A little bit of sewing....

Sewing had taken a backseat to Christmas for the past few weeks but today i started to quilt Caden's quilt.
It was nice to get to the machine :)

Beans Beans Beans !!!!!

A few days ago we got our first crop of beans :) Havent had a chance to eat them yet but we will be tonight .
We have had oodles of rain and hopefully we will get some heat and sun and get the rest of the veges growing faster .

Christmas Lily

Two years ago my darling husband gave me a Christmas Lily for Christmas ( obviously) it really is the gift that keeps on giving.
So today the weather here is extremely windy, stormy and quite cold and of course the lilies decided to open up today, so i snapped a few pictures .

Nothing too Crafty

I haven't been too much crafting here over the last couple of weeks ...... this jigsaw has been taking up a lot of my spare minutes.
My husband is an avid Holden fan and has had this jigsaw for ages but never got around to doing it , so i thought i would give it a go :)
We plan on getting it framed and hanging it on the wall sometime after Xmas.
I actually forgot how much i liked Jigsaws so i might do a couple more in 2011 , it is very relaxing.

Miss Lily

Miss Lily recently turned 5, hard to believe that my baby is 5.
Lil absolutely loves baby!!!! So my baby nephew gets lots and lots of love from her.
Yesterday at preschool they had there end of year Xmas Party and she was so excited to bring home her portfolio and the book that Santa had given her.
Her book is "The First Christmas Story" and is a lovely story , her portfolio is awesome the effort and time the teachers put into these is amazing, they are very much appreciated and will be well looked at for years to come.
She was very excited because she asked Santa for a pram for her baby and he said yes if she is very good..... Lucky Santa has that one all wrapped up :)

Finger Buns

This was one of my creations today , believe it or not i have never baked bread before.
So i decided to make these yummy scrummy finger buns, in hindsight i should have made a double batch because they didn't last long.
Next time i will work on the shape of them a little more but really it didn't affect the taste at all.
I used THIS recipe , it worked a treat and has gone straight into my recipe book and I'm sure it will become a favourite.

Xmas Gifts

I am super un organised with teachers gifts this year . my plan was to buy terracotta pots and pot flowers in them but i left it a little late.
So this evening i baked some Choc fudge slice and lemon slice and wrapped them up in some pretty cellophane.
We made a total of 12 packages for teachers, teacher aides and all the preschool teachers, i hope they like them.

Block 2 Pies

I found it difficult to take a decent picture of the last 7 appliqued blocks together so excuse the crappy photo (they really need a press) :) Crappy photo or not i still want to keep documenting my Slow Progress

I found a new way to baste the fabric on the pieces which is so so much quicker , so hopefully block 3 wont take me 6 months.
Sue Daley the creator of Pie and Tarts posted THIS tutorial using SewLine Glue Pens .
It is awesome i already love English Paper Piecing and this makes me love it even more

Vege Patch 2010

We have nearly finished planting out our Vege Patch.
This year we have Potatoes, Spinach, Strawberries, Carrots, Capsicum, Zucchini, Beans, Peas, Spring Onions, Red Onions, Lettuce, Apple and Green Cucumbers, Squash, Watermelon, Pumpkin, Corn and 6 Large Tomato Plants and have 2 cherry tomato plants to go in :)
We have effectively doubled the size of our vege garden this year and i cant wait for the yummy veges we will have in abundance in a few months.

Spring Gardening

Its very rainy here today but our plants are loving it ...
DH this year tried to grow some things from seed and it has gone really well.... in our little hothouse/tray we have Zucchini, Spring Onions and Lettuce all growing beautifully :)
My Christmas Lily has made an appearance again , cant wait to see its beautiful flowers too.
In our garden beds i have planted beans, peas, capsicum, pumpkin and strawberries but its a bit wet to take pictures down there today .

Pennsylvania Dutch Block 12

Im a bit excited to have finished all the blocks on this quilt :)
I need to get into gear and get the sashing and borders done in the next couple of weeks.

I Heart Flowers

My gorgeous daughter Sienna spent her walk home from the bus stop picking me these lovely flowers.
She snuck them into the house and arranged them into an old coffee jar before presenting them to me ...... lovely girl!!!!!

Pies oh lovely Pies

Here are the final 7 pies of Block 2 Pie and Tarts ready to be appliqued onto there squares.
I love all the fabric used in this BOM so bright and out there. Now onto the tiny little tarts which come together really quickly.

To Be Read Books

After my WIP of sewing projects i decided to do a list of books that i have here ready to be read......

I'm going to TRY and not buy anymore books until this list is considerably shorter ( very hard task :P)

1/ What Alice Forgot- Alice Moriarty
2/ Death Mask- Kathryn Fox - Finished
3/ The Dead Of The Night- John Marsden-Finished-
4/ Breaking Dawn- Stephanie Meyer - Finished
5/ The Winding Ways Quilt- Jennifer Chiaverini
6/ The Runaway Quilt- Jennifer Chiaverini
7/ Atonement- Ian McEwan
8/ Faces- Martina Cole
9/ 7th Heaven- James Patterson
10/ The Story Of Danny Dunn- Bryce Courtney
11/ Covet- Tara Moss
12/ Road To Paradise- Paulliina Simons
13/ The Girl Next Door- Elizabeth Noble
14/ The Best of Times- Penny Vincenzi-Finished
15/ Women of The Outback- Sue Williams
16/ Centre Stage- Judy Nunn
17/ We of The Never Never- Mrs Aeneas Gunn
18/ Rules- Jane Beaton
19/ Perfect Skin- Nick Earls
20/ The Cross Country Quilters- Jennifer Chiaverini
21/ Red Desert Sky- John Lomax III
22/ Heritage- Judy Nunn
23/ ToyBoy- Holly Hill
24/ Knit Two- Kate Jacobs
25/ One Fifth Avenue- Candace Bushnell
26/ Eat Me- Linda Jaivin
27/ Now or Never- Penny Jordan
28/ Territory- Judy Nunn
29/ The Glitter Game- Judy Nunn
30/ White Gardenia- Belinda Alexandra
31/ Australia Street- Ann Whitehead
32/ Hopetoun Wives- Fran Cusworth-Finished

WIP

I have been going to do a WIP List since KAYSCHA posted hers a year ago but haven't got around to it :)
So Today MAREE threw out a similar challenge and so i have gone ahead and made my List........
Some things i haven't started so technically aren't WIPS Yet but if i have started or have a kit or the fabric ready to go it went on the list :)
Its in no particular order just as i came across them

So here we go....

1/ The World as it Should Be- Bookmark
2/ The World as it Should Be- MY World Needlecase
3/ Prairie Flower Pincushion
4/ Noah's Star Quilt Finished
5/ Down In The Garden BOM
6/ Life Is Beautiful BOM
7/ Pennsylvania Dutch BOM
8/ Pies and Tarts BOM
9/ Wool Pin Cushion
10/ Baby Nephew Quilt Finished
11/ Mums Dresden Plate cushions
12/ Melly and Me Butterfly
13/ My home cushion
14/ Square Dilly Bag Kit
15/ Cat Wall Hanging
16/ Friends forever Cushion
17/ Welcome to our nest Wall hanging
18/ A Gardeners Journal Quilt
19/ A Family Gathering Quilt
20/ Gail Pan Threads And Things Bag
21/ Lily Doll Quilt Finished
22/ EB Newbie Quilters Round Robin Quilt
23/ Gail Pan A Christmas Wish
24/ Making Tea Wall Hanging
25/ Grandmothers Flower Garden Quilt

Only 25 Things not too many at all :)

A Gardeners Journal Block C

This Block has taken me so so long, I'm so happy to have it finished. The house was a mammoth stitching effort but i love how it looks finished !!! Blogger isnt playing nice and wont let me show the House Straight but anyways :)

Kate Voegele - Wish You Were

One Tree Hill is one of my all time favourite shows and i just love this song xox Kate Voegele is an amazing song writer and has an even more amazing voice, if you haven't heard her before check her out.

50 Books in 2010

Well i have just clocked up book number 28 so i highly doubt i will get to 50 !!!!!

So i am revising my goal and am trying to get to 40, completely doable ... I hope.

This morning i finished Sliding into Home by Kendra Wilkinson, a really easy read. I was always intrigued as to why these gorgeous girls where "Girlfriends" to a really really old man. Surely money and fame where so not worth it. The book didn't really go into the Playboy Mansion stuff too much, So i still think its very degrading and dont understand why anyone would put themselves in that position :s

I guess i liked the book she is a fairly like able character and quite funny :)

Pennsylvania Dutch September and To Do List for next couple of Weeks!!!!

Finished this one in record time cant wait for the last block so i can get this quilt finished, i think it will become our lounge quilt as it will go nicely with our blue lounge.
I had to snap a Pic of my favourite fabric in the quilt so far too.

By the end of the school holidays so in the next three weeks i hope to complete this list :
* Gardeners Journal Block C( tiny bit of Stitching left )
* Gardeners Journal Block H- already traced and ready to go
* Applique Block 2 Pies from Pie and Tarts Quilt
* Applique 43 Starts on Noah's Star Quilt
* Cut out Baby Quilt ( see Below)

My baby sister is having her 3rd baby in a few weeks and i have searching for the perfect fabric and i found this super cute fabric from The Fat Quarter Shop.
I'm not 100% sure of the pattern I'm going to use but i like Elia's Quilt on Crazy Mom Quilts .

Pennsylvania Dutch Block 10

Block 10 is done, i cant wait to get this quilt together its so nice.
I also have dreaming and thinking about what to make with all the leftover fabric that comes in this BOM. The Fat Quarter Shop are so generous with there fabric most of the blocks have nearly double the fabric needed.

New Chook House and Run!!!!

Our growing family of chickens needed more space especially to lay.
We got our first house and 2 little chickens here.
We are now getting 5 eggs a day which is great !!!! I think we will still let them free range in the yard most of the day, then back into there 5 star residence for nights, its complete with laying box and pull out tray for easy cleaning .

Lady Antebellum - Need You Now - Live HD

I just love this song!!!! I am a lyrics girl and i think everyone can relate to this song at some point in there lifes :) These guys are so talented not many people can pull off such a beautiful song with just their voices and a guitar

Shopping Spree

In light of tax time i had a little shopping spree at The Home Patch last week. Its a lovely shop with gorgeous displays that just make me want to buy more :)
It is Noah's turn for a new quilt so it was time to buy Boys Story as well as the kit for the Star Quilt from the book.

Next was The World as it should be book and 2 Little kits for a bookmark and needle case from the book, i have wanted this book for ages it is soooooo lovely.

Finally was a little kit for a Prairie Flower Pincushion which i just couldn't leave there... the fabric in this kit is gorgeous.

So i have had my fix for a couple of months ( or maybe weeks..hehe) now i just need to find an extra couple of hours a day just for sewing :) :) ;)

Down In The Garden Block 1

On another raining , cold winter Sunday Afternoon i spent doing a little sewing. Block 1 of Down in the Garden. Its already for the stitching, applique and English piecing. This block included a lot of cutting and sewing in preparation for the rest of the blocks. So i have made a few extra churn dash blocks which i love , they are so cute.

Throw your arms around me (Eddie Vedder & Mark Seymour) Pearl Jam

Pennsylvania Dutch Block 9

Another Block down, i really love the fabrics in this BOM and cant wait for it to be all finished...3 Months to go!!!!

The Baby Sittters Club

When i was a young girl in primary school The Baby Sitters Club by Ann M Martin were my absolute favourite books in the whole world. I used to hang out for bookclub every month to get the newest book out. I still have all my copies in a box waiting for my daughters to hopefully love them too.
So i was so happy to see at our local library a new BSC book(prequel) actually i was ecstatic, its like coming home to an old friend.
After a bit of research i found that they are releasing the series again and the Prequel is the first one .
I think its great , i hope todays young girls get as much enjoyment out of the books as i have.

Book Love!!!!!

Oh how i love new books!!!! All these writers are Australian Women who write Crime fiction,its only on the last two or three years that i have liked Crime fiction.
I love all three authors previous books so just had to buy these asap.
My to be read pile is growing a lot faster than i can read lol.

A Gardeners Journal

Here is my May block ...better late than never :) The potting plants block was my favourite to stitch, i love tulips!

Parcel Day

I had a bit of a spending spree last week.....eek!!!!

Sienna is a very crafty girl, she kept borrowing the "Patterns and Borders" stencil book from the library so we had a bit of a search around and found it at Five Mile Press along with another pattern stencil book.

The two Block of the months i signed up for last week arrived too, Down in the Garden and Life is beautiful. Cant wait to start these.

Finally i am a big fan of Jon + Kate Plus 8 or Kate + 8 as it is called now, so am excited to now have Kate's newest book.

June Long Weekend

We have a nice and relaxing long weekend here, i have got to do some sewing....Yay!!!!

Pennsylvania Dutch BOM is now up to date :)

Managed to make 3 more pies, brings the total to 13 Pies out of 100.

Still behind in my A Gardeners Journal Stitch-a-long, i have nearly finished Mays stitcheries so hopefully will have it all pieced by the end of the week.

BOM Addiction

I really love Block of the months :) I was already signed up for Pies and tarts and Pennsylvania Dutch and then i seen Life is Beautiful That Peg from Happy in Quilting is stitching and i fell in love.
I managed to put it off till this week but then i caved and rang up and ordered it.

Similar story i seen Down in the Garden over at Maree's Farmyard Crafts and loved it also....... so i signed up :)

But the addiction isn't complete yet there are 3 that i love at Fat quarter shop,Tiny Town which i am definitely getting, Paris in the fall and Prairie women's sewing circle which are gorgeous too.

So i have less time to sew than ever but nothing wrong with stockpiling is there ???
DH doesn't understand the concept lol.

Foster Care

We recently were approved as Foster Parents :) It took us a little over 12 Months from lodging our application to our approval.
We have had a 13 month old baby girl for the past three weeks and a 5 year old boy for the last week. So life has been busy in our house with 6 Kids, never is there a dull moment :) Already i feel that it is one of the best things i have ever done, having kids myself of course coming first but fostering definitely second.
I hope its the start of a long time of fostering :)