Siggy Swap playtime.

Being in the same state as the swap mother (Cynthia) has its advantages. While other blocks are whirling throughout the World (a cool theory) mine are here being played with and I thought I may be able to eliminate some stress by discussing my results thus far.

They are fabulous and the colours all look great together, see photo.

I love this way of putting it together and have so far joined all the blocks in pairs. Here in lies the fun-they have been made beautifully and enthusiastically by all our lovely blogging friends using instructions off the net and therefore there are variations. My suggestions are to trim them all to a maximum of 6 and a half inches when you get them and depending on the pattern you choose you may need to trim them all slightly smaller even. With the pattern I like (above) there will be some problems getting all the points perfect as there is some variation in the width of the pin wheels. It's a matter of a little bit of creative playing to get the points or not being too stressed.
The second way to do it only requres good points on two sides and may be more appealing.

I love these blocks so much and have carted them around everywhere showing everyone the decorated blocks and the range of colours. I am hoping to have it up and hanging in my studio very soon.

ps, you will notice I am 4 blocks short, these are my own that were returned (I didn't put them in the pic) and I am happy to swap if anyone is interested. Connie is very keen to come in on this and see Cynthia's blog as well for details. (Post addition-I have just tried to use this link to Cynthia and it does all the right things but wont display her blog, is that the same for everyone? What have I done wrong? Cynthia http://aussiequilter.blogspot.com/

Last photo is of the babies convincing me that they are too cute to be put in the cubby to sleep!

Another year we'll never have again.

People ask me why I go for the full birthday party every year. Well it is a fair amount of work and afterwards I feel exactly as worn out as I do right now but when I look at my little growing up-too-quickly-girl it all seems so worth it, the years are flying and great birthday memories seem the least I can do. And she loves a party-just like her mother. Her brother's only lament is that it wasn't his, but I don't think he could have improved on his day even if it was.

It was 32 degrees celcius here today so after the games, treasure hunt and birthday lunch the pool did most of the entertaining for the 24 children who were here. It pays for itself at times like these, I just wish I had the forethought to have my boy in the swimming season as well, we often feel the house is not big enough in mid-winter. Thought you may like to see the cake.

It had nice smartie flowers on all the sides and even tasted good. It's the first one that has been completely eaten by the time the last guest left. Here is the only thing that she wanted for her birthday, a stitchery of her animals with the splish splash fabric. It has pockets and I'm going to sew little pegs to it as she wants it for a spot next to her bed. It is back apart while I alter the stitchery slightly, the cat wasn't enough like Tabitha, so now I have a completely unmatching cat with it's arm around her leg and she is happy with that. (Sticker is to cover her name.)

The original picture was out of an old magazine I have somewhere. The sheep is a light pink, so he doesn't come up well in the photo but it is a standing joke because the Pet Shop borrowed one of the pets and dyed it for it's window display last year. He took months to fade when back in the paddock and even rated a news crew!

I managed to access the computer enough to get enough instructions to send in my blocks for the Siggy swap that Cynthia is mothering at Aussie quilter. These are my blocks when I was checking out the general idea of what the eventual quilt will look like. I just had to sit down and write on them all after this. I can't wait to get them back in the mail. 3 Cheers for Cynthia's organisation.

As I am now about had it, I'll say good night. I wonder if I have enough energy to sneak around and visit some of you for a cyberspace coffee!? Tracey