A very Merry Christmas!

We had a very Merry Christmas with Miss Lucy-lu
as you can see, she has had her c-pap removed,
and is now on fast flow prongs.
Lucy has also been reclassified as a 'Special Care' baby
and is no longer 'Intensive Care'.
This is another milestone.
She now weighs 1.4kg, twice her birth weight!

Merry Christmas from these two beautiful girls
Sophia was once again an angel
at her Kindergarten concert.

finished, sent and received!

I've finished the little Sampler Quilt for Liliane in Luxemburg!
I just had to change 1 block which didn't suit,
I also used Perle 8 for the first time
Wow, was it easy to use, and looks really effective

And to my big girl who once again has injured herself
It's healed amazingly well in the 10 days since it happened
I can't bear looking inside
I'm pretty sure 2 teeth went through!

Happy 5th Birthday

We celebrated Sophia's birthday last weekend with a big girl princess party
Fortunately the venue we went to has a face painter on a Saturday night
She invited 7 of her girlfriends from Kindergarten and Joel!
I made little carry bags in princess/castle/unicorn themed fabrics
instead of lolly bags (& a car 1 for Joel)

She then celebrated her real birthday on Thursday
and with cupcakes at Kindergarten on the same day.

Sophia's project

Here's the quilt project Sophia worked on in '08 for Andrew
She designed and helped sew
she ironed

and I quilted and bound.
We quilted Sophia's name into her color and Andrew's into his
purple & red

Do you like the dinosaur backing.
I originally used this on a quilt for my niece in 1991 !

A Christmas Pageant

On Thursday Sophia had her Christmas Concert at Kindergarten
During all the practise sessions, she has been desperate to play 'the Angel holding the star'
and guess what she was?

Take a bow Angel Gabriel

Woops I forgot to rotate this one,
but here is my beautiful girl dressing the tree
and Yes! you do need to wear your best dress to do that

What we sent to Kristin!

Here are the things we sent to Kristin.
We made a bag, modelled here by the cheeky monkey

'Possum Magic'
by Mem Fox and Julie Vivas

A possum handpuppet, the recipes from the book
Cookie cutters, furry friends chocolates
Minties & a bookmark

If we could have sent some of the other yummy foods
mentioned in the book, we would have!

#3 Kid-made Quilt Swap

As a spin off from our 6 -12" Mini Swap, and at the behest of her son Andrew,
'Davenjilly' decided to start a Kids swap.
The idea was to allow the children to design and make as much of the quilt as possible.

Sophia has loved this swap, it has allowed her to be creative with Mum, sew with Mum on the sewing machine, iron, but mainly, be in charge!

We received Andrews quilt for Sophia this week, perfect timing for a sick girl
Sophia has spent the week cuddled up with it on the couch

And, is that a thief I spy?
Guess who ate the chocolate and lollies!

#2 One Good Book Swap

The lovely Jill, over at 'Nature Girl', held this fabulous swap.
We decided to join up after doing the Little People swap together.
Wow! We didn't realise what fun it would be.

Here's Sophia fleeing with the goodies when they arrived from her new friend Kristin.
The book that Kristin chose for us is 'Flotsam' by David Weisner
It's all about a little boys day at the sea and the things he discovers.

Here are the wonderful things Sophia received, they are all linked to the book.
Bucket and spade, magnifying glass, underwater camera and frame/album for her photos
dolphin, sea animals and foam stickers, sea placemat
and finally, the lovely scarf they made themselves
Thank you Kristin and Charlotte!

We'll show you what we sent in a few days.

Sophia's first solo swap

Here are some photographs of Sophia's first swap. She looks a little overwhelmed!
She has since got the hang of it , as you will see in our next few posts

We joined the Kiddio stationery swap, and, Zoe and Sophia swapped;
stickers and pencils, labels and cards.
All sorts of lovely things
Thanks Zoe!

'S' is for Sophia

A Day at the Beach

Oh how I wish we'd taken our camera!
Spring has sprung, and what a beautful day we choose to travel down to Frankston to pick up a patchwork pattern for Wendy from the U.S. It was around 18 -19 0c with a clear blue sky.
After finding the shop and purchasing the pattern, we headed on down to the Lifesaving club and walked along the shore. Tessa couldn't believe her eyes and was a little retisent to come near the water to begin with. Sophia and I were straight down and feet in water.
Thats when I noticed jelly fish washing up on the shore. We investigated without touching, said hello to a few dogs and babies, and then headed up to the club for coffee and cake on the balcony.
Ah! Thats the life.

A Day at the Zoo

Last Sunday, we spent the day at the Zoo. As you can see the girls were amazed with what they saw. Tessa loved the Elephants, Sophia the Lions, and along with the Orangutans here is one of my favourites

The Giraffe, I love their color and beautiful markings.

We visited the Australian native animal section as they were just about to be fed. One even had a little Joey in her pouch
.

Before we left we headed over to the Ape section. We stood at the glass window and listened to the Zoo keeper chatting. As he did, one of the females came over the hill and straight down to Tessa to have a little look. I started snapping photos into reflective glass and scared her off, and didn't get any shots. Wish I'd just taken in the moment!
"She wanted to cuggle me" was all Tessa could say, wrapping her little arms around herself.

Pop on over to my flickr site for some more (better) photo's.

Uncle Lance's Gold Medal

On Thursday Sophia was honored to take her Uncles 'Special Olympics' gold medal to Kindergarten. He won in the national games, in Basketball, in 2006. I think she looks very proud.
The kids loved seeing the medal and all of the photos from the game. They have also been making their own medals. Sophia's said "she was good at hopscotch" and Riley "was good at digging"!

Another Quilt, Another Birthday Party

Hurray! I've just finished another quilt, this time for Doll Quilt Swap 4. I really enjoyed this one, it was a pattern I'd wanted to try for a while. I'd like to try it in 1930's with the red patches scrappy. I used some of my Japanese stash again! It's like the Magic Pudding, I never seem to run out of it, and it looks so good in this style if I do say so myself.


Here's a closeup which also shows the hand quilting. Please remind me to wear a thimble next time. That needle was living inside my finger by the end!!!

I just had to add this shot of Sophia at her very 1st Girlie party. We seem to always be going to boys parties, and it was such a joy to see all these little fairies. Happy Birthday Sian.

Projects

Here is a little tempter for my 6 1/2" mini quilt swap for June. It will be winging it's way to Denmark as soon as I can get to the post Office.

And, here is some great flannelette I found in my stash. It was with fabrics Mum bought for me when I was a child...early 1970's.
Who'd think I'd have a girl who loved purple. Now to find the time to make some new P.J.'s.
The fact that my very tall 4 year old is still wearing her size 2 P.J.'s should be enough incentive don't you think?!

Sleeping Fairy

Eat your heart out Anne Geddes..........lol!
Here's my big girl as I found her, new party dress and fairy wings, all worn out after lots of
Fairy Dancing

Happy Birthday 4 year old

Happy Birthday my big girl! Are you really 4 years old? You've grown so tall and so mature. You are a wonderful big sister. We love you my darling Sophia!

A Kindergarten Christmas

Well, my big girl finished her 1st year of Kinder this week. We started a week of celebration with a nativity/christmas concert in which Sophia was an Angel. How cute! There were many Dads and grandparents there too. Next the children had a Christmas party with a clown and lots of party food. Christmas cards were exchanged, presents and one very special kiss from one best friend to another

U.F.O. Week

This week was put to good use with several Unfinished Objects either completed, or on their way to being so. I know we all have 1 or 2 (or 15).
Firstly the doll cot! Started before Tessa was born, meant to be for Sophia's 2nd birthday, but, rudely interrupted by someones very early arrival. It needs another sand and varnish, but better they use it than wait for Mum! So, finally the base was made and the mattress and old linen put to good use. I believe Manny the bear finds it very comfortable.



Secondly, the 'Cracker Box' repro. quilt. All it needed was the binding sewn down on 2 sides! An hours hand sewing, and it was finished...Yay! A quick look at the label on the back ....1996

Next my big challenge......hand quilting. I began these after seeing some similar Vintage 30's butterfly blocks at the Lancaster County Fair in Virginia. I resisted the purchase, but once I got home had to reproduce them. The only problem is that I used my favourite cotton batting which is not the best to hand quilt. And so it's been sitting there ever since.

I was in the U.S.A. visiting my 5 year old niece Leah, she will be 18 this December!!!

And finally Judie Rothermels' 'Tea Leaves' quilt, only started 5 years ago. Cut and ready to go. One wheel complete. I thought I might continue and practice my hand piecing skills. Will let you know how that one goes

Oh No!

Look what a 3yr old can do to your beloved Olfa mat when she uses it as a bridge for her "Little People" bus! Words were spoken! Then, in mid speech I realised I do have 2 more. They are different sizes, but none the less two more! Enough said.

And this is what I sent Lisa

A Japanese reversible bag, made from fabric my brother brought on a trip home from Sendai

Fantales for the choc/caramel lover, a b/w photo of Puffing Billy (chosen by Sophia), some charity post-its from Bonnie babes and Missy Higgins latest c.d. Popover and see what Lisa thinks!
Finally my first dishcloth made with the cotton Lisa sent. The pattern was on the back of the label. I have since found a link to dishcloth patterns at Louise's site