Saturday, February 28, 2009

Raggy Quilt...Cover!


I've been meaning to post for ages about my progress on the Calender Quilt Challenge. January is all done and February is getting there, I'm a little bit behind but I'll catch up with a little time set aside tomorrow. January is done with small squares, and February is strips. I'm still deciding on March... and suggestions??



I've been busy this week making this Raggy Quilt for an order. The difference with this one is that it's a quilt cover. A customer wanted the Raggy style, but also wanted to still use a doona with it. So she'll still get the fluffy look from the doona, but has a raggy quilt also! I love the bright pinks in this one, they really stand out against the white prints.








I just had to add this photo of my littlest one Caiden. Such a terror, but absolutely adorable. He gets away with so much because he just cracks you up! This is my headless husband holding him upside down while I was taking Ebay photo's.
I've had a ball the last few days reading everyone's blogs. I keep telling myself just to look for 5 minutes, but I get a bit carried away and find I've been reading for an hour - its just sooo much fun though! I'm sure you all feel the same...
Best wishes,
Jenelle


Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Ottomans & Pillows...

Here are some Raggy Pillow slips I finished yesterday. Already on Ebay... I just love these darker pink ones!


Some pale pink covers...


And these are some picture's of the Ottoman's I recovered. I painted the bases Antique white, and found this stunning fabric at Spotlight. The fabric actually looks quite vintage, although the photo's make it look quite boring... so much better in person. Sorry I forgot the 'before' pic's.








And today I couldn't resist a trip to my nearest quilting shop "The Blanket Box" and found these pretty fabrics I plan on using for a new quilt. I already have the design in my head...just have to make it now...
My eldest son Jay just left for camp this morning. He's getting so big, I wasn't even allowed to wave him off...how sad. I honestly felt like crying. But I guess you need to let them have some independence at some point, I think he's trying to find his feet at High School, and is trying so hard to be a little bit more grown up than he really is.
Best wishes,
Jenelle




Monday, February 23, 2009

Two Quilts...



I've been so busy doing these two quilt tops the last few days. Once I started, I just couldn't stop! I think it's my new addiction...

I got the idea for the one above from Crazy Mom Quilts. This is just a small lap quilt for my sofa.
And the one below from Kathryn in this post. This one turned out a lot larger than I intended...just got carried away. I don't know how I'll go quilting this one.

















I'm already working on the next one. I'm going to have a dozen tops finished by the time I get around to quilting them at the rate I'm going.
Thankyou Kathryn for your help & advice. I'm sure I'll be emailing again soon when it's time to do the quilting. The next one is triangles, which I'm having some trouble with... but I'll get there!
I also painted and recovered two ottomans this morning. They have been waiting to be done for months. I'll post some pic's tomorrow of them, but I've just realised I'd forgotten to take before pic's so you'll just have to see the completed ones.
Well I'm off to squeeze in some more triangles...
Best wishes,
Jenelle


Sunday, February 22, 2009

Getting back into the swing of things...



Well my husbands Aunty & Uncle returned to Scotland last Saturday - what beautiful people they are! I'm now slowly getting back to routine. I have 3 kids at school now, Jay has just started High School, Breanna is in Grade 1 & Connor has just started Prep.




~ The little darlings! ~


So it's just me and Caiden at home during the day now. Poor Caiden doesn't know what to do with himself...he's just so used to having someone to play with. He's adjusting though, and I'm loving all the time I now have to spend at the sewing machine!





~ Pink Raggy Cushion ~



I took 4 weeks off from sewing while Joyce & Tommy were here, I didn't want to miss a moment of their time with us. So now I'm back in front of the machine! I've made about 12 Raggy cushions, some Mobile phone pouches, and half a patchwork quilt top... My mind is working overtime at the moment planning all my next projects.



~ Mobile Phone Pouch ~





~ Strippy Raggy Cushion ~


I already have in mind another patchwork quilt after I finish the one I'm currently working on - thanks to Kathryn from Our Shabby Cottage to passing on the quilt bug... it's just sooo much fun!

Our 'Routine' went completely out the window at the end of last year, so we're running around like nutters every morning trying to get ready. We're getting there! Connor's having a bit of a hard time adjusting to school life. He's been in trouble twice this week, just for small problems, and certain friends... He's just such an active boy, and being in a classroom for most of the day is a bit hard for him. Breanna nicely told him that she's never been in trouble..."Not Once" she said very proud of herself for being the teachers pet Lol!

Well that's enough for now. Hopefully I'll be back tomorrow with some pic's of the quilt top I'm doing.

Best wishes everyone,

Jenelle


Saturday, February 7, 2009

QLD was great....BUT!

Well we finally arrived home from our holiday in Surfers Paradise, QLD. We all had a fantastic time. The beaches were fantastic & our apartment was brilliant, We spent a couple of days at Wet 'n Wild & Movie World, more shopping and just looking around.
We left Thursday 29th Jan, got to the airport early to avoid the heat, (40+ degrees that day) the pilot measured the temp on the tarmac and it was 49 degrees, and we had to walk in that to get on the plane! YUCK!
The night we arrived my foot was so sore, red & swollen, although I had no idea what I could have done to it. The next morning it had started to turn purple / black so we searched and found a doctor, who said I'd either sprained it, or been bitten by something (I was pruning the roses the night before we left) anyway, he wrapped it up, gave me some quick fix medication and off we went to Wet 'n Wild. Fortunately by Friday night it had improved dramatically!
So we spent some time at the beach on Saturday, where my 5 year old son was bitten / stung by Sea lice in the water.... Not fun for him! Scratching awful!
So off we went on Sunday for some shopping at Pacific Fair, fortunately everything went well! Although we needed about 3 days to look around the massive centre!




Our apartment was on Paradise Island, and was so great! We saw bats flying by the balcony at night (Kind of freaky at first!) Gecko's running around everywhere, and on the lookout for Bird Eating Spiders which a friend terrified us by telling us horror stories about!





We were down at the hotel pool by 8am every morning with the kids, and they just loved every minute of it! Here's my daughter attempting handstands in the water - it was hilarious!





So after Movie World on Monday - which was such a good day, it was time to get ready to leave. Friends came for dinner Monday night to say goodbye, and we sat underneath Palm tree's full of bats Lol!

Tuesday morning we packed the bags and headed for the airport at 10am, well the bus was half an hour late picking us up, and was so busy we stopped way too many times on the way to the airport.

Then horror of horror's, we arrived 5 minutes too late for check in, there was no staff to talk to or help us, so we had to sit in the airport and watch our plane take off without us! Well I admit I cried, my daughter cried, and my husband just had to have 10 minutes to himself lol! The boys were really not fazed!

So finally the staff came back, and informed us that all fares were forfeit, very rudely told us she could not get us on a flight home till the following night at 8pm, and wanted to charge us huge amounts! So my husband told her what he thought of that idea (He was stressing so bad about getting us and his Auntie & Uncle home) So he was asked to leave the terminal.... Oh MY!

So the only option left was to hire a car and drive all the way from QLD to Victoria...

So we got a great Tarago, perfectly fitted the 8 of us, and off we went. Stopped in Byron Bay for a late lunch, I snapped this pic as we were leaving...





This is me and 2 year old Caiden, stopped somewhere in the middle of the bush at a rest stop in NSW - so hot!





The kids were not happy with our progress, but tried to pose for this pic, Connor just wasn't having any of it though!




We drove through the night, at one point chased by a mad truck driver who seemed to think we were going too slow for him! Blinded by his headlights, and nearly crashing into him when he overtook us, then slammed on his brakes! Well we'd quite had enough, so my husband called the police, and let them know the problem and our location - Nowhere Lol! So we finally escaped the Madman!
Then it was off again, and then harassed by some drunk people in Taree when we just stopped for coffee! So we again escaped from that!
Our mobile phones had died - we hadn't charged them fully as we thought we'd be home in a few hours!
So it was then to Sydney, where we drove over the Sydney Harbour Bridge, and saw the Opera House at 5am!
We then took the wrong HWY, and had to cross inland to get to the right one. We soon realised we had to drive over 2 mountains, on with a tiny winding road, up in the clouds, so steep, no guard rails, and a massive drop to the left! Well I honestly felt sick by that point! Lucky for us the 2nd mountain had a proper road and guard rails or I think I'd have gotten out and walked with the 4 kids!
After that it was pretty cruisy... just utterly boring! The kids managed to get some sleep, but us 4 adults only had a couple of hours.
We then had to pick up our car from the Melbourne AIRPORT Lol! Drop the hire car back, and drive to Geelong. It was absolute heaven to see our house, jump in the shower one by one and get some sleep in our soooooo comfy beds!
So, after all that, it took us a total of 29+ hours to get home. 29 hours YUCK! We did stop, many times as you need to do with 4 kids - ate so much Macca's and junk we felt sick!
The kids did finally make it to school the next morning after missing 3 days!
Well I think we've finally recovered from our mad trek across half of Australia. We joked that our Scottish family got to see alot more of Australia, and we now have some stories to tell! They definitely don't want to attempt to drive over to WA though LOL!
Well I hope you're all still with me after that long winded story!
Best wishes,
Jenelle - who will never leave home again.......