Whew .... made it!

... I mean, I "made it" with time to spare to our 'settlement date' on our old house!

That was last Friday & I think I am still recovering!
It feels really good to close the door on that chapter of 12 years ... been great but we're ready to move onto new ... adventures!
...so now on a seriously 'hunt' to work out exactly where to from now ....
... thank goodness for my parents' generously proportioned home
... & thank goodness for my in-laws with whom I don't think we would have got through the moving out without!
All our things are packed away neatly in storage ...
... done
'mate' .... I come with alot of stuff .... we moved a house & a studio!!!

I have been doing some sewing & I will share when I get my act into gear
... finish & photograph!
Going to a little market ....
"BABY & CHILDREN'S MARKET"
New & Used goods
Saturday 23rd October
9am - 1pm
@ New Hope Baptist Church
Fundraiser for their Pre-School
3 Springfield Rd, Blackburn North
Gold Coin Entry Donation
Cafe & Playground available ...
.....
This weekend I am having my haircut .... looking forward to refreshing my 'red' ...
and
hoping to get to this...Check it out!
Let me know if you're going too!

Mug Rug Swap

My R&A Block Swap friend Leah
is organizing a fabulous
MUG RUG SWAP
Get yourself over & join in! Love this .... made by Leah!

Training it!

I've been in a creative slump but I have been 'thinking' at least ....
about being creative ... just can't seem to get my act together!
Been spending lots & lots & lots of time playing with this precious little boy ...
he's a fantastic 'cuggler' at the moment ...
The block buildings unfortunately are never left standing for long!
The train track however is "the" favourite .... currently!
enJOY your journey!

A Dozen ...

Today 12 years ago

... Craig & were married ....
Today we went out for lunch ....
... with the 2 year old in tow ....... the 2 year old had not had a sleep!
... Considering that ... it went quite well!If you know Melbourne???
- you might just be able to spot where we went!?

Whirl Baby Whirl ....

I love these cutie Whirly Gigs that we've been making in our
Red & Aqua block swap this year ...

I will be glad however when we have finished as these teeny tiny ones
are a bit fiddly & I have made heaps ....
making x2 quilts for our cabin!
Aim high I say!

Having our Block Swap at Bron's place this Friday ....
... looking forward to her show n'tell ....
She's made some bigger WG's too ....
(stole her pic below!)Mine went into a certain new niece's
(whom I haven't yet met!)
little quilt!
and my blogless friend Louey
has also made extras with a different neutral background ...
Love Love Love them ....
I will make more at some point ...

Home is where the HeART is ... ?

I have meant for so long to pour out in words about our current life's journey
....but somehow found it hard to actually do
.... if I sat with you over a bottle of sparkling rose it would be alot easier ...
You know that we have sold our house recently
& you know a part of the story that led us to this point

... on Sunday Craig & I will have been married 12 years
(& if our Wedding photos weren't all packed away
I would go to the trouble of scanning one for you!)
Life - Marriage - Property - Living - Loving - The Journey ...

Well we have but a few weeks to finish packing up the home that we came home to as a married couple & that we changed over time to suit our needs & taste, the home we brought our much longed for baby boy home to and he has called it home for 2&1/4 years ...
HOME where we've argued, cried, celebrated, relaxed, entertained, been creative, laughed, .... & loved ...
I keep doing things & every time wondering if it will be the last time?
I am such a sentimental chick....

Home also for our doggies: Bronte & Pepper, our feisty Jack Russell's ... sisters, & man they quarrel when something gets under their skin! P & B are now 9 years old .... will always be able to work that one out as they were born almost to the day of "Sept 11"

We found a house on the market a while ago that made us take the plunge, literally jumping in the deep end..... to get our house on the market .... decided that it was too close to power lines ....
... Then we lost our hearts, hook, line & sinker over another house that I really just took Craig to see to show him perhaps what we could do with a house with great 'bones' ....
Hmmmmm
Seemed we very nearly got it .... but were pipped at the post!
Just like some football matches hey!!??
Anyway - the way I look at it ....
... something better suited will be around the corner ...
I'm just having lots of trouble waiting!!!!

Tomorrow my Mum flies back to the East coast, USA ....
(anyone live near Harleysville, PA?)
My youngest brother & his wife and their 3 children live there.
Ann has lived with a major heart condition her whole life & has since she was a teenager had a pig's value keeping her heart pumping .... after having her 3rd baby only a few months ago... her heart is now failing her. This day was always coming .... "Some day" .... Its here & all our hopes, prayers & wishes are with her as in the next few days she is headed into surgery .... Yes - the surgery is critical
.... as is the way her heart will accept the new value
... but the recovering is going to be long & agonizing...
Her gorgeous baby girl .... she won't be able to cuddle ....
So take heART in the blessing you have in health ....
... a prayer for Ann if you would??

I'm a bit lost in my own home too ....
So much is packed up & not here ...
... I did move my sewing machine back & sewed together all the blocks from our Purple & Green 2009 swap last night & this morning... I even took some photos but then the camera battery died ... so no pics ....
... got to get out of this non-creative funk I have been in!!
Hasn't helped that I haven't had my usual resources!
and had a different focus .... I know every new property in our search areas & when it comes on the market ..... craziness ...

So struggling with where we are headed & wondering where the rest of 2010 will take us ...
... haven't decided when our next IVF cycle will be ....
Thought it best not to try while in the middle of packing boxes ....
Keeping my head up .... and we have a weather forecast of more glorious spring days ahead! Yay!

Cuddle the people you love & hold them close ...
I promise I will be back more often with more uplifting, creative journeys to share ...
Edit: Thankyou for all your lovely comments!
I really am a glass half full kind of person ....
... I was a bit tired last night when I posted this!
Blessings....

SOLD!

Have you guys missed me at all?
Hope maybe just a little!
We've had a whirl wind happen this year .....
Started out thinking we were being moved overseas for a few years,
flew ... checked it all out, decided we'd do it ....
... & now it hasn't happened
but
that got us thinking what might be up for our little family over the next while ....
..... so we've spent the last 6 weeks or so getting our house ready for Auction
& it is now
SOLD!Hence my silence!
So I'm back .....
No haven't yet secured the right place to move on to
.... hoping that will happen soon ....
Next challenge:
pack up the other half of our house,
move it,
store it,
move it ...
& re-settle ..... Yay ....
...bring it on!!!!

My boy . . .

thereon hexagon

My fleeting fling with Hexagons is over!
I really didn't like this quilt design when I took it over
... but it grew on me ...
so last Sat I met with this group of ladies again ...
a consensus was agreed : "Lighthouse Quilters"
Jan started a Flickr group too ...
I'll add some images when I have a moment!
Named partly for the Lighthouse buildings at the
Ashburton Uniting Church
We shared lunch & chatted lots ....
.... everyone had binding to hand sew to complete & away they go!
Great morning ....

Hexagons!

Saturday week ago .... my how time flies!
Met a lovely group of ladies who spent alot of time last year
making quilts for people who lost their precious possessions
in our Victorian bushfires Jan '09
Jan organised this
& workshops were held & lots of fabric & blocks were donated!
Awesome team effort!

Bron ... who found my blog ...
(above: working hard on an i-spy quilt!)
who is also in our R&A Block Swap ...
has been involved as she personally knows Jan ...
Anyway with so much fabric remaining they have been
working on making some quilts for the
Royal Children's Hospital 'Very Snugly Quilts' ....
Met at the LightHouse,
Ashburton Unity Church
....which for a different reason I have a fondness for .... .....Working with my father, as his Interior Designer
I specified all the colours etc for the
Church Hall Renovation about 5 years ago!Anyway I went along & joined in!
They had been working on a grouping of
Hexagons that had been made & appliqued
to blocks as a donation ....
Now I need to say that the Hexi's were fairly poorly constructed ...
So I volunteered to machine applique them - or they will probably have fallen off the quilt!
16 Hexi Fowers made of 7 Hexi's each!
Hmmmm - I didn't sew about each center Hexi
... but that still adds up to 96 Hexi's
.... with 6 sides on each
= lots of stopping & starting
.... was glad to have my new machine that
has that simple yet lovely feature that you can
set your needle to stay down when you stop!
My old machine doesn't have that!

Now the Hexi's also were a little odd in regards to fabric choices!
But as the day went on I can say that I
developed a certain 'attachment' to this
quilt & have been determined to turn it into something nicer!
So I've added some new Hexi's appliqued on top of the old centers
with a more 'i-spy' theme
.... & I have spent the time to hand quilt some stitching
about the whole shape & I think it looks much improved!Better get my skates on to finish it for Saturday!Still a small amount of machine quilting to do
& the BINDING!!!!
(You know how much I don't like actually doing the binding!)
I will take a photo of the whole quilt when I have finished it!But
I can tell you now ....
I will never be interested in making a whole quilt from Hexagons!
They are well out of my system!

But this quilt has a little place in my heart
even though it is nothing like what I would make!
All good ... and someone will love it I am sure!Some of the other quilts at different stages!

New Baby ....

Born last week ..... so tiny! 7lbs
Clara Isabella
(Naden & Ray's new baby girl!)
.... Welcome to the world!
A quilt for her ... whipped up in a few evenings!Love those HST's ...
Backing is green - so not 'too' pink!& whooot hooot!
... a couple of little embellished suits!... got this quilt together so quickly
I forgot to take any photos until
I was sewing on the binding!So cute! Thanks for my 'cuggle' (as Oscar would say!)
yesterday little Clara!

Lately ....

I've been making Oscar another winter jumper,
(like the one seen here!)
just slightly longer body & arms
to get us through the next growth spurt!
You can see I've managed the front & back ...
... as I mentioned,
amazing what you can do without access to technology!
Pattern is from Debbie Bliss 'Baby Style' .... size 3!
Check back at a later date to see Oscar's modeling ...Did some 'thrifty' shopping last week ...
amongst other great finds was this super cute
abacus ... one bead is missing so if Oscar only learns
to count to 59 I will blame this!
But with thoughts of other potential knitted items for my boy
... flicking through Debbie Bliss' ideas
... here's a shot of another blondie and .....
when you look carefully .....
almost the same abacus!
timing ...!!????

Absent ...

... have you missed me?!

Had a few 'technical issues' ....



I'll report back with what I've been up to ....
... no internet or email
.... makes for more than usual busy social days, day trips & more creative, productive evenings!
That whole story of when you don't have something you realize how much you use it!
Miss it!

Tunnel ...

STEP 1:
Paint wonderful colours all over a huge piece of paper & let dry .... some time later have Mummy cut out lots of heart shapes ...



STEP 2:
Using a laminating sheet ... open out, position your hearts faced downwards, sprinkle all over with confetti & glitter if you're game!



STEP 3:
Get Mummy to position the laminating sheet so that it goes through the 'tunnel'
& comes out the other side all glossy & stuck together!



STEP 4:
Only Mummy is allowed to use those sharp scissors so she needs to cut the hearts out again .... but leave lots of that cool confetti!

STEP 5:
Hang up as a mobile & use special stuff called 'blu tac' to stick the hearts all over the window!
Cool!

Red & Aqua BLOCK Swap 2010 No4

Our latest Block Swap ... Again I missed my opportunity to photograph those cute little half square triangles that some of the others are swapping & collecting .... Katherine can you lay yours out, photograph & email for me please!!!??? Ta



These WG's are so so cute too! I just love them! We seem to have a few more reds than aquas this time but it will balance out in the end I figure!

I am 2!

In the last little while I turned 2 & had an awesome party with all my friends & family!
(The USA family of course were amiss!)
We had a really fun party that my Mum organised called a "Honk your Horn" party!

.... now if you know the train-tastic kids show 'Chuggington' you will understand!

We had a great time with the box trains that Mummy 'made' into all the different 'Chuggers' .... Matambo, Wilson, Puffer Pete, Brewster & my favourite, Koko!
I coloured one in with my KPa ...

Daddy said that we were really lucky having such a gorgeous day ....
the sun shone, the kids played .... Mummy made them special neck - kerchiefs!
So we all looked like train drivers!

Lots of great activities & games to play .... everyone had their own 'Badge Quest' to do ....

Whooo wooo!






So we 'Rode the Rails'
& all 'Honked our Horns'
.... I loved my Birthday Cake ...
... Toot Toot!

The 50 Mark ....

So I decided to do x2 draws for my Owl-y cutn'pasted Wendy designed Stationary!
Why? ... you ask = Because I now have 50+ followers of course!


Draw 1 - Yay ... the lucky Miranda!
(New Friends from Melbourne Modern Quilters!)
Draw 2 - Double Yay ... Bronwyn!
(Friend from our little local Red & Aqua Block Swap!)
AND
Remember I said I'd do another draw from those who'd left me lovely messages from last week!

Draw 3 - Whooo Hooo! Care
(Bloggy Mate from the USA who I have not met in person but is a really lovely person & who the whole "i spy" thing started with!)

Thankyou for all your lovely comments!
I wish I could click my fingers & have a weekend away creating lovely things with all of you guys!

Celebration Giveaway .... 50!

To Celebrate 50 Countries .... people who have visited my blog!
I'm giving away a bulk pack (20+ pieces!)
of 'Owl-y' stationary ...
DESIGNED BY ME!
All very cute & a gift for some lucky person!So leave me a message
& in it tell me what you'd create if you had a
whole weekend away from your everyday life!

AND
if we reach 50 Comments then I will hold a second draw for a 2nd pack!
AND
You can also leave a 2nd comment if you are a follower or become one!
AND
you can leave me yet another message
letting me know you've linked in & blogged about my little giveaway!
AND
if you have left a message on one of my posts over the last few days
then I'm holding a surprise draw for another 'Owl-y' pack!
Lucky people!
Join in!
I will do this Draw on Thurs evening Melb time!
Cute! Cute! Cute!

Family ...

Here's baby Verity with her Whirly Gig throw quilt ....

Market .....

What I was busy making for the market & etsy store ...
Keep a look out ... going in soon!Cute Cute Cute