Don't look now!

A fairy in my garden ...

Jessica donned her fairy dress and fluttered off to a party this afternoon.

She was very pleased with herself and although my opinion is not really relevant due to extreme bias ... she was the most beautiful little fairy there :)

I made the birthday girl a pair of pajamas ... (her name is Elizabeth)

and a sock monkey.

 This sweet little girl is Sophie.

I suspect that the girls are going to have me making these little cuties quite a bit now.

I have spent the week struggling with a project that has been a challenge to say the least ... but now it's done and I can move on to other things. I will share the details of this later in the year.

I had to wash Jessica's Rainbow Lollipops quilt earlier in the week. I never pre-wash fabrics ... yes I know that this is not recommended but I like to live life on the edge ... no really I am just bloody lazy and totally impatient. So when I put Jessie's quilt in the washing machine I felt quite nauseous as I feared the bright pinks and all of that stark white background would somehow become one.

I held my breath during the wash cycle and as I  a took it out of the machine I was oh so glad for this fantastic product. Check out the colour of the colour catcher sheets!

Josh has spent the week with his sock puppet.

Benjamin for the very first time in his life moved a step ahead of his twin sister this week. He progressed ahead of Jessica in reading levels this week and what's more his teacher awarded him the role of star of the week. Ben has taken such delight in this achievement and I am totally thrilled for him. Jessica on the other hand is totally pissed off! She has spent the whole week using a snippy voice, wearing a scowl on her face and shoving him with her sholder whenever they passed eachother by.

Megan has begun plans for her 9th Birthday party which has now become a 'Sleep over' party. So far she has me helping her and her guests to put together a quilt each ... they wont be staying for that long will they???????

And I spent a very pleasant morning with Cathy and Louise yesterday. It was lovely to see the girls outside of Amitie ... which reminds me I haven't been there for a while now!!!

 ... and now I have some fun Audrey & Maude things to do in my spare time ... ie. when I am looking for an excuse not to do something I really should be doing!

But for now I am going to go and do some quilting on the Tree of Life quilt ... I have managed only 29 of my 80" rows ... who's big idea was it to hand quilt this quilt???????

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Kellie

       

Introducing Shelby the Sock Monkey

Lately I have been busy with various bits and and pieces around the house and as a result I've taken in a 'helper' to try and lighten the load ...

This is Shelby and she's just slotted in so nicely with the family! She's been helping the twins with their reading after school ... which the kids have thoroughly enjoyed!

She's done some sewing ... she's quite a wiz with the Bernina!

She's been giving me some advice on my clam shells ... which, by the way, I have finished sewing down!

She's been helping me select my next project ... I'm not so sure on her choice ...

She really enjoys The Martha Stewart Show and she's a big Sci Fi fan which is great because now I have company during Buffy, Voyager & SG-1!

The only problem is that my work load hasn't really reduced. You see I seem to still be stuck doing all the house work! Whenever it's time to clean the bathrooms or the toilets or wash the floors or even just empty the dishwasher she's no where to be found. Come to think of it she's only ever around for the fun things! 

Mmmmmm ... something had better change around here otherwise the monkey has gotta go! 

 

Have a great weekend!

Kellie

PS. You can find the tutorial for this cutie here, I made a few minor changes like using the toe of the sock for the mouth rather than the heel and I stuffed her ears. I used a child's knee-hi sock. Also go an take a look at some really terrific Monkeys made by an expert and some other pretty clever things as well at Kitty's blog.

Calories from afar, some glorious sunshine, a hot cuppa and a good magazine ... or four!

Lisa’s 21^st went off beautifully on Sunday night and as always she just looked gorgeous!

On Tuesday we got a lovely surprise package in the mail from a lovely friend that I have had the very good fortune to have gotten to know through this amazing blog community. Dear Lisa sent us some delicious chocolates,

a very cute little bunny, which Megan has adopted (last night when I went to check on them she was all curled up, thumb in mouth and the bunny was firmly clenched in her hand)

and a lovely magazine which I totally mauled to death with a beautiful hot cuppa in the delicious sun shine earlier this week. Yes the sun found us this week ... thank God! ... if only for a few short days!

Thank you so much Lisa for treating us! You are so very sweet!

When I took the picture of the chocolates with the kids, poor Josh put on such a brave face but he was still feeling quite unwell ... this is how he was really feeling!

Not long after this he promptly vomited all over the other three kids. You know these moments 1/4 to 9 on a school day and disaster strikes ... to spite 4 children needing full clothing changes we made it to school in time J.

Our Michael had his graduation ceremony from University yesterday ... no pictures for this yet. Congratulations Mike! You make us so very proud! Only a few more years of study to go!

I made a couple of Liberty tissue cozies ...

   

I just love this fabric! It is just far too beautiful to cut up so it will more than likely find it's way on to a quilt backing some time soon.

I finished the magazine tote. I made this mainly to try out the look of these applique shapes as I have been planning a quilt with a similar design. A little more contrast would look better I think.

Oh and what is this that I can see in the bag? .....

Oh hooray! My favorite magazines!!!!!

 

Man look at this quilt isn’t it truly fantastic!

And this one ... I would love to have a go at this technique. Maybe I should be doing the Summer Four Seasons Swap?

And how about these quilting designs ... do you do this one Tracey?

Oh and I love these leaves!

I’m going to go put the kettle on ... I need to lose myself in these magazines for a while!

Have a restful weekend!

Kellie

PS I can't believe I forgot to link to Lisa's page when I originally wrote this post ... I am so sorry Lisa!

Happy Mother's Day!

I hope that you are all having a wonderful Mother's Day!

I had better go the kids are fighting, the ironing needs doing, the house is a mess & Joshua is so sick he has been crying all day ... :) ... well thats what being a mum is all about!

Kellie

Everything but quilting...

I don’t know about you but the minute I’m told (or in this case I tell myself) something has to be done by a certain date this is the time I find a million other things to do! So this is what I have been sewing and the miscellaneous things that have been happening in our house this week...

I finished the Tissue Cozies for the Mothers day stall ... and forgot to take a picture of the completed lot ... never mind ... but ended up raising $120 from the sale of these alone. I ended up making 30 and if I do say myself there are going to be some Mummy’s with some pretty stylish tissues on Sunday morning! I’m really pleased that they sold as I don’t really get the chance to help out with many of the ‘attendance required’ voluntary activities at the school. Of course I do specific things with my own kids and their classes like reading, helping out with swimming and things like this but no general voluntary ‘stuff’. So it was nice to find an activity where I can contribute in my own time ... ie. once everyone is in bed!

I've made some pillows which I love. Do you recognise the Monster design? He will make it onto a quilt eventually but for now he resides here!

I made a pin cushion ... and you know it was funny because I had this plan in my head for its design and not realising that its size would be so ridiculously large. I spent a whole afternoon drawing, cutting, and sewing only to come up with something that was too small for a pillow but way too big for a pincushion. It is a pity that I hadn’t visited Fiona a day earlier who had just made a pincushion that she refers to as a pin ottoman!! J

After all that I readjusted my design and came up with something more like the right size...

I made a little library bag for a little person...

I have plans for modified versions of these bags for the kids birthdays. I also have better pictures of these but I will share them later.

And right now under my machine there are the makings of a magazine tote...

 

Benjamin lost his second tooth last night. He wandered down stairs long after he was meant to be asleep and of course I grumbled at him. Then that delightfully innocent little boy said to me ... “but Mummy I have some good news for you”.... what a meanie I am! Anyway the good news turned out to be the loss of his second tooth and I felt entirely crap for grumping!

And to make matters worse Jessica had a bad dream in the early hours of this morning. She then went around and put every single light on up stairs ... and I mean every single light including the heating in the bathroom. This of course this isn’t the tragedy ... however, the result of Jessie’s little ritual was that the Tooth Fairy was ‘frightened off’ and was unable to collect Ben’s tooth or leave a financial reward ..... mmmmmm Mummy is very pleased that she can think quickly on her feet and that sweet Jessie is such a scaredy cat J. Oh and look what I found beside his bed this morning ... please Tooth Fairy, you slack woman, put Ben on your list tonight!!!!!!

We also celebrated our Lisa’s 21^st Birthday last night. What an intellegent and beautiful young woman you have become Lisa! We all love being around you! ...And I am sure that your Dad’s speech on Sunday night won’t be too embarrassing!

So now I almost have all of that procrastination out of my system I am going to go back to my quilting... soon!

I actually started writting this post on Friday but unfortunately I never finished until after midnight so please read it as though it was posted on Friday ... I don't have the energy to rewrite it now!

Have a great weekend!

Kellie

PS. Has anyone seen the sun? If you have please tell it that I am missing it very much!

 

A schlep to Sydney, 'Spring in May' & an afternoon with my girls ...

I had a fabulous day yesterday in Sydney. I feel like I achieved much more than I did in the last class where most of the session was spent confirming colours and design. Yesterday was spent arranging and learning how to fix the clam shells to the background.

It was also nice to meet both Sarah and Kathy who had both been out last month. I also very much enjoyed the company of the other women in the class who have welcomed me so nicely and who are producing some pretty fantastic creations as well. Kathy has put up some pictures that she took of their projects yesterday so make sure you go and take a look.

I should also clarify that the pictures of the completed quilt in my last post was Sue Cody’s original quilt not mine ... I wish it was mine!

My plan for the next month is to finish attaching the clam shells mound from which the tree grows, complete the hand quilting on the background and to have finished the pattern for my tree. My quilt will be quite a bit larger than the original and I have decided to go ahead with my own tree form so that the area can be filled nicely and to basically placate my own whims. Please excuse my ruff sketches ...

In addition to this I have another project that I am very excited about that I need to complete by the end of the month. The quilt for this is completed, I just need to draft a pattern, so I hope that this process won’t take too long. I will be able to tell you more about this later on down the track.

As I mentioned on Thursday, Jodie received my swap quilt which I have called Spring in May ...?, and is happy with it for which I am very pleased.

The original inspiration for this quilt came from American Quilter March 2008, a black and white wall quilt called Tree of Life by Betty Alderman. Unfortunately, I am unable to find my copy of the magazine, which I intended to take a picture of and post so you would be able to compare ... once it turns up I will post it.

In my version I added the borders, added the hearts, and altered the birds and various other subtle changes. Oh and of course I added colour and a few beads and sequins.

I also added in Jodie’s package a sample of the things that I have dabbled with of late; a monogrammed pillow for her little princess, a butterfly appliquéd shirt, a tissue cozy, a pointer finger pincushion from this tutorial and another one I found in a magazine.

The girls and I had a sewing afternoon today. Megan has made some progress with her project.

 

Jessica began painting her fabric.

Right now though

I had better get back to my clam shells ...

Although after browsing through my pictures for this post I am wondering why I have not yet finished Jo Jo's Circus ........

Have a great weekend!

Kellie

What are you doing tomorrow ... episode 3

Well I’ll be getting up at 3.30am and heading off to the airport yet again to zoom off to Sydney for my second class with Sue Cody here to make my tree of life quilt ... which Sue actually calls 'Olive Tree'.

I am a tad disappointed that I don’t have all of the things I had planned to have done by now ... but they were unrealistic anyway ... well that’s what I’m telling myself!

I have 27 rows of quilting done and only about 50 to go .... my fingers are sore just thinking of this. I have done about 200 of the clam shells .. only 200 or there abouts to go.

 

Of course I would have done a bit more this morning but instead I went and bought a bag to carry everything in ... last month I carried about a dozen little bags and my neck was sore for a week afterwords ... this way my neck will still be sore for a week but the bag is quite nice to look at!

Jodie received her quilt on Wednesday and by all accounts she is quite pleased with it ... (huge sigh of relief!!) ... but I won’t post a picture until she has a chance to do so.

Megan went on her first overnight camp with the school this week ... I am sure she is having a great time, she has been so very excited about it for a very long time now. They have gone to Phillip Island .... I feel cold just saying that. It has been so very cold here this week. My flight doesn’t leave Sydney until 11.30pm (yuck!!!!!) so Meg’s will be collected by the Chrissie (our very good nanny come housekeeper). Thanks Chris and sorry Meggsie I will wake you up with at least a million kisses and cuddles when I get home ... we are all missing you!

So I had better go and try and do some more quilting ... should be ironing but I wont tell if you don’t! 

Have a great weekend!

Kellie