New Year, new beginnings.

Wow, what happened to the nearly month since I blogged....the time slips away so quickly. It has not been from a lack of anything happening- more likely too much.

By the time I packed up the quilt & samples & posted them off to the magazine it was well & truly Christmas time & I hadn't done any shopping or any of my usual sewing-with less than 3 weeks to go.
Running around like a headless chook I managed to order a couple of gifts online-coming up with the brilliant idea of a touch screen monitor for the MOTH- who is a gadget kinda guy- that was a great choice, he loves it, but at this stage is still having trouble with the touch bit of it.....guess he'll figure it out.

I went through my handy stash of items purchased through the year & bundled them up with hastily embroidered tea towels & ran up a few very neat looking aprons & managed with cash in envelopes make a gift for everyone!!

I even wrapped up 2 of the pieced, but unquilted, quilts & gave them as gifts with the promise I would quilt them & to beat me with a stick if I didn't deliver in a timely manner!

Pass a large Bailey's please.... I deserved it.

Our No1 Grandson & his Mum arrived the Tuesday before Christmas & No 1 son arrived Xmas Eve- to complete the gathering my friend, Marge, from Wagga Wagga arrived on Boxing day & that filled the house.

There is something about having a small child in the house for Christmas- it made it all that more exciting-even if I had to work the 4 day weekend of Xmas-everyone was here when I got home.
The visitors are gone, the house is quiet, back to the Old Fart & Me & life continues on much the same as it did before.

Managed to knit a dishcloth for my DIL while she was here- who'd have thought everyone would like them so much & want more of them, have downloaded 4 patterns to try, to start another stash of them for Xmas this year!

Knitting for the expected grand-daughter continues-a little hat & a romper that seems to have taken a back seat since Xmas as well.

Today I put a quilt on the largely un-used quilting frame down in the garage. MOTH had broken one of the rods & then told me he 'fixed' it- well it worked for a little while then broke again- didn't like any tension on it!. MOTH is no handyman that's for sure. I had planned on doing a quilt a day for the next 4 days that I'm off- guess that's not going to happen now. The one I did finish looks quite good as long as no quilt police come looking at it! they'll get rotary cutters at the front door if they approach!

MOTH finally got his way yesterday when we went to look at new flooring for the lounge/ dining room-he ordered a new TV- all the bells & whistles- mind there is nothing wrong with the TV in the bedroom other than its not digital- that's what he wanted- I don't care he paid for it!
Looks like after 3 or is 4 years of haggling we have finally agreed on a floor covering-now lets hope the limited stock is enough to do the 2 rooms-timber flooring we've gone for-fingers & toes crossed that it eventuates this time. I'm sure carpet would be warmer- but one thing is for sure timber floors are easy to keep clean.

Nearly time to pack away the Christmas decorations for another year....seems like only yesterday I finally got them up.

A New year begins & so do my projects- hopefully I'll manage to do lots more this year!

Happy Crafting
Oz- Tralien

On a Roll & Loving It

Boy, did we cover some ground this week.

Tuesday saw us out with friends from Malaysia for his Father's B'day. We went to a Chinese restaurant-not my choice but I could hardly say no- although I did try to get out of going. Chinese food & coeliac just don't go together- I ate boiled rice.

Wednesday we had a wedding to attend- the bride & groom & his DD from a previous marriage had been staying with us since or return- hardly saw them-great guests to have! Again this was at a Chinese restaurant-2 nights in a row & I was nursing a massive gluten reaction & really didn't feel like going. Everyone was insistent that I eat more than rice-my poor gut was screaming that rice was enough & let's face it- Chinese food with no sauce is pretty boring & bland. I was fed steamed fish & green vegetables. I was thankful that the cook had made an effort-but to me, the rice is just fine. I insisted, in some strong undertones, that MOTH help me eat the food they had brought for me as I really wasn't feeling up to anything much & it had to look like some of it was gone!

Returned to work on Tuesday-I wanted to go back on leave after the first day-I really didn't have my heart in it it & struggled to get up in the dark each morning- I find the getting out of bed in the cold the hardest. Things had changed at work.

Lizzie whom I have worked with for 22 years has cut back to part time- I'm sure she feels she'd like to cut back, but I will miss her being there for the full week- what is it about change that we don't like?

In Nursing its nearly unheard of to work with the same people for as long as we all have- its like an extended family- all our kids have grown up together, got married together & even started to have babies together.....most of us are at the same stage of life. Ready to retire. So I guess change will be inevitable over the next few years.

Out for dinner last night with our DD & her MOTH- they are always good company-they were talking baby names (this is the on again off again baby)-seems she's thinking about it, but I'll believe it when I see it-would love another grandchild-especially one that is closer-but time will tell.

Made a lovely huge pot of soup for the weekend- MOTH had been complaining that I didn't put barley in it- not that I do put barley in pea & ham soup- he is eating it anyway & I mentioned that I would take a bowl for Larissa at work tomorrow & you should have seen his face....what, my soup-you can't take that to work...so much for the absent barley.

Having house guests sure ups the laundry..must have done 8-9 loads yesterday- I truly was the washer woman!!!, but in true female style I multi tasked all day & managed to get quite a bit done.....why is it that men do not seem capable of doing more than one thing at a time. MOTH is lucky to do one household task a week & that's only if I leave a note with explicit instructions on how to do it & where to to find everything to do it!

Friday was our DIL birthday- had a lovely chat with our Melbourne based family- even had a chat to our grandson who told us he missed us (he now has lots of brownie points in his favour!LOL)-I'm trying to get them up as I'm organizing a 'girly' day out when she comes up-4 of us to the day spa for all their best treatments-hopefully it will make some improvement on me- but I have my doubts!

My sewing machine was going flat out all weekend- managed to get a baby towel done- in anticipation of the birth in August (this is the best thing about knowing the sex & the name- I can be organised ahead of time!) Also managed to make 2 quilts. One is completely finished & the other has some free hand quilting to be done in the centre panel & in the white borders- but I'd really had enough by the time I got the backing on & did all the stitch in the ditch on the second one. Seems I have a few baby items to make as DD has put her order in for her girlfriend's who are expecting at the moment as well!

I certainly made making these baby quilts quick & easy-I found in my stash (this is where a good all round stash comes in handy)-a couple of minkee like blankets, bought on special at the end of winter-last year- the year before?- who knows, they have been aged appropriately! I backed the quilt top with the blanket- not worrying about batting- cut the backing about 3/4" larger than the finished top- folded it to the right side & zig zagged it in place- talk about easy peasy lemon squeezy! The baby gets the soft,cuddly minkee & it goes all the way to the edge & over- saved me doing all that binding & hopefully the quilts don't look too pristine that the Mother's wont use them.

Don't you just hate it when you make something & you are told its too good to use.....I just don't get that.

My socks are coming along as well-started on the second one to match the first toe up I did as an experiment & finished the purple one- although Lorna, at work, tried to pick all the coloured flecks off it, till I smacked her hand & said that they were meant to be there-sheesh!LOL

My friends are saying the Alien is back- I feel like I'm on a roll & loving it!

Happy Crafting,

Oz- Tralien