Winner of blog hop give away

There is a winner for the 8 fat quarters, this goes to Lynne from Never 2 hot 2 stitch, congratulations Lynne you can now start another project!!
Hope you had a merry christmas, the photos are from Hearst Castle in San Simeon, it was impressive :)

Shopping mecca !

Well window shopping that is! Rodeo drive prices are not for the faint hearted!  I got a cheap T shirt there, it was $50! LA is a blast, loads of fun things to do, we saw The Hobbit at the Chinese theatre and had dinner at Hooters ! The boys liked that ! I could spend a lot more time in LA :)

Blog hop party give away

Michelle from Quilting Gallery is having a birthday party blog hop and we are hosting a give away to celebrate, yay! 

I have some delicious goodies that you can have a chance to win, all you have to do is leave a comment and click the follow button, that's it and you are in ! This should be fun :) 

I have 8 lovely charm squares that are just waiting to be made up into something beautiful. 
Good luck and dont forget to check out the other party goers at Quilting Gallery :)
 the larger font is a result of my deteriorating eye sight, dang it ! 

I'm still here !

I am still here, I am wondering if I will be able to work out how to do this move properly, I think I will need someone to help me! In the meantime I have had a busy week with work and there has been a couple of xmas parties, we had our sewing group lunch at the shop, it was lovely to see all the ladies together. Tomorrow afternoon our ICU has a boat cruise down the river, so that will be a lovely way to     celebrate :) So not a lot of time left for blogging! I am putting together some pinwheel squares in some fresh coloured fabric, so that will keep me busy also :)
Anyway hope you are having a great weekend and find! some time to relax before the xmas rush!

I am moving

Its official I am moving to word press, I have set up the migration, but just need to tweak a few things to get it right, so you still get my posts, and I keep my reading list, but then I am done :) hope you will be patient with me while I do this ! I may need some tech help ! Anyone ?
Its hot as hell here, yesterday topped 40 c even the hospital air con didn't cope to well in the corridors, thank god the patient rooms were fine. Its a bit cooler today, 35c and tomorrow will be a chilly 28c !
Hope your day is going well and hope to see you over at word press soon :)
The address is http://ablogstar.wordpress.com/
i hope this will work

AWOL

Oh dear its been too long since i was here, life does get busy especially this time of year although I am not xmas shopping for the first time ever! I have made a few gifts, and have a few more to go :0
In the meantime I have bought more stash and then I had to take something out to make room, so another project is on the way :) its got summery colours of orange and green, which is fresh and bright, not sure what it will be yet! I cant upload another photo as I have apparently used my limit of free space on picassa and need to purchase more, I will see about that! Grrr.

picture supposed to be here ...

The gardenias are in flower and their perfume is so lovely, I wish they lasted longer, if I could bottle the scent for the rest of the year it would be divine!

What have you been up to? I will have to go and read a few of your posts to catch up!

FNSI

I did manage to get one of my cushion covers done, yay ! Hopefully the second one will be done in the next couple of days :) Thanks to Heidi for hosting, where you can see the beautiful projects.

the back has a concealed zipper, which was easy and looks neat :0

I used one of our other cushions to fill it for the photo, 

so it wont have this as its filler as it shows through !

I still have a quilt to bind, more projects planned and the trip away is fast approaching, any recommendations for accommodation in LA would be great ! 

Hope you had a great FNSI :)

Tag your it !

Michelle from Love Chinook Winds has tagged me and has these questions
1. Do you like to travel.
2. What is your favorite travel destination spot.
3. Where do you sew.
4. How much time do you spend sewing during the week.
5. Have you ever been on a sewing retreat.
6. Do you have an etsy shop and or do you sell your crafts at fairs.
7. What other hobbies do you have.
8. What is your favorite charity. 
9. Do you quilt or knit for charity.
10. What is your dream sewing machine if cost was not a problem.
11. Be honest. How big is your stash.

 So I guess its fun sharing some things about each other, I will answer them in context rather than order.

Of course I love to travel hence my blog address of travelling holycow ! Although I don't particularly like the planning phase so I am a last minute person and sometimes just wing it. In fact I am travelling to the USA next month and have only partially booked accommodation. I figure there will be somewhere to stay even if it is crapsville! 
I can say that after stepping out onto the cliffs of Sorrento, Italy with its jaw dropping scenery would be hard to beat, its my header photo.  Italy is fabulous :)

But my favourite destination is London, I love everything about this city and wished I lived closer. 

I sew on the dining table, its a perfect size and we usually eat at the kitchen island bench which just feels comfortable for us, so I dont have to tidy up which is great! I did have my son's room but he moved back in :0  Sometimes I get a couple of hours a week to fiddle around with my fabrics, but I dont always get any sewing done! I was invited to a retreat but wasnt able to make it there, so maybe next time.  i dont sell my quilts, I usually give them away as gifts, or worthy causes. I support various charities here, and have a regular donation to world vision. I did dabble in art work for a while, and may go back to this one day.

My Bernina 820 which is my dream machine, is fabulous, I figured the benefit greatly outweighed the cost! I just organised my stash which has taken up a considerable space in my laundry and I still think I can't find anything !

So if you would like to participate, go on give us a story about you, and leave me a comment so I know you would like us to visit :)  

FNSI time !

Yay its FNSI !

So I have to confess that for me it will be a sunday sew in here in Oz as I am working Friday and Saturday till late, but I have the time difference advantage :)
I have a project that needs finishing, well actually there are a few that need finishing but I will focus on the one that I can do in a day! I'm a puddler when it comes to finishing things at times, its almost like I want to keep things just not quite done for some odd reason.

Anyway you can join in on the fun here at Heidi's, hope you have fun !
See you on Sunday for all the lovely posts :)

UR Priceless Coin Purse

A while back I signed up for  a blog hop hosted by  Sew We Quilt  to make a coin purse. I loved the ones featured, and so I thought  (in my deluded state) that I would be able to make one of these without too much fuss! Firstly and most importantly read the pattern, I think thats where I went astray. I couldn't find the email that Katherine had sent me with this, so I made do with my own invention! It was all going very well until the frame was to be attached, i discovered the frame is larger than the purse. Groan. So I can either find a frame that is the right size, or make another bag. I might do both, but until then this is the sad result, go ahead and laugh, I bet you have done something similar once!

I still like it frameless!

This is the inside although I could still make it the outside

Bugger 

Ah well back to the shop to find another frame, and the sewing machine to make another purse!
Hope your weekend is going well :)

Classic Cartoons (playlist)

I've been a bit quiet on the bloggy front, sorry :) There is a malfunction with my laptop, and my brain. Its a precarious system where there is little space for new information, so old stuff has to be deleted, and my brain hurts if too much is crammed in at one time, as for the laptop I have given up on it!

I did do some FMQ and finished off the log cabin squares, but its stalled there until I get some fabric to finish them so they can be cushions.

In other news my spare moments have been taken up with eyes glued to the monitor in deciding where to stay in LA, my good friend who lived there recommended Santa Monica, but I am not sure. I may stay at Marina Del Rey, it looks nicer and apparently it's a lovely spot to relax after a hard days sightseeing. I can see us with cocktails overlooking the bay watching the sun set, hopefully my jetlagged brain will be ok and not confuse this with sunrise! After that we will attempt to drive on the wrong side of the road (all the way) to San Fran, wish me luck! And no trip to the USA is complete without a visit to Las Vegas, so Vegas Baby here we come! If I have any money after all that then I will be happy, and end with a visit to Disneyland, which was my dream as a kid, who didn't dream of this? Gotta love Homer! 

Summer Dress

This morning while I could have been doing a thousand things I decided to take a break and have a wander to the local shops. I found this pretty summer dress, I have been looking at some but they were boring and very generic, this one was perfect, different and its got room for movement :)

I saw an add for these blinds in a magazine, the photo is terrible sorry!

but the blinds look spectacular, then I thought it was a bit sad to be so excited over a blind!

Anyway it was fun wandering around looking at the swanky shops :)

Have a great week!

Weekend stuff

I have been able to do some sewing lately, which is a very nice change of pace. I had the excess stuff cluttering our garage picked up on friday morning, unfortunately the lounge suite didnt go as they ran out of room in the truck- thats how much there was!
This log cabin piece was going to be quilt in the gees bend style but I changed my mind and they now will be large euro cushions instead. Quilting the top was fun, it was good practice for my feathers, which are looking less like oak leaves now!

Here is the back, its easier to see the quilting

Our girl, the tall one, had her semi formal, her friend isn't that short, our girl is very tall !

How cheeky is this! I didn't even realise until I uploaded the photo ! I wonder where she gets that from?

I am linking up with FNSI at Heidi's and Bloggers Quilt Festival at Amy's, hope you are having a great weekend !

 The weather is bonkers!


It was so windy yesterday the poor dog was having trouble relieving herself without wearing it! She gave such a look of disdain as her ears flapped about while squatting, and as soon as she was done she raced inside again ! I have given up on trying to keep the leaves out of the pool. Also I'm still paranoid of the brown snake hanging around, they are nasty. On a more positive note a quilt top is in progress of being quilted, I am just finishing off the borders and then its done ! There are piles of precuts on the table waiting patiently for me to finish, lovely aqua, reds and royal blue, some dodgy pink strips which looked ok on the net may have to wait a bit longer!






I cant wait to do something with them, I have charm squares and jelly rolls, but I would love to have bought these stacks :)  Hope you are having a great week doing what makes you happy :)

finally a floor !

Its done at last! Yay! After painting, painting and more painting!
Now it will be a process of sorting out the stuff in the garage, donating loads so we dont end up with it in our newly renovated space! It still needs some prettying up, but other than that its done :0

 I am going to claim a corner for my sewing things :)

I am thinking of turning the log cabin squares into large cushions

i dont like the bottom right square on the second one, it looks a bit wrong.

I might work on that tomorrow.
I am linking up with http://aroundtheblockdesigns.blogspot.com.au for really random thursday!

Hope you have some good things planned for the weekend! 

more boring renovation

My right arm feels dead. No I haven't had a stroke, I have been scrubbing our walls and doors in preparation for the painting.

Now it feels like someone has been punching my arm all night, and I think I used way too much bleach, my head hurts! Its hard to type :(  But it is looking better! I still have the closets to deal with.
I thought the old lino :could just be pulled out, but it has been glued to the floor. Not sure what to do about that, probably just clean it and leave it, the flooring guys can sort that one out!
So I am off to the hardware to buy a pole to do the painting, and tomorrow No 1 son will be doing some work to earn his keep! Will show photos of it after the floors go down next week.
I may do some sewing to take a break from the renos, the log cabin has been stalled, I am thinking of turning  it into large euro size cushions. I should finish a quilt top, its about half done, but I am looking at starting something else interesting! Also I have decided marshmallows are a perfectly good breakfast.
Hope you are having fun! Btw go check out some clever people at Coastal Charm for Nifty Thrifty Tuesday!

living room design

I love these modern living rooms, so uncluttered 

This is beautiful, though and probably more comfortable!

 i noticed the floors are tiled like most of my home, which got me thinking perhaps I should just stick with tiles throughout, and risk it looking like a giant washroom!

love these kitchen designs, I would have to do a major reno to achieve these!

Well its got me thinking that perhaps I should wait, ie more procrastination until I win lotto!

Hope you are having a great week!

shopping, wankers and more junk !

The girl and I had a great afternoon, we found her a dress to wear to her semi formal dance which is in a couple of weeks. We cut it fine! but we found a lovely dress after looking from one end of the coast to the other at several formal dress shops, we found one in a regular shop and its so pretty, she loves it ! Thank god for that! She bought very high sparkly heels and clutch bag, she loves them! She is already 6" so she will tower over everyone!
Ok so that was Friday, yesterday i worked, a whole lot of people with minor problems decided to fill up the waiting room and then started harassing our staff as to why they had to wait hours to be seen. These sort of people should watch a real emergency and then bugger off home.
And the dog was having a standoff with a huge brown snake this morning..fortunately I intervened for her, by screaming like a lunatic to come here NOW, the dog that is, not the snake!
Today is hot as hell here, 35c and windy, its an extreme fire danger, we have had very little rain for over 2 months, everything is bone dry, and tinder everywhere.  So of course this being the only day available before painters and flooring is scheduled we  moved most of the junk from the office  and upstairs as a certain member of our family is a hoarder, so he will have to do a major chuck out when he gets home!
 Its occupying our entire garage, the kids had a giggle at some of his stuff, they found an irish whistle with instructions, a bag full of caps and stubbie holders, and a lager phone, among many many other useless things. Oh and the girl was in charge of taping up boxes, I asked her to just seal up the ends so it would not come undone. She sealed both ends of the boxes. And yes she is blonde. The boy and I just about wet ourselves laughing !
Hope you all have/ had a great weekend :)

4 girls taken from their mum

This morning when I put on the radio, I heard the very distressing story of 4 girls who have been taken from their mother here in qld and put on a plane back to Italy to their father, they were manhandled and handcuffed by police. The scenes were absolutely disgusting, these girls were screaming hysterically at being physically dragged into police cars. I cant believe it. How is this in their best interest? How is this legal? Police are only supposed to use reasonable force, yet one girl was face down on the ground with police holding her down and handcuffing her. god I would have kicked the police away. I cried seeing this it was so distressing. I couldn't imagine the horror and distress for their mum. This will be the most traumatic event in the lives of these girls, they are aged 9-15. I dont understand how their father could put them through such an ordeal just to get them back. They will hate him forever for taking them away from the mother they obviously love, and they were on the media earlier this year, they all said they wanted to stay here in Australia with their mum. They wrote to their father pleading to allow them to stay. The court ruled they were unfairly influenced by their mother. Its crap. They had a supportive extended family here, friends and a safe environment. I pray they are somehow allowed to come back home here to their mother, the sooner the better. I pray that their mum stays strong and finds a way to get her girls back. And I spit at the legal system that forced them to leave. There is a facebook page set up called kids without voices. I've left a few comments, but wish there was more I could do. Its just so unbelievable. So thats it for today. Hope yours was better.

Maleny quilt show and friends

Today has been a great day, I spent it with some lovely quilty ladies, at a quilt show in the hills behind the sunshine coast.

This is the amazing view from on top of the range looking back towards the Glasshouse Mountains

It was a fun day, we saw many amazing works, I didnt take photos out of respect, as many quilters like artists would not like their work copied. My favourite was a paper pieced quilt, it was very simple which is why I liked it so much. I may even have a go at this, even though I may run out of patience with it!
 These photos were from the net and are Sue Daly designs.

This is such a cute design, very similar to the one I saw today

cobarpatchworksupplies.com.au

This is another fab design of hers, so wild with colour!

There was one at the show also

sewn.eu

I found out this very talented lady lives very close to me! I would love to meet her, maybe one day, if I am lucky!  The quilt store that I go to stock her designs, but its 40km's away!

Its a long weekend here so I will make the most of tomorrow and work on a couple of projects! I bought a few things from the show to add to the stash, but I am determined to stay on track with the current ones! 

Hope everyone is having a great weekend working on those projects!

summer on the way

I think spring has been and gone, its straight to summer here, its very warm and too dry despite the recent storms, we had very little rain. I was standing down at the pool, the sand was put there as a temporary measure until we could concrete, but I kind of like it even though its harder to keep clean :)

We bought new sun lounges 

I love the trees, but....

Ah well there could be worse things in life to do!

I've just received a lovely parcel of fabric, 

but I need to work on current project first!

Hope you are having a great week!

FNSI

Its FNSI time! Well I have been working, and will be working all weekend, so I am fiddling about with the log cabin quilt that I have on the go and generally sitting on my bottom as my feet feel like lumps of lead between shifts. Are you joining in?

http://www.handmadebyheidi.blogspot.com.au/

The latest squares 

My furry girl :)

Hope you have a great weekend !