From little things, BIG things grow

You might remember back on Tuesday this week, I shared with you the start of yet another project? Anyhow, while cutting and pressing and sewing on that project, I created scraps of many colours, shapes and sizes. On the back of these scraps there was a trace of visofix. So I wondered what it would look like if I cut the pieces into even littler pieces and stated to iron them one on top of the other overlapping etc. Well, what a great way to use up scraps. In the end, I had created a piece of fabric entirely of scraps that measures 14" x 34". I have not decided what to make from my 'homemade' fabric yet, so perhaps you all could make a suggestion please?

Also I have added another photo of my latest creation in progress. I have called it 'coloured voids'. I am going to put it away until I go to visit my good friend up north so she can help me with colour placement etc. I hope you are all having a good week. It has just started raining again here in Brisbane. Have a great weekend, cheers and blessings, Julie

Oh dear...retail therapy, I just can't help myself

I knew Spotlight had some quilting fabric on special this week, so while I was out getting some prescriptions from the chemist, I decided to pop in and see what I could find. Oh dear, I found some interesting fabrics that will make some quilts that I have been wanting to do. I also found some cute fabric to make myself a new set of oven mitts as the ones I use now would have to be at least 10 years old and are burned and ripped etc. So over then next few weeks, I guess I have found myself some work to do in my studio and I will make sure I share my projects with all you lovely ladies. Cheers and blessings, Julie

Feeling better and getting some sewing done

Finally today I have started to feel like I am getting over this cold. It ended up turning into a mild flu over the weekend. Anyhow, today I decided to put the borders on my latest creation. It has come up rather nice and now joins the pile of other quilt tops waiting to be quilted.

Over the weekend while looking around the Internet at quilty things, I discovered a very nice quilt that I can see sitting on my bed. So today I started to cut out the pieces and have also started on row one just to see what it will look like with my chosen fabrics. So far I like it and can't wait until I have more done to get a better idea.

I hope you are all well and happy, cheers and blessings, Julie

Getting over a cold and pasta making

Last week I came down with a cold and spent 3 days in bed as I was already feeling down after having to finish work 3 weeks ago for other health reasons.

Anyway, today I decided I felt OK enough to venture into the kitchen. At first I decided to put a nice burgundy stew into my slow cooker and then I decided to make some yummy home made pasta. I am however, going to save my pennies and buy myself an electric pasta machine to save time and to prevent me working up a sweat turning the handle on my manual one.

The glass of wine in the photo is for medicinal purposes only...and if you believe that, then I could tell you anything, right? cheers once again

I hope you have all had a nice weekend and are keeping well and happy. Cheers and blessings, Julie

My long weekend continued (blogger is playing up)

Yesterday I went to visit one of my granddaughters, Miss Chelsea. She is walking very well now (11 months old) and does not sit still long enough for photos as you can see by her blurred image here with my son Brent and her mother Nicole.



Princess Mia came for a visit last night with her mummy (my daughter Melissa-Sue). She loves to take a bath at my place as she only has a shower recess at her mummy's house. After much splashing and playing, it was time to get out and get warm and dressed. Mia (10 months old) has decided she would like to come for regular sleep overs at my house. We will have fun going on adventures and visiting her Great gran on the Gold Coast.


I hope you all (Australian ladies) had a wonderful long weekend. Mine was full of family, friends and relaxing times. Cheers and blessings Julie

My long weekend

I took some time out over the long weekend and went to visit a dear friend of mine out in the country. We had decided to have a mini retreat sewing. I took 2 quilts that needed binding so they can migrate to their new owners and I also took the blocks I had made for my ex mother in law (nice lady) and decided it was time to put the quilt top together. With the help of my home-made trusty block and row markers, and help from my friend and her daughter, we had the blocks sorted into pleasing rows and marked in no time. I managed to get the top put together and have decided it does not need borders, so it is on the 'waiting list' for the quilter next time I head down to my mums. I also ran up a couple of twisted purses. They are fun and easy to make and I have included the instructions here for you.


Twisted Pouch Purse

Machine quilt a square about 9 - 10" in size and attach a 7" zipper to two parallel edges forming a tube. Then stitch the side ends closed. On one end, the zipper needs to be centered with the first seam and on the other end it forms the edge of the seam. Don't forget to leave the zipper open so you can turn it right side out when done.

I just LOVE eBay

I have been looking for some folding bar stools for my studio and never thought I would find any that folded so I could pop them out of the way when not in use. As usual, I turned to eBay to see what was around and started bidding on some bar stools. In the end I won this pair of folding stools for only $9.99 that are just perfect for what I needed.


I also have been looking for a large quantity of zippers to use in bags for My Market Stall and on eBay once again I found this bag of 100 assorted colours and sizes and won them for only $18.95.


I also went searching for some Pandora beads. I won these 50 mixed glass lamp work beads for only $12.50 and these 20 Tibetan silver beads for only $4.50 including postage. The beads are yet to arrive, but I have faith they will be here soon so I can enjoy making new things with them.


Has anyone else been lucky to get some real bargains on eBay? I have been selling and buying on eBay for a while now and always seem to find what I want and sell for a good price.

I hope everyone is looking forward to a good weekend. I will be attending the Textile Art Festival on Sunday with my mother, and hope to find some bargains there too.

Cheers and blessings
Julie

My New(ish) Studio

Does anyone remember this post? The HUGE tidy out of 2009

Well, as I briefly mentioned in a recent post, I have reclaimed back what was used as a lounge room in our tiny little house (no one used it once I had cable TV cut off because I never got to watch it and paid for that privilege?). So I gutted it and sent said TV off to my bedroom to live along with the DVD player and one sofa (I swapped my bedroom with what was meant to be a lounge room over 18 months ago because I wanted more room and turned my bedroom into the lounge room...complicated, I know, but it worked for us) So what was my bedroom, then a lounge room has now been turned into MY Studio.

Yes it does look a tad messy and overcrowded, BUT it is only me and perhaps one or two invited friends that will occupy this space at any given time....well who else is going to help me drink from that lil green bottle on my sewing table?

As you can see, my studio is packed with many things. I have my computer desk in there, sewing table, cutting table, craft table (complete with current project in early stages) and of course various storage containers and a leather sofa to take the weight off, sip the wine and watch the paint dry on the craft table.

Those ornate Bali style storage cabinets x 2 that you can see are full of glasses and crockery I do not use and books and trinkets from my various travels....I am toying with the idea to pack them away, give them away, hide them under a bushel, whatever and use said cabinets for more storage thus clearing up some more floor space etc.

I am excited to have my Studio, as it is the first time I have had what I deem 'my space' to hang out in that I do not have to share with anyone unless I choose to.

I would love to see your studios, allocated space too, so get busy and post some photos.

cheers and blessings
Julie


PS As usual, click on the photos to see them larger :)

Looks Like I Have Worked out Blog Land

Hi everyone, I was rather stressed this morning when I last posted. This evening it seems that I have worked out how to change my template in blogger and still keep the items on the left hand side. I have been able to retrieve all my favorite blog sites and I have found a pretty background that is 'just me'.

I hope to add more items of a quilting nature soon as I am hoping to change my work hours to suit my lifestyle and needs.

Blessings to you all
Julie

OH DEAR...look what happened!!

I was playing around with my blog settings trying to get a pretty background. Some how along the way I must have saved some settings and now I am stuck with this back ground and have lost all my wonderful contacts. I did not realise that setting a new background also sets a new format to the outlay.

Could all the wonderful ladies who either follow my blog, or were on my favorite blog list, please send me some type of contact so I can add you all back again?

I am still to find the perfect background, but when I do my page will look pretty again.

Thanks ladies and blessings
Julie

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY & High Tea

I would like to wish all the mothers reading today a Happy Mothers day for tomorrow.

I hope you all have a wonderful day.

I took my own mother out today to celebrate and our first stop was a morning tea of lemon meringue pie and raspberry baked cheesecake and coffee at the Coffee Club at Robina Town Centre. YUM

Lunch was high Tea at The Old Teahouse Gallery and afternoon tea was ice cream at the local McDonald's. We had the best time here, as you can see with our little stand full of goodies.

We then headed off to the local fabric shop to see what we could find to build up our quilt stash. Usually when we shop together, we buy half a metre and share it. Today, as you can see, we forgot to stop ourselves putting more and more bolts onto the counter. We both went home with nearly 2 dozen fat quarters. Did we have fun? YES we sure did. I also bought my mother a beautiful Gerbra plant so she can have flowers most of the year round.

From This...To This...For This

I was out at my local flea market Sunday morning getting the usual fruit and veg when I stumbled across this room divider/screen and knew it would make a neat & compact design wall for my sewing room. (I must post some photos of my new sewing/office room...I confiscated back the lounge room which no one used anymore) I paid only $5.00 for it and struggled it back to my car and headed over to Spotlight to pick up some flannelette to cover one side of it. So far it is a work in progress, as I bought about 50cm too less flannelette and will need to come up with some handy dandy way to finish off the top and bottom edges. However for now it will serve it's purpose and folds neatly in three behind my sewing room door.

FROM THIS

TO THIS

FOR THIS

I got one quilted over the long weekend

I headed down to my mothers house on the Gold Coast with great intent of getting at least 4 quilt tops from my stash quilted. However the quilting machine had other ideas and kept breaking it's thread every 10 inches or so. So it was slow going just to get one quilt top done. Anyhow, I think it turned out pretty good and it will be a gift to my sons girlfriend for her birthday in July.

Other than that, I went to visit one of my dear friends in the country town of Canungra and spent the most wonderful day with her just looking at the surrounding hills and watching the clouds roll in bringing an afternoon shower of rain. My mother came back home with me Sunday arvo and we visited Miss Chelsea on our way through from the Coast. We also had Princess Mia stay over night Sunday and spent some quality time together which we both love to do.

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter and stayed safe. I look forward to seeing your photos too.

Cheers and Blessings, Julie

Catch up on last weekend...where do the days go??

Well as promised last weekend, I am posting some photos of my other granddaughter Miss Chelsea. She is nearly 9 months old now and is a lovely little girl full of smiles and cuddles.

Also last weekend, I started on a long awaited quilt for my ex-mother in-law. (Yes we get along just fine) She asked for African animals and prints etc. So after searching through my stash, she found these found these fabrics, which I decided would look good as cobble stones. Well after a couple of hours of cutting and sewing, I came to realise there was not enough of any one fabric to be able to make it uniform in any way, so here is the result...patchy, mixed, but pretty. I have made 49 blocks and will add borders of about 6 inches or so. I know she will like it, as she tends to like things not to 'order' or 'form'. This weekend I have laid it out on my bed and with the help of my new find the Block Monitor, I will have it together by this afternoon all going well.

I will post another photo of it as time progresses. I hope you are all having fun sewing and making things for your loved ones. I only wish I have more time to do so these days.

Cheers and blessings, Julie

Game Over

I am ending this giveaway comp early as my days are getting busier and busier at work. I hope you all enjoyed it and for those of you who took part and guessed correctly, I hope you enjoyed your prizes. (I know Zlaty & Kerry did)

Just for the record, the last photo was taken standing next to the famous Loch Ness in Scotland. No one was able to guess. That's a shame as I still had some really pretty fabric to give away and heaps of mags to thin out from my collection....so perhaps I will start a give away again after Easter.

Loch Ness (Scottish Gaelic: Loch Nis) is a large, deep, freshwater loch in the Scottish Highlandsextending for approximately 37 km (23 miles) southwest of Inverness. Its surface is 15.8 metres (52 ft) above sea level. Loch Ness is best known for the alleged sightings of the legendary Loch Ness Monster, also known as "Nessie".

It is connected at the southern end by the River Oich and a section of the Caledonian Canal to Loch Oich. At the northern end there is the Bona Narrows which opens out into Loch Dochfour, which feeds the River Ness and a further section of canal to Inverness. It is one of a series of interconnected, murky bodies of water in Scotland; its water visibility is exceptionally low due to a high peat content in the surrounding soil.

Loch Ness is the second largest Scottish loch by surface area at 56.4 km² (21.8 sq mi) after Loch Lomond, but due to its great depth it is the largest by volume. Its deepest point is 230 m (754 ft), deeper than the height of London's BT Tower at 189 m (620 ft) and deeper than any other loch with the exception of Loch Morar. It contains more fresh water than all lakes in England and Wales, and is the largest body of water on the Great Glen Fault, which runs from Inverness in the north to Fort William in the south. combined

I wish you all a safe and happy Easter and I will be back with more Quilty posts I hope after Easter.

Blessings to you all from Julie

PS. Just sharing some photos of one of my Granddaughters...Princess Mia (AKA Mia)

I am going to see my other granddaughter Miss Chelsea (AKA Chelsea) today, so I will post some up to date photos of her over the weekend.

Standing with my mummies help and Getting my photo taken with my grandma

One more hint for last weeks 'Where am I"?

I am standing by a lake...or could that be be a loch? in Scotland? So, ladies, put on your thinking caps and see who is the first to guess where I am

I just wanted to share a photo of my granddaughter Mia (AKA Princess Mia) I was on baby sitting duties Friday night and all day Saturday. She loves her swing at my place and squeals with laughter when I push her higher higher grandma...

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

Yes I am indeed on the Eiffel Tower in Paris....Congratulations Coral, I will send your parcel of 2 fat quarters and magazine soon.

The Eiffel Tower (French: Tour Eiffel, /tuʀ ɛfɛl/) is an iron tower built on the Champ de Mars beside the Seine River in Paris. The tower has become a global icon of France and is one of the most recognizable structures in the world.

Named after its designer, engineer Gustave Eiffel, the Eiffel Tower is the tallest building in Paris. More than 200,000,000 people have visited the tower since its construction in 1889, including 6,719,200 in 2006, making it the most visited paid monument in the world. Including the 24 m (79 ft) antenna, the structure is 324 m (1,063 ft) high (since 2000), which is equivalent to about 81 levels in a conventional building.

Well, good luck with this weeks photo. Let's see who can guess it in record time? Only one small hint for this week...I am somewhere in the UK. Don't forget you need to tell me where I am exactly to be a winner.


Cheers from Julie (who is wondering if working full time is really a good thing or not?)

Click on the photo to see it larger

Finally at last, I reveal where I am...

It looks like no one was able to work it out?

I am at the entrance of the Pyramid of Cheops in Giza Egypt -

The interior of the pyramid can also be seen, but the visit is fatiguing (lack of fresh air) and not particularly rewarding. The entrance is by a passage on the north side which was cut by tomb-robbers some 50ft/15m below the original entrance. This narrow tunnel leads into the Grand Gallery, a long passage (28ft/8.5m high, 37.5ft/12.25m wide, 154ft/47m long), a marvel of skillful masonry, beyond which is the tomb chamber (19ft/5.75m high, 34ft/10.50m long, 17ft/5.25m wide), containing the open, empty granite sarcophagus. The mummy has not been found.

This tunnel is only about 1.5 metres square and has walking traffic going both up and down at the same time!! The day we visited it was over 40 degrees Celsius by 9.30am and by the time we made it down the tunnel inside the Pyramid, is was over 50 degrees Celsius. Amazing tour, but oh so hot.

NOW for this weeks photo...

I stood in the rain to 3 hours waiting to get to this place...
I was determined I was going to see this view

I hope you all have a try at guessing this weeks photo...
I will give a hint and say that it is in a city known for it's romance...good luck and cheers from Julie

This weeks where am I? And the winner is ??? nobody???

Wow I must have made it too hard for you all? No one even tried to guess where this weeks photo was taken??

I have had a really busy week, so I will leave this photo up for another week to see if anyone works it out.

I will also give a hint...it is taken on the continent of Africa.

Cheers from Julie

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

First to guess correctly where last weeks photo was taken was ZLATY from Zlaty Sews

Congratulations. Yes, I am indeed at the Forbidden City in China. For those of you who like to know what it is...

The Imperial Palace (Forbidden City) Beijing, China. The Forbidden City Bronze Urn In The Courtyard Of The Hall Of Supreme Harmony Taihe Dian.

Built from 1406 to 1420, the complex consists of 980 surviving buildings with 8,707 bays of rooms and covers 720,000 square metres (7,800,000 square feet). The palace complex exemplifies traditional Chinese palatial architecture, and has influenced cultural and architectural developments in East Asia and elsewhere. The Forbidden City was declared a World Heritage Site in 1987, and is listed by UNESCO as the largest collection of preserved ancient wooden structures in the world.

Since 1924, the Forbidden City has been under the charge of the Palace Museum, whose extensive collection of artwork and artifacts were built upon the imperial collections of the Ming and Qing dynasties. Part of the museum's former collection is now located in the National Palace Museum in Taipei. Both museums descend from the same institution, but were split after the Chinese Civil War. The outer city contained important temple areas and residential space for the commoners. Huge brass urns like these were used to collect water for - surprise, surprise - firefighting purposes! I guess their civil defence officers then were pretty strong to lift these back breakers!

So, Zlaty, if you contact me via email and give me your address, I can ship your fat quarters and mag to you ASAP, congratulations once again !!This weeks photo is a bit more challenging I hope. First to guess wins 2 fat quarters and a quilting mag. Good luck and have a great week. Julie

(PS. I have covered the faces of the other people to protect their privacy)

Click on the photo to see it larger

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.