Weekend at Solar Springs - BLISS!

I spent the last weekend at Solar Springs Health Retreat with my friend Bron. It was a major treat that I could ill afford, but I thought it may help me avoid falling apart. What a fantastic investment in myself. I had some pampering treatments as well as a natropath visit with a Bioimpedance Analysis. The food was devine, the setting gorgeous, and the activities and treatments wonderful. Highly recommended. I am now on a bit of a mission to eat more healthily and take off some of the weight that has crept on over the last 12 months. My BIA had me at least 12 kg overweight and aging at 38 (I am 35).

Tagged

I have been tagged by Kylie. My first time - lets see how I go!

5 things found in my bag:


1. wallet


2. spare undies for Mali


3. pen


4. lip gloss


5. speeding fine :(





5 favourite things in my sewing room:


1. machine


2. Horn sewing cabinet


3. jars of buttons


4. templates


5. quilting magazines



5 things I am currently into:


1. decluttering my home (watch out EBay here I come!)


2. trying to live a more simple and sustainable existence


3. collecting Trixie Belden and Nancy Drew books


4. my gorgeous kids


5. reading and trying to keep up with my book club books





5 people I am tagging:



I'm not actually sure that I have anyone that reads my blog, so I will make it a 'doif you please' tag. :)

New Heating

My ducted gas heating and evaporative cooling is being installed today! Yipee - our house should now be toasty warm in all rooms all winter long, and cool in summer. The old gas heater has been removed leaving a weird looking hole in the wall and a big cement base, but I will deal with that over time. I was shocked at the amount of dust behnd the heater when they pulled it off the wall - yikes!

Old heater on freecycle to hopefully go on to warm another family this winter.

RIP Mummy Gelly

Tangis' Big Mummy passed away in PNG last week. She had been sick for a long time and finally let go in Alotau hospital. She was a great lady and always made me feel so welcome in the village. I am sad that my girls didn't get to meet their Big Bubu Mummy.

Tangis travelled to PNG for the burial and mourning.

Rest in Peace Mummy Gelly.

Doll Quilt Swap

My doll quilt for the Flickr Doll Quilt Swap 3 has been posted off to the other side of the world. A clue - it is off to Texas. I enjoyed doing this quilt and loved working with the bright fabrics. I tried a few new techniques too - needleturn applique, yoyos and crazy piecing (perhaps not the best idea to try out new things on a swap project, so hopefully my swapee will forgive any mistakes - it was made with love). My machine was also playing up a bit (turned out to be a loose screw on the walking foot) so the quilting is very basic in the ditch.

Thrifting Love

The church near our local shops had a fete a couple of weekends ago and I scored some books I have been dreaming of for AGES! All for 50c each!! I got my hot little hands on both some Trixie Belden books and some Secret Seven / Famous Fives. I LOVED these books when I was a kid and unfortunately gave them away when I thought I had outgrown them. I loved reading and started out my love of books (when I was old enough to read on my own) with Enid Blyton, starting with Faraway Tree etc, then the boarding school books that she did, then FF, then SS, then I moved onto Trixie and then Nancy Drew. Obviously I loved a good mystery adventure! I'm now keen to start collecting them for my girls so that I can share a piece of my childhood with them.

Happy Birthday Sweet Mimi!

Happy 2nd Birthday to my gorgeous little Mimi. You are an independent, happy, strong-willed, smart little girl with a gorgeous, caring and friendly personality. I love you so much Mali Maris and you have brought so much joy to my life in the last 2 years. I can honestly say that you rescued me.
Love Mummy xx

Happy Birthday to Me!

I had a lovely birthday on Sunday- 35 Yikes, I feel bloody ancient.

I received a bunch of lovely parcels as part of the EB Quilters Fat Quarter Birthday Swap, as pictured below. My theme wa sneutrals and browns as I am hoping to make a coffees and cream themed quilt at some stage (was thinking a snails trail pattern, but haven't decided yet). I feel so lucky to have great crafty friends whom I have never even met (except for Kylie who used to live in Canberra too). Needless to say I have been doing lots of fabric fondling and I love them all!





Stars - Xena
Brown Flowers - AJ
Red Moda square + charm squares - Helen
Neutral 'twigs' - Cylie
Bone and Blue country print - Bec
Cream tone on tone + brown circular + button box - Kylie
Cream tone on tone + Mr Toad magnet - Cass
Cream tone on tone + parisian cats - Joy
Autumn leaves + brown floral - Adds
Chocolate swirls - Emma
Moda floral - Leah
cream tone on tone + new quilting mag - Natalie
Alexander Henry butterflies + charm square - Lily
The fat 1/4s all piled together
Mum and Dad dropped in (they live 3 1/2 hours away, not like they live around the corner!) with a mud cake and some flowers. I have a trip to solar springs planned, so they gave me some $ to put towards some treatments!! I think that since I have been a single parent, Mum and Dad have made an extra special effort on my birthday to make me feel special - don't you love parents? Mine are the best.

Kaffe Fassett Butterfly Quilt

These goregous Kaffe fabrics hanging on my line are being cut into this quilt. Vicky has made this butterfly quilt once before out of 1930s repro prints and it is STUNNING!

I have to be honest and say that I rarely wash my fabric before sewing, but apparently the new line of Kaffe fabrics shrinks along the length by about 10cm (not apparently, it actually does, as we discovered)

My friend Vicky and I are going to cut and sew together, which will be fun. We have done this before when we were both living in PNG, having a bit of a production line, where we would cut out together and sew together and make one quilt each, staying up late into the night with lots of laughter and cups of tea. We made together the autumn leaves quilts,the scrappy baskets quilts and the pigs quilts, and Freddie's House (almost 6 years ago now). I think that we also did the bugs in jars together. She often reminds me about cutting over 450 little pink triangles for all of the pigs feet and ears!! I will have to do a post sometime soon about the quilts that I have actually made.

Doll Swap Quilt

I have signed up for the Doll Quilt Swap through flickr
I have a design in my mind, butterflies! I seem to have an obsession with them at the moment. Will give some clues as I get started.

Easter

We had a lovely Easter. The Easter Bunny left a couple of eggs and a new bowl and cup set.

I took the girls out to our dear friends, Sandra and Paul's place. Sandra and Paul are my best friend Vicky's parents and treat me as an extended member of the family - always so welcoming and loving. The girls had an Easter Egg hunt there which they loved.

We also had an Easter Egg hunt the next day with the mother's group gang at the park, which was wonderful.

Sara and Josh's wedding and holiday in South Australia

We had a wonderful family holiday in South Australia when my cousin Sara got married recently at Horseshoe Bay in Port Elliot, about an hour south of Adelaide.

First, we got the plane from Sydney with my sister Kat and her partner Andrew:


We stayed in a great holiday house that Mum and Dad arranged for us in Port Elliot. It was lots of fun staying with Mum and Dad and my sisters again. Unfortunately my youngest sister was unable to get time of work, so she didn't make it for the fun. South Australia was SO hot - going through the longest number of days over 35deg temperatures ever recorded.
relaxing with Honey at the house

Sara and Josh had a gorgeous wedding in the gardens overlooking the beach at Horseshoe Bay. What a stunning bride! It was SO wonderful to see a couple so in love and so full of happiness. The reception was fabulous with lots of great food, great music and great people. It was so great to catch up with family that I hadn't seen for ages.

me and Dad Monique, Katrina and me

with Oma

We spent some time at the beach and did some mooching around, and also visted some great wineries in the Maclaren Vale.
kat and Andrew at a winerymum and dad wine tasting

with cousin Nicole

The only downside of the trip was that I had a shocking hair experience. I went to a hairdresser asking for my foils to be touched up, and I came out totally blonde. Yikes - not my style, but I just go with the flow. It is actually amazing how much like my Mum I look with blonde hair.

Big Girl Now

My beautiful girl is now three. She was born on 2nd January 2005 after a LONG labour. I was in love and totally besotted by her from the moment I saw her. She has brought my life so much joy, I just want to cover her in kisses. I love you so much precious girl. Happy 3rd Birthday.