Winnings!

I hardly ever win anything on blog giveaways, but I was stoked to have two recently!

First off, was a fabric giveaway at Emma's place. She sent me some gorgeous fabric left over from the most incredible custom quilt she made.

Then I won a cute skirt pattern from OzMaterial Girls - the City Girl Skirt pattern. I really want to make some summer skirts for myself, so here's my chance!

I also received my Pay It Forward gift from Mands - a cute owl appliqued shopping bag and a very cute notebook - all for my inventions, featuring Bert & Ernie! Of course Romily has claimed both items for herself! Thanks Mands!Thanks everyone for being such generous, wonderful, crafty folk!

As for me, very little in the way of sewing going on - but I did do some cutting in preparation for making my PIF gifts. Soon! I also ordered some fabric for a hush-hush Christmas present I'm making for my FIL. Can't wait to get started on that project - it's going to be an Oh Fransson! quilt. I love her work!

While there has not been any sewing, there has been a little bit of baking :) I discovered, via Corrie from Retromummy, a fab blogger Liss, who has the most amazing, droolworthy recipes on her blog, Frills in the Hills. Go check her out - you won't be sorry! This was the lemon delicious I made on Sunday morning to take to a lunch we were invited to - it was a big hit! (I made a double batch - nom nom nom!)

Poor, neglected blog!

This poor little blog, abandoned but not forgotten. Life just keeps getting in the way of crafting and blogging. And I am sorry I have been unable to come visiting with my blogging buddies. My research/studies are taking up a lot of my time, and, in what little free time I have, I am usually too tired from work and looking after kids to pull out the sewing machine/quilting tools.
I have been doing quite a bit of handquilting on Tristan's Very Hungry Caterpillar quilt, which I started way back before he was born, but there's not a lot to show for it (above picture is of the finished top, pre-machine quilting - it looks a bit different now - will post a photo when it's done). We went to Bendigo for Easter and I spent the evenings stitching away (how lovely). I showed the quilt in progress to Tristan, whose reaction was: 'wowowow!' - I think he likes it! He loves the book and is constantly bringing it to me saying: 'Mummy. Story. Cat-pillar. Story.' He's already a man who knows what he wants!

Tristan is 19 months old already. As I keep saying, they grow so fast. Rom will be five in August and is loving preschool. She will definitely be ready for school next year.

Glacial crafting

Or, crafting at the speed of a glacier. Pffft work is seriously cramping my creativity! I am just so tired after each work day that the thought of dragging my machine up onto the table and having to go through my stash is just too much.

Anway, nothing like a deadline to get me moving - yet another birthday party today saw me make another cute skirt with matching applique top.

From the birthday girl (5): 'Oh I just love it!'

Another very happy 'customer'. I think maybe I should make up four or five sets to have in reserve for the undoubted birthday parties Romily will be invited to this year!

Another drag on my crafting time is starting on Monday - classes resume for uni. I thought I had finished formal classes, with the next two years to be devoted to a research paper, but sadly, I was wrong! I have to do one more unit: 'Introduction to research methods'. Urgh! Ah well, it will help with defining my question, researching the problem and writing the paper (when I get to it in about 18 months time!).

No rest for the wicked, I suppose!

EBDQS3

Hello. It's been a bit quiet around here lately in terms of crafty goodness. I've been using other parts of my brain, I promise, but haven't had enough energy or time to put towards textile play. Something to help snap me out of my quilting/sewing slump is the EB Doll Quilt Swap III. We've just received details of our swap partners and I'm starting to come up with some ideas.

One of the cool things we're doing to help the person making a quilt for us is creating mosaics of some of our Flickr favourites. Here's mine.1. Experiment 1, 2 layers, 2. Experiment 1, circles, 3. ronduitrechtnicolette, 4. Paintbox Quilt on the Sofa, 5. Sarah's Tablecloth Quilt, 6. 4SQS 5 quilt inspired by Tulip Fields in Spring, 7. 4SQS Winter Quilt by Tami, 8. Drifting, 9. Front of quilt, 10. Hand printed scarf, 11. Birds and Stripe Reversable Dolls Bed Quilt & Pillow Set, 12. Table topper, 13. Show-Me Plain Spoken, 14. advent calendar, 15. wall-art, 16. Trick or Treat, 17. Trick or Treat, 18. Yokohama 2008, 19. Evening Indulgence, 20. butterfly quilt

You can easily make your own. All you need is a Flickr account and this web-based application. Have fun! It's easy and potentially addictive. You have been warned!

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In other news, I'm happy to report that I received 91% for my first uni paper this semester. Too bad it's only worth 10% of the overall mark, but it's pleasing to see I'm on track and at the far right of the bell curve!

What a week

It has been a pretty lousy week. Late on Wednesday afternoon Tristan managed to pull two heavy pictures down upon himself - one minute he was where I thought he was, I got distracted by Romily, and the next moment - CRASH! Poor thing had his fingers jammed under the pictures and he ripped them out before I could get to him. He nearly ripped his fingernail off one finger and there was a lot of blood. I managed to get a tissue onto it and compress the finger with one hand while racing upstairs with him to give him a dose of paracetamol. He calmed down pretty quickly and a breastfeed made things a bit better. I put a bandaid on, which, of course, he pulled off several hours later. But it did stop the bleeding. What a terrible thing to happen to a little bubba (of course, being a boy, this is, no doubt, the first of many such accidents!)

I woke up Thursday morning with a splitting headache - not a good omen. Then when Romily was at Gymbaroo, Tristan came down with a high fever. As it was all happening, Carl arrived to take over parenting duties so I could dash off to uni to sit my exam. We gave Tristan a dose of paracetamol and hoped he would be okay. We weren't sure whether it was a fever or whether his finger may have become infected. I went off to the exam with a heavy heart and a heavy conscience, trying to put a miserable baby out of my mind and concentrate on the task at hand. Despite my headache growing steadily worse, I managed to answer the required four essay-style answers. I have no idea how I went - 2.5 hours of mad scribbling does your head in!

Tristan was still not himself when I got home, but seemed a bit better. I fed him some dinner, but it all came back up just as I was giving him the last spoonful. I got him into bed and asleep and was also in bed myself by 8pm, hoping that a few extra hours of sleep would see my headache disappear. Of course this was not to be. Tristan had a dreadful night, with a head full of mucous, waking every hour from 8pm through to dawn. He spent half the night in my bed, tossing and turning. Carl and I got very little sleep.

I woke up Friday with my brain still in the vicelike grip of this headache (I still have the residual headache as I type), but with a baby who seemed much happier. As we had tickets to Justine Clarke, off we headed. Tristan was fine until about 15 minutes before the end, at which point he became unconsolable except when I was standing up and rocking him back and forth - thank goodness our seats were in the very back row! I got the kids home and tried to get Tristan to sleep, but he just would not go to sleep. Back in the car, we headed off to the clinic and after a 40 minute wait (this was very quick!) we got in to see one of the docs. He had a look down Tristan's throat - would you believe it? Tonsillitits on top of a head cold! No wonder he wasn't happy.

A prescription of antibiotics later and we headed home. He had a much better night last night (despite a big spew in my bed after a feed) and is considerably happier today. He's mercifully asleep again and breathing much easier. Let's hope those ABs work their magic nice and quick!

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Thankfully some nice things also happened during the week! I ordered three (yes three!) birthday presents for myself and they all arrived within days of each other.

A new thimble for handquilting - inspired by this post from Jan @ Be*mused. I bought it from The Scissorman.The official McTavishing bible. I hadn't heard of this until Emma showed off her version. Can't wait to try some of this. It will be much better than my straight line quilting!And 'Story' by Hollywood screenwriting genius Robert McKee. I couldn't get to one of his last ever seminars run this weekend in Australia (he's retiring), so this is the next best thing. It will be a great read, although it will have to wait, as I have many other books already in the queue!I am very glad I treated myself. Turns out I really needed a lift after what's been a very trying week.

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One more thing. I was saddened to hear of Michael Jackson's death, but at the same time I felt a bit relieved. What a tortured life his became after such bright beginnings. Makes me all the more determined to help my children enjoy their childhood. It's so important that they be allowed to be children.

Like brother, like sister

Yep, you can tell they're related!

And here's one of Tristan, who managed to get himself lodged in Romily's pool ring. He thought it was pretty funny...until he couldn't get out! He has started getting up on his hands and knees and rocking - I think we're going to have a baby who can move forwards any day now. He also tried to clap his hands for the first time today. It's such a cute age!

Precious little crafting going on here, although I am selecting fabrics for a special cushion cover long promised to my dear friend Kate. Hope to get it made by the weekend. A couple of other projects on the boil too - it's good to be crafting again!

Blog book 2 easy!

Things are a bit subdued around here. The dreadful fires in Victoria (nearly 200 people are confirmed dead) have really affected me and I haven't been my usual cheery self. I just feel so sad for the poor people left behind. There are a couple of crafty things happening around the net that will allow me to contribute in a small way, in addition to our cash donation to the Red Cross.

In addition to feeling a bit down, Tristan has been having terrible nights, waking 3-5 times, usually requiring a feed to settle him back to sleep. He then wakes at 6am. Thankfully Carl gets up with him so I can get another hour or two of sleep. I am stuffed. I look forward to the day when he actually sleeps through!

I haven't been able to do much sewing, although I have finished the hand quilting on Luca's quilt. Needs a bit of machine quilting before it's ready to be bound.

I've also been otherwise occupied with getting this place cleaned and tidied in readiness for a big BBQ we're having at our place on Saturday. I've started baking the desserts this evening and will make up the salads on Saturday morning. We've asked our friends to bring meat and drinks - it's a recession barbie after all!

Hopefully I'll be able to get the machine out again on Sunday. Those two baby quilts need to be finished!

In the meantime, I followed Chookyblue's lead and made a book of my blog! Where Donna made a real book, I opted for the e-book version, as the real book would have cost USD$160 + postage - I have obviously written a great deal over the past three years! I don't have that kind of cash kicking around! Rather spend it on fabric :) Blog2Print did a great job of grabbing my entire blog and emailing me a link to the (18meg) PDF - all for the princely sum of USD$2.99 and no postage :) Having always been worried about what would happen to my blog if Blogger or Google went *poof* I can now rest easy. Thanks for the tip Donna!

No sewing, but a little something to show anyway

I recently made another onesie appliqué set for my cousin and his wife, who've recently had a baby boy called Oscar. I'm not quite so thrilled with how these turned out - I think the design might have been a bit too small and the fabric too busy. Live and learn I guess. There's a car appliquéd to each side of the hat...it's getting colder here by the day.

Had a reasonable day today. Went to the National Gallery to see the Turner to Monet exhibition before it closes next weekend. It was jam-packed with people so trying to negotiate the exibit with a pram was not fun. Romily and I ended up leaving early and wandered around the rest of the gallery while Carl had a good look. I went back later for my turn - there were far fewer people, so it was much better.
As you can see, we have a budding artist in the family. Just kidding, but isn't she just a picture of concentration?

Might even get the sewing machine out tonight. Need to do more appliquéd onesies and some booties for a friend who's had yet another baby boy, Archer. Might also do some for my bub :) Will just do simple (and larger) appliqués this time. The booties will be cute though.

Hopefully tomorrow I can decide on the butterfly block I want to use for the Hungry Caterpillar quilts and start working out fabrics and cutting. My guess is that I won't get any piecing done until next weekend, but that's okay, as it's a long weekend! I am taking the Friday off as well, so I will enjoy a four-day weekend. Sounds like bliss to me :)

A little bit of Tour de France in Australia

Very exciting news that Aussie rider Cadel Evans (above) is heading for a podium finish in the Tour de France! It's the first time an Australian will finish in the top three - as long as he doesn't fall off his bike on the final stage! I'd watch every minute of the race if I could, but, alas, it's on in the middle of the night Australian time. I have been staying up a bit late this past week to watch an hour or so, enjoying the marvellous scenery and being astounded that those whippets of men can ride their bikes high up into the Alps and the Pyrenees - having spent several weeks in the region back in 2004 I know what those roads are like - they are even occasionally tricky to drive up!!

I also loved watching the scenery flash past when they were riding through the Perigord and Dordogne areas, knowing that that is where Dordogne Clare lives. What a beautiful place in the world - now I know why she's living there!

In other news, my copy of the latest Ottobre magazine arrived. I think it may well be the best magazine in the universe! Only shame is that there is as yet, to my knowledge, no Australian importer of the fabrics they use. And the price of postage from the EU to Australia is prohibitively expensive. We have very little choice in quality printed knit fabric here, which is a real shame, as I would love to make all of Romily's clothes for her (if I actually had the time, that is!). If anyone knows of an Australian supplier, do let me know. I've found www.fabrichound.com in the US, but it seems a bit silly to be buying European fabric from the US and then having it shipped here.

To answer a couple of comments on my last post:
- I have not yet made the bag from the pattern I bought - the picture is the one that comes with the pattern! My photography is not that good...yet!
- The bag doesn't have a zip, but it does have a tab/button closure on the inside.

The weekend is scooting by very quickly - we had a lovely day here yesterday - sun shining, sky blue - still not far off freezing, but nice enough to head outdoors. We went for a family bike ride around the lake and it was lovely (although a cold cross-wind is not so nice). I always feel so good after a bit of leg-stretch and lung-pump! But it's Sunday afternoon already and I've done no stitching. Hoping to get some done after lunch - Romily is finally asleep, after battling her nap for more than an hour. Many hugs later she's finally conked out. Thank goodness!

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!

Professional chapter closed

Phew! I finished working yesterday at the company I've been employed at for more than the past two and a half years. I had around 14 months of leave without pay during that time so it's really only 18 months. However the last six months have draaaaged, being employed in a less meaningful job since I returned from leave after having Romily. The position I had been in before I went on leave was exciting and strategic and professionally satisfying - it was moved interstate and I didn't want to go. The job I had upon returning to work was boring, cyclical, unsatisfying and unchallenging. Not what I look for in a job!

I also suspect, although can not prove it, that my boss found me a little difficult to manage, as I don't take rubbish lying down. I think she was happy to have me in a job where we had little interaction. So it all added up to me being very unhappy at work and not using my skills, knowledge or qualifications. Therefore I had two choices - deal with it or find another job! As I mentioned in an earlier post, I have done just that :)

I am going back to work at the Department of Defence as a public servant (known as a civil servant in the US) in a job that sounds like it will be much more suited to me and I will be much suited to it. Let's hope so anyway! I have a week off before starting the new job and I'm planning to make the most of it! I am taking Romily down to Melbourne this weekend to visit friends and family and leaving Carl to have nearly three days of peace and quiet where it's just him and the cat!!

I am also going to Gymbaroo (Toddler Kindy) with Carl and Romily - I haven't been since I went back to work and then Romily wasn't walking. It should be a lot of fun to watch her participating in all the activities fully.

On the stitching front it's been very quiet. Too tired at night to do any. Hope to get a little done over the next couple of days and then I'll have something to show you.

In the meantime, another photo or two will have to do. We took Romily to the Australian National Botanic Gardens last weekend and she had a great time wandering around the place. So did we.

Gorgeous Eucaplypt

Carl & Romily with a lovely copper sundial

How could you resist this face?

Byeeee!

Water Dragon - can you see him?

Dropped off the face of the earth

Well not quite - I can't believe it's nearly two weeks since I posted. Have been planning to show off some photos from my new camera, but have only just got around to loading the software. And I still have to download all the photos to our other computer because we still don't have a new one and this one's USB ports are busted. So I have to transfer everything via CD. A very big pain the bum!

Very busy indeed at work and at home - I've had hardly any time to myself, although I have started yoga again. It's been 18 months (yes, just before Rom was born), and I really need it. I just love yoga (I just do hatha) and have missed it a lot. It's good to be back into it again - although I've realisd just how weak I've become!

I have done absolutely no stitching or anything crafty for two weeks. What a shocker. I've just been so tired and struggling to keep my eyes open after putting Romily down for the night. Too tired by half.

Romily is going really well - she speaks about 40 words consistently at the moment, understands just about everything we ask her, answers yes or no to all our questions and has finally started saying 'ta'. She had her last jab the other day until she's four - the chicken pox vaccine has just come onto our 'free' inoculation list. I say 'free' because you still have to pay for the doctor's appointment! She is so gorgeous at the moment - 18 months is the most gorgeous age!

We're off to Sydney for the weekend after I finish work tomorrow afternoon - we haven't been there since before Romily was born. (Well I had a day trip with Rom when she was five months old, but Carl didn't come). I am looking forward to just getting out of Canberra for the weekend and just mooching about with no firm commitments, no timetables, just random, leisurely wandering!

Bashka - 13 weeks (photos from the breeder)

And to top it all off, our Bengal kitten Bashka arrives in Canberra on Monday afternoon - I can't wait - I am so excited about having a pet - it's been 10 years. I think I may even be more excited that Romily will be when she realises the 'mau' is a permanent fixture/captive target!

Sorry I haven't been keeping up to date with everyone's blogs - I have hardly been online at all.

Hopefully I'll have some stitching to report next week! Until then, take care my little chickadees!

Nothing to show for it

Howdy.

Just exhausted here. Nothing fun either. Just work, very little play and not enough sleep.

And no sewing to show you either. Although I have been doing some applique - I am making four blocks for Clare's Quilts 4 Leukaemia challenge. I slipped into her last round of contributors and was most relieved when she said there was no rush!

I'll be able to post a photo of the finished blocks over the weekend. It's a long weekend here - Friday is Australia Day. I usually really look forward to long weekends, but not at the moment - it just means I have to fit five days worth of work into four. Grrr.

So I feel like I've been doing a lot of work, but have nothing to show for it.

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We have had a little time for fun - Carl and I took Romily to the walk-in aviary in Canberra the weekend before last. She loved it - there was an amazing number of different parrots, finches, budgies and galahs. There were also quail, doves and lots of other birds. Romy loved it - she could run around to her heart's content and she also fed some apple to the gamer birds, some very experienced and noisy lorikeets. We had a lot of fun.

This little bird has obviously worked out what new humans into the enclosure means - fresh apple. He landed on Carl's shoulder within seconds of us walking in!