Unpredictable girls

This is a very rascally almost 3 year old.
THIS is also the only time she is ever still or quiet!
This is also a slight problem......
I gave my DN this quilt on the day after she was born, I only had to sew the binding on the night i received the good news because I just knew she was a girl. It is backed with a very cuddly fleecy and she loves it..."my quilty!" or "my Tracey quilty!!"
The problem stems from the fact it was made for a baby and now she is almost 3 and wont sleep under anything else-flatly refuses and quilty doesn't cover her all night and it means her 36 week pregnant mother is going up and down the stairs all night because she is cold.
SOOO...
I had bought some of the Barefoot roses range for a new quilt for her and when my sister was here on Friday she gave me precise design instructions for the new quilt-positively the last time I let my sister near any quilting magazines, she wanted everything...but I lead her in my direction, even making sample blocks while we had lunch!

Here it is cut into yummy 2 1/2 inch strips

And here are the 9 patches checking they like their pink sashing.
I like the pink sashing, the mother likes the pink sashing and Miss almost 3 looked at it and said.....
"I just want my quilty!!"
we are working on the theory that if I back it in fleece we will eventually be able to slip it on her in bed. Pleased that isn't really my problem!

I know I was intending concentrating on the market but my girl was fairly dodgy with what is possibly a recurrence of her stomach and migraine complaint over the weekend and I find sewing therapy to be better looked on by society than-
1. running away to live with the gypsies.
2. Starting to drink prior to 10 am
3. Leaving her on the hospital doorstep with a note atatched- (i think she can talk too well for that!!)
Mercifully she is feeling good tonight and I may be able to sleep at least in hope that she will make it to School tomorrow for the first time in a fortnight.....the joys of children!

Have a good day ...I hope I do!

Sewing box

Do you ever se something in a shop and just know it should be yours?

Than you get all economical and decide not to purchase it as you don't need it....you just like it.

Then you get home and think, I should have got it?

Well I have been doing that for about 6 months with the sewing box at my local antique cum tearooms...Any time I went there I would check to see if it was gone, ask if anyone had bought MY box...and the answer was always no. I think I know why, it was too dear for me to justify so would probably have been the same to others

Here's the BUT THEN, I went there for Robyn's birthday and it was reduced by nearly half. I decided that was a sign so it got added to the caffe latte and the scones with jam and cream and has come home to live.....wanna see???

Ta Da!!!

Then it opens out and is FULL OF OLD STUFF!!!

Buttons and threads....

More buttons ....

...and more buttons, with all these very handy hose darning threads in a range of colours!

Those menders will have to be good because all my stockings nowdays are used by my children for putting the bait in when we go yabbying (small freshwater crayfish)-like to see the threads mend those holes! I have a feeling the dainty ladies who invented hosiery never expected that usage 50 years ago. Or would it be a man who invented stockings? Someone who wanted to feel silky smooth legs and started the quest...yes, much more likely, I don't think a woman would have forced us into them!

I am not sure that all those things will stay in the box, I want it to be very used, so will probably transfer the myriad of important stuff I can never find when I want it into there instead...you would hope even I would find it fairly tricky to lose track of this sewing box!

Off to enjoy the rest of our ANZAC day Public Holiday, my team just lost the football but my sister visited so that equalled out the loss! She has just left and DH isn't in yet so I may safely go and play with my sewing box and no-one will think I am weird!

Spring into action!

Inspiration finally hit and I think my swap partner will get their four season's quilt before the Australian spring!!

If we go back a post or two you may remember I toyed with this for spring....

and then decided it wasn't safe enough so played with this....

Well, it just wasn't quite me and I couldn't get back into it until this flash of inspiration hit me. (while watching High Society with my girl yesterday...must have been the combined crooning of Bing and Frank!!)

Speaking of combining inspiration, I combined the free pieced roses and the pieced background to get this result.

I am happy with this, I even altered the leaves, the needle turned ones will wait for another day. They needed to be more free.

There's a close up. Just need to baste and quilt it now and it will be in the mail. That is one thing off a very long list of things that needed doing, I have noticed a lot of you putting up lists of your WIPs, I wont scare myself with that...until at least after this market is over...but this would make a good motto!

She reminded me a bit of Grace Kelly out of High Society. Today we watched The Philadelphia Story, which is the same play, didn't excite my girl as much but made more plot sense to me!!And I personally think Katherine Hepburn outdoes Grace for character if not beauty...am I alone?

have a great day, Tracey

Of cricket, pets and sewing.

"They" must do something about this Indian cricket on all night here! It has well and truly got me in and there are about 45 days to go! "They" have been very clever and put a few Aussies in every team, also made it fast paced and exciting and I can't pull my eyes away! Last night I had the whole night's worth set to tape on the hard drive and I still watched until the light tower power went out at about 1am! Too tempting.

I tried to maximise my time by cleaning the kitchen and sewing bags for the School market and a bucket for my friend Robyn's birthday today. She looks just like the quilting "love is patient" pic.

The sewing went well, the photo shoot this morning was far trickier!!

I couldn't pick a favourite so you get them all. I was pulling my hair out over uncooperative kittens who play with the props and the DD,who is still home with the flu and somewhere underneath quilt and kittens, piped up with...."it says, Love is patient, Mummy!" I should have that on my wall, especially with sick children..lol

I have new babies.-I just SO needed more pets! We picked them up yesterday and they have all successfully had their first feed, here is one....

Cute, isn't he.

Unfortunately Sigmund is not seeing the funny side of being upstaged. I think I overheard this conversation between old and new...

"Who do I look like to you......Danny out of the Partridge family, Willis, out of the show whose name eludes me right now or perhaps an Olsen twin (my hair is looking a little in need of a brush).-But all that is beside the point. I have been an international blog star, immortalized on cards and covered in quilts, and you upstarts think you can just move in here and take over because I am leaving the cute stage. It'll be you here one day, don't say i didn't warn you!!"

His mate knew when to get out and start looking for a new career before they made him star in celebrity reality TV.

Hey, any openings in the chook yard for a calf in a chicken suit?

Considering that is the number who followed me just to feed the calves, I think that answer would be NO!!

Have a great day, Tracey

Other people's progress.

The shorter autumn days are running away from me. I haven't had a minute to post, meetings and minutes, kids with the flu (ONLY the flu, she says thankfully!!) and buying the farm next door all seem to take precedence. Unfortunately, I can't see it improving for a few weeks but I will do my best. You may have to put up with a few photos from the lambing ewes for a while, but you can cope!
It only seems like yesterday since I was busy with our School Mother's day Market, but it was a whole year and it is once again sucking up a fair bit of my "spare" time. We had a lovely day yesterday, a School mum's craft day for the Mother's day gifts at the market. We scrapbooked gifts and I converted a few scrapbookers with easy instructions for chooks, buckets and bags-they very excitedly went home with something they had actually sewn!

Here are a few of the things that came home with me to be finished off and priced after the day. I made another of the pot holders when I got home, as well as a bucket and bag in corodinating shabby chic pink and gave them to my Saturday Quilter birthday Buddy today.

This is the lovely birthday girl, Ann working on machine quilting her quilt, predominantly Sanctuary? fabrics I think-see why I chose the pinks for her birthday!!!

I think this may be her Roman Holiday charm square work as well.

Jane has been busy making her first stack and whack, I love this altogether, lots of parts jump out at you.

Mirinda was stitching....

As was Janine.

Here is your first portrait of a new blogger, the Chocolate cat, working on her pigs......gorgeous isn't she-now you know!!

And another lovely lady whose name eludes me was making this crossstitch similar to the magazine pic. It will be a needle cushion...gorgeous variegated thread, I almost coveted this....if I was a coveter! I have a feeling I have that mag somewhere in the magazine black hole...now, to find it, then to make it-my poor hands are screaming at me just thinking about it!

Have a great day, hopefully back soon...with something scrappily outside the square I think. I feel like a change.

Busy in-and out-of the kitchen

Sitting up waiting for my tomato sauce to simmer and thicken long enough to bottle. Not much action today, just cooking.

I found tomatoes cheap last week so another batch of sauce is on the BBQ. My husband's family refuse to have sauces and chutneys etc cooked inside so they all do it on the BBQ, I personally like the smell, but still I am constantly venturing outside to stir my sauce-go figure! The rules from the MIL overcome the wishes of the wife...sometimes!!
Here it was a few hours ago-proof I have to use the BBQ~~~
Once again apple season here, only feels like yesterday I was overburdened last Autumn, cried out for recipes and the darling Kim's big quilting adventure came up with the Apple cake that nearly lead me to a larger size in pants!! Good though!
Now I am unsure what happened here with the missing section of strudel....
my daughter saw the missing bit and quoted for me,
"hmmm, you are going to say it was rats, cats or mice....otherwise you were testing it to be sure it wasn't poison!" I just smiled and said, "yes, the sacrifices I make for you!!"
It is actually low fat, amazingly enough...(lucky, you say)!
Speaking of fat. This is what remains after I took the big container of leftover Easter eggs out of the cupboard, amazingly, I never ate them neither did their little owners so the family voted that they should be turned into Caramel slice. Good plan, i can freeze that in sections and not just snack on the eggs everytime I need a sugar fix.

The chocolate melted down beautifully and here is a little slab before we decided to share it out for afternoon tea-yummy!

i made some fig jam as well in between stirring and strudel, my friend has a birthday tomorrow and loves it, she is a learner quilter so I made her one of the fabric buckets in her colours with a matching charm square on the jam. I think that could work well for our upcoming School mother's day market. The jam fits perfectly in the fabric bucket.
I'll finish off with one of the stone walls we saw on our way down to the Church picnic. An old volcanic area, they utilized the cheap labour in the early settlement days to make these walls. Most are reinforced with some added wire now to keep the long legged dairy cows in but many still remain in some form. I love them, wish it had been a better light day...and that we weren't running late for the service.....
Well, hopefully the sauce is nearly ready to bottle, i am almost cooked out! Have a great day, Tracey

..... we have the technology!!

I am very excited, finally found out how to get a "Title" section for my posts so you can click directly on me in Bloglines without opening a new tab....for those other people who I see having the same trouble it is in the formatting section, you just tick 'yes' instead of 'no' for the title section question. I know, not like solving world famine but was annoying me anyway!

We have been having a few little family sewing sessions to try out the $69 Aldi sewing machine that I bought for my girl to learn on. It goes quite well, just have to remember to pull more thread out the back because it unthreads itself if I just leave a Janome amount.

Here is my boy working on his log cabin chook....a disclaimer here, the kids chose their fabrics and would not be influenced and as I just wanted them to sew I closed my mouth re light and dark!

Isn't some lucky woman going to love me!!! (While his sister watches TV in between sewing turns!) Look, he irons!!

And very intently as well!

It grew very impressively....

....into the brownish one here. The blue is his sisters and they are very proud!

If you haven't seen these before they are in my tutorial links in the sidebar.

And just to show you that my boy's life is suitably rounded, here is where he spent the rest of his holidays!

watching this fun......

and standing waiting longingly with the bike for the time when the flames were receding enough for him to safely join in!! (His mother went through about 4 years of very little sleep with that child-she would prefer he safely reached adulthood!!)

And finally, my sister had this at her house...should it be the quilter's motto?

Have a great day, I am off to the Church Picnic in the morning! Tracey

Weekly roundup

First day at home for the week today. I was fully intending a day of bliss in the sewing room, but ended up called to the neighbors for a spot of playgroup storytime and now have to head to town for a School thing so not much progress.

Had great fun during the week though.....Tuesday i trekked down to a town where i borrowed the timber quilt frame from to return it and I caught up with the lovely Carol. I have now met 4 bloggers amazingly enough and they were all as great in person as on their blogs!! carol has some great quilts close to finished, i will be watching her blog for the finishes. She has also got the most fabulous book made from her scrapbooking layouts for her MIL for Mother's day. Believe me, she will be the favourite!!

Made a few op shop purchases-all these great cotton shirts for the shirt stash.

And this gorgeous double flanel baby rug-near new for 50 cents!! It will make up into quite a few little baby blankets in it's new life.

The chenille bedspread I spotted a lady bringing in as I walked out. I told her I would cut it up for quilts to give away and she said her Mum would be so happy about that. I told her to make sure she told her and she got teary and said she couldn't but she was really happy it was doing something useful.

I am happy too. I love to see things recycled to be useful again.

I found a pre-loved flannel shirt and had a little play with the new chenille to see how it went. Not bad for a boy baby I think.

I think I shocked and scared my quilting friends on Friday night...with applique pieces...and not button hole stitched either. This is where I am up to on my FSQS . I even tried the new yo-yo maker (fabulous thing!!). My daughter thinks the quilt needs more hot pink, my boy thinks it is far too girly and I think a few more leaves and flowers...what do you think?

I had better get to my school function but we finally found where DD's cat was hiding her Good Friday babies, so you get gratuitous kitten pics to close. It was very lucky the last of the old kittens was delivered to its new home Maundy Thursday. Anyone want these in the mail??

Have a great day, Tracey