Kozzy's Quilt....

Remember the little Rainbow Magic quilt that I made for our friend who lives in Surrey in the UK? At the time we didn't know the baby's gender, hence its neutrality. Nor did we have his address as we tend to email these days. It took Joe so long to get Scott's address that the quilt remained here unsent. I quipped a few weeks back that I may as well wait till the baby is born and send another that fits the gender!

As I was tidying up my fabric stash a week or so ago I found a little pink Prints Charming bird panel that I'd bought at AQC and a whole bunch of pink fabrics that I'd forgotten that I had. I started fiddling with a layout and was really tempted to cut the quilt out. It would be perfect for a little baby girl. But I'm superstitious and thought that if I cut it out, Scott and Rachel would surely have a boy.

That pile of fabric lay on the table for days as this baby grew longer and longer overdue.

Then as we were all screaming at the television in the dying moments of the AFL's drawn grand final two Saturday's ago, the phone rang. It was a very tired Scott. He and Rachel had a little girl. I fired off all the questions that you ask when a new baby is born with Scott just laughing, unable to tell me much more than her weight...."why do girls ask all those questions?", he said.

"Well, what's her name then?", I asked.

"Right now it's Kozzy. We haven't got a name for her just yet, so it's a mix of Kiwi and Ozzy." (Rachel is a New Zealander.)

So I got to use that Prints Charming bird panel and the pink fabric, along with some pastel yellow and cerise.And as I was spending quite a few hours sitting in the car on the weekend travelling to Melbourne, I got to finish the binding and embroider the panel with co-ordinating cottons. (Now that I look at the photo I can see the shape of my quilting ring!)

So baby Kozzy will be receiving two quilts very soon.

Ortho a-go-go...

It's been quite a few weeks here in the orthodontic department. A few weeks back R had oral surgery to remove two teeth in preparation for banding. A week after that, spacers were inserted between her back teeth....(boy have things changed, when I got my bands on I had to have spacers between every tooth!)...and then the day before school broke up, she had her bands fitted. I think at first she was a little sad that she had only one day to show them off before the holidays but that was before the pain of newly installed bands, the aching and the ulcers really kicked in!

Her mouth is settling down and we're getting used to this little face that we'll be seeing for about two more years!

Choc Cherry Milkshake.....

My kids aren't too bad when it comes to spending time in fabric stores. I think they worked out pretty quickly that it was fait accompli and they just 'had' to either put up with it or get into it!

R quickly determined that she liked any fabric that was pink and brown and constantly asked when I was going to make something with these colours. She didn't know that I'd been secretly stashing.

This is another quilt for her....lucky girl. I'm calling it the Choc Cherry Milkshake. (Mind you, having seen the peach blossom in the background, I could have called it just that!)It uses the Lemon Drops quilt pattern which is free over on Faith's site. I've added another row down the side to make it square, roughly 63" x 63" at the moment. The top features pinks, browns, Kona Snow and varying mixtures of the aforementioned colours. Looking it now I have one HUGE regret. I wish I'd used the mega polka dot as a big square and not as a border. It's really lost its impact now that it's been cut up. Oh well....that's quilting!

Blitz......

The grass at the shack must be mowed before the Summer season hits otherwise there are Council fines and a risk of bushfire.

We usually employ a contractor to give the block a big mow twice a year but he's moved on.

We haven't been to the shack since Easter and it hadn't been done then. So given the rains that this Winter has delivered (albeit much needed rain to our drought stricken State) .... and recent sunshine ....when we arrived very early this morning we weren't surprised to be met by extremely long grass and weeds. Look at the mower, it's almost buried!

The plan was to get up at normal weekday time, leave home by 7.30am (well it was 8am), get to the shack, do the deed, hit the bakery and be back in town for L's swimming lesson at 1pm.

Yeh, well. That's roughly how it worked. Add in a 1/2 hour delay, pop petrol in the car, a take-away coffee stop for Joe and copious amounts of grumbling from the kids. Seriously, you'd think we'd asked them to do the mowing!

Apologies for not taking an after shot. I must have been so pumped about Joe finishing the whole block in 2 hours and me weeding the garden bed and getting back in the car on time, that I totally forgot to prime and point the camera!

But I tell you....for the rest of the day whilst the family was grumbling about how early they had to get up on a Saturday and how tired they were, I was looking for the next thing to be tidied.

Guess what it was?

My fabric cupboard.

Oh my. It was bad. There was fabric all over the place.

I pulled it all out and sorted the colours. Now it's all back in nice neat piles of story and colour.

And I learnt something about myself. I don't buy yellow or purple fabric.

Now I don't see this as a negative. No. It's an opportunity!

See you up bright and early at the fabric shops!

Farewell to the 'Finger'.....

No there hasn't been a rotary cutter accident. (touch wood)

It's a farewell to one of my all time favourite bands Powderfinger, who after 20 years of touring and recording have decided to call it a day and pull up stumps as a band. Last night was the first Adelaide concert of their national Sunsets Farewell Tour. This one sold out so quickly, that another is scheduled for November. But alas, now also completely sold out. If you have tickets for November or for any of the remaining States, you won't be disappointed. The show is awesome and if you're my age...which happens to be the roughly the same as the band, you'll get the sentimentality of the backdrops....and even the Alby Mangles t-shirt worn by Jon Coghill the drummer!

Our tickets were on the flat of Memorial Drive. Being only just average height made it difficult to see a great deal clearly....but I knew every song and loved every minute. And of course, the support band JET were amazing....again daggy ol' me singing along like a teenager!

Powderfinger sure knew how to play to the audience, adding a fantastic element of surprise and popping up on a small stage at the back of the flat which meant that for the audience that were further back like me were suddenly very close. Good on ya boys! Thanks so very much.....I'll be out walking in November and might just sit on the banks of the Torrens for another listen.

(I love this shot. It's the last one on my camera - the boys say farewell. Sniff)

Too cool for sandals......

And that's because....we can now tie our shoe laces. We're working hard. With a little help, it's Converses today and school shoes tomorrow!

Full swing Spring....

It's September, spring time and the garden is about to burst! Look what a couple of sunny days after the rain can do!

Quince

Fig

Peach

Peach blossom

Flag Iris

Golden Elm

Italian Lavender

Bonica Rose (look how much rain we've had....there's even moss on the ground!)