If you want something done........

No time for sewing last night - well not much anyway.  My main task?  Supervise my lovely husband alphabetising his CDs!  Yes - what fun!  My husband was made redundant on the 31st of December and I told him at the time that he didn't have to worry about being bored as  the "honey do" list, all those jobs he had not been around to do when he was working (over the last 16 years!!!), was growing by the minute.  The first job we tackled was tidying and re-organising the house and garage.  You have no idea!!  The darling man is a hoarder, a pack rat or, in Aussie terms, a magpie!  He keeps (kept) everything.  When we started sorting papers for example, and putting things aside to shred, we did not expect to end up with upwards of 30 large garbage bags of shredded paper - and that included a lot of  documents going back twenty years.  Every step of the way I have had to sit with him and "supervise" as his forte is moving things from one pile to another - usually from the sort-through-it-now pile to the sort-through-it-later pile.  But it has all been worth it as we have got rid of a HEAP of junk to the tip, sold lots on eBay, sent car loads to St Vinnies (Goodwill in America) and given loads to friends (aren't they lucky!) 
We are now reaching the final stages of the sorting, tidying and re-organising and my husband is about to accept a job offer, start date looming, and we want to get everything done beforehand.  So, if I wanted the CDs put away before Christmas then alphabetising had to be done.

This is him sorting all the "C"s into order - funnily enough there are a lot of singers, bands starting with the letter C.  Who knew?

I might add that my husband has had to accept that he won't be able to complete all the jobs on the list before he starts work. I did warn him that whatever didn't get done would be completed by a paid handyman and he seems to have accepted that.  The last bastion to be sorted and tidied is his office - give me strength - but if I don't "supervise" it won't get done and I know he will feel better and function better once it is done - and I will also be able to find things more easily as well.
So, while he is tied up with pre-employment meetings and conferences Wed, Thurs and Friday this week I will be sewing like mad because next week I will be "supervising" like made. I am so excited I can hardly contain myself........no really........would I kid you!

Till next time, Happy stitching!

P.S. probably just as well he doesn't read my blog really.............

Quilting for Queensland Sewing Bee

What a day!  I didn't keep a tally of all the quilts but they are all either finished or have been taken home by someone else to complete the binding or sew on a label.  This is Sharon sewing some binding and labels.

 And Cynthia

 And these three complain every time I take a photo of them and so posed deliberately, Irene, Andrea and Glenys AND  I told them it would be extra large!  They actually did some work too.

 My friend Mary (from Tasmania) made this quilt top and gave it to us to finish for Queensland.

Marvelous what a charm pack can do!

Our local Quilt Shop - Country Pickins at the Corner donated this one

 This was made by Lyn from our group coz she couldn't come to our sewing bees because of work commitments.

 The same quilt shop donated this panel too

 The first quilt to wear some of my FMQ while I am learning.

There are also the teal quilt with the lime green borders, a cream, purple and green quilt and the two teddy quilts - they are all being completed by others - YAY!!!  All should be done by the time we finish our next quilt group meeting on Wednesday.  Hooray!!!

 And this is a little something extra.  Ages ago (so long ago I don't remember it) I gave Andrea a little box with a heap of homespun samples.  She and Glenys took it away in the holidays and sewed hexagons.  We decided today that it is going to be centre panel of our next group quilt - on completion it will be raffled among us.  I say raffled but there are only four of the group left who haven't previously "won" a group quilt - not sure what we will do once there is only one person left!

It seems rather strange to not be working on the Quilts for Queensland.  Now I have to decide what to work on - my applique project, my current round robin block, my quilt for Japan...........
Oh well, too tired tonight.  Till next time

Happy stitching!

BEE-ING Ready for the Sewing Bee Tomorrow!

Oh boy!  I am pooped but in a satisfied-got-a-lot-done way.  I have been working hard all day to get as much done for tomorrow as possible.  First up I finished the applique on the Teddy Quilt that I told you about in my last post.  Or at least I thought I had finished the applique.  Would you believe that I found a section that I missed after I had quilted it!  Never mind.  It think it can be blanket stitched so it should be okay. 

 Isn't this backing cute!  It is from the French General Range from Moda and I love it - not my normal taste in fabric but I just couldn't resist it for the back of this quilt - letters just perfect for a little one to learn them on the back of their quilt. 

There was a hole in the quilt but I patched it with a heart.

After I "finished" the applique I started cutting batting and backing for all the quilts.  I managed to get two layered and quilted.  I wanted to get a couple done so that I can sew the binding on them tomorrow morning and then they will be ready for someone to sit and sew first thing.  You can't see the quilting on this but it is all done.  I would have liked to do some free motion quilting on these but it would have taken too much time.  I am determined to get enough practice soon so I can do better quilting on future charity quilts.

I am really pleased about where we are for tomorrow's bee.  All the binding is made,

And all but one of the labels are written and just need to have the hem ironed and have them stitched on

That's it for me now - I might play with a few green scraps till bedtime but that's enough.  Hope the weekend has been great for you too.  Til next time,

Happy stitching!

Retail therapy!

What does a quilter do when she needs a little retail therapy?  Well, of course she buys fabric.  And today I had fun.  There was cause to celebrate (you will have to wait a few days to find out exactly why) and so I hit the shop, well, shop.  I had had my eye on a gorgeous roll of 10 inch squares of pastel rainbows for a while..mmmmm yum!

 I had also been drooling over a gorgeous rainbow of 2 1/2 inch strips

 And then I had to choose a backing for a cute teddy quilt that you will see in a minute.  This is from the French General for Moda - not my normal taste but I just loved the letters for a boy's quilt back and the second fabric I just loved!

 And finally I chose a couple of packs of charms squares - $16.50 - with the Aussie dollar the way it is these should be the same price as in America - but they never are!

 This is the teddy quilt.  The almost completed panel was donated to the quilt group to finish off so it could be sent to Queensland.  There is a small tear that needs covering up - tomorrow's job - and quite a bit of the applique needed to be completed.  One of the other girls, Cynthia, completed all the embroidery of the facial features and I am doing the applique.  Nearly finished........but it is late so the rest tomorrow.

 These teddies have gone from this

 to this

But that is enough for tonight.  Till next time............Happy stitching!

The joy of helping

Today was a lovely day.  On Monday of last week I helped work towards the completion of a very special quilt.  Today we got together so that Diana would quilt it with the confidence of having some help if she got stuck.  First she traced off a label, watched by her Mum, Betty and friend, Cynthia.

Then Betty embroidered a chain stitch heart on the label.  Diana's sister only completed some of the blocks for the front so Diana made some more to enlarge the quilt.  To differentiate between the original blocks made by her sister and those Diana made, Betty embroidered heart on all the  original ones.

 While Betty worked on the label Diana quilted her first ever quilt!!!  She is smiling here but most of the time she sat with intense concentration focused on her task.

 At the end of the quilting, this is the result.  Isn't it pretty.  We ran out of time today but on Monday afternoon Diana is going to come over again, during our sewing bee so we can show her how to attach the binding with mitred corners etc. 

I think her niece will be blown away and I know her sister will be very pleased and grateful. 

Now I have to get on to some applique.  Lots of work to do to get ready for the sewing bee we are having on Monday.  Our mission is to complete as many quilts for Queensland as possible.  The more I get done over the weekend, the more we will finish on Monday!

Till next time...Happy stitching!

Today's efforts

More work today on a quilt for Queensland.  We were given the four kaleidoscope blocks and needed to add to them.  I cut out the eight extras and Cynthia from my quilt group sewed them up. I started sewing the lime green on these yesterday and finished it off today.  Got to say I am loving the lime green (but then I usually do).  Now to sew the blocks together and then add a teal blue border.  Then to find a backing.......

I was hoping to sew the blocks together tonight but hubby came home from a two week trip which is nice, kids forgot to take their nice pills this morning and are showing the effects tonight (not nice) and all I feel like doing is relaxing on the sofa in front of the TV with my ever loving dogs! (hubby is unpacking and reacquainting himself with his home office and emails) Stitching can wait till tomorrow!

Happy stitching to you.

Sewing Bee!

We had a mini sewing bee today to work on quilts for Queensland.  I say MINI because we only had four of us but not because of what we accomplished.  I think we did pretty well.

Andrea cracked the whip today (although she will say it was me but you know better). A few weeks ago we were given 9 mini pinwheels by Country Pickins, our local quilt store, along with a bunch of orphan blocks so we could make stuff for Queensland. Well I found there was enough stuff to make 3 more pinwheels, that made 12, then I bordered them with green and combined them with some aqua blue squares. At that point I ran out of coordinating fabric so I passed it on to Andrea and she came up with fabric for some more pinwheels and plain squares and in the quilt group's stash in my back room we found some aqua for backing and borders. We managed to get all the exta pinwheel blocks sewn and put it all together today!  I think it has made a great girl quilt considering we started with 9 3 inch pinwheels!

We were also given some teddy bear blocks, some completed but most needing their faces embroidered on.  the girls finished their faces last Wednesday at our regular meeting and then Andrea bordered all the blocks on SaturdayToday we added sashing and a narrow border and now it too is ready to layer.

Cynthia spent today sewing eyes and mouths etc on teddy bears on the teddy bear shelf quilt which was another donation, and I have the applique to finish on that this week.  this is it before all the detail was added.  I will post another photo after I have finsihed all the applique. 

Andrea also has a purple and green one that is almost completed.  Another Gumnuts member, Del, who does lovely embroidery did a gorgeous circle of friends in the middle of it and Andrea has another border to add to bring it up to size.  And finally there is a teal and blue quilt that started out as four blocks and grew to twelve after I cut out 8 more blocks and Cynthia sewed them.  I hope to have that together by Monday too. 

I think that makes five quilts that will hopefully be ready to layer and quilt.  Sounds like another working Bee. At this stage scheduled for Monday the 28th. I am not sure that we will make the deadline for finishing all of them in time to deliver them by the end of the month to go to Queensland but they can always go to Japan if we are late.  Somehow, sadly, we don;t expect to be short of people who need a little quilting love!

Another day of peaceful sewing!

 Another blissful day of sewing.  I guess if every day was like this I might get a bit bored.............nah!  Who am I kidding!  With everyone else in this household on camp or business travel and just me (and the dogs) at home I have been sewing, sewing, sewing!  I really hadn't expected to do much more this weekend than finish my green quilt so having completed it last night made today a bonus day.  First up I got stuck into some pinwheel blocks we were given.  Our local quilt shops gave me a bunch of orphan blocks to do something with for Queensland.  Among them were twelve 3" pinwheel blocks.  I went to my stash and found some green so sashed then with that and then combined then with blue blocks and that was the total of fabric that I had that worked with it.  I went out to dinner with two friends from quilt group tonight, Andrea and Jennie, so I passed it off to Andrea so she can see if she has anything that goes with it.  Hopefully she will have something!

As soon as I was finished with that I went on to my next project.  I told you in my last post that there is a push to send quilts to Japan and I had been planning to cut out a quilt to send so I got straight on to it.  I can't remember where this pattern came from.  My quilt group made several of these as charity quilts the year before last, or maybe the year before that, and I made at least four myself, one for charity, two for my girlfriend's daughters and one for my bed.  It is a great pattern and goes together so quickly - as you can see!  I managed to get the quick top cut and sewn but 430pm today.  The photo doesn't show the colours to advantage - all the prints are cherry prints.  This is my first quilt for Japan.  I am planning that there will be more.

After that I started work on a Jelly Roll of Sherbet Pips.  I think this might be Japan Quilt number two.  Not quite sure where I am headed with it yet.  It is still a work in progress.

Tomorrow I have to go and collect my boys from music camp.  I have to be there early to get a carpark.  We have a post camp concert to watch - they are always worth seeing - and then we should be headed home around 4pm so most of the day will be gone.  I have some of my quilt group coming over on Monday to try and finish off the last of the quilt for Queensland.  they have to be at retro mummy's by the end of the month so we need to hustle!  I will be serving lunch and I need to have cookies for them to have with their tea and coffee so tomorrow night I will be making chocolate chocolate chip cookies!  Not much sewing tomorrow but that's okay after the last three days!

Till next time......  Happy Stitching!

How to Help those suffering in Japan

Hi All,

Super quick post as I have just seen this and wanted to pass it on as soon as possible.If anyone is looking for a way to send a quilt to Japan I found this link.  I am so pleased to have it as I feel so much more useful when I know I am doing my small part to help!

Cheers

Jan-Maree

Hooray for Green!!!!!

Hooray!!   The big green monster is finally a flimsy!    I have been sewing just about all day.  I took time off to go to the butcher so I could buy some lamb shanks to slow roast for dinner - yum!!!  and then I sewed some more.  Then I took time off to wizz over to the quilt shop to buy some border material - in and out in ten minutes, can you believe it!  And then home again to sew.  And now it is finally done!  And it is huge!  90 inches square!

 This close up gives you a better idea of the border fabric.  The photo doesn't do it justice.  It has a bit of blue in it too and that seems to make it go with the olive greens as well as the emerald greens!

 On the first weekend in April I will be taking it to Trina at St Ives Markets for her to quilt it and then she will have it ready for me by the first weekend in May.  Then I will just have to sew 360 inches of binding during the day while Fly Boy is at school as it is for his birthday so he can't see it.

Right now I am just happy that it is completed and I have all of tomorrow to sew to my heart's content1  No kids, no husband and no cooking - having dinner with two quilty friends tomorrow night at a local chinese restaurant - yum!

Till next time....happy stitching!

All Sorts............

It has been a busy week.  On Monday I helped two friends, Cynthia and Diana, pin baste a special quilt.  Diana's sister passed away 10 years ago before she could complete a quilt she started for her daughter.  now Diana and her mum are completing the quilt in time for the daughter's 18th birthday.  How lovely is that.  The niece doesn't know she is getting it so I suspect that a lot of tears will be shed that night but what a lovely gift!  Diana and Cynthia will be coming back on the 25th to quilt it.  I offered to do it but Diana, who I might add is not a quilter but has done a great job, wants to do it herself so I suggested that she do it here and then if she has any dramas she can yell out for help. 

On Tuesday I had my haircut and then met a friend for lunch -then rushed off to buy some fabric for the quilt I told you about here and then it was time for my music lesson, followed by Guitar hero's Music lesson then home to encourage homework and supervise Fly Boy's camp packing! 

On Wednesday I had a doctor's appointment and then rushed to my Quilt Group Meeting.  By the time I got there all the faces had been embroidered on the teddy blocks that I told you about here.  Decisions were made about how to make all the teddy blocks the same size and put them together.  On Monday Cynthia had taken home the eight blocks that I told you about here.  I had cut them out to go with four kaleidoscope blocks that had been donated to us and Cynthia had sewn them all so the rest of the group had been discussing what to use to complete that quilt.  A very productive morning for the group.

When I got there Andrea, who had seen my blog and knew about Sharon's doll blocks, got everyones attention and we all gathered around so see Sharon's reaction.  She loved the pretty one, no surprise there - it was right up her alley.  But she was really caught off guard by my lovely punk rocker!  Talk about a laugh!!!  I think she was relieved when she realised that my magenta haired lady was not going to be included in the quilt, but she loved her all the same and said she wanted to keep her!  I just enjoyed seeing the huge smile on her face.  I know she will laugh whenever she sees her and I like making things like that!

Another bonus yesterday - "Vintage Whimsies" arrived in the mail.  I haven't had time to read it all - there is so much in it, but what a lovely book.  Must have taken a lot of time to compile it!  I know the girls in my quilt group will enjoy looking at it!

 And lastly today!  This morning was spent driving two boys, two suitcases, one drum stick bag, three guitars in cases and two horribly heavy school backpacks to school.  The boys were heading off to Music Camp (Yay) till Sunday.  They had both volunteered to go along with the advance party (for some reason my son informed me that phrase, advance party, is hysterical - I don't get it do you?) to help unpack the truck and set up in ADVANCE of everyone else.  As they were travelling with the teachers I was saved a 90 minute minimum round trip to drop them off (Yay).  I did however return to school in the afternoon to collect aforementioned heavy school bags and school uniforms.  So lucky I did!  I told the boys to check that their suitcases had been packed and they both assured me they had -
They are in the bus Mum! 
Please check! 
They are in the someones car Mum! 
Please check
- oh here they are .....not packed.
Hmmmmm  No egg on my face!

At least by the time I left school to drive home I knew their luggage was packed, their musical instruments were packed and I had safe custody of their school bags and uniforms (so they won't get left behind at camp by mistake!)

So far I have had one text saying Fly Boy doesn't have any deodorant - I think he took it out of his suitcase and out it with his change of clothes and forgot to put it back - oh well I am sure he can borrow some!  I warned them a number of times that they better check they have everything as i am not driving out there!  They are Year 10 after all - big enough to learn a bit of responsibility!

So, what have I been doing with all my extra time?  Apart from smiling like a Cheshire cat at the peace (no scream music all weekend  - no "Mum what can I have to eat that isn't fruit, yoghurt, cereal, toast or homemade stuff?" and no "why do I have to get off the computer now - everyone else is allowed to stay on till dawn!!!!!!"

Apart from enjoying the peace I have been sewing, and sewing, and sewing!  and loving it!  This is where I am up to.  14 blocks completed ..............

And the remaining partially constructed.  I will iron them all in readiness for the next stage of sewing before I go to bed (coz I don't have to be up at 530am tomorrow morning!  Yay!!!) and then in fairly short order tomorrow all the blocks will be done and I will be sewing them together and deciding on the border!

Well that is about it for me tonight.  time to get the iron going and then turn in.  Till tomorrow my friends,
Happy Stitching!!!

Giveaway

Gorgeous fabric giveaway on over here.  What have you got to lose?  Happy stitching! and good luck!

A new beginning

This year is supposed to be the second year of completing UFO's but it is also my year to get started in free motion quilting.  Every second Wednesday I go along and join an informal class run by Amanda where we each take our own project to work on.  Next class I am going to start a new quilt which is one of Amanda's patterns.  It is a quilt as you go quilt and will give me a largish quilt with 16 blocks in it.  I intend to practice free motion quilting on each of those blocks.  It will actually kill two birds with one stone.  As well as giving me the chance to practice my FMQ, it will also give me a purpose made quilt to throw over the nice new red sofa we bought to go in the boys' TV room.  I need something good and serviceable.  Something that can withstand greasy chip fingers, and cans of Lift and Fanta and the like.   Probably nothing can really but this will have to do. 

These are the fabrics for the front - the black and white ones came from my stash, the coloured ones I had to buy - 16 fat quarters are needed for the front.  I have included a number of music fabrics as both my boys love to play  music - keyboard, drums, acoustic guitar and electric guitar!

16 fat quarters are also required for the back.  Once again lots of music fabric but also a doggy print - my boys love their dogs and geometric fabric just because!

I am quite excited about starting this quilt - love the colours and fabrics and looking forward to doing the quilting!  Not so looking forward to doing the hand stitching that will be required but you can't have everything!

Well, that is about all my news for tonight.  Only two sleeps till my boys go on their music camp for three nights - I am only being honest  when I say I am looking forward to not having to listen to "screamo" music (if you don't know what it is count yourself VERY LUCKY!), I will enjoy NOT having to get the boys up for school on one morning, not having to feed them all weekend and never being able to provide them with enough junk food to satisfy them!  Apparently the healthy stuff in our house (and that includes my home made cookies etc) is not filling or satisfying!  Ahh the peace - I can hear it now - as I said - two sleeps.    I will however, really enjoy going to collect them and watching the end of camp concert - always worth seeing!  AND I will enjoy all the lovely sewing I can get done in their absence!

Till next time - Happy Stitching

I Won!!!!!

Yippee!!!  I won!  I just had to write an extra little post to let you know that I won a giveaway from Robyn G at Daisy Quilts.  This is my first giveaway prize from blog and I am so excited. What I have won is a copy of the book "Vintage Notions" by Amy Barickman.  How lovely!  I will let you know when it comes.

Till next time.....  Happy stitching!

2,000,000 stitches and I enjoyed the last few......

I think my machine is ready for a service.......again.  2,000,000 stitches since it's last one and that was in December!  I guess I have been doing some sewing!  How do I know she has done 2,000,000 stitches?  Because a little symbol starts flashing at me telling me that she has.  Cool huh!

And why did I enjoy the last few stitches so much?  My quilt group is making a friendship quilt for one of our number called Sharon.  It is called a "circle of friends" and I have shown you some of the blocks made up till now here.  Then here I told you how I was making an extra doll for Sharon and intended to make two - one nice and pretty, just like she is supposed to be, like this

The second doll is to be a joke  - to give Sharon a laugh!  I wasn't sure what sort I should make and finally settled on either a pregnant lady or a rock chick!!!  I decided that I liked the Rock Chick best.  I decided she had to have wild hair, tight black pants and a plunging neckline. 

And here she is!

Back when I first posted my draft patterns LaDonna suggested I include a tattoo!  Great idea!

Here is your tattoo LaDonna, well two tattoos and thanks for the suggestion!

Oh, and by the way!  I even made sure she had some cleavage!  Just a little extra padding!  I showed my boys today coz I was really pleased with her and they both told me it was so inappropriate!  Guess I must have got it right!!!!  Hee Hee!!!  Personally I love my little rock chick.  If Sharon wants her, she can have her, but if she doesn't I am going to give her a really good home somewhere in my office.

Till next time............happy stitching!!!

 

Scrappy Saturday - yay!!!

Well whose idea was it to make a quilt from my green scraps this month!  Oh yeah!  Mine!  Well it finally happened.  I finally got all the half square triangle blocks, all 400 of them, sewn, cut, pressed and trimmed of annoying little corner bits!  Today I spent quite a bit of time organising them in to 16 piece blocks so that I minimised the duplication of fabrics.  Had to have some double ups, but only as many as necessary. 
Here they are stacked up in groups of 16 ready to be sewn into blocks

And here are the first five or twenty five blocks.  Five rows of five blocks will make it about 80 inches square but I need to increase it to 88 x 96 inches.  I think I will be doing a border but what sort I have no idea.  I will wait till it is all put together and then choose.  My boys go on camp from Thursday night to Sunday arvo so I am planning to have all 25 bocks finished by then. 

Wish me luck!  And now, to bed.  Two teenagers with five assignments between them to mostly start and finish tomorrow - it is going to be a long day of listening to them complain!  I need a good rest tonight!

Till next time.........Happy stitching!

Busy day

Started with some grocery shopping - highlight of my day, NOT.  Then back home and got the laundry on - another highlight - then the fun began.  First I sorted out my Aussie fabrics - some mine and some donated by the girls in my quilt group.  I am starting to plan what I think I can manage to make for Ireland.

I sorted some fabric for aprons and then just worked out what I had.  I am also planning to make some bags so I want to experiment with a good shopping bag pattern before I cut too much out.  I will do pot holders too and then some Christmas decorations.  Please someone remind me to do some Christmas aprons and pot holders too.

Next I cut fabric for 8 new blocks to go with four blocks that have been donated.  I have chosen two different stars, simple easy ones to put together.  That will give me 12 blocks and that should be enough with sashing and borders for a lap quilt for Queensland.

Finally I got to spend some time quilting - in fact the whole afternoon pretty much.  I am not showing you the whole quilt until it is finished and bound but here is a bit of the quilting that I am happiest with.  I think I am going to enjoy this free motion quilting once I build up my confidence.

Finally tonight before the boys went to bed I sat and cut half square triangles apart and then when I got sick of doing that I ironed what I had cut and then cut some more. The photo about is of  ironed blocks and below are all those I need to iron....tomorrow.

My goal is to have then all ironed by Saturday so that I can start sewing for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge's Scrappy Saturday!  I am going to work on them during the day tomorrow in dribs and drabs as I want to get back to working on my applique UFO.  I can't iron them all at once or my elbow will get sore so I will do a bunch at a time.

I have decided that I don't much like my after school schedule but I am not sure what I can do about it.  This is what my week is like -
Monday - leave home at 430pm, home at 630pm - maths tutor for Guitar Hero!
Tuesday - leave home at 230pm, home at 5pm - music lessons and band practice for both boys and me
Wednesday - leave home at 510pm, home at 630pm - Airforce Cadets for Fly Boy.  Luckily another mum drops him home at 10pm
Thursday - leave at 3pm, home at 430pm - drop Fly Boy to bible study - luckily he gets dropped home
Friday is not so bad except that I can't go anywhere myself coz I am dropping both to Youth Group at 8pm and collecting both at 1030pm
Saturday is FREE!!!  Can you believe it!  In fact I thinking of decreeing Saturday parents' day.  The kids can stay home at least in the evenings.
Sunday there is Church at 5 till 630pm.
Blah!  Hi my name is Jan-Maree and I am a taxi driver!  Ho Hum!  All I can say is thank goodness I don't have to fit another child into that or I would never be home to cook dinner!

Alright I feel better now that I have had my vent.  I have got a little bit of time before I got to bed so I am going to sort myself out so I an get lots done tomorrow.

Happy Stitching my friends..........