This weeks Where am I? And the winner is? KERRY

First to guess correctly where last weeks photo was taken was Kerry from Forever Friday Congratulations. Yes, I am indeed kissing the Blarney Stone in Cork Ireland! For those of you who like to know what it is...

The Blarney Stone is a block of bluestone built into the battlements of Blarney Castle, BlarneyCork, Ireland. According to legend, kissing the stone endows the kisser with the gift of gab (great eloquence or skill at flattery). The stone was set into a tower of the castle in 1446. The castle is a popular tourist site in Ireland, attracting visitors from all over the world to kiss the Stone and tour the castle and its gardens. The word blarney has come to mean clever, flattering, or coaxing talk. about 8 km from

So, Kerry, if you contact me via email and give me your address, I can ship your fat quarter and mag to you ASAP, congratulations once again !!

This weeks photo is a bit more challenging. First to guess wins 2 fat quarters and a quilting mag. Good luck and have a great week. Julie

Where am I ? - First to guess wins a fat quarter and a mag

Since I started work again this week, I won't have time to make or post photos of quilts....

Soooooo, I decided to start a competition called, 'Where am I?"

Every week until Easter, I will be posting a photo of myself. All you have to do is be the first to leave a comment on my blog guessing correctly (what I might be doing, the country I am in, and the location or place) and I will send you a fat quarter from my stash and a mag. Yes it's that easy. Good luck

So here is the first photo (this is an easy one to get you all guessing)

Click on the photo to see it larger


(The answer will be posted next Friday night along with a new photo)

Granddaughters are time wasters....but the best time wasters I know

Friday I went to visit my granddaughter Miss Chelsea. She is now 6 months old and has just cut her first tooth. (much to the relief to all in her household!!) We did the usual bath time and cuddles and feed time and then I sat with her for an hour or so, so her mummy and daddy could have some sanity time out of the house alone. She is just starting to learn how to crawl, although will have carpet burn on her nose for a few more weeks I think.

Today, Princess Mia and her mummy came to visit me. She was wearing shoes for the very first time and could not wait to show me how pretty they were. She is just 5 months old and growing up so fast following a slow start being born so very small. We read books together and had lots of cuddles as usual. She is sleeping here next to me in her pram with her mummy next to her on the couch catching up on some shut eye too. Both these cute little girls as so very precious to me as we waited nearly 20 years for a girl to be born in our family and in the end got 2 in one year.

Sand in my Toes, Money in my Pocket, Big Projects, Dyeing Wool and the Last ever Diet

I have just arrived back from my mothers house where I spent 2 1/2 days of R&R. She lives on the lovely Gold Coast and has done for near on 47 years? She is close enough to the surfing beaches that I was lucky enough to be able to take myself for an early morning walk yesterday along the pretty white sands. We also made time to have lunch out both days and take a look around the shops etc. It was nice to get away, but even nicer to get home.

I also found out late last week that a job I applied for has been offered to me. I start work next Monday as a Sales Merchandiser for a well know company. The hours are great and I get to travel once in a while, so I am happy with that too.


My quilting this year will be a tad slower than the last 2 years, but I still intend to keep projects rolling out from my little sewing nookette. I have also been granted permission to produce a depiction of a painting by a Aboriginal artist from the Northern Territory. I am excited about this project, as I too am of Aboriginal heritage, and the honour of being allowed to produce a quilt in the likeness of a painting, is very close to my heart. I will update on this project as the year progresses.

I was lucky enough to be given some pure wool suiting fabric also. I would love to make a long coat with it to take to Paris in 2010 (please see this page) However, the fabric is a light gray at the moment and I would like it to be charcoal. If anyone has dyed wool before, can you please let me know what method is best and also what dye seems to be best? Thanks in advance.

Last but not least...2009's New Years Resolution is the diet to end all diets. I discovered a book that has been around a while called 'Eat Right for your Type'. It is based on eating foods more suited to your blood type. I started eating my 'correct' foods New Years day and can report that I have stuck to it (yes even while I was on my little vacations at my mothers) and to date I have lost 10kg's !!! Trousers and shorts are fitting less snug, shirts and t-shirts are less clingy around the back acre too. My face actually has less puffiness to it and it seems one of my chins has relocated itself elsewhere? Here is a photo of the front cover of the book for those of you frantically trying to Google it now.

The HUGE tidy out of 2009

I still have not sat at my machine and done any work or been creative. BUT, I have had a HUGE tidy out of my sewing nookette. Those of you who read about my nookette in an earlier post, would know that it is located in the corner of my bedroom and only has floor space just a tad over 1 metre square!! Although this sounds small, you would be most surprised to know I still managed to collect lots of unused things and store them in there. So this weekend I set about to cleaning out my nookette and making it neat and tidy with a few adjustments to where things and how things are stored. I also sorted through my magazine and book stash and have come up with a nice pile of each to sell on at craft stores or on here if anyone is looking for a particular edition of magazine etc. I also visited a girlfriend of mine who is moving out of town in 3 weeks to live in Townsville. She was having a garage sale and I scored myself this neat cane room divider. I am going to dress it up with fabric and beads over the next few weekends, so it looks more "Juliefied'.

Jenna tagged me...I'm it

My friend Jenna over at Quilt Crazy Gal tagged me:)
Sew much fun to be "it"!
Here are the rules to play the game:

1. When you are tagged you are asked to list eight random facts about yourself and post them on your blog for visitors to enjoy. This is gonna be fun!

2. Tag eight of your blogging friends and leave them a comment that they have been tagged and to join in the fun if they have the opportunity. (If not, that's okay. They can still enjoy the random facts everyone shares:) Be sure to list a link to your eight friends in your posting.

Now for my 8 facts

• I only started making quilts in 2006 and in that year made 5 complete quilts
  
• I love to make quilts for charity and have made or completed over 100 so far
  
• I am left handed, so the whole world seems back-to-front to me, especially in quilting terms
• I am on my 10Th and final new years resolution diet...so far so good
• I am allergic to all shell fish but LOVE to eat prawns (shrimp) then pay for it health wise over a 24 hour period
• I can drive a truck and trailer with 22 wheels
• I have five kids and 4 grand kids, all who live within 10 miles of me
• 2009 is going to be MY year, it will be the first year in 30 years that I actually plan to do what I want to do and not what others want or expect me to do.

Here's my list of friends...you're it!
Check out their blogs! They give me inspiration!

1. Christine from Once Upon A Quilt
2. Jackie from Jackie's Stitches
3. Lee-Anne from Carpetmice
4. Lisa from Fibre Inspirations
5. Kate from Kate Quilts
6. Lesley from Blue Lilly Quilting
7. Kerry from Forever Friday
8. Jenny from Postcards from Cairo

This is a wonderful idea, so we can all visit new and exciting blogs to look and learn so much more from the quilting world of fun fun fun, cheers from Julie