Bonnie & Camille Charm-Along!

October 27, 2014 / manicmumdays / 4 Comments

I am participating right now in the 3rd Aussie Charm-Along hosted by the always brilliant Ms Midge!

First off we did Kate Spain {The quilt top from that swap is my header!}
I am still working on the back of that one so it hasn’t been quilted yet – Boooo!

Then came Bonnie & Camille. It’s quilted and I’m just finishing the binding on it so I don’t have a completed pic of it to share … But here is a pic of the quilt top :

I really love this quilt! ~~I think it might be~~ It’s going to be my new couch quilt 🙂
It’s the perfect size too!

And the 3rd we are in the midst of is Amy Butler!
I am so very excited for them to arrive!!!

❤

Did anyone catch “The Code” on ABC the last couple of months? It wrapped up last night – What a ripper little Aussie drama it was!
Next 2 weeks in its place there will be a 2 part movie on Ian Flemming – Author of the 007 novels … that should be interesting.
Do you think I am showing my age since I am watching ‘Aunty’ more n more these days? haha

❤

Anyhow, I need to go get cracking on finishing my binding. Hope y’all have a great week!
{tho, hopefully I’ll post again before the weeks out! haha}

Another Makeover!

October 3, 2014February 7, 2016 / manicmumdays / 4 Comments

Hi!

And it’s a long weekend here in sunny Qld – yaaay!!

I am having a HUGE spring clean right now. And just for shits n giggles I thought {for some reason} that it was practical to paint a few of the rooms at the same time. Seemed like a good idea at the time! haha
I went to move some furniture round and decided to save time … Paint the walls I am putting the furniture on and then I won’t have to move the furniture over the next few weeks again to paint 🙂 See? Sanity amid the madness!

You know how things always get really messy when you spring clean … before they get … clean?
Well, that’s where I’m at right now. Messy! But I am making progress, so I persevere!

❤

I finished a quilt last weekend and it went to my quilter Tuesday. She is a magician and got it back to me Wednesday!! Such fabulous work and always waaaay faster than I expect! Anyhow, I am binding it this weekend and will show it off next week.
If you are after a fantastic quilter you can find Fiona’s facebook page HERE! I highly recommend her!

I have some pics of my last furniture makeover to tide you over tho!

This is what it started as :

I ripped the back off and started sanding before I remembered I hadn’t taken pics … oops! So please excuse the back just sitting behind 🙂
After I removed the back I was a little worried as it became wobbly. I was very hopeful that putting a new back on it would stabilise. It did!

A good waxing all over and it’s good to go! Here it is after :

I painted it in Annie Sloan Chalk Paint – Florence. Which matches my sewing desk and replaced the back with some decorative pine ply. I used ply as the back was going to be visible and I wanted the layers to be a feature like this :

I used a nice thick piece to make it heavier and more stable. It’s turned out exactly how I wanted it to and fits into the space I wanted to use it on perfectly! I sometimes think it’s sad how giddy I get when playing with my little projects and they work out just as I planned … But then I just get on with being giddy! haha 🙂
I haven’t finished putting all my bits n bobs on it, but here it is in its space; and in relation to the desk :

❤

Well, that’s all I’ve got for tonight – have a fantastic weekend!
And if you’re in Queensland, have a fantastic LONG weekend!

It’s been a whole year …

September 29, 2014September 29, 2014 / manicmumdays / Leave a comment

… since our little Quilting Bee, QCA#3, kicked off!

It’s really flown, but at the same time, it seems like we’ve been in it for ages!
Here are the last 2 blocks ~ August :

And September :

I’ve really enjoyed this experience but most of the ladies are too busy so have opted out on a second round.
One even has a baby about to arrive! 🙂 Excitement!
I was on the fence and thought I would have been happy either way but I am feeling a little wistful now …
Oh well, all good things must come to an end 🙂

❤

Here are all of my contributions :

All the ladies made gorgeous choices for their blocks! ~~Most~~ All were a complete pleasure to make 😉 Mine is the top middle, I was November last year! I haven’t pieced the quilt as I have a couple of alterations to make … I have also made a further 8 blocks to make it bigger!
But here are the 12 blocks of the worker bees + the one I did for that month {It’s in the top left corner} :

Pretty, hey!
I’m sad we’re disbanding the Bee … But so very happy to have been a part of it!
❤ Thank you ladies! ❤

❤

Rightio, that all from me for tonight – short and sweet! Catchya next time.

Happy Birthday to Me!! Plus Astronomy and a Make Over!

September 20, 2014February 7, 2016 / manicmumdays / 2 Comments

Well, Happy Birthday to “Manic Mumdays” anyhow 😉

2 Years ago yesterday I started this little blog! Yaay! And I am only just this last few months being kind to it and spending some real time on here.

❤

I was going to post this last night but we went with our Grade 3 classes out to the lake and had a session with the Astronomy Club!

Oh.eM.Geeeee!
I could soooo buy myself a decent telescope and get into that as a hobby! It was amazing! The fabulous telescopes they had out there cost less than I assumed! Might be time to start saving! Haha!
When our lovely host, Bob was talking about the Milky Way and the fact that it has 200Billion stars, I was getting a little teary with how insignificant we really are!
It blows my mind that all of that potential is out there. I definitely believe we can’t be alone in this … We’re talking 200,000,000,000 other stars – just in our Galaxy! And if each of those stars has 8 planets like ours does that’s 1.6Trillion possibilities! {that’s 1,600,000,000,000} There has to be some other life form out there – What do you think?

We saw Saturn which looked just like this but a little less distinct:

And Jupiter with a couple of its 60+ moons. Our view was exactly like this :

We got to see Mercury just before it disappeared over the horizon and Mars which really was red! There was some white on it from the nitrogen ice cap! We looked at a brand new {only 10,000,000 years old 😉 } cluster of 40+ stars called the Jewel Box Cluster :

We also looked at The Southern Cross and Alpha Centauri {actually 2 stars! And one of the Pointers!}; Scorpio; and Sagittarius.

*sigh* I desperately want a telescope now! haha

❤

Mr Manic helped me move my newly made over sewing table into place on Thursday!

To say I’m in love is an understatement!

Here are some pics :

The ‘After’ pics are in crappy light, cos we kept running out of time and I didn’t want to go without using it any longer haha
The colour is darker – more the colour of the top.

I replaced the handles with some gorgeous crystal drawer pulls I found in the Antique store; bogged up the old holes; repaired some minor damage to the bottom on one of the drawers; papered the drawers; painted it; and replaced the old, rusty castors.
It was a bit ugly with its old, yellowing varnish, but structurally, it was in fantastic condition!

I have decided to make over a little bookcase I got cheap at a garage sale in the same colour to put with it. I’ll finally have something to store my quilting books, patterns, and bits n bobs on! It was pretty sound but since removing it’s back it’s a little fragile. Fingers X’d I can fix him up 🙂

Anyhow … I am off to work a bit more on my little bookcase now!
Have a fantabulous weekend everyone!

Latest Upcycle Project Sneak Peek

September 11, 2014September 11, 2014 / manicmumdays / Leave a comment

Hi Everyone! Thanks for stopping by!

I am still working on my sewing table … would you like a sneak peek?

I am in LOVE with the colour!
But … Looking at it I am kinda in half a mind that it’s too full on all in the same colour.
I was originally going to stain it.
Then decided to use some of the gorgeous Annie Sloan Chalk Paint I won and talked about HERE.

I think for now I will wax it and then down the track I might cut the top back and stain it … What do you think?

❤

My gorgeous Kate Spain Charm Along quilt made an appearance on 13 Spools this week! You can find it HERE! I feel very honoured!

❤

My poor little man is sick 😦 I had to leave a training course early yesterday to collect him from kindy and he came home and crashed. I thought he was mainly just tired but then we woke him for a bath and he insisted on going to bed without dinner and crashed again! He came out round 9pm saying “I just want to cuddle you and then go back to bed” which he did.
He is crashed out on the couch right now 😦 Poor little darling, I hate when they’re sick!

❤

I dug round YouTube to find this and share with a friend today and thought I’d share it here too. Very funny stuff 😀

Anyhow, I’m off to check on my sick baby. Cya next time!

Lessons We Learned This Week

September 5, 2014September 5, 2014 / manicmumdays / Leave a comment

First of all, welcome Spring!!! Yaaay! My favourite season is upon us once again 😀

It’s still misty on my way to work at 6.15!! But it’s like this in no time :

❤

So, my big boy and I learned a couple of things together this last week or so.

Lesson # 1.

Back story = I detest lying!! If you wanna know only one thing about me, know that lying is a deal breaker.
Long story, short version. He had a little stumble at school involving some of the values we are teaching and I questioned his honesty and integrity {don’t laugh, these are words I use with my boys, they’re values I regard extremely highly!}. He then lied and made it worse. He was grounded and banned from gadgets for a month. This is his all time least favourite punishment! So it works a treat as a deterrent. Usually.

Anyhow, he got upset all over again when I told Mr Manic after work. Mr Manic asked if I thought shaming him was the right thing to do.

And do you know what? I’m ok with it. I didn’t set to shame him, of course. But I’ll sleep fine with it for sure.

I think shame in your own bad actions is one of the things missing from today’s society. If you’ve done something shameful you should feel ashamed! I wouldn’t have told it to a wider audience, just like I’m not sharing the full story right here. And now, here we are 2 or 3 days down the track and apart from sulking over being grounded and not being able to use gadgets, he is none the worse for it.
Personally, I believe that if wanting to never feel shame ever again is a deterrent to doing the wrong thing next time, then freaking YAY! Happy side effect and parenting win as far as I’m concerned.
The last part of his punishment was to go to school the next morning and deliver a heartfelt apology to the person involved which he did with courage and genuine remorse. He is generally a kid who we never have issues with. This was totally out of character and I am fairly confident it won’t ever happen again.

Lesson learned = Feeling ashamed of bad actions is ok.

❤

Lesson #2.

My big boy has been promoted to ‘Squad’ at swimming lessons recently. Yay! He is such a lovely little swimmer! My brother was a fantastic swimmer and ~~could~~ should have gone all the way to the Olympics with it. If only … But that’s a loooong story for another day.

Anyhow, it’s now an earlier time slot. 9am on a Saturday morning which means we need to get up at 7.15 to get there on time.
I was lamenting this fact to Mr Manic a few days ago and didn’t think anything more of it. Until Mstr 8 started getting grumpier the closer it go to the weekend, and saying he didn’t want to swim squad. I pressed him and found out it was because “I feel bad cos you have to get up early on your day off after working hard all week just to take me to squad” OMG! My heart filled to bursting point!
He is such a gentle, soft soul, and so mature that I sometimes think I treat him like he is older than he actually is and then I get a little shock when he acts like a kid lol I love his guts so much!

Lesson learned = Kids hear everything! Even if they don’t appear to be listening, they are haha 🙂

❤

I haven’t been doing any sewing lately 😦 Sad because I am running late with my Bee blocks!!
I lent my fold up tables to a friend for her little boy’s birthday party and haven’t picked them up yet. Kinda deliberately as I was trying to use it as fuel to get my sewing table project finished. That’s still a way off. I decided I wanted to paint and wax it instead of my old plan and that’ll take a while longer. I’ll then have to let the wax cure before giving it any hard use too … *le sigh*! I have had some very early starts this week and I am dead tired, but hopefully I’ll get it done over the weekend 🙂

Oh well … I have finished my Sunny chair tho! I’ll post a few pics over the weekend. Anyhow, catch you on the flip side,

KATE Sig for Manic Mumdays

New stuff … Like a Manic Mumdays Facebook page!!

August 18, 2014August 21, 2014 / manicmumdays / 1 Comment

Sew, I thought I might start up a little facebook page for Manic Mumdays!

You can find it HERE!

I’d love it if you would head on over and ‘like’ it! And appreciate it muchly if you shared it with your friends too! Thanks in advance 😉 😀

The main reason I did this is cos sometimes I want to share something short …

For instance.

Last night I was doing the folding. I wash for all about once a week … And last night I folded 21 pairs of my eldest baby’s jocks. Twenty one! How does one kid wear 21 pairs of jocks in 7 days or less????

….. See? A funny line or two on a facebook post, but not something I can base a whole blog post on, right?

Or this.

I have been suffering from a dry scalp the last few years {Strangely enough my hair/scalp just hasn’t been the same since having the kids – #256 on the list of things ‘they’ don’t tell you before you have kids! 😉 } So I have been researching natural treatments on Pintrest. {Follow me on Pintrest HERE!} And last week I treated my scalp with warm olive oil and rinsed it with apple cider vinegar ….. Since then I have only washed with a water/bicarb mix and rinsed with a water/apple cider vinegar mix.
My hair hasn’t looked or felt this good in a looong time! I am off for a trim tomorrow, and I am very interested to see if my lovely hairdresser thinks it’s improved from her perspective too 🙂

Or this.

{Which I am MEGA excited about!!!}
I recently won an Annie Sloan Chalk Paint pack from one of my all time favourite blogs – Katrina Chambers {of The Block fame}
See? Excitement!!!!! I am hanging out for it to arrive so I can playyyy!
I made over a tv cabinet for the boy’s playroom last week using Milk Paint, and I will share a pic in the next few days 🙂

Well, I am off to crash as I have been on the go since 5.30am – a 10hr day at work! … A big one for me and for my poor tired little babies ❤
I will be back with some updated quilt and tv cabinet pics soon!

Unfinished …

August 6, 2014February 7, 2016 / manicmumdays / 15 Comments

I had a shocker 24 hours yesterday!
It started when I had the battery replace on my car Monday and didn’t stop til I got home at 6pm last night! *phew!*

Interestingly, I just made a typo on the title – put “Unfunished”
That wouldn’t have been untrue either! haha

As I have mentioned before, I joined in the Australian Kate Spain Charm Swap hosted by the fabulous Ms Midge …

Melissa {Ms Midge} arranged a fantabulous bunch of prizes and a “Charm-Along” to show off our gorgeous bundles.
I had been {slowly} working towards the cut off date. But alas … the afore-mentioned shocker 24 hours has been my undoing! I intended to get the top completed Monday night and get some pics taken in the morning. Blog. Link-up. Easy … Right?
Yeahhh … not so much! When I didn’t get quite completed I was going to finish and take pics in the morning.
Nope, no go then either.

So. I am out.
And what makes it even sadder is the fact that I have found my MOJO!! haha

~*~

…………………………………………….. Or So I thought!!!!
I was just now reading my emails {mainly blog posts I am addicted to 😉 } while I worked on this post, and I followed a link from Molli Sparkle’s Kate Spain beauty to Ms Midge’s Linky Party for the Charm Along.

And ….. saw this :

“All you have to do is link up your project at the bottom of this post before 5pm WEDNESDAY THE 6TH OF AUGUST, MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA TIME, and the winners will be chosen and announced Wednesday night here on the blog.”

eeeeekkkkkk!!! I am still in this! haha

~*~

Back now!
Off I went to buzz the rest together and I am happy to announce I am DONE!
I finished!
And you are reading the blog post to prove it! 😉

Stitch the HST’s together 🙂

Sew pretty!!

Trimming, trimming, trimming!

Pretty chains!

Here it is!!! Sorry I am cutting it so fine Melissa! haha

{Geez I hope my tired brain can work out the Linky part! – this is popping my Link Party Cherry 😉 }

EDIT : I should add, she’s a Queen Size 🙂

Some Days Are Diamond

July 30, 2014July 30, 2014 / manicmumdays / Leave a comment

… some days are stone. Some times the hard times won’t leave me alone.
Some times the cold winds blow a chill in my bones.
Some days are diamonds, some days are stone.
Gotta love John Denver for ‘Where-I’m-at-today-lyrics’ haha

I don’t know if it’s because it’s Winter, {Winter gets a bad rap from me cos I don’t like the cold 😉 }
Or if I just lost my MOJO …
But I am reallllllly struggling to put a nice block together the last week or two!

Whatever it is, it always seems to happen when I am on a deadline!

As I have mentioned before, I participated in the first Aussie Kate Spain Charm Swap run by the lovely Ms Midge this last month or two.

Sew … Ms Midge has a fab competition happening that we have to enter our projects made with the Kate Spain charms! I spent a big chunk of my weekend and a few nights of last week cutting, stitching, cutting again and then trimming 448 Half Square Triangles {HST’s} for my project.
Simple, right? WRONG … I have been struggling to match points and am really regretting my whole idea now 😦

I laid out the block I am aiming for here :

Sew far, sew good.
Start sewing them and fall in a heap! Gah!!

I also made my July Bee block over the weekend. It was HST’s too and I tell ya! It took so many goes to get it right!!
I was afraid I was going to fray the seams from too much unpicking!!

Pretty block, hey? Our July Queen asked for bright happy colours. I liked the combo enough to cut one for myself in the same fabrics – Did I mention I was going to make a quilt with replica blocks from this Bee? Anyhow, it was lucky I cut mine, cos I did fray the corner of one when Betsy decided to have a hissy fit! {She is due for a service but I am pushing her so I can finish the KS project 🙂 }

A lady I know thru my other hobby – timber work/furniture make overs – is moving back to the US next month and I am hoping to buy her Janome to keep as a spare. I’ve always thought I’d love a second machine, especially when I am sewing with 2 different colours and it’s a pain to change the thread haha. Perhaps I should find a second overlocker too! 😀

Anyhow … here’s hoping a good sleep will return my MOJO and I get this quilt top done by the weekend!

Linking back to Ms Midge where you can find details on the Kate Spain Charm Along and Swap 🙂

Exciting Project and School Holidays Are Over!

July 14, 2014February 7, 2016 / manicmumdays / Leave a comment

I know my monsters have already had a pretty eventful school holidays, but I took them to see RIO2 at the movies the other day. The kids liked RIO but fell in love with it all over again on the ship … where they watched it ~~heaps!~~ a couple of times. We went with our friends up the road, also a mum and 2 boys.

It was pretty good. I give it 3.5/5. I have to say, some of my favourite movies of all time are cartoons!
Finding Nemo would be in my top 5. Forrest Gump and Dirty Dancing would also make my top 5. But I would have to be super selective in choosing the other 2 😉
What are your favourite movies?

Actually, Saturday night I stayed up til nearly 3am watching an old favourite – Up Close and Personal.
Michelle Pfeiffer. Robert Redford. *sigh*

While I was watching ~~Robert Redford~~ the movie I was cutting white charm squares to use with my
Aussie Kate Spain Charm Swap!
I played a double hand in the stash so ended up with 224 charms 😀
Since the quilt I have planned uses HST I had to then cut 224 white charms.
And then rule all of them in half and match it with the others.
Which means I’ll end up with 448 HST eeek! 😀

….. hmmm hope I have enough haha!!

I would have been further along except we took the Mad Mutt to the beach for his first visit. {I’ve made a bit more progress since I took this pic tho …} He absolutely loved it!!! Here’s the big goofball overgrown puppy smile :

It was also his first trip in a ute {Hubby’s new work truck} and he’s such a clutzy non-dog! – he dragged his chin on the road as he was jumping out. Small graze. Big bleed. I wore some of it on my shirt. Ugh!

School is back this week – ~~yaaayy~~ Gee I’ll miss them 😉 I have a couple of full days so I am looking forward to ‘alone’ errands.
Hope to be back in a couple of days with some progress pics from my big project!
Have a great week 🙂