Softies a deux

'Two little softies, sitting in a tree, h*u*g*g*i*n*g'

Okay, so making little stuffed toys is making me go a little gaga. But they have been fun. Apart from the eyes! I am not good at eyes. The pattern calls for buttons, but with under-3s it stipulates to embroider the eyes (as buttons could be pulled off by enterprising babies/toddlers, eaten and choked upon). Oh dear - my stitchery skills leave a lot to be desired.

However, I am not getting hung up on the details - the kids will love them. Romily is already madly in love with her kitty.



I put Kitty on the rail of her cot last night and when Romily woke up this morning the first word she said was 'kittyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy'! Kitty has been carried around all day, given 'food', been put to 'bed' and been hurt ('ow, poor Kitty') and then kissed better ('all better'). A success :)

(Black Bunny's eyes are not embroidered, as you can see. They are bits of felt stitched tight through their centres)

Black Bunny will go to his new home this weekend when we pay a visit to baby Jack. The other three softies will be finished hopefully over the coming week (or two). I am dreaming up my next project and have drawn up an initial design. Lots of HSTs - haven't done them yet, so it should be fun. I hope!

No monkey business...

...but plenty of funny bunnies, pretty kitties and brazen bears.

My little softie buddies are coming along - they are all made and stuffed - but so far remain faceless and nameless. They're also not completely dressed - I've ties, scarves, hair and other bits and pieces to make and appliqué onto the bodies.

They're all destined for different homes, except for the two bears, who are going to my nephews for their birthdays in September. I think I'll probably have finished them by then!

The bunny (big ears) is going to baby Jack, who is around two months old, and one of the kitties is going to Molly, who is about three weeks old. Romy will get the second kitty. She'll be beside herself when she sees them all - I'm not letting her touch them, as I want them to go their new homes clean! No sticky lolly fingers thanks very much :)

These have been quite fun to make, but I'm also looking forward to starting on the next quilty project. I think it'll have to be the Christmas table runners I was going to make for last Christmas!

Birthday treats

I was truly spoilt yesterday - and thanks for all your birthday wishes.


I had a lovely long sleep-in and then Romily helped me open my presents. We then had a lovely afternoon together, with the day topped off by my favourite dinner - roast chicken with roast pumpkin and potato and some token greens. Then the cake!


Romily was enraptured with the idea of cake and candles, but got a bit scared when it came time to blow them out. We might have to practice a few more times before her birthday in August.

I also received some gorgeous scarves, socks and beads from my parents and brother and sister-in-law. My present from my other brother is being shipped from Amazon next week and I can't wait to get it. I'll post about it when it arrives.

Carl and Romily also gave me Richard E Grant's latest book - The Wah Wah Diaries. Can't wait to read it. I love him! Not as much as I love my husband, of course!

Da na na na na na na they say it's your birthday...

...And it's my birthday too yeah! (apologies to The Beatles)

That photo is me at two years of age. Nothing like Romily, apart from lots of hair!

Dear god how did I manage to become 36 years old? I cannot credit it. Ah well, it's been a busy three and half decades that's for sure. And one more year of being in my 'mid-30s' - I guess it's not all bad when you look at it that way!

The best present I've received today? A sleep-in - a proper sleep-in. That is, Carl took Romily out of the house when she woke up this morning and I slept until 9.30am. This is the first time in nearly two years. Hooray and happy birthday to me! I am waiting for them to come home to open my other presents. Romily was trying to hand them to me last night - she's cottoning on to the whole birthday, cake, candles and presents idea! She'll be beside herself with excitement tonight with the cake and candles. Darling Carl has even made my cake himself. What a beautiful man :)

Oh and my first Ottobre magazine arrived yesterday. Perfect timing. All those projects! Very inspiring too.

Have a great weekend everyone :)

Romy Bear

Romy Bear is one of my many terms of endearment for our little cherub. Very fitting apparently, as she went gaga for the first softie I'm stitching - a little bear. We've had a lovely, relaxing weekend, slow enough for me to find a couple of hours to getting my softies project started.

Here is the first bear at the 'just-stitched', no-stuffing phase. Looking a little bit flat!


And here it is after stuffing, with the Romy tick of approval! I still have to stitch on the details, including the face, but Romily was in no doubt that it's a bear.


Here is a bunny in the same 'outfit' - he'll be going to a different home to the first. I then have three more to do, which may have to wait until the weekend, as I have a horrendously busy (short) week coming up at work. My boss is on leave for a week and I'm 'it'! Fortunately this added responsibility coincides with the finish of my probationary period, which I passed with flying colours - in fact my boss asked if he could clone me. I guess they're happy with my work!


I got all domesticated today and baked some vanilla crunch biscuits. They are very crunchy and very yummy. Romy helped too, which was just lovely. She is a good helper and likes 'turning' (stirring). Long may this phase last too.


Rom is definitely on the mend, which is good. Two days of toddler grizzle is about all I can 'Romy Bear'!

Back to work tomorrow. Best get an early night tonight. Who knows what the week may bring.

Enjoying some time out

I've been forcing myself to read again. For pleasure. A chapter each night before sleep. It helps clear out the day's activities from my mind. I am also a little less stressed these days now that I have a job I love, albeit a very busy job that requires some high octane activity, so I find I am happier reading and not so fidgety. I stopped reading for a while there because I just wasn't enjoying it and couldn't find a book I liked.

I tried very hard to read Catch-22 by Joseph Heller, which came recommended to me by my darling husband. He thought I'd appreciate it, having been in the army and all. I tried, and tried, but I just could not get into it. I gave up after about 10 chapters. I just didn't like the style it was written in at all and who needs to be thinking too hard at the end of a long, tiring day?

So I ditched it and picked up Saturday by Ian McEwan while transiting through an airport last month. I read it in about a week - more than a chapter a night! I really enjoyed it - let me tell you why. It felt real. It felt like a story we could all relate too. It had characters that weren't entirely sympathetic but also very believable. I can't tell you how many books I've read where I get to the end and think 'as if'! The world created by McEwan was clear and familiar, although it is set in London. I've been there twice, but not to the area in the book. The front cover image helped a lot! I put it down very satisfied, although I did know where the story was heading, so I might mark it down a little for lacking in suspense. I must confess that it did get my hear racing nonetheless!

So, if you're after a contemporary novel, set in post-September 11 London that tells a good story about a very believable and flawed man, then I recommend you give it a try.

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Today was spent shopping and then decluttering. The first half of the day I enjoyed, although I do get a little down going to the shopping centre and finding just about all of my favourite stores are having sales and I can't afford anything that's a luxury right now. I did, however, manage to replace my torn and worn 15-year-old dressing gown! I also bought a couple of hooded velour jackets (hoodies) for Romily, who has outgrown all her size 1 hoodies, and some cute tights. I absolutely love shopping for her.

Then this afternoon we got serious about finding homes for several piles of books, papers and clothes that had been accumulating in our lounge room. It must have been the day for it as Tracey over at Ozcountryquiltingmum spent her day doing pretty similar mundane tasks!

While sorting out the clothes pile (Romily's clothes that are being 'retired' and some of my maternity and breastfeeding clothes), I discovered (to my embarrassment) a huge mending pile. Whoops! I guess I know what I'll be doing for the next few weeks in front of the telly! :o

Yes that is indeed lipstick

Okay, so when you hear the words 'more cream, more cream' and you forgot to put your handbag away out of reach, you had better be worried.


Yes that is indeed lipstick.

She looks so proud of herself, the little minx! She wasn't actually trying to put on lipstick, but face cream. I guess all those tubes look the same.

This is the third time. You would have thought that mummy would have learned her lesson by now...apparently I am a slow learner. Fortunately it was a freebie lipstick that was trashed this time.

Romily is going through a real 'I want to be like mummy' phase - she tries my shoes on all the time, tries to put my stockings on, wears my clothes, including scarves, gloves and hats, wants to wear my beads/jewellery and is always after me to put cream on her face. She's not even two yet!

No stitching this week, although I did wash and iron the fabric for the softies. I will try to get this project underway this weekend.

We have a long weekend here starting tomorrow - it's the official celebration of the Queen's birthday - yes the Queen of England is also the Queen of Australia. We all bless her majesty on the second Monday in June, for we get the day off! Her real birthday is in April, but the public holiday actually has nothing to do with that! It's to celebrate the monarch's birthday, whenever their actual birthday may fall! Trust Australians to find a holiday where there's none!

Early birthday present!

My birthday is coming up in a big rush (in a couple of weeks) and I was browsing around today in Blogland and came across Ottobre, which I've often heard of, but have never actually seen. I was so impressed with what I saw, that I subscribed!! An early b'day present from moi!

Some of the projects in the latest edition are stunning and I have such a desire to sew, sew, sew for my gorgeous Romily that I can never have enough inspiration!

Some of you asked me why I iron my quilts before I present them! I guess it's just to even out any bumps the formed in the washing machine and to make sure the binding is sitting flat and nice before I wrap them up as presents. No one ever told me to - I just thought it might look nice :)

I don't have the iron very hot and I don't 'squish' the quilt flat, just smooth out the top really.

Fabric for animal friends

I went fabric shopping on the weekend, for the little softies I'll be making over the coming weeks. I didn't buy 'proper' quilting cotton, but the next grade down, which is much cheaper (obviously). I'm pretty confident it'll be just fine for this project though - and I loved the colours and variations. I'm making five kitty/bunny/bears, so it should be fun mixing and matching the colours/patterns. Should be!


I thought I'd also post a couple of photos of my increasingly wacky daughter, who is now firmly a Vegemite lover. (For those of you who don't know what Vegemite is, it's an 'Australian delicacy' - a condiment/spread you can put on toast - it's savoury and a very little goes a long way. Not many non-Australians are fans, but most Aussies are raised on it! It's made from yeast extract, among other things, and is chock full of Vitamin B. A bit like Promite or Marmite, but not at all sweet. You can see from her cheeks that she's pretty keen!

(Gotta love those blue peepers!)

I dropped Wonky Geese around to baby Campbell on Sunday. My friends just loved it, so I'm very pleased I made it for them! Campbell promptly had a little milk spew on the quilt, which horrified his parents, but made me giggle. I told them that it was his now, and he could do what he liked with it. His mum looked very relieved when I told her the quilt is machine washable!

I got a little bit clucky (again) today, when I went to visit my friend, who's in hospital with her brand new, one-day-old gorgeous little bundle of joy Molly. She is so sweet and I had a cuddle for about 20 minutes. Heaven! No quilt for Molly though - my friend is a bit short of $$$ right now, so I opted for baby clothes instead. Molly will also get one of the softies. I did have fun buying baby clothes again - they're so little and gorgeous.

I'm off to Melbourne yet again tomorrow and Friday for work. Then overnighting with my parents on Friday night and back to Canberra on Saturday. Little wonder I'm so tired all the time. My doctor is sending me for a battery of blood tests next week to see what's going on with me - I haven't been quite right since I had food poisoning/gastro at Christmas time, so he suspects Glandular Fever (mononucleosis) post-viral fatigue. Ah well, who knows what it is - hopefully I'll start to feel 'myself' again some time soon!

Wonky geese is finished. Finally!

Ta da!

Only took six months!

Haven't ironed it yet. It washed up well this afternoon. I am very happy with how it turned out. Will deliver it tomorrow after it's dry and ironed. I hope it gets a lot of use.

No quiltmaking for a little bit for me - I am going to be making a couple of 'patchwork' bunnies (like this one), kittens and bears (like this one) from a pattern designed by Hillary Lang from Wee Wonderfuls instead!

Hope you're all having a good weekend.

Old Macdonald Had a Farm

We had a lovely time at the farm, until, that is, Romily, Carl and I all came down with colds and Romily woke up crying at 1.30am Saturday night, having vomited lunch and dinner all through her bedclothes, including the quilt I so lovingly made her last year! I spent half an hour scraping it clean and rinsing. Gross. So, we called it quits after lunch on Sunday and came home a day early, leaving the rest of my family to spend another day hanging around with the lovely animals, gorgeous scenery and way too much food!

Carl showing Romily what pedals are. And Romily deciding they're way too complicated! This is in front of the guest accommodation.

Oldest of four nephews Zach with my sister-in-law Jacinta

Romily is one plucky little kid. Here she is patting the 'nice horsey'.

Grandma and auntie Jacinta help Romily feed one of the two abandoned lambs being hand reared by the family

The toy bikes and tractors were a big hit with Romily and her twin cousins Cody (on the left) and Darcy.

All the littlies enjoyed patting the animals - large and small. Guinea pigs on the left and black dog on the right.

Afternoon tea in front of the campfire. The cake was a big hit with Romily, as you can see from the telltale icing sugar on her nose!

With Uncle Bill.

And Tim Tam the deer.

Romily was a clingy little thing all weekend. No doubt due to her cold. As endearing as 'Mummy...hug' can be, it wears a bit thin after 48 hours straight!

Hay rides in the back of the ute were a hit with all the family - big and small!

Romily playing hide and seek in a cupboard in the shearing shed.

A budding farmer on her tractor?

And I rode a horse for the first time in my life! I loved it. It was so much fun. I don't look too bad do I? (That hand is the farmer, who stayed pretty close!)

A portrait of my brother Bill.

And yet another photo of the very adorable Romily :)

Eeeieeeiooooh!

Colds are receding, drugs are a wonderful thing, and it's back to work tomorrow.

The yellow fabric arrived from Fabric Shack - hooray. They even threw in a couple of freebies. Now I can get Campbell's Wonky Geese finished. Just in time, as the new Australian Quilter's Companion May issue arrived today, chock full of inspiration for the next project!

Tagged by Joyce!

I've been tagged by Joyce to tell you seven things you didn't know about me. Let's see...

1. I was in the Australian Army for three and a half years
2. I played the flute for five years
3. I can't do maths, other than basic arithmetic - although I pick up foreign languages pretty easily
4. I have a Master of Strategic Affairs from the Australian National University
5. My favourite author is Dorothy Dunnett, who wrote the Lymond Chronicles - for lovers of historical fiction with a romantic vision
6. Sewing machines and I have a very sad history - I broke so many of them in Year 8 craft classes that I was banned from machine sewing and had to do everything by hand!
7. Jersey Caramels are my favourite lollies. Ever.

Now it's Simonetta, Tina, Jenni, Tracey, Steph, Tracey and Duyvken's turn!!

Have a good weekend everyone. I'll be back next week to share our adventures at the farm!

Hope all the mummies had a great day

I certainly did! The morning was spent in Melbourne with my wonderful mother (and father) and then I flew back to Canberra and spent the afternoon with my gorgeous daughter (and husband). Doesn't get much better than that!

I was in Melbourne over the weekend to help my dad celebrate his 60th birthday, which is actually this coming Saturday. We had his party last weekend because this weekend we are going to all meet up at this fabulous farmstay:

www.hanericka.com.au

Seven adults and five children. It should be a blast!!!

Grandma made sure Romily is ready should it rain. Do you think she likes it?

I like to clean!

You may not realise at first glance, but yes that is a toy vacuum cleaner! It is in fact a Miele brand toy, an exact replica of our real appliance. Just a pity that it's not a working model!

You missed a bit Daddy!

Romy does seem to love the feather duster - and becomes quite distressed when we try to put it away!

Oh yes and we are encouraging this behaviour! Isn't it lovely at this age where they want to 'clean, clean?'

(No border on Wonky Geese. Realised the fabric I had picked out was wrong, wrong, wrong, so have ordered some bright yellow plain fabric from www.fabricshack.com - let's hope my experience is as good as Jenni's.)

Quilting is d-o-n-e!

Click to enlarge all photos - but don't look too closely!

Hooray! I stayed up a wee bit late last night and finished the freehand fans on Campbell's Wonky Geese. I am consequently too tired tonight to do the binding - it will have to wait until Wednesday night now.

I am very happy with how the quilting turned out - at first I was a little worried about combining machine quilting with hand quilting, but I think it really works with this quilt. The machine quilting was my first non-straight-line quilting, and I'm pretty happy with it too.

Brave me showing the back view!

I am looking forward to getting the binding on and finished and delivering to baby Campbell who is now five months old! Ah well, you just can't rush these things :)


A good weekend here. Very quiet - a trip to the zoo yesterday and Carl took Romily on a bike ride, with new bike rack on the car and new kiddie seat on the bike - they both loved it. I am still very tired - I was in three different cities with work last week and all the travel caught up with me. I've finally managed to catch up with all the blogs I subscribe too - although I didn't leave as many comments as I would have liked. Just not enough hours in the day!

I have a very busy week coming up - I'm losing a day and half of productivity to get some mandatory training done, so it compresses an already busy week into three and half days. I'd better be on the ball from minute one tomorrow morning!!