SANTA CAME EARLY

Santa came early for us this year.  We won this gorgeous fireplace off ebay for a bargain price of $872.00.  The guy bought it over 17 years ago to install in his house but he never got around to doing it so now it's going to live at our house.  We priced it at Agnews for over $3,000.00 so we got a bargain. 

We are going to install it in the study which my hubby has finally got around to doing.  I posted about him starting the renovations back in April but he got too busy with work but now he has finally decided to start......yippeee!!!!!  He says by the end of January it will be finished...............mmmmmm heard that before.


I finished the cushions for my friend for Christmas.  She loved them and they look gorgeous on her bed.  They are alot different from what I'm used to making with all the shabby chic and vintage decor I make but I must say I really love them and I think I will be making more to sell.  I did them patchwork style and quilted them.  One I quilted with straight lines and the other I quilted in squares.  You can click on the photos to see close ups.

I'm also happy to tell you about my weight loss.  About 8 weeks ago I was told by my doctor that my sugar levels were too high and if I didn't lose some weight I could end up with diabetes so I decided to see a doctor who designed a low carb diet for me.  I started on the diet 5 weeks ago which I didn't post about incase I failed but now I am happy to shout it from the roof tops.  I had my first weigh in today and I have lost 5.5kg to date.  I'm pretty happy with that and my sugar levels are ok now.  My next weigh in is in 6 weeks I will post my results then.  It will be hard with Christmas and all the yummy food around but I'm going to stick with it.  I need to for my health. 

It has been a great year and since I started blogging back in March this year I have received some really nice comments and made some really nice friends.  I thank you all for visiting my blog and for your friendship.  We are going away to our beach house over the break and I will be taking the laptop with me so I will try and visit your blogs when I'm not lying on the beach.........aaaahhhhh!!!

I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a safe and Happy New Year and I look forward to seeing everyone in 2010.

BABY QUILT DONE

Hi everyone I hope you all enjoyed the weekend.  I finally finished this quilt on Saturday for my friend Jenny who had a baby 9 weeks ago.  Her gorgeous daughter Grace was born 6 weeks prem and weighed just over 1kg.  She had to stay in hosptial for 6 weeks and it was a bit touch and go in the first week but she survived and is now very strong and healthy, weighing 3kg now.  I gave the quilt to Jenny last night and she loved it. 

I personalised it with her name and quilted it with straight lines.  Here is a close up of the lettering and quilting.  I love these fabrics and I love that crinkly look it has after being washed.

If you are interested in purchasing one of these quilts for your little one or as a present I am taking custom orders.  Email me for the price and details.  I can also make it in boy colours or any other colours if you prefer.

Here is baby Grace lying on her quilt she is soooooooo cute and tiny like a little doll.

The next project I'm working on this week are some cushions I'm going to give to a friend for Christmas.  I'm going to use these fabrics.  She has a plain creamy/beige doona cover on her bed so I'm hoping these fabrics will match nicely.  I will post photos when they are finished.

Before I start any sewing I need to tackle this pile of ironing that has been neglected for the last week.  So I better stop staring and start ironing.

Have a great week.

WHERE HAS THE TIME GONE

Hi everyone it's been so long since I last posted and the weeks are flying by too quickly.  I have been busy with sewing, sewing and sewing.  I finally finished the last custom order last night and that's it for me until after Christmas.  I need a break and now I have to start thinking about Christmas. 

The kids did the christmas decorating on the weekend.  Our big tree and all the decorations are still packed away somewhere so the kids were happy to put up the little tree and I bought a few decorations for them to hang up.  I think they did a great job.

I went to see New Moon from the Twilight Saga again today with Natasha from Artistic Creations.  She is as obsessed as I am.  It was even better the second time around.  Can't wait for it to come out on dvd or maybe I'll have to go and see it again.  Natasha do you want to come..........lol.  Go team Edward!!!!!

Have a great week.

NEW MOON

The countdown is finally over for NEW MOON from the TWILIGHT SAGA.  Last night I went to see it and it was fantastic.  It was even better than what I saw in the trailers. 

I'm going to go and see it again hopefully in a few weeks.  I went with a few friends and we were like school girls.  Actually we weren't the only one's most of the people waiting in line to get in were acting like school girls too........lol.  

Go team Edward!!!!!

But after seeing the movie I now feel sorry for Jacob. 

So go team Jacob!!! 

We had a great night just waiting in line to get in was fun.  I forgot to bring the camera along to take some photos.  I haven't been this hooked on a movie since I was a teenager..........lol. 

If you haven't read the books or seen the movies I highly recommend them.  I've read the books 3 times and watched Twilight more than 10 times.  I've now seen New Moon once but I will go and watch it again at the movies and then watch it on dvd over and over until Eclipse comes out.

Here's the trailer for the movie.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q58iQSHhZGg

Have a great weekend.

SLOW INTERNET

Hi everyone I hope you are all well.  Sorry I haven't been around to visit your blogs for a while but I do have a good excuse.

For the first time ever since I got my internet connected which was almost 8 or 9 years ago I reached my download limit. I couldn't understand why because I really don't get on the computer that much....who am I kidding....lol.  And then I figured it out, my son has been downloading games on his PS3. Once I reach my limit it runs on dial up speed which is so slow and very frustrating it took about 10 minutes just to open explorer so I just gave up and didn't even bother to try and get on. Natasha if you are reading this now I understand when you complain about reaching your limit.  I have upgraded my plan to the big KAHUNA and hopefully that won't be used up too quickly so I will be over to visit you all soon.

We have had some great weather over the weekend  We went to a friends today and all jumped in the pool.  The water was so cold but it was better than being out of the pool and putting up with the heat. 


Had to do alot of this today and we still got some colour. 

Do you remember this little guy do they still play the adds?

Not much has been happening around here just working on some orders and trying to keep up with all the craziness that is happening around this time of the year.  Christmas decorations are already in the shops and I can't believe christmas is only about 6 weeks away.  Where has this year gone.

Have a great week.

"LAURA'S QUILT"

Hello everyone I'm so happy I finally finished "Laura's Quilt".  I love how it turned out.  I'll be giving it to her tomorrow for her birthday she is turning 9 so I hope she likes it.  This is the first time I've quilted a quilt this large and it wasn't as scary as I thought it would be.  It was a great learning experience. 

I found a blog of a lady from the US she is like a machine producing quilt after quilt.  She is a very nice lady and she gave me some advice and her tutorials were very helpful.  Go and visit Amandajean's blog she is very talented.  Her blog name really suits her  Crazy Mom Quilts.

Here it is freshly washed and hanging on the line.

Now for my next project.  I have so many custom orders I still haven't had a chance to work on my quilt for the "It's All About Me" party Natasha was hosting.  I'm too late.......bummer but I will make it and show it off soon.   I better stop staring and start sewing!!!!!

Have a great weekend.

SPRING IS IN THE AIR

Spring is finally here.  Well it started a few weeks ago but I've been too busy to notice.  On the weekend I had some time to relax and take it all in.  I picked these gorgeous roses from my mum's garden which were grown from a cutting from my uncle's garden.  I have put in my order.

And I picked these Birds of Paradise from my garden. 

I have about 20 Iceberg Roses planted in my front garden and they have lots of buds so they should be blooming soon.  I love my roses I'll take some photos when they have all come out.

A few weeks ago my hubby finally hung this gorgeous painting up that I bought from Gail.  I love it displayed above my crystal cabinet.  Gail is a very talented artist go and check out her website.

Hope you all have a great week.

ALMOST DONE

Hi everyone I hope you are all well. I haven't had a chance to blog for a while too busy sewing.

Just wanted to share some photos of the Oh Cherry Oh quilt I've been working on. I've finally started quilting it and I'm really happy with how the quilting is turning out.  I've done a simple quilting pattern of wavy lines down the quilt.  You can click on the photos to get a closer look.

I'll be back in a few days to post photos of a finished quilt.

Have a great weekend.

SEWING SEWING AND I'M BROKE

Nothing new has been happening around here just lots of the same old same old....SEWING. I have received a big custom order so I have been working on that and I am trying to get the quilt finished that I blogged about in my last post. Haven't even started sewing my quilt for the "It's All About Me" party. The fabrics are all cut but I haven't even had a chance to touch them. I will try and get at least a few blocks done before the deadline.

Here is the quilt so far with sashings.

Cushions I have been working on.

School holidays are over YEAH!!!! As much as I've loved having the kids home and the sleep ins I'm glad they are going back on Monday I am exhausted and broke!!!!!. Everyday there have been lots of activities. Movies, cooking sessions, visits to the park, Sovereign Hill, Old Melbourne Goal, Shrine of Rememberance, walks around the block, friends visiting and don't forget McDonalds and Subway. I need a holiday.

Hope you all have a great weekend.

Quilt blocks

I have been busy working on a quilt for a friend's daughter. The fabrics are by Moda called Oh Cherry Oh. I love how they turned out the colours are so bright and cheery perfect for a little girl. Next I have to sew on the white sashings and join it all together. There are 42 squares in total. Here are some of blocks.

I want to hurry and get this one finished so I can start on my red quilt which I'm going to get done for the It's all about ME party. See post below.

Have a great week.

It's All About ME!!!!!

Hi everyone I hope you are all well.

I lost one of my blog posts. What da!!! I posted on Sunday wishing all the fathers a great Fathers Day but when I got on that night it was gone. I couldn't be bothered redoing it so anyway I hope all the dad's had a great day with their families.

Now down to business. I read Natasha's blog the other night HERE and thought what a great idea. I've been wanting to make a quilt for myself using these gorgeous fabrics I bought a few weeks ago so I decided to join in on the party.

I'm not sure if I will be able to get it finished completely by the reveal date but I will try. In between doing the quilt I also need to get a quilt done for a birthday present for my friends daughter by the end of October. I'm really pushing myself here but I'm going to try my best.

The fabrics are all washed and ready to go so I better get off the computer and start cutting.

If you want to join in click on the link on my sidebar.

Enjoy the rest of the week.

MY PRINCESS

On Saturday we celebrated Julia's First Holy Communion. She was so excited and I was so stressed. With my son, 2 years ago it was easy he put on his suit, used some wax to spike his hair and he was done. With Julia there was so much to orgainise, dress, shoes, hair and more. I was so stressed I don't know how I will cope when it's her wedding. Thank goodness it's way way down the track.

After the mass we celebrated at the Essendon Ballroom with 10 other kids and their families, 370 people in total. I think half of them were kids it was so noisy I needed some earplugs. She had a great time and it turned out to be a really good night.

Here is my little princess.

Below with her best friend Olivia.

Some of the other girls celebrating on the night.

Have a great week.

JULIA'S QUILT

Finally Julia finished her quilt with some help from myself. For her age 8 years old I think she did a great job from choosing the fabrics and to sewing most of it together.

I started out teaching her to sew by hand but she got sick of that and wanted to learn how to use the sewing machine so I taught her and made her practice and practice. Here she is on the machine. Lucky there is the slow speed on the machine or she would have lost a finger she got very excited over using the sewing machine.

After calming her down and telling her that there is no rush she concentrated and took her time and sewed the squares onto the background fabric. I showed her how to baste it but she kept pricking her fingers with the pins and gave up so I did it for her.

She then thought she was a professional sewer by this stage and wanted to machine quilt it by herself but after all her hard work I couldn't let her go nuts on it. So I did some of the maching quilting and let her do a few of the straight lines........ well more like wonky lines but I left them as I wanted it to be her own work that she can say she made herself.

She has chosen fabrics for her next quilt she wants to make and she even wants to buy her own sewing machine.........mmmmm lets see how long this hobby lasts.

Now that this project is over I can get back into some sewing. Lots of time was lost supervising her but it was well worth it.

Here it is.

Hope you are all having a great week.

SPOILT

Hi everyone I hope you are all well.

I have been very spoilt this week. My good friend Maria made me this lamp for my hallway table it is gorgeous. She is very talented and I love all her work I have a few of her lamps around the house. You can find her lamps on ebay click here.

Not much else has been going on trying to finish a few orders and catching up with the housework.

My daughter has been working on her quilt which I blogged about here. It's looking really good. I'll post photos as soon as it's done.

Have a great week.

NEW CUSHIONS

Hi everyone I hope you are all well. I finally got around to visiting your blogs sorry I have been busy with orders and trying to keep up with everyday chores. My orders are now finished and I managed to get something done for ebay. To see my listings click on the link on the sidebar.

I love this Laura Ashley fabric I could have it all around the house. These cushions look so nice on my couch I would love to keep them but they wouldn't last 5 minutes with my kids.

Ok back to the ironing basket..........aaaaahhhh!!!!

Have a great week.

STILL HERE

Hi everyone just letting you all know that I'm still around I've been busy with lots of orders. I'm trying to get to everyone's blogs so I apologise if I haven't visited for a while.

A friend of mine sent me this poster. I'm not at the teenage years yet with my kids but I'll be printing this off in a few years and sticking it around the house..........lol. Might stop them from complaining!!!!!

Have a great week.