Invaded by teens

I have decided that the collective word of a group of teens should be a CACOPHONY - 

a cacophony of teens

Yep!  that about sums it up.

 But look at those faces.  How could you resist. 

 Not sure Guitar Heroes dog was all that excited by him holding her in with all those bodies!

 I cannot believe how these kids all snuggle up to watch movies

O course half the noise came from my husbands surround sound TV system.  Oh yes!  Of course you need one of those for teen movie afternoons.  

But all in all, the kids were lovely - they ate loads of the food we provided - loved their deserts - enjoyed each other's company and were a credit to their parents.  They are welcome back at my place any time!

Naturally I am a bit pooped tonight.  This is all I have managed.  Two sets of potholders.  At least it is progress of some sort!  I have to say that I really like these hot chilli potholders.   I must buy more striped fabrics.  I just love how effective they are!  

 And some Christmassy ones!  

On Monday some of the Gumnuts are getting together to layer the quilts for the family of five.  We have the three bed quilts for the three children.  I guess I will be quilting on Monday night.  It will be so nice to see them completed and ready to send off.

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

Shocking!!!

No sewing today - I know SHOCKING right?   First I had to go to Country Pickins to pay for my attendance at the Quilt Retreat!  There is no way I am going to miss it.  All the details are here if you are Sydney based and want to come too.  You absolutely won't regret it!

Then I had to drop in to the local musical instrument store to drop in some cookies and talk to my friend (the owner) about donating some harmonicas for Aussie Heroes this Christmas.   Then a quick pit stop to fuel the car and on to the Post Office and finally coffee with two of the sisterhood, Tarja and Sandy.  A hot chocolate for me, coffee for both of them a share sandwich for Tarja and I for lunch and we managed to solve all the problems of the world.  

Then home again to do errands, answer emails clean up the kitchen - doesn't it ever stay clean? and then my afternoon and evening of taxi driving began.  Take Fly Boy to his music lesson, stop off on the way home to buy hundreds of party pies and mini sausage rolls (well it seemed like it!), some min Easter eggs and some chips - all to feed his horde of teenage friends who are coming over tomorrow afternoon from midday till 6pm to watch a movie marathon of "Pirates of the Caribbean".  Home briefly then out again to take Fly Boy to Youth Group.  Home for a couple of hours to get pavlova into the oven.......I will show you the decorated one tomorrow providing I can get to it before the teenagers

 And then while that cooked I made this - a giant honeycomb log - the easiest and probably the richest desert known to mankind.  Layer upon layer upon layer of Chocolate Ripple Biscuits sandwiched together with whipped cream through which crushed honeycomb has been folded.  You need to make this desert the night before so that the cream can soak in and make the biscuits soft and then you can cut it with a knife like a desert.

And now I am heading out again to collect Fly Boy and a friend, from Youth Group, drop the friend home and then come home and GO TO BED! 

Hopefully some sewing tomorrow - wish me luck!  Maybe after Fly Boy's friends go home!

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

Another Gumnuts Day

Gumnuts had our regular fortnightly meeting today and we worked like mad on the quilt for the teenage daughter in the Family of Five.  We are using Kaffe fabrics and a lovely white quilters muslin to make 11" pinwheel blocks and boy! do they look great!  I sat at the machine and everyone had a job be it pinning, trimming, ironing, cutting, matching pinwheel halves, whatever.  No pictures unfortunately as I was too busy  all the time but we managed to get all 42 pinwheels completed and even managed to get some trimmed.  There was no sense in trying to get them all trimmed today as it was well into the afternoon by then, and we were starting to wear out so Andrea has taken them home to complete the job at home.   Sure wish I had pictures to show you but trust me - they look gorgeous!

What I can show you though is the cute little quilt that Andrea made for the youngest little girl for her snuggle quilt.  It is made of flannel and is so soft and snuggly.  The young miss is bound to love it.

 And I can also show you the gorgeous bed quilt that Irene sewed for her - how pretty is this?

Every cute girly thing you cold possibly hope for is features in this quilt - mermaids, princesses, angels, butterflies, cupcakes,sprinkles and sparkles and lots of glittery bits.  It is just gorgeous!

 And this is the pillowcase to match that Irene made for her using this tutorial.  How cute is this?  This is the first pillowcase that Irene has made, but I don't think it will be her last.  I think I see pillowcases in the future for her three lucky grandchildren.

 Aren't these angels cute?

I don't normally refer you to other sites but check this out -  you won't be sorry!  This will take you to Bonnie Hunter's blog and you will see the most gorgeous art created by a man who  spends days plodding through the snow in raquettes (snowshoes), creating sensational patterns of snow art.

You seriously need to get on over to Sue's Blog and check out her magical chair that she is recovering for a school library.  She does it for the love of giving.  Most of what Sue makes she gives away!  Check out her chair.  If nothing else it will make you smile!

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

Hippity hoppity.....

I think I need to make another one of these for me!  That's right - I finished off my Easter table runner today but I am not keeping it.  It is a gift for a friend, along with the potholders that match.  I only quilted in the ditch of the bigger squares. 

this project was meant to be - i can't believe that I had two pieces of pink in just the right shade to do the little four patches and just, JUST enough green spot to do the binding!   I would have liked to stipple or FMQ the runner but I have hardly done any lately and didn't want to mess it up seeing as it is a gift.  

 I can't believe how well these bunnies go with them.  I picked them up a couple of weeks ago, before I thought of doing this project and I only got them out to try and give the picture a bit more interest and I couldn't believe how well their colours worked out! It is like they were meant to be together.........so even though I actually bought them for me I have decided that they have to go with the runner and pot holders.  The shop where I got them had plenty of them so I will head back and get some more for me.

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

A little bit of Easter and London Olympics Mascots

I thought today was a good day to do a little bit of early Easter sewing.  I looked at the Easter fabric left over from Tarja's Easter apron and I decided that I better sew it soon or it would be forgotten for another year.  Not happening!  So I pulled it out and started cutting and sewing till I had something that I was pleased with. I ended up with a table runner.

 You can see the fabrics a lot better in this picture.    It is really bright fabric and the darker spot, which looks bright on its own actually calms it down a bit as does the pink and white.

 Of course if you are going to have a table runner you can always use to some matching potholders can't you!

And that was my fun for today!

And now to the London Olympics.  I showed a small toy of one of the Olympic mascots earlier, maybe at the end of last year, when my hubby brought it home for me.  This trip to London he brought home some more mascots for our nieces and nephew.

Seriously!  Have you ever seen uglier mascots?

This one is a water bottle version for my 4 year old niece.  I hope it doesn't give her nightmares!

Really?

I think I would rather have cute and cuddly anytime.  Still apparently some pony tailed fellow did some research into what kids wanted for a mascot and cute and cuddly is not in  - Hmmmm - I wonder what kids they surveryed?  Hmmm, worrying if you ask me!

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

A few more

Well, I didn't think I would get to do any sewing this weekend but I managed a little after all.  these are some more pinwheels for my secret project.  I do love these earthy colours.  

Last night my hubby and I went to see "Love Never Dies".  It was for my husband more than me.  He loved "The Phantom".  We saw it together in Melbourne and I am pretty sure he has seen it in Sydney and London as well.  "Love Never Dies" was certainly a spectacle.  The sets and the costumes were amazing but I have to say that i still prefer the musical classics like "My Fair Lady" and "Mary Poppins".  Even hubby said it wasn't as good as he expected.  We are glad we went but I don't think he will be going multiple times as he did with "The Phantom".

Often my hubby is given "freebies"  - corproate gifts.  Recently he was in the US to buy a large piece of equipment on behalf of his company and he came back with quite a few gifts.  A business card holder, a a really neat spray jacket, a really nice backpack, an umbrella and even a model rocket.  The rocket because my husband is a satellite communications engineer and he works for a satellite communications company.  But back to the gifts - the most novel gift he received was this - 

it came in a nice white box with a smart metallic clasp.

 And inside the box were these - the orange one has a blade on it for scoring orange peel so that you can peel it more easily.  The green one has a serrated edge on it to cut kiwi fruit with and which doubles as a spoon to spoon to scoop out the flesh!  Not sure I would put these in my hand bag and carry them around as the are metal and pretty heavy and I don't eat that many oranges or kiwi fruit when I am out but they are sure cute!

That is all for me for now.

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

Update on our family of five quilts.

Now is a good time to check where we are at with the donations for our family of five who lost everything in a house fire.

The Gumnuts are going to make three single bed quilts for each of the children.  Miss Irene has completed the quilt top for the youngest girl.  I haven't seen it yet but having a gorgeous little grandaughter who she loves to spoil, Irene is an expert on little girl quilts so I am sure it will be just perfect.

I have completed the quilt top for the ten year old boy - sewing five strips together wasn't exactly a challenge but I think he should like it.  I love the car fabric myself!

On Wednesday the Gumnuts are going to get started sewing the quilt top for the teenage girl - 42 large pinwheels in white and Kaffe (and Kaffe like) fabrics.  I have been busy cutting some of the squares tonight - hence the pics.

The backs have been sorted for all three and we are planning a day to get together and layer all the quilts so that the various people can take them and quilt them.

We also hoped to get three lap quilts for the kids.  Christine is sending down a really pretty quilt for the teenage girl.  Rai has promised a bright quilt for the son and Andrea has made a lovely flannel pinwheel quilt for the youngest daughter.  

Christine is also quilting a large black and red/pink/orange quilt that will hopefully suit the parents.  

Rai has also offered to send some other bits and pieces down.  My lovely friend, Joyce,spent some time sewing this weekend and is going to send some goodies from AMERICA for the family. 

if there is anyone else who would like to donate to this family or if you already have plans to and want to know where to send the items to - just leave me a comment so I can get back to you.  Make sure I have your email address or I won't be able to contact you.

Hugely busy weekend this weekend, lots of life happening.  I probably won't be posting again till Monday.  So, in that case, have a lovely weekend.  Hope you get lots of stitching in.

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

A sneak peak......

But first - don't you just love this watermelon....fabric!  I can't get over how realistic this looks.  I need more fabric like a whole in the head but I just had to have some of this and now I am trying to think what I could use it for.

 But on to my sneak peak.  I asked some wonderful friends to help me out with a special project and they really came through.  The pin wheels on the right look a little smaller as they have already been trimmed but I am loving the colours.  I have a few more to sew tomorrow night and then..................

...........well you will just have to wait and see!

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

Still thinking about this one

Not much to show tonight but lots to think about!  This is my quilt for the International Charity Bazaar.  I am still in the "design" phase - by that I mean I am still not sure where I am headed with this!

This was my first plan 

and I was thinking of adding another "ring" of olive and black nine patches outside the orange with one in the middle but I decided ( I think) that was going to make the quilt too big for me to quilt comfortably.....maybe

so now I am thinking that I will do diagonal rows of olive and orange nine patches like so.

Hmmm......still thinking and playing I think!

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

I won!!!

My lovely friend Cathy had a giveaway and I won.  She had a give away on her blog to celebrate reaching 200 followers and I was supposed to be heading out the door when I read her post but I stayed home just long enough to leave a comment so I could be in the draw! And I won.  Now start drooling but stay away from my fabric.  The white back ground is some "Simple Pleasures" and the gorgeous fabric in the foreground is LIBERTY!  Yep, that's right - lovely soft stroke-able Liberty!

Look but don't touch! This is definitely going into the top shelf - the hands off - don't touch Gumnuts - top shelf of my stash shelves!  Thanks Cathy!  And everyone else - do yourself  a favour and head on over to Cathy's blog - this link will take you straight to her recent post about finishing all the blocks for her latest scrap quilt!  A Farmer's Wife quilt!  It is going to be gorgeous so go check it out.  

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

Busy and Productive....

But not much to show!

I refuse to bore you with a picture of the ninety 6 1/2 inch white squares I cut today to make the teenage girl quilt for our family of five.  Had to be done but not exactly exciting.  

And I have done some other cutting but it is for a secret project that I can't share with you for quite a while.

But I can show you the gorgeous quilt that Christine has donated for our family of five.  This is the snuggle quilt for the older girl.  It is lovely Christine.  Really pretty!

 And beautifully quilted too.

I have also had confirmation that we have a quilt for our ten year old boy.  It has been made by Rachel and she says it is made of squares/shapes in green, blue, purple, yellow and pink/red, sashed in black and edged in white.  Sound great. 

I am really looking forward to seeing and hearing about what else is coming this family's way.  Thanks so much to those who have been able to get involved!

I made a couple more nine patch blocks for my International Charity Bazaar Quilt.  I can't get any more of the black so now I have to be careful with what I do but next I am going to put some olive and black nine patches in the corner and one in the middle and fill in with black squares - then I will see what is left and how big it is.  I bought a really lovely fabric for the border or maybe the backing.  

And just in case you thought the 72 hours of potholder free blogging had been extended  - here you are - the potholders for tonight!  I have shown you the back of these ones as I think you need to see the back to make sense of the front with these ones!

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

A quilt built for a boy!

I had to go out to Collaroy today to collect Guitar Hero from the school music camp.  Love the beach but today it was a windy grey day out there.  I stopped long enough to get some picks but it wasn't very pleasant.  There were still people enjoying their time though.  Grandparents were lathering sunscreen on a little boy and girl when I arrived - it was freezing and blowing a gale but they were still heading for the sand.  Bet those kids slept well tonight!

 And I am not sure that I would like to be fishing today either!

 No idea why this flag is there

 People were even out walking all over the rocks.

I didn't have much time today but I did manage to get one job completed.  I finished the quilt top for the ten year old boy in the family of five that we are helping.  This would have to be the simplest quilt top I have ever made but I can just see it sitting on a boy's bed can't you?  I do love that car fabric - thanks Del.  Andrea helped brain storm the design for the quilt - next job layering and quilting.  Better get some batting hadn't I?

I have had offers of lap quilts for all three of the children now which I am pretty pleased about and offers of other bits and pieces too.  Quilters and bloggers are such a kind and giving lot!

And now for bed.

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