Of Sketches and Bullies

Been trying to work out exactly what design I want to use with all those lovely fabrics I bought while at Wodonga.

I have an idea to piece a background in tone on tone whites and then applique in creams and bones. Been researching and sketching and have come up with a few ideas. Originally I wanted a butterfly perched on a dandelion and some pumpkin leaves and flowers around but found this was very cluttered so I dropped the dandelion.

Now I have come up with the butterfly on a pumpkin flower and a couple of leaves. This shows some of the fabrics I am trialling - thought the flower would need to be darker more orangy tones and the butterfly the softer tones. The leaves and vine would be more mid to dark tones.

Any suggestions would be appreciated. Not sure how big I will make it yet - possibly a little over life size (the sketch is B4 so just a little bigger) - and not sure whether to do needle turn or raw edge. I am leaning toward raw edge because of the amount of little pieces there are going to be. The ol' blanket stitch on the machine is my favourite stitch especially in the same colour as the fabric.

Bella has settled into the household really well. Fozzie is no longer afraid of her and they play together most of the day. Fozz gets a bit aggressive when food is involved but I feed them in separate rooms so as long as I don't give them food together we have eliminated that problem.

Bella is an absolute Diva! She really attacks poor Fozz and he ends up putting his foot on her to settle her down, no sure what he will do when she grows up! She alsodemands attention when she thinks you are ignoring her; and she also likes to sleep under my computer desk. So Fozz is under the workdesk and she is under the computer desk when they both decide they are too exhausted to play anymore.

Back Home

Well I am back home after my wonderful 9 days with my sister in Wodonga.

We both had a fabulous time although the weather was horrid - they were into there 3rd or 4th week of above average temps hovering around 40 and not a drop of rain in sight! The dam is down to 20% there and we in Sydney complain at our dam level.

Still the heat aside it was great. We spent 90% of the time scouring all the local patchwork shops - I have in mind a new quilt/wall hanging and it will be on white tone on tone background and made from various shades of cream and off white - so we scoured the countryside looking for FQs and fat1/8ths to use in it.

I want to make a white pieced background with applique in creams and off whites of a butterfly on a dandelion head with pumpkin leaves, vines and flower alongside. Been making lots of sketches trying to get the right layout and proportions.

We searched the shops in Albury and Wodonga, then took a trip to Beechworth, sidestepping into the wondrous sweet shop there, and plundered the shops at Wangaratta to find all these lovely fabrics.

We also spent some time with my niece, her husband and their family (they have three wonderful boys - all autistic) and went to the movies (saw The Golden Compass). Finally we indulged a little and went to a Psychic Fair and had our futures told.

I took my sister's quilt with me on the plane and she loved it. I was so pleased. It blended in perfectly with the colours in her bedroom - creams, burgundies and pinks.

Then on the day we went to Beechworth I was trying to see something she liked to buy her to say thanks and went into a shop that sold things made from Alpaca. We saw the most wonderful scarves all felted onto silk using hand dyed alpaca wool.

My sister was immediately drawn to a lovely grey one and so I bought it for her. It was expensive but it was so beautiful and well worth the money to see her delight.

What was even better was that it looked lovely draped across her bed on the quilt I had made!

Sadly the pictures don't do it justice - it is light as air and is the softest hand dyed grey silk with the dyed alpaca that ranged from soft grey to dark grey, with hits of wonderful blues, turquoise and pinks.








On the home front, the boys and Marrianne managed to contend with their Dad and peace reigned reasonably well.

The dogs were all happy when I got home - I did miss them a lot - and Fozzie has certainly got over any fear he had of Bella - they spend all their time playing together. Fozzie no longer hides in the bathroom, except when he just wants a rest from playing. Bella collapses anywhere so it is a matter of watching where you walk! She also likes to lay under my computer desk.

Nathan was here for a day and so it was a perfect opportunity to 'snap' them both together while they were both quiet!

New addition to Our Family

Well after being on waiting lists for months and months we finally have a new addition to our family - a new puppy!

We have wanted to buy another dog since we lost our wonderful boxer Xena last year but didn't really make the decision until mid year to buy one. We decided as much as we wanted to buy another Boxer we felt we couldn't cope with the medically problems that are more often than not associated with them (cancer and heart mainly). Instead we opted for an Australian Bulldog!

I researched all the breeders and information about the breed and finally settled on a breeder. I asked her (the breeder) millions of questions and finally put our name down on the waiting list. Imagine my absolute disappointment when after waiting months the breeder changed the way her waiting lists operated and didn't tell us until after the puppies were born.

I was devastated - we had got ourselves all excited and then 'lost our puppy'. I was really angry with the breeder and she knew it but there was nothing that I could do.

Mind you last week she rang and told me she had a puppy I could have - she was 6 months old but I told her I wasn't interested as we had a beautiful puppy assigned to us from a much more professional breeder.

I went back to my old research notes and settled on another breeder was so wonderful and caring and informative. She took the time to talk about everything related to the dogs and didn't mind my numerous phone calls and emails and then the wonderful news - we had a puppy! I went out to see her when she was 5 weeks old and fell instantly in love. Actually all the puppies were beautiful but being biased I thought mine was the best. She is a wonderful little Australian Bulldog.

Then of course we had to wait until she had a vet check at 6 weeks (the litter passed with flying colours) and then wait until she was 8 weeks old to come home to us but finally last Friday Marrianne and I went and picked her up.

My wonderful labradoodle Fozzie (Bear) was so brave and courageous - he ran and hid in the bathroom and shut the door so she couldn't see him when we arrived home!

All day yesterday he spent alternating between the bathroom and checking to see if she was still around. Finally today he decided that she was okay and could stay. He gave her a thorough sniff and check everything was in the right place and consented to allow her to play with SOME of his toys. I am sure by the end of the week they will be inseparable as Fozzie and Xena were.

We have called her Bella.

Such as great Christmas present - this has been one of the best because as well as my lovely Bella arriving my even more wonderful kids (Ben, Will and DIL Marrianne) gave me a gave me a plane ticket for Christmas - (business class no less) to Albury!!

Next Saturday I am off to spend a week with my middle sister (the one who was up here in July) who lives in wodonga. I take off at 8.30 in the morning and don't come home until the following Sunday morning. The kids all have holidays at the moment and will look after Philip while I am gone. Ben, of course, lives with us but Will and Marrianne will pop over to help and Marrianne will make tea at night a few times to help Ben. The Home Care girls will still come so it won't be any different for Philip except I won't be there.

He is a bit hesitant but after reassuring him that everyone will be here he isn't too bad with the idea. Still a week will zoom away fast but I am soooo looking forward to it. Except for three days at Mudgee and Dubbo zoo Philip and I have not had a holiday away since he was diagnosed almost 14 years ago.

What is equally amazing is that this trip has been arrange since October and none of the kids or my sister have let on!

My niece (Annette's daughter) lives a few minutes from my sister and so we will be able to spend time with her family too. Knowing her she will have found all the patchwork and lolly (fudge) shops in a reasonable radius from Wodonga so guess what I will be coming home with!!

Congratulations

A big CONGRATULATIONS to our 3 winners of the decorated blog competition. It was a lot of fun and, for me, a learning experience. Hopefully we can do it again next year and maybe get more people to join us.



In the meantime - could our three winners -

Susan in Stitches,
Jackie's Jam and;
Puddling Along

please email me with their snail mail addresses so their prizes can be posted off to them.

Thank you to everyone who joined in the fun and a big thank you to :

Birdy (Aubirdwoman) and;
Lindi (QuiltyThreads)

who donated 2nd and third prizes.

Merry Christmas

I wish all my friends a very Merry Christmas and a bright and healthy New Year

.

Time to vote for your Favourite Decorated Blog!!

I have put up a poll for you to cast your vote to see who wins our decorate your blog competition.
The winner will be announced on Christmas Day.

I have made a prize for the person whose blog scored the most votes.

Thanks to everyone for joining in the fun.

Mother Nature's Fury

Yesterday afternoon we got to see Mother Nature's fury up close and personal - we got smashed in a big hail storm that destroyed the roofs of everyone in our small street (of 20 homes). About 3.30 we had a few claps of thunder and then some rain. I could hit a few little bangs and went to the front verandah to see a few small hailstones. They stopped fairly quickly and then I heard what could only be described as a freight train bearing down on us and 'bam' huge hail stones started coming down. They were about the size of tennis balls and then they eased off and I thought "wow, we survived".

Not so - they came back even larger!! These were cricket ball size - average 8cm some larger some smaller but about 8cm was the average.

This time the bounced and ricochet off everything, you could hear things smashing as they hit and bounced off to hit again and again. The funny thing was there wasn't a lot but they were deadly.

Ten minutes later it was all over and the damage down. Our roof was peppered, skylights - destroyed, garage roof - destroyed, our new solar electricity panels - destroyed, entertainment area roof - destroyed, car - bonnet and back of car dented (we were lucky it was under cover. Most of the cars in the street look as if someone has attacked them with baseball bats, no windows intact and covered with huge dents.


We have a small amount of water damage inside - not sure if the cooktops survived because it was under water and I won't turn it on until an electrician has looked at it. We have no lights because water go into the wall near a switch and the wall became alive. We were a lot luckier than some in our street because although our roof was peppered we had sarking under it and it protected the inside in most places. Some people nearby have lots of water damage inside their houses and won't be able to use their kitchens, some rooms etc.

All around in the nearby streets today people are coming to terms with their losses - a house I know had the same damage as us but Mother Nature was still angry and she hit the house with lightening destroying the electricity box - shooting it off the wall of the house!

I will be cooking on the BBQ for a few days until the electrician can get here. There is so much to be repaired just in our street alone. We have had a tiler look at the roof when they moved tiles to be able to get some tarps on the roof. He said I have only a few dozens tiles that don't have cracks in them. He thinks that most of the houses in the street will need new roofs.

Mother Nature is certainly trying to tell us something - guess we just aren't listening hard enough

I leave you with just a small taste of her fury.