Quilting Bloggers Birthday Fat 1/4 Swap 2009

Miss 12 and I almost share the same birthday. Almost. Her birthday is the day before mine, so regular readers will know that I had my birthday this week. I turned 45. Which seems an incredibly high number to write. 45. Of course, I had a lovely day with chocolates and flowers from Mr 20 and birthday kisses and hugs from everyone else. My Bradley's gift is to take me to the patchwork apple to purchase fabric once it has cooled down a little (see you in April Jane, lol!). But this birthday was different. I received packages. Six of them. Last year I joined Maree's Quilting Bloggers Birthday Fat 1/4 Swap. I am the first to have a birthday in my group and it was most exciting. I received the first package from Peg early in January. Maree had counselled us to be early posters rather than late and Peg took this advice to heart! The kids always get so excited when I receive packages and there was much fanfare when Mr 20 brought Peg's package in. I decided to open it on my birthday (practising some self-control!) The day before my birthday I received another four packages. From Dale, Kate, Anita and Lurline. I opened the packages straight away, afterall, we were celebrating a birthday that day, just not mine! The thought of all those fat 1/4's spurred me on! And then on my birthday I received the last package from my group from Chookyblue (Donna). The photo above shows my haul. A huge variety, which pleases me greatly! I have been involved with fabric swaps before and have always been thrilled by what I have received because I didn't choose it. There are always so many beautiful fabrics at patchwork shops and, being constrained by a budget, my picks are usually oh so similar! I buy my very, very favourite things. None of these fabrics are a part of my stash already so my stash has been varied beautifully by all these lovely quilting bloggers! Thank you all! I can't wait to send off a package myself now!

PS Don't worry Peg. Yours are not in the photo because they were put in a safe place whilst my sewing room was moved. I will show them off when I find them. (I mean, retrieve them from their safe place!)

Still Hot!

My Bradley sells weather stations, so we have one set up at our house. Today when I walked past the inside display I noticed something I have never noticed before. In the space where it says, "raining cats and dogs" when it rains hard it said, "high heat index advisory". Now, you can tell I don't sell them, I'm really not sure what that means. I think though if you read the temperature as being 43, you would know that it's hot. We did the whole sit around and appreciate your air conditioner thing today. (Marvellous how a little blackout can make you appreciate your cooling systems!) We also did the swim in the pool thing. I think I'm getting used to it. Never say never!

Still Hot!

Just heard the 7 day forecast. About 40 degrees for the next 7 days. Okay. I'm done. When does winter start? Oh! And to make it worse we had no electricity from 12 noon till 9pm today. I don't like blackouts on a 44 degree day! (Picky, aren't I?)

Some creating happened!

Something creative happened, but it wasn't me! Miss 12 knitted a cardigan for the new cabbage patch baby that she got for her birthday. It was an early birthday present so she was able to knit this before school started. She designed it herself.

And this is what it looks like on. She is a really cute cabbage patch twin, and her sister is the new doll of one of Miss 12's homeschooling friends who is about the same age as Miss 12. (It was a joint birthday present!) They had a joint party which was a lot of fun!

It's HHHHOTTTTTTTTTTT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, it's hot. We had the hottest day for 70 years today. Yesterday was 43 degrees. Tomorrow is forecast for 42, Friday 41, Saturday 40 and Sunday 40. It was still 45 degrees at 6pm. In fact, at 9pm it was 38 degrees! We went for a swim at 9pm, which was lovely. On days like today I am so grateful that we have a swimming pool! Last night's minimum was 30 degrees. Bring on winter! We're kind of over summer. The whole of the southeast of Australia is suffering from this heatwave, so it's hot in lots of places. Hope you can keep cool if it's hot for you. And if it's cold where you are - I'm sooooooooooo jealous!!!

Miss 11 is 12!

Yesterday in fact! Miss 11 turned 12 and had her first ever day at school! I really missed her on her first day. It is quite strange to have her at school. She is one of my most creative children and we used to do lots of creative things together. Of course, I know we still will, but school kids don't have much time! Homeschooled kids are time-rich. She is loving school. She said tonight that she has only been there two days, but it feels like she has always gone to school. I'm glad she feels so happy and comfortable at school!

New Shelves

It is 6pm and I am so tired! We have afternoon meetings (church) from 1pm-4pm this year and I don't think I'm used to it yet! Today I taught Relief Society. We had a lesson based on President Thomas S. Monson's wonderful talk "Finding Joy in the Journey". Sometimes enjoying the journey is hard. I often think, "Everything will be better when.......", instead of enjoying where I am! President Monson counsels us to choose to do the most important things, show our love to family and friends, and be grateful for what we have in order to enjoy the journey. So, here I am, enjoying the journey! We are still changing rooms. (Stop laughing!) It's a big job. We have moved our bed into the former boy's room and also the sewing studio. Mr 20 has gone from the boy's room into the former sewing studio. Mr 14 and Mr 8 have moved into our former room and the office (my Bradley works from home) has moved into the dining room from our former room. Of course, this means that we have to pack away the large dining table and get out the medium dining table. You know, the domino effect. This photo shows my new sewing shelves. I'm still organising the sewing area, but hopefully everything will be good by Tuesday. (The day school starts!) Have a great week!

block

I think I have writer's block. I have started and deleted four posts in the last week! That's unusual for me. I'm kind of having sewer's block too. And reader's block as well. I think it has something to do with my current activities. We are busy changing rooms. I read a blog post (written by a mother of many children) last year that stated "My house is like a game of Tetris" and I so got it! Our house is like a game of tetris too! When your house is too small you rearrange everything in the hope that if it is different it will work better. Of course, it doesn't but you have to move things around or go crazy, so you move things around. (Crazy has such a bad reputation most people will do anything to avoid it!) So at the moment we are changing three bedrooms around (As you do) so any moment now I will be living in the perfect house! (I have to say that so I will have the strength and resolve to go on!) Can't wait till we're done and life can get back to normal!

Miss 22's first choice

Thursday night Miss 22 received her university offer. She was very excited to get her first choice and can't wait to start. (March? I have to wait till March?) She will be embarking on a double degree in March. She is thrilled, and her course is so her so I'm pretty sure she will have a great year! She was very nervous leading up to Thursday worrying what she would do if she didn't get in. I thought it was all very funny because she did so well in her STAT test that if she couldn't get in, no-one could! However, she didn't want to take anything for granted and was over the moon after her nervous wait. Two girls at uni this year, and three kids busting to start high school in about a week. Our home will be full of people doing homework! And Mr 8 and I doing the homeschooling thing. It's going to be a good year I think!

My PIF from Loz arrived

Okay! Let's get this out of the way first! It's HOT today! 41 degrees celcius as I type this (nearly 6pm!) I'm sure you will read this on every South Australian blog post today! Or maybe just the whingey ones! Now, down to business.


Some time ago (can you tell I can't be bothered to look this up) I signed up for a "Pay It Forward" on Loz's blog. Well, today it arrived! My kids were so excited! They are such good value for money. There was a festive atmosphere as I opened it. I slid the calico bag out of the post bag and got very excited. It says "Angas Park" on the front and I know that Loz lives in the Barossa Valley near the dried fruit factory. Could it be that she sent me some Angas Park goodies?

Yes! And a gorgeous tin sporting cherries. It's very cute and I am mulling over in my mind what I will put in it. First I thought something to do with sewing, but I'm thinking now I might put some little essential in it and put it in my handbag so I can look at it all the time.

And this is the PIF itself! A covered book (A visual diary - perfect for me! Actually, I was just saying yesterday afternoon that I needed a visual diary to carry around in my bag and then this arrived!) and a really cool mesh bag. Now, I know it's a "really cool mesh bag" because Miss 22 told me it is. In fact, she is still holding it and extolling it's virtues. I think she likes it!

See! A visual diary. Blogger thinks it goes this way up for some reason! Thank you Loz. I feel very lucky. And the arrival of my PIF prompts me to send mine to my 3 recipients. Watch this space!

Oh! And a heads up. I am approaching my 300th post and in the tradition of my 200th post I will be having a giveaway. This time I'm hoping to be organised enough to actually have the giveaway on my 300th post. Stay tuned!

Create, make, craft

Yesterday my Bradley put some shelves up in my studio. I couldn't resist quickly putting some of my paints on them so I could feel like I might start painting at any moment. I've been thinking about my goals for 2009. All that thinking led to my latest header. Create, make, craft. I think that's what I want to do this year. The Adelaide Central School of Art says that it finds meaning through making. I really like that. Meaning through making. That's my goal for this year, what I hope to accomplish. Not completely sure exactly what that making will be yet. I know I'm going to sew (couldn't live without it!) and paint, but that's all I know for now. Just have to get started I think and see what develops! It's kind of exciting!

Whispering Wall - Barossa Valley

This is the Whispering Wall. It's actually the concrete wall of the Barossa dam. It was built in the early 1900's. It has unique accoustic properties that allow you to whisper at one side of the dam and be heard clearly at the other side of the dam.


Some of you walk over to the other side and then down infront of the wall and whisper/listen.


And the others stay on this side, go down in front of the wall and whisper/listen.


Then those on the other side walk back along the top of the wall. It's kind of an Adelaide tradition. We love to take tourists there and watch them be amazed at how brilliantly the sound travels along the wall. This trip was not to watch amazed tourists, but our own amazed children. We were chatting about the whispering wall and Miss 11 and Mr 8 didn't know what we were talking about, so we had to take them and watch them be amazed. I'm pretty sure they have been there before, but it was a long time ago and they didn't remember it. They were appropriately amazed, and then we were amazed on the way home. We drove through Kersbrook and decided to take the One Tree Hill road home and drove past a roadside cherry stand. Yum! We stopped and bought some of the largest, most delicious cherries we have ever eaten. (We took a vote in the car). Miss 16 was feeling very car sick and managed to eat many cherries before we got home. (Eating is the only thing that helps her car sickness!) All in all a very successful trip - amazing and delicious! (If you want to get some of those delicious cherries you will have to wait till later in the year. The roadside stall is open in November and December - we were there on their last day.)

I'm still here, I think.

I'm not sure that I care for 2009 that much. I have had a very busy 9 days so far. So busy, that I forgot that I had a blog! And yet, when I think back I'm hard pressed to even remember what I have been busy with. Mrs 24 (Picklesticks) was visiting today and she was encouraging me to blog. I told her that I haven't really done anything creative or interesting lately. As I was explaining this to her I was busy putting the final touches to dinner and she said that dinner was something to post about. So here it is.

Chicken and Olive Cous Cous

Preheat oven to 180 C or 160 C fan.
Cut 1 kg of chicken thigh fillets in half. Place in baking dish with juice and finely grated rind of 2 lemons, 150 g stuffed green olives, 1/4 cup chopped oregano, 3 chopped garlic cloves and 1 tablespoon olive oil. Toss to combine and season well. Bake 45 mins until chicken is cooked. Meanwhile place 1 cup cous cous in a heatproof bowl. Pour over 1 cup boiling water, cover with plastic wrap and stand for 10 mins. Fluff up with a fork and serve with chicken and olives.

This was yummy. Of course most of the kids turned their noses up at it (they made sandwiches) but I would cook it again. I really enjoyed it. I really love things that you spend a little time on and then you stick them in the oven to cook and you walk out of the kitchen. That's my idea of cooking! No wonder I am such a fan of roasts! The recipe came from the Summer Coles Magazine, which I picked up free from my local supermarket.

Oriental Noodle Salad

Finely slice 1 chinese cabbage and 4 spring onions. Place them in a bowl with 100g of slivered almonds. Mix 1/4 cup of white vinegar with 1/4 cup of castor sugar. Add 1 tablespoon of soy sauce, 1 teaspoon of sesame oil, and 1/2 cup of olive oil. Mix well and add to bowl. Just before serving add a 100g packet of Chang's Fried Noodles and mix well.

I had this salad at my sister-in-law's house at Christmas and loved it so I asked her for the recipe. She had taken it from the back of a packet of Chang's noodles so it's pretty easy to find! So, although I haven't been very creative lately I have been cooking dinner! I have also made some curtains that I'm not happy with and started on a roman blind that isn't going anywhere exciting yet. Hopefully next week will see creativity and excitement return to my life!