Back... with 3 baby quilts.

Hello, hello, can anyone hear me, is this thing on??

Probably more to the point is anyone out there after a 2 week break?

Unavoidable, family life called louder than the computer-funerals, lots of sorting out, flu for me, tonsillitis for my girl, a tummy wog for my boy, a DH who needed time and sleep and a birthday party for a dozen 9 year olds. A slightly typical(?) or not, mother's fortnight.

The one slightly good thing about the flu was that it was a bit of a slow recovery so sewing seemed the best choice. A few quick and easy baby quilts to catch up on my present giving.

Love this tractor panel fabric for a little boy farm baby. I think it was from equilter, that or hancocks.

It's joined on the fence by another little chenille and cotton baby quilt. This one is pink John Deere! Perfect for a little girl farm baby.

Here's a closeup, isn't it cute fabric. I bought it at a field day, but have seen it, I think, at equilter.

These are the backs. I just reverse the fronts, so have a white one side, a pink john Deere the other. If people for any reason don't like the shaggy look they could use it this way.

This last one is for Clancy's little brother, Sydney. His Mum likes bright..luckily!

I think this is mostly equilter as well... I like the farm alphabet blocks.

I know everyone likes birthday cake ideas, so here is today's pirate ship effort. The candles were meant to look slightly like a burning deck, the big candle is the cannon, polly pocket was sacrificed as the model who is on the front of the boat, a han solo figure is the pirate and the sail are pictures of the boy, he was happy!

Hope everyone is well, I am hoping to start on the bloglines soon and begin to catch up!

Tracey

Two more finishes.

The Lone Star finish got me in the mood, so in between working on bushfire quilts and chasing sheep I have finished another couple of UFOs.

We celebrated my older niece's 4th birthday today, she received her big girl quilt to go along with her book I showed last post. I made a matching one of these for her doll's bed as well.

I also finished this little baby quilt/throw. It is made from Fig and Plum charm squares and about a half a yard of coordinating green, with the cream binding. There are cream daisies (in the binding colour) appliqued on. I was bored with this just as squares and had sat it aside...(a fatal mistake here!), then visited Anne Ida's blog and her daisies were just the inspiration I needed! They need a green button in the centre yet.

I just backed it in cosy polar so the appliquing is the quilting, I did it in a light pink to make the back as useable as the front.

I tried a different binding, just because the nights are lonely!! I folded the binding strip in half and ironed the fold down. Then folded each side under and pressed, then sewed through all layers onto the quilt. Very quick and easy for a basic blanket.

Took some more pictures of the quilts before they diasappeared, with my some of my favourite props. Did you notice the pink one has a little daisy in the right bottom corner, this is because I put the scissors through the sashing when i was cutting off threads this morning!! I have decided to keep some of the pink dot material aside, I told my sister we can add a daisy every time a texta is left open on it, paper scissors go astray or it is jumped on and the seams come loose... I wonder how many daisies will end up on the quilt in the next 6 years?????!!!

My mother-in-law is entering her 3rd week of struggle, the medication is finally keeping her peaceful.

Have a good day...and happy pretend birthday to the Queen today, my kids enjoyed your Monday holiday to visit their cousins and see "A night at the Museum 2" which we all thoroughly enjoyed."

Finished my hand pieced Lone Star!!

Whoo-hoo...light the fireworks,break out the whisky (any excuse!!) ....we have an identified and competed UFO!!!!!

TA-DA!

Okay, well, that was a slight lie. It is completed in that it is bound, the star is fully finished and appliqued on-AND the star is shaded in...wait for it...drum roll please...real, honest to goodness, HAND QUILTING!!! I am hoping for more hand quilting in the big gold areas, but as it is attached to a pre-quilted back there isn't a desperate hurry for this.
Yes, that is correct, the only thing not done by hand on this quilt is the attaching of the binding to edge-everything else has been completed by these hands that spend half their time playing up on me! The star was all individual diamond templates.
My Dh and I had date night by his mother's hospital bed last night, between that and two kids playing sport I have got a lot of work done on it lately.


It is from Kathy Shmitz's blackbird Village range of a few years ago. It was started a few summers ago and has waited patiently for me to work out how to complete it for a LONG time! I love Lone or Bethlehem stars and am very proud of this one!
Thank you for all the kind comments and support regarding my MIL. There is no improvement, it is my DH's 8th vigil tonight. I am very proud of him. They seem to be rapidly increasing her doses of morphine, but even then she is only settling for an hour at a time.
Too much depressing stuff, not what my blog's point is, so today I took some farm photos for you when i was going around the ewes and lambs. Unlike Scarlett's offsider in Gone with the wind, I do know a bit about birthing babies and I bought these two into the world, then enjoyed the sun on my back and the restfulness of kids at their grandparents and not being able to wake DH at home for half an hour while I watched their Mama go about her side of the deal...

Licking them clean and dry....
Let's just hope for her sake that is spearmint flavoured!!

Cautious first steps..


She's just smelling to check I wore gloves-oh boy, did I ever wear gloves!!
Off to dig up the chutney recipe..I must find the chutney recipe!-and sweep the floor, and do some exercise and clean out the kid's school bags..and wash...sigh!....
Hope your day is great, Tracey

ps, the reptile on my knee last post was a blue-tongued lizard..and I still love them! And yes, they do bite, something my Mother may have taken into consideration but then I wouldn't have one of my favourite pics!

Back to farm wife life......

So, what's my excuse??

Well, I consider myself on a month's annual leave. Annual leave from organizing anyway! The market is done and dusted. School made around $8000 from the morning. It was a great team effort. My excuse for the slack posting?...150 jars of jams and pickles, 25 foot of Strudel, 10 slabs of hedgehog, 25 bags of toffee, 25 of Rocky Road, buying all supplies and doing all other necessary coordinator stuff...while fitting in picking up a dog, finalizing raffle quilts...throwing the family food.... You know how it is!

Our lambing began the day before the market so i promised DH as soon as the market was out of the way I would take over the sheep and cattle and he could happily sit in a tractor around the clock and get the crop in. So that's what's happening.

I am watching a lot of ladies sort out whose kids belong to whom..and feeding 3 orphans already.

While Dh got in the Willy Wonka man with his seed cleaning contraption and is now flat out sowing the crops. -In the mornings my house yard looks like the yard of a machinery dealership, I will have to snap a pic next time all the tractors and equipment are here.

Haven't had the proper Autumn break yet, our springs aren't running and it's only drizzling rain. Lots of frosty mornings and clear afternoons. The pets that live outside have developed strategies for this...

Do you think Archie minds Mr. R the farm cat utilizing him like this? Not one bit, I would say! Rosie is still living a cosier life, I am pleased she was a hit, we adore her, my big tough DH and I fight over who gets to cuddle her of a night...now if there was only an easy way to cure the little accidents on my kitchen floor!!

In between trying to rediscover whether my laundry in fact has a floor, and whizzing around my farm on the motobike, I have also done some sewing.

My little niece, Daisy is one already. I dropped her in a bigger quilt than her original "Daisy" balnket a few days ago. That barefoot roses stash is just about gone now! I still like it, even after the fourth quilt top.

Just 2 layers, my sister likes them like that, the pieced DNP top (I love this new block!!) and nice warm cream fleecy on the back. I was running so low on the fabric it has a tiny binding, but it seems to be a success.

She was cuddling it at the party today as well.

I did go just a tad silly about the birthday yesterday( I only have one sister and a few little nieces and nephews...you can't really spoil them!!) and decided to have a go at a baby sleeping bag. Beautiful ones of these are all the fashion here, but deathly expensive. My sister had casually shown me a catalogue, so i had a play....

I practised on baby Born first, just to sort out how to do the zip, the sleeves, neck etc. Baby Born's just has a half zip and no sections for wearing with a seat belt in a baby car seat. It is a little big for Baby born as I did have some idea that it may as well be useful in a dozen years or more perhaps, for it's owner. The real one, on the left, is lined with fleecy, has a two way zip so that you can open it from the bottom to slide the seat belt through, and a bound and velcroed slit in the back where you can put the seat belts through the rest of the way. I also made a flap at the top to cover the zip and protect baby's neck. The only problem with the success is that judging from the interest at the birthday party I may have to make a few more! They will be paying proper money!

Time for bed now, i am still way behind on sleep..I was just catching up and DS had a friend for sleepover last night and from 4 am they were talking and wanting to get up...I had to get up every hour to tell them it wasn't morning and to go back to sleep....

Hope your weekend is great, Tracey

Two finishes.

Thanks for the quick quilt ideas. I had never tried a disappearing nine patch so I used the internet as a tutor...(why do I have a library full of quilt books???)...and had a go.

I started as the players ran onto the field for the traditional ANZAC day football game between my Australian Football team Essendon, and the more hotly fancied Collingwood. I don't know how I managed to sew so much as it was a great game, we kicked the winning goal with about 7 seconds to go.

In the 3 and a half hours I spent then, I got both of these pieced....

The disappearing nine patch...

-with a closer view of the Barefoot roses fabric.

The DNP is about a metre and a half square.

-and this little post and rail variation made from some strips I had left from the fire baby's quilt.I backed them both with light pink fleecy so they are very cosy already.

This is about a metre square.

I worked until about 2 am that6 night after a bit of a break, and sewed the bindings down the next day so works out I completed both quilts in around 11 hours...while happily watching good TV at the same time. The DNP will be first place at our market and the denim and post will be second prize...so that is one job box ticked!

If only there weren't another 100 to go before I finally wake up in a week and a half with both big commitments over.

Hope you are having a great day, Tracey

A finish and a flower show

I am freezing...and very hopeful that this weekend may see an addition to the paltry 3/4 of an inch of rain we have had all spring. It may hurt the cut grass hay a tad, but it may save any more crop from being mown for hay rather than harvvested for seed in the coming months.
While it is very dry in this part of Australia, Queensland has seen more than 10 inches in a few days in some areas, terrible storm damage and hail as big as cricket balls, even in central Australia.

I am freezing because I have been playing semi midnight cowboy...or girl!

I WAS meant to be at the School PTFA end of year break up and AGM, instead I was facing off to a mental mamma cow who did not understand that the the two suspicious looking people (with rope and a calf puller hidden behind their backs) were friends rather than foes! She had a red hot go at the ute (truck) I was in, so when it was just me and her in the laneway I was quick to give her right of way! Never mess with a female in the throes of labour....my DH learnt that!

My poor family are going to be eating the egg salad and rocky road that were meant for the bbq all weekend. They aren't complaining about the rocky road.....

Something else unappreciated was the suggestion I made to my husband as he was standing on haybales trying to rope the cow as I ran her past; the suggestion that I really should have bought my camera as the great light, stormy sky and lassoo action would have made great shots....For future reference...let's just say that a farmer who has been cutting hay around the clock and has to stop to spend a few hours chasing a cow that loosely is the responsibility of his wife does not appreciate the need for my blog readers to be in on the action!!!

But, onto sewing. Yes, there has been some!

If this quilt were a house you would call it overcapitalised. It was an order for a baby blanket and of course I could have just used the panel and the name. But when you want something to be special and treasured it doesn't matter who is getting it, it still has to be as good as possible. So it got Murray grey appliqued cows and the property name embroidered on as well. It also managed to be finished a whole 8 minutes before the girl turned up to pick it up so, unlike my DH doing his cowboy impersonation, you got a picture.

It has a great matching farm flanelette backing so it's cosy.

A week or two ago when I held the Church morning coffee we had a bloom and succulent show as well. I snapped a few shots of my favourites to share.

1st. Iris

2nd Jacobean lily

some kind of succulent!!

Clematis...at a distance

..and up close

An amaryllis

A rose whose name escapes me...but by any name would smell as sweet!

And one of my great new mauve oriental poppies that have come from crossing a red fuzzy with a pink single. The heat and wind fried them all nearly overnight but I managed to get this one.

The rain is coming down, I wont mind if it keeps me awake on the tin roof all night...have a great day, Tracey

Winners, shearers and a displaying cards quilt.

How did the promised Wednesday post turn into Friday?

My darlingest favouritest husband shared his illness so I have struggled to keep up with the shearer's cooking let alone the computer, even missed a meeting last night and that doesn't happen much! This is going to be the all time quickest post as well as it is the shearer's cut out party here tonight, feeding between 20 and 30! I have made two of the best pavlovas of my short catering career so i am getting organized.

Shearing looks like a good career when you think cut out party and meals supplied, especially these jam and cream scones...yum!

And then you find out you have to actually do this....

And more of this...

and a bit of this...

..and the job isn't looking quite so great! They average about 150 sheep shorn a day each.

The harnesses they are in are hooked to a high pole and are tosave their backs-but it is still an incredibly hard job.

My boy was very busy on his day off, keeping the floor tidy and chasing sheep to his heart's content.

DH is off in his truck delivering the bales of wool to the wool stores. Did another load yesterday for his brother. The wool is all pressed up into 200 kg packs.

And yes, i do actually sew still! This is my new display board(quilt) for some of my cards, i wanted an easy way at markets, I can now just tie this to the clothes horse or hang it to display the cards. I used clear plastic from when I went through my plastic coated bag stage.

I think you can see the plastic better here.

Finally, some winners! Thank you so much for your lovely comments, was the only bright spot there for a day or two when I felt like rubbish! My girl helped me to draw some commenters and Robyn and Barbara (no blog) were the lucky recipients of a happy pack (that I guarantee will get there before the next millenium!) They may like to drop me a line.

Have a great day, -I'll think of you as i vacuum! Tracey

Favourite week of my year

My internet has been out, my camera batteries have been dodgy and so a little blogging break has occurred.

I can't say I have a lot of sewing to show though. I had my rally Day for Church Ladies, my nephew's all day birthday and a couple of committee responsibilities and the week has disappeared.

This did get completed.......

I was a few days late sending it...next time I will print off the swapper's name prior to mailing day-because then I couldn't access my internet! A small aside here, my Dh doesn't often notice what i am working on, but i was in the living room due to the freezing weather and he asked about it, I said it was an international swap. He said, "boy, the person who did the middle must sure like gold." I said, 'well, that would be me'!!

I attempted to explain it represented the Australian colours...the light, the ground, the water.....and that will probably be the sum total of patchwork discussions in our house for the year!

Here's a snap of my bodyguards when i did work over in my sewing room. I can sneak out the front of the house and they always end up there within minutes, Archie the dog without fail. If it is raining he has dug a path under the room and he sleeps under my feet at the machine.

I forgot to say it is the best week of my year this week; I have my quilting retreat this coming weekend, down in Port fairy, same house as last year, -

Nothing like the sound and view of a winter beach for patchwork inspiration. As usual I have about 10 things I want to get done, the aim is to get back on the sewing track.

It's also birthday week. Seems to have started already, gotta love the birthday lasting all week. (Though my Mum told me it is all down hill from 40 and I will only be one year away!)

A friend took me out last night to the big fashion parade held here every year, my DH bought me ear-rings in Queensland (and handed them to me straight away in the plastic bag.....but anyone who has been reading since last year will acknowledge he gets a lot of credit for trying!!) and my dad called on his way through today and gave me an interesting necklace and bracelet from them. I have never worn orange, shall be interested to see how that goes. The only trouble with early presents is that I may have run out of birthday by the time Thursday gets here!!!

Speaking of jewellry, I picked up a piece for myself today at the big farmer's expo type thing that is on here at the moment. I was working on the theory my MIL will get me to get myself something! Here's a peek-

It is a brooch or scarf pin, I have assured my sister I wont necessarily wear it up the main street of her town all the time, but I will definitely wear it! I love old sewing machines.

So, other than the fact I have to make a 300 km round trip to get my son's missing filling seen to by a dentist tomorrow, life is great. Hope yours is as well, see you soon, Tracey