Getting in some sewing here and there

While I haven't been able to get a lot done sewing wise lately, I have found a little time for a couple of projects I've been meaning to get finished.As part of a long overdue thank you to Gail and her daughter for spoiling Romily with two sets of Dora the Explorer books (and some much-prized Band-Aids!!), I made Gail's daughter an apron, embroidered with the initial of her first name. Xena do you recognise the pocket and binding fabric? (From our birthday FQ swap). Romily was being quite a maniac while modelling it for me while I was trying to get a decent photo!The parcel also included one of my pincushions, an FQ with a print of the Australian wattle flower, as well as the Australian children's book classic Seven Little Australians, which Gail and her daughter are going to read together (just have the tissues handy!). I loved that book as a child. It was funny, sad and very memorable!

I also finished off the set of premmie tops I was making way back here. They're on their way to Darwin.
We've had a pretty enjoyable weekend. Went to the Canberra Yacht Club yesterday afternoon with some friends and their kids. It was great to see the posse of littlies band together and play together (mostly) nicely! Today I took the kids to Questacon, which Romily absolutely loves. She's pretty tired after all of that and is having a nice long sleep while I am writing this post. Tristan's asleep too - so nice to have a bit of time out!

Three months old

Well, I was supposed to post this a week ago, but it's been one of those weeks. Here's my gorgeous bubba at three months of age. Time flies.
And here he is trying to roll...yep, you read it right! He has mastered front to back, but is now desperately trying to go from back to tummy. He's nearly got it!
Oh, and I somehow managed a distinction for my first unit, despite a somewhat dodgy couple of exam papers!

Fab Amitie fabric

What lovely fabrics to go into my planned red/yellow/white quilt. Yum yum. From the fabulous Amitie, where I met the lovely Cathy, aka the fabulous Miss Marzie and also one half of Audrey & Maude.

It's the first time I've 'outed' myself in 'real life' to someone from Blogland! It was very funny.

Me to the gorgeous tall blonde lady: 'Would one of you be Cathy by any chance?'
Blonde amazon: 'Yes, that's me. Why?'
Me: 'Um I'm Lorraine...er, Lily, er Cascade Lily' (with growing desperation in my voice)
Cathy: 'Oh my gosh! Hi! How lovely to meet you!' (with the look on her face going from complete incomprehension, to vague recollection, to realisation!!!)

Then I had to go on to explain that I answer to Lorraine or Lily - my old friends, work colleagues and most of my family call me Lorraine, but my Dad and newer friends call me by my nickname Lily, which I prefer. It's a bit confusing! LOL

Once we got over the awkwardness, it was very exciting to be in the middle of such an amazing store and gushing about all the delectable fabrics and projects which take up every conceivable flat surface (and a lot of hanging space too) in the well appointed store.

I had to concentrate very hard not to be thrown off course away from my desire to get some stripes and more yellows/reds! Fortunately my mum came with me and looked after Tristan and Romily while I shopped! I had about an hour there and could have spent the whole day there if I'd been sans kids!

Methinks Amitie will be a regular haunt for me on my Melbourne jaunts! Grandma will have to do some babysitting :)

Funny photos from my family

I was going through some recent photos, including our holiday snaps (which I will post) and discovered that either I have two funny kids, or I have a wacky sense of humour. You be the judge!

Bleurgh. We're all down with a mystery tummy bug. First me, then Romily, then me again and Tristan, and now Carl. Not fun!

We're back

And had a good time, although I probably underestimated how exhausting it would be for all of us.

Will be back later with some more photos, as well as pix of my haul from Amitie! What a wonderful shop. It's possibly a good thing I live 9 hours away!

Road trip

We're on a road trip for the next week...off to show off our little bundle of joy to our Victorian relatives.

Will be back in a week or so.

I Robot

After some postal issues, Joy finally received my parcel containing the quilt I made for her gorgeous nearly-three-year-old boy Austy, so I can now safely blog I Robot (16" x 16"). Joy said Austy loved it. Stand by for some cute pictures of Austy on Joy's blog!

I think this is my best effort yet. I designed the robot myself and foundation pieced him in three parts from a mix of Denyse Schmidt (Flea Market Fancy range) and Michael Miller fabrics. The dark solid is actually a chocolate brown, which looks fabulous with the blues.
I also embroidered a couple of details and used some odd buttons to create a googly eye effect.
I also like how the QSTs combined with the HSTs for the border, as well as the 'popping' effect the triangle quilting gives the spotty fabric.
I even got carried away and designed my own label - it matches my new 'Cascade Lily' postcards I ordered from Vistaprint.

I am thinking I might try the block and border arrangement again for a future single bed quilt for Tristan...add that to my ever-lengthening list of 'to-do' projects!

A big thanks to Helen and AJ for organising the swap...and twisting my arm to join in!

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We had a great time this afternoon at Cirque du Soleil. Romily flipped out slightly at the beginning (shrieking 'I want to go home' over and over for the first 10 minutes) because it really is an assault on your senses, but then she calmed down, and, by the end, was enthralled. Tristan almost made it to the end without squirming, but could not sleep. He was totally done in by the time we left and he is now tucked up in bed. I will have to wake him for his 10.30 feed and then wrap him up snugly for a good night's sleep. I am not far off bed myself...

Sandi's Doll Quilt revealed!

Today was the big day! We were allowed to open our quilts from the EB Doll Quilt Swap 2. I received a gorgeous caramel, pink and blue quilt from Sandi (who unfortunately does not have a blog...c'mon Sandi!).
But the quilty goodness didn't stop there! She also sent a Country Craft mag and an Australian Country Collections mag, as well as a swag of goodies for Romily. Check out Rom - she thinks Christmas has come early :) Thanks Sandi!!

Oh yeah, the exam. Bleurgh. I had to write two papers - the first I did an okay job, the second, well, let's just say it's a good thing I'm sitting on a good aggregate mark - I came down with a crushing headache, which later turned into some kind of 24-hour gastric bug. Romily had been sick the morning of the exam, so it wasn't a good sign! Not to worry, I'll probably get a credit for the unit, which is all I could realistically have expected with the amount of work I haven't put in!
Tomorrow is an exciting day - we are off to see the Cirque du Soleil show Dralion. Carl and I went last year to see Varekai and were blown away. Let's just hope Romily (pictured as the 'devil child' above - look at those teeth set in her jaw!!!) isn't too tired and enjoys the show. Tristan will hopefully be sound asleep in my sling :)

Speaking of Tristan, here are a couple of shots from today. How could you resist that sweet little face?

Luscious

As a reward for finishing my exam (although I am yet to sit it!!) and therefore the first unit of my masters of management studies, I bought some yardage and 30cm strips of the gorgeous, gorgeous fabric you see in the above photo (click for a larger image) from my LQS on Monday while Romily was at playschool. Most of this is destined for dresses for Romily - I'm just waiting for my Sandi Henderson Portabello Pixie 'Claire' pattern to arrive in the mail and we'll be making up some gorgeous dresses and tops for summer.

I am loving the combination of red, yellow, white and black. I think the left over fabric might be destined for a quilt...for me - I haven't made one for me yet. I think it's just about time!

The exam is tomorrow afternoon. Three hours. I feel like I'm an undergrad student again! Wish me luck :)