New Embroidery

Well a couple of years back after I did all the embroidery pictures for BJ's animal quilt, I had actually found a book with another really good set of pictures in it for a quilt.  I bought the book at the time.  It was going to be for BJ then, but then DJ came along.  Having finished BJ's animal quilt, I have had in my mind to start this new one for DJ.  It's going to take time.  

But I have started part one which is the embroidery pictures.  There are 13 of them.  Here are the first three.  

They are all stitched in the same colour.  They are all in the comic book style.  Something different & I am not completely in love with them & did consider doing just the applique pictures in a quilt only.  But I wanted to try my hand at all of it.  So onward & upward we go.  Been quite relaxing so far.  As you can see, it's very BOY!  Wait till you see the rest of them!  

 *Note to self - check which pen you use first before using it.  The pink steam iron erasable pen looks the same as the pink highlighter.  Hmmm...  pink highlighter not quite as steam erasable.  But I got most of it out with some Sards Wonder Soap.  Phew...  lol   But I adore my Japanese steam erasing pen!  Amazing stuff!  

Fabric Road Trip

Last week I had a couple days at home doing stuff but then Thursday I just had to get DJ & I out.  So we stopped in to see mum for a coffee first.  From there we ended up taking mum with us for a little road trip down the road about 45 minutes away.  There is a fabric shop over there that I still hadn't got to during opening hours!  

Now if you remember, I do work in a fabric shop & recently posted some nice new fabrics there.  Well over in this little fabric shop we went to I found a couple of the other fabrics from that range by Tim Holtz.  So I got a half metre cut of both.  Pretty groovy.  No idea what I will use them for of course, but I didn't buy fat quarters as I am not buying those now unless it is a big range that I can use a lot of fats for.  A half metre is more useful of course.  

I was pretty good though on this little drive.  I got 4 half metre pieces one other of which I got for someone else had she wanted it, & she did.  lol  

We browsed around some other shops too in this little town & quite enjoyed our little drive.  Some lunch on the way home & the day was full before picking up BJ.  Got to love spur of the moment!  

8/52

A portrait of my boys every week for a year.  

BJ being thoughtful while we were at the kids fishing day.  

DJ being his cheeky faced self.

Linking up with the 52 project.  

Craft Week

It's been a busy week with nothing much to show for it sorry!  

I have been busy with making stuff for the school fair.  Yep, it's come to that.  Being a school mum & being a crafter, those in charge of craft stall, no my strengths.  I started a bunch of stuff a few months back, but only now have got back into it.  The last couple of Mondays have seen me at Crafternoons at school with some others, all working on things at different stages of being made.  

I have made about 30 hankies, a bunch of little bags, about 30 drawstrings bags but those were with the help of Aunty Margaret - Thanks Aunty Margaret!  She sewed the tops over for me.  Those bags are going to be used to hold the juggling balls I believe!  

I still have a bunch of other stuff in the works.  So much stuff.  I have removed all the finished items from the house though without taking pictures.  I just wanted to clear my space out.  

Oh I just realised I can show this square.  I did manage this some where in the last week!  It's Lemony Lime Citrus square.  For one of the CALs.  I think this was a January selection.  

7/52

A portrait of you boys once a week for a year. 

DJ enjoying the sprinkler so much.

BJ enjoying the power a tap brings!  (terrible  blurred pic but the rest have gone!  someone was playing with camera...  boohoo..)

Linking with the 52 project.  

Things I'm Loving

Some DJ & Mum time hanging out on the beach...  

Enjoying the days that I get to spend with him now that BJ is at school full time.  It's nice to have the chance.

Cute little spots to sleep snuggled on his blanket, though not handy right on school pick up!  

Some awesome new fabrics at work!  

I adore these cars & am waiting for the time I can get some of these...  ( I have a self imposed rule that it has to have been there for a month before I can buy any!   That way the novelty wears off & I don't love it quite so much any more!)

This fabric is from Tim Holtz in his new Eclectic Elements range.  I love this subway sign stuff.  But I need to come up with something that keeps it big!  It can't be chopped down much at all.  

These 3 are from the same range.  Labels, dictionary pages & postmarks & cool stuff.  It looks so cool.  I don't have anything to use this sort of print for yet, but you never know!  

It's been a fairly low key week.  I like that a lot.  Getting into a routine for school every day is quite something but we've managed so far!  Two weeks down, & umm...  probably another 40 to go!  But, it's been good to get that groove happening.  It's a little harder for BJ.  The days of chilled mornings are gone.  

I love that I have managed to pack him a lunch everyday & it hasn't been the same thing each day!  Woohoo!  I used to hate school lunches.  You get stuck a bit at times though with the couple of things that they do eat.  So I am trying to keep it different & not monotonous...  We'll see how long that lasts.  

Linking up with Meghan.  

Guilty Reads

I had to laugh when I recently came across this challenge called Guilty Reads recently.  I know I am one of those that has plenty of books that fit into this...

"There is a number of books I feel guilty about. Some of them are presents I recieved years ago, that aren't really my type - and I'm freaking out everytime I see the person who gave them to me, waiting for the "Did you like it?" I feel guilty of having prejudice about books and authors I've never tried. And all those classics I've never checked - aww the lingering guilt of being a bad reader!Books I've started but never finished. And that time I spent so much on that hardcover beauty, but still haven't opened it?"  

What type of books are you guilty about?  

Before we had the boys we used to go on holidays for the weekend shopping!  (Holidays?  Shopping? What are they again?)  We would go to the big book stores in the city & have a hell of a time in there.  It's funny as I really wouldn't buy like that just at home.  Any how, I still have a bunch of those on the shelf, but I have been getting through those quite well.  I have been reading them off my shelf for the last two years I think, with occasional ones from the library & occasional buys from the op shops.  I have been culling my book shelf.  So I read & give away or trade in at the second hand shop.  That has been good fun!  

I have been given books at odd times.  Not often but occasionally.  I got one for Christmas from Stuart.  It was quite a surprise as I even said to him "but I don't read books set in Australia!".  He laughed & said he knew that but it still sounded like the kind of story I would like to read.  Yes, I don't like books set in Australia.  I don't know why, I just don't like them.  But having said that, I have read a couple.  Monica McInerney has written a couple that end up in Aussie.  I like her stuff.  

I am almost finished the one Stuart gave me for Christmas though.  The World Beneath by Cate Kennedy has been interesting & yes, it is kind of my style.  What was even weirder is that it is even set in Tasmania!  OK well I am never going bush walking in the highlands but I have heard of all the references in the book so that was interesting.  For the rest it is quite fictional & still a regular story that it doesn't really matter where it is set.  So maybe that's been a good thing.  Maybe that will defeat my dislike of Australian stuff...  

I have a couple of others that I have been given that I don't expect I will ever read.  But hey, I might just try now.  It is good to try things you don't normally buy for yourself.  But I do have a bit more freedom now since the day I gave myself permission to not finish a book I was hating...  I never did.  Once I started it I had to finish it.  But I hated Da Vinci Code.  Hated it.  Had enjoyed his first book but hated this one for some reason.  So I stopped.  It was quite liberating.  I was allowed to do that!  So now, I sure don't finish stuff I am not enjoying.  There are too many books out there to read that I will like so why waste energy & time on unenjoyable ones!  

I am not much of a reader of biographies.  I do have a couple of those too.  Gifts.  One I will still have to read is the Michael J Fox one.  I think he's terrific!  But when I will read it I don't know.  I only really read when I go to bed these days & really like mindless reads then & auto/biographies don't seem to work for me at sleep time.

So what do you struggle to read?  Anything or nothing?  Have you spent a fortune on a book you haven't read yet?    

Sunny Days Perfect For Icecream

 I had to get a picture of BJ's icecream truck.  It's cool & was for a friend.  Boohoo.  He turned it into a book with a bunch of new pictures.  I want it!  But no, a friend at school got it!  Lucky I got a picture first.

Oh & I did finish a new square the other day.  Was a little bit of a challenge but that's a good thing isn't it!  Always something new to learn in these things.  

Anticipation Square.  

Happy Sun Quilt Top

Yay!  I got this sewn up.  It didn't take long to put together once I worked out the size to make the blocks.  I had a seam allowance in there & some of the pictures had to be sewn over so I had to figure that out.  Especially the rainbow which I stuffed up some how in getting it way off centre in the first place!  

What I ended up doing was drawing around the pictures on the finished size, without cutting.  That was safest.  Then I could line sash strips up with the edges.  That worked quite well.  Then I did some trimming off the back later on.  It's not big, just a wall hanging thing I suppose.  I don't know what I will actually do with it but that's beside the point when it comes to things like this!  It's all about the making in the first place!  

Oh it was designed with the Northern Hemisphere seasons in mind, so I moved the all around to suit me instead.  I didn't really think any of them mattered much though.  

6/52

A portrait of my children once a week for a year.  

Linking with Jodi.

Road 15

It's hot!  But oh well, I still had to come home from work today & do some sewing.  You know, these crazy ideas you get in your head at silly times.  Oh well.  

I did that tractor quilt in January.  Do you remember that one?  It was a cool pattern for a small kids quilt from the book Growing up Modern.  What a terrific book.  Since doing that I look at fabric designs that are in rows...  It was such a nice pattern & it has so much potential.  I was going to do a quilt in it using half a jelly roll.  I gave half to mum.  She's almost finished.  The other half is now going to my aunt from the UK that is here so she can do one too.  She has never quilted & is a great sewer so wants to learn.  Never too old to learn either you know.  She is almost 80!  But you wouldn't know it.  

Well anyway, I had to make it again.  I had to use the cute little houses from Road 15 by Sweetwater.  We had a few of the range at work.  But it was the little houses that had me along with the mappish looking one with things like Abbey Road, Downing St, Lombard St, Wall St, cute things in a cute map that isn't exactly an accurate type of map!  lol  Well I came home & sewed.  It's done!  You can't get the print from this over all picture but you get an idea...  closer pics of the fabrics below.  

Six fabrics from the range & a Moda Bella solid Natural for the narrow strips.  I'm really pleased with it.  No idea who or what for but I love it.  I will quilt it much the same way as the tractor one I think.  Less is more...  that's me!  lol  

I told you before I seemed to be addicted to Sweetwater's fabric designs!  This is the third one this year!  

I should have cropped the top picture I think as it looks like the quilt has a head & glasses on!  lol.  Oh & 4 legs too!  

Things I'm Loving

We have had another busy week!  All sorts crammed in including full time school for the big boy.  A couple of days before though we still had some play time at home.  

Some serious "magic painting" going on here.  You know the kind that you just paint water over the page & the colours appear.  It kept DJ going briefly, but it is of course much quicker to just pour the water on the book.  

I was crocheting while he was painting.  He wanted another turn of course.  

BJ was doing some serious concentration on his drawing.  

I was really quite impressed what he ended up with.  The horse was amazing.  It has gone from blobby animals last week to shapely ones with a decent looking head on it.  

FYI - picture is a bank truck in the middle which is why it has a money sign on it.  It is of course being pulled by a horse.  

On the left is a bank.  That flashy bit that's dark is the alarm light flashing.  

A game of my favourite Bug Trails.  We even taught Grandma to play this the other night.  Well BJ was teaching her anyway.  

Joining in with Meghan.  

School Days Are Here

It's official!  The holidays are over.  School returned for my Prep boy today. It's OK though.  He's ready.  He was excited.  I was ready for him to return too.  He had a hair cut the other day which made him grow up a few years again!  

 I haven't had time to miss him yet today.  Focusing on this little one more with the toilet training stuff.  He's a stubborn one that boy!  & a challenge where all things are concerned let alone this training.  

Anyway, for all the Aussies, enjoy the back to school days.  

Sunday Surprise

What a great day!  Last week I arranged with MIL that we would have lunch with them on Sunday.  Sure, sounds good.  But then I was given a list of options on what activities we could do instead of just going to their place for lunch.  Well we sorted out what to do.  I didn't tell any of the 3 boys in my house.  They just assumed we were going to Gran's for lunch.  

Sunday we had to leave on time.  I told Stuart what time we were going.  He said it was too early.  I very firmly said it wasn't.  We had to be there before 11am.  So I packed up all this stuff to take.  We got to the steam train on time (they leave on the hour only!) to meet up with Stuart's parents & his aunt & uncle that are on a long holiday here from the UK.  We had a trip on the train to the other end where we got off & spent the afternoon at the beach with a picnic in between.  It was terrific fun!  The weather was perfect & I even got both boys in to swim with me.  We don't swim much.  Stuart is not a swimmer.  He can but prefers not to!  So I can't usually try to swim with them if I am on my own.  At least he was beach supervisor!  lol  It was a terrific day!  We still got burnt though no matter the sunscreen we used.  Darn that.  

Not happy about the train ride & took a little while to come around to it.  

This one however, loved it & was having a good laugh at something!  

Running in the waves.  

Getting him used to the water.

I did swim!  It's a rare event.  Too cold for the sea a lot of the time & I am allergic to pools.  But yesterday was just perfect.   Went in twice!  

Boys did some building with the great uncle.  

First time with DJ in was jumping waves.  

Then jumping waves with BJ.  

Picnic.  

This included a bit of entertainment there when a policeman turned up to watch some guy who had been lingering too long I guess.  Someone didn't like it & called it in we assumed.  They took his ID & made some phone calls.  He wasn't taken away or anything.  

DJ came back in the water again later for a longer swim.  He likes it.  BJ doesn't.  DJ doesn't have the same fears.  

Lovely view, loads of people which was impressive!  It wasn't even the main beach so I am pleased we weren't at that one.  

Nice set up for a while before packing up for the return trip on the train.  A beaut day out to mark the end of the holidays.  A beaut surprise for the boys, big & littles.  Glad DJ warmed up to the train on the return.  At least when we drive past it now he will have a little memory of it.  

5/52

A portrait of my boys once a week for a year.  

Linking up with Jodi's 52 project.  

Got A Bit Excited

I showed you the new yarn colours I have for the crochet along.  Well I had to start something to test them out didn't I?  hehehe...  

Rather pleased with the colour way myself.  (Unlike that last lot I prefer not to discuss!  lol )

Thank goodness I am having a bit of practice.  I haven't done any crochet for a few months & can tell!  Stupid mistakes in not reading properly!  lol  But I got there.  

Cocoa Puff

Harriett Square

Catalina Square

Absolutely love the Catalina square.  Terrific pattern!  & gorgeous result!  Well I thought so!  

Having the crochet in action & DJ wants to Make too.  Well of course he does.  So I got one of my old left over squares out for him to stab with a hook.  He pokes them through all over & pulls threads, so I want to avoid that really on the new ones.  But he had fun!  

ETA: I do reply to every comment I get so I apologise to those that don't hear back from me.  That means that you are a NO REPLY blogger.  Poo.  I don't like those cos I like to answer everyone who takes time to comment on my blog.  So thank you if you do comment & you don't hear back from me!