Much excitement!

Just a quick post to note that Miss 17 was offered her first University choice yesterday. She is over the moon! She was dancing around well after bedtime last night. It is her dream course, the perfect one for a storyteller - creative writing. Miss 23 has another 3 days to wait because she has applied to Victorian Universities. Hope there will be as much excitement then too!

More shirts.....

I finished two more shirts for grandson today, and a pair of overalls. I was so anxious to get them to him that I forgot to take a photo of them! I also managed to do another third on the shaggy flannel quilt for Miss 12. It's getting bigger!

Miss 23 got home from a two and a bit week road trip last night. I think she had fun! I also think she missed us. (We are soooo great - and modest!) We sat up late last night and listened to her tell road trip stories. Miss 17 is a Storyteller and one of her favourite ways to get everyone's attention is to say, "Hey! Telling a story here!", with a LOT of attitude. So that phrase was used over and over last night, with an excess amount of attitude, as we listened to Miss 23's stories as well as the stories of everyone who stayed home. Hey! Just because we didn't go anywhere doesn't mean we didn't have lots of exciting things to relate to Miss 23! While she was gone Miss 17 managed to get her driver's license which neccessitated the telling of many stories and that was just one of the many exciting things that happened in the last couple of weeks here at Rosemary Hill. Life is all go here! We seem to have a need to tell a lot of stories and laugh a lot. Perhaps that's why I'm so in love with blogging and reading blogs. It's the stories! Hope your story is a wondeful one today!

A heatwave = flannel quilt making

I was reading blogs today (a daily occurance!) and came across this post at Dancing with Frogs.
Here it is. Only in Australia would a quilt be held up getting photographed on a 43C/109F day!!! It made me ponder just what I had been doing whilst keeping cool during this heatwave. Yep, I have been sewing a flannel quilt for Miss 12. It sounds crazy, doesn't it? I put the air conditioner on, sit at the sewing machine, flick on my little fan and start sewing. Perhaps it is not so much crazy as a statement of hope. "I'm making this because it WILL be cool again one day". Like my friend's preschooler who spent yesterday in gum boots because she was sick of it being hot! So, this is my latest project. A butterfly fling flannel quilt. I am 1/3 of the way through it and am enjoying sewing it! I love butterfly fling!

I've joined in.....

.....with Peg and Kris for "One Project a Month 2010". So have 199 others so I guess you will see this logo around the place this year. The idea is to record your finishes which will encourage you to complete projects! It's also a kind of big cheer squad as well, because we will all be encouraging each other! This fits in really well with the goals I have set for myself this year which will also be appearing in my sidebar sometime soon. (Hopefully before February!) We are still quite busy here at Rosemary Hill. Miss 23 and Miss 17 are waiting anxiously for first round university offers which come out later this week. Their thoughts swing from "will I get my first choice" all the way down to "will I be offered anything???????". It's quite a stressful waiting time, as I'm sure lots of you know. Mr 15 and Miss 12 will be changing schools this year too so we have some organising to do for them as well. It is a busy time of year! After five days of extreme heat we have now had a cool change which even came with some rain. It is as if everything has had a huge sigh of relief! Hope your day is as wonderful at your house!

Shirts

It was a hot day today (42 degrees) so Mrs 25, her bloke, and grandson came over to keep cool. Mrs 25 is very pregnant with granddaughter (we think!). Miss 17 is in the photo of grandson above. He is busy not smiling at the camera. Eighteen month olds are quite cheeky! Of course we all think he's the bees knees as you can tell from Miss 17's adoring gaze.

Mrs 25 brought some sewing with her. She makes all of grandson's clothes because he is not an average kid. (We contend that he is above average, but we are somewhat biased.) She also designs his clothing because no ordinary patterns fit him. She had been sewing some new shirts for him and had been halted by the latest heatwave, so today I finished off three shirts that she started. I think that grandson certainly was born to the right mother because he would be naked if his Mum was not so talented! It is so much fun to finish things off and small clothes are so much fun to sew too!

Yes! It's January 2010!

I did plan this post for January first, but I just didn't get that far. Yes! It's January! 2010! Last year I didn't really get around to making any goals for 2009. I was determined to set some for 2010 because I think I really would have done more in 2009 if I had set goals. I think I was a little scared to set some of the goals I had in my head. Sometimes being scared really holds you back! One of the goals I have set myself is to get my blog tidied up a little and get some of my goals established in the sidebar of my blog.
Remember this bag? (See post here) I made it to keep my Pies and Tarts BOM in. Well, I have been working on the pies and tarts over the Christmas break and needed some more storage space, so made some drawstrings bags.


The larger one for the pies, and the smaller one for the tarts. The original bag is a brilliant work bag. (I love it!) So portable! And now I have somewhere to put the pies and tarts when I am not working on them.


The pies in progress. I have almost finished the first month's worth. (Not that impressive since I already have the third month at my house!) I am enjoying creating these pies and am getting better at them. I'll be an expert by the time I finish this quilt.


This is what I'm up to with the tarts. Not much! I have them tacked to the paper pieces, but that's as far as I got. I will wait a while before putting these together. I would like to mix the fabrics up a little. That's the pies and tarts progress update! Check back soon for more 2010 updates!

After Christmas

I think this may just be a post without a photograph. I am still feeling a little under the weather and have spent all day today sitting or reclining. Yesterday I spent the day sewing a dress for Miss 23. For some reason it didn't occur to me to take a photo of it and now she has taken it with her to the Young Single Adult convention. It was labeled "easy" on the pattern and that was correct! Very simple and very quick to make (although nowhere near the one hour dress my sister made for one of her daughters.) I quite enjoyed sewing the dress and am planning to sew some more clothing this week. Last Wednesday I got some dress patterns for a tiny little girl and would like to make some of them for the new grandchild due in a couple of months time. Lots of plans and ideas. It must be nearly New Year!

Merry Christmas!

I hope you all have a Merry Christmas! This is a shaggy quilt I made for Christmas. That Australian sun is awfully bright. The colours don't look anywhere as rich in this photo as they do in real life. I just love these quick shaggy quilts. The one I made a couple of years ago is pressed into service almost every day - even in summer. I would like to make a bunch more for my house one day. This one went off to Christmas at Mum's house, which we always celebrate on Christmas eve. I wasn't able to go because I woke up in the middle of the night last night with a tummy bug. I'm hoping to feel better tomorrow. Grandson started the tummy bug earlier this week and he is an excellent sharer because his Mum and Dad have both had it as well as Mr 9 and myself.

This year has really rushed by, but I am really glad that it is nearly over. I love the whole ending and beginning thing. The whole new start thing. I never really made any goals for 2009, just couldn't get my head around it last year, but I feel that 2010 will be different. So, I have a week or so to ponder about and set some goals for 2010. Enjoy your Christmas break!

Christmas decorating

We had my Bradley's family come for dinner last night and so Christmas has started for us! We had a good evening and even managed to visit with Bradley's brother Stuart and his family who now live in Croatia via the computer and skype. Miss 17 and Miss 23 took on the task of making our home more Christmassy. I love what they did!

Miss 17 was the garland maker. Of course, she did use some of Mr 15's 6 foot 3ness to help her get the garland set up. Miss 23 did the rest of the decorating. I absolutely love the Christmas tree wall hanging in the photo above. I received it from Maria in the Christmas in July swap this year. It is something I will use every year! I have been having a break from swaps of late, but I am still using and being affected by the swaps I have done!

Miss 17 nestled some of my Christmas birds in the garland too!

My contribution to the decorating today was this bauble cluster in our dining room. I got the idea from a "Better Homes and Gardens" magazine. You can also see my tipsy snowman on the wall that Pat sent to me last year! I still have Christmas sewing to do and Christmas day will see a parade of people for each meal, so I will be busy. We will visit with my family on Christmas eve and then will have people come by for breakfast, lunch and dinner on Christmas day. Hmm, better get off this computer and get working!

English paper piecing

This is my first attempt at english paper piecing. I started it when I was 14 and these fabrics are the scraps from clothing sewing. I see my dress and skirt, Dad's shirt, Mum's shirt and the dress and skirt of my sister. Working on my pies and tarts has made me think about my hexagons. I am enjoying the pies and tarts a lot. I find hand sewing very relaxing. I am actually getting into some sort of flow with the pies, of course that doesn't mean that I have finished November's block yet! I'll get there. I am concentrating on Christmas sewing at the moment. Actually I'm really quite enjoying it. Back to the sewing!

New bag!

There is lots of sewing and creating going on here at the moment. Christmas presents are being created every day. It's an interesting atmosphere. I think it encourages everyone to create. Miss 17 made this bag one day last week. Not sure if it was the creative atmosphere that encouraged her or not. Apparently she had seen a similar bag in a shop, but didn't want to pay that much money for it! The cute fabric is one from Ikea. Hope you are having a creative week too!

Some stitching ...... and some unpicking!

A little bit of stitching today. I kept making mistakes though and had to unpick. It's not quite finished yet - more tomorrow. Today was the last day of school for Miss 12. Yay!!! I think it was a hard day for her because she is moving to a new school next year and today the realisation of that began to sink in. She has had a wonderful year and done really well at school. The year has passed so quickly, so now it's just two weeks till Christmas!



I have also been making a new bag to keep my pies and tarts in! Isn't this the cutest fabric? So glad to have made something for me! It has a pin cushion in the center and the elastic is to keep my bits and pieces secured. I'm off to put all my pies and tarts stuff in it.

It's Christmas at our house!

Not just Christmas, but magic as well! Mr 15 has been up and down the ladder setting up our Christmas lights. I am really happy with what he has done. So now we are Christmassy inside and out. I am busy making Christmas presents (me and my sewing machine) and thinking about our Christmas celebration for 2009. I don't think it will be an entirely handmade Christmas for us this year, but it will be close! Back to the salt mines! (I mean sewing room!)

Journal Covers

Miss 17 had her awards day today and is now finally done with school. She wanted to give her teachers a gift so I hit the Moda bakeshop and found these journal covers. They looked much better once I had put an A5 notebook in them! Miss 17 baked chocolate chip cookies to go with the journals. The covers used a honey bun (I think mine was beach house?) which I had never used before and now am madly in love with!!! One honey bun would make 15 of these covers! I only found it necessary to make six, three for girls (top of the photo) and three for boys (bottom of the photo). Hmm...... they were a lot of fun to make and now I am thinking that they would make quite nice Christmas presents. Think I need some new honey buns!

Pies and Tarts

I have started my new block of the month from the Patchwork Apple. It is called "Pies and Tarts" and involves english paper piecing and applique. I have very little done so far, but I am enjoying it! One and a half pies completed. (Ninety-eight and a half to go!) No tarts so far. I think this BOM is going to be a challenge!

The Dress and a Graduation

Left to right, Miss 19, Miss 17, Mr 21 (Yep! He had a birthday this week!). This is Miss 17 in her formal dress. Graduation was immediately before formal so we all got to go to the formal venue to celebrate the end of Miss 17's high school career with her. (This photo is Miss 17 with her two siblings who have moved out this year. The kids still at home miss them so much!)

Left to right, Mr 15, Miss 17, Mr 21. Miss 17 was very nervous about graduation because she had been invited to give the valedictory speech. She did a wonderful job! Of course I would say that because she is my kid, but others said it too last night. She wrote a brilliant speech and presented it beautifully.

The back of the dress. This morning she got up and said, "Well that's it Mum. I now have nothing to live for." said tongue in cheek of course! Then we figured out that her Year 12 results are only 2 or 3 weeks away and (hopefully) University offers are just over a month away. She is all psyched up for uni now - hope she gets into the course of her dreams! Kind of makes me feel old to have child number 5 graduating from high school and being just a few month off of adulthood. Where does the time go? I'm off now to clean up my sewing desk. It looks like a bomb hit it. I am such a messy sewer!

It's December!

Isn't this the cutest paper bag? Yes! It's December and we are beginning to think about Christmas. This is our first Christmas in this house. We are planning to decorate our house with lights, but haven't quite got that far yet. This evening Mr 15, Mr 9 and I went for a walk around our neighbourhood. Turns out we live in a place where lots of people decorate their houses with lights! Still sewing Miss 17's formal dress. Just putting the skirt together at the moment. Goodnight!

Rosalie Quinlan's Redwork Christmas BOM no 9

Last one! I finished number 9 on Thursday whilst I was at the Patchwork Apple (at Pink Ladies, a quilting group I joined recently) This is one block of the month that I have really enjoyed. Whilst I'm sure I could finish the quilt for Christmas it's not high on my list of priorities at the moment, so it probably is a project for next year I think. I have enjoyed having this portable stitching to take with me wherever I go. This BOM was a birthday present from my Bradley, one of the best birthday presents ever. So, I decided to start another hand stitching type BOM once the redwork was finished. I signed up for the Patchwork Apple's "Pies and Tarts" and started on that on Thursday too. The pies and tarts are created with english paper piecing and I'm enjoying that a lot too! (Will post about it more later!) I'm still deciding how to finish the redwork blocks. I've got time to ponder!

Take a peek.........at Bronwyn Hayes' new blog!

Remember my froggie? She is from Bronwyn Hayes' Chicken Feather book. I have always loved Bronwyn's stitcheries, in fact my Mum recently came over to show me some wonderful new DMC stitcheries she had just discovered. Turns out they were Bronwyn's and I had already stitched them! Anyway, why froggie's reappearance? Bronwyn now has a blog! Loz mentioned it to me and Sarah blogged it here. Go see them all!!!

The Christmas Shop

Went to the Christmas shop this week and discovered Christmas birds everywhere! At the moment they are perched on and around my sewing desk. I will be sad to see them go when they migrate to the Christmas tree next week. Can't wait to see them perched on our tree!