Stars and planets.....finished

I have a photo of Connor with his quilt to show you,  he loves this quilt so much,  he told me that he turns the quilt over to the back with the glow in the dark planets, so they will charge under the light, then when the light is turned out he can see them glowing.  I started this quilt last year, you can read about it here     I am currently binding two more quilts, one for Isaac and one for Noah,  I'll have photos of the finished quilts in a future post.    These quilts are to be posted interstate,  and  I'll have to wait untill my son takes photos for me to see the boys with their new quilts.      I am longing for some warmer days so I am able to go outside and do some gardening, although,  saying that,  we did have one day last week where it reached 17c and I spent the day with my daughter in her garden weeding while she mowed the grass.      The son who does everything has started a new job, so instead of me doing the school run a couple of times a week I'm now doing it  full time.   I have found it a bit tiring rising early every morning to drive to their house make sure Connor is ready and then drive him to school.      I return to the school in the afternoon to pick him up and drive him home where I stay with him and his older brother until my son arrives home.  I always take some hand sewing along with me, at the moment it  is block three of "Butterfly Garden" by Leanne Beasley.  This block is taking some time because I have also sewn three aprons over the past week for my daughters, who would have thought young girls would want aprons.

Lounging on a Sunday

Yesterday was one of those lazy Sundays where I just wanted to lounge around in a trackie all day, although I did eventually do some hand sewing.     I finished the apron for daughter number one, I'm happy with how it looks even though I had some trouble reading the confusing directions on the pattern.    I was also able to sew the label onto Connors stars and planets quilt.       I received a text about 3pm. to let me know my daughter-in-law was having birthday cake after dinner for my son.    My sons birthday is today but with work today and a meeting tonight there would be no time tonight to celebrate.    Oh, that meant  I would have to get dressed.      Last night I also gave Connor his quilt, I'm sure he loves the backing more than the front, the back has  glow in the dark planets, which is the fabric he chose.     I forgot to take a photo of him with this quilt, I'll  take one later this week and post a photo.

Celebrating my sisters birthday

I have to tell you of the fabulous day my sisters and I had last Saturday.  I have three sisters, and  it was a milestone birthday, sixty years for sister number two,  so we decided we would have to do something special. 
Something we would all remember and be able to speak about for a long time.  We decided it should be a surprise for her, so it was organised without her knowledge.   In fact it was such a surprise she became quite annoyed with the family, thinking we were going to let her birthday pass by.   We organised a taxi to deliver us to the door of the venue, as the car stopped she looked at us with a huge smile and asked "are we going to the Windsor" of course we are.  We had the most amazing high tea at one of  the most oppulent and beautiful old hotel's in Melbourne, The Windsor Hotel, which was opened in 1883 has retained the glamour of times gone by.    My sisters diet is gluten free and because we had advised them when we booked our table she was very spoilt for choice.  We all enjoyed ourselves and it was wonderful to see my sister so happy with the venue we had chosen.  We then drove to her daughters apartment where the rest of the family were gathered to finish the night with sparkling wine, birthday cake and more food.

I'm sewing aprons

I recently decided to sew new aprons for my two daughters, and who knows maybe one for me as well.       I haven't sewn an apron since I was in my early twenties, and let me tell you that was many moons ago.  Daughter number one likes bright retro fabrics and I was not surprised when she chose an egg yellow fabric with red cherries.    When she was a teenager, like most teenage girls she was in love with everything purple, mauve and black, now as a young women she loves everything fifties and retro.   I spent today sewing and was on a roll when my machine started to make clanking noises.    It needed cleaning and I was surprised to see how much lint was inside the bobbin cavity, once I cleaned it out with a brush I then went looking for the machine oil and you guessed it, I have an empty container.  Sewing finished for today,   I have packed  it away until tomorrow when I buy more machine oil, I was so close to finishing.   I'm taking daughter number two shopping for fabric for her apron on Saturday and I'm fairly certain she will choose something blue and pretty.

I'm finally attaching binding

The past couple of weeks have been very busy.   I've had quilts to sew, early morning school drop offs with my grandson Connor and my sisters birthday.     As I have said before,  this year I am finishing all UFO's, I am feeling relieved  that I am finally sewing the binding to Connors stars and planets quilt, and I have another three quilts with my quilter.     I hope these will be ready in a couple of weeks, and then once I've sewn the bindings on these my cupboard will be bare, Yah,  just in time for my quilt group bus trip in October, where we visit patchwork shops that are usually too far away  for us to visit.     Who knows, I might find another project and more fabric to fill my cupboard with again.      I am currently sewing block three of Leanne Beasleys "Butterfly garden", this is my pick up and go project, because it has a lot of applique and embroidery I'm not in a rush to finish this.    I always need some work to take with me while at a my quilting group or when I visit some one, I will continue to take my time with this one.

Another amazing weekend

This has been an amazing weekend!  Firstly, I have become a great Aunt again, and my sister is a Nana for the second time.   My sisters son and daughter-in-law have welcomed another baby boy into this world, on the same day as  my grandson Connors 9th birthday.    This little boy will make seven  great grandsons for my dad, I might add poor old dad had four daughters, no sons, I'm sure he would have loved a son.   We have a mix of twelve girls and boys in the second generation but this new generation has been all boys.   We are know taking bets on who we think will have the baby girl and break this run of boys.       

 My quilting group held a midnight madness sewing and quilting evening on Saturday, we arrived in dribs and drabs from 2-3pm and were supposed to finish at midnight, but some of us including me gave in and packed up early.    We left nine intrepid ladies to sew, I'm not sure if they made the distance.    It was 10-30pm when I gave in and decided to head on home to my bed, only when I did go to bed I couldn't sleep, too much to think about,  it was close to two before I finally dozed off.     It was a fun night, lots of sewing, talking and laughing, not to forget the amount of food, snacks, and lollies we indulged.      My supposed weight loss has just hit another snag, I did eat way to much, and to top it off  this afternoon I had birthday cake as well.    The weather turned bitterly cold on Friday, my girlfriend who lives about forty kilometres away, woke up to snow on the ground, and as it hardly ever snows where she lives it must have been very cold overnight.     We had some great rainfall, so much that the parkland across from my house now has a lake.     This afternoon I attended a jewelery party, there were some beautiful pieces but, I was very good and only purchased a pair of earings.    I have a family wedding to attend in September and these will be perfect with my silver bracelet.    I have some soup simmering on the stove for dinner, I'll watch some television and then I am having an early night.

What! no bread

This morning I woke later than usual, around nine, came down to the kitchen grabbed the toaster, put the kettle on and reached for the bread, ohhhh only a crust left in the packet.    Of course I have no one to blame but myself,  why did I put the pack  back in the cupboard, I don't think I'll dwell on that to long,  I might think I'm going mad, ha ha.     Next thought was to make a loaf of bread but that would take far to long, I decided to make a pita.    I love home-made pitas, so easy and quick to make, I don't know why any one would buy them.    It was only after I had the last one in the pan I thought of the photo opportunity, I'll give you my recipe anyway.    I searched the fridge and the only thing to put on these, tomatoe, canned tuna and cheese, I did make a garlic dressing to go with this and I placed it back on the hot pan to toast it and to melt the cheese.    After I had eaten one, which was definately enough I kept looking at the other one.     I've wrapped it up and put it out of sight or I will eat it.     I really do need to do some shopping but not today, I plan on sitting and sewing this afternoon.

Pita
This recipe makes two or more depending the size you want:
3/4 cup of plain flour
pinch of salt
1/4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp olive oil
Enough hot tap water to bring it to a soft dough.

Mix all the ingredients together, knead for a few minutes, seperate the dough to form two balls and let sit for about 10minutes.  Roll them until they are a thin circle or close enough to a circle, place into a dry pan on a medium hot heat.  You will see them bubble up, leave for a minute or two and flip, repeat on the other side, check they don't burn.  It took me several attempts to get these just right, and just like pancakes the first one is not always successful.  Depending on your stove it may take several attempts to make these successfully.