Trip into the City

Some school holiday fun, I took the kids into the city on the train today to see Razz-Ma-Tazz (kids commedy / magic / acrobat show). The train ride was long, 2 hours return but so much better than driving in and finding parking. $8.10 return train fare + $2 parking + $10 on lunch = cheap day out!Stuart in his Fred Bare palm tree camo pants, I love these, only suitable for best, Oliver in his fave Mambo top. Cate wearing her Country Road Cardi that I bought in Sydney, and she has accesorised this with her Snailblazer bag, a custom order so made especially in her size! Beautiful workmanship, holds many belongings, see there Etsy Shop! Ok, enough name dropping for now ;-)And Cate looking divine as always.

A boy and his dog

Oliver and Lottie, enjoying the school holidays together. And Happy Birthday to my Dad for today :-)

Gifts from Cass

"Mummy's friend from Sydney, not from Man-drah, made me my dog top but you can't see the dog, it's spotty. And the bag. The bag has got dolls on it. You know, the ones where you take the heads off and there's smaller ones inside. And that's my dog Lottie. She's a girl. And Mummy's friend from Sydney, she also gave me some fridge magnets with Dalmations on it, and drawing books, but there not in the photo." from Cate.

WIP Wednesday ~ Doll Quilt Swap

A few weeks ago I signed up for the Doll Quilt Swap 3 on Flickr.My partners identity is a secret; but I can reveal I am using a doll quilt pattern I found online by Darlene Zimmerman and I am using fabrics that I bought in Sydney from my Prints Charming collection. Using a co-ordinating snowflake white fabric, I have sewn together 80 2.5" blocks, ready to be pieced together tonight. Just a quick pic as I can't give too much away in case someone is reading! Hopefully I will finish the top tonight, then I can make a start on the quilting. I hope my recipiant likes it!

My new love

Meet Lottie. Our new dog. I can say that, heck I can shout it out; OUR NEW DOG!!!
We've not had a dog before, I thought we would be a cat only family forever, but something started tugging at the heart strings last year and I knew when we moved we would get a dog. I thought we would go for the Golden Retriever or an Airdale or perhaps a Border Collie but no, we are now the proud owners of a Shar Pei.
She was found wandering at the foreshore and was taken to the local pound and never claimed, how sad is that? Her time was nearly up, I was watching and waiting, another couple who already have a Shar Pei adopted her to avoid the inevitable but sadly the 2 dogs did not get along so when they called us a few hours later, I was thrilled. Lottie is aprox. 5 months old, absolutely adorable, her wrinkly face, twisty tail, brush fur; she has the cutest expressions. And she is fantastic to walk on the lead, toilet trained, great with the kids and cats, (Muffin has let her know he is boss and Little Cat is mad as), she can sit, she doesn't bark; shes just so happy to be here with us, and we are so happy to have her. Welcome Lottie xx

Jingle Jolly Table Runner

After completing my Ragged Edges Quilt, I was after something smaller to make over the 5 day break for Easter. The Happy Zombie, one of my fave blogs, has the nicest Christmas Table Runner pattern, so even though it's Easter, I whipped one up. You can download the instructions here and when finished you can submit your table runner picture into the gallery for everyone to admire here (mine is the 2nd one!)
I bought the Holly Jolly charm pack last year and they are still available from the Fat Quarter Shop for $8.50 US, but you could use any 37 piece charm pack or 4.5" squares.
Many thanks to Monica at The Happy Zombie for sharing this pattern. And special thanks to Helen for attaching my binding. Too bad she never sewed it down by hand for me, hence the 2 weeks its taken since Easter to complete the last part!

And the winner is...

Karen!
Karen wrote "Another one 'out of the woodwork' with comments Ads, these are too pretty not to want one! I've stil only got the daggy old wrist pin cushion with plans to make a proper one - one day!"
So yay for you, throw your old pin cushion away and enjoy your new one! Thanks to everyone who left nice comments on my pin cushions, I wish I had 20 more to give away!