which is totally different, but enjoyable.

The dogs are totally disgusted because, of course, they haven't had their usual romp on the beach...how do you explain to a dog that occasionally the car needs to be serviced. When I delivered the car I announced to the mechanics that the Yaris Sandpit was all theirs...one look on the back seat and they understood!

It's been a big week this week. Once a year a person diagnosed with diabetes, no matter how mild, is sent for a battery of tests which measure progress of the disease and its effects on feet, eyes etc. A total pain in the ass, but there is no getting out of it.
And on top of that, I had a mammogram booked for this week as well. But so far the news is all good, and if anything my results seem to be improving with time. So that puts a nice smile on my face.

A Labradoodle Kind of Day

2009-03-12T22:11:00.000+11:00

Yesterday I took the girls off to the beach as is usual. Beautiful day, the kind that just makes you feel glad to be alive. Unfortunately there were no dogs on the beach. Up and down we went with not a sign of another dog or it's master. Huge disappointment written all over Molly's face. So I figured we could do another lap of the beach and maybe somebody would come along. We walked right up to the far end of the beach, and when I looked around I could see that there was indeed another dog on the beach. And then another.

As the first dog and owner approched I saw that it was Toffee and her owner who we had met the previous day. Toffee is a medium sized labradoodle and much darker brown than Molly is. But a gorgeous dog and there was great excitement as the two played. Then along comes another labradoodle and his owner. This one was Charlie and he was a cream colour and slightly smaller than Molly. It turns out that Molly and Charlie have the same mother. Well those three dogs (plus Ebony in the mix as well) had themselves the BEST time! All the way down the beach they cavorted and leaped as only a labradoodle can do.

By the time we reached the end of the beach Molly was actually showing signs of weariness so I slipped on her leash and we headed back to the car. Ebony has special priviliges (which she gave to herself) and doesn't get put on the lead until we reach the carpark.

As we were crossing the little walking bridge to get across the little river to the car, I came across yet another labradoodle. This time a cream puppy. I didn't look at his owner until she spoke and said hello to Molly, and asked if I remembered her. Of course I did. A couple of months earlier she met me in the carpark...she had been waiting for me. She told me that she had just had to have her beloved dog put down and she just wasn't coping without a dog for company. She said she had really fallen in love with Molly and wondered where I had gotten her. So I told her, and we had a long talk and then I wished her well, and we parted.

She said she went home and looked up the Labradoodle website and saw that there was this little cream male for sale, the last of the litter. So off she went up to the north of Tasmania to go and look at him. And fell in love. He is absolutely gorgeous and I have to say I wanted to snavell him away from her myself. She has named him Olly...I guess she named him after Molly... as Molly had taken up such a huge chunk of her heart. And she is just loving life with Olly so much, she was talking to me about whether she would be doing the right thing in getting another puppy which would arrive when Olly is 6 months old. I told her to go for it...labradoodles adore canine company. So as we parted, she was off home to look up the website again.

And this lady, whose name I still don't know, is now such a very happy woman. And I just can't wait to watch Olly grow up, and then to see his new little buddy.

So yesterday felt like such a very special day...I loved it. And I really must ask Olly's owner what her name is the next time I see her.

Breast of Friends Block 2

2009-03-08T21:34:00.000+11:00

This block seemed to take me ages to complete, but then I did trip off to Melbourne to visit my daughter Andrea and her husband Joel and grandpuppies and grand kitties. Didn't take my sewing with me as I needed a break from it.

We visited the Melbourne Zoo where Joel took some fabulous photos with his new superdooper camera. We went into the city one day looking for beads to fuel Andrea's new passion, all things beading. Unfortunately we only found one shop which was so overpriced that we just walked out. I found Cleggs and bought 2 metres of a gorgeous burnout fabric to make a skirt. On another day I bit the bullet and drove in the Melbourne traffic to Eastlands (what a hero hey!). But it was fine. Deliberately didn't go to AQC as I didn't want to be tempted to spend money, but have seen many photos, and perhaps I really should have gone along. The building is amazing, and so were the quilts. There is always next year.

I was fascinated when being driven around by Joel, with his little digital map thing with the lady telling him where and when to turn. When I have a few dollars to spare I want to get me one of those...I reckon I would be able to drive even in New York with one of those things :) Fabulous idea!

To go away, I had to leave the dogs with a puppy minder. They aren't a large kennel which I would have hated using, but more an attachment to the local dog groomers establishment. To say the dogs were happy was an understatement. So now I shall be happy to leave them there any time I need to go away. Or even if I want to go out for the whole day. My princesses aren't used to being home alone, so I'll be happy to pay a few dollars to have them babysat.

So finally, here is Block 2

It looks all wrinkly in the photo for some reason, but in reality it looks fine.

Breast Of Friends

2009-02-18T22:24:00.000+11:00

Yesterday I finally completed the first block of Breast of Friends which is the Block of the Month in Homespun magazine. I had already purchased the fabrics that they used, and thought it was the perfect opportunity to use them, as I'd not earmarked them for anything else. I love how the block has turned out.

Now where was I????

2009-02-12T20:57:00.000+11:00

It's been so long since I posted, that I've almost forgotten how to do it. Life just seems to be so fullon these days that I just haven't been spending too much time at the computer.

I would think that what is uppermost in my mind at the moment, is the same as everybody in Australia...the Victorian bushfires. What an absolute tragedy which is still continuing. One wonders just how long it will take for all those fires to be extinguished. To think that there are still arsonists at work lighting fresh fires just makes my blood boil.

On the homefront, I've been very busy stitching, but the largest piece I've done is a 'secrit project' so I won't be sharing that with you just yet. I've also been stitching away on the first block of Breast of Friends...boy is there a heap of stitching in that one! And the next mag is already in the shops, so I'll have to get a move on as I want to try to keep pace.

The dogs are going great guns, but Ebony wasn't very well yesterday. I think there is a bit of inflammatory stuff happens in her bowel from time to time (you really needed to know that didn't you). Anyway a shot of antiinflammatories from the vet settles it down. So we missed our walk at the beach yesterday, so they were extra joyful about their walk this morning. We went at a later time than usual today, as the Beach Nazi's chewed me out about Molly last time I was there. I had heard other people speak about these 3 women as the Beach Nazi's, but I'd never had a problem with them until a couple of days ago. However, on that day, they decided that Molly was just too playful for their liking and they gave me hell about it. The good thing about going at a later time, was that we found that heaps of the larger dogs who adore to run and play like loonies, go at the same time (and most had been given a tongue lashing by the nasty women at some time).

Here is Chanell patroling the boundary fence. This cat has the best life a cat could have...and she knows it.

I am very proud of my younger daughter Andrea's continuing foray into jewellery making. Her blog is urbanfireflycreations.wordpress.com
On Tuesday she went to her first Lampwork class and although it was very intensive, she loved it and hopes to set up a little workshop in her new home when it is built, so that she continue on to master the art. Andrea is also keen to pursue silversmithing.
and I am just so delighted to see her blossom like this. She is a very creative little soul and she feels she has finally found her forte.
And I agree.

The postie has just delivered my new issue of Homespun, so I'll be off now to devour the contents.

It's Wild and Windy

2009-01-22T22:11:00.000+11:00

There is so much wind today that it's a great day to be indoors. Though I did jump out of bed early to take the dogs for the play at the beach. Not for any altruistic reasons of course, such as I must get my daily exercise. Nope. I do it because Molly heaps a guilt trip of monumental proportions onto me if she doesn't get her manic half hour at the beach. She has gotten to be very well known down there now, and this morning as she hit the beach (I was still struggling along the bushy track that leads to the beach) I heard a chorus of "Oh here's Molly!" from the people already down there.

My younger daughter Andrea has always had a very artistic streak and has very recently begun designing and making jewellery. When she sent me some photos of what she has been doing, I was very pleasantly surprised.

Aren't they scrummy! I'm really looking forward to seeing how her talent develops. She tells me she is also designing a CD cover for somebody, as well as doing some art work for another customer.

I don't have to lot to talk about regarding my artistic endeavours. I am halfway through appliqueing many many very tiny leaves and berries onto a block that is part of a group quilt.

And I joined a new quilt group this week. Very nice ladies. I shall enjoy meeting with them each week. I'm also about to join yet another small group. So that takes care of my social life as I also still go to my lovely group each second Tuesday evening.

A whole slew of new projects have just been begun, or are about to be begun, and the poor old Dear Jane is taking a backseat just at the moment. But I have discovered that it is really difficult to watch the tennis and stitch at the same time. Very easy to watch footy, cricket or movies cos I can just watch with my ears...but with tennis I need to watch with my eyes. Really slows down the stitching progress.

DD Rhyll is coming to visit again from Canberra for the Australia Day long weekend which is very exciting. I haven't told the dogs yet because they will get too excited. I pick her up on Friday from the airport.

Another fabulous project

2009-01-11T16:35:00.000+11:00

The great new projects just keep right on coming for this year. I bought the new Homespun magazine yesterday and was absolutely delighted with several of the projects in it. But my absolute 'must do' is Breast of Friends which will be presented over 6 months. It has designs from all our Aussie designers, and best of all, it features the fabric line In The Pink II by The Buggy Barn. Now I just happened to purchase all of these fabrics as soon as they came onto the market and have been waiting for just the right project to use them. And now I rather do think I have found it.

These photos show the fabric range and the first of the designs.

Oh Happy Days!

2009-01-07T23:07:00.000+11:00

Yup, I'm bopping around the sewing room singing Oh Happy Days cos I'm excited about a new project for the first time in a very long time. For a little while there, I thought I was losing it (my patchworking obsession I mean). Nothing inspired me. There has been a rash of new free BOM projects, each of which I would excitedly read about and then just go cold on the whole project. I'm not interested in cutting up a million little pieces of fabric and sewing them all together...been there, done that. A couple of applique projects caught my interest for a little while, but no, they weren't what I was looking for either. And then yesterday, wonder of wonders, I totally fell in love. With a project of course, not a bloke!!! My god, I'm not THAT crazy!

On my Bloglines, I saw that there was a new blog posting from Anne Sutton of Bunny Hill Designs I adore Anne's designs and love reading her blog, so I nearly jumped right out of my skin with excitement when she said that she was running a free BOM this year and that the first block had been posted. Oh be still my beating heart! So I took a little peek at the first design and knew that this just had to be a project for me this year. It is adorable (as you would expect from from Anne).

So this morning I have been happily rummaging through the old stash finding just the right fabrics to begin working on block 1 which I will do in needleturn. I don't have a piece of white felt, so I've put the call out to my friends for a teensy piece 3" square if they have one.

So while I've been busy sulking about not feeling inspired about sewing, you'll notice that I also haven't been blogging. So I'll take this moment to wish you a Very Happy New Year. Don't pay any attention to all the doom and gloom being predicted for this year. Your year will be what you make of it. Okay, so that got my little lecture out of the way too.

I had a wonderful Christmas/New Year week as my older daughter Rhyll came to stay for the week. We didn't feel like doing any of the touristy things down here, so we decided one day to take the dogs to the dog beach at Kingston. Well! Was that ever fun!! For us and the dogs. From then on we kept going each day till Rhyll returned home to Canberra. Molly didn't seem to think that Rhyll's departure was a reason to stop going to the beach and she can be mightily pursuasive! So heart in mouth, off I trotted to the beach with Molly and Ebony...and it was fabulous! I love it! Every morning we bolt our brekky down and off to the beach we go for fun, fresh air, doggy smells, sand between our toes, lots of running (the dogs not me). I meet lots of lovely people down there to chat to while our dogs go nuts. So I can see us going down there daily for a very long time to come. I tried to take piccies, but it's all a bit too frantic to do that successfully. I'll have another go one day.

We've had gale force winds a lot down here, hence summer still hasn't really arrived. Yesterday I looked out the window to see my poor roses being battered by the wind, so I went out and brought some of them inside. Beautiful aren't they.

I was rummaging around out in the cabin/studio/shed (it is called various names according to whatever comes to mind) and found this little wallhanging I made years ago. I made it as a place where I could attach all the various pins, badges etc that I collected from friends, from shows, etc. I thought it was a great idea rather than losing them or just throwing them out for want of an idea of what to do with them all. So now I shall continue to find little items to decorate with. It is now on the wall in my sewing room.

And last, but not least, as it is the only sewing I've done lately, here are seven little blocks I've made of the third row of my Dear Jane quilt.

Kitty Haiku

2008-12-30T02:15:00.000+11:00

This was sent to me by my friend Michelle but I have no idea who the author is.

Cat Haiku

You never feed me.
Perhaps I’ll sleep on your face.
That will show
you.

You must scratch me there!
Yes, above my tail!
Behold, elevator
butt.

I need a new toy.
Tail of black dog keeps good time.
Pounce! good dog!
good dog!

The rule for today.
Touch my tail, I shred your hand.
New rule
tomorrow.

In deep sleep hear sound
Cat vomit hairball somewhere.
Will find in
morning.

Grace personified
I leap into the window
I meant to do that!

Blur of motion, then-
Silence, me, a paper bag
What is so funny?

The mighty hunter
Returns with gifts of plump birds
Your foot just
squashed one.

You’re always typing
Well, let’s see you ignore my
Sitting on your
hands.

My small cardboard box
You cannot see me if I
Can just hide my
head.

Terrible battle
I fought for hours. Come and see!
What’s a “term
paper”?

Kitty likes plastic
Confuses for litter box
Don’t leave tarp
around!

Small brave carnivores
Kill pine cones and mosquitoes
Fear vacuum
cleaner.

Want to trim my claws
Don’t even think about it!
My yelps will wake
the dead!!

I want to be close
To you. Can I fit my head
inside your armpit?

Wanna go outside.
Oh, no! Help! I got outside!
Let me back
inside!

Oh no! Big One
has been trapped by newspaper.
Cat to the rescue!

Humans are so strange.
Mine lies still in the bed, then screams!
My
claws aren’t that sharp….!

Cats meow out of angst
“Thumbs! If only we had thumbs!
We could break
so much!”

Litter box not there
You must have moved it again
I’ll crap in the
sink.

The Big Ones snore now
Every room is dark and cold
Time for “Cup
Hockey!”

We’re almost equals
I purr to show I love you
Want to smell my
butt?

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

2008-12-24T05:16:00.000+11:00

You can tell that Christmas is close when the shopping centres are invaded by seething masses of humanity and the roads become clogged with at least four times as many cars as normal. What I want to know is, where do they all come from??? Does every family have a few clones of themselves tucked away that they let loose at Christmas and Easter perhaps? But the good news is that down here in Tasmania there are less clones than there are in the other capital cities. And the other good news is that my shopping is done. All that is left now is a mystery trip to see the doctor tomorrow (it's a mystery cos I don't know why she wants to see me). But seeing as I'm feeling good, it can't be too serious...maybe she just wants to wish me a Merry Christmas! And then tomorrow evening will be all the excitement of seeing if Qantas will actually deliver Rhyll to Hobart...or will all the computers go down and strand her in Timbuctoo. Already they have cancelled her flights and rescheduled her on a later flight, so we shall just sit tight and see what happens. It's good to have a little excitement in one's life!

I took a few piccies today to show you that the doggies and I are both getting into the festive spirit. I bought the dogs a new Christmas toy which they have really taken to, especially Molly. Though later in the day Ebony figured out a way of stealing it from her and hiding it.

Last Saturday my friends and I met up for breakfast at an eatery at Salamanca Place where we all exchanged gifts and ate wonderful food and just had ourselves a glorious time. Barb made me this gorgeous table runner. During the year she has been hand quilting a beautiful quilt made from these fabrics and I always commented on how much I loved the colour combination. So the dear girl got busy and made this runner for me so I can see the lovely fabric combination every day. In light of the fact that Miss Ebony still chews on everything she can reach, I've put the runner on top of the doggy enclosure rather than on the coffee table where I just know it would be destroyed.

Michelle gave me a beautiful bead for my Pandora bracelet...it is a starfish with a teensy fish on it...just gorgeous.

Everybody knows I love bunnies...and Angie gave me a fabulous bunny doll that she found at the Penguin Markets. She now sits atop my thread drawer in the guest bedroom/computer/sewing room...again in a position where puppy teeth can't reach her.

And Sally gave me a lovely stitchery and choccies...she knows the way to this girls heart.

So the cards and gifts have been arriving and I thought I would show you my little Christmas corner in the house. I never go overboard with decorations because I detest putting them up and even worse, pulling them down. But this much I can manage.

How's this for a funky front door Christmas wreath

Hmmm...all the little shiny metallic discs don't show up too well. Not to worry, you'll just have to take my word for it, that it jumps right out at you and refuses to be ignored.

And last, but not least, you just know it really is Christmas when at least one electrical appliance breaks down. And this afternoon as I was all set to vacuum up Ebonies latest mess created by much crunching up of sticks etc that she dragged inside.....the vacuum died. But looking on the bright side, that was much better than the Christmas that the refrigerator died on Christmas eve, in hot muggy Brisbane and I was a few days off giving birth to Rhyll. We just debunked and landed on Mum's doorstep where we stayed until we had refrigeration again.

To all who are reading my blog I wish you a very Merry Christmas and a really happy and healthy year in 2009.

It's All Good!

2008-12-09T21:59:00.000+11:00

Today I had to go to the doctor for my three monthly diabetes checkup. Now I'm only very mildly diabetic, and she is aiming that I keep it that way, or even improve things so that my insulin is acting normally. How is this possible? By losing weight...lots of it. That's the bad news. But the good news is that I am finally complying, after being in denial about it for a year. The kilos are coming down nicely, and when she measured my waistline, I discovered I'd lost 9cm from my waist. Dr Katie was ecstatic about that and made me feel like the most brilliant person in the world. What a doc hey! I also have to start walking up hills to get a bit more of an aerobic workout which doesn't seem like much fun to me, but I'll see what I can do. The dogs will love it, that's for sure.

The other reason for this post today is that Elly has requested that I post in larger script so that she can read it. I totally resonate with that Elly, and I'm hopeful that I can get it right this time.

Yes!!!! Is there nothing this girl can't do today!!! lol

What Was I Thinking!

2008-12-08T02:11:00.000+11:00

Recently I decided that I would like to hand quilt my Shabby Jane and do it Quilt As You Go. This is somewhat a departure from the norm from me, as I always say 'Life is too short for handquilting'. However, carried away by a heady rush, and encouragement received from the lovely ladies from the American Dear Jane group that I joined, I hand basted the first two rows of my blocks and settled down to start the quilting. Well!!!!!! What with only ever having done a very small amount of handquilting in my life, plus all those seams in most of each block, my stitches looked more like tacking stitches than quilting stitches. And the harder I tried, and no matter which way I held my tongue, my stitching was deplorable. I knew I could never love my Shabby Jane if she was quilted like this. So after a little thought, and realising I was only dreaming if I thought I would hand quilt her, I removed all the stitching, folded her up and carefully put her back in her box. It was a nice dream while it lasted, but I know I'll be much happier to pay a professional quilter to do the job for me. There are several in Australia who have quilted Dear Jane quilts, so I know she'll be in safe hands.

So what did I achieve last week? Bugger all really! But I did get the curtains finished for the front bedroom which is where I keep my stash, cut, make decisions and spend endless time on the computer. I wanted a fabric that would not dominate the room, and would allow in plenty of light when partially open. So I chose this quilt backing and used a thermal backing, and I'm very happy with the result.

While I was in Spotlight buying the termal backing I went snooping around to see if they had anything I liked for my bedroom. And I found a really gorgeous fabric, a nice slubby linen look fabric and very wide with a pale aqual background and big shabby roses on it. Perfect! And only $5 per metre...even more perfect!! So that will be my next job but it can wait until after Christmas now.

I'm pleased to report that there have been no further cases of destruction of quilts or furniture lately. I'm not sure if Miss Ebony has learned that it doesn't please me, or if I'm getting very adept at just not giving her the chance. The destruction only happened when I was away from the house, so now I either put the dogs outside with something good to chew on, or put them into their crate...again with something good to chew on.

It's been a while.....

2008-11-23T18:08:00.000+11:00

But now that winter seems to have returned to us, I have more time inside to play on the computer. Summer only lasted a few days and now we are back to snow on the mountain again. I wonder will we have a white Christmas...what a novelty that would be!

My son Mark taught me how to make the printer larger and how to select the colours I want on this blog. I was managing to do it all by myself, until they gave us the 'new improved' version of Typepad. So now one has to type it all out, and then highlight, and then select font size and colour.......only a male could have designed that!

This past week I took Ebony to be groomed..it was her first time. I stayed to help the groomer as we suspected Ebony wasn't going to take this lying down....boy were we right about that! Anyway, after 90 minutes the groomer had most of her cut short, but no way was Miss E going to allow her face to be groomed. So she now appears to have a tiny body and a rather large head. The main purpose of the grooming session was to keep her cool rather than for vanity purposes, and that was certainly achieved. Last time it stopped raining long enough, we went for a walk and she trotted along happily for the entire distance. I didn't need to pick her up once cos she was too hot....yayy!

I had my birthday recently, and among the gifts given to me (by my older daughter who shall remain nameless) were these little magnetic pigs....very cute. But do you think she was trying to tell me something????

Well I think it must have seeped into my subconscious, cos I am now on my good diet and shrinking in size by the second (or so I like to think). I'm allowing myself to enjoy Christmas Day, but other than that, I'll be a good girl until my measurements are down to a healthy level.

Will you look at what has happened to one of my latest quilts! I just couldn't believe my eyes, though I have noticed a few holes happening in other quilts on my bed...but nothing like this one! It does appear that there is a shark living at my house doesn't it! But I don't, the author of this handy work is Miss Ebony herself! She's a shocker...chews at anything, especially if I go out, or am talking on a phone. I sure hope she grows out of this one fast. Maybe I should have got the groomer to remove her little fangs as well.

A rose by any other name...

2008-11-09T02:47:00.000+11:00

Is still a rose. And isn't this a beauty! It is one of the new ones I planted during winter and I'm not sure of its name. And seeing as there is a galeforce wind blowing, I'm not about to go outside to check the label. I picked it so that it wouldn't be blown apart by the wind

I'm famous!

2008-11-08T06:19:00.000+11:00

Or so I've been told...lol. This morning while I was walking Molly and Ebony down along the beachfront at Blackmans Bay, a lady walked towards me with her gorgeous golden retriever. As we drew alongside each other, she said to me 'Are you the lady who went into the shop to buy cat food and came out with a puppy?"

I laughed and said, yes I was the very person.

She went on to tell me I was famous around these parts and how all the regular doggy walkers had all spoken about me.
And she thought it was such a great thing to be well known for.

I'm just amazed. Imagine if I'd really given them something juicy to talk about!

********************

It's been quite a while since I've posted to my blog, as my son upgraded my computer and it has taken a while to get around to working out how to get everything working. Not that he is a slacker, he has just either been interstate, or busy. And as we all know, when it comes to computers, I'm just plain useless....but then I figure I gave birth to a geek for a good reason.

Andrea sent me a couple of photos of her female Chinese Crested, Sooty. There was a big event being held at her local pet store and Andrea dressed Sooty up in the coat I made for Sooty to wear to Andrea's wedding to Joel a few years ago. Sooty certainly thinks she is a princess when wearing her finery (actually she thinks she is a princess all the time).

And having this guy crooning in her ear didn't exactly deflate her ego any either! What a gal!

********************
Gosh I have so many things to write about. This next photo was taken at Richmond at the Christmas Fair that I went to with Michelle (L) and Angie (R). We had such a lovely day, and although I said I wasn't going to spend any money, I found out that I had been kidding myself. But most purchases were inexpensive bargains, plus a couple of Christmas gifts which had to be bought anyway.

Now I could proclaim that Angie and Michelle were making right royal pigs of themselves here, but for the fact that I was taking the photo with one hand while I held a dripping icecream in the other. There is a fabulous ice cream shop in Richmond...not to be missed.

Then there are a few more photos of the beautiful old buildings in Richmond which are kept in pristine condition.

My goodness!

2008-10-08T02:46:00.000+11:00

You've not experienced wind until you visit Tasmania in spring. I was at the shopping centre this morning and was close to being lifted off my feet. That is some mean feat considering it would normally take a crane or a large aircraft to do that. As I sit here I hope that my roof stays on the house.

I've just taken photographs of a couple of the pieces I'm presently working on. The first is a few of the stitchery elements of My Favourite Things by Kerry Gillespie. This is such a cute quilt with the background fabrics sitting on point. You'll see what I mean as I get further into it and show you more.

Actually, I've just thought of the word my brain was searching for when I wrote 'on point'. I meant 'diagonally'. Oldtimers is catching up fast.

And next is a couple of the little blocks, four of which comprise the first whole block. This quilt is called Bunnies Playground by Elizabeth Camping and I've loved it ever since I saw it a year or two ago. Gotta love anything with Bunnies in it.

I'm going stitching with the girls tonight and hope to complete another block in this little group while I'm there. We will be celebrating my daughter in law's birthday tonight, so it should be another excellent evening. I find my fortnightly sewing group is such great food for the soul...may it never end.

My son took Sally and I out to dinner last night (aren't I the spoilt Ma in law). We went to a favourite beachside restaurant, and due to daylight saving, got to look out over the beach and waters of the mouth of the Derwent while chowing down on some truly delicious food.

Now it's time for me to prepare my little embroidery block for stitching tonight.

It's Been a While

2008-10-07T02:01:00.000+11:00

It's not as though life hasn't been happening and that I haven't done at least a tiny bit of sewing, but when one of my babies isn't well I just climb into my shell and quite obviously don't feel like communicating. So this is the reason for my absence

Ebony paid a visit to the vet to be speyed but all didn't go to plan. Apparently her body was allergic to the internal sutures and the poor little thing was in a great deal of pain, and then a lot of internal scarring took place. But the good thing is that she is now well and happy, and after liberal applications of pawpaw ointment, I can feel that a lot of the scar tissue has at least softened. So she is back to being a holy terror, and I can get back to enjoying watching my girls plalying. I only left that head collar on her for a couple of days as she had so much pain to deal with that I figures she didn't need the annoyance of that as well.

Tomorrow I'll show you the little bit of stitching I've been doing. I seem to have reverted to doing my favourite little quilts that have a bit of piecing, applique and stitchery in them. Just perfect for the person with the mind of a grasshopper.

Photo catchup time

2008-09-25T03:12:00.000+10:00

This photo is for all the girls who think Mark is a figment of Sally's imagination because he's never around when they come to stitch. It was Mark's 40th birthday and Sally took this photo just to show that he is real. I've no idea who the old bag sitting next to him is though, but she appears desperately to need to spend a few weeks at a rejuvenation clinic (or wear a bag over her head).

The next few photos were taken at The Christmas Gathering last weekend.

Here we see Anni Downs talking with two visitors who came from Sydney to join in the fun on the day. Apparently they are regulars at Anni's shop in Bathurst, and Anni was delighted to see they had travelled down to Tasmania to see her again. Perhaps they are patchwork groupies?

This is Natalie Bird from Thread and Ginger at Victoria Point in Queensland. Natalie is such a sweetie, and she was telling me she is about to leave for Norway (or one of those cold places) as she has been invited to teach up there. I enquired as to how they knew about her, and she said that they are avid readers of Homespun and Quilters Companion up there. So I guess they know lots about the Australian designers.

These designs will be on sale in about a month's time and I just can't wait! I first saw them on Anni's blog a few weeks ago and fell in love with them. Though I must say, I don't think there is a design that Anni has done that I don't just love.
Natalie's designs are gorgeous too, but the ones I saw were aimed towards little girls and I don't have any of them in my life just at the moment.

This is Anni's latest Block of the Month. I'm just itching to do it as I love it, but I have to keep reminding myself that I'm already busy with BOM's. Maybe I can do it at a later date, or maybe it will fade from my memory (only take a few hours to fade things these days). The girls sitting in front of the BOM are from the left, Di, Michelle and Angela. Three of the loveliest girls that I get to play with on a regular basis. (In the nicest possible way of course).
So there you have a quick peek at my weekend. This week has been very busy also, but I'll leave that for a bit later.

Busy Weekend

2008-09-22T08:47:00.000+10:00

It's not every day that your firstborn turns the big four 0. But my son Mark just did that on Friday and we went out to dinner to celebrate. Actually, I'm still mystified as to how I can actually have a child who is 40, cos I'm just not nearly old enough for that. I've put it down to that big machine thingy they've been running in Europe...the Collider I think they call it. With all that smashing of atoms they've managed to create a time warp...and that's how such a young thing as moi can have such an old son. That's my theory and I'm sticking to it!

I was very sneaky and took along my camera to take a photo. I thought I could post it on my blog and prove to all those girls who think Mark is a figment of my and Sally's imaginations, that he really does exist. Alas...it is not meant to be. Not yet. Cos stupid typepad won't upload my photo!!!! Grrrr.

BTW...Sally is Mark's wife and my daughter in law. And let me tell you, this girl is getting pretty darned fabulous in the patchworking department. For her first quilt, she makes that absolutely amazing hexagon quilt. Thousands of tiny little pieces all completely handsewn in beautiful blues and brown. Stunning. Then Sally decides she will make another hexagon quilt in even smaller hexagons. But half way through this masterpiece she has been struck down with an inflamed thumb joint and can't grasp those little hexagons at the moment. So has Sally's patchworking experience come to a grinding halt???? No way! This girl has gone crazy with the machine piecing. She turns out quilts faster than the speed of light and her designs are awe inspiring. I think she needs to write a book. I'd love to show you photos but I can't get photos onto my blog tonight for some reason.

Yesterday we spent the day at the Christmas Gathering put on by The Quilted Crow at a lovely old hall at Campania. Our guest tutors for the day were Natalie Bird and Annie Downs...what and lovely and talented pair they were. We all had a wonderful day and came home tired but inspired. Annie has a new book about to be released in about a month and I just can't wait to get my little hands on that gem. I took some more great photos at the Gathering and will upload them when I can.

It is blowing an absolute gale here south of Hobart at the moment and I hope my roof manages to stay on overnight. I was delighted to look out the window this morning to see that there had been a fresh layer of snow deposited on Mt Wellington overnight...so pretty. Despite the wind and the snow, the weather is definitely warming up these past couple of weeks. And that's just as well, as I'm taking Molly the Labradoodle to be shorn tomorrow. Or should I say...to be groomed. But I always ask to have as much hair taken off her as possible as she gets so hot and her hair grows at the rate of knots. And then the next thing I need to do doggywise, will be to take Miss Ebony to the vets to have her speyed. Oh dear, I shall be a nervous wreck that day. But it needs to be done, and she is such a cool customer she probably won't turn a hair.

One of Those Days

2008-09-13T21:43:00.000+10:00

I'm sure everybody has them...Those Days...but do they have them over such trivial matters? Come to think about it...they probably do.

When I woke up this morning I decided it was time to make a new quilt. My mind immediately went to a gorgeous set of patterns I bought at The Quilted Crow's Autumn Gathering, called Life's Pleasures & Treasures by Kerry Gillespie It has all my favourite things, pretty colours, bunnies, pears, flowers, applique, embroidery...in other words it's my idea of heaven. And I already have all my fabrics gathered together to make the quilt.

But then as I went to put fresh sheets on my bed I decided to change to lighter weight quilts and decided I needed a new utility quilt. And I have just the very fabric!! Actually I have the very fabric to make 20 new utility quilts...but let's not go there. And I do know which pattern I want to use..that's a huge bonus as I've been known to sascillate for weeks over pattern choice.

Now I could start both of these projects simultaneously, but I'm already working on at least four other large projects at the moment and I don't want to feel weighed down by WIP's. So, I have to make a decision which is no easy thing for a dyed in the wool Libran. As soon as my mind settles on one project, it starts reeling back to the other. What to do!!!!

Think I'll just go and have a cuppa and mull it over a little longer. Though Life's Pleasures & Treasures is looking pretty appealing to me at this moment!

It's a really good day to be staying indoors. The weather is very warm for Hobart at this time of year, but there is a roaring gale blowing....I swear half my garden has flown over to South America by now.

The cat is totally unimpressed that I haven't yet made the wind stop, and Molly and Ebony are impatiently waiting for their walk (which isn't going to happen).

Swimming For The Animals

2008-09-11T22:09:00.000+10:00

No, it's not me that is swimming for the animals, I think I would drown in the bath if I didn't wear a life preserver. It is my daughter Rhyll who is going to swim across Lake Burley Griffin in Canberra to raise funds for the animals.

On October 10, my daughter Rhyll will be taking on Lake Burley Griffin's legendary flesh eating bacteria, mutant carp and algae cyanotoxins to raise money for World Animal Week.

Rhyll will be swimming (without a wetsuit!) across the lake in 10 degree waters to raise sponsorship money for the World Society for Protection of Animals.

She'll be swimming from the West Basin jetty across to the National Museum, about a distance of one kilometer.

You can sponsor Rhyll per bacteria consumed or for every limb lost to an eel, or you can donate to www.wspa.org.au/donation_form.asp

If you donate to WSPA could you please let me know so that Rhyll can keep a tally of funds raised by her heroic effort, or you can donate directly to me and I will forward on to her.

I think Rhyll is being very brave and I am being a brave little soldier myself in trying to banish all the natural motherly protective thoughts that pass through my mind from time to time.

Works in Progress

2008-09-05T22:12:00.000+10:00

It looks as though I have to make do with black print today, due to the new 'improvements' on typepad. They haven't given me any colours to play with!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have four large works in progress at the moment, as well as far too many smaller projects. But today I am going to show you the four blocks I have completed of Autumn Pathways. Ohhh look! Somebody must have been listening when I grizzled about having no colours to play with...spooky!

Anyway, these are the blocks I have completed, and I'm now working on one of the border blocks which is just delish!

And another rather large project that I'm working on is Shabby Jane. This is about the fourth time I've started a Dear Jane and have never managed to continue for very long. However, this time I'm loving working in the shabby chic colours...using whichever colours that appeal to me on the day. I've joined together the first two rows and am now well into the third row. So this time I think I'm going to complete the project. Though I have no intention of doing the triangle blocks on the sides. I think an applique border will suit my Shabby Jane much better. I had to take two photos to fit the rows in as they are so long.

Autumn Pathways

2008-09-01T21:49:00.000+10:00

It's high time I started showing you some of the quilting projects I'm currently working on. And I thought I would begin with a very enjoyable felted wool project that I'm doing through The Quilted Crow. Deirdre Bond-Abel has designed this as a Block of the Month and I have now completed the four inner squares.

Deirdre hand dyes the wool used for the applique pieces, and these are sewn onto brushed cotton. The effect is stunning.

I think I'm about the receive one of the borders for Month 5, and I can hardly wait! The wool is beautiful to work with.

Mt Wellington

2008-08-31T02:45:00.000+10:00

Just one of the things I most love about living near Hobart is looking at Mt Wellington when she is wearing her winter coat. Actually, Mt Wellington is a fabulous mountain to gaze upon at any time. It is constantly changing in appearance.

Before I moved here, I wondered why people would rather have a view of the mountain than of the river. But now I completely understand. I'm one of the lucky ones, and can see both views from different parts of my home. Though if my lovely neighbour has her way and keeps growing her bushes ever higher, I will have to walk out to the footpath to admire the view of the Derwent. But I figure, that on a grand scale, that is a pretty miniscule problem.

Last week I remembered to take my camera with me when I went to my local shops. There is an excellent view of Mt Wellington from there...you'd have to agree. I wish I had thought to take a pic a few days earlier when the snow cover was much heavier. Maybe next year.....

Oh Darn it!

2008-08-21T03:17:00.000+10:00

Wouldn't you know it, no matter how long I take to check my typing, it isn't until after posting that I see that I've boobooed in the Title. Of course it is meant to read 'More news of the doggy variety'...but then you probably already guessed that.

More new of the doggy variety

2008-08-21T03:11:00.000+10:00

I'm starting to sound like a crazy old lady who lives for her dogs. Oh well, I'm sure there are worse things.....

Last night I took Ebony to her first night at Puppy Preschool and it was all so darned cute! There was a cream labradoodle named Abby, a brown Labradoodle named Barney, a Schnauser named Angus (A Scottish name for a German dog???) Oh well, I guess you can call them anything so long as they answer to it. And then there was Ebony. Ebony gets the gold medal for 'cute'. The Labradoodle owners had the same problems with theirs as I'm still having with Miss Molly (they seem to be born with springs in their legs). But the night was quite successful, with Ebony learning to sit. Teaching a dog who is only 2 inches from the ground to lie down is pretty well impossible, so we gave up on that one.

But I did get to thinking that I could use food to entice Molly not to act like a crazy dog when we are out walking and meet with another dog or person. So off we went this brilliant sunny morning, Miss Molly, Ebony and Me. As soon as we got out of the car a dog appeared. A big one. Molly started jumpin g up and down and generally acting like a pork chop...and barking too, which is unusual for her. Then Ebony started barking. My heart sank. Maybe this wasn't such a great idea. I wasn't able to distract Molly with treats at all.

So off we went, and as we apprached people or dogs, I eventually got Molly to sit and eat her treats. By the end of the walk she was keeping her eyes on me rather than worrying about other dogs and people and there was no more jumping up and down and whining. Ebony always behaves herself, but she got treats too. The whole exercise used about half a packet of liver treats, but if that is what it takes to teach a new habit, then so be it. I wonder will all of today's effort be forgotten by tomorrow.

At Puppy Class I also learned about putting food into a Kong for longlasting peace and quiet. So I decided I just had to give that a go! Putting kibble into a kong only lasted about 2 minutes, but putting peanut butter into a kong lasts and lasts. The dogs love it, and I love it too.

I took these photos of the girls today while Ebony was licking at her kong. Molly was just sitting around looking gorgeous. I'm hoping I will be able to make the photos larger today than the last effort. Here goes.

AhHa! Success! Not bad for a crazy dog lady hey! Now if I can just manage to do one new thing each day, as well as remember what I did last time, I'll soon be blogging along with the best of them!

Say Hi to the gang

2008-08-19T03:29:00.000+10:00

Gosh! How difficult can it be to think of a name for your blog! Anyway, seeing as my girls are pretty important in my life, I thought I would begin by introducing them to you. For the past 15 years I've called myself a quilter, but I do have to say that the girls have really eaten into my quilting time...but I'm not complaining.

When I speak about my girls, I'm speaking about my furry children. Molly is a 13 month old Labradoodle who does just about anything she can to get me moulded into the person she thinks I ought to be. If she had her way I would allow her to sit on any chair in the house, I would vacate my bed for her. There would be endless tasty morsels to eat, and we would go for endless walks on the beach. I'm slowly convincing her that none of this is going to happen, but it is a case of 3 steps forward and 2 backward.

Probably in Molly's perfect world there would be more cats in the household to chase. Unfortunately for the one resident cat (named Chanel by a previous owner) there will only ever be the one cat in this house and she will just have to toughen up and show Molly who is the boss.

Both Molly and Chanel moved with me from Canberra to Hobart where we have happily set up home.

And Baby is the brand new addition to the household. She comes in the form of a black Shitzu/Maltese which I have named Ebony because obviously, she is all black! Apart from a tiny wee patch of white on her chin...just a few hairs really. My lack of originality in naming my pets astounds even me sometimes. Ebony is absolutely divine, and there is no way I could resist buying her. She was all of 1.5kg when I first saw her, but with the personality of a Great Dane...huge!!! She is as smart as a whip, and she certainly is able to lead Molly a very merry dance when she feels like it. Though I do give Molly great credit, in that she is so unbelievably gentle with Ebony even when they are playing rough.

And now, this almost completely computer illiterate is going to call it a day. Time to investigate what Typepad is all about and what I can do with it.