Fairies a late birthday gift

Things have been a little slow around here this week, I was so busy last week my body has told me to take it easy.    While sitting on the lounge yesterday  I designed the label for my sisters quilt, something pretty to match the quilt top, which is of fairies.  Yes, I did say fairies, my sister is fairy mad, everything fairies, jewelery, ceramics, paintings, furnishings.  It started in her bedroom but has now invaded the whole house, including the bathroom.     This has taken me awhile to complete, I was planning on having it finished for her 50th birthday, but then decided to embroider and stitch some beading on the panels.   She has beeen very patient, especially as she celebrated her 53rd birthday this year.  Illness has also played a part in why there has been a delay in the making of this quilt.   I have given her a
preview as I was sewing the top and I know she will be excited to receive this.   The wording on the quilt label is something I read recently, I have changed the wording slightly, I am so sorry I don't know the author of this or would give credit where due.

A sad goodbye

Casey in 2009 aged 12 years

While I was away over the weekend I left  "the son who does everything"  in charge of looking after my two dogs.    He rang me on Saturday night to tell me Casey, my sixteen year old terrier was not well, not eating, this is unusual she may be old but eating has never been a problem,  in fact she has been known to steal food from my other dog Tyler.    I was a little concerned but he said he would keep an eye on her and let me know if there was any change.  Over the past couple of months she has spent more time sleeping than she used to and I knew the inevitable was near.      I noticed last year that she was deaf,  I always seemed to be giving her a fright when I came up on her, and then early this year she became blind in one eye and then I noticed the other eye was cloudy as well.    I arrived home on Monday afternoon and saw straight away that the end was near, I made an appointment with the veterinary clinic for the next morning but I was worried she wouldn't make it through the night.  She did, but she had not moved all night, I held her while the vet gave her the injection and she went to sleep.   This little dog had a great life, she was from a litter that was to be disposed of, we rescued her and took her home to be part of our family, five kids, a golden labrador, and a cat.  She settled in right away, was pals with the cat and the dog, she was friendly and loved to be part of everything.  Casey was an ugly little dog with a great character and we loved her.

A road trip to visit family

White (Albino) kangaroos

My youngest daughter asked me to accompany her on a road trip interstate to visit her grandparents.    She had taken a couple of days leave from work so it would be a four day weekend.    Since my husbands death we have been making this trip about once a year, more often for family occasions.    This drive takes us through farming country, which at this time of the year is green from the wheat, barley and pea crops and then the vivid yellow of acres of canola fields. It is an amazing site and because we have had good spring rain the country is very green,  something we haven't seen for a long time.   The drive is usually about four and a half hours depending on the amount of stops along the way.     My daughter decided she would drive, it was so nice to just sit in the passenger seat and look out from the window at the scenery as we drove by.     There is one place we nearly always stop at, the Giant Koala, we have so many photos of this, it has been a tourist attraction for a number of years, in the early years a few of the photos included my oldest daughter screaming in fright.   Those days a long gone, now it is just a drink stop and another photo before we drive on.    It was good to spend time with my in-laws and catch up with my husbands brother and his wife,  in fact it was lovely to see my gorgeous girl relating to her family now as an adult, why do our kids grow so fast.    We did a little shopping while we were there, this is a small town so not much to look at but, we both managed to spend some money. 

Giant Koala at Dadwells bridge

I bought a photo frame I saw in the gift shop, something that will be just perfect in my craft room, on my desk along with my mouse pad not sure what photo I will place in it yet.   We also went to the wild life park, this town has a population of albino kangaroos, at the moment their numbers are down and we saw only three females, a joey and a white buck in a seperate enclosure.  As I went to snap the photo they lay down in the grass, so I don't have a great photo of them.    The son who does everything rang me on Saturday night to inform me that my old terrier dog was not well, I think the time has come to say goodbye to her, she is just over sixteen years old and I have had her since she was a tiny puppy.

Big decisions

I spend a lot of time with the son who does everything, not as much as I used to now that he is working full time again, but I still see him almost everyday.     This son became a stay at home dad when his youngest son Connor was still a baby,  so his wife could go to University and obtain a teaching degree.     When it was time for him to re-enter the workforce he found this had disadvantaged his chances of obtaining work.    Well,  he now has a job and I  take Connor to school and collect him in the afternoon, then  I usually sit with him and his fifteen year old brother Ryan until my son and daughter-in-law return from work.      As you may know my health is not so good,  my son often checks on me to make sure I'm ok,  as well as always doing odd jobs for me.     They have just bought their first house, on a very large block,  and they have given me a proposition to think over.      Would I move into a unit on their property, it would benefit both of us, me because I'm getting older, and he will know I'm safe, and for them as someone to help with the care of their children while they both work.       This is a big decision, I would have my own space but be close by, I know we all have to face the reality that we grow old and the consequences of that, this is would be a better option than a nursing home, which is something I do not want to think about.     I have some thinking to do and maybe I will talk this over with my sisters.

A cute mouse rug

I opened the mail box this morning to find a large envelope jammed inside, on opening the parcel I was excited to find the cutest mouse pad- rug  I've ever seen.    I realised this, along with a bookmark are gifts from my youngest daughter, she asked me if I had received any mail on Friday and now I know why.  Thankyou my sweet girl, I love them and will think of you when I use them.   The mat is a miniture version of a William Morris Carpet called "Holland Park", designed in Britian between 1834-1896.  William Morris was one of the founders of the Arts and Crafts movement , the original can be found in the The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.     I often come across fabric reproductions of William Morris designs, as a matter of  fact one of my friends is a huge fan of everything William Morris and has completed some beautiful quilts using these fabrics.                       This morning I was expecting a sleep in, no school pickup today, but my phone rang a little after 7am, my eldest daughter wanted me to collect Deacon from day-care, apparently the floors at the centre had been stripped and cleaned over the weekend.    The fumes were so strong that children and staff were being affected by them, the centre would have to be evacuted until it cleared, so I quickly dressed and drove to pick him up, when I arrived about 7-45am only a handful of children were left there.   My daughters partner had a half day today so he has just taken him home for the rest of the day, I now have the rest of the day to myself.

A new house, a wedding and a quilt-in.

my place at the quilt-in

Block three "Butterfly Garden" by Leanne Beasley

So much has been happening, these last few weeks have been very busy.  First and most importantly is the news that my son who does everything and his wife have just purchased their first house.    They have been married for fifteen years and have rented during this time, but over the past six months have been hunting for the perfect house at the perfect price for them, and they have found it.     It has been so exciting to see how happy they are, although they are in shock at the mortgage they now have, they cannot wait to move in, which will be in six short weeks.         My daughter-in-laws sister was married last weekend, they have been together for forteen years and have a young son who was their page boy.    It was so cute to see he had made a small box from lego pieces to place the wedding rings in for the service.    His coursage was a little lego man in a top hat, this was such an appropriate arrangement for a little boy.      It was a lovely wedding with amazing food, but the most popular thing on the night was the photo booth,  along with the booth was an assortment of costumes, it was  fun to view the photos taken in the booth on the night, this will be a wonderful memory for them.      Yesterday I went to a quilt in, along with some of my friends from our quilting group, we travelled to Wyndamvale quilt group and had a wonderful afternoon, meeting other women, shopping at the four shops they had there and listening to the guest speaker who was Gail Pan.     I enjoyed  hearing her speak about her recent teaching trip to Hawaii with Leanne Beasley,  and seeing the many quilts she brought along to show.    Gail also had a stall of  her many patterns, fabrics, block of the month and accessories for sale.    I bought two patterns and was pleased that was all I bought on the day.     While sitting sewing I almost finished block three of "Butterfly garden" by Leanne Beasley,  I'm making slow progress on this quilt but,
that is what I expected when I started.

Labels for quilts

Today I have been sitting, listening to some music, some Sarah McLachlan and Pete Murray.    I have also been hand stitching a little car for the label I will attach to Isaac's quilt.    I copied one of the cars from the fabric on the quilt and decided to embroider the outline,  I'll then use some of the leftover fabric to border this and write some details on it with a Micron pigma pen.      I have done the same for Noah's label but instead copied an elephant, I haven't embroidered this as yet.   The weather has been amazing for the first week of spring, beautiful sunny days and mild nights, apparently we have just had the warmest winter on record.  I'm not sure about that, we had some very cold days, although there was not much rain.   My son has had another MRI scan and this has been the same result as the first one.    He is to remain on chemotherapy one week of every month, at least till the next MRI scan.     This has given me enormous relief, I was so worried, I know this will be a journey but it has given more hope that he will have a full recovery.