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because I just found another ten minutes to sneak in here for a quickie... update, that is.. :)
random photo... Bath Abbey at dusk.. gorgeous
Garage/Moving Sale
at my house tomorrow.... sigh...
the ad reads "furniture, garden tools, handyman tools, kitchen items, home decor items, quilts, craft, garden mulcher, blower/vac... and other items"
funny little man organised the classified ad...
....'quilts'... 'quilts'?????
Do I have time to add 'golf clubs'?????
Apparently I don't need ALL of the 298 quilts in the house.... rude...
We laid cork floor tiles in the quilt room last night. (they're not real cork, just wannabe ones, but they look good). I have a new found respect for 'floor tile layers' everywhere. OMG! Tricky! and not to mention the sore bits that I didn't know I had... like weird muscles in my butt that are now hurting with every step I take! All for a good cause though ;)
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Anyways, I also just wanted to show off a bit more because that's what I do...
'In a s'pincushion'
the cutest little spinning top block, made into a simple pincushion with a whirl of daisies added... and stacked buttons, just to make us smile
Yet another project in the 'Let's Stitch' fun at Quilt Fabric Delights!
We're chatting online tonight at 7.30 Qld time and I'm really looking forward to that
I really will be 'offline' (read 'flat out cleaning/packing/moving/making things pretty again') for the next three days or so... will catch up again when I've finished ordering everyone around :)
seeya,
Cheryl xx
T'is Thursday morning here..
that means from tomorrow I'll be offline for a few days while we do the big move... YAY! Moving day is nearly here! We'll be sad to leave our lovely home, sitting on this hill overlooking the little Meringandan valley... but the newbie is looking pretty fab too, and the quilting will be done in it's very own room. Spoiled!! The floor coverings go in today and the funny little man's shed is all finished. He's up there now, planning his workbench and shelves and other 'boy' stuff. I get to stay here and clean the oven. YAY! :)
I have a few things on the go at the moment, a project for Homespun later in the year... a project for Stash Manicure later in June and playing with a couple of French General ideas for Sarah's QFD Creative 'Christmas in July' event... all fun! click on the QFD Creative button over there to head to Sarah's website --->>> Let's Stitch is in full swing too, it's not too late to join :)
In the meantime I've been stitching a few designs from Natalie of Cinderberry Stitches... I love her stuff, so whimsical and cute
this one was in a Homespun mag last year
I have a Whimsy charm pack so will probably add some flying geese borders and frame it for the new room
How carefree does she look.. surrounded with her fave things
I have lot's of lovely things planned for that creative cave..
So... until we chat again next week, let's keep our fingers crossed that everything goes smoothly and we don't have any rain!
seeya round like my great big clock hanging in our new family room.. photos later.. a birthday giftie from my beautiful sisters
Cheryl x
ps... yesterday was the 12 month anniversary of saying nightie night to our gorgeous Normie... can't believe a whole year has passed already. and we miss him every day... FLM has moved him to his new home, he'll be under a flowering peach... or cherry or something pretty
'cause I don't have a lot of time this morning
I'm expecting visitors... my big sister, my Mum and my Bloss... all coming over for a few hours
This big sister
\/
that was taken in Nice, the day I invited her onto my big yacht...
....OK, so it's not my yacht :( .....
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anyways, I've cleaned out the cutlery drawer and rearranged the fridge magnets, ready for my visitors. I haven't done the floors or bathrooms...
weird...
Oh, and we're going to the Meringandan Pub for lunch, just in case you were wonderin'
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Doings... secret doings... a bit yummy
If you have some of these fabrics, you might like to put them aside till we talk again in December
seeya
Cheryl xx
ps... this morning I uttered that four letter word that I vowed I'd never utter
DIET
and fun 'n' games... :)
that's what you'll find over at Let's Stitch - click on the QFD badge over there.... >>>
I finished the tutorial for my second project yesterday - yeah I know, but better late than not at all!
A snippet
You can sign up anytime this month ~ the projects that have already been shared will be available for the WHOLE month! and it's great value :)
'Dear funny little man, I won't be doing any housework or cooking for the next month because I'll be too busy stitchin'... love from me xx'
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'Dear 'me'... and how is that different to any other month?... love from the funny little man ... sigh... I'll be in the kitchen... and the laundry... sigh...'
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Eva, the pretty butterfly
Designed originally for a feature in the magazine 'Quilter's Newsletter', this sweet little butterfly has a gentle hint of colouring to add a bit more depth
My gift to you... click on the link to download the penline design sheet
and if you need a reference, here's what I did with mine... the thread colours were a combination of pinks and purples, with a bit of green and hint of lemon ~ pretty...
Now I really gotta go bust some quilts!
seeya
Cheryl xx
House handover... this Friday. I get to start kitting out the studio from Saturday. Amen.
Moo arrived Friday night... with Willis
and that makes Ratty hiss n spit... get over it Ratty!
Then Blossie arrived to watch the footy with her Dad... Two girls home together ~ happy Mum :)
Saturday ~ prepare for Family Photo Fun ~ a special birthday/mother's day treat from our Moo, precious girl :)
Blossie arrived (all pretty) with Theo... hmmm, Ratty, Theo, Willis = hiss, spit, run round the house a thousand miles an hour, hide from the ninja cat...
don't worry, her hands aren't too tight...
I started whining about my dumb hair, and 'I can't see without my glasses...' Moo to the rescue. Our girls have every contraption known to man to make hair do what it should... there all fixed... looking gorgeous... ooops, what happened to my eyes?? Moo to the rescue again...
Funny little man took 32 seconds to get ready... how easy is it when you have 78 strands of hair and they are clipped to a #2... seriously... He grew through his hair when he was in his 20's...
Waterboy and his girls arrived about 2'ish... looking all pretty and gorgeous
Early mother's day gifts, Blossie had to work all day yesterday... looking after other Mum's and families
Photographer about 2.45'ish... what a fun girl! Had us completely relaxed within a minute
and we had the best time ~ photos inside, photos outside, on the steps, on the verandah, in the garden, under the willow with Normie's prescence (oops, cried a little), and under the wisteria - too early for flowers
that giant boy of ours - 6' something and takes after his great grandfather...
I cried... as you do... silly emotional tears because they all looked so darn beautiful
They'll be ready on Friday for us to do the ordering.. can't wait :)
Drinks on the deck, homemade pizzas for dinner, then they all left for their own homes... empty house again
then it was Mother's day...
Cooked brekkie... love ya guts, funny little man...
opened up Waterboy's giftie... more LOVE
Picked up Mother Duck and off to the Japanese Gardens for a picnic lunch
(I don't know why but the camera always seems to add a double chin... it's very puzzling...)
If it weren't for our Mums... we wouldn't be... :)
Hope all our motherly friends had a great day... doesn't matter if your babies are furry, feathered, someone else's, or your own... it's a special time to celebrate
To my sisters and sisters-in-law, thank you for giving us our gorgeous gaggle of nieces and nephews, and great nieces and nephews that we can fuss over and 'mother'
Like these two newbie bubbies... the twinnies, doing great and home with the family at last
how cute is that little 'windy' grin..!
seeya
Cheryl xx
I'll share the freebie design for this stitchery next time, just need to do it up as a pdf :)
Ok.. so I'll keep on being nice
Wind Farm
I love this quilt... but I'm it's mother so I'm allowed to be biased. Tres delicious. and it's my first project for Sarah's 'Let's Stitch' event over at QFD Creative. It's not too late to join in, go check out some of the other projects. I love them ALL so far... seriously yummy stuff and more to come
If cupcakes make you want to heave, look away now. No wait, go to another blog because if cupcakes make you ill I can't be your friend...
Cupcakes... big ones and teeny ones... either way they are a yummy little treat. A yummy little treat to be enjoyed not too often or we'll all end up round like beach balls. Oops, too late...
the World's Simplest Cupcakes... never fail... guaranteed... :)
the crusty grotty old recipe page... bearing the scars of many years hard labour
Follow the pictures if u dare... Preheat your oven, 170 deg fan forced
1/4 lb room temp unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
2 cups of Self Raising Flour - sifted
2 eggs
and 3/4 cup milk
- I forgot the milk and added it after the beaters had done their tango for a bit... oops - no matter :)
Throw everything into the mixing bowl and beat on high for 3 minutes...
that's it...
spoon little globs into small cupcake papers, and bigger GLOBS into bigger cupcake papers
after you've baked them (at 170 deg fan forced) for long enough to cook them... :) ... about 12 - 15 minutes... they'll look like this
And you'd best eat one while they cool... if you can stand to wait that long...
then add some simple frosting... icing sugar, a bit of milk, a dash of butter, a dash of vanilla extract and beat it all up. Till it's all smooth and tastes the right kind of delicious :)
Swirl it on top and put them on a pretty plate
Then guts them all down like a pig
I should write that recipe out again in beautiful cursive script... on sumptuous parchment... and pop it into my new recipe folder...
Large'ish, with an old doiley on the cover, emblazened with my name :) and a hint of french flavour. Inside, a pocket made from another well loved/worn doiley... to hold the star attractions
Scotch Eggs... delicious... funny little man made them a few weeks ago... he's a pom... 'nuff said :)
Things don't need to be complex to be special... that's what I reckon, anyways
I might share a freebie design next time... just sayin'...
seeya
Cheryl x
yes... Happy Thursday to you all... :)
no reason, just been flitting around a few blogs and catching up on all the crazy 'dumbing down of quilting' debate.. and having a good old giggle at the nonsense!
It reminded me of an email I received on Tuesday from a lovely lady telling me that my blog needs to 'keep it real', and 'surely your life isn't that rosy'
Guess what? It is kinda rosy... :) But there are also times when it's not so rosy... I just choose to not share too much of the yuk stuff here
What you won't see on my blog are photos of bandaged limbs and surgery scars, the holes in the fat part of my thumb when I sewed right through it while I was quilting (yuk, that was gross.. and a bit dumb), photos of the funny little man's big toe - the one he aerated with the pitch fork (actually he was aerating the lawn and missed... that was even more gross), stories about my ill Mum and all the dramas associated with an ageing parent, 'oh poor me' cries and moaning...
Nope, none of that cause that's all private and not the sort of stuff I want to be reading about
Instead, you'll find bits n pieces about what the herbs are doing, snippets about the fun stuff I'm making, a bit of home baked goodness (I won't show photos of the burnt biccies, but sometimes I do burn biccies. They don't get to have their photo taken...), updates on the new house, photos of the old house and garden because they're pretty and make for nice photos :)
Sometimes there'll be a photo of us in a faraway place... like at Leed's Castle in England last year... that was a bit of a 'rosy' moment :)
Sometimes I'll tell you about a great sale, or a fab place to visit or a new pattern that a friend has released... sometimes I'll tell you about the great things that people are doing for our local community... like Marion's quilt drive for the local flood victims. She's delivering some this weekend.. and sometimes I'll tell you about Shaz, the maddest stitching friend a girl could ask for. We drive each other crazy but we're friends for life because we know each other's secrets :)
There'll always be a bit of bragging and showing off... a new project featured in an Aussie craft magazine, my latest Creative Team doings for Sarah at Quilt Fabric Delights or a particularly pretty quilting job - just because I like it. I'm not the world's greatest quilter but sometimes I amaze myself
You'll see lots of smiley faces :) and lots of those annoying dot dot dots...
and you'll see lots of stuff about my furry and feathered friends, like Theo trying hard to make friends with Ratty...
they're special and they do crazy things...
Like this
and I'll always sign off with 'seeya'... round like a rissole or round like a smiley face... or round like my belly :)
so, to the lovely lady... I hope you enjoyed this visit, I think I did a pretty good job of 'keeping it real' today!
Seeya
Cheryl xx
yum.... jam drops before...
None of this 'rolling into perfect balls' nonsense... just splobs of cookie dough so you get peaks and pointy crunchy edgy bits
and jam drops after...
Not telling you how many I eat between the cooling rack and the biccie barrel... :)
Some raspberry, some apricot, some raspberry/passionfruit, some apricot/passionfruit. All yummy! And just as yummy, try lemon butter.. not the homemade stuff though, it will disappear when you bake them
go way back here for the recipe, an OOOOLD fave, been baking this one since the herbs were wee little tots. Mum made them for us when we were little and it's now passed on to our girls
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and speaking of the herbs... it's a big day in the household this Saturday. Family photo day. This one was taken at my birthday weekend... We'll probably put a bit more effort into our hair n makeup for the 'official' ones this weekend :)
How come the oldies are the only ones wearing party hats!??
there, that's better... young ones wearing party hats... kind of...
So... it will be family photos in the garden (weather permitting) and around the house, before we move. We're having a 'high tea' event so it should be just delicious
that means I have four days to shed 5 kilos... probably not going to happen... there are still jam drops left...
seeya round like my belly :)
cheryl xx
ps.. I was a 'wedding tragic'... loved it, watched the whole thing, loved her dress, loved pippa's dress, loved the boys in uniform, the gleaming sparkling coaches, the crowds, the kiss/es, the fly over... everything. But most of all I loved the crazy, zany hats on the heads of the wedding guests... MAD! and then the serious poker faces underneath the hats. Too funny!
