new dresses

I have stayed up into the night to get some new dresses finished for the girls for thier kindy photos (which go over 3 days). I am one of those mean mums that dress their kids in the same clothes!

On Monday they wore little reversible smocks - cherries on one side and red gingham on the reverse with little shorts. Today they wore yellow 'pillowcase' dresses made form a vinatge curtain - super cute! I didn't get pics of them yesterday morning, but did get a couple tonight. All 4 dresses are in the washer now, so we will choose in the morning which ones get re-used!! Here are some pics - checkout Mimi's teeny tiny piggy tails!

EB fabric scrap swap

Another round of the EB quilters scrap swap - Thanks Ads. Lots to keep me busy in this lot!

Minature Booty Swap received!

Lucky me!!


Check out this adorable quilt that I received from Solidia . I am so thrilled - she picked my taste perfectly!


Solidia also sent me some beautiful fabric and some grogeous Amy Butler stationery. I feel so lucky! Thank you so much

Doll Quilt Swap 4 arrived!

I arrived home from an interstate trip this week to find a little box on my doorstep. I wasn't expecting anything and couldn't remember buying anything, so it was a great surprise to open it up and find a gorgeous little quilt from Gillian at SillyGilly as part of the Flickr Doll Quilt Swap 4. She also sent some wonderful extras - I can't wait to make up the dress and the dog fabric had Mali enthralled (she ha sa dog 'thing' at the moment). Gillian sent me the loveliest note, which had me sobbing - it felt so special that someone had taken time to get to know me.
Thanks Gillian - I love it!

Doll Quilt Swap 4 posted off!

Ok - it is finished and on its way to Montana (that is my only hint!)

A budding photographer?

When I download pictures from my camera, there are inevitably some that have been taken by little hands! Usually lots of fingers, or the floor, or the computer or TV, but almost always, there is a little Mimi poking her head up somewhere in the picture, which tells me that Lulu must be the budding photographer. The photos always bring a smile to my face - here are a few examples!


And a self-portrait!!

Weekend Fun

Lulu was invited to a birthday party on the weekend and I made a little rice heat bag to go with the gift. (It is freezing in Canberra at the moment - it even snowed in suburbia on Sunday!) I think I might make some more of these as they are super easy and I need to do some stash reduction.

Mimi was a tag-a-long at the party but was made to feel welcome and got right into the spirit of things. Here they are on the deck before we left. The cheeky smile!

Flickr Doll Quilt Swap

I am ALMOST finished by little quilt for the flickr doll quilt swap #4. I just need to add the bindings and it is ready to post off to America (yes, I know, it will be a little bit late, but I hope that I can be forgiven). Made from vintage sheet pieces and some tone-on for the borders. I used the 'scraps' I had left over from cutting up the squares for the See Katie Sew vintage sheet squae swap. I am loving it and think I might make a bed sized one made up of a nine patch from the sheets and white sashings.

6 things meme

I have been tagged by Brazen, a Canberra on-line buddy to do a "6 things" meme.

6 things meme
1. Link to the person who “tagged” you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Write six random things about yourself.
4. Tag six people at the end of your post.
5. Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.
6. Let the tagger know your entry is up.

1. K is an amazing person, and I have learnt a lot from her strength over the last few years. Our youngest children are almost the same age, and she has flogged me a fair bit of tupperware (a lot of which is still unused in the cupboard lol)

2. see above lol

3. (1) every winter I wonder why I live in Canberra. It is freezing here and everyone seems to hibernate - I don't see my neighbours from about May until October
(2) I love planning and starting projects but I have difficulty finishing things. I have hundreds of quilts in my head, and many many cut out and in various stages of completion, but then I get scared. I have lots of tops and flimsys, all in bags with thier matching backings and bindings, but the machine quilting process terrfies me as I don't want to wreck anything, despite having done 2 free motion quilting classes. I have started to have my larger quilts professionally quilted so that I can actually get them used before I don't love them anymore!
(3) ditto above for my job (the loving starting projects thing - I actually have to finish things at work!)
(4) My house is a mess. I dream of living in an uncluttered 'show-home', but hey, where would the fun in that be?
(5) I joined the Australian Volunteers International Program in my early 20s and lived in Papua New Guinea for almost 6 years - I was supposed to go for 6 months!
(6) I love lemon crisp biscuits (you know the ones that are kind of a salty cracker and have lemon cream inside). Everyone else I know thinks that these are foul.

4. I'm going to break the tag (I think I always do this when I get tagged!) as I find it so difficult

5. see above

6. will do :D

Minature Booty Swap ….. RECEIVED!

I was so happy to get a little note from Vickie to say that she had received her chook quilt – YIPPEE! I am SO glad that she was happy and that it was well received.

I just have to finish the bindings on my Flickr doll quitl swap and then that will be posted off.

Enough swaps for me for a while I think.

Vintage sheet square swap.

I am participating in the vintage sheet square swap over at See Katie Sew, and have sent my 200 squares all the way over to the USA, and I will then receive 200 squares back. I am inspired by this vintage sheet quilt, so I will add it to the mile long "project list”!

Time to reassess?

I am so tired.

I am over the full time working single mummy caper.

I am especially over working in a office with a bully.

What makes it difficult is that the bully doesn't recognise that the way that she behaves towards others is unacceptable.

I have made a complaint to my general manager this week, after expressing concerns to her and the HR consultant for over 12 months about the behaviour of another general manager as I have. just. had. enough. It was a really difficult decision to do that, and it was only after a colleague told me that he had witnessed me being berated for no reason and that the behaviour was unacceptable, that I decided that this was no longer my problem. Over this time period, I have tried so many different things - looked at her myers briggs and mine, to see how I can better work together with her, I have tried different ways of dealing with inappropriate requests and rudeness, I have tried ways of re-instating physical space (standing up from my desk and walking away when I am being stood over), insisting that I need to put my handbag down and get a cup of coffee when I come in in the morning rather than having to endure table banging about budgets that aren't even my responsbility before I have sat down, physically moved my workstation, ignored her, snapped back, tried to be extra nice - I have tried it all. The person in question has not altered her behaviour at all - inappropriate and imaginary deadlines, being stood over, being shouted at from a distance instead of being approached, or alternatively, having the feeling that I am being watched and turning my head to realise that someone is standing behind me, had my decisions questioned, not had my expertise and experience respected, been undermined and unnecessarily criticised to senior management. All because someone feels threatened. As I sit outside the person's office, refuses to shut her door and has extrordinary voice projection, I have also got an intimate knowledge of the purchase of her house, car, horse, saddle, husband issues, bill payments - you name it!

Do I need to stay in an environment like that? I love what I do for work, and my manager is great, (and has been trying hard to help me deal with this) but I have been coming home feeling sick about work and my relationship with this person. and therefore my quality time with my kids has suffered. My work is also suffering I think and I am working on some huge projects that don't need an emotional wreck driving them. As a single mum with a mortgage, I have no choice not to work, but do I need to work in an environment like this?
I think not, and I think it is time that I start looking around for a new journey. I know that there are other flexible workplaces around, where I will not get in the car at the end of the day in tears and take out my frustrations on my gorgeous kids.

Just needed to get that off my chest.

mini booty swap

I have joined the Minature Booty Swap Round 2! I just have to sew down the binding on my quilt, wash it and then post off. My recpient is also from Australia and had 'chooks' as one of her likes, so I have tried my hand at needle-turn applique in a large pattern to do a chook feature. Looking at it now it looks a bit boring - AARRGG! I love doing swaps but am always so unsure of the calibre of my work and that it measures up. Anyway, here it is ready to be bound - I did some stippling around the chook and then just straight lines around the borders.

!

Kaffe butterfly quilt update

Oh my aching back! Just kidding, but we have spent a lot of time cutting out little tiny pieces of fabric for the gorgeous butterfly quilt. Can't wait to start on the sewing now.

Scrap fabric swap time again!

Scrap fabric swap time again, yes the EB quilting girls are swaping scraps again. My parcel arrived today and it is full of quilty goodness, including some adorable 30s prints to add to my collection (not sure what project I have in mind for my 30s fabrics - I can't decide!) Thank you to Ursula (no blog) for the lovely fabrics.

And here is a close up of my fav piece - the cows!

Box Swap

I have taken part in a box swap run by Cass from Snailblazer. What a fun idea. Cass made up a box of goodies - fabric, papers, ribbons, hand-made items, buttons, vintage stuff, then she posted it off to the next person on the list, they take out 3 things and replace them with three things and they post to the next person on the list and so on until the last person who posts it back to Cass.

I took out the gorgeous VW bag, a vintage fabric panel and an altered Golden book note book. Ads - I left the magnets for you!

I put in:

- 2 Patchwork mags

- a wallhanging pattern with some furnshing fabric swatches that the animals in the pattern would look cute in

- 5 vintage dressmaking patterns

Lemonade Stand Quilt Swap - Sent and Received!

I have taken part in the Lemonade Stand Doll Quilt Swap organised at Ubercrafty.



I have received an adorable quilt from Katherine in the USA. (Katherine doesn't have a blog that I can find, but if I do, I will link it in here). The pattern is 'cobblestones' and it is a grogeous green and pink. This was Katherine's first doll quilt believe it or not! Fantastic job and is well loved. The back is also gorgeous, using coordinating fabrics from the front. Katherine also kindly sent some lovely stickers as gifts for Kya and Mali. I have just popped a quick pic of the quilt here - The girls haven't seen it yet as they are with Nanna and Honey for the long weekend.


I have sent my quilt off - I made my bright little quilt for Tara - hope that it arrives soon.

Family Resemblance

Do you think that my girls take after their Dad?

I have been having a giggle at this photo which was taken a few weeks ago. Kya calls this "the R... (our last name) face" and tells me that only her and Mali and Daddy can do it!

My DQS received

Happy to report that the Crazy Chook in Boots quilt has arrived at it's new home with Alice in Texas. So glad that it has arrived and has been appreciated.

Doll Quilt Swap 3 RECEIVED!!

I received the MOST gorgeous package from AJ last week (naughty blogegr that I am have only just gotten around to writing about it now.) AJ was so kind to send not one but 2 adorable doll quilts to our home. Knowing that I have 2 little girls, AJ kindly made a quilt for each of them. Now that is quilty love! AJ is actually a friend from EB quilters, so it was special to be matched up with someone that I already know too.

Look at these happy faces:

Now little do the girls realise, but I may soon steal these quilts and start a mini quilt wall in my study (haha - insert evil laugh!)

AJ also sent through our 10 inch square swaps in gorgeous tones (my requests were for brights or 'autumn tone' fabrics). PLUS a couple of lovely fat 1/4s as a thankyou for a different thing that we have swapped! Oh what a lucky girl I am!