double doh??? more like HOLY CRAP!!!

You know what? at school, I know you wouldn't know it, but I LOVED MATHS!!! a LOT.. yep, super nerd here!... but today, I was sitting, doing some of my bendigo charm square quilt and I had an epiphany... I can't add up.. nope.. I just realised that setting the quilt out this way, although looks lovely, and if I use ALL of the charms this way on the front, my quilt will be over 100" square.. now, I have been known to bugger miscalculate making quilts before (who could forget the cobblestone epic that was supposed to be 50x50" but ended up over 80" square) but 100"???? oh my LORDY! what a catastrophe.. I have been sitting here for the past hour, musing over what to flippin' do about this hiccup!... *sigh*.. I have cut all the fabric, and it is stacked ever so neatly in its wee tub.. but sheesh whats a girl to do? I have a 4" square and a 4" x 1" finished rectangle as well as two 1" squares.. I might have to do a negative of the block I have already done, and use the 55 x 6" squares already made for a border?? bugger was about the tamest word I used! I also getting large quilts professionally quilted, well 100" plus I'd need to mortgage the house or sell a kid to pay for it!!!!

You know, while I was sitting there.. my second epiphany was... why didn't I think of this sooner??? I am, after all, adding about 3m's of unbleached muslin for the background HOW DUMB CAN YOU BE???? I had to race to the quilt shop to buy what was left CAUSE I WAS RUNNING OUT!!!!! DOH!!!!!

I think I'll have to lash out and make myself a dunce cap, cause possums, this week I will need to wear it a LOT..

Have a busy week planned this week.. Missy Moo has ballet exams in the morning.. then a costume fitting after school.. I have a busy day at work (ok who am I kidding? I have a day at work LOL)

Well I am off to sulk and figure out what the stuff I am going to do with all these charms I have cut up!


Lissa
wearing dunce cap!!!

DOH!! doh!! and double Doh!!!

Now I know I have a lot of fabric... and I usually remember WHAT I have.. but... does it mean the stash it out of control when you buy fabric you already own??? I have done this a couple of times before, but sheesh I did it again... TWICE this week! But do NOT worry readers, there is no fabric that is not welcome in this house (cept some of that Debbie Mumm stuffs I was in love with when I first started quilting... what was I thinking???)

Anyways thought I'd share a pic of some of the fabric that arrived this week... bet you can't guess what SORT of fabric it is??

if you guessed Brights?WRONG!!! its 30's of course! LOL

I just had to share this pic with you as well.. I am beginning to think I am turning into one of those crazy cat ladies??? well I knew I was crazy but this cat is a bastardpain in the patooty.. I got this little table at a garage sale for $2.. yes, $2.. I LOVE it.. Its looks like a 40's thing.. has smokey glass on the top (that HAS to go) and its painted white iron thingo.. I got it for a pot plant on the front verandah.. the base of it is super cute, as there is a star done in the iron as well.. Dags hates it, so it stays anyways! I thought I'd repaint it white and put it in my teeny weeny hall with some flowers etc.. In summer I used to have fresh roses in the house (until I went to NZ on holidays and bastard Dags redid the garden for me.... so no roses anymore.. but the gardenia's are still there (they are my favourite flower) and I thought hmm I wonder what the bastard lovely cat would do if there is a vase with flowers on a table in this house??? well I used PLASTIC flowers, no water in the vase and used an old vase.. well I soon found out.. Seems bastard lovely cats like snoozing on tables.. and when they are busted, well they give you the 'why are you even talking to me look'??? So the fresh flowers in the house this summer are going to be a no-go! oh well, I might have to invest in some lovely silk numbers instead!

Well I am off to find my sun room floor, apparently its under that fabric I have scattered out there.. if you dont hear from me for a week, send a search party!!!

Lissa

Happy Blogiversary to Me!

Today is my First Blogiversary! Hip Hip Hooray!!

Well a year has gone awful quick, considering I forgot I had a blog for a few months. It was only when someone said 'you know, you never put anything new on your blog'...

Well I haven't been up to a huge deal. I am head driver this week, taking Missy Moo to Starstruck (3500 kids performing 6 shows this week in Newcastle).. Its run by the NSW Dept of Education.. Kinda like Rock Eisteddfod but just local, I think its been around for 15 years now? Anyways the kids have fun, the parents are worn out from being chauffeur's but hey, thats the joys of being a parent..

I haven't been up to a HUGE deal of quilty stuffs this week. I did manage to add about 150 hexagons onto my grandmothers flower garden quilt, so I was pretty happy about that!

I have been a little bit naughty this week, I broke my self imposed 'fabric diet' this week.. *sigh* But whats a girl to do when she see's some fabric that she just has to have? Well she should show some restraint or willpower, but alas I have neither so the fabric I ordered online has started to arrive.. Oopsie! I ordered from three stores, so thats three times I have to beat Dags to the letterbox!

Mystery Quilt

Thought I'd share a pic of a mystery quilt I did a few years ago... I made the top in a day, had a quick two second class on 'how to stipple' at the quilt shop, and off I went. This quilt was pieced, quilted and bound in a week! I know I am odd but I dont mind binding quilts.. I can usually bind a large quilt in a night... The whole time I am doing the binding I am thinking I can start something new! I am trying to cull the UFO piles (yes there is more than one pile) this year, and I have decided not to start too many new things! LOL @ Me.. I have started a few things this year, but can happily say they are all finished (cept the signature quilt and the two BOM's I signed up for).. but hey, apart from that I have finished a quilts this year!

Ok thats enough from me tonight! I am off to cut out some more hexagons for a change!

Take care

Lissa

And the Great Unveiling!

well I thought I'd better put a pic up of my ATC's.. well a pic of AN ATC more like it.. I am not 100% sure about this, but it was good to try and like I said in an earlier post, I still have the L Plates on! So if you have some feedback, I'd sure love it! Praise or critique is most welcome! I used a red toile (from holy stash as was the binding), some 30's fabric, and used the embroidery thingy on my machine to embroider hearts.. I have had the machine for at least 3 years and never used any of the embroidery stitches on it..

Also, I did a 30's charm square swap (me swap 30's?? what will I ever do with those????) here is a pic of what I got back.. I LOVE 1930's fabrics, there could be a ring in or two amongst this lot, but there is always a home for fabric in this house.. what I'll do with them, well thats the milltion $$$ question.. Especially as I have LAST YEARS swap still in the baggie! oopsie!

I had to treck to work today and work at one of our branches.. now, I know I am spoiled.. one job is at the end of my street, and the other is in the next suburb.. well I had to go a whopping 40kms to work today in peak hour traffic and road work traffic.. was a wee bit late... and had to reprogram some spreadsheets and print off a tonne of quotes cause the spreadsheet was tampered with.. you know, the PIXIES come in and fiddle with them when the guys aren't at work.. of course I have LOCKED them, but stupid here told them the pass word so they unlock them and fiddle.. and fiddle a LOT.. so I am a bit pooped at the moment, when I was finished at the branch, had to go to the main office and deliver some stuffs and do a 'foreigny' for the boss.. *sigh* some days its tough being me! LOL I would hate to have to actually ever work hard! I did call into the 'S' word shop up at Rutherford to check out what they had in stock.. the only quilty fabric I liked was only available as a FQ.. why o why do they do this???? they IMPORT the FQ's, so they have all these FQ's but no meters of the same fabric.. I asked and the girlie said 'we didn't get that one'.. they have only been open for about 3 months now.. I walked out with NOTHING.. a quilter who couldn't find fabric??????? whats the world coming too????

ciao

Lissa

Woo Hoo

Missy Moo got some good news on Friday. She tried out for a selective primary school and got in! This is like a 'FAME' sorta of school, Performing Arts... to say she is ONE happy camper is an understatement.. just found out its a 1hr 20min bus trip to the school (its 20mins away by car) but we haven't decided definately if she is going. She thinks she is! She tried out for 6th Class, as we thought it would be easier to get to High School from there, rather than trying out for Yr 7 with a few hundred kids. They had 118 kids try out for 40 spots and of that 40, there were 30 kinders, so she did good!

Missy Moo (aged 10) is a mad tap dancer, jazz ballet and classical ballet dancer... She does eisteddfods for the tap only at this stage, but I am sure she'd like to do classical and jazz, but we just dont have the time (or the $$$'s), dancing is NOT a cheap sport! She also took up Gymnastics this year, so does that one day a week... My boys, well "the Beast" (also known as Mary) is fully into Skateboarding and has hair that is almost as long as his sisters (and hers is waist length).. he is loving himself sick at the moment! the middle monster is into talking the leg off an iron pot, now I didn't think chatterbox was a genetic thing but in our household it is! He loves Rugby League, played it one year, but the other kids were HUMUNGOUS compared to him, and he didn't look like he was having too much fun! So he wasn't interested last year and didn't mention it this year (PHEW)...

Just thought I'd share some pics of what I sew when I am not patchworking! Missy Moo's costumes have 1000's of sequins on them, so I am usually sewing on sequins! I actually dont mind doing sequins.. These are her first two costumes I made her, she looks so different now! Still has the gorgeous red hair happening, but has grown so much! I still have these, keep thinking I should whack them on ebay, but they are definately a labour of love, as i'll never get back what I put into them.. The slow costume was the first costume I made, ran out of sequins so I ended up doing a zig zag thing across the bottom, looked great on stage, the feathers were a pain in the bott bott.. the speed costume, was a monumental effort, the diamond shapes I sequinned on lookd great, but you couldn't really see them on stage! bugger!

Speed Costume - Waiting to go on! Slow Costume First Costume I made!

Well thats it from me... till next time of course!!!

How to Clean a toilet!

I just had to share this email I just got from a friend. Now I am a happy dog and cat owner, but this made me smile...

Instructions for Cleaning a toilet

1. Place 1/8th cup of animal shampoo into toilet bowl.

2. Take cat in your arms, and gently stroke it while slowly heading towards direction of toilet

3. At a suitable moment, throw cat into the toilet bowl, close the lid quickly and stand or sit on toilet lid.

4. The cat will now facilitate cleaning process and will process and generate foam required for toilet cleaning. You will know this process is happening by the noises cat is making.

5. After several minutes, flush the toilet. This will start the 'Power Wash' pre-wash, then flush again, for the main wash cycle.

6. Ask someone to open front door, and ensure that there is no one between toilet door AND front door.

7. Get off the toilet quickly and from a safe distance open the lid. The cat will dry naturally due to the speed that he leaves the house.

8. Cat and toilet are now clean.

I loved this, and I would love to know the author! so email me if you know!!

Now dont go dissing me about this, just thought I'd share a funny email. I love my b@stard at, and the dog has learnt to love him too..

Not much quilty happening here, did finish the binding on the lasagne quilt, still pondering a name for said quilt, and will get to the Bendigo Siggies this weekend.

Till next time...

Lissa

Quilt Show with a difference

As promised, here are some pics from our recent "Vibrator Quilt Challenge"... recap time... vibrating lunch pagers + hungry Quilters = jumpy quilters! when we get paged for our meal, we all jump as the pagers vibrate across the table causing a kerfuffle!

These are only a few of them... from left we have "Heather's Box - fits TWO pagers". Lisa's the "big O", Jan very classy leopard print number with a pinned on blue sporran, Pennie's "Blue Gum" (the pub we eat at is called the Blue Gum), but it was renamed "Ribbed for your pleasure" as she had made it into a sleeping bag for her vibrating pager and had quilted the back into ribs.. very tricky!

Next months challenge is to make an Artist Trading Card, out of Fabric.. I have made mine, but stupid here forgot to add the seam allowance, so its back to square one.. The challenge is to make two, keep one and swap the other, hence a collection according to my friend Lisa.. She thinks if you have two of anything its a collection!

Well we are back from Wellington NSW.. lovely place, but freezing cold! Missy Moo had a successful dance eisteddfod.. six dances, three firsts, two seconds and didn't place for her song & tap.. apparently you are supposed to sing in key and in time, fancy that??? I wasn't sure what was happening with the singing, but she had fun, and had a grin from ear to ear.. 750km's in two days for 20mins of dancing is a bit much, but the kid was happy and thats important isn't it??

I have done half the binding for my friends Lasagne Quilt, gotta think of a new name for it any hints? Its civil war repros, super scrappy, and scratching my head trying to think of a name for it. It is for my friends Birthday in a couple of weeks time.

Well thats it from me tonight, still tired after the drive yesterday! I dont know how truckies do it, the roads were appalling, maybe us 'city slickers' are spoiled with decent roads, but I couldn't beleive I was on a highway half the time with the size of the potholes. Lucky I took the big car and not the little one, I would of lost it in some of those potholes!

Take care....

You made What ?!?

Well here is a pic of said 'Vibrator Quilt'... just a rehash possums.. this was a challenge set out by one of the Syd-Scquilters Pennie... Now, before you go thinking 'what do these women get up to at their meetings?' I'll elaborate! The pub we have lunch at, has those wee pagers.. when your meal is ready, it vibrates and flashes.... last month, well the vibrating pagers cause a wee kerfuffle (dont you love that word?) and they 'danced' across the table as they vibrated. As there were probably 20-25 of us, a WHOLE lot of vibrations were happening! So Pennie set us a challenge to make a vibrator quilt.. hopefully those "kerfuffle causing vibrators" will stay put now! I have always wanted to do one of these, and Jodie @ Ric Rac (link to her blog is up there and it was in May) had a tutorial on how to... so off I went.. Now I know i'll never win any quilt competitions with this miniature quilt, its 6.5" square finished.. but I sure had some fun putting it together.. I called it "You Made WHAT??!" after two people had to ask me to repeat what I was making! Very funny! I think I might make another one of these in the future, I certainly have a stash of selvedges in this house! Thanks again Jodie for the tutorial on your site, much appreciated!!!

and success at last! Its amazing what you'll find when you TIDY UP.. I found five, yes FIVE tape measures.. that would suggest that only another 4 are M.I.A.! LOL I love the cow one, you pull its tail out and its the tape measure, very kitsch.. mum got it for me from one of her overseas jaunts!

I also have to brag. I never win anything.. NEVER.. I must enter every darn competition in every book and magazine that comes into the house.. well last month I entered a competition to win a Leanne Beasley book and guess what possums??? I WON!!! I would hate to think how much time and $$$'s I have spent over the years entering competitions but I finally won something! There is an AWESOME bag in this book and I am definately going to make it.. of course I'll have to go and buy some fabric and pellon and.... you know the drill.. might have to piece it and make it scrappy, I am still on the self imposed fabric diet at the moment, only trying to buy fabric to FINISH stuffs.. not start new stuffs!

Well the weather has turned again. Yesterday it must of been over 20C here (middle of winter), today its awful cool and raining.. but the rain is welcome!!

Happy Weekend to you all. I am off to attach some binding to the Lasagne Quilt! didnt' have quite enough binding so I am doing a two colour binding, probably will look crap, but at least the quilt will be finished!

Until next time...........

Lissa