A lovely day

We had a lovely day yesterday. We choofed off to Old Parliament House to see Mrs Prime Minister - an exhibition about Australia's Prime Ministers' wives - which was closing today. It was quite interesting, with lots of things to look at, including some of their dresses, coats, hats and shoes from the 30s through to the 80s. Our 'first ladies' aren't nearly as high-profile as those in the US or the UK for that matter. But most of them do charitable work and lots of diplomatic work - especially over gazillions of official dinners.

After lunch at the cafe we wandered off through the adjacent gardens and Romily had a fine old time pulling up the grass and playing with twigs. It was a gorgeous day and we took full advantage of it.


This is a tree out the front of our place - as you can see, spring is just around the corner. This is good, as I am very ready for some warmer weather!


I am so glad we went out yesterday, as it's cold and overcast here today. Hmmm. Methinks that's perfect weather for quilting! I'd better get started this afternoon before thoughts of Monday morning interrupt my weekend.

Stompin' pants

A toddler's got to have stomping pants! These fluffy, baggy pants I made for my twin nephews' first birthday, which is coming up in one week's time. I just finished them last night. I also sewed some letters onto the collars of some long-sleeved t-shirts to match the ones I stitched onto the backside of the pants.

They are very similar to a pair I made for Romy a while back. I hope the boys get some wear out of them. They will look so cute!


I made a flying visit (literally - I got on a plane this morning and flew back this afternoon) to Sydney today for work. We had a big awards day at one of our sites and dear old me had to go to take the photos. Now, I'm not the world's best photographer and the camera is not all that brilliant. I don't know why they are too nervous to have a professional photographer do the job! It would have cost less than it did to fly me up for the day and we would have had some great shots - not just workaday photos like I've taken. And I could have got some real work done! Oh well, it was nice to get out of the office for the day.

But thank goodness it's the weekend. Yay!

I hope you all enjoy yours :)

Trapped!

Some time back Carl and I investigated baby gates for the top of our stairs. We purchased one plus an extension and bought it home - we discovered it didn't fit! So we tried a different sized extension and it was too big. Problem!

The solution was to attach a post to the wall opposite the post at the top of the bannister. We needed help to do that, as neither of us are comfortable with wood and tools! Fortunately Carl's father is very handy with power tools and he, with Carl's help, whipped up a post in no time.

Carl painted it to match the bannister and we screwed it to the wall last weekend. Voila!


It's much better now, as we don't have to drag furniture across to block off the stairs from young Romily, who just loves climbing up the stairs, but has no idea yet how to get down!

An inedible sandwich

Well you might call it progress. But it doesn't feel like progress! I finally got around to picking up the 'dropped' stitches my sewing machine graciously managed to leave along the final border on my quilt top. I'm convinced, after some good advice in comments when I posted about it a while back, that my Janome is not winding the bobbins very well. I've had this problem since I got the machine. Probably should take it in for a service I suppose...anyway, I'm going to hold the thread in my hand when the bobbins are winding on from now on. At least I know the tension will be there. The winding seems very loose at the moment, which, I think, is causing the machine to skip.

Anyway, I hand-stitched reinforcing stitches over the dodgy stitches last night, and today I made my very first quilt sandwich! For those non-quilters, it's the part where you put the backing, batting/wadding and quilt top all together ready for the actual quilting.

Fortunately, as it's a cot quilt it all fit nicely on my dining table. I stuck the backing down with masking tape and spread out the batting and quilt top before I pinned it all, starting from the centre. A couple of my pins didn't go all the way through, but I had the good sense to check them all before I moved it about too much!

Now it's ready for quilting - hoorah. Told you, not much progress, but progress nonetheless :)

I've also changed my mind a little on the quilting. I'm going to machine stitch in the ditch along the sashing seams. This will stabilise the whole thing and make handling the quilt a lot easier when I'm hand-quilting the fun bits. This should also help speed up the whole process and make it far less daunting! I might even get it finished while Romily is still sleeping in her cot!

Romy's been much better today. She's down for her sleep and let's hope it's a decent one! Anyway, I'm taking the opportunity to post here and hopefully catch up on a few blogs while I get the chance. Here's a photo from today. It's hard to photograph her at the moment, as she just wants to grab the camera and she can move quite fast now!

Stash splash

Well, it's not really what you could call a 'stash' per se, but it's mine! I bought some fabric today to add to my very small collection, as my favourite quilting shop had it's mid-year sale (finishing today).

I bought 2.5 metres of two gorgeous fabrics - 50% off - who could blame me? And a metre of backing fabric (the green stuff). All for 'future' projects!!


I also bought a metre of some Christmas feature fabric as well as half a metre of some matching fabrics. I'm thinking of doing a table mat for my father-in-law, parents and sister-in-law for Christmas. Better get my skates on - it's only four months away!


Little Romily has been driving us up the wall this week. We think more teeth are on their way (molars), but who would know? She is constantly whinging and wanting to be picked up. When you do pick her up she pushes away and we're also getting very regular baby tantrums. Lovely!

She has mastered a new trick though. She can now stand alone for a few seconds, which she does regularly - especially when she thinks we're not watching. Funny child. Here's a photo of her with my mum and dad when they were up her for Romily's birthday. (Check out the gorgeous hand-knitted jumper Romy's wearing - cleverly made by Grandma!)

Canberra quilt fair

Today we all went along to the Canberra Craft & Quilt Fair. It was much bigger than I thought, and there were lots of people there! I know the Canberra Quilters have been around for a long time, but I had no idea how 'big' crafting is in Canberra.

It was a gorgeous day and there were some amazing quilts by local and Australian quilters. However, the highlight of the show was the exquisite collection of Japanese quilts. They were just stunning - most of them hand-quilted and many of them also hand-pieced. The artistry was just amazing and the variety of styles, fabrics used and techniques for quilting, appliqueing and embellishing was astounding. Unfortunately photos weren't allowed in the Japanese exhibit, but they were in the general show.

Here are some of my favourites:

Sunshine in the Cherry Orchard - Daphne Mahon


Monolith II - Beth and Trevor Ried (I am such a fan of this husband and wife team's work. Just love it - very modern Australian)

Through the Kosmos II - Rasa Mauragis


Red Wave- Dianne Firth


Knots & Crosses - Mary Donohue


Star of my Universe - Jo Anne Pulko


Autumn Breeze, Winter Sneeze - Helen and Pat Godden


Best of Show - Summer Harvest - Kerry Gavin

It was a lovely way to spend a Saturday morning, despite me feeling quite crook. I had a little sleep in the afternoon, which did help a bit. It's off to bed early tonight for me!

I like to climb

Apart from her startlingly beautiful blue eyes, do you think there's anything else Romily might have inherited from her father?


(I'll give you a hint - it's not running around in the nuddy! But she does seem to like it!)

Census Night

Tonight, all across Australia, 20 million or so people are ticking boxes and answering questions. Yes, it's Australia's five-yearly stocktake. Who are we? Where do we live? Where do we work? What is our religion? How many bedrooms in our house? I find it quite fascinating what questions are asked. However, what's more revealing are those questions that are not asked. They also tell us a lot about Australia.

For the first time, census respondents had the option of completing the survey online. We chose this option and it was quite easy - not faster - but well done. And it saves the collectors a trip!

Romily was counted in her first census. Awwww!

What a brave little munchkin she is. Carl took her to the doctor's today for her 12-month vaccinations. She had three jabs - one in her left arm and one in each leg. Carl says she was a real little trooper - no tears on the first one (horrible measles jab) and only brief tears for needles two and three. She was happy as a clam by the time she was dressed. She had her daddy to protect her! That, and the prophylactic dose of Panadol! (a brand of paracetamol)

I worked Monday and today, and all is still going well. It's funny how a lot can change in a year but nothing much really changes at all! I honestly feel like I haven't been away. Sad but true. But then I come home to Carl and Romily and work just fades away for another day. I have tomorrow off work and I'm taking Romy to playgroup and then Gymbaroo in the afternoon. A busy day, but a day with my gorgeous, funny daughter.

Presents, cake and friends

What more could a little girl want for her birthday?

Presents


Cake


Friends

Happy Birthday my little darling

Dear Romily, happy first birthday for tomorrow my sweet little friend. I love you so very much.

Love,
Mummy
xxxx

(Here's the cake I made!!)

Okay so it wasn't that bad

Thank you all again for your support. I went to work today and it wasn't as bad as I expected! I was very much missed by my colleagues, several of whom were very excited to have me back on deck.

There's more work than I can poke a stick at and I'm feeling quite keen to sink my teeth into it. The days are going to disappear quite quickly - although not as quickly as when I was at home with Romily.

She had a great day with Carl today, and, apart from a little moping at the top of the stairs after I left this morning, was very happy all day. She even had a 2 1/4 hour sleep - she never did that for me! So, I think she will cope just fine.

I am back in the office tomorrow, and then have Thursday and Friday at home to prepare for Romy's party on Saturday. I'm looking forward to Carl and I toasting the new love of our lives. And helping her to open lots of pressies!