A New Arrival

My step sister and her partner welcomed little Mason Graham Geoffrey into the world yesterday afternoon. They are located in Melbourne and I can't wait to get down there and meet the little man! They are relocating back to Sydney in the not too distant future and I can't wait!

I predicted a boy so was delighted when he popped out as I had already started work on this - a kit from Fat Quarter Shop - "Road Trip". A cute little quilt that I hope she will use in the pram.

I did it!

OK so it might just be the top, but at least Mum will know it is on the way to her, sometime soon! Seriously I need quilting opinions....

Please excuse the photos, I am tired and was trying to take the pics before the dog got his big clod hoppers onto it!

A Productive Day.

The house is tidy, dinner is simmering away on the stove top, Zeus has been across to the park for a run and a quick walk around the block,the washing is folded and has been put away, half hour helping out in Zoe's classroom this morning, the swimming bag is packed for lessons this afternoon and some sewing on Mum's 60th birthday quilt. Yikes, it is her birthday tomorrow. After a workout tonight, I plan to finish the top off so I can wrap it and give it to her tomorrow night (before quickly snatching it back so it can be finished). I think all will be forgiven when we tell her that my sister and I are taking her our for a meal and to see WICKED in a couple of weeks time!

I am not sure on this quilt, Mum will love the fabrics but I am not so keen on them myself, except for the butterfly print which I think is very pretty.. The question of quilting, do I get it professionally done or hand quilt it? Opinions please! I had thought about trying FMQ out for the first time but I am not feeling brave enough yet!

It has been a day filled with domesticity and I have loved it. I intend to be this organised more often!

Rain, Rain, Go Away....

3 fine days in 2 1/2 weeks and we are over it....

Dr Harry 's latest house call.

We adore Zeus, he is an integral part of our family, he is our 3rd child. We have spent many precious moments with him since he joined our family 2 years ago.

When he was about 3-4 months old, he started to chase his tail. Compulsively, obsessively. We thought it was silly puppy behaviour and that he would just grow out of it. He didn't. He has ruined our backyard, the grass is all churned up. It is like he goes into a trance and we can't break it. He only does it in our backyard and a friends backyard. He does not do it when is on a lead, walking, at the dog park, with other dogs.

He gets plenty of exercise and we have a very bushy backyard, he has a huge amount of interaction with the family, and he spends a great deal of time inside. He is a German Shepherd and with all those listed things, he should not get bored.
His tail chasing is not about boredom, it is something in his brain that is now hard wired.

We have tried many things to help Zeus stop. Citrus sprays, more exercise, treasure hunts, professional training, it all got very hard, time consuming and frustrating. In the end we thought it was just something he was always going to do. We are about to do a home renovation and I complained that we would never have a decent backyard whilst we had Zeus. I had a real love/hate relationship with him for weeks. I knew we had to do something.

In the end, I emailed Dr Harry of Better Homes and Gardens.

Yesterday Dr Harry paid us a house call. I was a nervous wreck. The man himself and the whole crew were just a delight. They made it very easy to enjoy the whole process. Zeus didn't get stage fright (or star struck) and went round and round and they were able to get the fottage they needed. I was so relieved to see that Dr Harry was more concerned about Zeus and his behaviour than just making good TV. He gave us much of time off camera, he answered our many questions. He was fabulous with the kids. We all went to the park across the road so they could see and film Zeus' normal behaviour as opposed to his abnormal behaviour.

Sadly Zeus needs to go on drugs for about 6 months to rewire his brain. We were already doing all the right things for him but now we just need to ramp up the intensity. Our boy should be "fixed" in the not too distant future. We look forward to the day that we can utilise our back yard for all of us. We look forward to our beautiful boy having normal behaviour at all times.

Now...the embarassing opart is that we will be on TV in the next 6-8 weeks....

I LOVE Suprises.

Last Friday my lovely husband returned from a 10 day business trip. I have been wishing for a DSLR for a couple of years now so imagine my suprise when out of the suitcase came this little baby, plus a camera bag, and a 32GB memoray card. That memory will allow for some serious photo taking!!

I am absolutely delighted. I have the best husband in the world!

My Boy...

Dull and Dreary

We have only 2 days of sunshine in the past 2 weeks - starting to feel soggy and a little bit of cabin fever. I am missing my morning walks with the dog - we are doing a quick one around the block so he can stretch his legs...only taking about 20 minutes at a time, usually we walk for 40-60 minutes every morning!

This is the view from my study just now, the rain has stopped but it has been intermittent and very heavy all day. Sigh!

Today was spent being domesticated, cleaning, dusting, vacuuming, mopping, washing and tidying. 10 minutes on the sofa to read my book though was required. I have had a lifelong love of Olivia Newton john, so when I saw this book I had to grab it and I am enjoying it.

Soggy Sydney + Supplies

It has been a dreary few days here in Sydney, the rain has been relentless! I took the boy out for a walk this afternoon when it slackened off a bit, but we both still managed to get drenched. About 20 minutes into the walk he looked up at me as if to say "please take me home right now, crazy lady" - so we headed home to the dry and the warm!

This afternoon on the way to day care pickup, I stopped in at officeworks to grab a few supplies for my Art Journalling experience! There was not a whole lot to choose from but I managed to grab a few yummy bits and pieces.

Wet Day ... Friday... Fun Day!

A stormy afternoon, Miss 3 curled up on the rocking chair watching a DVD, one big dog flopped at her feet, Miss 5 at school....aaah, there is washing to be folded, ironing to be done, an Art Journal class to begin plus a multitude of other choices - but I think a test drive of my new sewing cabinet is the way to while away the next couple of hours before pick up....

Happy Mothers Day To Me!

My present from my beautiful girls and my darling husband, kindly assembled by my lovely father in law who is here visiting from Ireland.

Horn Sovereign Mark II cabinet....my next PIF is sat on top of it about to have some more work done on it!

Needless to say I am very excited and am looking forward to setting all my things up on it and in it and using it going forward.

Happy Mothers Day to you, have a fabuous day. I am looking forward to a relaxing day spending time with the 3 people I love most in the world!

Rayelle's Fence - Block C-3

4 blocks down - 221 to go.

Mind the stray threads - needs trimming! It could also do with a proper iron...

Moving Right Along....

Onto my Mum's 60th birthday quilt. I have until the 3rd week of June, so "should" be ok with this one!

I am going to use these 2 blocks in the quilt - the centre will remain the same with each border changing within this pattern. I will then frame it with Michael Millers Fairy Frost in khaki, a butterflyy border and the binding in the Fairy Frost. I am even going to give FMQ a whirl on it! Don't you think the butterfly fabric is just divine?

Better get back to cutting whilst I still have time, before I have to leave to do pickups and park plays!

3 down, don't want to think about how many more there are to go...

Tonight I sewed up my next 2 Dear Janes blocks - B13 Four Corner Press and A8 Florence Nightingale. I love the Green fabric in the Florence Nightingale block.

A life changing read, a remarkable story of courage and adversity

Back in February, Dave headed off to San Diego for a conference. This is not unusual...our family regularly farewells him off to a fabulous destination, usually for him to stay in a fabulous hotel and see not alot of the great city or place he is in, but to network, mingle, usually drink a fair amount ~;)~ and learn about his industry. The conversations upon his return about the trip are more often than not quite similar. However this conference has left a profound mark in his heart. The key note speaker was Nando Parrado, the incredible man who walked out of the Andes after 72 days in the mountains after a plane he was travelling in crashed. According to Dave, my man who is nicknamed "the machine" for his lack of showing emotion, there was not a dry eye in the room as Nando told his story, this included Dave. At the end of the presentation, everyone was given Nando's book "Miracle in the Andes". What a story, what a read. It truly is a remarkable story and hits home on the way we should be living our lives. It has made me want to dig deeper into myself, strengthen my relationships and bonds with those who matter most to me, I want to learn to love more and better, to see and understand more about life and what is truly important. A wonderful read and the best I have had in a long time! It comes highly recommended, by me!



The following is taken from Nando's website, here.

In October 1972, a plane carrying an Uruguayan rugby team crashed in the Andes. Not immediately rescued, the survivors turned to cannibalism to survive and after 72 days were saved. Rugby team member Parrado has written a beautiful story of friendship, tragedy and perseverance. High in the Andes, with a fractured skull, eating the flesh of his teammates and friends, Parrado calmly ponders the cruelties of fate, the power of the natural world and the possibility of continued existence. "I would live from moment to moment and from breath to breath, until I had used up all the life I had." Parrado, who for the past 10 years has been giving inspirational talks based on his experiences, lost his mother and sister in the crash. Struggling to stay alive, his guide becomes his beloved father: "each [stride] brought me closer to my father... each step I took was a step stolen back from death." More than a companion to the 1970s bestselling chronicle of the disaster, Alive, this is a fresh, gripping page-turner that will satisfy adventure readers, and a complex reflection on camaraderie, family and love.

How the Experience Affected Me - Nando Parrado
Time, a very good healer, has a put a veil over my worst memories and sorrows. I now remember the most awful parts of our ordeal almost as though I had read about them in a book.
But when I first returned I realized that the Andes had affected me more than I thought. I saw there was no way to pretend it had not happened, and I tried to learn from the experience. This changed my life dramatically.

My familiy life was destroyed when my mother and sister died in the accident. When I returned home, I had the strange experience of observing what would have happened if I actually had died. Arriving at my house almost three months after the crash, I found that my clothes had been given away, my room taken by my elder sister, who had moved in with her family, my posters and photographs had been removed from the walls, and my motorbike had been sold. There was no trace of me, except for some photograhps in the living room and in my father´s study.
A couple of days after my return, I went to the same pizza place that I used to frequent before the accident. All the young people were astonished to see me. They asked for autographs, and the owner did not charge me. I was the same person, but something had changed in the way everybody saw me.

Before the crash my mind was filled with my studies in business administration, but as soon as I came back I found that I had to exchange my studies for everyday work. Our family business organization had nearly been destroyed, since my mother had taken care of half the work. When you are young, you feel immortal. There is nothing that can modify or destroy you. Through our painful experience I learned that life is linked to death, that these are the only realities of our existence. You are born and you will die someday… In between, nobody knows. There are some things I have thought deeply about over the years, my thoughts influenced by the Andes experience. I am sure it is the same for the other survivors. These things are: FAMILY, CONFIDENCE and FRIENDSHIP.

All through the seventy-two days we spent in the mountains, there was absolutely nothing to which we could attach ourselves. Everything had lost its meaning. There was no future, no hope. Studies, work, material things: nothing had any value.


But omnipresent in everyone was the need of family affection. Our desire to feel secure in a family and our need to feel and give the love of a family were the only things that kept us going. So now, after having experienced a human situation where our limits of physical and mental suffering were constantly reached and even exceeded, I have come to understand that FAMILY is what made us survive.

Our lives honor this fact. I am extremely happy just to be able to put my daughters to bed every night. This realization has not taken away from my work or “success” in life. I am the CEO of six companies, but ther is no business meeting or commercial activity that I would not exchange for the moments of hapiness I have had with Veronique and my children.
I have learned that moments do not repeat themselves, but the next time I am dying I know what I will be remembering: my affections and love, not my businesses, cars, contracts, bank loans, earnings, faxes, airports…
Another thing I am certain was influenced by the Andes experience was my personal CONFIDENCE.
I have been able to make decisions quite easily in many aspects of life and work because of something that happened in the mountains.

When I was at the top of an 18.000-foot peak with Roberto Canessa, looking at the vast scenery of snowy peaks surrounding us, we knew we were going to die.

There was absolutely no way out.

We then decided how we would die: we would walk towards the sun and the west. It was better than freezing at the top. This decision took us scarcely thirty seconds. Other decision taken later in life seemed no more difficult than deciding about my own death.

I have gained confidence in myself, a quiet tranquility that has given me a better perception of the world around me. Making decisions became easier because I knew that the worst thing that could happen would be that I would be wrong. Compared to what I had gone through, that was nothing.

Finally there is the value of FRIENDSHIP, of our feeling of affection and love. It was deeply moving to see young boys helping their friends in ways they could not have imagined, even risking and giving their lives for each other. Frienship was a major factor in our chances to survive and, after we managed to rescue ourselves, we made our friendship with each other an important part of our lives. Sometimes I ask myself why people need to experience extreme situations to understand the real values of life. These values are so clear and so near us, yet we rush by them looking for the “important” things. The warmth of my daughters´s embrace at night when I put them to bed or the quiet presence of my wife, Veronique, near me - moments that will not be repeated-,these are the important, enduring values.

Love Knots

The Love Knots quilt I have been working on for my lovely friend Mel is finally finished! Wa-la...! Now to wash, label, snip any stray threads and to send it down to Ulladulla to her. I love it, and hope she does too.

Next on the list is Mum's quilt for her 60th birthday in June....here is the fabric..tomorrow I will decide what I am going to do with it!

And I must remember to bind the monsters Quilt for Ciára...

The Force of Nature

There was a buzz in our house last night. Dave's dad, the kids much loved Grandad was heading down under for a 3 week visit from Ireland, supposed to arrive early tomorrow morning. We woke to the unfortunate news this morning that his flight had been cancelled. Needless to say we are all feeling a little bummed out!

A volcano in Iceland has erupted and brought flights around the world to a halt - airports are closed throughout Europe, planes are stranded in Asia and there are delays elsewhere. The National Geographic reports that "Aviation authorities have taken the highly unusual measure because tiny particles of rock, glass, and sand in the volcanic ash cloud could potentially jam jet engines."

All the technology in the world can not compete against the sheer force of nature.

Hoping Grandad is not delayed too long, as we can't wait to see him!

Dear Jane is go - Uncle Homer DONE!!!

Yay!!!

Siobhan's Quilt - CHECK!!

One more quilt from my big long list completed, and only 18 months after she was born....whoops. Following are front and back shots.



Now, I am moving onto start my Dear Jane quilt finally. Just the first block, so don't get too excited! I hope to get it cut out today, and sewn tomorrow. We'll see!

And then this, Ciára's Monster Snuggle Quilt - the equivalent of Zoe's Dora Snuggle Quilt recently finished! The girls each chose their own panels so it goes to show how different my girls are! The monsters are fun though, and makes for a nice change from Dora, Barbie or Disney Princesses that seem to be all the rage in this house at the moment!

D-D-D-D-Dora!!

Just so you know I am not a complete NQ fraud - and even though it almost doesn't qualify as a home made quilt here is the final product. Zoe is delighted and despite the humidity of an evening insists on wrapping herself up in it of a night.

And also the progress report on the handquilting of Siobhan's quilt...it is slowly getting there! This quilt is so simple but I really love it!

Big school is go!

Today my precious first born, Zoe, started school!! My darling I am so proud of you and how you handled your first day! I was delighted by how excited you were about this next stage in your life. I was in awe of how composed you were and just how happy you were to be there. I love you Zoe Pops xxx

Nanny's Quilt - first completed quilt in 2010 - or is it?

This quilt has been a long time in the finishing. I did the quilt top in January last year for my lovely Nanny. It was finished in a hurry to give to her sometime later in the year, with no handquilting done and a dodgy binding. When we were out there before Christmas (she lives 3 1/2 hours away from us) I took it back and have redone the binding and handquilted the 30-something blocks on it. So even though it was finished in 2009, it was REALLY completed in 2010, so do I count it as my first 2010 quilt??? Anyway, Here is the finished result straight out of the dryer - i love how the dryer just crinkles everything up on a quilt, makes em so more loveable! I really must spend some time working out photoshop so my photos are not so dark and dreary looking!

Happy New Year!

Wishing you a Happy and Healthy, Successful + Creative 2010.

I plan to spend a whole lot more time being creative this year...and to get to 50 books in 2010.

Summer nights in Sydney..

Nothing beats the Opera Bar with a glass of bubbles and good friends! Top it off with a fabulous meal at Guillaume and a wonderful night was had....

Some day soon there will be a post about sewing, and no-one will believe it!

Secret Santa Stash

I received this lovely gift from Kirsty from EB Newbie Quilters for my SS gift. I just love it all, especially the divinely smelling soaps, thanks Kirsty xxx

The Birthday Party Girl

Yesterday we celebrated Zoe's 5th Birthday...it is not her birthday until 31st December but decided to have the party and then have a quiet family celebration on the day. I actually baked her cake...not even with a packet mix!! Just call me Martha Stewart - LOL! It was delicious and I got loads of compliments so I was delighted! We also had our favourite entertainer Fairy Fun, come along to look after the kidlets - they all had a ball!

Meet Vespa

The carwash we use is fantastic, not only do they do a great job washing the cars, they have a fantastic cafe with a kids area. Meet Vespa - he lives at the car wash. So many times we have been lucky enough to meet and pat him but today I actually had the camera with me. Zoe, as with everything was very cautious and admired him from a distance. Ciára however went in with her usual gusto for a close up hello and a pat!

Christmas Tree Tradition

We have a little tree from when we lived in a unit, this is the 3rd Christmas in our house and still we haven't bought a huge big new tree like we always planned, must be too attached to this one.

Our tree is very eclectic...and daggy! We have collected ornaments over the years on our travels so it tells a bit of a story for our family. This year the girls made 12 new baubles - we had so much fun doing it!

My mum joins us when we can to put the tree up and decorate it. It seems to have become a bit of a tradition over the past 4-5 years that she actually puts it up and decorates it, first it was just with Zoe and now with both the girls!
Here we are with the finished result last Sunday afternoon!
And here's Zoe + Ciára with some of their handiwork last week, making the new baubles.

Hoping to get some sewing posts in here over the next few weeks, time seems to be scarce at the moment and I haven't touched anything quilty for a week or two now! So Sad!