Redwork cushion swap

I received my redwork cushion swap. It was a shock when I received the package, because it didn't come from very far at all! My previous swaps have all come from overseas I think. My cushion was made for me by Yvonne Cain. Thank you very much Yvonne! Yvonne sent a card in which she mentions that this is her first swap, which is pretty exciting! I guess she didn't know to include her email address, so I haven't been able to thank her personally and let her know that her gift arrived. So thank you, I love it. Yvonne also mentions in the card that she is relatively new to patchworking and that she has joined a group at her local shop 'the patchwork apple'. "THE PATCHWORK APPLE!!!!", I shouted. "THAT'S MY LOCAL PATCHWORK SHOP!!!!" I have to explain here that whilst Woodside and the patchwork apple are probably not the closest shop to me, I consider that it is my local shop because it isn't far and it's the one I frequent the most. (Most Adelaide people assume that I live in the hills because I am called "Rosemary Hill" and because I frequent the patchwork apple at Woodside. I am actually a plains dweller who lives on top of a slight undulation in the plains - hence the hill! )

Isn't the redwork stitchery beautiful? In my haste to send mine off I negleted to take a photo of it, (stitchery or cushion!) so I will have to 'rely on the kindness of strangers' (ie the secret swap person I sent it to) in order to get a photo of my creation. These photos were taken by my daughter for me. Thanks to Maree from On My Verandah for organising this swap. It was fun and I learnt lots of new things too!

My stitching (from inspired stitches)

Lest you think all I did at Inspired Stitches was talk (you wouldn't be far wrong!) I have my stitching to show you. I chose to do Leanne's oval doily. I decided to do it in a single colour (so I could concentrate on chatting) and half finished it over the two days. I love it and think I may even finish it. (Possibly) All the projects were lovely and we got instructions for them all. I may make some of the others yet. I loved the idea of Leanne's doily because we had an iron-on pattern included in our goodie bags. I feel all inspired after the weekend! The Quilt Fabric Delights girls all did a wonderful job. So, I plan to stitch this week!

Inspired Stitches - the Projects!

Leanne's doily

Leanne's doily

Melly's kokeshi stitchery

Melly's bag

Janelle's notebook cover

Janelle's glasses case

Rosie's stitching caddy

Rosie's needlebook case

Stitching Weekend!

I have spent this weekend hanging out with these people. Yes, Leanne Beasley (From Leanne's House) and Marg and Liz, both from Perth. It was great fun! I caught up with bloggy friends and met some more bloggy friends for the first time. Oh! And Leanne wasn't the only "famous" blogger at Quilt Fabric Delights' Inspired Stitches. Rosie, Melly and Janelle were there too.

A room full of women stitching (and chatting!) is a sight to behold. It was a wonderful weekend, Congratulations to Quilt Fabric Delights on a well run weekend. The venue was just lovely and the accomodation was fantastic too.

This was the view from our stitching room. Beautiful, isn't it? I will be back with more of my wonderful weekend soon!

The Joker?

I was sitting watching tv when this face loomed into view. Talk about a freak out! My sweet darling Miss 16 as the Joker from "The Dark Knight". Thursday is her birthday and she is having a dress up party. She is busy experimenting with costumes tonight so that she can hit the op-shops tomorrow in order to complete her costume. Scary!

Ideas

One of the things I want to do this year is to design more of my patterns myself. Tonight I got out pencil and paper and started drawing. I had forgotten how much I love to draw. Must do it more often I think. More drawing, more painting, more sewing. Sounds like an idyllic life, doesn't it?

Look what I got!

I have been having a discussion with Katherine (Sew Me Something Good) about birds. You see, pigeons have been waking her up and she is trialling pigeon scarers. I'm not a pigeon fan, but I love birds. (Miss 22 thinks this is her ticket to getting a bird as a pet. Not so. I like birds in the same way that I like flowers. I like flowers in the garden. They make me sneeze once they get inside the house. I like birds outside in nature, not in my house.) Today I went to Woodside to visit the patchwork apple and another shop that I love called Country Elegance. I discovered this lovely rubber stamp set of birds in Country Elegance and I bought it! All the stamps featured on the lid are inside the metal box along with an ink pad. It is so sweet. Right now it is so lovely that just looking at it is wonderful. At some point I might get the stamps and ink out and try them. Not today though. The box is enough for now!

Redwork Christmas Block-of-the-month Month 2

Finished it! I think my last post confused everyone because the title was "easter stitching" and my redwork was quite clearly a christmas scene! Ooops! This is block 2 of my block-of-the-month that Bradley bought me for my birthday. I love getting a package each month with all I need to make a block. This one is a Rosalie Quinlan design and is 9 months long. (Sounds a little like pregnancy!) I already have month 3. I was a little behind, but hope to catch up this month. Happy stitching! (Be it easter or christmas!)

Easter Stitching

Well, I didn't get that much easter stitching done. Not sure what I did get done actually. Fed a lot of people I guess. Fifteen for dinner Saturday night, eleven Sunday night and thirteen tonight. And vegged a lot, which was very nice actually. I recommend vegging every easter! It's the first easter for many years that we didn't have any kids playing in a basketball carnival and I didn't miss the basketball stadiums at all! School holidays start tomorrow (as opposed to easter holidays!) so hopefully I will be talking the kids into doing some sewing. (Something we can do together!) Have a great week!

Happy birthday Mr 14 (Or happy "insideout pants day")

Mr 14 is the new Mr 15 today. He is number 6 in my family and one of the nicest teenaged boys on the planet. (Do all parents think their kids are the best? I know it's kind of nausiating, but mine really are!) He is a dedicated grandson lover and spends as much time with him as he can. This has completely paid off because grandson loves him passionately. Grandson is nearly 10 months old and is doing the "mummy, mummy" thing at the moment. Can't bear to be separated from his Mum (exactly what he should be up to of course!) even when he is in the same room as she is! Except for his Dad (of course) and Mr 15.

Here he is with a couple of sisters. (The guy has an excess of sisters. There are five of them!) They all like him and like to hang out with him. (Hey! You gotta be doing something right if your sisters like you!) When he was young he nominated his birthday as "insideout pants day". It has become a tradition at our house that everyone looks forward to. In fact, mostly everyone here has their pants (trousers) on insideout today! He is a gentle giant and has always been. He was a huge 11lbs 13oz when he was born. When I was 37 weeks pregnant he was transverse. (Lying horizontally in the womb rather than vertically) This was quite strange and I could feel his head and his bottom in my sides. He seemed big to me. I thought, if this was a newborn lying on my stomach, he would be long! The 38 week mark was d-day. Transverse babies are at risk of cord prolapse (very bad!) if your waters break or you go into labour so generally they are born early by c-section. My doctor let me go home at 37 weeks if I promised to stay close to home and the hospital incase anything happened, but at 38 weeks I had to be admitted for a c-section. I was very nervous about having an operation and clung to the hope that he might turn around. We prayed that he would turn of his own accord and the night before my checkup I was woken in the middle of the night by incredible pressure in my abdomen. It was seriously strange and I had to get out of bed and squat on the floor to get any kind of relief. Of course, I woke Bradley up. (Afterall, it was his baby too!) and spent half an hour squatting, swaying and crying. Eventually, the pressure disappeared and the baby was moving and hiccupping away happily so I thought it was all good. When I went in to see my doctor he chastised me because I didn't have my overnight bag with me (it was in the car) and explained that I would be admitted that day. I told him that the baby had turned and he didn't believe me. Of course, he had turned (head down) and I was able to go home and wait for the natural delivery in two weeks time. At which time Mr 15 was 5.4kg and 60cm (24") long. I know I was blessed beause he turned around and despite being such a big baby I was able to give birth naturally without any help and without any stitches. Eeewwwwwww! (Sorry, just thought the conversation called for an eeewwwwwww at this point!) So, in a nutshell, he was big (although not chubby!), I had no problems, and he's a great 15 year old now. Phew! Finally!

Oh look, another photo of Mr 15 and grandson together! This little boy is lovely too. Chubby, but lovely. He was an ordinary sized baby when Mrs 24 pushed him out, but once he started breastfeeding he just grew and grew and grew. He has had lots of tests done and the doctors don't know why he is like this. But he is. I think that he is the luckiest little boy in the world because he came to the best Mummy possible for him. He can't wear ordinary clothes, so everything he wears is designed and made by his Mum. (She is awesome! I know I couldn't have designed clothes like she does when I was 24!) She is working on some warmer clothes for him at the moment and doing a great job. Okay, almost finished the nausiating appraisal of my wonderful children! They are great, all of them! And they are always doing amazing things. (Like getting great report cards and winning awards, and being kind to each other and thoughtful to those around them.) I love being their mother!

Slow Cooker

No. This isn't a photo from the 70's! This is really my kitchen (pine cupboards/lime benchtops which was made in the 70's I'm pretty sure). And the new appliance in the photo is not a crockpot, but a modern slow cooker! My Mum had a crockpot in the seventies and I remember pot roasts that she cooked in it. I have been thinking about getting one for a while now and on Saturday when Bradley and I were wandering the appliance aisles looking for a new toaster, (Ours died. It must have been all those hot cross buns!) we both wanted to get one at the same time, so we did. This morning I put food in it for the first time and it has been cooking away all day. It's pretty exciting, but I'm not sure what it will taste like! I'm sure Bradley was thinking that if he bought it I would quilt all day and there would still be dinner! ('Cause he knows that I am going to quilt all day, no matter what!) We'll see. So far it's been very un-labour-intensive. It might just work!

And see, it's just like real food! Bubbling away there under those vegies are chicken pieces. Of course, I am also cooking lamb soup tonight. (The result of a webbered roast lamb dinner last night.) I just can't resist making stock after a roast! Soup is my favourite food I think. Enjoy the rest of your easter!

Drawstring Bags

I read a comment from Pip today that started me worrying. She said she was looking forward to seeing what I make over the easter break. Then she said, "No pressure". (Something we basketball Mums say when we really mean PRESSURE!!!) I started thinking about the fact that I haven't done anything yet! I am still tidying and sorting my sewing space. Then I realised that whilst tidying today I made 5 drawstring bags. One from some fat quarters that I received for my birthday in Maree's fat quarter birthday swap and the other four from leftovers from some bags I had made. I think that's why tidying takes me so long. I kind of have to do sewing as well to keep my interest! Lol! I am hopeless! These drawstring bags will be filled with projects so that I can be a little more organised. (I hope) I have uncovered all sorts of half finished things that I am excited to work on. I also have a head full of ideas for things I want to try, to make and to learn. I think I'd be dangerous if I ever got organised! Anyway, I'm having fun and really enjoying easter!

Happy Easter at the Zoo!

We went to the Adelaide Zoo today for a picnic and to see some of our favourite animals. We have zoo membership which gives us free entry to the zoo for a year. Our zoo is beautiful and a really lovely place to picnic! We met up with Mrs 24, grandson and his Dad.

We had sandwiches and banana and gingerbread cake. (Sounds weird, but is delicious!) We all enjoyed lunch immensely because every snaplock bag had a message written by Miss 16 on it. Like......... egg and lettuce eewwwwww ............. delicious PB & J because I made it AND I didn't spit in it ................ Mum's eewwwwww. (Hey, mine was just corned beef and mustard pickle, it's not hard to get an eewwwwww rating from Miss 16!)

So we ate, we looked at some animals, and then we went home. All in all a pretty fun day. Hope you are all having as lovely an easter as I am having!

Even more on the paperbag swap!

This is the paperbag I sent to Leah on Monday. Fortunately, she took a photo of my stuff! (Just so I could steal it obviously!) I went for the whole red/white/gray/pink thing. I found it really hard to choose. I could have gone so many ways. I love blue/white, blue/green, green/pink and many other combos at the moment. I like too much I think! I found it impossible to stick to just two fabrics, so I got three and told Leah to edit or omit as she likes. It's quite an exciting swap because we can make anything! I will have to put some ideas down on paper. I have started my stitching weekend. Not camping, but at home. (Some of us are not well) I am busy stitching stockings onto a mantle piece at the moment. Hope you all have a good easter!

More on the paperbag swap...

No, I didn't send a blurry leaf to Leah for my paperbag swap. I finally chose some fabric and notions to go with it, but forgot to photograph it before I sent it! Miss 22 was with me and she was busy taking photos of fabric on her phone. (My phone doesn't have a camera, perhaps I should petition Bradley for a new one!) She kept discovering fabric that couldn't possibly be and had to take a photo of it. (I believe she has the "chickens and beans" photo as her new wallpaper on her phone. Seriously. Chickens and beans. I know you all want that fabric now! Cows and beans I could understand. Remember Jack and the Beanstalk? But chickens and beans? Anyway, I know where you can buy some if you really want it!) The leaf is courtesy of Mr 14. He brought it in with him when he came home from a run. He saw a leaf in a leaf (A bit like a square in a square!) and felt it was noteworthy.

Oh! On the diamonds front, my quilt has arrived at it's destination. You can read about it here.

Month One

Yes, I finished month one of my Rosalie Quinlan block of the month from the patchwork apple. I have really enjoyed the stitching part. I find stitching very relaxing. (Knitting too) So, when everything seems too much, I stitch. Another reason why I will spend the easter break stitching!

It's April!

This is the bit where I say that I can't believe it's April already. In fact it has been April for a couple of days! I have been busy doing very little. Today I even went to a Tupperware Party. I haven't done that for about 17 years! Mrs 24 (picklesticks) had a tupperware party at her house today which required some familial support. So I went and so did Mr 20, Miss 18, Mr 14 and Mr 8. When I got home Australia Post had delivered a paperbag of goodies to me. This is part of Missymack's paperbag swap. Leah sent me a bag of goodies to turn into a gift for her! This is quite a different swap than I am used to and I am looking forward to getting started on it! I have yet to send my paperbag to Leah, so I will have to get going! Even Leah's paperbag was cute!

I think April will be another busy month. Next week is easter. We are going away camping and I am looking forward to it very much. It will be a great opportunity to stitch. I have a couple of months of a block of the month to stitch and I want to work on my redwork cushion swap too. We have a birthday during the easter break and then another later in the month. The school holidays are after easter and near the end of the month I will be going to Quilt Fabric Delight's Inspired Stitches Retreat. I can't wait for that either. I was reading Leanne Beasley's blog this week (one of the tutors) and words like only 23 days to go were being bandied around! I think April will whizz by! I'd better get my running shoes on!