Love my little man!

Aden: "Mummy we have to buy Harli some Princesses"

Mummy: "what are you talking about Aden"

Aden: "When we go to the shops we need to buy Harli some Princesses"

Mummy: "Oh you mean the yoghurt Princesses like your Lightening ones"

Aden: "Yeah, we need to get some so I can get it to Harli."

Mummy: "I'm not sure we can do that but it is a great idea. What a caring boy you are. How about we draw Harli some princess pictures instead.

Aden: "Okay Mummy"

Daddy: "Does he have to draw Princesses?"

Mummy: "Yes. Harli likes Princesses doesn't she Aden?"

Aden: Yep Harli is my best friend, she likes princesses."

Mummy: "Do you know what a princess looks like Aden?"

Aden: "Yes They look like Mummies. Like you Mummy!"

Mummy: "awww thanks buddy"

Daddy: "I've been teaching him good!"

Happy Mother's Day on Sunday to all the Mummy Princesses!

Although sometimes I think we all feel a bit like this....

C.R.A.Z.Y!!

Pink play quilt

Not a WIP quilt but still a finish in this house! Only sneek peeks at this stage til it gets delivered.

{27 hours} Productivity

I've had a very productive weekend so far! In the last 27 hours I've managed to get a whole lot of quilting done....let me show you!

9pm on Friday night  - I made 1 lot of pink binding and attached it to a quilted top and attached a second lot of  stripe binding( that was already made) onto the 'Spot' quilt. I was really happy with trying something new for the quilting on this quilt a few weeks back. Most of it is pretty plain but this is what I can up with on the border...

Continuous quilting in square spirals....I'm really happy with how they turned out despite a few wobbles!

I've gotten heaps better at controlling the flow of the fabric underneath the needle and I'm keen to try some more continuous quilting soon.

10pm  - So keen in fact that I jumped straight onto quilting this 'Dr.Suess' quilt. Aden picked out the yellow fabric (despite me trying to steer him towards the blue!) With some blue and red from my stash and some quick cut squares we have a new Daycare blanket!

I wanted something not girly or swirly and I didn't want straight lines either....so a few days ago I googled some quilting patterns and found this one...Angles and Circles.  I'm using a blue variegated thread. Nothing really works with the bold colours to blend the quilting so I went with it as a feature.

It got to about midnight and I about a third of the way through when my tiredness got the better of me!

10am Saturday morning - Amongst all the regular Saturday morning family stuff (most of which my darling Hubby took care of so I could quilt!) I finished the quilting on the Dr. Seuss quilt, made and attached the binding.

2pm - Not wanting to leave the machine and keen for something to do more adventurous quilting on (and I could have got out a WIP I guess....but well you know......) I started a new quilt using some girly owls I got from Spotlight in the last sale, I pulled out some fabrics from my stash and got stitching.

8:30pm  - 6.5 hour quilt top....including cutting fabrics, dinner, bath and bed for the boy and going to vote. Oh and hot chips and gravy for afternoon tea!

53 x 41 inches

(Dodgy phone pics in my dark sewing room!)

And I didn't stop there!

9pm - The tiles got a super quick vacuum, just in the spot I needed to use, to sandwich it with a piece of the owl fabric for the backing and a perfectly sized piece of batting from the pile.

I also kept out some of the Prints Charming pink spots and made the binding as well!

Midnight - I finally went to bed (at Hubby's insistence...I could have kept going!!) with the squares all ditched and the quilt ready and waiting for the rest of the quilting....I'm thinking feathers in the white borders....I've been practising drawing them!

I've got lots of real work to catch up on today....but hopefully I'll be back to the quilts very soon!

Finished WIP's for April

What have you been working on this month? Is it all going to plan for you??

Add you finished projects here and don't forget to post me a FQ of lovely fabric to add to the end of year prize if you haven't already!


Linky closes on the 6th of May.

Trying again with knitting....

I can knit...I'm just not very good at it...and VERY slow too! And I could only work out how to knit plain stitches...purl stitches had me very confused!
But yesterday while Mum was here I gave it another go and this time I think I have worked it out!

I'm trying the Child's Square Hat in 8ply. The casting on was super slow to start with, but then I started getting better.

I knitted  one half of this hat last night and cast off this morning...so now to start the other half and then I have to work out how to stitch the 2 together!

I'll be on the look out for other easy kint/purl small knitting projects...let me know if you know of any!

The ugly knitting needle holder!

I've been telling mum for ages how easy it would be to make a knitting needle holder, like a crayon roll, to keep all her needles in. She is not a big knitter but has been at it for over 30 years now and so has a collection of needles of all sizes....in UK, US and metric measurements...with a few odd pairs in there too!

So she came down yesterday to play with Aden for the day...and bought all her knitting stuff and lots of (UGLY) sewing material too. And somehow I ended up sewing her the said holder while she knitted a hat for Aden and he played at out feet.

My Mum is not one to 'waste' anything so she found some ugly (and smelly from storage!) old men's shirting material that she had been given and a piece of plain homespun from my stash and I made this extra big, with lots of pockets, and the needle sizes sewn above each pocket.

Then she decided that the fold over flap wasn't big enough so we have to stash dive again to find something else to add to the top for a bigger fold over piece.

I'm really happy with the way it turned out and would have loved to make it in some much nicer fabrics....but this ugly one will sit in the bottom of Mum's knitting bag and serve its purpose very well.

Finished WIP's for March

3 months in and still going strong....yes??

Mug Rug Swap

I never really 'got' Mug Rugs...not sure I'd have any use for them....but when my quilting friends suggested a Mug Rug swap I couldn't help myself and joined in anyway!

Here is the MR that I made for Leah over at Puggle Logic

I wish I'd done a few more of the diagonal quilting lines across to give it a bit more structure...next time!

I used this tutorial from Sew Fantastic. Super easy to do and I liked her multi-coloured binding but I already had a bit of purple leftover from another quilt and so used that.

I hope Leah is able to use her Mug Rug even if it is a tad too big for just a coffee cup!

And I need to show you the Mug Rug I received from Car at Carrose Creations. I took it to school with me on Friday to use on my desk to stop the condensation from my waterbottle wrecking all my papers...and trust me there is a lot of papers!

Just keepn' it real....this is always what my desk looks like after 3 days of saying to 24 kids...'Just put it on my desk' Plus it is nearing Parent Interview time and end-of-term so there is a lot more paperwork and testing and notes on top of the usual stuff.

It matches really well in my 'Safe and happy' classroom. The little maverick star in the centre is very cute.

She also did a great job of some FMQ on the white around the star. Thanks Car it will get lots of use at school.

I Spy....

with my little eye a cute little boy who gave his mummy quite a fright last week.

One of Aden's new favourite things is to 'help' in the kitchen. I'm quite happy to have him there as he stands on a chair and natters away and asks a billion questions...
 'Can I stir?'
'What's that?'
 'Can I have a taste?'
 'What are you doing now Mum?'
 'Can I use the knife?'
 'Watch your fingers Mummy'
 'Is that hot?'
 'Can I touch it?'
'Can I eat the butter Mum?'
'Can I stir it now'

I do love my little helper!

On Wednesday night he decided to pull into the kitchen the chair that has his booster seat attached to it. He has done this before and despite me telling him to put it back and get a different chair I wasn't too worried as like I said he has successfully stood up on it before, although it is not as stable as a chair without the booster seat!

He then decided that he wanted to 'wash-up' (ie play in the water in the sink) while I was chopping the vegetable. Being the boy/monkey/climber/2-year-old that he is he climbed up to sit on the bench to reach the water better. I told him to get down and he did (to his credit) listen and start to climb down.
I glanced around behind me to see how he was going and watched as he got his legs tangled up while trying to turn around on the chair. He hit the back if his head on the tiled floor.
I dropped the knife and scooped him up straight away to make sure he was alright.

He, of course, cried for a while and refused any ice, as he always does. There was no big egg like I was expecting, as the bump was quite hard and there was barely even a red mark.

But after 45mins of sooking and resting on the couch, refusing dinner, almost rocking himself to sleep in the rocking chair and wanting to be held while I tried to eat my dinner we knew he wasn't very well.

He asked for more cuddles, so I sat in the rocking chair with him....30 seconds later he power spewed all over us both (and a quilt, we now have a 'spew' blanket Aunty Cee) ...twice!

We both showered and put him to bed, where he fell asleep in seconds, clean-up up the floor and padded rocking chair (Thanks Hubby!!) and kept checking on him til we went to bed.

It wasn't til the morning, after I had lay awake most of the night worrying about him, that I connected the head knock and the vomiting to be a possible concussion.

He was fine the next day and woke up telling me 'My tummy feels great Mummy!'

This was a few nights later...still very attached to his 'Kwazii Spy Glass'

EB Bee Block for March

Adds picked a lovely simple block this month called 'Granny Squares'. The tutorial for it is here on Blue Elephant Stitches. I loved making this block and it took just under 2 hours to trim the fabrics and piece 2 blocks.

You may notice the small snip to one of the white squares at the top...opps the 'quick snips' pictured to the right a a might quick for me! lol They came from hubby's 'sewing kit' that he used while in the forces....after more than 12 years they are still very sharp...although I don't think they got that much use!
Anyway I decided not to unpick and replace that white square as it will be chopped off when the block is trimmed anyway....hope that is Ok Adds!

Thanks for a great block Adds looking forward to seeing all the blocks together!

Just to show my linen fabric joins.....perfect!

Cuddles for Spot!

I remember now why I don't like making a quilt out of a panel...deciding what to quilt on the panel is always a problem for me. My skills don't match my ideas....so I just go basic and then don't like it very much!

There is a loopy stipple in white thread on the white in the centre of this quilt. The the 'piano keys' border is just 'ditched'

It was going to be for a teaching friends new little boy but I didn't notice the American 'incorrect' spelling til I went to sandwich it and I just can't give it to a teacher!

So this little cuddle quilt will be going to the Easter raffle for Aden's day care.

It would make a nice little blanket for Day Care

or it is also nice for a bit of rainy day cartoons!

Not sure why the pictures are so blurry and I've already given it to Day Care so I can't take anymore...sorry

Stash busting in pink!

These cute quilt blocks were all made for the stash! I have great plans for them!

Weathervane Block (most approprite with all the rain around!) form Don't Call me Betsy's tutorial

 Garden Fence Block by Hyacinth designs tutorial
My new favourite block!

Cupcake Saturday!

It seems that Saturday mornings at home mean cupcakes to Aden. Not the best for Daddy who is asleep up stairs from a night shift....I try and stall him til I hear the alarm go off and then we get mixing!

Aden chose blue to be today's colour.

Can you tell it is nearly sleep time...look at those eyes! 

An extra day!

Today is special...an extra day this month to finish off your WIP for February! Add it to the linky here to be entred in the draw this month.

Of course I haven't even looked at my WIP's this month so I'm not really being a very good host am I!! Where does the time go??

I did have 1 small finish though

This will be revealed in full when it arrives in the mail. I used some of my new Kate Spain Terrain FQ's so it is pretty special!

And speaking of WIP finishes these have arrived in the mail to be added to the prize at the end of the year!

Thanks Fiona and Car!

Lights on the hill

I'm from a 'tuckin' family. We grew up around trucks. My dad and brother own/manage the family business with 12 semi-traliers and other smaller trucks and vehicles.
This weekend was the 'Lights on the Hill Trucking Memorial' where a convoy runs to remember truckers who have died on the job.

Thankfully none of our trucks need to have memorial banners on them!

Despite the rain Aden and cousin Annaleisa has a great day!

Here is Pa's newest truck 'Pa's star' with the name of his little stars on the side!

Finished WIP's for February

What lucky ladies you are this year! One extra day in February to finish off your WIP projects...here is the linky to start adding them.

Open til the 6th of March.

We love reading!

2012 is the National Year of Reading. And we are a family of readers so I thought I'd share what we are reading this week. And hopefully I'll keep doing so throughout the year.

Friday is Mobile Library day in town. The truck stops right outside Aden's daycare and he is always happy to go to the 'Library Bus' when I collect him in the afternoon.

Aden is loving sea creatures at the moment, with whales and dolphins being his favourite. We picked out a few simple information book called  'Animal Babies in the Seas' and 'Whales and Dolphins'. The second one has 'flip the flaps' that show whales using their blowholes and splashing their tails into the water. Aden is really enjoying them and is starting to remember and repeat the facts as we read them.

This is the real reason I'm writing this post...to show you this book.

When a generous quiltmaker finally agrees to make a quilt for a greedy king, but only under certain conditions, she causes him to undergo a change of heart.

The Quilt Makers Gift by Jeff Brumbeau is a beautiful story on the reason why I believe so many quilters make quilts and give them away....to see the joy and smiles on face of those they love!

Each page highlights a different quilt block pattern whose name relates to the unfolding story.

The book is filled with beautiful quilt blocks and the illustrations are very rich and vibrant in colour.

There is also a prequel and a quilt pattern book that go with it.

Does anyone else go to the Library with their children to pick picture books that they love to read?

First Haircut

Unfortunately my son takes after me in the hair department....very fine, very blonde and very slow to grow! Poor Boy!

My Great Gran gave me my first haircut when I was 4yrs old (and it didn't need cutting according to my Mum's handwriting in my baby book!)

So today he had his first haircut, aged 2 years 6.5 months old.

Before....

Reading Car Magazines while they wait....

We've been talking it up for a while now, (while I got used to the idea) but he was a little unsure at first. There was another man in getting his haircut and Daddy was next in line so he was very brave and climbed up into the chair.

About the lose the 'wild man' hair 

The moment of truth....

I got to keep the tiniest bit of hair...

And after.... we still have the curls

Too busy playing 'Angee Birdies' on my phone to look up!!

My gosh he is a handsome boy!