FANTASTIC MAIL DAY

My mailbox was overflowing when I got home including a mysterious parcel from Tassey. I finally got my hands on some small perfect circles and they go down to uber tiny in that parcel was a book I had my eye on at the same time Red Green and Beyond by Nancy Hornback and Terry Clothier. Next parcel was the July/August editions of Sommerset Studio and Cloth Paper Scissors. The next installment of Tail Feathers (so I am very glad I have made a start) and the mysterious parcel which got opened first and what was it? It was a book that I had heard about on Pat Sloan's Book Club and there was a 2nd hand copy on Fishpond so I snapped it upits called Murder with Peacocks by Donna Andrews (she has a few more books all with birds in the title so if I like it I will be able to get some more). So that will probably keep me quiet for a while.

I stopped proctrastinating

I finished the checker board for Tail Feathers and I put back the fabric that I had decided to leave out after looking at a few blogs yesterday and decided not to get so thingy about my colour choice. After all we are talking about 1" blocks so it isn't as if it is going to stand out that much and from the photo you can't even tell what I am worried about.

Should Be

I am sitting in my sewing room and I should be sewing strips together but instead I am surfing the net which I must stop doing and just get on with it. I was reading a couple of Belle Amoire Jewellery Editions that I got last week and they have given me so many ideas creatively that I don't know where to begin. Of course it will mean collecting a few supplies which as I am heading to Loxton in two weeks really isn't an option at the moment. I also got an old copy of Stampington Workshop with some great how to's on using Bees Wax. Too many ideas buzzing around at the moment maybe I should just journal them for later getting my ideas on paper might get them a bit closer to happening.

I have been doing my Jewellery Class at WEA and it wasn't quite what I thought it would be, it was a bit hands on but the tutor did all the soldering and hard stuff so I felt a bit like it was only half the story there is also a lot of chemical involved and a huge setup cost she also runs classes from her home but the cost is pretty high. I don't think working with precious metals in this form is it for me, I have finished a pendant and my bangle so I am not going to go back next week (the Friday night time was a bit of a nightmare from my husbands point of view) and you know there is usually a pain in the but in every class well I can usually tolerate them but this one is driving me nuts. Belle Armoire has a lot of jewellery using pmc which I think will be more my style just have to see if there is a tutor in Adelaide.

Also toying with the idea of setting up a Etsy Shop for my jewellery... that is probably a way off. The jewellery above is a couple of pieces I made one was my good friend Sue's birthday the other was for a birthday swap. I worked on another piece this weekend for a friend which is similar to the Friendship piece but it has Swarowski crystals in it instead of the wire mesh.

Shake your Tail Feather

Yes I have started another block of the month and no I haven't finished yet a couple that I have going at the moment and to start this one I had to remove an embarrassing number of unfinished projects off my sewing table. Nevertheless I have pulled fabric for Natalie's new BOM and I didn't buy that many new ones ... most were already in my stash.

Are you a sucker for a colour combo...mine for a long time has been pink brown and cream and as I don't

have a finished quilt in that colour combo I thought Tail

Feathers might be it. The neat pile of strips looked just so yummy I am sure the quilt will be wonderful (thought I did decide to discard one of the chosen above).

Well better get moving my daughter and I are off to see Princess Wishes at the Entertainment Centre so I am going to go and have a coffee and sit and read a few Stampington Mags that finally arrived this week .. (I think they travelled the long way here) and prepare myself for the girly excitement.

If you like some of my fabrics the ones on the left hand pile (apart from the top fabric) in the first photo came from Sarah's sale page.

So Long Ago...

Last week it seems so long ago I went to Brisbane for work, but first I got to visit with my sister who lives just less than half way between Brisbane and Toowoomba.  

She has a small property for her first love horses and she has a few and I think most of them are in foal at the moment.  Apparently they are special horses... they are just horses as far as I am concerned and as long as I was not required to touch them I was quite happy.  Here are her babies and one of the pregnant mares.  

Her dog Tucker and a friend who my Dad dug up while getting rid of a woody weed. When we were kids she had a couple of green tree frogs in an aquarium now they sit on her window sill in swarms (what is a collection of frogs) so I guess she is over them).  I didn't take photo's of the 3 cats which live in the house...how come cats know when you don't like them and hang around like a bad smell.

And the last photo was the scene in the morning.  Brisbane had a cold snap while I was there and there was frost in the morning, Qld people thought it was freezing at 21 degrees during the day as Adelaide was nearly 10 degrees cooler I thought it was lovely.

FINALLY

Telstra came  good yesterday and "temporarily" fixed my phone line the temporary will become permanent I am sure but at least it is fixed for now.  Was going to look into VOIP phone but as I don't make overseas or many interstate calls I don't think it is going to be worth it still going to have to pay the VOIP provider a monthly fee which will mean the bill will be more than what I am paying telstra.  It will probably be better just to use my mobile more so that I use up all the credit on it each month.  So for now with Telstra I'll stay.

The finally of the title is for the final 2 blocks of Truly Scrumptious that finally came after I was promised them at the end of March by a quilt shop who will remain nameless for ever and their name never to be uttered again by me or in my presence again.  I now know lots of lovely quilt shops that are well organised and are able to send their BOM's out once a month instead of taking 2 years to finish a 10 month series and I will never be doing a BOM with fabric ever again though there is one on the fat quarter shop that is truly tempting will have to think very hard about that one I will try and be strong.  

Finally is also for the Swiss Cotton iron on that I use for my stitcheries that Hetties was finally able to source and I got 3m just in case I run out again (I know I am ridiculous but I have none for 2 months and I was getting desperate).  

Well have to run we are off to the Dentist for some emergency teeth extraction for my son which promises to be an eventful afternoon.  One of his baby teeth cracked a few weeks ago and we thought it was just the enamel turns out it has split vertically and he has managed to jam in up the gum grinding his teeth in his sleep.  Why can't he be like his sister who as soon as one is slightly wobbly she works at it until it is out, he won't eat on them or touch them in any way and they hang on for months.  So there is my fun afternoon planned out might have to stop in at borders and see if there are any Stampington Mags in.. just to get me through it...  

Hello is there anybody out there

Telstra in there infinite wisdom has cut off my phone and therefore internet so I have been a little bit quiet for over a week.  Out of desperation (needed to do the footy tips and send some work off) I went to the local library and lo and behold they have free wireless.   And all I needed to do was register and my Mac did the rest (love the mac you don't have to be a geek to get it to work). Email isn't quite working smoothly but I can live with that.   

I have lots of photo's to share but will do that when Telstra pull there finger out, my mobile phone bill is going to be out of control this month ... as I am not with Telstra I don't get any freebees in that regard more grrrrr.  I finally lost my cool today when they gave me the 5th change of when it was going to be fixed so now it is COB Monday...what's the bet they ring and change it again.... Might be spending a bit more time at the library on the weekend.

Off to Brissy

I am in the midst of a busy couple of days, which wasn't helped by 3 hours at the hair dressers which when I look in the mirror this morning was a total waste.  Yes the roots are not showing as much but I didn't get what I wanted.  I wanted more dark and I have GIGANTIC streaks of blond right at my part which mean I will be looking like a skunk in a week.   I SAID I wanted more dark streaks... ugggggg.  Do I sound stressed I a think I am a little...Hate it when my hair gets stuffed up.  

Today I have work and then home for a couple of hours to finish packing then get the kids fed and off to Nannas then I am going to my first Jewellery making course tonight which finishes at 10pm....really bad timing... Next try and get to bed and sleep and wake up at 4am for the 6am flight that I decided I had to be on.  I picked the 6am flight because it is the only direct flight to Brisbane other wise it is 4 hour at least with stop overs which I didn't want to do.

I plan to see the markets in brisbane but I will be at the whim of my sister who is not into anything craft like so it might not happen.  Hopefully I will at least get some good photo's.

Perfect Circles Perfect Day

Lately my working week has been a bit haphazard and I must say that I am suffering for it and don't know whether I am coming and going.  I am afraid I have come to like having a regular routine so I know what I should be doing and on what day.  But with Tonsils and work courses and the boss going interstate my weeks are all topsy turvy for a while yet so I had better get use to it quick smart.  All this preamble brings me to Friday which is usually a working day for me which means I miss out on going to my daughters assembly once a fortnight.  Luckily I didn't work Friday and my hubby decided to have the day off and we went and saw the assembly which my daughter's class was hosting so she had to say a few words and then gave out certificates with the principal.  The last time I saw her do this she was a total mess (might have something to do with the teacher she had last year) but she did a fantastic job. 

After the triumph of the assembly my hubby suggested we go for a meal down the road.  Now one thing we don't lack is a place for a meal (3 pubs within a couple of kms and Henley Square with at least 6 restaurants probably more) but he wanted to go to the Henley Pub because of the all important $5 Imperial pint fortunately the food is great and service is good.   I had lovely Lamp Steak which was very yummy and he had a Parmy and of course the Imperial pint.  We usually eat outside but it was a bit cold so we stayed in.  It was nice to have a stress free meal without kids to worry about... why are meals always such a battle.  

Now to the sewing front as you can see I am powering along with Little Blue birds.  I have finished the applique on two of the embroidered borders and thought I would get started on Circles for the flowers on the first border. A few weeks ago I bought this handy little notion from Ozquilts. They are mylar plastic which you can iron to make perfectly round circles ready to applique.  The instructions say to use magic starch I just used a bit of spray on stuff and the circles are perfect.  Of course there isn't one small enough for the flower centres and Maree is all out of the small circle kit.... bummer ... so I had to use cardboard which didn't work as well and you can't use the start as that makes the cardboard all soggy (yes I tried...idiot).  The sizes go from 2.5 to 4.5 inches and you get two for each size so you can do a production line thing going.    Now I need to prepare stems for the flowers and then I can get stitching these borders.  

BRRRRRRR its a little chilly this morning

View from my front door at 7am little bit chilly out there.

BTW Sarah has a bit of a sale on at the moment check her sale items.

Fobs have Arrived

Not a good picture I know but aren't these tiny watch cases just devine.  I see lots of mixed media pieces coming together in my head with these as centre pieces.  Will have to get designing over the next few weeks.   

Will have to be on the lookout for more, most of the other lots were large (20-30 pieces) and not as dainty as these and went for big bucks but these were just above reasonable luckily I didn't need to get carried away...I wanted them bad...

Lovely Day

We had a lovely day at Leanne's yesterday.  It is very satisfying to sit and just sew and talk. I finished the stitchery section of Little Blue Birds yesterday so I actually achieved quite a bit for an afternoon's sewing.  Here are the finished border strips.  I started the applique last night which will take me no time to put together, I am a lot quicker applique'r (is that a word I am sure it is not how to spell it) than an embroiderer.

Off to work today and prepare for my week from Hell the next week were I know I am going to here the statement "You are Never Home" at least daily and HE will be right.