Its Friday – its Friday,
The best day of the week,
The day that we look forward to,
The day that we all seek!
Not Monday or Wednesday,
I’m really glad the weekends here!
Hoping for some sunny days,
Wishing for a holiday,
Boy I sure am glad its Fridayyyy! 🙂

Hi Everyone!
How are you? Can you tell it’s my favourite day of the week?
I am doubly happy today. In fact you really can’t wipe the smile from my face … This is why :

My gorgeous, long-pined-for, great condition, fully operational, antique Singer Treadle Machine was delivered yesterday afternoon! It is exquisite and I am in love. There are also heaps of extras! It was a very lucky find, didn’t happen overnight tho, I have been looking for years!
Even Hubby thinks its beautiful.
And my 3yo, Ryan asked to be picked up to kiss the “beautiful black Mummys machine” haha

Add to that the fact we are heading over to Magnetic Island tomorrow for a weekend of fun. The boys are looking forward to playing cricket on the beach, swimming in the pool and staying in a hotel. I am looking forward to not having to cook, iron or clean and going for an ocean swim. I loooove swimming in the ocean. The kids will probably crash out after Mark’s work BBQ and I will be able to read my book in peace and quiet {and free air conditioning! haha} while he drinks on … and on and on and on, no doubt 😉 haha

One week of school left! Harrison is reallllly dragging his heels now. Every day he tries to get the day off! … little does he know I am greedy and plan to eek out as many minutes of peace as I can before the fights start. I thought by having a 3.5 yr gap between the boys we might avoid them, but they argue about anything and everything lately. And sometimes it gets physical Kids!!
2013 will be the last year I have one of my babies home with me full-time! Ryan starts pre-prep in 2014 and I wont know what to do with myself. I am tempted to keep working nights so I can have a few days a week to myself. But just for a few months for a break. I am doing a TAFE course next year and want to eventually get a ‘day job’ again.

What are you doing this weekend?
Whatever it is I hope it’s a good one with fun, family and relaxation! {and sleep, or is it only me who craves a catch up on the weekends?}
Catch you on the flip side …

Hellooo! Hows tricks everyone?
I have been a little quiet as I am working hard to tidy up my health, house and life before the end of 2012. I plan on starting the new year with a sparkling house, a health and fitness plan that sticks and more time.

More time to sew, more time to play (with my boys too 😉 ) and more time to study. I am starting a TAFE course in January and I can’t wait! Its been a long time between classes for me 🙂

We only have this and next week left of the school year, so I am trying to get as much done before I have Two Little Rascals (shameless plug! haha) underfoot instead of just one. Today I cleaned out the playroom. My boys are getting a tv/dvd combo for Christmas and I am moving my sofabed in there for them so we need the space! It will be nice to be able to give visitors a room of their own from now on too, instead of having the fold out in the loungeroom.

I have cleared 2 bags of rubbish, 2 bags of Salvo’s donations and a bag and a box of ‘baby’ toys I’m taking to my sister’s youngest Bub. I can’t believe how much they have crammed in there! … AND!!! I have only cleared the bookcases, drawers and toy box. I still have the closet to clear! They are clearly spoilt crazy! … Or headed for a future embarrassing episode of “Hoarders” !! heehee 😉
Check it out! :

A clean up is also a good idea because I have a new piece coming to live at my house in 2 days … something I have been coveting since I was a small child. Watch this space for pics!

Speaking of Bee’s … Has anyone ever participated in a Quilting Bee??

I have recently discovered a couple in a group I am part of on Facebook … I am intrigued! I don’t have time to join in right now, but would love to give it a whirl in 2013. Please comment with your Quilting Bee stories, the good the bad and the awesome (cos I’m sure there’s no ‘ugly’ lol)

Oh well, I’m off to work! Catch you on the flip side! 😀

Has anyone ever participated in a travelling fabric stash??
I have now partaken of 3. They are such a fabulous idea!!!

You wait for your name to come up on the list …. Then you wait … patiently? … not I! HA!
No, I wait like an excited kid, skipping from foot to foot and dashing to the front door every time I hear a vehicle in the street heehee “This time it MUST be the post van! Bugger … not yet …“

And then ….. they arrive!!! 😀 YAYYY!!!
You are keen as mustard to go thru it all and choose some goodies! Like an excited child at Christmas!

BUT!

Then you have to go thru your own stash and select some to de-stash into the parcel to be sent onto the next
recipient. Ouch!! Its like pulling teeth! You think “I’ll put this in” and then remember why you bought it.
Surely you’ll still get to that loooong forgotten project you bought it for originally! … wont you?

Hmmmm … maybe you can look at it as a chance to let go of some projects that keep getting pushed back and
pushed back. If they are losing rank on the ‘TO DO” list are they really that important to you?

Which brings me to my next little gem. I recently found a page on Facebook dedicated to using the
fabrics you have in your stash before you buy any more.
I think this is a great idea! I am going to do it!
No more purchases til I have diminished my stash! And I have quite a stash! I don’t know how, but
I seem to have collected far, far, farrr too much.

So, first thing is to go thru my stash and tidy it up. Put it into some order, make it easy to find and access and
then START USING IT!!!

But I just don’t have the room ….. maybe when we win lotto! haha

I will start my tidy up with some corflute purchased from Bunnings on Friday and take some pics of my
substantial stash when it is tidier 🙂
Sew, my question to you is, do you have some tips for me? How do you store your fabric stash?

Some of my random thoughts for a random Tuesday …

1. WHY do people tailgate?? It fucking pisses me to tears! I had a silly cow riding my tail on the way to school collection this afternoon, someone flashed us and she backed right off. Now, I 99% of the time use my cruise control,  (I don’t know about you, but I can’t afford to blow a weeks hard-earned wages on a speeding ticket!!) so I didn’t alter my driving one little bit after being flashed anyhow. We didn’t see any cops around, so I don’t know why we were flashed. But this chick followed me all the way to school and parked behind me, then let out her 4ish year old daughter and wandered off to collection. I felt like sticking my head out (we sit in the a/c car til the last minute 😉 ) and asking her why the hell she thought it was ok to put my child, and hers, at risk by tailgating me when I was doing the speed limit??? I just don’t get it! It’s sooo not worth it!
Like the other week when some wanker tailgated and then overtook us on double lines ….. only to have to stop at a red light and I pull up right beside him! WHAT did he achieve?? He put himself and more importantly US in danger; risked fines for speeding, hooning (as he was in a V8, so maybe a confiscated car as well!) and crossing double lines … all to end up in EXACTLY the same spot he would have if he had waited til we reached double lanes and changes lanes. He was right beside me at the lights FFS!!!!!
Humph!
Rant over.

2. I have finished my first patchwork twirl skirt 🙂 Here is a pic!

Now I just need to make a coordinating t-shirt 🙂

3. I don’t wanna go to work tonight! I am buggered and think I need to find a new job where they pay me to stay home and sleep. Or sew 😉

4. ONE. HUNDRED. MILLLLLION. DOLLARS!!!!!! That’s how I have been saying tonight’s Oz Lotto jackpot. “Wouldnt it be nice?” – They have the right catchphrase that’s for sure! What would YOU do with $100,000,000 ?????
(that’s an awful lotta zeros!!)

I am a little bit passionate about making and buying hand-made items. Especially supporting stay-at-home-Mums and their businesses.

It makes me sad when people complain about the prices of hand-made original items. From gorgeous little outfits for your kids to Quilts like I make. If you want to spend $50 on a doona cover and make a lovely little kids room around that, then that’s great, go for it.
But,  if you want to have an original garment or decor piece made with love by a stay at home Mum – or even *gasp* a Mum who HAS an out of the home job and is working extra hard doing something she loves to produce these awesome items, then expect to pay an appropriate price for them!

Seriously.

Here is an example of what I mean … I make Raggy Quilts and am getting into clothing and regular quilts. At the moment I am making Single Raggy Quilts for my own boys room. They would have cost me about $200-$250 so far. Easily! Not to mention the hours that have gone into them. I reckon, even charging $300 I would be making about $5 an hour. But – I will have an original bedding set for my boys that no one else has. Cant help but be happy with that 🙂

This morning one of my favourite suppliers got one of my all time favourite fabrics back in stock. And only $9.25 a yard! For gorgeous designer quilting fabric!
This is the fabric and I was thinking of making this exact quilt :

Pretty, yes? 🙂
Well! I put all the fabrics required except the batting into my online shopping cart and it came to $350 incl. freight! Add the batting which I can get here and it’ll be near $400! I’ve never made a quilt like this one, but I’m guessing it’s not a weekend project, so how can one make and sell something like this? Unfortunately cost implies it could only ever be something extra special for me …

Amy Butler is my all time favourite fabric designer. She makes some gorgeous lines and I wish I could get 10 yards of each! lol

Here are some:

Oh well … with dreams of gorgeous fabrics filling my head I am off to get ready for work 😦 Booooo! lol

Yup, as the title suggests, I don’t have much of interest to say today. Probably the best thing is :

I have found my sewing Mojo!!! 😀
… but now I have a heap of things that have to be done ‘before’ I can play 😦 I am itching to get back into it! Its sitting on the table calling me! 🙂
We have a pupil-free day here and I usually enjoy them, because like today, we have PJ days on pupil-free days! Today tho, the boys are driving me batshit crazy! They just wont stop fighting! Definitely a Manic Mumday even tho nothing much is really going on 🙂

The second best thing today is that I have the night off – and I am going to SEW!! Yayy me!
These are the half done projects calling me :

I am going to follow along with one of my favourite blogs, Fat Mum Slim’s Photo-A-Day in November. I have done it a few times but just ran out of puff (and fresh ideas) so didn’t participate this month. I am ready and raring to go for the next round tho.

In other news, I am again attempting to quit one of my favourite vices.
I am giving up Diet Coke. *insert devastated face*
My absolute all time favourite drink!
I have finally been convinced of its badness and we are parting ways.
We have been together for decades and I sure will miss it, but the time has come.
I am getting healthy in other areas of my life and this old devil must go too.

Do you have any vices that are bad for you?

Anyhoo ….. G’nite everyone, I’m off to sew! YAYYYY ! 😀

I am going to ramble today! lol

Firstly, I love this year’s X Factor! There is so much talent out there!! And some of them are so young! (when did I start to feel so old?! lol)

My favourites since they whittled it down to the final 12 was a list of about 8 contestants!! But in the last few weeks I have 2 clear favourites – Nathanial and Fourtunate. I was shocked when they landed in the bottom 2. Nathaniel has a voice like pure honey! It makes me melt and drool at the same time 🙂 And Fourtunate have so much personality and joy in their performances! IMHO both acts have “The X Factor”. I am so so happy they both made it thru last night! (Fourtunate by the skin of their teeth!) C”MON Boys go for it!!

I am really enjoying some of the shows out there at the moment. It’s a bit sad actually lol But I do cut and sew and iron in front of the TV a lot so its nice to have something good to watch. Here are some of my favourites :

1. Touch – I love, love, love this show. What an amazing concept! I hope whispers that it wont be back for more seasons are false!
2. Modern Family – How freaking FUNNY is this show?!?! I love it 🙂 Cant wait for Sunday and the new season. Gloria pregnant, can’t wait for the laughs surrounding that!
3. Hawaii Five-0 – OMG!!! Alex O’Loughlin is my next husband!! ❤
4. Homeland – Season 1 was amazing and I can’t wait for the next one to start this week!
5. The Good Wife – This one doesn’t appeal to all, but I don’t like to miss it!
6. The Mentalist – Simon Baker, need I say more? lol
7. Person of Interest – This one can be a little repetitive, but I still love it. I blame James Caviezel.
8. Puberty Blues – I really enjoyed this new series. It had a little ‘ick’ factor at some of the things they did and put up with, but I will be watching next season 🙂
9. Revenge – CAN.NOT.WAIT. for next season!
10. The Block – I want to BE on the Block! lol I can’t miss it. Ever.
11. Home and Away – Sad but true. I watch it. 🙂
12. Criminal Minds – A loooong time fave.

I know there are others, but I’m a bit forgetful so if I havent watched it recently I forget it lol

I also have a few that I still kinda watch but I think they’ve lost their lustre and maybe they need to wrap them up. Grey’s Anatomy,Big Bang Theory and How I Met Your Mother spring to mind. For crying out loud – Tell us how you met their mother already!!!! Tho, I will admit to having a cry when Mark died on Grey’s last week 😦

There are some absolute crap shows out there at as well.
Well, in my opinion anyhow. I’m sure they have some followers cos they keep rolling them out each year.
If I have to endure that add with the ‘geek’ growling/hissing/what-the-fuck-ever-it-is ever again I may just boycott channel 7! And I wont even go further than mentioning the Lara Bingle Show – who in the hell ever thought that would be a good idea?? And the Shire – What were they thinking???? I don’t think I need to elaborate there either. And Charlie Sheen – please retire.

I was kinda thinking that the Brynne Eddelstien Bedazzled show might be interesting. Just to see how the other half live. After the first episode last week I came away with a bad taste in my mouth, for 2 reasons : 1. No matter how much money he had I don’t think I could marry that nasty old bastard! He’s so mean to her! and 2. $250,000 on clothing she hadn’t even tried on????? WTF????? I can think of sooooooo many better things to spend A QUARTER OF A MILLION DOLLARS on!! I actually feel a bit sorry for Brynne. She seems like a genuinely nice person who wouldn’t intentionally hurt a fly, and she seems sad and lonely.

Anyhoo ….. that’s my rambling and reviewing done for the day haha. Hope everyone is happy and well 🙂 Kate xo

… but then is there really anyone in the world who actually likes it??

I have been feeling like crap for a couple of weeks really and now have a lingering cough and blocked ears. My voice is only just getting understandable. I made my first phone call in a week today!

We lost hubby’s beautiful Mum last Saturday after a long illness and I had the week off work in case he felt the need to go over there. He didn’t. Even though we knew it was coming, it was a devastating blow to the family. It still feels like it hasn’t really happened. And even tho its easy, true and very comforting knowing that she is at peace and isn’t in pain anymore, the selfish part of me wants her here with us.

I don’t tolerate the “H” word in our home. But for cancer, I will make an exception …

I HATE Cancer.

Too many of us are touched by it and it scares the living shit out of me!

Cancer makes me like my lingering cough and puts a whole lot into perspective hey?

I hope we are never again touched by cancer.

I hope you are never touched by cancer.

I hope with all my being they find a cure for this dreadful disease. And soon.

Carole with us in Darwin in 2007. Harrison was 16mths old and we had no notion of our little Ryan yet 🙂

RIP Carole, you will forever be in our hearts xox

Do you have a favourite child?

I read, and then saw on the news, that a Canadian DJ, blogger and father, Buzz Bishop, posted on his blog that his eldest son was more like him and therefore his favourite. He says he doesn’t love them differently, just ‘likes’ one more : “I admit it, my oldest son is my favourite because he can do more things. To me, he’s more fun. I don’t love either of my sons any more than the other, but I do like them differently. I’d be willing to bet you’re the same.”

This kind of stuff blows my freaking mind! I have 2 sons and I could not imagine liking or loving one more than the other.

Is it a man thing?
Before I get smacked, (tho I know no men read my blog haha) this is a real question. I ask it because about 2 weeks after we had our number 2 baby boy, I was holding him as he drifted off to sleep and hubby dumbfounded me by saying “They’re very different aren’t they? Which one do you think is cuter?” Ummmmmm!!!! “Say whaaaat …? They are both THE most beautiful child in the world! And if you ever ask me a question like that again I won’t be responsible for what may happen!”

I’m not a naive person. I realise we all have traits we are attracted to and things we don’t like in others.
But I seriously could not choose which of my two beautiful, intelligent, creative, imaginative, boisterous, cheeky babies I like or love more. Even if I had a gun to my head. I just couldn’t.
Could you …?

It takes me back a few years to an episode of Oprah (God how I MISS Oprah!!!) when an American woman was under fire for admitting she loved her husband more than her children. Again, for me this is a no-brainer. I love my husband, but I love my babies more. It could be because they are little and need me more, or it just could be because they came out of me and will forever be a part of me. 😉 At the same time tho, I know and understand that he loves them more than he loves me too. I am totally fine with that.