Photo share time

Roast Cat anyone??? This is where Henry cat spent his Boxing day asleep in a baking tray lol he is truly a weird cat

Block 3 of Little Bluebirds well the applique at least, I only have the leaves, and butterfly/bee thingies left to embroider and block 3 is complete YAY

The applique block 4 for little bluebirds and I haven't even started the embroidery for this block yet :(

tonight I have started the applique for block 5 YIPPEE

and this is the fabric for a quilt that my mum is also doing not sure of its name but it is all done with needle turn applique which at the moment I am loving

I have even sacrificed some of my reproduction fabrics that I bought for my Baby Jane.....mum has promised she will replace them for me next time she is in the vicinity of The Quilted Crow and I will be holding her to that lol and Mum ordered her very own Dear Jane book and rulers today she loved it that much we are both aiming to have them completed by her 70th birthday which is in 4 and a bit years, so 1 block a week is what we need to do.

other than lots of hand sewing we have had a quiet couple of days. We need to do housework tomorrow as we have potential house buyers coming to look....again I hope they HATE it lol selfish I know but I really don't want to move especially as rentals here are few and far between.

Our adopted cat Lucky is missing......we haven't seen her for 2 days and yesterday we found snake tracks on the driveway so today the girlie's and grandma had a snake bite practice session which was very funny to watch and grandpa and I went to the tip as we forgot to put the bin out and then came home via the chook farm with 4 new girls unfortunately they weren't very well received by the Priscilla's so we are hoping all is calm in the hen house tomorrow.

We have nothing planned for New Years Eve, boring I know and New Years Day we are heading of to the National Park for the day and to have a picnic as ma and pa leave on the 2nd :(

so in case I don't get back to the blog before then

HAPPY NEW YEAR

and may 2009 be all that you want it to be :)

Its Over

for another year!

We had a fabulous Christmas day with great company, good food and good Bacardi lol

the girlie's were all spoilt with lots of clothes, bikes and scooters, Cd's and DVDs, babies and a pram (the babies are known as Pinkie Pie and Bubbles lol) and we were all in bed by 10pm absolutely exhausted.

Boxing day was very quiet we all just pottered around and ate leftovers and went to a friends for a BBQ dinner.

Yesterday we had to face the supermarket which was a bit scary lol and had friends over for dinner.

Today the girlie's and grandma and grandpa went on the port bus tour and then we went to the museum which was great, had a coffee at the jetty and came home to relax followed by a game of canasta which mum and I lost....

Tomorrow (Monday) I have 3 loud boys here for the day which will be very interesting.

But I have been busy working on girlie # 2's Little Bluebirds quilt, I am up to block 3 and nearly have all the needle turn applique done yay :) only 4 more to go lol

so we have been busy.

Santa was very good to me I received Pandora Beads, earrings and a voucher to the LPS which will be fun to spend.

I hope you have all enjoyed the break. My parents leave on Friday.......I am going to miss them when they go especially as I haven't had to do the washing or the ironing once since they have been here.

Have some photos to share as soon as I load them onto the computer, maybe tomorrow I'll get that little job done.

Have a great week

Santa has been

Oh My Goodness

Santa has been to our house!

and look at the load he left, it goes all the way around the tree

and he left a note for the girlies

the string leads to the garage where there are 2 scooters and big girls bike!

and this is what we woke up to this morning, I am very grateful I have a double sink on mornings like these lol

food update is as follows

pork cooked

chickens cooked

coleslaw just needs the dressing

eggs boiled

green salad needs to be made

fruit platter needs to be made

cheeses etc need to be plated

I am organised

I am ready

I just hope its not to early a morning lol (wishful thinking on my part I think)

We (mum, dad and I) took the girlies to church tonight they were so good girlie # 1 loved the singing, girlie # 2 just looked around and watched and girlie # 3 wanted to know why she couldn't have communion, I told her in grade 4 she could lol. I am thinking that maybe I should take them a bit more often, even if dh doesn't see the point (heathen that he is lol)

Well from me to you

MERRY CHRISTMAS

and have a fabulous day with your loved ones

Food Glorious Food

we have 2 large fridges here, our big Westinghouse side by side in the garage as it wouldn't fit in the fridge hole in the house and a smaller 2 door in the kitchen and tonight both are full of yummy yummy food. Amanda asked on her blog what was our Christmas day menu, as it is summer here in Australia the last thing I want to do is be cooking a hot meal in the middle of a hot day so we are having a cold lunch.

So our Christmas day feast consists of

breakfast : cereal, bacon and eggs, toast, tea, coffee and juice

lunch: cold roast pork with apple sauce, roast chicken, ham, a green salad, potato salad, coleslaw and an egg salad

followed by

Plum pudding with custard, cream and or ice cream, pavlova with kiwi fruit and strawberries and a gorgeous gorgeously decorated Christmas cake I picked up today I'll have to take a photo before we dig in

for some snackie food we have

brie and Camembert cheese, chilli crab and spring onion dip, french onion dip with biccies and toasted lavash bread and dads favourite Mersey Valley Sharp and Crumbly cheese and celery and carrots sticks for the weight conscious (mum)

we have a fruit platter too full of watermelon, rockmelon, grapes, oranges, kiwi fruit and strawberries and maybe some apples

for drinks we have way to much wine (mum and dad), beer (dh), bacardi (me), lemonade and poppers for the girlies and some champagne and some soft drinks

I can feel the kilos landing on my hips just typing this out lol

So what is on your menu for Christmas day and who will you be spending it with???

We obviously have my family and mum and dad and dh's work mate and his partner coming too because I don't think anyone should spend christmas day on their own!

We have just taught dh how to play canasta and mum and I kicked butt, we are planing on playing again tomorrow night after we go to Mass, have dinner and the girlie's are in bed and of course before Santa arrives, and apparently we need to leave out 9 carrots so the reindeer get a full carrot each lol, girlie # 2 is quite concerned about the carrots lol lol

Now I have a thank you to make to 2 gorgeous girls who offered to be my replacement angel for the Stitchers' Angel Swap, so Jo and Marion thank you thank you thank you I really appreciate the offers, I wasn't really to concerned as Mum and Dad always taught us it wasn't the receiving that matters it was the giving. So I am hoping that Santa is extra good to you both this year.

Mwah to both of you :)

Happy Christmas Eve

3 more big sleeps

till Santa comes :)

I drove 4.5 hours to collect my mum and dad and then on Friday we did it all over again to get home. My lil car was dream to drive on the trip and it now needs it 15000 km service :( I still can't believe that I have driven 15000 + kms in the 12 months I have had it.....

it was dh's turn for a drive today. He had an 11 hour round trip as he needed a seaman's medical, unfortunately the closet Dr who does them was a 5.5 hr drive away, but he did manage to pay a visit to Leonard's Chicken and stocked up on it for us, its been over 12 months since we have eaten Leonard's tomorrow night we are dining on Chicken Kiev yummo :)

Its been so nice having mum and dad here, we haven't really done very much but the ironing is done everyday and I don't have to clean the kitchen up :) I'm going to miss them when they leave and I wish I was leaving with them and going home to our house in Launceston.......only 800 odds days to go lol.

We are in full Christmas preparation mode here. Mum and I have a needle turn applique class tomorrow then we are hitting the supermarket to do the final Christmas food shop. Wednesday we are cooking roast pork and chickens, and we have coleslaw, salads, fruit platters and desserts to make and Wednesday night once the girlie's are asleep its present wrapping time. I wrap nothing until Christmas eve is always a long job but its my little tradition. The girlie's are making chocolate balls tomorrow afternoon.

Lots of bushfire's around us at the moment, we had a thunderstorm roll through on Saturday morning with alot of lightening, and unfortunately the lightening started fires in the National Park so we are all hoping they are out in the next few days so we can go to the national park to show ma and pa just how beautiful our area is.

The girlie's are very excited about Santa's impending visit its a hot topic here, it's been really warm too so their pool is up and each day the girls and the dog have a swim. We are looking at 25 on Christmas day and thunderstorms with more lightening. we had to shut all our windows earlier as the house was filling up with smokey air, not nice at all.

Not much sewing happening, I have been working on Little Bluebirds part 3 which means I have 3 more blocks to do then I am caught up lol. Makes for great nighttime sewing :)

If I don't get back before the man in the red suit arrives I just want to wish you all and happy healthy and safe Christmas and I hope that Santa pays a visit and your day is magical.

Merry Christmas everyone :)

Today

is the day that Gumdrops and Frumpa arrive

I am leaving in 1 hour to start my drive to the airport, which is only 4.5hrs away lol just a little drive.

Girlies are excited

I am excited

dh is apparently excited on the inside lol.

Will be back in a couple of days!

Last day of Freedom

Today is the girlies last day of school until February!

so that means today is now officially known as

Mamma's last hurrah lol

I really should be doing housework......I have put the dishes in the sink and filled it lol

I should be making beds

really I should be doing a lot of things

but instead I am going to do some sewing..............

and just enjoy my last day of quiet :)

dh is on holidays for a week starting tomorrow :)

gumdrops and frumpa arrive in 2 big sleeps

we are excited :)

have a great day and I hope that it is a peaceful and serene as mine will be....(well at least until 3pm when the noise makers arrive home )

mmmmm........pudddings

It was so hard not to 'test' one of these little puddings, you know the 'test' where you try just one to make sure its OK lol.

I made them for the girlie's end of year break up party. Today they also took in Miss G's presents, a journal and cover, a box of chocolate balls and a little book called 'Great Teachers make all the difference'.

Tomorrow the littlest girlie will take in her gifts for Mrs M, Mrs W and Mrs B.

Tomorrow is also the last day of school for this year :eek: February seems so far away.

I have printed out the 2nd block for the red delicious BOM and pick up a couple of deeper reds and I am hoping to get started tonight I need some night time sewing to do.

Only 3 more sleeps :)

Have a great day

Photo Overload

Lots been happening here.

Last night (Sat) we had girlie # 3's dancing concert she was too cute I can't wait to get the dvd so she can see herself on stage, she told me she couldn't see me and she was looking lol.

Today (Sun) we had the kids christmas party at dh's work, They had a jumping castle and face painting and food and drinks and Santa came too and all the kids got a lolly bag :)

and finally Mum's Christmas present is finished, and here it is. My parents arrive in 4 more big sleeps soooooo exciting :) :) :)









The finished journal covers, I LOVE the black dragonfly fabric, it was new into the shop on Wednesday and I HAD to have some.

Inside Mrs M's journal cover

Inside Miss G's journal cover.

Girlie # 3 as a puppy dog! She is a scooby doo fan lol she's a pretty cute puppy though :)

Girlie # 1 stuggled through today she was tired and a bit emotional and a bit crabby but she is still a gorgoeus Christmas bunny :)

I hope you had a great weekend :)

I have

spent the day working on mums present and I am pleased to report that the quilting is done. I just need to locate the pattern oops and cut the binding strips sew them on, hand sew them down and then I can wrap it up literally lol

The rest of the week is looking busy for me

Wednesday the littlest girlie and I are making chocolate balls for the teachers and I need to do the journal covers too

Thursday I am going to my LPS to take some photos for their website and I need to set up a blog for the shop well I have it set up I just need to photos and a spiel from Deb, then I am getting a long overdue haircut and Thursday night we have the local Christmas parade

Friday is dancing for the littlest girlie and maybe lunch with daddy if he behaves himself lol

Saturday is dancing rehearsal for the littlest girlie then Saturday night is concert night and dh has his work Christmas party

Sunday we have the kids Christmas party for dh's work then it all starts again on Monday but next week is a good week because on Thursday my mummy and daddy arrive for Christmas and I can't wait.

Only 5 more days of school for this year YIPPEE 2 months of sleep ins for me :)

no photo's today but there will be tomorrow

I hope you have had a great day :)

PS Amanda and Sue could you lovely ladies please email me your postal addresses again my email crashed and I have lost them :( (I hate technology at times)

Bit Close for comfort!

We first saw the smoke late yesterday afternoon and this is why

it was a little bushfire and not to far from home

This is what the side of the road used to look like (this is the end of our road)

and this is what the side of the road looked like this morning this is about half a kilometre from the end of our road

and this is from the lookout where the FESA base was set up

and this sunset was taken quite a few weeks ago, love the colours and it was taken from the end of our deck

I spent today cleaning the house ready for the people who are coming to look at it in the morning I just need to run the vaccy around AGAIN and put Henry in the cat crate as he has discovered that he can open the screen doors, he managed to escape this afternoon and went exploring in the bush no idea how long he was out for before I discovered the door open. He is a 100% inside cat and I think its Lucky cats fault for enticing him out in the wild blue yonder.

and for the record I hope they HATE the house because I don't want to move!

I hope you all had a great weekend

Relief

I have a newly registered car......the biggest decision I had to make was which number plates, did I want the regional or the state plates.......I took the regional.

Started gathering supplies for Christmas cooking and took the littlest girlie to dancing

the girlies and I are making Chocolate Balls and Shortbread for their teachers and teaching assistants we'll get started later in the week.

I am making fruit mince pies, I'll start brewing the fruit mix on Monday.

This weekend I'll be making the journal covers, helping the girlies do Christmas cards and having a big clean we have our first potenial buyers coming through 1st thing monday morning :( I hope they hate it (just kidding).

and the biggest news is my secret santa gifts have arrived at their destination, I hope ????? likes them. so a big PHEW from me there now I just need to know about the parcel I sent in the Stitchers' Angel Swap.

Have a fab weekend I am off to dancing rehearsal in the morning will let dh have a sleep in as he starts work at 4am luky lucky thing lol.

The Graduate

Here is our graduate for 2008

The divine Miss I or girlie # 3 as I call her

and here is the finished tree skirt which Henry the cat has claimed as his own and can be found 90% of the time asleep under the tree lol

It looks so much nicer than concrete....

Frustrated

My car rego runs out on Christmas Eve, so I received my renewal and off I went to the local Transport department to change it over from Tasmania to Western Australia and I left there so frustrated.

My car is less than 12 months old, I have owned it from new (and have the proof) I had the relevant paperwork filled out but no its not that easy, all my paperwork has to go to Perth WTF #1, paperwork is faxed to Perth, the tare weight wasn't acceptable WTF # 2, so I rang dh who works at the Port, do you have a weighbridge Yep he said so I went to the Port and had the car weighed on the weighbridge, back to transport the girl still didn't know if that was going to be acceptable so she called Perth and they said Yep that's fine. So I am still waiting to hear if I can change the rego, told DH that if Perth says NO again I'll just renew it in Tasmania and pay the fine if I get pulled over. Heaven help transport if they say no this time.

See I am 100% frustrated today.

Will share the photo of the tree skirt and our Kindy graduate later tonight, I sewed the last piece of binding down at 11:58pm last night!

Getting worried

I have been checking the recipent of my stitchers' angel swap blog to see if she has received it for weeks it seems and I don't think she has gotten it, and she hasn't replied to my emails but then I haven't received my stitchers' angel goodies either.....and I have been checking my SSCS to see if it has arrived and no luck there either,it should be there this week I posted it on the 21 /11 and it went to the USA. Should I sit tight a few more days or start asking Australia Post some questions???? and should I email the person who was sending to me in the stitchers' angel swap with a please explain or leave it???

Anyhoo

The tree skirt is almost done I have approx 20 more inches of binding to be sewn down YIPPEE

will get back to it as soon as I hit 'publish post'

Have to get it done I am detiremined to go to bed with it around the tree TONIGHT!

only 15 more big sleeps according to the girlies until gumdrops and frumpa arrive we are very very excited but dh is not so excited lol

Binding Issues

Is what I have had for the last few days

Last night I rectified it all though I worked it out and cut it out and tonight I get to sit and sew the binding on the tree skirt :)

I have only ever used continuous binding with mitred corners but the tree skirt required a 29" square cut in half on the diagonal then I had to draw lines across it at 1 3/4" spaces....managed to do that it was the sew the short ends together and cut that had me stumped but eventually figured it out and next time I use a pattern that calls for that type of binding I know I have to match the drawn lines up lol lol lol

but all is good and hopefully tomorrow I'll have a picture to share.

The girlie's school concert was great but I wasn't in the best photo taking spot so I didn't get any. Thursday night is kindy graduation so I will definitely get some photos of that milestone.

I collected the girlie's book packs for next year this morning ($190 I might add for 2 x year 3 and 1 pre primary). The littlest girlie is concerned because she doesn't have a pencil case I told her we would fix that before school starts lol.

Tomorrow is back to work on the bed runner day I am running out of time on 16 big sleeps until gumdrops and frumpa arrive, us girlie's are getting very very excited :)

Hope you all have had a great day, I am off to do some blog hopping and some binding sewing

O' Christmas Tree

We have put the Christmas Tree up , the girlie's did all the decorating and actually managed to use EVERY SINGLE decoration we own lol. I think they did an awesome job.

My personal favourite part of the tree is this

The 'heavily' decorated with balls side, I'll have to try and get a picture of it from outside.

and my tree skirt is almost ready for quilting I just need some more 505 fabric adhesive tomorrow, I ran out as I started to put the top on :( plus I need to do the binding which I am still 100% confused about lol. SO that means I should be working on the bed runner.

Tonight we have the girlie's school concert, will have to make sure I take the camera, girlie # 1 is a shepherd and to our amazement girlie # 2 has found her singing voice and she is in the choir and if you knew this girlie you'd be amazed too, and girlie # 3 gets to sit on her daddy's knee and watch.

I hope you all have had a fabulous day :)