Canberra Quilters - bushfire help

If you're in Canberra, hop on over to the Canberra Quilters blog for information about what they're doing for the bushfire victims.

Luca's quilt all finished

A finish! I am very pleased how Luca's quilt turned out, having worried half-way through making it that all those brights would be overwhelming. I ended up going off the lime green binding idea - that was way too much, but the aqua/purple spots I found were the perfect complement to the feature fabrics.
I backed it in bright orange - if you're going to go bright you might as well go all the way! And used a photo of Luca on the label. The quilt, which measures 31" x 38" is on its way to Queensland to a very beautiful bub.

Mwah. Almost makes me want another one! Almost but not quite - two is certainly enough for me!!

Tristan at 6 months

Wow six months have whizzed by since my little gorgeous bubba boy was born. I can't quite believe it. He is absolutely divine and if he had worked out how to sleep through the night, I'd think he was quite perfect!

This was Tristan two days after he was born.And this is my little fella today (having just collapsed his baby gym onto himself).
Here he is at one month on his beautiful quilt made by my lovely EB quilting buddies.Here he is now.And with his daggy big sister.
I am in love :)

Quilty goodness!

I finally got the machine out and quilted Luca's quilt! Hooray. I haven't done any free motion quilting for a while, so I thought I'd have a go at a practice square first before diving in. Thank goodness I did, as I had somehow totally stuffed up my bobbin tension when cleaning the bobbin housing. After several attempts at sorting it out using the dials, I got out the miniature screwdrivers and readjusted the bobbin tension manually. You're not supposed to do this, but I did it anyway! I decided that an all-over swirly pattern for the borders was the goods to match the crazy fabric and as a contrast to the hand quilting in the centre panel. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out (click for a bigger image).
I stitched down the binding last night and will design and print the label today and hopefully get that sewn on tonight. Next on the cards is Daniel's quilt, which still needs to be sandwiched - why does life keep getting in the way of quilting?

During the week I received some surprise squishy mail! I hadn't ordered anything (on a fabric diet this year) and it wasn't my 4SQS5, so what could it be?
Ah, that's right, my first Amitie VIP blogger 'scrap pack'. Lovely fabrics and a pattern for a retro apron. Now to work out what to do with them...

Valentine's delish

Friday was Carl's birthday and yesterday was our fifth wedding anniversary. *Awwwww*

To celebrate, we had a bunch of Carl's oldest friends and some of their kids around for a BBQ. Of course it was cold, so we had it inside - Carl and the hardier males of the group hunkered out on the balcony and cooked the food trying to make it look like they weren't actually cold at all!

Being Valentine's Day and all, I decided to make a pink pavlova in the shape of a heart! It was hiliarious, but also delicious, as it was eaten super fast! The strawberries were delicious - and such beautiful strawbs were difficult to come by at the moment so they tasted even better.
I made a chocolate sponge cake for the birthday cake - it was filled with whipped cream and topped with coffee icing.And Romily helped me make a lemon cheesecake too.Everyone sang happy birthday to Carl and Rom helped blow out the candles.

Rom was lucky enough to score some more 'loot' (dress-up jewellery) from our friends whose girls are now 'too old' for such fun (of course I reckon you're never too old for dress-ups!). Here she is looking bushwhacked after everyone left around 9pm.
And here's a shot of Tristan earlier in the day. Could he get any cuter?We had a lovely time, although I suffered through yesterday with a corker of a headache. It finally disappeared overnight.

Now I just have to finish the washing up and I am clear to get the sewing machine out and start quilting Daniel and Luca's quilts.

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And if you fancy going in for a giveaway or two this week, head over to Kylie's blog!

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!

Daniel's quilt - top finished

Despite the oppressive heat, I actually managed to get the sewing machine out yesterday afternoon to finish baby Daniel's quilt top.
I'm happy with how this has turned out. I'm going to get it sandwiched tonight so I can get the (machine) quilting done during the week.

The handquilting is continuing slowly on baby Luca's quilt (yes, he has a name!).

It's been too hot to think here. Just disgusting temperatures. And dozens of bushfires throughout Victoria and New South Wales, with many people dead in Victoria. What a terrifying thing to have happen to you. Fortunately, those in my family who live near Bendigo are safe. My heart goes out to the families of those who have died.

Beach holiday

We managed to sneak in a beach holiday last week, with five days down near the New South Wales South Coast, in a cabin park at a place called Nelligen, which is on the very picturesque Clyde River. We stayed in this great 2-bedroom cabin, which is right on a tidal creek that feeds into the river. Lots of interesting things in there for Romily to check out with Daddy.

Nelligen is also near Batemans Bay, the centre of action on the South Coast. It's a very pretty spot.Although it was stinking hot (not as hot as in Canberra or Melbourne or Adelaide - thank god), our cabin had air conditioning that battled valiantly to keep us cool. Romily and Carl spent around 6 hours each day in the water and Tristan and I had a couple of swims too.

We had a trip to the Mogo Zoo, which I've been wanting to visit for ages. It didn't disappoint. It's not very big, but it's beautifully set up and you can see all the animals - they have lovely enclosures and 'seem' happy. Rom enjoyed herself until she got a bit too hot and 'couldn't' walk any further! Daddy gave her a shoulder ride, despite her protests (she hates them), and we made it back to the exit just as the day started to really get hot.
A Brazilian Tapir - he also loves to swim!
Oh deer!A regal looking ServalThis cute fella is a Cotton-Tailed TamarinA Romily monkey.
My two smiley boys.
And two Red Pandas...looking strangely comfortable!

We also spent a gorgous morning down on the Broulee South beach (no photos - I had my hands full!), having a couple of dips in the clear water that was the most perfect temperature, and catching up briefly with my friend Ruth and her family who were holidaying as well.

I even managed to get some handquilting done on the bright retro quilt I'm making for my friend Diane, who was scheduled to have her bub yesterday (still waiting for the email Aaron!).

It was a very relaxing way to spend the week. Back to reality this week. Boy, we've been busy. Romily goes to playschool (like 3yo pre-school) two mornings a week and we also had to take our car in for a service on Tuesday. Today is Gymbaroo and tomorrow is a rest day. It's going to be horribly hot over the weekend, so I think we'll be hunkering down inside enjoying the airconditioning and hoping we don't have a power brownout! I'd like to get baby Daniel's Full Moon Forest quilt finished too.

Dummy spit

Yes, my friends, those are dummies! (Pacifiers to you good folk in North America)

Tristan likes to have a dummy to go off to sleep, but they kept disappearing mysteriously. I had looked under the bed every time I vacuumed and found one or two, but that didn't explain where the others had gone. I thought there might be one or two perhaps lodged between the mattress and the wall, but when I pulled the underbed storage tubs out to vacuum the other day, I happened to glance up.

I counted 10 dummies in total! I had a good laugh, got Carl to come and have a look, snapped a couple of photos and then asked Romily to crawl in under the cot and retrieve them. Most of them went into the bin, but a couple of recent purchases were washed and sterilised and put back into circulation. Now I know where to look, we shouldn't have too many escapees!

First pavlova

I must confess that I have a new toy that is distracting me a little from crafting! It's the Australian Women's Weekly BAKE cookbook. Oh my goodness. I am in love. Although my hips will not thank me!
Anyway, I summoned up the courage on Saturday to have a go at my first ever pavlova. It looked great when it came out of the oven, although I had a problem with it sticking to the foil and it cracked as I tried to remove it. Oh well, as the cook book pointed out, it doesn't matter how beautiful it is, it still tastes fantastic. And it did. Yum to all that meringue, marshmallow, cream and berries!

The book is huge, and includes just about every baking recipe published by the AWW test kitchens. It's beautifully compiled and presented and contains all kinds of history about baking, as well as tips and shortcuts that will either make you a great baker or make you look like one! Thoroughly recommended.

(If anyone wants to buy this, head to Big W, where it's discounted to $45 from the RRP of $75!!)

Electrifying!

We've been having some wild and woolly weather here lately! Hot, hot days followed by electrical storms at night. We had a short but frenetic storm last night that left several of Canberra's northern suburbs without power overnight. Fortunately we were unaffected, although I did have to put a towel down at the base of our front door to stop the water blowing in!
We had quite a hail storm here on Wednesday. It was so loud! I managed to snap a few photos - including one showing the size of the hailstones.
Oh, and Tristan's second tooth is through!

A little quilty something

Unlike in Canada, the US and Europe, where it's been a 'tad chilly', it's been outrageously hot here in Australia's capital. So hot that I daren't take the children outside as they'd dehydrate before my eyes, especially Tristan. So we've been going a bit stir crazy, bunkering down inside where the airconditioning does its valiant best to keep us cool.

In between entertaining Romily and Tristan, I managed to find a bit of time to design the next cot quilt. It's going to have 12 feature squares from the Tula Pink Forest Moon range (which, sadly you can't get anymore - a couple of stores have bits and pieces but there's very little yardage or FQs to be had). Fortunately I grabbed a 5" charm pack when I saw it! The feature pieces will be bordered by white on white and then chocolate brown with a cream fleck, then sashed with the white on white, with a narrow border on the sides and a big fat border top and bottom of the same white. I think it will be very clean and modern but also a little whimsical with the jumping fish, bunnies and squirrels tucked away in several of the designs.

Despite feeling way too hot to sit next to my hot sewing machine, I think I might persevere tonight and get the blocks pieced.
Easy peasy piecing is about all I can manage at the moment. Tristan has been having shocking nights - up to four feeds a night has been doing my head in and rendering me next to useless during the day. Fortunately we discovered why on Sunday! He cut his first tooth. I can't believe my not-quite-five-months-old bubba has his first tooth! I am trying not to despair at the loss of the gummy smile on my last baby :)

He is very beautiful, which makes the sleepless nights and grumpy days just about bearable!

Red moon rise

We had a red moon rise on Wednesday night. It was spectacular! Not quite full, but it really does look like there's a face (click to enlarge and tell me I'm wrong!!).

Score!

I was stoked to find this 40 x 3m pack of craft ribbons in Big W (similar to Walmart for those of you in the US) the other week. A steal at only $20. That's 50c a roll. Score!

More feathered friends

At the risk of this blog becoming a twitter's delight, here are some more feathered friends who dropped by for a visit - this time two juvenile kookaburras. Very cute and fluffy! (Click for a larger image)

Vote for Scarlett

The fabulous Kate, whom I mentioned in the previous post has entered an online art comp, which is open to a vote (the picture on the left is one of her entries). If you've got a spare couple of minutes, please give her a vote!

I've entered an art competition that I'm close to winning, and I'm grovelling for votes. You have to sign up to vote, but it only takes a minute (and if you uncheck the 'mailing list' box, you won't hear a peep out of them). Click here to vote.

Thanks!

Making me happy

I have to show off one of my Christmas presents - actually my favourite Christmas present! It was from my little brother and his very excellent other half (go check out her artwork). Bill has had somewhat 'eclectic' taste in his gift giving up till now, but, since he met Kate, he has been making us happy at Christmas and on birthdays.

How's this for a perfect present?
The Material Obsession book (you can get yours here). It's a fabulously fresh and modern approach to quiltmaking, with some interesting twists on traditional blocks, as well as an amazing use of colour. The foreword is by Kaffe Fasset - what an endorsement! Lots and lots of quilty inspiration there.

And 5 Amy Butler FQs from her Belle range. It's just beautiful fabric :)

FABULOUS! Now I just have to work out what I'm going to do with them!

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And just quietly, anyone out there a Battlestar Galactica fan? Carl and I just finished watching Season 4.0 - oh my goodness. What a great show. Can't wait for the final 10 episodes to come out on disk...stupid free-to-air stations here don't screen it. (No spoilers please! I know it's already been screened in the US. I am studiously avoiding any websites that tell me how it was all resolved! LOL)