Who's a lucky girl then?

Me!Thank you family for my lovely, lovely birthday presents.

At least I got a look in....

We've been very lucky....if you can call it luck! R's fiberglass cast only needs to stay on for 10 days and is scheduled to come off this Thursday. I was very privileged and able to sign it tonight. I'm hoping the 'removalist' will be cutting through some of the pseudo celebrity signatures and keeping mine intact.

When it's hot, hot, hot.....

A week of red hot activity has been bestowed upon me. I didn't necessarily order it...it just turned out that way!

All weekend I worked on my major assignment for this study period with a red hot deadline hanging over my head. (I missed it ....yikes! :-( )
Then on Monday morning I had to get to the fracture clinic for R's new fiberglass cast. Finally after a 2 hour session we were out of there with a bright red waterproof cast which is not really waterproof once you read the instruction booklet.

Then a quick whip into the office, read emails, load up the file and then onto a plane for a red hot trip to Brisbane for work. Hard work, long hours but dealing with lovely, lovely people for a new car dealership launch with a 'red hot theme'. It would have been seriously hot if it hadn't rained...the wretched weather made it incredibly humid and coming from dry old Adelaide, I was not prepared for the wet/hot/drippy/sweaty temperature.

Up ladders, moving furniture, hanging fabric, co-ordinating sound and lighting contractors, caterers, bands, fire eaters, hostesses, special guests, lighting candles, tying ribbons on scissors for ribbon cutting ceremonies, meeting former 'famous' Australian Rugby players (which didn't wash with an Aussie Rules town girl!!) .....we were ready to rock with a truly red hot show. This is a bit of what I do for a living. It's not glamorous. It's hard work. But I survived, the guests had a lovely time and the client was happy and it all went off without a hitch....barr the weather but we can't order that!

It's nice to be home. Now where's that assignment? And look at the condition of that red cast! Back to reality.

Decisions....

Thank goodness for sample pots of paint!

The brown toned paint that looked fantastic on the paint chart is close to purple. The lighter colour is virtually grey and whilst I wasn't planning on going with a green tone we grabbed it at the last minute and it's kinda OK! So Magic Flute wins for the moment.

Funhouse...

R has been invited to a school friend's party which has a 'funhouse' theme. She asked for a black tutu. I'm a bit of a hoarder so there was no surprise when I said I had some black tulle stashed away. Truth be told, I think I wanted my own black ballerina skirt at one stage!

So this is the result of my wip-up for the party at the grand price of $5 for the lining and elastic! And someone is so pleased with it, it may get more than one outing!

Today it's being worn with left arm back slab plaster cast, white leggings and red nail polish with white dots.

I'm am waiting with baited breathe to learn what colour fiberglass cast she chooses on Monday!

Welcome to the funhouse!

Another must have....

Jacquie from Tallgrass Prairie Studio is currently reviewing the new book 'Amish Abstractions. Quilts from the Collection of Faith and Stephen Brown'. She describes the book as a 'must have' and it certainly does look wonderful. It reminded me that I didn't share my bargain calendar for 2010. You know, the ones you buy in the middle of January when they're half price!

Also from the Collection of Faith and Stephen Brown, I have 12 months of incredible eye-candy! I had no idea how much detail went into Amish Quilts, they're simply stunning with intricate quilting that draws you into the design beyond the pieced fabric. I'm also extremely envious of the Brown's collection which obviously goes beyond 12 quilts! Given how much I enjoy my 12 images, I think I might have to invest in the book!

Lucky coin....

This is a little quilt that I've made for a client's wife who's about to have her fourth baby girl. She's been having a bit of a rough time with this pregnancy right from the start with a close call last week at the 32 week mark*. She's back home now 'buying time'. * I think 32 weeks is perfectly reasonable but that's my experience!

The quilt measures 36" square (90cm) and is made up of pretty much the last of my red left-overs. I pieced the coins together when I was on leave, just mucking around with the sewing machine but with the intention of making a straight coin quilt. Having picked it up again with a purpose I had a change of heart and decided to run them around, almost half log cabin style. The back really is the last of my medium red and white polka dot with more of the coins and the binding also made out of the polka dot and white.

I'm hoping the red brings them luck!

And just for fun. A gratuitous shot of my little baby.

Green. Not good.

I'm superstitious. I can't help it, my Mum made me that way. She has a reason for things going bad all the time. (Gosh, just read my last post, it's full of superstitious 'reasons why'!)
So based on her theories, I shouldn't have sympathised with a work colleague who said she was having 'one of those days'.
My day had been going superbly.
Work was under control.
The day started out cloudy but fined up to the most sensational 27 C day. One of those days you wished you had every day.
I picked up L after school and we drove with the windows down in the car to watch R's basketball practice all the while with my mind drifting off as I worked out what shopping I was going to do straight after the game and what I was going to make for dinner.
And then the un-planned happened.
R clashed and tripped. She fell and she fell awkwardly.
We went straight to the 'Women's & Childrens' Hospital'.
Two hours later we have a green fracture (not good!!!) and lots of excuses to get out of sport and needless to say, I haven't done the shopping! I certainly didn't order any of that today.

It has to get worse.....

....before it gets better!

A little over 9 years ago we had our house totally re-wired. Then we had a completely un-planned opportunity to go overseas and whilst we were away I realised that I was pregnant with L.

I have always maintained that if you want to get pregnant then spend ALL your savings!

The wiring job was left for Joe to finish off by chasing-in and plastering the wires that led to the fuse box and fixing the cornice that the electrician hacked into and broke. Needless to say with all the hurley-burly of having another baby and life as it un-folded the job was left. It's been like this all those years! So this year we're on a drive to finish off all those things that just got left. (Funny thing is that when I pointed it out to Clare last night at Sew & Sews, she claimed to have never noticed it!)
It's been a very messy, dusty job with dust travelling beyond the boundaries of the hallway. And of course, there's always more cracks to fix whilst the plaster and ladder are out and then there's the new bit of cornicing and the painting to come.....
So with all the action at the front of the house I haven't been able to baste anything because the quilt tops would get dirty. I'm not complaining....for fear of stifling the enthusiasm! Instead, I've opted for smaller projects like these two little Maverick Star dolly quilts for Tara and S (who are about to return to the US) and Tara's sister's little girl who is down visiting from Cairns. Even though these quilts are small, they're time consuming with all the star construction. But they're great scrap buster practice pieces with a chance to practice some loopy stippling. I'm sure their dolly's will love them!

The stars are made using the triangles saved from binding off-cuts and 2 1/2" squares with each block measuring approx 6". The quilts end up around 18" square (50cm). Crazy Mom wrote about them here in her 'Using it all' post.

And even though I have several quilt tops backed up at the 'factory', I've started to cut out some cartwheel pieces ready to make another. Stay tuned....