boob job

the other day tracey and i were working on setting up a URL for ‘Peek a boo Blankies’ and accidently discovered that minus the spaces in this tittle it creates peeka boob blankies. hmm as tempting as it was to have a bit of covert naughtiness in the tittle, tracey was not a fan when her 13 year old boy started snickering (unprompted) at the tittle. hopefully it will be up and running soon- very exciting!!

and huray!! i have moved on up in the world of peg holders. i have progressed from a sad plastic takeaway container that has taken a few too many hits from the lawn mower to really be decently functional, to this gorgeous peg apron, made by the very clever Kirsty of two lime leaves. Kirsty also has a very funky etsy store - well worth a vissit for the savy shopper (heh hem- shameless promotion i know- but well deserved!).  thankyou Kirsty!!

brotherly love…..

this is my little bro preparing as his alter ego….. veggie man.  he generously sacrificed a weekend to be hugged and fondled by strange girls, pummeled by a mascot kangaroo, screeched at by terrified kids and sneered at by drunken guys. all of this, free of charge. what a little champ.

the little girl recruited to wear this suit the previous weekend was rushed to hospital with heat exhaustion, as she failed to wear the cooling vest.  the outfit smelt as if it hadn’t been washed in several months. needless to say, it was not the most thrilling experiences. nonetheless, we are all granted our 15 seconds of fame in one form or another.

fortunately for him, this was not it. he is a local legend as a long distance runner around the town. honestly, i’m not a biased sister, at all!!

Time is of the essence

I attended the wedding of a dear friend yesterday. She had travelled a very tough and rocky path to get to this day. It was one of the most stunningly beautiful weddings i have been to. Many tears were shed by all, in happiness and also at the loss of a special person who could not be there.

Congratulations, you are the shittiest house mate IN THE WORLD!!!

This is what it said on Mr S’ (who wishes to remain anonymous) HANDMADE certificate, posted on his door when he got home the other night. Apparently, he had earnt this from his house mate for washing the baked been tin (apperently had a cool label on it or something), but not the dishes.  His housemate is not a girl. Who’d have thought boys could be so catty.

And thank goodness the days of shared house living are long gone!! Upon reflection of domestic life these days, perhaps not….  Sometimes living with a partner can be worse- no need for covert cues, even direct cueing doesn’t work sometimes. And what happens when that doesn’t work? Well, lets say arsenic in the tea may not be the most subtle means of fixing the situation, but it does deffinately seem appealing at times…..

Has anyone read ’he died with a felafal in his hands’? i read this book after a horrible experience of living in a share house with randoms- it was very comforting and hilarious. i would definately recomend, for anyone who has had joyous experience of share house living while at uni!! 

Recent dying pics and our stall at the x-mas in july markets

we survived the markets!!!

 well, this little quilt was sent to it’s rightful owner last week after some minor agony. it has been sent to a very loving home and a beautiful little baby. for a breif point in time,  there appeared to be an issue with mailing it, when my friend reported that she had not received it in the post- what a scary feeling!!

on other quilting matters, tracey and i made our first public appearance as ‘peek-a-boo baby blankies’ at the local ‘christmas in july’ markets. it was a triumphant sense having just made it and setting up stall!!  Around about 10ish, though we had not sold a single quilt, despite lots of lovely comments.  i was feeling incredibly frustrated- this was enhanced with the increasing volume of poor taste of music, blaring from the local radio stations van.  however by the end of the day, we had suceeded in selling five quilts. this was a huge sense of relief, having recovered the expense of attending the market and leaving us with a little extra money to play with. this left us pondering future business moves from here…

 based on feedback from the markets, it seems that the next logical step is to market to a wider, more specific audience- ie to baby boutiques etc. as tracey mentioned, it is hard to look credible as a specialty stall when the equivelant of toilet dollies etc are being sold in the stall next door. the current price of our quilts was determined with no real acknowledgement to the hours of labour (although thourougly enjoyable!!). in particular i had not felt confident about raising the price any higher given the population we were selling to and was concerned that we may be considered pretentious. after yesterday, it seems clearer that this may be the only way of justifying the product that we are so proud of creating. it is going to require some gutsy decission making

 this devine photoe was taken by tracey (and also taken from her blog :) and is a sneak peek of some of the quilts

onto other news. one of my brothers made a long journey to vissit my mum for her birthday. it was such a joy having him around. we often reflect on our childhood, now we’re all ever so ‘grown-up’. As kids, we seemed to fight constantly. now there is a little distance from this time, we all really enjoy each others company. it is one of the most heart warming things to have arrived at this time in our lives where we have fun relationships with each other. For the past few years, we have had anual camping trips together, which amount in the highest degree of silliness and amusement. this was our camping trip last year…

winter indulgence

 

apologies for the long absence and thank you for your supportive comments guys 

well, the extreme cold (by north queensland standards) has continued. it is almost enough to tip us all into S.A.D (seasonal affective dissorders). Mike and i feel that we are ill-equipt to handle this prolonged cold … we have resorted to breaking into the ’emergency chocholate’ (which by the way tastes disgusting- there would be trouble if this was a real emotional crisis) and mike has resorted to internal heating via cigars and even drinking cups of tea (highly unusual behaviour!!).  This blurr of a figure is mike attempting to heat himself over candle flames- hmmmm.

 the first week of the new job is over- i cannot believe how fantastic the change has been. another nice factor has been increased time spent with mike, who is also an ot, and works at the same location, …. as does his dad. while having nice familiar elements, this has also lead to other issues- ie frequently being the butt of all office jokes.  after seeing the new addition to the family, a coworker told mike she thought that i looked good with a baby in the arms….. which was followed by mike publically requesting a breif half hour impromptu lunch break in which he wanted to take me home to rectify the situation-grr!  as you can see, we are absolutely besotted with the little dear

 

the next few weeks are also likely to be a little crazy. i have just realised that there are only a few weeks left till the christmas in july markets that tracey and i are to  sell our baby blankies at (which can be seen on tracey’s sight- peppermint patcher) much work to be done and so little time!!

a time for change

  

   For over a year, i have been working in a job that consumes at least thirteen hours of travel time a week, sixteen sometimes when i provide outreach to Bowen (seriously called bowen-wood by the locals with the presence of nicole kidman and hugh jackman filming).  for a year now, i haven’t really done any excercise.  since the winter lighting has kicked in, it has been bothering me that i leave and come home in the dark every day. for those out there living in larger cities, i gues this is a fact of life, but in the ‘ville, it is rule of thumb that it takes about 15 mins to get anywhere your heart desires.

anyway, last week, despite conciously trying to concentrate as hard as i could while driving, i had two minor car accidents. nothing at all serious, but nonetheless, inconvenient and embarassing. the little car isn’t sounding too healthy and is due for a check up- it feels like the general expenses of patching the car up these days seem to outweigh it’s actual value- i know you can emphasise with this kirsty!!

 one of the people that i share driving with in a car pool, left work, essentially leaving me to do all the driving. and that was that. there have been lots of little events leading up to this point, but it was these three simple enough events that tipped the scales. normally, i am one of the most indecisive people that i know, but there and then, the night after the second car incident i decided to hand in my resignation. i am not to sure exactly what i am going to do for a job in the next little while. but i am strangely not too concerned about that- even a bit excited. in times like these, impromtu decission making deffinately has its place in life.

day 1

 

yesterday i had the pleasure of spending the day with this little bub. this is her, several hours old. she is a bit pudgier these days (only a few weeks down the track) as she has a very loving mum and dad who ensure that she never goes hungry. she is such a tiny little creature, but it is amazing the calming power and huge sense of wonder that she seemed to provide for the entire family. we spent about an hour just sitting around watching every little movement. she didn’t really do much- i think she’s practicing her focus at the moment.  i really wanted to take a photo of her every week, but have already missed about two weeks.

stash buster

almost overnight, we have had an instant cold snap- the weather is fantasticly clear and crisp. i just love it! quality of sleep improves almost instantly. although, maybe it’s not so much the cold, but mereley the calming pressure from the weight of five quilts stacked on our bed because my b/f refuses to dress appropriateley for winter sleeping. 

and perfect weather to justify all quilting activity- which is very rare in townsville. i have been binding a few quilts this week in preperation for the christmas in july markets approaching. tracey and i have been making lots of baby quilts with flanel backings from our hand dyed fabrics- it’s been a great activity with the recent cold. this is a picture of a little stash buster that i have been working on over the weekend.

also perfect wedding weather. i went to a bueatiful, simple and to the point. most importantly it was short! i know that weddings are a once in a lifetime experience and all that, but it is so nice to be able to retain concentration for the entire ceremony. 

 

golum

 

This is a quilt recently completed using our hand dyed fabric. my photography isn’t flash and i don’t think it really shows the colours that well.

another baby quilt…… i’m just letting it stay at my house a little longer before i hand it over…….  it will be going to a loving home though.  does anyone else go through this anguish?

after lunch at work, i hoped onto a bed for a manual handling demo and spread weed seeds all over the sheets.  ’yes…..yes i have been rolling in the bushes…. it’s a long story’ i mumbled. shortcuts are never as clear cut as they seem. it is amazing the little adventures that you can have by foot. today, i realised that i had been un-licenced for a week and i had to resort to lots of walking. it made me realise how many little things i  miss out on, carrying on the same routine  expedition to work in the car. for instance, every day i spend two and a half hours commuting  to and from work. after over a year of taking this route, i recently discovered that for a split second, we have a magical glimpse of the sea at sunset from the most unexpected vantage point. ok, that’s it- tomorrow i’m going to start walking again!!

renel, my best friend since seven/ most unconventional person i know, caught up on the weekend (part of our tri-annual catch up). she has been riding her bike phenomenal distances lately and has collected and washed random bits of material from the road side. she wants me to help her make a wagga- i can’t wait to see what she’s collected and will show photos once underway!