A quiet weekend...

Another weekend has rushed by in a flurry of activity.  Netball, grocery shopping, a birthday party, almost 12 year old girl clothes shopping, church, washing, ironing, cleaning, car cleaning and baseball.  Phew...not much time left for me to stitch or sew.

I did manage enough time to whip up one of these babies...

Now I have to just whip up 5 more for school - I'm donating them to the Mother's Day stall next week.

Sacraments

Baby bear #3 is currently preparing to receive the sacrament of Reconciliation.  This will happen next week and as part of the ceremony for receiving all 4 sacraments in my church the children have to wear a white stole.  On the stole are the names and dates of the sacraments they receive.

I had made the other 2 baby bears' stoles - they were beautifully embroidered on my embroidery machine.  I don't have that machine at the moment nor all the computer software that goes with it.

I decided to go plain and simple for this child.

The reason being that since the last sacrament (baby bear #2's first Eucharist 2 years ago) our church has introduced pale blue stoles that must be worn at each service for the duration of the preparation.  They really are lovely and allow the other parishioners to see who is currently preparing and makes the whole process a little more parish friendly.

Well, these little blue stoles have been a constant source of agony for the past 2 months.  This dear sweet sensory sensitive child has hated every minute of having the stole around his neck.  It has been a huge deal for all of us, as it has been yanked off, thrown on the floor, shoved at his sister, put on the seat in front of us, hidden in my handbag...you get the picture?  This child has not coped well with the blue stole.

So, when I mentioned that he had to wear a white stole on the night of the actual ceremony all hell broke loose.  I know, kind of ironic for a religious occasion.  Anyway, I went and bought the things I needed and made the mistake of showing him.  As he was looking through the bag, he turned and stated he wasn't having any of 'that stuff' on the bottom of his (the pale blue Church ones have a very small amount of very fine lace on the bottom), it was then that I knew it was coming.  Melt down.  How do you explain to a child that suffers from the "A" word that there are some things in this world that he just has to suck up and take?

I left him to his melt down.  This time it was in his bedroom and consisted of him tipping out every piece of Lego he owns.  Lets just say his floor was covered.  I didn't say anything, just let it be and made the design.  I did show him before I started - just in case.  It's a case of which is the lesser of two evils, damned if I do and damned if I don't.  Lucky me, he liked it and all was calm again.

I spent the next little while decorating and sewing.  He came to inspect and again insisted that he was not having and stuff on his.  I reassured him I didn't have any of the lace that the church ones have - not telling him that I had bought a very plain but nice white trim.  He found it and said he wasn't having it...I had to think quickly and told him that both his brother and sister had it on theirs and that all white stoles had to have something other than lace or they wouldn't be right.  He studied me carefully before walking away.

When it was finally finished and I asked him to try it on, I was expecting the worst...but sometimes there are little miracles and victories.  He asked me if I was taking pictures of it and I said yes.  He immediately ran out of the room saying something that I didn't quite catch and he promptly returned with his pin.

Each of the Reconciliation candidates have been given a special gold pin to put on their stoles for the ceremony.  I had to take another photo with the pin.

I was feeling pretty happy about it all...until he turned the pin over and looked at the back of it.  Disaster.  He is now refusing to wear it because it is like the Anzac one.  "They poke out at the back and rub on you." 

Is it too much for a mother to expect 2 little miracles in the one day with her special child?

I'll let you know how we go on the night of the ceremony...

Anzac Day

My day started with the dawn service here in town at 6 a.m.  I have gone to this service and the 11 am service for the past few years - since baby bear #1 joined Scouts. Well, I got a bit of a surprise this morning.  It was packed!  The report on the news tonight said it was the biggest crowd they have had and I can vouch for that.

After the service I came home and did a few hours of corrections/assessment/planning for school before settling down to stitch and sew.

I'm currently working on this:

It really is very cute.  I've finished my things for my partners (Hi Lynn and Laura!) for the Friends with Benefits Swap and just need to post them.  I'm supposed to take photos but I can't put them on my Blog until they are received and seeing as both parcels are going to the United States...lets just say it will be a couple of weeks before I can post about them.  It was a great swap to be involved in and I sure hope that Kathy runs another one soon.

While I was stitching and sewing I watched this -

A very moving story based on true events.  Faith surely is an amazing thing...

I'm addicted

I just can't help myself...

I can't get enough of this...

Apparently I am not alone in this. 

I think I heard there were over 2.5 million people in Australia just like me.

I just can't wait to see what happens next - oh the wait...aaaarrrrgggghhhh

Sunday afternoon

School went back this week and it was B.U.S.Y.  Even after school every day this week there were appointments, meetings, sports, therapy and specialists.  This all means no time for sewing, no time for stitching and only time for driving here, driving there and it didn't stop until today.  Then it was washing, ironing, housework and then a little of this...

I got the idea from this amazing lady.  I can vouch for her skills and tutorials - they are amazing!  Many of my time saving 'cheats' I have learnt from her.

Now I just need to manage to get to the shops so that I can buy more tea towels (and ice creams for 'those' moments) to make more aprons.

Beautiful

This blog is supposed to be about my quilting and crafting.  It is supposed to be MY place.  Every now and then when I empty my camera I come across a picture that says something to me.

In this particular instance this photo is of baby bear #3.

Despite the ice cream around his face he is a constant joy and struggle at the same time.  He has blessed us with his need for routine, his inability to socialise like the rest of us, his dislike of crowds, noise, smells and certain foods, his obsession with Buzz Lightyear and his need to make squares and line up his shoes.

Every day brings new challenges.

It's not easy.  In fact, it is down right damn hard, but somehow we survive each day.  Some days we even manage some laughs and it's not every night that my kids eat Easy Mac (that's reserved for the REALLY bad ones).

Autism makes you want to have these 'icecream moments' often. 

There is peace. 

There is calm.

There is quiet.

There is a moment.

Carmel's Quilt

I have been meaning to post this since December...oh well, better later than never.

I decided last year to make Carmel a quilt for Christmas - she and I worked together last year and became very close.  I wanted to make her a quilt and I wanted it to be special and personal.  I wasn't going to tell her about it but it was rather tricky to find out what colours she would like without fessing up. In the end I did tell her what I was up to.  I sent her too look at a couple of web sites for fabrics and she and her husband chose some fabrics.  I then ordered them and came up with this...

photo courtesy of Carmel

She loves it and so did her family - it now lives at their holiday house in Cowes.  I am happy it was so well received.  I think there will be lots of snuggling and book reading/movie watching happening under this one!

Canadian Cameo

Last year when on my trip to Canada I stopped at 2 quilt shops - both of them were delightful and I purchased a Cameo quilt kit from one.  It has been a stop-start kind of project.  I really don't enjoy stop-start projects.  I start off with a whole lot of enthusiasm and then it wains...the more I stop-start, the more it wains and the harder it is to get back into it.  Worse still, if I have to pack up my project...well lets say it takes even longer to get back into it, just look at poor old Swoon (sigh).

I really wasn't sure about quilting this one.  I knew I didn't want to just outline the shapes, but I didn't want too much happening in the background either.  Now that it's finished I'm disappointed and am thinking that I should have done just a little bit more on this one.  I'm thinking I may just have to do something fairly plain and simple on the border, but not sure how it would go considering it is bound and completed.  How much would it shrink and how much would it distort?

I do however like my back.  I like the combination of my label (printed at home on my ink jet printer with freezer paper and fabric) with the fabric from the outer border, it's such pretty fabric.  I do rather like this lady's range of fabric and patterns.  I have a few of her other patterns and I guess one day will get around to blogging about them.

Well that's my Canadian Cameo - done and dusted.  Now I just need another trip to purchase a quilt kit from somewhere else.  Any suggestions of where to next?

Dear Stella

I fell in love with this fabric when I first saw it a few months ago.  I ordered mine from here and have been waiting to find the right pattern...I haven't found the right pattern, so I'm making this one up myself.

 It took me a while to get the measurements correct for the first block - lots of cutting and sewing, re-cutting and re-sewing, until I got it just right.

The second set of blocks came together so much faster and neater too...I think doing the H.S.T. in the new way has made a huge difference, both in terms of time and also the way the fabric handles.  A lot less handling and a whole lot of starch makes for almost perfect H.S.T.

And you can see from this picture the pile of off cuts and scraps gathering while I work.  Think I have something else in mind for some of those larger pieces.

Oh, and Happy Easter everyone!

For sale

I couldn't help myself.  I enjoyed making the monkey quilt so much I made 2 more.  They are such great quilts - wash and wear too boot!  Perfect for babies.

This is a beautiful fabric fit for any little princess.
The flannel is 3 layers of hot pink/white stripe,
orange/white and pale pink.

The perfect elephant quilt.
The underside is again 3 layers of flannel - in 2 different
beige/white combinations and blue. 

These 2 quilts are for sale.  If you are interested please email me for further information

Baby Quilts

There is nothing so sweet as a new baby, perfect and full of potential..
And a new baby deserves a new quilt - right?

Carmel that I work with is due to become a Grandmother and so I wanted to make something for this baby.  I set out on a search for something special.

I ended up with this.

It is the cutest and brightest fabric, I just love the cheeky little monkeys - they are sure to become a favorite.

This is the underside made up of 3 layers of flannel and then cut to fluff and fray and ruffle.



This all makes for the perfect baby quilt, that will double as a play mat on the floor, not to mention snuggling with while sleeping, reading books or watching t.v.

PicMonkey

I have discovered and played around a little with an online photoshop program that allows you to do all sorts of great things with your photos.

Take for instance, this old picture of cub #3, taken about 2 years ago just after I had finished his firefighter quilt.

It's nothing spectacular.  But wait...

Ok, so I chopped his head off, but as I said, I only just discovered this site and have only played with one photo.  The best part is that it is free and I think will become my new favorite seeing as Picnik is closing on the 19th of this month.

So head on over  here and have a play...I dare you.