one world one heart

Hello everyone, this is my contribution to this event, I am really looking forward to seeing all the wonderful creations around the world and sharing a bit of our lives with eachother. I have found many wonderful sites with so many lovely things and photographs, it really is a wonderful way to communicate and share. I only found the info for this event today, via a lovely blog, Thread Head.  So I have just made a little bag as my giveaway, it just needs a strap, i am thinking of a red canvas one, so tomorrow i will go on a hunt for this. Its all lined and and reversible and the front and back are different.

A bit about myself, I am an everyday mum from Australia, I work on a part time basis as a nurse at a small regional hospital on the queensland east coast. I have been sewing on and off for many years, although quilting has been a happy learning curve the last 12 months. The garden also occupies a fair bit of my time, its a large one and lately its been a challenge to fight the weeds as we have had major rain and floods.  I just love the beautiful flowers, and try to include these in my blog as often as possible. So please leave a comment so i can visit your blog and send the prize! Thanks for hosting Lisa, here is where you need to go for a look
 http://awhimsicalbohemian.typepad.com/a_whimsical_bohemian/2010/12/annoucning-the-fifth-and-final-one-world-one-heart-event-.html

squared out

I am a little bit stuck at the moment, with so many things to do- they are all hard work, so im ignoring them and trying to get creative, but seem to be undecided as what im going to do. I started sewing blocks together as i had seen this fabric done this way over at Bloom, 

 I love her stuff she is so talented, and would love to visit her gorgeous gardens, they are stunning take a look and try to stop drooling! My husband has this dream of a garden of eden here, god bless him, he tries hard, he's usually digging holes and planting all sorts of trees which look a bit out of place! He's into pandanus trees at the moment, we have about 6 in nicely engineered rows along the fence and two more standing sentinels in front of the others!

  Im sure he has a vision there somewhere! I am more a roses and pretty flowers girl, so i have planted agapanthus and gardenias a fair bit, with the odd azalia anad rhododendron around. There are loads of tropical plants here, which grow well under the trees.

We have quite a lot of fruit trees, mangoes, grapefruit, lemon, lime, mandarins, oranges - citrus does well here, and macadamia - which the dog loves!

 orange delights!

 pumpkin gone mad

 Pumpkin growing over the chilli bushes

 undergrowth

 around the back- i wish it all looked like this!

We are blessed in so many ways and i try to be thankful for all that we have, its hard work though, so sometimes i dont want to go out in the garden, so i craft instead! I didnt show you the front- the grass is over our heads and full of weeds! Now im off to take my antihistamine after the garden tour! Go check this out, one world one heart,  i just found it via Joanne of Thread Head, sounds like fun, hope i get to join up and see you there. Ciao for now.

creative friday

Well this is my 100th post, sheesh, didnt think i had so much to say ! Anyway without any further ado, i have been a little bit crafty this week with a couple of really simple projects done between watching the tennis, i love tennis, but cant play for nuts unfortunately, i had lessons once and even got a good racket,  the instructor was kind but even his best efforts couldnt help my complete lack of coordination!

My daughter really wanted this pencil case, she loved the fabrics, now all her friends want one!

I also got this in the mail and hope to make a something out of it soon

Happy weekend everyone !

Sewing Heaven

Well my old sewing machine wasnt cutting it anymore, she complained every time i tried to get her to do a bit of work, like an old lady,  she was slow, clunky and not very reliable! So i bit the bullet and lashed out, and bought what i have been eyeing off for a long time. Ta Da!  Big Bertha has arrived !

Bernina is god as far as i am concerned! This thing is amazing. and big. i had to clear a considerable amount of stuff off the dining table for it to fit! I am hoping the big hairy son will move to the flat soon, then i can have his room to put my stuff everywhere and not have to tidy it up all the time! Now i had better start to learn how to use it! Anyone need any sewing done?!

Family and the Aussie Open

We have been in Melbourne for 5 days, which is a 2 hour flight from home,as a relative on my husbands side had passed away, although not unexpected. We did take the opportunity to do other things, like watch the Australian Open which was fantastic, god bless Auntie Joan for choosing this time to go!
We saw Jelena Docic- unfortunatley she lost, but then the Federer/ Simon game was amazing, they played 5 sets of just fabulous tennis, it was a real highlight game,  we were all so tired at the end, never mind the players ! it finished at 12.30 am. Also watched Sam Stosur - she won, which is great for the Ausssies, but dont think Tomic will stand a chance with Nadal tonight. Being able to see these games live was a real treat, something i have always wanted to do, the atmosphere is fab. I am going next year for sure.

  Great butt !

 

The legend in action

Jelena tried really hard, but couldnt beat her opponent

 

 Gorgeous girl!

 
 We managed to do a fair bit of stuff, the markets were amazing, i havent been there in a long time, they are in the heart of the city and have everything from specialty cheeses to the freshest fish. I bought a pair of very comfy leather walking shoes, which the girl thought were granny shoes, hmmpf im not getting that old!

 The Queen Victoria Markets

We caught a tram to St Kilda, oooh and ahhhed at the famous Cake shops, but we were so full didnt even have one! We stayed a great location, right on the doorstep of chinatown, so we ate a fair bit of chinese, plus greek which was just around the corner, the food there is so good, and such a variety of  different cultures. We found the best place for dessert, called passionflower, man i think we stuffed ourselves! 

We also found a great icecream vendor close to Federation square and sat in the deck chairs there one afernoon - it was a hot day, and watched more tennis on the big screen, what a treat!

 I love Melbourne, its great diversity of cultures and the city has so many beautiful buildings and lots of street theatre/ entertainment, we really had a great time. We did actually go for a funeral, but as Auntie Joan would have said "Just get your butt courtside" so we did, Thanks Auntie Joan, we played her favourite football song as she was placed in the hearse, she would have loved that, RIP  Auntie Joan.

starlight express quilt

I have been working on this fior a while now, its the first quilt i have attempted with points, most have come out ok, some are a little off  but its not too bad. The centre sashing is being difficult though,  i have had to unpick it numerous times to try to get it right, you cant see this yet as its still not right *sigh* but it will be !

 Linda from Natural Surburbia, is  hosting, thank you Linda,  i love to check out everyones amazing talent, and not to mention inspiration, so go check it out guys, and join us its fun!

The water is receding, its left a real mess, our little flat has been spared the brunt, just minor  stuff, compared to others. Praying the cyclone stays off the coast., and if you can, donate to help Qld recover.
I have posted a link for donations on the side bar, here is some images,  qld floods  check it out.

a little bit of sunshine

After a nanosecond of sunshine/ not pouring rain here i managed to get some images just of the back porch, and our ripening bananas, man they yellow fast, they were cut down yesterday afternoon, when one was showing signs of ripening!

a curtain of seeds from the palm tree

and up close

nature provides us with some wonderful things

lets hope the floods in our capital Brisbane are not as bad as predicted, you may have seen images on the telly, man its bad here. Praying for some good weather, this am seems a good sign, but king tides will be the factor that will decide the level of flooding this afternoon. Hope the weather is good where you are.

pretty in pink and more rain

This arrived in the mail- whoo hoo!!! Its like christmas again ! They certainly brightened up my day, and ive been admiring them every time i have step over them ! There are two quilt kits so will have to get these going soon, they are in pinks mainly, which i love - still a little girl at heart ! plus more charm squares, odds & ends.
The fabric is a welcome distraction from our serious flooding here in qld australia, its been raining in biblical proportions, major highways are cut, yesterday the hospital had two patients to transfer to Brisbane, our capital,  we just made it - the rivers are just under the bridges, but now look like they have gone under. The worst floods in history,
 This has been a great excuse to quilt all day long when not working, which is nice, i might turn off the ph so i dont get called in ! Actually prob cant get there anyway !

 hope you are all having a great time doing what you love,

progress report

This a copy of my post on Myra's Phd challenge, you can see all the Phd's (projects half done) over there, some real lovelies are in progress.
Its in full flood mode here so its a great time to sit and sew, this is what ive been up to.
I am pleased to say that two of my projects are almost done, my bloom quilt has been quilted and only needs binding, 

 I did these swirls which look like possum tails ! its my first go at fmq

 
And my starlight express squares are done, this was fiddly with all those points, but i worked it out in the end! It still needs borders and what not, but its getting there!

I hope to have these both finished soon, at least by the end of the month, so i guess that just leaves one more that i listed to start and complete, but in the meantime i just received my pre christmas order of some (ok a lot) really beautiful projects from the good ole usa, god bless america, they have the best ranges of fabric! So i  might be busy with some of those too! Love all the Phds, there is going to be some beautiful quilts done !
Have a great week everyone, hope you find time to do the things you love

Day one 2011

365 to 2012 !!!
The first day of the year has started with a good sleep in until 6 am! Well, it has been a great day, i worked on my quilt doing the fmq which has been interesting, i had to unpick a bit to fix a couple of spots but its going ok, although when i look at how good everyone elses is i have to say mine looks a bit crappy !
I love the photos of those in the snow, its so beautiful. The cold air is wonderful to be in, it makes me feel alive, i just love walking through the trees and the quietness of the alps here, which i know are nothing like the northern hemisphere in terms of meters of snow, but its still so beautiful, alpine gums trees have the most amazing colours. Here are some i thought i would share with you all.

HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM THE TOP OF AUSTRALIA!