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.

You may have wondered where I've been! Apart from having a virus on my p.c. that would not allow me to blog, I have been pregnant with this little dot!
May I introduce to you Lucinda Grace....aka Lucy. She was born at 27.2 weeks gestation, weighing 721gms, length 33cms and head circumference 21.5 cm.
Lucy arrived on November 14 th, but wasn't due until February 11th 2010. SO far she has done amazingly well for her prematurity, but we have come out of the honeymoon period, and she gave us quite the scare today when we went to visit. Tonight she is having a blood transfusion, and hopefully this will help with a few of the problems she is having at present.
We now understand that it will be a rocky road we will be travelling over the next few months.

Our second daughter, Tessa, was also born prematurely. Tessa was born at 33.3 weeks weight 1630gms. Tessa fought hard, and is a happy healthy 3 1/2 year old now. We can see already that Lucy has some of the same stamina, but will face a few more challenges.

We are all madly in love with her

Happy 3rd Birthday

Happy Birthday Tessa, my tiny little girl!

A little Mini from eggmoney!

Here is the lovely little mini I received from 'eggmoney'
for our November 'words' swap
Inspirational words!

and these gorgeous cards she sells in her etsy store
thanks Lynn!

These is a little tempter of the January mini I have made for 'TayLynnsbean'
The theme is to be inspired by The Gee's Bend quilts
If you don't know of these quilts go have a look here.

and finally, this is how my beauty fell asleep on Christmas eve whilst waiting for dinner
We dressed her, popped her into bed,
and her sister had to wake her on Christmas morning at 7.30am

2 more swaps, 1 more project completed

Here is a little swap I received from Anne, in my online patchn'quilt group
The word was Christ
I received

• Cushion, 10cm Xmas Ohio star
  
• Hand Towel and washer
• Ribbon
• Interfacing
• Sewing cotton
• Tea pot holder
• & a little picture Anne had done with wax and an iron of her fish tank

(I couldn't find the cushion for the photo as Tessa has ferreted it away for her dolls)

This is the little 1930's quilt I received from Bonnie in
'Another Little Quilt Swap'
She chose 2 of my favourite colors pink & green
Tessa has also claimed this one for her doll cot.

Finally a couple of projects for the Kinder teacher and Assistant

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.

Open Day at Eastlink

Look what fun we had today at the new Eastlink tollway open day. Tessa was pictured on the big screen, dancing away to the Big Band. We took a bus tour along one side, whilst cyclists rode/raced the other. Over 100 thousand people visited.
Here are but a few of the cyclists resting after their tour.

And off we head into the tunnels. The one on the left is named after the Opera singer Dame Nellie Melba, the Melba tunnel . The one on the right is named after the creek whose flow it disrupted, the Mullum Mullum tunnel. You can also see the fume chimney in the middle, I think its quite pretty.
The tollway will open next weekend, Daddy is very excited as it will cut about 20 minutes each way from his work travel time. And, in the other direction it will whisk us to the beach!

Happy Birthday 2 Year Old

Guess who is two today? Happy Birthday my beautiful girl! How you have grown. You are so much like your Mummy, you like babies and dollies and kisses and cuddles. We love you so much Tessa.

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

Dear Mum

Please listen when I say I need a bath
Please don't dawdle
Please don't run and get my sister
Please don't say you'll be there in a minute
Please come and undress me and put me in quickly, because Mummy

I will just do it myself!

Getting Started...with a little help

Whilst looking through my stash of scraps/fabrics Tessa found a little ziplock bag containing these 2 5/8" triangles which are perfact for my Four Seasons Fall doll quilt.They are from a quilt I made around 12 years ago (scary!). The main reason I like them is that red is my favaourite autumn leaf color. So, with the addition of a few extra new pieces, the top is finished and I just need to quilt and bind. Watch out for the updates

This photo reminds me of all the shots of cats sitting by there masters machines. This is my faithful kitten Tessa! Always ready to help, and yes she is taste testing the fabrics. . .

Our Tessa

Understandably, when you begin your life like this, you parents will fret.

Saturday night was one of these occasions. Tessa went to sleep as normal after a busy day, and, at around 11.30pm awoke screaming. She did this uncontrollably for at least an hour. Now she has a cold, so I'm thinking 'Influenza A' (to those o/s readers, this is taking children's lives in Aust.). These are the times when I wish my mother was here, and able to share her wisdom. I rang 'nurse on call' and they talked me through different scenarios, and in the end I was just told to monitor her! Eventually she stopped and we all had a good nights sleep. Sophia never woke during it all.

Monday arrives and my cheeky brown eyed girl is lying giggling on my lap, and I see the source of all our trouble. . . a new tooth!