Welcome to my blog.

Welcome to my world - mostly the fabric world that I escape to whenever I have time. Hope you enjoy it and please feel free to comment.....


Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Things are not always as they seem....

Okay, I am flat out with preparations for my trip to Canberra - any one got any spare time I could use a hand cutting out some laundry bag kids to take with me - what a shame most of you live overseas or interstate!

Yesterday a meeting was confirmed with a Monsignor and I have already confirmed a meeting with a Commodore (that is a 1 Star General equivalent).  My goodness I will have to have my "party manners" on as my mother used to say - though come to think of it some people's party manners are not all that good these so perhaps not.  

In a brief respite from the busy-ness yesterday I walked past a shop window and saw two gorgeous scarves. I spent quite a bit of time trying to decide if I wanted to the more pinky one on the left of the more autumnal one of the right.  I want to wear it with a grey top so either would be fine!  Eventually I chose the more pinky one only to find when I got to the counter....................

Wait for it!
that they are both the same scarf just reversible!  

Who knew! 

Not me!

Just goes to show I am better cookie baker than 
fashion shopper and a photographer!

Ah such is life.

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

Sunday, July 22, 2012

Ocean Dreaming 2

Today I tried to take some creative photos of my latest finish, Ocean Dreaming 2.  
Let's just say I think I am better at making cookies than taking artistic photos!


Of course it didn't help that it was windy


Another tip I read said hang it in a tree - Hmmmm.  So I tried my cherry tree.


Slightly better shot - once the wind stopped blowing.


At least I noticed that my daffodils are coming up.  
I don't get around to this part of the garden very often.


You can see what I mean about my cherry tree. Not really big enough.


I thought about using my apple tree too but it is still too little.


Another good think I noticed is that my apricot tree is covered in little buds - I don't think it has ever flowered before.  Sadly this is next to a mandarin tree which gets heavily infested with fruit fly every year so I suppose the apricots will be too.  I don't want to start spraying with serious sprays so ...oh well.  At least the possums will eat well.  
And as you can see, I couldn't manage a better photo of this either - LOL!


How about this shot - a watery quilt lying in my "dry creek bed" - hmm not so much!


Let's move out the front of the house and see what we can find!  - Hmm, still not so good.


This is probably my favourite photo but nothing like the fabulous creative ones I see on lots of blogs.


Solution!
  1. Order myself a photography book that I saw recommended on two good blogs - firstly retromummy and then posie patchwork called Beyond Snapshots and then

2. Go back to my tried and true formula!  At least for now!

Ta Da!  
Ocean Dreaming 2 finished!  and I love it just like I did the first version.


I did the same wavy line quilting 


but I seem to find my rhythm this time so I won't hesitate to do it again.


I remembered to include some of my "thank you" fabric this time.  Yay!  This time I stitched it on part of the rod pocket.


And now it is all tucked up into its box with a few goodies, all ready to go to the post office first thing tomorrow morning!

Here is hoping that it goes quickly as I am impatient to hear what its new owner thinks of it.

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

Saturday, July 21, 2012

Blessed for 22 years...

Tonight I am going to indulge myself and write a post about the most magical day of my life!  
I am going to tell you about my wedding to my hero 22 years ago today!


We married in a cute little church in my lovely hubby’s hometown because that is where we were posted at the time. 

The only family member I had present was my Mum because I am a Perth girl so my aunts and uncles couldn’t afford to come, nor could either of my sisters nor my two girlfriends from school days.  David’s family was there and lots of our RAAF and Navy friends.

We paid for our own wedding and therefore we had exactly what we wanted, a lovely intimate wedding with lots of special, though not expensive, touches.  It was a beautiful day.

I LOVED my dress.  It was everything I wanted.


I had a train for walking down the aisle but after the service it was hooked up onto a button under the bow  and stayed out of the way.  It was made of satin with a heavy lace overlay – nice but not hugely expensive.  And then the lace was beaded.


Robyn (below in purple) was the magician who made the dress.  Can you believe that way back in my early 20s she and I met at a nightschool class to learn to make PATCHWORK QUILTS!  This was just at the beginning of quilting in Australia.  It transpired that she was a civilian who worked at the Tailor Shop at the RAAF Base in Richmond where I was an Air Force Air Traffic Controller.   Small world!

Fast forward a few years and I had changed over to the Navy and was working at HMAS Cerberus on Victoria coast and had a selection of salty senior sailors working for me.  The least salty and senior was Jack and one day he said his wife thought she recognized me after seeing me on parade!  It was Robyn.  Later on when I announced my engagement Robyn offered to make my wedding dress.  In the intervening years Jack and Robyn had taken a posting to the States where Robyn had learned to make beautifully beaded wedding dresses.   Wasn’t I lucky!

I don't know how many hours she spent sewing beads on that dress but it was a lot of them and I loved it!  AND even better, it only cost about 1/5th or what it would have cost me had I found it in a Bridal Store!  


We hired a Ferrari to take my handsome hubby to the church.   hH still loves Ferraris to this day.  He and his groomsmen wore their Mess Kits to the wedding.  For the unitiated those are the formal attire that is the equivalent of a tuxedo I guess and they wear them for balls and formal dinners.  And they all look so handsome in them!


As my Dad had passed away the previous year my Mum and I rode together to the service in a super stretch Mercedes Limousine.    


My wonderful Nanna was too old and frail to come to the wedding  so we arranged a special lunch for her at the nursing home where she lived interstate.  These days she would have been able to watch the wedding on skype etc – not those days sadly – but I arranged her own little cake to cut, flowers for the table and a corsage for her and a special lunch for my aunt to share with her.  The staff hung tuille bows and used a white table cloth, dressed up the non-alcolholic bottle in a tuxedo. 


As I said, my Dad had passed away so my close friend Philip gave me away.  He and I had met on our Officer Training Course at RAAF Base Point Cook on Victoria.  I was the only female in a 21 man course.  Phil and I kept each other sane and stayed good friends.  He was the closest thing I had to a brother and I have ALWAYS wanted a brother.  He walked me down the aisle,  read a speech on behalf of my Mum and Dad and proposed the toast to the Bride and Groom.  Sadly he is not so good at keeping in contact (major understatement) and not long after this he married his perfect match, an American girl called Joyce, and together they moved to the States.  We are still in touch but I don't hear from him much!


By the way, check out that chauffeur - you could not have scripted a better looking chauffeur and he had a cheeky personality too!

We had a beautiful service and left the church with a Military Guard of Honour made up of some of my hubby's Air Force Engineering Course mates.   Would you believe one of those fellows is an Air Vice Marshall now - oh that makes me feel OLD! 


Standing with us in this photo is Rosco - he was an Air Force steward in the Officer's Mess where my hubby and I had lived as single officers.  He was such a character!  He played the bag pipes for us to take me down the aisle and piped us out of the church afterwards.  So special!


These two fellows were two of my senior sailors.  Bob on the left and Wally on the right.  They were fabulous guys and I would love to know where they are now.  Bob left the Navy and retired to the country and Wally, well Wally was a treasure!  He bought this brand new suit especially for the wedding as he had agreed to escort my Mum down the Aisle into the church and also to partner her for those first Bridal Dances in my father's absence.  How special.  Wally was a single bloke, an only child, with deceased parents - no family at all - and lived in a beautifully maintained caravan in a permanent site.  When I first started Aussie Heroes he was one of my inspirations.  Who would have sent him parcels?


Here are the rest of the guys.  I don't know where any of them are these days.
They were the best.  There is just something about this group that made them special.
Oh the stories I could tell!


And finally, this is where we honeymooned!  A gorgeous old fashioned romantic little cottage in Bendigo Victoria.  It was wonderful!


And in a great moment of weakness - yes, here is a photo of me!
This is us today - 22 years later - we don't look the same, but we have made it through 22 years of ups and downs and I still think he is the best gift  I have ever been given.


Happy Anniversary to my wonderful hubby!  
I will always love you!




Friday, July 20, 2012

Sandi's goodies

Another friend of mine has chipped in a few goodies to go to Ireland.  The Blogless Sandi has sent these goodies. 
How cute are those owls?


And these tea towels are much too nice to use but plenty nice enough to sell.

Thanks heaps Sandi!

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

Thursday, July 19, 2012

Chocoholics Beware


I needed a special chocolate heavy recipe to make for a friend as a gift yesterday so I went on line to see what I could find and here is the result.  I got up nice and early this morning so I could bake them and then get some into the mail nice and fresh!

Rich Chocolate Cookies 
- but that name really doesn't do the cookies justice.
How about

Chocolate Overload
or 
To Die For Cookies
or 
Big Yum Cookies.

Alright maybe none of the above!

(Edit - my girlfriend made them today and she has renamed them the 
EAT AS YOU GO COOKIES!  Seems to work!)

I just know they are seriously yummy - perfect for dunking if that is what you like, gorgeous straight out of the oven and, by the way, my house smells delicious and these have the 
hard-won Guitar Hero seal of approval.

You will find the recipe here and it is simple enough.  I made a double quantity. 

Melt the butter and chocolate together then add in the remainder of the ingredients.


You are supposed to add in a cupful of chopped walnuts for each quantity but I don't know if my friend likes walnuts and I know they like chocolate so....I added a big bag of Smarties (like M&Ms for my American friends) 


You are then supposed to put the mix in the fridge for an hour to set hard enough to portion out but I find this makes the mix too hard.  So I just let it sit for about an hour (while I went and collected Fly Boy's Laptop which had been left behind on its own at the bus stop - yes he freaked out- yes so did I and yes - he was jolly lucky to get it back.  Honest Year 8 boy handed it in so I rewarded him with an itunes card!)  Anyway I digress - after an hour the mix was solid enough to scoop - if you don't have a scoop use a spoon - this mix will melt all over your hands into a sticky mess as there is so much chocolate in it.


And finally - the end result!  I have had one and I approve!  Guitar Hero loves them but there is no guarantee he will eat more - Fly Boy has so far not even bothered to try one!  Thank goodness I have friends to cook for.

 

Dare you to try them!  Such a pity you can scratch and sniff!

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

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Marvelous Marg

My lovely Aussie Hero Friend Marg decided to help me out with the sewing for the Irish Charity Bazaar this year and sent me a huge bundle of homemade goodies to send over!

Check out these bags - great for the beach!
Ad some cute cushion covers
I really love the colours in this table runner.
These napkin holders, complete with gorgeous Aussie napkins are great too.
Another lovely cushion cover and check out the really neat satin stitch on the blossom!
Gorgeous zippered pouches
Cute kids pencil cases - I so love that fabric - where do you find fabric like this?
A cute little mug rug
A trio of Aussie zippered pouches
and a pretty soft pastel one
A really nifty folding shopping bag
which folds up really neatly and then the top folds over the picture and closes it all up.
And two nifty thing-a-ma-bobs for carrying a plate - and I bet Marg has a heap of these as she is such a great cook!
Thank you so much Marg!  You are the best!

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

Monday, July 16, 2012

Poor Cherry Red

Yep, Poor Cherry Red is missing out at the moment.  I am so busy with Aussie Heroes at the moment that she is coming a pretty poor second.  The only problem is that my heart truly lies with Aussie Heroes and personally I don't feel like I am missing out.  


You must have noticed that I am not posting as often as I once did on Cherry Red and I am sure you have worked out why.  Just at the moment things are rather busy.   We just had the weekend in Melbourne and I have two weekends home and then head down to Canberra for four days- egads!  I am so looking forward to this trip but there is so much I want to achieve before I head down there.


Additionally I am not getting time to read blog posts much either although now that the boys are back at school (thankfully - three weeks is a looooong holiday) I will spend a bit more time sitting in the car waiting for them so will catch up a bit then.


If I haven't commented on your blog for a while that is because I have unwillingly turned into a lurker at times.   I do most of my blog reading on my ipad and sometimes it freezes in the middle of a comment and I can't finish the comment.   No idea why - probably operator error!!!  


So, I am still around, and I am still reading and loving all your blogs but I can't always comment.  


And I am still sewing - lots - but also doing paperwork and chasing media and spreading the Aussie Hero word. 


Now, to end on a happier note - check out this quilt.  I just love it.  It is called the "Carefree Quilt" but I would like to call it something like "Simple Joy"  or "Free and Happy".  

Jennifer over at Ellison Lane Quilts wanted to know more about the quilt so she did an interview with its clever creator, Rosie Stirling, and posted it on her blog.  You might like to read it too.
Hope you enjoy it!

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