Bushfires remembered and an update on your generous donations...

Hi to everyone. In about an hour it will be the 1st anniversary of the Black Saturday bushfires in Australia. Those of you who follow my blog will know that blocks were sent here from all of you lovely supportive quilters all over the world. I haven't made a big fanfare as they have all quietly been being completed and in many cases dispersed...I don't think any of us made our blocks to be made a fuss of, just to wrap our quilts of support around those affected. But these are a few photos that have been snapped of quilts in progress and I thought you may like to see how some ended up. There are still a few big ones in progress, there hasn't been a huge hurry on these last ones as a lot of people are still in temporary housing...the quilts will in many instances be a new house present.

I would like to again thank you all for making these blocks in the first place, and my quilt group for helping put them together, well done all!

And tonight I would like you all to remember the victims in your prayers, and the many people still waiting for a new home...add that to your Haiti thoughts....Stay safe, Tracey

Gotta love a kaffe fassett border

gotta love those circles

Why don't I make more scrappy churn dash quilts?

And this as well...

*****Late edit*****Just visited my lovely friend dawn's blog and she'd just found out her hubby is being deployed. Usually a fabulously funny read, maybe not so much tonight, but well worth a visit to say hi ...

New cards, quilting gallery sponsorship and your chance to win!!

Back in the groove for the New year, harvest nearly over, kids back at school...so a range of new cards is appearing. You can see the whole range at the sidebar link to Tracey's country cards.
I am sponsoring next week's quilting Gallery quilt competition, you can win a pack of 15 of my cards. You can enter a quilt at Quilting Gallery for next weekend's vote or to share the valentine's day love, you can also comment anywhere on the my blog between now and Valentine's day. I am offering the same prize..(at least !) for my competition-a pack of 15 cards of your choice! Have fun and remember, enter by valentine's day! Good luck!

I've found the blame!

I have lost 6 kilos twice in the last 6 months, and after the Christmas season I am probably going to have to lose them again. Enough to break your heart! Imagine the results if I'd just lost the 12! I think I have finally found the problem...
I bought these yesterday for my Dad's birthday,
he feels the same about Lindt as I do, and Lindt Easter eggs...there's NOTHING better.
Now, I had the best of intentions, figured I am 40 now, I can buy my favourite chocolate when it's on sale and keep it for 2 weeks...I'm 40 now......I'm 40 now...I'm 40 now (if I say it enough it may sink in or start to take effect!
Well, here's what's left...

Three lonely, uneaten chocs and I don't like their chances of lasting the night!
I cannot have chocolate or anything bad in the house-it plays on my mind, my husband definitely thinks it's like alcoholism!
So I may as well eat it now and we'll both be put out of our misery...and no more storing chocs in the house!...just go back to the singles I buy myself as a reward once a week for grocery shopping! Speaking of exercise, I ran into my auntie at my nana's funeral, she had been going great guns at hand piecing the last time I saw her. Asked her how it was going and she broke the bad news that with her type 2 diabetes the doc told her she had to give it up, there was no exercise in quilting!!! I think surely there must be a happy balance in our lives? Next week the kids will go back to school after 8 weeks and I will go back to 4 exercise sessions and a more scheduled family life.....there has to be room to fit exercise and quilting surely...that 6 kgs will just have to go again, but surely that doesn't mean the vastly more that 6 kgs of stash has to go as well! What do you think about the balance?

Stitched this for a little project this week, will show you the follow up in a week or two.
Have a great day...and find YOUR balance!
...

Bags, skirts and cameras...

Have had a few days with the extended family holidaying and celebrating my sister's birthday. I can safely show her present now. It is a bag made from what i think is known as mexican oilcloth. It is lined in coordinating polka dots, same oilcloth. Tricky sewing this stuff when it's lined with the plastic fabric as well. I use a teflon foot and leather needle, makes it much easier. I wouldn't mind getting onto this stuff direct so if anyone knows a good lead, yell out.

Made my niece another skirt, more Heather Bailey.

After my husband discovered you can buy a lot more than fabric direct from the US, I had a little look at cameras...and found out I could save about 40 % by dealing direct. I have just about worn mine out- I bought the latest model of the same thing...why spoil a beautiful friendship!! The 17th street photo shop in New York very kindly sent me this....

I was very impressed with their deal and service.
I got the extras pack as well, a tripod, charger and rechargeable batteries, card reader, 2 gig memory card and camera bag. I would recommend them to anyone. Have a great day, Tracey

card display unit and a skirt.

Home long enough from the beach to do some sewing.

A shop wants to sell my animal cards so I made them up a little display unit to show their selection.

Just used clear vinyl as the pockets. I have made a few of these for home and they have ended up in shops, must add it to my list again, would be handy for notes, cards, to do lists etc. I have no idea how I just underlined this, oh well....

Also been dressmaking. This little skirt is a design I am working on for my 18 month old niece, elastic in the back, none in the front. I even sacrificed some Heather Bailey, but with her being this cute who wouldn't!

Off to her mother's birthday tomorrow, just finished her present and will take a picture of it in good light in the morning, have a great day, Tracey

Love that beach!!

Apparently you friends in the US and Britain are experiencing extreme winter conditions and here in oz it's hot, darn hot. 40 today and yesterday and 43 tomorrow. Perfect weather for yesterday's effort...5 1/2 hours on the beach achieved this...

Half the beach people either came to dig or came to take photos.

Look at howthis second picture makes our work look a little like Australia.
The ocean eventually won the long battle, but it was great fun...haven't worked that hard with a shovel for years. The kids loved it, their uncle and Mum working along with them, you can't buy that fun at an electronics shop......
Of course there was only one downside, I spent so much time concentrating on the kids sunscreen that, while I had that long sleeve rash vest, hat and face sunscreen, i seem to have neglected the legs...I wont put you off your meals by posting a pic, but just get a mental picture of beetroot! My husband can't believe it as I am the sunscreen police!!

I have taken all the photos from my nan's photo board and scanned them all into the computer to make a photo book for each of Mum's brothers and sisters. I especially love this one of them rabitting and thought you may like to see it as well. My mum is the little girl, my aunt in my late Nana's arms and her brother is there helping.
Too hot to sew today, hopefully Wednesday looks good for some serious progress,
Stay warm..or cool!! Love Tracey

Therapy report

Nana, and Pa in his urn, has been appropriately sent off. The eulogy all went fine and the day went well...must have been the fabric therapy the night before.
After an hour and 10 minutes I had accomplished this much...

...very rough and completely unmeasured...breaking every "proper" rule actually!!

But it's amazing how a little bit of pressing and cutting to size at the finish can help...in the approximately 20 minutes I have had to spare since, we have got them to this stage,

The teddies one has really been made with the scrap bag dregs, i was determined to try and use everything. The greens are coming up as a cute table runner/centre.

Off to the beach today, hope your day is great, Tracey

What price therapy?

 
 
 


Heartfelt thanks to everyone who has left such lovely messages about my darling nana. The eulogy is all written and ready to give tomorrow, but beyond that I am ready to hide from my children under the bed...or run outside and scream!! Doesn't hormonal joy hit at just the perfect moment!!!
I hate to think what an hour's massage or therapy would cost me...and all too hard to organize a time and place anyway...but I have one clear hour before I need to start making tea and I am going for $2 scrap bag therapy!
I have tipped out the contents, I am not in the mood to trim or press anything at this point, or to search the stash for matching.... I am just going to sew for a solid hour and see what happens!! If I have to throw it out, it will still have been cheap fun!!
...and my husband thinks this hobby costs him money!!!

Categorically not the best New Year's day ever!

A quiet New Year with friends last night and i ended up hypothetically sleeping on the couch so Dh could try to get the broken ribs cosy in bed...I say hypothetically because I don't think I slept at all, between barking dogs and their attempt to get a rat in the garden, the daughter's cat thinking I was purely there to replace the cat toys and the sheer fact it was the couch..I woke up feeling ordinary.
My 94 year old grandma is in a home 120 kms from here and took a downward turn at Christmas so I took the fact dh was having the day off as a chance to see her without making the kids see her deteriorated. Dh took one look at me and said to go tomorrow, as I hadn't slept the night before either as I kept checking him all night to make sure there weren't any undetected internal or lung troubles. But i didn't like to put it off. Got there and her respirations were a lot stronger and she didn't seem absolutely terrible but i thought I didn't want her alone so i would stay until some of the others returned...and all of a sudden at about 2.45 pm she drew out her breaths and passed away with me holding her hand...not in the script when her daughters had spent the last 2 nights with her expecting this, then left to sleep because it didn't seem so likely! So an afternoon of ringing the family, talking to nurses and waiting by myself sitting with my late grandma for others to get there meant I only got back here at 7pm.
Now, it's bed...and heaven help the dog, cat, kid or husband that disturbs tonight's beauty sleep!
RIP Nana, after a life that completely revolved around your family.
Everyone else, Have a better day..and a good sleep! Tracey

Forecast...no change predicted here!

40 degrees here, with hot strong northerly winds...there's nothing cool about north winds in this area of the Southern hemisphere!
Another year about to depart...almost 2 pm, a few due here for New Year's...(perfect for the pool)..I have just got home from groceries, food to prepare,tidying to do and a wardrobe to sort because I decided today was the day to get that organized so the contents are all over my floor! I have realised that with the best of intentions the New Year will bring no change here! I am always full of good intentions and attempts to be more organizedand nothing will be different! But really, when life is good, why make too many changes!
We have had a little extra excitement here and perhaps a little extra to be thankful for as we leave the old year behind.. my darling husband was in too much of a hurry yesterdy between fixing a windmill in the heat and trying to cart loads to the silo and came off his quad bike. Of all the days he had his phone on the charger and I was returning niece and nephew to my sister, so it was very fortunate he managed to get himself up, get the bike back up and get home, of course he went back about his work and only went to emergency a few hours later when breathing got tricky!! turns out there are a fair few broken ribs, a dodgy arm and leg but he's dosed on painkillers and back working, harvest stops for no-one. They are closing silos early so he promises he will be home to put his feet up. I shudder when I think of the eventualities if he had been knocked out or the bike had fallen further and unbalanced onto him in the table drain as it threatened to, with noone home and noone with any idea where he was..in 38 degree temps!

Here is a harvesting photo from the other night for you.
My dh has become a bit of an online shopper lately as well, I started it with the fabric, but I have a feeling he got just slightly carried away! here's his purchase...


Gotta love those husbands!! Have agreat New Year and see you next year, love Tracey