One Hundred Metres of Bubblewrap…

Not joking there.

This is one hundred metres of bubble wrap.

Last week, just out of the blue, someone rang and asked if I would be interested in selling my small quilting machine. She said she knew someone who was keen to buy that sort of machine. I really don’t use it much, now that I have the big one. It has been on my mind to sell it, but I had been procrastinating, not really knowing how to go about it or what to charge. I had a price in mind, but she offered my more than double my price. So… I took it. I’d have been crazy not to sell it!  Just in time for Christmas. Nice bonus!

So today my Pete used one hundred metres of bubble wrap, one hundred metres of clear tape and fifty metres of super strong yellow tape to package it all up into a box.

In the morning it will be collected and sent off to its new home.

In the morning I might go shopping…

End of Year Concert

For MANY years this time of year has meant the end of year dance concert. Ashy studied ballet for about eight years and tap for eleven years. More hours than I can count were dedicated to costume preparation and rehearsals. I cannot honestly say that I am sad those hours of waiting for rehearsal to finish have ended. That many years of dance don’t happen without enormous commitment from the parents.

The tradition of the end of year concert did not end for my family once Ashleigh moved on from her dance studies.

Now I go to watch Chelsea dance at the end of the year. For me now, though, it is all concert, no commitment. Being an Aunty is a sweet arrangement!

This year we watched Chelsea dance in her Irish performance then rushed backstage for her quick change for her Modern number.

It was all hands on deck to change costumes, shoes and hairdo.

Time for a quick hug from Ashy,

then back out to perform.

I think I noticed Ashy’s feet tapping silently under her chair. Could be more dance in our future…

Having a Brother

Since Ashy’s return from France she has been working at a coffee shop. This means that some days she starts work at 6am, for the morning rush. Other days she starts at 11am for the lunch time rush.

One day this week, unbeknown to her brother, she did the lunch time shift. She was laying on her bed reading when the door opened and Pip walked straight in.

Ashy: Ahem! What are you doing?

Pip: You here?

Ashy: Yes. Why are you in my room?

Pip: I need a sock.

Ashy: What?

Pip: I don’t have a sock.

Ashy: Well you can’t just help yourself to a pair of mine.

Pip: It’s OK, I have one of my own, so I only need one of yours.

Later that day;

Ashy: Dude you are wearing my socks!

Pip: Correction. I am wearing one of your socks.

Our Weekend Away

Last weekend my Pete and I hopped on a plane and flew away from home.

The company my Pete workds for is based in Brisbane. They invited the members of the small Townsville office to join the large Brisbane office Christmas party. The party was on Friday night, but we decided to make a weekend of it.

I must tell you that the party was a huge disappointment. The invitation said 6:30-10:30pm, so we thought it was a sit down dinner. No. It was a stand up, finger food and open bar affair. We had neglected to eat and are not big drinkers. We managed to make small talk and met some interesting people. At 10:30pm on the dot they turned on the lights and asked everyone to leave. They ushered us out the security doors which would not open to allow re-entry. By this time a torrential rainstorm had started. It was bucketing with rain. All the Brisbane people hopped into their cars with their designated drivers and left. Those of us without cars stood crowded on a small balcony area and waited for a taxi.

It took well over an hour for the taxi to arrive. That is a looong time to stand on a small balcony in heavy rain with a group of well-oiled people. I can think of better ways to spend my time!

Thankfully that was our only commitment and after that our weekend was our own. We spent time shopping, visiting the  markets and we went to the movies. We wandered around the new State Library and the Museum of Modern Art, both are beautiful buildings, and enjoyed the exhibitions. We had morning teas, lunches and afternoon teas in all variety of cafes and eateries. We travelled around the city by bus, by train and by foot.

We found a patchwork shop and I bought some lovely fabrics that I really needed.

Thankfully we managed to make a very nice weekend out of an ordinary Christmas function.

Shiny Red Handbag

M, from Easternmax has tagged me to reveal the contents of my handbag, apparently she has been wondering what I carry around with me each day.

If this has also been on your mind, then feast your eyes below.

Inside my brand new shiny red handbag you can see the following essential items:

• my mobile phone – it came in its own case and has its own pocket within the handbag. This is good, I like it to be in the same place each time it rings.
• a bright pink case containing my quilting business cards
• a ‘sniffy’ – one of those things that smells like vicks and clears your sinuses, very useful before and after take off when travelling by plane. It helps to stop my ears from hurting.
• a glasses case containing my glasses – the sunglasses are missing from this photo because I still had them on top of my head.
• a tin of peppermints – these give me a boost when I get a bit sleepy.
• my work ID badge on a green lanyard with my work keys, a whistle and a 2GB memory stick.
• my blue ipod*
• a receipt from a quilt shop
• an asthma puffer – strangely I am the only member of my family who does not need to use it AND the only member of my family who actually carries on around with me at all times.
• my purse – small and compact
• a blue biro – in a medium point with a lid. If it loses the lid I throw it out. It makes the pen too short and I don’t like it.
• my lipgloss is there too buried under other stuff – just to prove that I am a girl

I am certain that all of this reveals a bit more of my personality than you needed to know!

*This is a song I recently added to my ipod. Perfect for dancing when you are wearing a taffeta dress and shoulder pads with a tight spiral perm…

My Kids are the BEST thing since Chocolate Cake!*

Yesterday we arrived home from our weekend away.

The floors had been vacuumed and washed.

The yard had been mowed.

The verandah was swept and hosed.

The washing was done and folded.

The bathroom was clean.

Dinner was cooked and wating for us.

They rock!

*(I realise that the saying is ‘sliced bread’, but cake is better than bread)

Weekend Escape

Tomorrow morning my Pete and I will catch one of these:

For the first time ever we are going away for a weekend and just leaving our children at home by themselves. Ashy is 18 and, most of the time, she is more responsible than I am. She’ll have Pip organised, meals made and washing done.

Naturally she has organised a party for Saturday night. She is, after all, a teenager.

I imagine they will entertain themselves with this:

We purchased it this afternoon. It is an early Christmas present. Seeing that I made them pay for half it seemed unreasonable to make them wait until the end of the month.

Our house will be filled with drumming:

strumming:

and singing during the party.

So long as no one kicks a soccer ball through any windows!

The Recital

This morning I went to watch my beautiful niece perform two pieces on the keyboard for her classmates.

She carried herself with confidence and a smile to the front of the room.

She took the task seriously and read the music, playing melody and chords using both hands.

She was accompanied by a recorder and kept one eye and one ear on the recorder player to keep perfect time.

She finished with a flourish and took a mighty bow – beaming all over.

These are the things that make my day.

Sewing Bee

Tonight we are meeting at my place for a late night sewing bee.

All machines are whirring.

We are making these:

Alana’s first ever patchwork – not bad, huh?

A little revealing…

Oh my, I have worked hard this week… and yet I feel I have so little to show for it.

This week I wrote my first quilt pattern for my (coming soon) website. The first pattern is the hardest to write. It needs to exist as a template for all of the others. It needs to be styled and designed so the others can have a consistent look and feel to them. A lot of thinking goes into the writing of the first pattern.

At this point I will digress and reveal to you a little about my new website. When you visit it (when it exists) you will be invited to register. Upon registering you will create a profile for yourself. When you purchase a pattern it will be delivered to your profile. You can download it and print it at your own leisure. Pretty cool, hey?

SO… I wrote my first pattern. I included lots of photos and diagrams as well as my drawings for the applique. I styled it beautifully, made it colourful and appealing and wonderful. THEN… I saved the pattern as a PDF and discovered that it was over 8MB of information. Too, too big. Nobody wants to download 8MB!

blah!

I was so pleased with the pattern. I had worked on it for days. I was sure it was finished, but I had to go straight back into problem solving mode.

I spent one whole day revising. Making pictures smaller, cropping images closely, removing bits and pieces. By the end of the day I had the fifteen pages down to just 3.6MB. I can live with that. It looks, for all intents and purposes, exactly the same and yet it had taken an extra ten hours to get it to that point!

Now I have a template and a system and seven completed quilts. Life is good!

Work in progress – dedicated to Margot, who wants to be a dolphin trainer.