Trudy aka mature pole dancer on Hamilton Island

Here is my sister Trudy as promised (see christmas meme below)
Also known as the mature pole dancer by the staff at the restaurant on Hamilton Island where the wedding was.

Shit stirrer that I am here is the t shirt I bought for her and added onto accordingly!

Merry Christmas

Well I won't take too long as I have a few things left to do for christmas. One is making the toblerone cheesecake it is yummo then the rice salad I think I can leave the rest til the morning.
I also have to finish off Just Ducky a gorgeous fabric that I quilted all over with a thinnish meander to resemble water kind of (hopefully) but then I went and stuck stars in it.....go figure!

I will post a photo of some of the quilts I worked on this week and last week although I forgot to get photos of some of them. Doesn't matter. The main thing is you will see I have been busy....not much spare time to blog!

Pictured is Leanne's heart quilt which I did a little heart and daisy loopy meander on and her Fairy quilt which I did Jodi Beamish's lovely Papillon on.

Next we have Maxines bright quilt with African ladies on it. Very bright cute quilt. She loved Kerryn Emmerson's Spiral Square which I put on it. Below is Edna's daughter from Darwins quilt. It was a round robin and I thought Hermoine from Lorien Quilting's Pansy was made for it.

Now we have Just Ducky. This is actually the name of the fabric. As we all think Holly is having a boy I couldn't resist this fabric in blue. Won't we be surprised if its a girl! The red and white match her house as her kitchen bathrooms and walls are white and the kitchen has a red glass splashback so her house has red and white with chocolate accents so this fabric was calling to me.

Christmas Meme (thanks to Nic Bridges as I pinched it off her blog)

1. Apple cider, Eggnog, or Hot Chocolate?

I don't mind apple cider but I think I would prefer hot chocolate. I have never had eggnog and don't feel inclined to.


2. Turkey or Ham?
Ham definately! We have ham every year and have never had turkey for Christmas.

3. Does Santa wrap presents or just set them under the tree?
Santa wraps the presents then puts them under the tree. Santa also leaves a couple for Isabella and baby Carberry under Nannies tree.

4. Colored lights or white on the tree?
I always had both but hopefully this year I may not be too broke and will go to the sales after Chrissy and get a new tree so I think I will just get white lights to go with it, it's time to renovate the tree so I think all the old deco's will just have to stay in their boxes.

5. Do you get a fake or real-you-cut-it-yourself Christmas tree?
A fake one, I can't be bothered with a real one, water on the carpet pine needles insects and then what do you do with it after? Sure they smell nice but I have heaps of pine trees I can smell outside the front door.


6. Favorite Christmas song?
Hmmm.........Jingle Bell rock I always thought was fun, John Lennons Happy Christmas (war is over) and I do like Kylie Minogue so I would have to say Kylie singing Santa Baby. I always thought that song was cute, it reminds me of sitting at dancing competitions when my girls danced. Just bought So Fresh Christmas yesterday some good ones on that.

7. How do you feel about Christmas movies?
Ok when the kids were young I couldn't wait for them to start playing the christmas movies and cartoons, just to get into the spirit. I like The Santa Clause, National Lampoons Christmas Vacation I have a love/hate relationship with, my boys loved it especially when the cat got fried eating the chrissy lights (I know I know a male sense of humour I think) and I think my favorite was Miracle on 34th Street. There's also a more recent reindeer one I liked but I can't remember the name of it.

8. What is your favorite holiday dish?
Haha all of them unfortunately. Trifle, pav, plum pudding, ham on the bone? all things I don't usually have at other times of the year.


9. When is it too early to start listening to Christmas music?
When the radio starts playing them? There is one out at the moment called So Fresh songs for christmas which I just got so maybe next year I will start playing it in December.

10. What is your favorite holiday smell?
I can't think of any, probably the smell of the chrissy pine tree when I was young.

11. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa?
I think when I was at school someone told me as they do!

12. What kind of decorations are on your Christmas Tree?
Old motely collection a hodge podge. My DD has silver and red which looks pretty but I saw the photo of Nic Bridges' gold and purple tree and I loved that, I like purple so maybe I will go really plain next year with just two colours, white lights tinsel bows and balls and thats all.

13. Do you open a present or presents on Christmas Eve, or wait until Christmas Day?
Christmas Day always.

14. Go to someone else’s house or they come to you?
For a long time my sister my Mum and I took turns. My Mum declared she was beyond it so my sister and I for years did it (never the boys wives!) Eventually it became too difficult with four children and four different partners and in laws etc etc so for the past few years I always had tea and usually the kids came up then. This year Holly decided she wanted to do lunch at her house so I have to be down there early to help her cook with the MIL. It will be different so we will see how it goes although I am sure we will have fun, she bought cocktail pre mixes already!!!! Late bulletin my sisters DH had to go to Qld on family business so my sister will be joining us in the afternoon after lunch with her kids......should be fun she ended up pole dancing on Hamilton Island(its her party trick when shes had a wine or two) on the night of the wedding....don't tell her about this blog she will kill me. I will see if I can find a photo although it was pretty dark so it was hard to get a good one of her.


15. Which do you prefer giving or receiving?
Both of course.

Merry Christmas everyone. I hope you share it with family or friends or someone you love.

I have still been beading more than quilting, not that I have done much of either really. After helping my eldest daughter Rebecca look for (and found!) her wedding dress which was a day shopping in the city then running dinner down to youngest son Tim who hasn't been eating properly the next night then helping Holly move house the next day I needed a rest.....phew! I am not getting any younger. It's times like that I realise it. Anyway Sunday afternoon saw me with some spare time and I made some bracelets running into Sunday night. I got out the pink beads and the top left consists of pink mother of pearl coin beads, large lampwork beads, gold filigree spacers, pink freshwater pearls and czech crystals. Top right is pink mop coin beads, swarvoski crystals and rose quartz chips, bottom right is pink keshi pearls and pink pearl nuggets with large seed bead spacers bottom left is a pink bead charm bracelet with glass beads, lampwork beads, pearl beads, rose quartz chips and crystals. I have buying quite a few more gemstones and various shaped mother of pearl and freshwater pearl beads which is a bit more expensive. I think I will have to start selling them because I can't wear them all I just like making them and it would be nice to pay for some of the supplies.




I am going to post some more photos of my completed quilt tops in the hope I will get some finished sometime. I don't intend having too much time off over Christmas as I have quite a few custom quilts to finish before the Ballan quilt show in March and would like to have at least one custom of my own done for it but I don't really like my chances. Pictured at right is The Cotswold Quilt, another pattern from Patchwork on Stonleigh. If you couldn't guess already I love their quilts and have another one of their quilt patterns finished and another couple waiting to be made up. I am not anal about making up my own patterns, if I see something I love I want to make one usually in my own version colourwise but sometimes I love the original so much I go close similar colours. The Cotswold is a large quilt I think around 92" square.

Last but not least. Here is what I did last night.
I have started to get into gemstones.
The large rectangles in the bracelet are Sodalite.
I have teamed it with turquoise freshwater
pearls, silver spacer beads and tibetan silver
filigree spacers. The matching danglies have the
same beads except round sodalite beads. With
this bracelet I used beading wire (tiger tail) and
crimps which is the first time I have used them.
I can see more of these gemstone bracelets coming up. Look out ebay here I come....

A closer photo of the green charm set.
Also pictured are the pairs of danglies I have made in the past week.
The pink rose quartz and pearl I made to match with the memory wire bracelet and the other pair I made to match a bracelet I had bought in August.

I am still working away at the beading. Pictured at right is my green charm bracelet with chandeliers to match.
They consist of indian glass beads, cube and rectangle glass, keshi pearls, czech crystals and gemstone chips emerald, agate and peridot which is my birthstone.

I think its about time I added something I have worked on so I will add some photos of quilts I have finished in the last month. Not many! Dorothys quilt took up most of the time being custom.

I freehanded large flower and leaf motifs in the large triangles, small flowers and leaves in the sashings, an echoed curl in the background of the flowerpot squares and feather then flower and leaves and lastly swags in the final border.










Bernies and Kris' quilt were all overs so took no time. Bernies quilt the black and white log cabin I put Kerryn Emmersons Spiral Square on.
Kris' quilt is a lovely quilt I would have liked to custom quilt it but it wasn't the right option for Kris for a number of reasons. It still looked lovely with KE's Field of flowers on it (which is my favorite panto pattern)

Pictured at left is my grandaughter Isabella. These photos were taken on cup day at 13 months. Her hair is finally starting to grow, it's getting much longer even since these photos were taken but not much thicker! In these photos she looks very much like her mother as a baby.

I can't believe it is snowing in November! Not long enough at a time to lay around but it's been falling on and off all day in between hail. Left is my front verandah looking out onto the front garden. It's really cold at the moment, wasn't too bad this morning when this was taken but it's got colder throughout the day. I hope it keeps going as it may lay around if it falls after five.



Now for the beading....pictured at right is my next project after the earrings in the kits. Unfortunately the photos don't do it justice. The bracelet is a bead charm bracelet, it has purple beads and gold accents the chain is antique gold in colour and I just finished the chandelliers last night to match it. In between I did two pairs of "danglies" for my Aunt (the one that lost her husband last month) and a pair of chandelliers in the afternoon that I went to see her last week. That night when I got home I made her a red bead charm bracelet to match one of the pair of danglies and posted it off, she has received it and was thrilled.





Pictured left is the memory wire bracelet I bought as a kit. I didn't use the original beads in the kit but replaced them with rose quartz chips, pearls from my grandmothers old necklace, silver bead caps and pink swarovski crystal beads.

Well since my last post I have discovered beading! Big mistake walking into that bead shop.
Patchwork wise I had been doing a bit of work here and there on Not quite shabby and I did manage to put it together except for the final border. It is pictured at left without the dark pink 1.5" border it has on it now. Next it will have a 6-7" of the light rose fabric that is the background.






I have also been working on the latest I spy quilt for the new grandchild which is only 8 weeks at present and is due in June so I have plenty of time. It is a real WIP, it's based on the Anjii's Angles unit but I am unsure yet of the placement. At the moment I am still fiddling around with whether I will have sashings of not.







Now to the beading! I started with three $5 kits for earrings and a memory wire bracelet (which by the way is still a WIP) and since then I haven't looked back. Below are the earrings made from the kits.

















In my next post I will show what I have moved onto!

It's been a few weeks but it's been busy as usual.
Family wise my DD came home from her trip to Europe to discover she is pregnant which is what they had planned so very good news. Unfortunately she is having a few problems with cramping and spotting so we are hoping for things to settle down and it is a bit of a stressing time for her which of course affects me.



Spring is in the air and summer is around the corner. A lovely time of year in the garden, very distracting really. The roses are all getting ready to burst open, some have started already. Even the pea straw keeps sprouting peas! Above is Cafe, a gorgeous rose with coffee shades as it ages.






I had been doing a bit of sewing at night and one of my WIP's is Not quite shabby pictured left.
If I get time to finish this and quilt it I think it will put it on my bed.

I have changed to knitting at night, with the thought of number 2 grandchild on the way I thought I would get an early start and finish the shawl I had started when Isabella was on the way. I have nearly finished the shawl body with only two and a half more pattern rows to go. The patterns take me two hours so hopefully it will be finished by tomorrow night. Then I only have to do the middle border x4 then the outside border x 4. I am hoping the borders won't take too long but if they do I will have enough time over the months to get sick of it, give it a rest then go back to it.

Heres my dog and cat, well one of the cats. Lucas is a five year old Lilac Burmese, very loving and vocal! Saffron is a five year old yellow lab she looks very well fed but poor thing looks at food and puts on weight....I know the feeling!!!!!!! They are catching the late afternoon sun on the back verandah, funny Lucas seems to have the best spot as usual.

Below is one of my own quilts that I did manage to quilt. The Healing Quilt is a pattern from Patchwork on Stonleigh although their colourway was very different to what I used. This quilt lives in the "shabby chic" bedroom. The quilt is made up of nine blocks four of the peony blocks and five of the flying geese (goose track?) blocks.

Here we are a week later and not much closer to a quilt being completed, even a pantograph!
I should be working but as I have to take DS1 back to the hospital for his post op check I don't seem to be motivated to work for a hour. It was a busy week last week with the operation, the funeral, the early morning airport pick up and return of DD2, lots of catching up then the 1st birthday of Isabella.

I have decided to post some photos of some of the tops I have finished in the past 12 months a bit of show and tell. Most awaiting quilting of course!




The first one is a dresden plate quilt. I have used mostly reproduction fabrics or the antique flowers style fabrics. Well originally it was going to be entirely dresden plates but I got sick of needleturning the plates onto the backgrounds and I had some nine patches left over from another project so I turned the nine patches on
point and alternated the blocks. The look I was trying to achieve was a scrappy antique look, as if it was a "make do" quilt after all thats how they were made back then just with anything they had. I think it worked.




I love the border fabric and wish I could get more but I can't find it anywhere, I think they have sold out of it. Most of the reproduction fabrics I have collected from my local patchwork shop Pentland Patchwork in Bacchus Marsh or from Patchwork on Stonleigh as I subscribe to their fabric club.

Hopefully this will be motivation to quilt this
over the christmas break!

Here is a photo from my daughters recent wedding on Hamilton Island.
This is my family, from l-r Kylie (sons partner) Nicholas (son), me, Craig, Holly, Tony, Rebecca (daughter) Tim (son) and Brent (daughters partner) with Isabella (grandaughter) .

Rebecca will be getting married 30th March 2007 so it's back to saving again!




I have been a member of the online quilters group Scquilters for five years. As there will be no more Machine Quilters conferences in the near future I have decided that I can now afford to attend the scquilters retreat in Bendigo in April 2007. Now that I have decided I am going I am really excited about it as I have worked out I know at least 30 people, ranging from people I have met once or twice to people I know pretty well and have met on a number of occassions to people I have only chatted to online but got to know fairly well. So it will be great to catch up with the ones I know and lovely to meet the ones I haven't met in person yet.


On the right is a photo of the Melton Willows
quilting group's charity quilt which I quilted for
them.
I think the tickets are still being sold out in the
community.

I think this week life is once more going to get in the way of work. Today my Uncle passed away, he has been ill for a number of months with cancer so I guess in some ways it was a blessing although it is still hard on the family, I have always been very close to this Aunty.

Also tomorrow my son has exploratory surgery for a stomach problem he has had for a couple of years so depending if they find anything (adhesions from childhood surgery) he could be home same day or in for a couple of nights and need Mum to help look after him for a few days.
Then on Wednesday morning my daughter and son in law fly back from their honeymoon in Europe so I will be at the airport to pick them up at 4.45am.
Last but not least on Friday it's my grandaughters first birthday and my daughter is giving her a party Saturday so I will be on call to help there. Who said it gets easier when they leave home??