Goodbye 2011 (and a Taali quilt)

What a year it has been. It has gone ridiculously fast, especially the last couple of months, I guess that's because we are all so busy.
I hope 2012 is a great year for everyone (and me) and I'm looking forward to seeing what it brings.
Tonight we are having a quiet night with the pizza oven going and Ben's dad and step mum. Samuel is already in bed, Ben and William are feeding horses and the house is quiet for the first time in ages!
I think a few homemade pizzas, a glass of wine, maybe some bubbles out the back will be a great way to relax and reflect on the year and hopefully some make some plans for the new one.
I might even finish my Taali quilt I started on Thursday.

 All I have to do is stitch the binding down. I just couldn't help myself when my half yard bundle arrived in the mail. I have four quilts on the go at the moment and the minute I opened the package I took it into my sewing room and started cutting. I adore the little sheep. I'm totally in love with Monaluna's organics at the moment, I think Anika and Taali are my favorites. The little foxes are great, I'm thinking of combining the two lines for another spur of the moment quilt (maybe my first for 2012 - who know's!).
I'm off to get the pizza dough ready, see you next year! xxxx

Fun Shorts

I found this fun fish fabric by Timeless Treasures called Fish Fiesta at Hawthorne Treads a while ago. Yesterday I decided that I would whip up some shorts for my Madeit store seeing as it was empty!

Alas, I decided they were too cute and Samuel needed a pair too.

I think he could be my new quality control tester judging by how dirty they are now! They will wash well I'm sure of it! I think he may need a new hat too....

And Yes, my floors are that dirty - I have a husband who never takes his boots off, a 3yo who brings bucket loads of sand in coz it is either too hot or too cold to play in the sandpit, and a never ending supply of Christmas visitor traffic. I'll mop later.

Merry Christmas

I hope everyone had a great Christmas with their family and friends. I know we did.

Today everyone is just a little bit cranky, a little bit tired and still not really hungry after stuffing ourselves within millimeters of bursting point yesterday!

Christmas Stockings Galore!

This is what I've been busy making

They were super fun to make, probably because they came together so quickly. One fat quarter for the main part of the stocking, a coordinating top, some batting left overs and calico for the inside lining. Easy peasy and super effective. Now for Santa to fill them....
Here's a close up of them

(p.s. yes they look a bit wrinkled - a certain 3yo who shall remain nameless has been using them to play 'Christmas Presents!)

A fun Christmas cushion

A fun Christmas cushion, a photo by monkeysinmypocket on Flickr.

I whipped this up last night. Our couch cushions are pretty grotty and gross with unidentified stains.
So in the spirit of Christmas I sewed up one of Laurie's cute Christmas Donkey in Wellies cushion panels I had stashed for gifts. (I ordered a couple of extra for me too!)
There was a squeal of glee from the lounge this morning when William discovered it!
I sewed around the donkey and his hat and boots and a few of the snow flakes just to give it a bit of texture. I also trimmed some of the panel and added some cute red and white (spotlight) dots for a border and extra fun. I think he needs a few matching friends!

A tree skirt

William loves trains. This year he is also loving the lead up to Christmas. While out shopping we came across a Christmas train that went around the bottom of the Christmas tree. Of course he wanted it. Unfortunately I reminded him that Samuel would probably break it and so maybe we should wait a year or two. Then I had an amazing brain wave! I could make a tree skirt with a train on it! YES! William agreed!

I used scraps from the box and just raw edge appliqued them on. It isn't a perfect circle - seems I'm not brilliant at making circles even with the pen and string method! But, we are pretty happy with it and it looks great under our tree!

Baby Boy Bunting Quilt

I finished the binding on this cute bunting quilt last night. It matches the bunting and cushion I made here.

I love it, the colours, the prints, the design, the super soft Michael Miller flannel backing, the binding, all of it. It is cot size and I think I might need to make a couple more (maybe one for Samuel). It is for one of my lucky friends and I hope she loves it too.

Straight or Curved?

Do you use straight or curved basting pins?

I used to use straight.

Until I bought curved ones without realizing. I put off using them as I thought they would be harder to use. Finally I couldn't hold off any longer. I don't know what I was so worried about. They were much easier to poke through and do up due to their little curve in the middle.

They are my new favorite basting pins. Which do you prefer?

While the husband was away

Ben was in Sydney for Equitana over the weekend selling his Horserail, so I had a lovely time sewing my little heart out.


A friend asked me to make some bunting and a quilt for her little ones room. The bunting was fun and got me super inspired.

I whipped up this Sprocket Pillow following Allison's tutorial. I had so much fun with this. It was pretty easy and I actually just used the left over bunting triangles for it, so didn't even need to cut rounded ended ones. The side if it is some Michael Miller flannel and the back is minki dot fabric for a bit of fun.

Then I had a brilliant idea for a friend who LOVES donkeys. So I started sewing these blocks like a mad woman. I had an idea in my head of what I wanted the quilt to look like - modern, fun and bright. I have finished the top but the batteries went flat on the camera after I took these two pics so more once it is charged.

I think she will love it, especially for snuggling under on the couch in winter.

Happy Birthday to ME!

Today's my birthday. I'm 36 years old. Another year older - definitely, another year wiser? Maybe not!!
As Ben is away, I spent the early morning sewing up a 'bunting' quilt (told William that I wasn't playing with him this morning as it was my birthday and I wanted to sew - believe it or not it worked!!) and then went to Millers Icecream for birthday cake with the kids and a couple of close friends (and their kids of course!). It was great fun until the kids started fighting - time to go home!
Back home for a rest, well, William is fast asleep, Samuel, no such luck. So, going to try to cut out a quilt with the last of my Donkeys in Wellies from Scarlet Fig. After all.....It's MY birthday, I can do what I want!

Miss Me?

I've been away for a while haven't I? I went to Victoria to visit baby Hayley and the rest of my family.
Baby Hayley is going great by the way. Absolutely no idea why she had such a hard start to life and permanent disabilities wont be obvious until the 'milestones' start happening, but for now, she is a normal perfect baby.
So we were away for two weeks, a long time for a three year old to be away from his favorite toys and the rest of his things but we managed to survive the two weeks fairly unscathed and even made it back to WA on our original Qantas flight that was cancelled and then on again!
We did some fun things like visit Sovereign Hill which was a fun day but maybe a little bit much for William. He didn't like anyone in costume or the mine, or the steam engines but did love panning for gold! We found a few little specks, nothing that would pay off the farm though!
My baby sister (she's 27now!) announced that her and her partner got engaged. They are both chefs so I'm very excited to have 2 people in the family to talk food with!!
My new mare finally had her foal. A little (big) colt. He was a little over cooked and squashed in her belly and was born with a sore neck which prevented him from feeding by himself so needed assistance with that for a couple of days and some pain relief, but he is motoring along now. Can't wait for him to be my new riding horse in a few years (a long wait but one that will be worth it I'm sure).
I'm finally making Samuel a quilt all be it a cheats quilt! I'm just hand quilting it so I'll give some photos soon.
Anyway, I'm back!

M.I.A.

I've been missing in action these past two weeks. It isn't that I didn't have time to post, or that I didn't want too. I just didn't.
Here's what's been happening:
1. My sister and her husband finally got to take their baby home from hospital (four weeks later)YAY
2. I made my first sponge cake and it didn't flop
3. We went to Perth Royal Show. Great day, with a couple of train rides for William.
4. We took two days (yes 2) to recover from Perth Royal Show
5. We lost Lucy the goose to a naughty fox (right from inside her house. Sad)
6. We went fishing off the Jetty
7. I started BOXING!! Yay! Love it!
8. We have baby guinea fowl and ducklings hatching
9. I added 7 goslings to the menagerie yesterday (they are so cute)
10. I've been doing lots of sewing

Lots going on

Wordless Wednesday

Food Lover

I am a lover of recipe books. A crazy lover of recipe books, food magazines and cooking shows on Foxtel, recipes on the internet and cooking some of the recipes I see. I especially love cooking for friends and family and love having people over for dinner whenever I can. I love nothing more than good food and good company.

During the week our dinners aren't that exciting (well I don't think so anyway). I try to provide a variety of meals but generally they are meat and vegies or pasta or something along those lines. I save the really good stuff for weekends or when friends are coming over.

One of my favorite TV shows is Nigel Slater's Simple Suppers on Foxtel. Last week he made the most amazing looking Chocolate Cookies with Scarlet fruit.

Today, William and I made them too. OMG they are divine. If you love chocolate, you'll love these.

They are big and chocolatey and gooey in the middle, they are a bit like brownies and best eaten warm. The recipe says to serve with cherries and raspberries, but we left those off.

I think William's favorite part was licking the beaters.

Things are looking up!

So, the reports on baby Hayley are getting better everyday. I get text messages every so often and a photo and I talk with my sis every night about her day with her new little bundle of joy.

So, Hayley came off the ventilator yesterday and was doing a great job of breathing on her own.

She has started moving her arms and legs a little bit and poking her tongue out. She has started weeing and pooing - something that we take for granted with a newborn, but to them, a huge milestone! And hiccups! She's been getting hiccups which they say is brilliant!

They were able to tube feed her some of sis's own milk which she was super happy about! All that time on the pump was worth that one feed she said!

The lumbar puncture results were clean but they are now waiting for EEG and MRI results. But so far she is making progress and the Dr's and nurses are really happy about everything.

I can't believe how strong Sis sounds on the phone when I talk to her. She's really positive and feels really lucky that Hayley is in the best possible care and everyone at the hospital are so fantastic.

I sent her the nappy covers I made and she can't wait to get them.

Still wish I was there though. Stupid sinuses!

I'm joining Wordless Wednesday

A day of reflections

....

Holding our breath

One of my sisters had her second baby on Sunday afternoon. Unfortunately the birth didn't go to plan. Baby Hayley had been having high blood pressure before birth and was being monitored by Doctors.
On Saturday my sister hadn't felt any movement from bub for a fair while so that night she rang the hospital who asked her to come straight in. After monitoring her for a while they decided bub had to come out.
My sister has a rare blood disorder so had to have a general anesthetic to have the Cesarean. She had trouble coming out of the anesthetic and her baby was really struggling. She has been having seizures and then stops breathing. She has not woken since birth and yesterday was rushed to Royal Childrens Hospital in Melbourne.
Doctors are doing test after test to determine what is wrong, but so far nothing is known.
My sister has had to stay in her local hospital as she is not well enough to go to Melbourne yet. It all seems so surreal to me. Being on the other side of the country and not there with her is really awful, it almost seems like it isn't happening. Ben has told me to fly over but I have a bad sinus infection and can't go yet.
I am holding my breath every minute for her in hope that Hayley starts to improve. I want to ring her every hour to check on her but I know that I'd start to get annoying!
We can only hope and pray that she stays strong and fights to get through this.

A few days later

This photo was taken three days after the little fella was born. It's amazing how fast they grow!

And this photo was taken three days ago.

They grow just as fast!

A new arrival

This little fellow arrived yesterday morning. It isn't too often foals are born during the day, but yesterday we were lucky enough to be driving past her paddock to catch Eliza in labor.

A lovely colt who may one day be a super racehorse for someone (I hope!)

A Pony Quilt...

...Top, only the top.

This is the first of three Pony Quilts I was asked to make. I'm not sure I like it, but it is for a 7year old, whom I'm sure will love it! This has been folded over a chair for 3wks, hence its wrinkles!

Where do I sew?

Did you see Pink Chalk Studio Blog story Where I I sew?.
I loved it.
Beautiful sewing rooms, inspiring decor, lovely clean, fresh rooms. Loved it.

Just one question. Are they always like that? Or did they clean for a week before they were photographed. Coz this is where I sew and it looks NOTHING like anything in one of those beautiful photos!

Maybe I need to clean up a bit!

Brothers

I think William and Samuel are going to have alot of fun when they are a bit bigger. It is starting to happen already. Samuel adores his big brother. If he hears Williams voice, he stops and has to see what's happening. Doesn't matter what he's doing, or where he is. Sometimes he almost wriggles out of my arms.
William loves playing 'peek-a-boo' with him and reading books to him.
A few weeks ago, we stayed in Perth for a Racehorse Awards night. We were all staying in the same room at the Hyatt. Samuel woke up crying in the night, while I was trying to settle him, William started singing the Alphabet song to him - in his sleep! He has trouble with saying W and says 'double X' instead. He sang the whole song - stumbled over 'double X' a couple of times and then carried on sleeping. It was so sweet.

Samuel was seven months on Saturday. I can't believe it. He's more than half a year old already!

Loving the red hair and blue eyes. I think they are going to stay that way. Super cute!

Just some Chooks

I think I may have said once that I am a bit of a chook hoarder. Well, I have added to the collection once again. I know, I can't help myself, I think it's a disease. I really am going to have to do something about it - like build another chook pen!
Here are my latest additions, the big white ones. They are called Light Sussex.

And here is what the chook pen is looking like! They get to run round the farm too, but for some strange and annoying reason, they head straight for my vegie garden. I think I will need to build a fence around it.

My new Toy

I couldn't help my self. Wednesday last week, I marched myself into the local art supplies shop (hadn't been in there for over 2yrs) and bought myself a screen printing kit.

I'm loving it, and so is William!

This is what we have done so far - just mucking around a bit!

And William (complete with Baked Bean drip down the front) who refuses to take his new dump truck t-shirt off!

We Had a Winner!

Well, two wins now actually! And no, don't worry, I didn't have two giveaways that you missed. Our racehorse Nothin' Leic It won again on Wednesday!
We are pretty happy about that, seeing as a few people told us to get rid of him and he wasn't going to be any good.
If I can find a photo of him, I will show you. He's a lovely horse and after a bit of work and patience he's really starting to get the hang of this racing game.

Farewell Disy

My dear old friend Disy passed away this morning. She had been unwell for a few years now and in the last twelve months in and out of hospital.

She was a funny old thing. Desperately dedicated to her horses, she loved her mares and foals. I'm very honoured to have one of her favorites Eliza Dane here on our farm. I bought her last year from Disy and her husband Tim.

The first time I met Disy I didn't know what to think! I went for a job interveiw on her farm and she rushed me around in her old Holden ute, ordering me to open the gate and telling me which horses were which. I was pretty scared of her for a while. But we became close friends. When I stopped working for her, she cried and gave me a pair of socks! I went to work for her again on the weekends and at Yearling Sale times which was so fun and made her happy.

She loved a glass of wine, but only white and only Chardonnay (think I'll have a little one tonight in her honour). After a glass or two she'd have tears in her eyes telling me about her first her first born son who died when he was only a few days old.
She hated the thought of getting old, and often told me that at nearly 70 she still felt like she was only 19.

She and her darling husband Tim worked so hard all their lives to produce successful racehorses. They had a beautiful farm that they sadly had to sell last year as Disy was just in too much pain and they were too far from the hospital.

I think if Disy hadn't have been so unwell she would have died working!

She taught me alot about horses and farm management and life in general.
I will miss her dearly.

Baby Pants

I am completely in love! I have been wanting and wanting to make some baby pants for Samuel for so long. I had been thinking and thinking and looking and looking for the right ones. I tried a few patterns and though they were cute, they just didn't grab me. Until I made these.

I used pinwale cord for these and I have no idea what the brown cotton print is that I used for the lining. But it is one of my favorites for boys.

I adore little boys in cord.

Then I made these too

I rolled the waist to the outside so the lining fabric would give it a bit more detailing.

The grey fabric is cotton drill and the grey dot is from Spotlight. I love the way they feel when they are on. They feel really comfy and cozy. I love the baggy fit too, it gives him loads of freedom to do things like grab his toes!

This cute little munchkin is spending his first night in his own room tonight. I don't know if it is a good idea though as I stupidly read a mum's SIDS journal today about the day her bub died and I can't stop thinking about it. I keep having to stop myself from taking him back to my room. I've already checked him three times and it isn't even 8pm yet. My heart goes out to all those families who have lost a baby to SIDS. Well, just lost a baby or child full stop.

New Kids On the Block

No, not the boy band of my youth! These new kids....

We picked them up on Saturday. Our new "Friendly Goats"

They are brother and sister. We haven't named them yet. They are pretty cute.

We are bottle feeding them three times a day at the moment. As soon as we get a shelter in their paddock they can go outside. The weather here is pretty awful again. We lost another fence today and more trees.
Anyway we need a few name suggestions as we are really stuck on ideas. Any suggestions?