Cheeky monkey

Before I finished the quilting, Romily started showing a strong interest in what I was doing. I showed her some of the 'pictures' on the quilt (trees, stars, ladies) and she really wanted to get her hands on it for a proper look. I wouldn't let her, as I am not quite ready for sticky hands to be all over it, so I didn't give it to her. She didn't throw a tantrum to my surprise...then I turned away for a second and put the quilt down on my chair. I turned back to find this --->

I think she likes it!!

Crazy colours!

So here are my four-patch and feature blocks all laid out for sewing. I'm pretty happy with how the colours have worked out together. Boy it's bright though! All the books tell you that babies can only distinguish bright colours and that pastels, while pretty, don't do much for the babies.

My plan is to stich these together and then I'll add quite a wide plain yellow border. Then I'll bind it in hot pink. The backing fabric I've chosen is lime green, so it should all look good. I hope!

I'll try to get the blocks sewn tomorrow night, as we have my father-in-law and his companion arriving Friday afternoon for a four-day visit, so I won't get any quilting done this weekend.

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I do have some news though - I have finished quilting Romily's quilt!!!!!!! Oh my goodness I was beginning to think I'd never finish. I'll trim it and take some photos and post them later in the week. I'm going to have to take the whole thing into the shop so they can help me choose fabric for binding. And help me work out exactly how much I need - I am so hopeless at calculating these things :)

I am really happy with how it's turned out. It's far from perfect but I am happy that a) I finished and b) that I think the way I've quilted it really adds to the texture of the quilt and helps tie all the sample blocks together as a cohesive whole. It's a bit 'bubbly' in places, but only a little so probably only I will notice it's not as smooth as it could/should be. I certainly wasn't going to unpick it! 

A little girl!

How wonderful - it's a girl! Di had a little girl - Alexandra Diane last Thursday and here's a photo of the beautiful little thing - with lots of hair! Her brother was also born with a big mop of dark hair. Hooray and congratulations to the whole family.

I've pieced all the blocks and laid them out. Once I've downloaded the photos onto our other computer and transferred them to this one I'll post some photos. At least I know now that I need some pink binding! 

Computer is broken oh no

Well the computer is stuffed - that's a technical term apparently. I can still get online, but I can't download any photos or get anything on or off the computer other than by email or CD ROM.

So, we'll have to buy a new one shortly, which is an expense we could well do without. Oh well.

On the positive side of things, I am very close to finishing the hand quilting on Romily's quilt. Just two thirds of the border to go and trim and bind and it's done. Yay!

Am desperately waiting to find out how Di and the new baby are - the baby was coming via caesarean yesterday. C'mon, c'mon, where's the email? I am terrible at waiting to hear news like this!!

Hope everyone out there in blogland is doing well and you all have a great weekend.

Offline for a while

Our computer has apparently had the carrot. It had a meltdown early this week and when we got it going again none of the USB ports would work. It's currently in with the technicians, who have no idea what the problem is, so we may end up having to buy a new computer. Bummer.

Until we're back online at home it's going to be quiet around here! I'm posting this from work and I don't think I'll be very popular if I spend all my time blogging :)

A glorious weekend in Canberra

Beautiful, hot, spring weather all weekend. How perfect! Yesterday was hot - 30 degrees celsius - and windy, but we still enjoyed ourselves. We were headed back to Floriade, but diverted when I spotted a petting zoo being set up on the lake foreshore. We made a quick turn and five minutes later this was the scene.



And all for free! Romy didn't quite know what to make of all the animals, but she soon took an interest. She'll love it in another year or so, I'm sure!



A lazy-ish day today. A milder 21 degrees and sunny. Spent a little while outside in our courtyard this morning. So lovely now it's done. Romy in her swing, me pushing and the the sun shining. It really does not get any better than that :)

But now, off to start cutting squares for the baby quilt. My friend's baby is due in two weeks! Better get a wriggle on :)

Busy, busy, busy

Yikes! Where the last week go? It just whizzed by. I didn't get on here all weekend - my parents and brother came up from Melbourne for a visit and we had a great time getting out and about with them and Romily.


Romy was in great form and even showed off her new toddling abilities. She's really starting to get confident about walking and just toddles off when we're not watching - suddenly, she'll be over the other side of the room and still on her feet! Before we know it she'll be running!


On the weekend we made it to Floriade, Canberra's annual flower festival. It's based on a tulip festival in the Netherlands and we go every year. It was my Mum's first time - she's wanted to go for about 10 years - and she just loved it. It was perfect weather and not too many people were there when we arrived - it was just lovely.


It was so good to have some of my family here - even just for a few days. I really do miss them a lot and it's just so wonderful to see them rather than just talking on the phone.


Thanks for all the positive comments on my quilting :) They've been very encouraging. I'm looking forward to getting started on the quilt for the new baby too. I did buy a little more fabric for it last weekend, including the backing, which is a very cool and groovy lime green splatter fabric. Perfect for a baby to snuggle! Now just got to find some time to get cracking!

Pfffft

Well I have been very slow posting on here lately, haven't I? I have been feeling pffffft - Carl and Romily have both had horrible head colds and I finally succumbed on Friday afternoon - just in time for the three-day weekend we just had! Grrrr.

Fortunately I was not nearly as sick as Carl and Romy - they are both still 'enjoying' the water works emanating from their noses, while my symptoms have pretty much disappeared. I think my immune system received a huge kick earlier this year when I had the flu for 8 weeks so I'm getting off lightly this time.

Despite all of us feeling quite under the weather, it was actually a beautiful weekend. The sun shone, it was warmer than it's been for a long time and the birds were out and about. So we decided to head out too and take our minds off feeling blergh.

Carl took this photo of Romily and me on our balcony just before we went out on Sunday. Romily smiling for the camera as usual ... not!


Quite a bit of quilting was done over the weekend. I am very happy with how it's coming along. Not quite half way there, but am nearly finished with the stipple quilting, which has been going slower than a month of Sundays!

That's enough rambling from me. Might go try to catch up on a few blogs before I hit the sack.