MacDonald's Patch

I'm on the "Sew We Quilt" Banner!

2012-02-01T06:30:00.002+11:00

I was lucky enough to have the quilt I made for Mitchell chosen by Madame Samm of Sew We Quilt as one of four quilts for the February Banner. There were 321 quilts submitted so can you imagine my surprise when I got Madame Samm's email! I made this quilt before I had my blog. So I thought I'd tell you about it now.

The official name for this quilt is “Mitchell’s As Close To A Collingwood Quilt That He Will Get”. A funny name, I agree but I’ll explain.

Mitchell is a die-hard Collingwood Football Club supporter (he doesn't usually wear shorts and thongs to the footy!). Collingwood is an Australian Rules Football team. Their colours are black and white stripes. Collingwood is the team you either love or hate! Needless to say, I do not barrack for Collingwood. Hence, the name.

Mitchell asked me for a black and white quilt. I used the stack and slash method. It came together very quickly and I had it commercially quilted. When I checked the label, it was made back in 2008. I can’t believe it was that long ago!

Thank you Madame Samm for the honour of being one of the four quilts on your February banner.

My January OPAM Finishes!

2012-01-31T21:16:00.001+11:00

Well, my first month of OPAM has been quite successful. I started and finished nine projects! January is the time I get a lot of sewing done as I am in 'holiday mode'. No school runs, no sports runs, no routine!

Sewing machine cover.

Sewing Case.

Three mini Christmas cushions.

Two mini Christmas hangers.

Two hats.

Happy Australia Day!

2012-01-27T11:05:00.000+11:00

I know. I'm a day late but I didn't even turn on the computer yesterday. We headed off to Sorrento Back Beach to catch up with some friends. Their two sons were on Life Saver duty. The boys had a great time playing in the waves.

I just sat on the beach and stitched. I hate swimming in the beach. All that sand and salt when you get out - yuk! I worked on some more of my TTS blocks.

We then went to Rosebud for a BBQ tea with Noel's mother, sister and some friends. I hope you all had a lovely Australia Day too.

New Hats!

2012-01-24T12:37:00.000+11:00

The most recent issue of Australian Homespun (Vol 13, No 1) had hat patterns for the whole family. I showed Noel and he thought they looked good. So I made one for him on Sunday. I was so pleased with how it turned out that I decided to make one for myself.

Noel's hat it fully reversible. I've lined mine with the burgundy fabric and it's also reversible although I probably won't wear it the other way. I love the floral too much!

Friday Night Sew-In and OPAM 2012!

2012-01-21T11:18:00.003+11:00

Well, I was a bit more productive this FNSI than the last. I made three mini cushions and two mini hangings. I had finished the stitcheries on Thursday night so that they would be ready for last night. I'll finish stitching the binding down today. That's five Christmas gifts to go into the drawer ready for December!

I must say that it's a nice feeling knowing I have started Christmas sewing (although it also feels a little strange) so that I can be on top of it closer to Christmas!

I've signed up for Peg and Kris' One Project A Month (OPAM). Hopefully, this will help me keep inspired to get lots of gifts made throughout the year.

OOOPS!

2012-01-20T11:37:00.000+11:00

This morning I was sorting through my blog list and accidently deleted the lot! What a pain! I think I had about 190 on my list. Too many, I know. That's why I was sorting them. I've managed to get back nearly 100 of them from my "blogs I am following" reading list. Others I've gone by memory. If you read my blog and notice your blog has disappeared from my list, can you let me know.

Wild About Fabric and a prize

2012-01-19T16:23:00.000+11:00

You may remember last year I posted about my brother being the costume designer for Wild Boys (see this post). Here at MacDonald's Patch, we loved watching the show. Unfortunately, Channel 7 cancelled the show as it cost too much to produce. Looking at the bright side, Neville had some of the quilting fabrics he used to make the girls' dresses left over. I was the lucky recipient. I was expecting just some scraps but received larger pieces

My favourite is the pink one. There is about 7 metres of it so I should also be able to use it for backing. Will have to find a good pattern to use. The other pieces are about 2 metres each. So my stash has certainly grown.

Speaking of my stash growing, this is the lovely package I received from Leona of Leona's Quilting Adventure I won in her Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day. A charm pack, two half yards of lovely red fabrics, sewing machine needles, thread, post-it notes and a little note pad.

Tomorrow is the next Friday Night Sew-In organised by Heidi and Bobbi. You can sign up here.

Cricket, A Trip to Geelong and Sewing!

2012-01-16T09:29:00.000+11:00

Last Wednesday I took Mitchell into the MCG for a cricket clinic with David Hussey and the Melbourne Stars T20 Big Bash League (Twenty20 cricket). That's Mitchell with David.

They timed Mitchell's bowling speed. I think his

top speed was 87km per hour

After the clinic, everyone could get autographs. With Cam White, the captain of the Melbourne Stars.

Mitchell under the new Shane Warne statue.

Friday we headed down to Geelong and met up with

our next door neighbours.

After a pleasant walk along the foreshore, we had pizza for lunch. Then Colleen and I just had to skip off to a couple of quilt shops! I don't know if Greg's very happy with me as I showed Colleen a quilt shop she didn't know was there! lol

I finished off my Sewing Case. I'm very pleased with how it's turned out. I'm even pleased with how the zip went in. I don't usually do zips!

I've been Sewing!

2012-01-10T15:58:00.001+11:00

I've had two days to myself as Noel, Austin and Nelson went camping and Mitchell was with his Nana. So how did I fill in my time? Sew, of course!

Maria sent me some scraps from the sewing machine mat and thread catcher that she made me for the Santa Sack Swap. I put them to use and made a matching sewing machine cover, something I've been wanting to do for a while. I used the pattern from Australian Homespun (Volume 11, No. 11).

As there were owls on the main fabric, I decided to use the owl buttons I won from Incomparable Buttons.

I also made a little pin cushion to match. I'm really pleased with how it's turned out. This is my first time of making and using piping.

Something else I've been working on is the sewing case from Some Kind of Wonderful. All the piecing and stitchery has been done.

Now to put it together.

Bits and Pieces!

2012-01-06T13:59:00.001+11:00

We have a resident possum who lives in one of the kayaks stored in the rafters of our carport. The beginning of the week was very hot here in Melbourne and our possum felt comfortable enough to come and lie outside of the kayak all day.

Then yesterday we spotted these two Tawny Frog Mouths in a tree at the top of our drive. They sat there all day, just checking us out!

I received a surprise package this morning from Michelle of

The Raspberry Rabbits.

The colours of the Valdani thread are so pretty. Shell even sent the boys a bag of candy each. Thank you Shell and the Bunnies.

This is a little fat quarter bag I made for a friend of Mitchell's.

The fabric is so pretty.

I finished stitching my Rosalie Quinlan stitchery last night. My friend Jennifer found some of the missing threads in her sewing room (see this post). She thought she had some, so she got stuck into looking in her sewing room. What they have now is a totally different colour of thread, even though it is the same name and number. What is grass green on my skein is now a very light aqua!

I was going to unpick the little needle book stitchery that I had done first to use the thread to finish the big one but now I don’t have to. Jennifer rang straight away when she found it hoping that I hadn’t unpicked yet. I just couldn’t bring myself to do it and was going to wait until I searched some more.

Here are a couple of patterns I won from Jennifer of Shabby Fabrics. Thank you Jen!

Happy New Year 2012!

2011-12-31T13:48:00.000+11:00

Happy New Year to everyone.

We hope 2012 will be a great year for all.

Christine, Noel, Mitchell, Austin and Nelson.

xxx

Santa Sack Presents for Maria!

2011-12-29T09:32:00.000+11:00

Maria has opened all her pressies from me and this is what I sent her.

Some lovely beads made by a friend of mine. Sorry the photo's not very good. They look so much nicer in person.

A charm pack.

A clip-on light. I thought Maria could use this in her travels
while sewing her hexagons in the car.

A couple of covered hangers.

Cath Kitson emery boards, some hand cream and lip balm.

Lavender Hearts.

Some varigated threads and needle case with needles.
I forgot to take a photo of the needle case.

A covered project book and tape measure.
I cut out all the flowers using my Go Cutter!

A bag.

Thread catcher, scissors and holder.

As Maria says "You can never have enough fabric!"

A table runner. This is the photo Maria took of it. It's so much better than my photo (not washed out) and you can see the feature fabric better.

This is the label I made for the runner.

Thank you again Maria for being such a lovely swap partner. I really enjoyed getting to know you and putting all these goodies together for you. If you head over to Maria's blog, you'll see some better photos.

Santa Sack Swap!

2011-12-26T14:07:00.001+11:00

Maria and I waited until Christmas Day to open our sacks.

Oh boy! Did Maria spoil me something rotten!

Just look at this beautiful hanger. Maria said it reminded her of the three boys. Each of the elves' hats have a block on the end with a letter on it. M for Mitchell, A for Austin and N for Nelson!

A Christmas tree hanger. My "Christmas Wall" is looking so

lovely with all the hangers.

A sewing machine mat with matching thread catcher. I've been going to make myself another thread catcher, but you know how it is. I just never got around to it and now I don't have to!

Maria's stitching is just beautiful on this book cover.

Two gorgeous tea towels with chickens. Maria knows I collect chickens.

A cute chicken ornament.

A couple of fat quarters. Isn't the sewing fabric lovely!

I haven't seen this one before.

Christmas fabric.

Threads and matching ribbons.

A lovely star bowl.

The cutest note cards.

Some lovely lavender soap.

Magnetic list pad and a fold up bag to keep in my handbag.

I'm sure you'll agree with me about being spoilt by Maria.
Maria also sent something for the boys and Noel to open.

Thank you so very much Maria. I hope you enjoyed this swap as much as I did. It's been lovely getting to know you and I thoroughly enjoyed putting all your gifts together. (I'll post about what I sent Maria later.)

We had a lovely Christmas Day. We all got lots of lovely presents and ate lots of yummy food. I hope everyone is okay after yesterday's storms. We got caught driving from my parents' place to my sister-in-law's and were glad to get there in one piece. No major damage was done at our place.

Ginger got a bit wet as she was tied up under the verandah and was splashed by the gutters overflowing!

Merry Christmas 2011!

2011-12-24T16:12:00.000+11:00

Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas.

Have a lovely Christmas Day be it a white one or like here in Melbourne, a hot one!

Lots of Love,

Christine, Noel, Mitchell, Austin and Nelson.

xxxxx

Some Baking and Sewing

2011-12-23T11:05:00.000+11:00

All the Christmas baking is now finished. The other day I made six batches of biscuits. Three of Anzacs and three of choc chip. Prior to that I had baked three batches of almond bread.

All are now bagged in nice Christmas cellophane bags and are waiting under the tree to be given out.

Yesterday I thought I'd make Mitchell a holder for his mobile phone. He chose black and white of course. I made one for my new phone but I have to wait until Christmas day to get mine! They whipped up very quickly. I used this cute mushroom fabric that I just had to buy. The colour isn't showing up very well. It's so much nicer and not quite as red. Austin's been through my stash and chosen fabrics for his cover.

Off now to the work BBQ. Housework's all done so I can just sit and relax. Of course I'll take some stitching with me.

Friday Night Sew-In

2011-12-17T10:18:00.000+11:00

Well, it was Heidi's Friday Night Sew-In last night and look at the pitiful amount of stitching I got done! By the time I sat down to sew it was late and then I was a bit tired so I went to bed.

Here's block 3 that I finished on Thursday night.

At least I was a bit more productive then!

Well, I'm off to our Guild's Christmas Lunch Sewing Day. Hopefully, I'll finish block 4 (if I don't spend too much time eating and talking)!

My Machine's No Longer Feeling Neglected!

2011-12-12T09:51:00.001+11:00

I've been seeing everyone's lovely hexagon flowers around blogland and now I've made some myself. Although mine are a lot bigger! lol My machine has been feeling rather neglected of late (except for the odd mending) and over the last couple of weekends I've managed to do some sewing.

I used the jelly roll I won earlier in the year from Sharon of Vrooman's Quilts. The fabrics look so much nicer in person and do not show up as well on the screen. This close-up photo shows some of the fabrics a bit better. I'm pleased with how it's turned out. Now I'll just have to get some backing fabric and quilt it.

Friday Night Sew-In

2011-12-10T10:09:00.000+11:00

I didn't get a lot done at last night's Friday Night Sew-In hosted by Heidi of Handmade by Heidi. I got a little done at the Little Athletics Twilight Meet in between watching Austin and Nelson and a bit more done waiting until it was time to pick up Mitchell from a birthday party.

I worked on my Road to a Friend's stitchery.

This is as far as I got as I ran out of thread!

You can see how close to the end I am. Just finishing off this flower, the curly bit, a few crosses and then the long winding line underneath. So annoying. I'll have to get some more.

I also did a bit on block 3 of Tis The Season.

Not an awful lot of stitching but a little bit is better than none!

Happy Birthday Noel!

2011-12-07T19:12:00.001+11:00

Happy Birthday Noel/Dad

Lots of Love

Christine, Mitchell, Austin and Nelson

Ginger too!

xxx

Fifty at Last!

2011-12-04T17:53:00.000+11:00

No, not me! Mitchell came home from cricket yesterday a very happy and tired boy. He had made his first 50 at cricket, well 53 runs actually. It's been his goal to make his half century and now he's done it. For those who don't follow cricket it is an achievement to make 50 runs and even better to make a "century" (100 runs).

I took this photo of the boys this morning as I was going to meet up with some old work friends I haven't seem for a very long time. I thought it would be nice to show them an up-to-date photo of them. Unfortunately, I left the camera at home! I thought you might like to see it instead!

Finally, it's time to vote in SewCalGal's 2011 Christmas Quilt Show (see post below). If you liked my quilt, it's number 66 (just in case you wanted to vote for mine). hehehe

2011 Christmas Quilt Show!

2011-11-30T21:07:00.000+11:00

I thought I'd join in with the 2011 Christmas Quilt Show that Darlene of SewCalGal is hosting. A quilt show where you can sit in the comfort of your own home, have a cuppa and browse at the Christmas quilts! How good is that! This is my quilt I wanted to share with everyone.

I made this stained glass Nativity quilt back in 1996. In fact, I made about ten of them in all different colours for presents! I just loved the simplicity of the pattern. Very basic shapes but you know exactly what it is.

There is also a Viewer's Choice Award. On Saturday 3rd and Sunday 4th December, you go here to vote for your favourite quilt. You just have to leave a comment with the number/name of your favourite quilt. You could even win a prize just for voting!

You don't have to vote for mine, but I would love it if you did!

Thanks to Darlene for hosting this quilt show. If you go here, you can follow the links to see all the quilts in the show!

We Have A Winner!

2011-11-26T12:12:00.000+11:00

The winner of my very first giveaway is Cheryll of Gone Stitchin'. Congratulations Cheryll!

Eighteen lovely bloggers left comments on my giveaway post (Marilyn left two comments so that's why it says 19 comments). I only counted Marilyn once to make it fair for everyone. I asked Nelson to pick a number between 1 and 18. He chose number 11 and that was Cheryll.

I've sent you an email Cheryll.

It's a very wet day here in Melbourne.

What could be better than doing some stitching!

My Santa Sack is Overflowing!

2011-11-23T14:54:00.001+11:00

The final parcel from Maria for the Santa Sack Swap has arrived. The sack is so full it's actually overflowing! Maria was so thoughtful that she has also sent something along for Noel and the Boys. I'm looking forward to Christmas morning to see what's inside!

I received these lovely buttons and thread from Kim of L'uccello in a recent giveaway. My small collection of vintage sewing things is slowly growing! Thank you Kim.

These are the fabrics I received from the Fabric Traders last week. I've got a couple of ideas what I'll do with them. Thank you Jody and Simone.

Don't forget my giveaway here. The giveaway is open to everyone. You've only got a couple of days left. I'll draw a winner on Friday night.

Friday Night Sew-In

2011-11-19T13:09:00.001+11:00

I signed up for Heidi's Friday Night Sew-In yesterday and this is what I worked on. To see what others worked on, go here.

I finished up the eight hangers I had been working on.

Then I worked on some more stitching on my Rosalie Quinlan

"Road to a Friends House" stitchery.

Don't you just love this thread! It is "Pansy" by Cottage Gardens Threads.

Remember that huge egg from yesterday's post. Well, it turned out to be a double yolker and Mitchell was the lucky recipient!

Don't forget my giveaway here. The giveaway is open to everyone.

Bits of This & That and a Blogaversary Giveaway!

2011-11-18T10:20:00.005+11:00

Last Saturday night Austin had his 13th birthday party with his friends. There were about 20 of them and they were all well behaved (just what I like). Here they all are waiting for the fire to die down ready to start toasting marshmallows. The only hiccup was that one of the boys went through the mat of the trampoline! He wasn't hurt thank goodness. I'll have to see if we can have it patched or whether we need to buy a new one. We've had the trampoline about 4 years and the boys are on it nearly everyday so it's had a lot of wear and tear.

Mitchell made a gingerbread house at school and he brought it home this week. I think he's done a wonderful job for his first attempt. Of course none of the extra lollies I sent him to school with came home! Not that I really expected them to.

A couple of books arrived in the mail last week. The first book was from Christine of Once Upon A Quilt that I won in her recent giveaway. It is called Where Love Resides and is inspired by the film How To Make An American Quilt. Thank you Christine.

The second on is the latest Jennifer Chiaverini book, The Wedding Quilt. It's the next Elm Creek Quilts novel. I love these books and have the whole collection. I've started re-reading them and it's amazing how much I had forgotten. I'm enjoying them as much the second time as the first. Of course, I stopped reading the one I was reading to start The Wedding Quilt!

I got some new chickens last month so we are finally getting our nice home grown eggs again. One of the chickens lays eggs with very soft shells. Sometimes they're so soft they break in the nesting box. Last week she laid this giant egg. It weighed 98 grams! They usually average around 60 grams. That's a 60 gram egg next to it.

Still nothing to show you on the sewing front. All my secret sewing for the Santa Sack Swap is finished and Maria has received all her gifts. You'll just have to wait until Christmas to see what I've been making.I've signed up for tonight's Friday Night Sew In so hopefully I'll have something
to show you tomorrow.

Finally, I realised that it was two years ago on Wednesday that I wrote my first post! Boy, how the time has flown! So I've decided to hold my very first giveaway. I'm giving away three fat quarters of Robyn Pandolph's Hanna Bella Range. I'll also throw in a little surprise as well! Just leave a comment. You don't have to become a follower but you are more than welcome to! I'll draw the winner next Friday night. Good luck!

Free Fabric!

2011-11-10T18:38:00.000+11:00

Do you want some free fabric? If you head over to Fabric Traders you'll see they are giving away grab bags of fabric. How good is that! All you have to do is visit here and then do a post about your favourite fabric from their store. Go here for more information.

This is what I chose as my favourite. It's A Honey Child Yellow by Jennifer Paganelli.They are not my normal colours but I just love this fabric!

So head over to Fabric Traders and check them out.

A Catch-Up!

2011-11-07T12:59:00.000+11:00

I'm partnering Maria in the 2011 Santa Sack Swap and my sack is certainly filling up.

Last weekend was the Whittlesea Agricultural Show and

I had some success.

I got a Highly Commended for my Taste of Christmas hanging.

I also got a second for Austin's Starry Sensation quilt.

I couldn't decide which Butterfly Garden cushion to enter into the show so I entered both. They both received Commended certificates.

I joined Melody at the Teddy Bear's Picnic last month and she sent me this lovely little parcel. The cutest teddy scissor fob (made by Melody) and some yummy ladybird chocolates. Have a look at the cute card she made out of yo yo's. Thank you Melody. Melody holds a Teddy Bear's Picnic on the second Thursday of each month. Why don't you come along too!

On the sewing front, I've finished the last of my Santa Sack gifts but of course, I can't show you any of that! I've been stitching my Tis The Season and another stitchery by Rosalie Quinlan. But I can show you what I worked on yesterday. Eight more hangers, some for me because I don't have any myself (I keep giving them away)!

Another Teenager in the Family!

2011-10-24T14:45:00.001+11:00

This little baby boy is now a teenager! Yes, it's Austin and today is the big day. (Sorry about the quality. I've taken a photo of a photo!)

Austin today lying on the couch recuperating.
He's coming along well but still quite sore.

Here's a picture of Nelson on Saturday night with his birthday cake.
Tonight Austin has requested pavlova topped with
peppermint crisp as his cake!

Happy Birthday Austin.
Lots of Love
Mum, Dad, Mitchell and Nelson
xxx

Stitching and a birthday!

2011-10-22T16:15:00.001+11:00

I had lots of time over the last couple of days to sit and stitch!

I finished this stitchery off for a friend.

Stitched my second Tis The Season block.

Made a start on the Road to a Friend's stitchery.

And why did I have so much time to sit and stitch? This is why!

Took Austin off to the Austin Hospital early Thursday morning thinking he may have appendicitis. And it turned out he did! Got there at 6.15am. When the surgeon came to see him, she felt it was possibly his appendix but due to there being no post-op bed for him they couldn't operate Thursday. As he wasn't too bad, it was decided he would spend the night home rather than sit in the Emergency Department all night until a bed came up.

We went to see the surgeon first thing Friday morning at a local private hospital where she saw Austin in between day surgeries and reviewed him again. She decided the appendix would come out and when they did, it was very inflammed.

This is after theatre. He responded so well to everything that we came home this afternoon. Only an overnight stay!

Eleven years ago today, this little cutie arrived! It's Nelson's birthday.

As it's also Austin's birthday on Monday, we had planned a family afternoon tea for tomorrow but that's now been postponed! So this year's birthdays are a little mixed up. We'll be celebrating them properly in November!

Happy Birthday Nelson!

Lots of Love,

Mum, Dad, Mitchell and Austin!

xxx

Teddy Bear's Picnic!

2011-10-13T09:04:00.000+11:00

I thought I'd join Melody from The House on the Side of the Hill at the Teddy Bear's Picnic. This is my first (and only) teddy bear I have made. I think I made it about thirteen or so years ago, although I'm not too sure. I enjoyed making him but didn't catch the teddy bear making bug!

Head over to Melody's blog and see who else is at the picnic.

RAK Received!

2011-10-11T16:30:00.000+11:00

I got home from a long day setting up the quilt show to find a squishy parcel in the mail. I had sent Peg of Happy in Quilting a RAK a little while ago and she had returned one to me.

I have been totally spoilt by Peg!

A table runner. Just the perfect size for our coffee table.

A sewing caddy for next to my chair.

The cutest bag. I'll use this to keep my sewing bits in

on the table next to where I sit and sew.

Two key fobs. How cute is that owl!

A lovely note book.

Thank you Peg for these wonderful gifts.

I am overwhelmed by your generosity!

Photos from the NOTYQ Exhibition

2011-10-10T19:27:00.002+11:00

I've finally downloaded photos from the exhibition. Unfortunately, they haven't come out very well with the lighting
but it will give you an idea anyway.

This is Austin's new quilt. Now the exhibition is over he can have it! He's been waiting since last year but I wanted to keep it clean!

Austin and Nelson had fun doing the activity sheet for children. Here they are counting triangles and listing colours!

There was a pin cushion challenge. This is the one I made. What do you think of the pins? They were made for me by the lovely Amanda of Krafty Panda and I thought they would be a nice addition.

So for my first time as convenor, I think the Exhibition was a success. Only one minor hiccup. One of the committee members and I were locked in a dressing room we were using to count the Viewer's Choice votes. Something was wrong with the lock. We had to wait until we heard someone go by and they got the maintenance man to get us out! We certainly had a good laugh. Leanne gave me a ribbon bow making lesson while we waited for help. At least we had a toilet there if needed!

There were so many inspiring quilts. I realised I didn't get to photograph all the quilts. I kept getting sidetracked. I haven't even got a photo of the winner of the Viewer's Choice!

NOTY Exhibition

2011-10-08T18:18:00.006+11:00

Well, Day 1 is over for the exhibition. I would love to show you all the photos I took but alas, I was looking around and talking too much to take any! So I'll show you our raffle quilt again! I'll definitely take some photos tomorrow.

But I did get to catch up with Elyte of Tea, Fabric and Other Things who I met at the Stitches Show in July. I also met Melody from The House on the Side of the Hill. It turns out Melody only lives about 5 minutes from me so I'm sure we'll be meeting up again!

Quilt Exhibition!

2011-10-06T08:16:00.004+11:00

This weekend it the Biennial North of the Yarra Quilt Exhibition. If you've got some spare time, come and visit us. We'd love to see you.

Saturday 8th and Sunday 9th October
10.00am - 4.00pm
Eltham Community Centre
801 Main Road
Eltham
Melways Ref: 21 J6
Admission $8, children under 14 free

You will see a beautiful display of quilts, stalls, refreshments and a quilt raffle. There's also a Mystery Pincushion Challenge.
The picture above is the first prize quilt.

To find out more about North of the Yarra Quilters Guild (NOTYQ) go here.

If you visit, please come and introduce yourself to me. I'll be there all weekend. Just ask any of the NOTY ladies and they'll find me for you.

Why "MacDonald's Patch"?

2011-10-05T12:57:00.004+11:00

Dawn from As Sweet As Cinnamon has asked how we came up with the name of our blogs. I started my blog back in November 2009. The "MacDonald" part comes from our surname and the "Patch" is about our home and life as a family. It also has a little to do with me liking "patchwork"!
It's as the heading says, "Welcome to the Life of the MacDonald's"

I received this lovely book from Anorina of Samelia's Mum from a giveaway she ran. Thank you Anorina. There's lots of lovely ideas in the book.

A Week at Mildura!

2011-10-01T20:09:00.008+10:00

We finally got away for a week and headed off to Mildura on the Murray River. The kids spent hours on the jumping pillow. They made lots of new friends which was great.One evening a hot air balloon lifted off from further over in the caravan park and flew over the top of us. It was a lot closer than it looks in the photo.We went to Orange World where we went around an orange orchard. The perfume from the orange blossom was beautiful. The oranges were so sweet and juicy too!Another day we went to Wentworth. It is a very old town. Here we are at the Wentworth Gaol. The boys (large and small) had fun dressing up!This is where the Murray River meets the Darling River at Wentworth. To the left is the Darling River and the right is the Murray.We sat down to have a picnic lunch when these four ducks waddled over to see what we had. When we'd finished eating, they then headed over to the other side of the park to see what was going there!We also went to some sand hills nearby. Mitchell and Austin had fun "planking"!Wednesday we headed out to Mungo National Park. It was 110km from Mildura, 88 of them on dirt road!Thousands of years ago, this was a lake! This is what they call "The Walls of China". Over time the sand has blown and made these formations.This is the old sheep shed. It was built around 1859!When we left Mungo and had gone about 40kms, a mighty storm came in. It went pitch black, strong winds, thunder, lightening, rain and hail. We had to pull over as you couldn't see anything. There were branches blowing over the road. Luckily we were able to get out. This road is closed when there is rain and in just that short time, the road was flooded on either side. Sometimes we even had to drive through the water. If we had been heading to Mungo, we would have been stuck there until they opened the rain again (and who knows when that would have been).

We were wondering how our campsite would look when we got back to Mildura but only a small shower had gone through (although it was a bit windy).On the last day we went on a paddle steamer ride. Not this one, we forgot to take a photo of the one we went on! Paddle steamers are a lovely way to travel.

Buttons!

2011-09-21T09:57:00.004+10:00

I won some teeny tiny buttons from Button Mad (Incomparable Buttons) last month and they arrived yesterday. They are so much nicer in person than the photo. I've got a bit of an idea for the cute owl buttons but that will have to wait until I finish a few other things. Thank you Jennifer!

A Play with my Baby Go!

2011-09-18T14:12:00.004+10:00

I finally had a chance to play with my new Baby Go! I cut out about 18 flowers in just a few seconds. There was a little preparation done first so that took some extra time.I ironed Vliesofix onto the back of the fabric first and cut the fabric to fit over the three sizes of the flower dies I wanted to use. I removed the backing paper prior to cutting. Next I layered 6 pieces of fabric over the blades and hey presto, 18 flowers cut out and ready to be ironed onto background fabric!Now for some experimenting with laying out the flowers. I'll have to think about what I'll do with them. I can't imagine how long it would have taken me to cut all those flowers out!

Some Special Pressies!

2011-09-15T16:29:00.004+10:00

It was my birthday on Tuesday and the girls from tennis gave me these beautiful irises. I had a lovely day and then all the family went out to tea (no cooking, yeah!).

Today I came home to find this surprise package in the mail box. It was from my Santa Sack Swap partner, Maria (Life on the Block). A lovely cross-stitch bookmark kit. Thank you Maria. I didn't even realise you knew it was my birthday, Maria!

Wild Boys!

2011-09-04T17:21:00.011+10:00

Tonight on Channel Seven, the new Australian series of "Wild Boys" starts. Why am I telling you this? That's because my brother, Neville Kerr, is the costume designer. He designed over 578 different costumes for this show. In the first episode alone, there are 100 costumes!
Keep an eye out for the Clothier & Draper store. Notice who is store proprietor? That's Neville out the front.
Check out one of the trailers here.

Happy Father's Day!

2011-09-04T12:42:00.006+10:00

Austin and Nelson ready for morning tea with Dad and Pa.
mmmm Yummy scones!
Now we're off to see Red Dog at the movies.

Happy Father's Day Dad!

Lots of Love
Mitchell, Austin and Nelson
xxx

WOW! Four posts in four days! What's happening?

It's Finished!

2011-09-03T14:57:00.006+10:00

I've finished hand piecing my Double Wedding Ring Quilt top! I'm so pleased with how it's turned out. I started cutting this out late September 2007, so it's taken almost 4 years to get to this point. That's not too bad considering it was a project I would work on now and then.
Now to decide how to quilt it.
I'll be hand quilting it, so don't expect to see it finished too soon!

Quilts in the Barn

2011-09-02T19:57:00.006+10:00

This morning I got a phone call from my friend Simone asking if I'd like to go to the "Quilts in the Barn" at Wonga Park. Silly question!! I was only doing the housework and I could put that off for a couple of hours! Here are just some of the beautiful quilts made by Jo Morton. Beside making quilts, Jo is an author and designs quilt fabrics.This is the same quilt but in two colourways. Don't they look so different!We even got to meet Jo. She is such a lovely lady.To finish off the morning, we had a cup of coffee and I had some yummy scones. Simone was good and just had some healthy sandwiches!Here we are enjoying our cuppa, sitting in the lovely spring sun.
If you get the chance to go, you'll really enjoy yourself.

Button Mad!

2011-09-01T16:23:00.006+10:00

Have you heard of Incomparable Buttons? Last week I was lucky enough to win some of these gorgeous teeny tiny owl buttons on their Button Mad blog. Incomparable Buttons started out as a small company in Johannesburg in South Africa. They employ over 45 ladies from local communities who make all these lovely buttons by hand. Beside the buttons, they also make craft packs, heart pendants, greeting cards and stationery. To see their whole range, go here.

Note added: I didn't stitch this. This is a picture from Button Mad blog showing the owl buttons.

Mitchell, RAK and a Quilt!

2011-08-26T14:10:00.008+10:00

Last week Mitchell spent the week at City Cite. Everyday he headed into the city where the students were put into groups and checked out the city. Mitchell's group was the art group. They went to the Art Gallery, found lots of graffiti art all around town, found statues and all sorts of art. The students had to interview the public on whether or not they thought graffiti was art or vandalism. They also headed to the Eureka Skydeck and went out on "The Edge"! Mitchell said he has never been so scared! Friday night all the families headed into the City Cite building where the students presented their findings.

A little while ago I received a lovely RAK parcel from Julie of Jewells. This is the parcel I made up for her. Now she has received it I can post a picture.

Finally, I've entered my "Something Pretty For Me" quilt into the Quilting Gallery's "Quilts with embrboidery/stitchery on them competition". I'd love you to check it out and if you like it, vote for me. Below I've added some close-up pictures of the embroidery as it's very hard to see it in the main photo.Hope everyone has a great weekend.

Hugs, Christine

Back from Retreat!

2011-08-08T11:45:00.008+10:00

Well, our retreat is over for another year. We headed to Lake Dewar at Myrniong, only an hour or so from home (although it took us a lot longer getting there as we went via Geelong!). We had a lovely time sewing, eating, talking and getting lots of inspiration. I had hoped to have finished my double wedding ring quilt top but didn't quite make it. I'm half way through the second last ring, so I'm nearly there! There were over 80 ladies, all busy sewing. This is the main room.Behind these quilts is the dining area. There is also another area up stairs so we have lots of space. When we stay there, the electricity bill must go up heaps as there were so many sewing machine going!Every year we come home with lots of goodies. A big thank you to Diane, Julie and Margaret (All Things Stitched) who organise everything. They do such a fantastic job. A special thank you to Chris who made over 80 pin cushions! She made them from vintage doilies. They were all beautiful. Thank you also to the girls who made the book covers (apologies I can't remember exactly who made them).Finally, these were my purchases over the weekend. I've been looking at everyone's Tis the Season stitcheries. I bought the book so now I can do them. The fabrics haven't shown up their true colour.
They are much nicer in person.

Thanks to everyone for a great weekend.
Only 364 sleeps to go until next year's retreat!

A Surprise Delivery!

2011-08-04T13:04:00.003+10:00

I just got a lovely surprise. The postie just delivered a package. Inside were all these lovely goodies for me from Julie (Jewells). We both signed up for Maree's 2011 RAK (Random Act of Kindness).There were some lovely buttons. A sewing kit cookie cutter set. A gorgeous pin cushion (you can never have too many pin cushions!). Herb garden labels made out of old spoons. A name tag and a tissue packet cover. A teddy bear kit and the most devine smelling soap.

Thank you Julie. I will certainly enjoy my goodies!

Well, I'm off to pack for tomorrow's retreat. Now what do I need - lollies, sewing, lollies, clothes, chips, and not forgetting more lollies!

A Parcel!

2011-08-02T16:13:00.005+10:00

I had a trip to the post office yesterday as there was a parcel for me to pick up. I wasn't home when they tried to deliver it. I was given this big box!

This is what was inside.
I was lucky enough to win a Go! Baby and three dies of my choice on Cara's blog (Me? A Mom?). When Cara emailed me, I just couldn't believe I had won. It arrived only 10 days after my win. How's that for service!

Thank you Cara. I'm looking forward to having a chance to have a play!

Only 3 more sleeps and I'm off on our Quilting Guild's
yearly retreat. Can't wait!

Meeting Blogging Friends!

2011-07-31T16:09:00.006+10:00

Friday I had the loveliest day. I went to the Craft and Quilt Fair and met up with some of my "blogging friends". It was so nice to meet them in person after all the comments and emails we have exchanged between us.Me, Fee (Designs by Fee), Jo (Lilly Pilly), Kez (Willow Grove Quilts)
and Kathy (Quilted Notions).Fee, Gail Pan (Gail Pan Designs) and Vicki (The Pickledish Patch)

Jo and her Mother in Law, Sandra.Elyte on the right (Tea, Fabric and Other Things....), Christine in the centre (I didn't catch the other lady's name).Miram (Yellow Roses) and Mandy (Seams So Together).This is all I bought on the day. My main reason for going was to meet up with all the girls.A close-up of the fabric and lace. I love the little hedgehogs!
I'm picturing a bag with that and the green fabric.

Of course, I looked at all the beautiful quilts. There are so very talented ladies out there. I also made it to L'uccello where I met the owner, Kim. She has so many lovely things there. I was a bit tired and just couldn't put my head around what I wanted. I'll just have to go back another day!

I was so exhausted by the end of the day but what a day it was!

It was so lovely meeting all you girls. Thank you for sharing the day with me. I'm looking forward to the next time we can catch up! Thanks to Jo for organising the meet-up and thank you also for letting me use some of your photos (I only took one!).

Life Before Patchwork and Quilting!

2011-07-28T10:52:00.007+10:00

Before I discovered patchwork, I used to be a cross-stitcher! So I thought I'd show you some of my work. Some of the photos are a little blurry with reflections. That's because I've taken them in their frames.This Cats on a Picket Fence was my first attempt at counted cross-stitch back in 1990.I love these Quilts on the Line (1992). I was asked by my friend Kathy to make it for her. The quilts are 3-dimensional and the sheep is covered in hundreds of French knots. It now lives in Philadelphia in the US. I got to see it again in 2005 when we had a trip to the States. It was lovely to see it again but I could never re-make it! I hadn't got into patchwork at that time although Kathy tried her best to convince me that I'd love it. I didn't start quilting until 1993. I'll show you some of my older quilts another time.

The Welcome Sampler was finished in 1993. This pattern really wasn't for a novice but I managed it and was very pleased with how it turned out.I then made this companion one for my Grandmother for her birthday.I was certainly busy in 1993 as I also made this Blooming Rose!Next came the Possum as I loved collecting possums. It was a pain working on black but the effect was worth it. This was the first one I made after I was married as I had changed my name. This was probably my last one as by then I was hooked on patchwork and it grew so much faster than cross-stitching! I made the Teddy Bear House when I was pregnant with Mitchell.I thought I'd show you this. It was the very first cross-stitchI did at school when I was about seven years old. One day we came across it in the linen cupboard at my parents. I framed it as a memory piece, showing how far I had progressed from this first piece to my last one.Finally, I came across this doily when Mum and I were going through her vintage linen for me to have. It was made by me many years ago, not too sure when. I think it may have been about 20 years or so. I'd forgotten all about it. I don't think it's too bad as I didn't really know what I was doing!

I hope you've enjoyed seeing what I use to do before I became addicted to patchwork. I also used to do ceramics and perhaps I show you some of my pieces one day.

A trip to the Zoo and Christmas in July!

2011-07-21T09:29:00.006+10:00

Tuesday was the last day of holidays for the boys. Mitchell was having a sleep-over at Nana and Pa's and Austin was spending the day with a friend, so Nelson and I headed off to the zoo. It was very quiet as most of the other school had gone back and the sun even came out which was lovely.Nelson loves the butterfly house and one landed on his finger. It was lovely and warm in there.The platypus was up on the log which you don't often get to see. He's usually swimming around. Sorry the photo's a bit dark but there's no flash photography in the platypus house.I was lucky enough to win a prize from Lynn of Blue bird Quilts in her Christmas in July giveaway.Lynn had made this lovely felt Christmas Wreath. There was also a pair of lovely gingerbread Christmas tree ornaments and the loveliest Christmas card. Thank you Lynn. I'm looking forward to putting this up as Christmas time.

I thought I'd let you know of a great blog Tonya of Hillbilly Handiworks shared. It's the Quilting Library. It gives you lots of links for patterns, tutorials, tips, websites and projects.

No sewing pictures to show you. I've sorted the last row of 5 rings for my DWR and started piecing them. Worked some more on my Santa Sack pressies for Maria. I've also finished my Mystery Challenge Pincushion for the North of the Yarra (NOTYQ) Quilt Exhibition coming up in October. I'll tell you more about the closer to the time. After the exhibition I'll be able to show you my pin cushion!

A lovely package!

2011-07-11T10:00:00.007+10:00

This lovely little package arrived in the mail on Friday. It was from Kim of L'uccello. I was lucky enough to win a runner up prize on her blog. Kim sells lovely vintage haberdashery and fancy goods. I've been wanting to visit her store since I first heard about it last year but still haven't managed to get into town yet!This is what I found inside. Some beautiful vintage lace, deep burgundy velvet ribbon and the most gorgeous smelling soap. Don't you just love her new business card. Head over to this post and have a look at her new range of business cards. They are from images in the 1880-1890s and 1905-1915. The lace is just so fine and delicate.
I'll save this for something really special to make.Even the wrapping paper was lovely. It looks like a reproduction of a catalogue for haberdashery in Paris in 1931! I don't know if you can make it out in the photo but have a look at the two spencers down in the bottom left corner. How about the size of those waists!

Thank you Kim for these lovely gifts.

I thought I'd show you the view (but don't look at the messy part) as I sat and sewed the other day. We had two sets of visitors come.There were two Rainbow Lorikeets on the bird feeder and three King Parrots (the fourth arrived after I took the photo) eating seeds that had dropped from the feeder. Sorry the picture's a bit dark but I took it from inside.

Sewing update!

2011-07-01T11:15:00.009+10:00

Last night I finished adding another row to my Double Wedding Ring quilt. I've decided to add one more row and make it 5 x 5 rings. So, another few hours of cutting and sorting out colours coming up! Please excuse the bright sections where the sun is. And of course, as soon as I hung it on the line the breeze came up!

Tomorrow is baby Ethan's Naming Day. I've made him this little wall hanging. I got the idea from his birth announcement card.
His mum told me that this is the theme for the day, so I decided to make an appliqued version.It was certainly very tricky appliqueing the goggles!Plus I've also been working on some of my Santa Sack pressies for Maria!
No peeks there though!

My Santa Sack from Maria!

2011-06-28T12:19:00.006+10:00

Here is my Santa Sack that Maria made for me. I was allowed to have a little feel and squeeze of the presents and now they are all put away in the drawer ready for the next delivery! Out of all the Christmas fabrics around, both of us made our sacks with holly and berries on them!

Maria's stitching is just beautiful. The photo doesn't really do it justice.

Included in the parcel was this lovely card that Maria sent me.
Aren't those owls so cute!

First Santa Sack Swap parcel sent

2011-06-27T11:08:00.007+10:00

Maria and I have exchanged our first parcels in the 2011 Santa Sack Swap organised by Cheryll. This is the sack I made for Maria. But that's all she gets to see until she unwraps everything on Christmas Day! Now don't go poking and squeezing the pressies too much Maria! lol I received a package from Sharm of Country Fragrance. Some lovely soap that Sharm made and a lovely crocheted coaster. The soap's fragrance is choc mint. Thank you Sharm.

Here's Nelson with another new addition to the family. Harmony Lee was born last Wednesday to my niece Katherine and her fiance Brodie. She certainly has a head full of hair!

Lovely packages!

2011-06-16T13:35:00.006+10:00

This week I received some more lovely packages in the mail. First off were these lovely fat quarters from Annie of Ruby Slipperz. I was lucky enough to win one of her Monday Mystery giveaways.Recently Sew Mama Sew had a Giveaway Day where there were lots of sponsors giving away lots of prizes. I was lucky enough to win these lovely goodies from Leona of Leona's Quilting Adventure. I haven't used Aurifil before so I'm looking forward to trying it out. The colour chart will be so handy too. Although it doesn't show in the photo, the fat quarter is a lovely green and blends in so well with the fabrics that Annie sent me!It was only yesterday (Wednesday) that Anorina of Samelia's Mum emailed me to tell me I'd won a dvd/blueray copy of the 60th Anniversary edition of Disney's Alice in Wonderland. You wouldn't believe it but it was in the letterbox this morning!

Thank you very much Annie, Leona and Anorina for these lovely prizes. I know Nelson is going to love the dvd as his school musical this year is Alice in Wonderland!

Happy Birthday Mitchell!

2011-06-13T14:15:00.007+10:00

Today is Mitchell's 15th birthday. We had a family get together yesterday to celebrate. Mitchell didn't want a fancy cake this year. All he requested was a marble cake. So easy! And what's his birthday tea request for tonight? Pizza and ice cream cake! How easy is that!!!Here's Mitchell with the newest addition to the family. Baby Ethan was born on the 16th May. Ethan is Noel and my great nephew and second cousin to the boys. He's just so gorgeous!

Happy Birthday, Mitchell!

Lots of Love,
Dad, Mum, Austin and Nelson
xxxx

RAK Received!

2011-06-10T12:04:00.004+10:00

My RAK parcel has arrived at it's destination. I sent these goodies to Peg of Happy In Quilting. Besides writing her own blog, Peg is the person behind the Club Quilt Narromine blog. She posts all the beautiful work of Club Quilt members.

There is always a lovely comment and lots of encouragement from Peg to the girls. Peg also takes the time to reply to your comments too!

Thank you Peg for all the time and effort you put into both blogs.
I really enjoy reading them.

Hugs, Christine

RAK ready to go!

2011-06-04T08:11:00.006+10:00

I joined in Maree's RAK (Random Act of Kindness) swap and I was given the month of June to send my parcel to someone special. I'll be popping these into an envelope and sending them off in the post on Monday.
Hope my person likes her surprise!

Thanks to everyone for their get well wishes to Austin. We'll be having his ankle x-rayed again on Monday. Hopefully then he can start putting a little weight on his foot and slowly get rid of the crutches.

On the sewing front, I've been working a bit on my double wedding ring quilt. Had a small disaster on Thursday night at guild. I was pressing one of the rings when horror of horrors, it left some black marks on the white centre. I managed to get most of it off but I'm going to replace the centre. It's very hard to see but I will always know it is there. After spending all this time on the quilt I don't want to regret that I never replaced the piece.

I had a lovely afternoon yesterday sewing. But I can't show you anything yet as it's for my partner in the 2011 Santa Sack Swap.

I think I mozzed myself!

2011-05-27T11:11:00.005+10:00

Noel had his knee done earlier this month and we had to hire crutches. As we'd already hired crutches twice this year (Nelson and Austin) I decided to buy a pair as they weren't very expensive. Never did I imagine that two weeks after Noel came off his crutches, Austin would need them!

I got a call from the school nurse on Monday letting me know that Austin had fallen over and hurt his ankle. So out came the crutches and I headed up to school. He had a huge lump on the side of his foot. I took him off to the doctors and then for x-rays. He has a ligamentous avulsion injury. This means a little piece has chipped off the bone and he also did some ligament damage. Verdict - no weight bearing for 2 weeks and no football or gymnastics for 6 weeks! So, after 3 weeks use, the crutches will have already paid for themselves!

Looking on the bright side, I now have only 2 sets of
muddy footy gear to wash each week!

I received this lovely jelly roll from Sharon of Vrooman's Quilts this week.
I won it in week 2 of her May for Me giveaway. Thank you Sharon.
Now to decide what to make with it.

Footy news, some sewing and prizes!

2011-05-18T14:12:00.005+10:00

Monday night Travis Cloake and a couple of rookies from the Collingwood Football Club came to Yarrambat to do some drills with the boys. There was even a hand-balling competition which Nelson won. He was lucky enough to get a new Yarrambat Football bag. The zip's broken on his old one so now I don't have to buy a replacement!Here's Nelson getting Travis' autograph on his footy jumper.

I cut into one of the pumpkins that had popped up in the garden from the compost. It was so orange that it stained my hand. I made a big pot of yummy pumpkin soup with it. It's fantastic eating things that have come out of your own garden.

I have been getting a little sewing done.I made this bag for a friend's significant birthday.Another Dee Dee Dolphin.

I've also been a bit lucky lately and have won a few prizes from blogs.

I won this a little while ago from Jo of Jo's Country Junction and forgot to post about it. It's some tape to fuse pieces of batting together. I haven't had a chance to use it yet. Thanks Jo!I also won these gorgeous wooden buttons and pattern from Lisa of Button Bliss. Thank you Lisa.

This parcel arrived from Michelle of The Raspberry Rabbits. Two beautiful applique books plus a couple of raspberry chocolates and some tea to enjoy while I read them. Thank you Michelle (and Harrington).

I've certainly been very lucky lately. There's something else that I've won but I'll post about that when it arrives.
If only I could be so lucky and win lotto!

Sixteen Years Ago.......

2011-05-06T13:38:00.005+10:00

Sixteen years ago today, Noel and I got married. It was a beautiful Autumn day just like today and we had a fantastic time.

Here we are with the bridal party. Please excuse the quality of the photos.
I've taken photos of photos!

Happy Anniversary Noel!
Lots of Love,
Christine
xxx

A couple of finishes

2011-05-05T16:27:00.006+10:00

Thread catchers.An early Christmas hanger. This was a kit I bought from Anam Cara in Kialla Lakes (near Shepparton) a couple of years ago. It's finally done!

Of course, I've also been working on my double wedding ring quilt and a few other bits and pieces.
I've just received the latest issue of Homespun - The Go Green Issue and my Dee Dee Dolphin is pictured in the Reader's Showcase section. It's very exciting seeing your work in print. It must be so much more exciting to have your own design in print! Maybe one day I will too!

Easter Camping

2011-05-02T13:41:00.008+10:00

We had to postpone our trip to the outback but we managed to get away for the Easter break. We headed to Swan Hill up on the Murray River. We stayed at Pental Island Caravan Park and had a great time.We went to the Swan Hill Pioneer Settlement and had a great time seeing how it was "in the olden days"!We even had a ride in this Dodge.

Mitchell Farm Machinery. Mitchell had to have his photo taken here!Of course, I had to take a photo of this lovely old quilt. There was also a beautiful old cross stitch sampler dating in the late 1800's but I couldn't get a good photo of it.
There was a magician at the Settlement and Nelson was his assistant for one of his tricks!
If we had crossed the Marraboor River here we would have been on the same island we were camping on! The bridge was closed due to the high water because of the recent floods.

What's a trip to the Murray River without a ride on a paddlesteamer! We went on the PS Pyap and cruised down the River.A rare shot of the five of us!Could this have been Santa on the cruise with us?Nelson was pretty sure it was. Well, he does deserve a holiday, doesn't he!

At the Giant Murray Cod in town.

At the Anzac Day service.

Time for some fishing.No catches to report except for lots of snags!

By Tuesday, most people had left the caravan park and headed home. There were only five other vans as well as us left. It was very quiet Tuesday night!

There weren't any water restrictions and the boys got to do something they never can - run through the sprinklers! They had a great time.

Baby Quilts

2011-04-04T09:17:00.005+10:00

We are expecting two new babies in the family. Our newphew Cameron and his lovely wife Nina are expecting a baby boy next month.
I've made him this pin wheel quilt.

Our niece Katherine and her fiance Brodie are expecting a baby in June. This one's for their little one.

I've made them both with Melly's Where the Wind Blows fabrics that I was lucky enough to receive last year. Just perfect for babies! Both couples received their quilts yesterday and were delighted with them.

A Cricket Scholarship, Visitors, Recycling!

2011-03-31T08:55:00.005+11:00

Last Sunday was presentation day at Diamond Creek Cricket Club. Mitchell was awarded a Junior Development Scholarship Award. The Club invests an enormous amount of time and money into the development of junior players for the future. Mitchell was selected as a player they feel has shown the commitment and will benefit in enhancing his cricketing skills and career.

Mitchell will be having one on one personal, professional coaching from Neil Buzzard (regarded as one of the best cricket coaches of his time). This will happen later in the year, probably August.

Congratulations Mitchell. We are all proud of you.

The other morning, we found this possum hanging around under the verandah. It's very unusual as you don't usually see them in daylight. I'm not too sure if he was stuck or just wanted to hang around.He soon jumped down and ran off!

Our other visitor was this strange bug in the bath.
We don't know what it is but it was about three inches long!A little while ago, I was reading this post by Karen of Sew Many Ways about recycling onion bags and making pot scrubbers out of them. I bought a bag of onions this week, so I gave it a try. It works really well. We use to have a scrubber made of netting similar to this but isn't available any more. I wore my other one out until there were more holes than netting!

Well, that's a little catch up. I'll have something to show you next week once the recipients have received them.

Our new camper, a wedding gift and a win!

2011-03-22T14:45:00.007+11:00

We finally got to try out our new camper a couple of weekends ago.
We went to Lancefield. It poured all the way there and then the fog set in.
We worked out how to set everything up and I'm sure we'll get quicker setting up each time.The next morning turned out to be a lovely day. Here we are all
packed up ready to head back home. Before we left the kids
had a ride on Uncle Ian's tractor.There's Mitchell, Austin, Nelson, Alice and Uncle Ian.

One of the girls in our quilting group, Vivienne, got married in December.

Our little group consisting of Simone M, Simone V, Jennifer, Libby, Madeline, Claire, Debby, Jenni and Anita (hope I haven't left anyone out!), decided to make them a bed runner in the Double Wedding Ring pattern.

Everyone contributed fabrics from their stash. We had emails with
"Secret Women's Business" going back and forward for weeks without Vivienne knowing!

Here's a close up. Anita quilted it for us. It's very handy having a
professional quilter in our group!!!

The label was embroidered by Jennifer. She did a wonderful job.

Finally, I had another win last week. I won this lovely book from Heather of Creative Confessions. I also got some hexagon papers to go with it. It is such a lovely book. Thank you Heather.

2011 Colour Swap

2011-03-10T14:36:00.012+11:00

My parcel for the 2011 Colour Swap arrived from Pat of Club Quilt Narromine. The colour I had chosen was shabby pink. I think Pat's done a fantastic job with her choice of goodies.

We had to send (1) a fat quarter of fabric, (2) some thread,
(3) something to eat and (4) something pretty and girlie.A dilly bag, a matching fat quarter, pink thread and yummy coconut ice and cherry paradise. Nelson's got his eyes on the coconut ice!
But the cherry bar is all mine!
The fabric doesn't show up very well but it's very pretty.This is what was inside the dilly bag.

Some bracelets, ear rings, a charm and a shoe calendar. And look inside the bag. Pat's embroidered a lovely little blue bird.

Thank you Pat for the lovely goodies. It's been lovely getting to know you.
You have really spoilt me!

Jan of Little Red Hen was the person I was sending to.
Jan chose green for her colour. This is what I sent her.

Although it doesn't look it, the fat quarter is a lovely shabby green.
I made a fat quarter bag with some embroidery on it and
the something to eat was "watermelon rock".
I thought it looked very interesting. Hopefully Jan enjoyed it.

Here's a close-up of the stitchery.

A little while ago I won these patterns and thread
from Joy of Joy Patch with her "Springtime" giveaway.
I realised I hadn't posted a picture of them.

Thank you Joy!

Last week I won Vicki's (The Pickledish Patch) Blog Hop giveaway.
Now what will I make with these? I'm sure I'll come up with something!

Thank you Vicki!

2010 Kris Kringle Gifts

2011-03-02T12:16:00.006+11:00

Our little quilting group had our very belated 2010 Kris Kringle handover in January. Madeline (Woomba Woomba) has very subtly let us know that none of us have shown any photos of our gifts. As she now lives in Queensland, she wasn't there on the night.
So especially for Madeline, here are my gifts from Jenni.Jenni gave me this lovely cotton reel holder. I've been wanting one of these for a while but never got around to doing anything about it.
Now I don't have to worry!Aren't these chickens cute! A lovely picture frame.
Must get some photos printed to put in it.

Thank you Jenni.

Colour Swap on it's way!

2011-02-28T12:08:00.007+11:00

My parcel to my 2011 Colour Swap is on it's way to my partner.
Guess what colour she chose! Once I know she has received it,
I'll show you what's inside!

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!

2011-02-21T11:48:00.008+11:00

Last night we all went to see the stage show of Mary Poppins.
It was wonderful. We all thoroughly enjoyed it.The singing was fantastic. The staging was amazing. They are so clever with the sets. If you get the opportunity, go see it.

What I've Been Up To!

2011-02-18T17:17:00.005+11:00

qThought I'd show you what I've been up to over the holidays. I finally put my butterfly garden cushions together.I made this Stack n Wack quilt two or three years ago.When I trimmed up all the blocks I was left with lots of thin strips. Not wanting to waste them, I trimmed all the strips to 1" and then joined them. I then put together this table topper. I think I will put it on our dressing table as it matches the quilt.Of course I'm still working on my double wedding ring quilt. I've also been working on a Christmas stitchery and another couple of special projects. You'll just have to wait to see those.

To finish off with, I thought you might like to see Billy enjoying a shower! Although you can't see it, it is actually raining and Billy just loves spreading his wings.

It's Time To Vote For The Love Nest Quilt Contest!

2011-02-11T11:43:00.004+11:00

It's time to vote for the Gen X Quilter's "Love Nest Quilt Contest. If you go here, you will see a "Vote Here - Best Love Nest Quilt" down a little on the right hand side. Have a look at the wide selection of quilts. There are some lovely ones there. Austin's quilt is #18 (just in case that's your favourite one!).
If Austin's quilt is your favourite, please give him a vote. He's looking forward to seeing how many votes he gets! Voting is open until the 16th February.

2010 Collingwood Premiership Cup and floods!

2011-02-08T17:44:00.006+11:00

On Sunday Mitchell and Nelson headed down to the Diamond Creek Football Club where the 2010 Collingwood Premiership Cup was on display. They were quite excited as they got to hold it.It's not everyday to get to have an AFL Premiership Cup in your hands!

I thought I'd show you some photos from Saturday when the Diamond Creek flooded again. It all happened in less than an hour!

The front of our place.
Main Street.

The footy oval. There were two football matches scheduled for the next day to do with the Collingwood Cup coming and all the water had gone by later Saturday night, so the games went on!The other end of the oval. Watch out Ginger!

Love Nest Quilt Contest

2011-02-06T13:43:00.006+11:00

Annemarie of Gen X Quilters is having a Love Nest Quilt Contest and I thought I'd join in. I've entered my(well, actually Austin's) Starry Sensations quilt (see this post).This was the 2009 International Friendship Quilters (IFQ) BOM. Most of the fabric came from my stash. I only had to buy the navy background and a little of the light gold fabric. Each month we used a different technique with lots of little tricks of the trade. One of the months we ended up with some extra blocks after making the main one. I haven't decided what I'll use these for yet.

Head over to Gen X Quilters and check out some of the other entries. There's quite a selection of lovely quilts to see.

So, the 2011 School Year Begins!

2011-02-01T11:28:00.004+11:00

The 2011 school year started today for the boys. Well, actually it started yesterday for Austin (I forgot to take a photo yesterday!). Yesterday the Year 7's and Year 12's started school. As Austin is in Year 7 he headed off while the other two had an extra day's holiday. Mitchell's in Year 9 and Nelson's in Grade 5.

Have a good year boys and do your best!

One potato, two potato, three potato, four!

2011-01-25T20:29:00.004+11:00

Today Austin, Nelson and I harvested our first potato crop.I think I only planted about 8 seed potatoes and this is what we dug up. They weighed about 17.5kg. I don't know if this is a good amount but we were very pleased with it. Everytime we thought we had finished we'd find more potatoes!Even Ginger came in to help. Next job is to pick the silverbeet. Still waiting on the tomatoes to turn red!

When is an op shop find, not an op shop find?

2011-01-24T09:35:00.010+11:00

When you clean out your parents shed which hasn't been touched in years!

This dirty, moth-eaten, horrible box was way down the back.
But look what was inside.A glass dessert set. This was a wedding present to my parents over
48 years ago! I don't think it was ever used.

The spoons were very tarnished. I've only tried cleaning them once
so far using the tin foil/bi carb soda boiling method.
They didn't come up too bad for a first go.Here's the set all nice and clean.No-one can ever remember seeing this cookie jar so who
knows where it came from!A cute little chicken pot holder, still with it's tag.A sweet little vase.Do you remember Holly Hobby? Here's my money box. I just loved Holly Hobby when I was younger. This mug wasn't in the shed but I thought I'd show you it anyway. It's been in my cup drawer forever!
It would now be over 30 years old.And last but not least, this very cute(?) duck toothpick holder. Just the thing for those pre-dinner cheese and kabana nibblies!

A Trip To The Aquarium And Some Vintage Lace!

2011-01-22T09:50:00.013+11:00

The boys and I headed to Melbourne Aquarium for a day out. We could have spent hours just watching the penguins. They are so cute!Nelson getting up close and personal!Some hands on!

After sitting by the Yarra River to eat lunch, and with a bit of bribery
(ice creams), the boys agreed to let me go the the Lace in Fashion exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria.

They found a nice shady place in the lovely gardens of the gallery while I headed inside. The lace exhibition was from the 17th to 20th centuries.Photos above from NGV International
This night shirt was from the late 1600's. There are very few that have survived as any good sections of them were cut up to make new items. Just look at the beautiful inserts in the sleeves.Sorry about the quality of the photos (no flash). Unfortunately, when I went to get a copy of the catalogue, they had sold out the day before! It would have been lovely to have all the photos and information to read up on. Oh well, next time I won't leave it until near the end of the exhibition!

Nelson in Nelson!

2011-01-10T10:18:00.013+11:00

Over the New Year, Nelson went to Nelson on a camping trip with the neighbours. Nelson (the town) is near the South Australian/Victorian border. Nelson (the boy) was pretty excited seeing his name everywhere!

He really liked this sign! His head is hiding the word "in".
This is where he was standing.

Nelson and Callum kayaking at Nelson beach.They camped in the Lower Glenelg National Park.
Now kayaking on the river.

It was Nelson's first time kayaking and he picked it up very
quickly and was soon into the flow of it.One day they went to the Princess Margaret Rose Caves.
Here's Nelson at the entrance. And the two rascals inside the cave!By the looks of it, they all had a wonderful time.
Nelson came home exhausted but happy.
It was very strange not having him home for nearly a week.

Green Bags!

2011-01-07T15:58:00.005+11:00

Last month I won a Green Bag Lady shopping bag on the Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day. It is bag number 13,518, made with Amy Butler fabric.

I also received another bag cut out, all ready to be sewn up for me to give someone else.

It was so quick to whip up. I did most of it on the over-locker. Here's my finished one. You can find the instructions here. I will certainly make some more of these.

The bags fold up nicely to put into you handbag, so you'll be able to say "no, thank you" when asked if you'd like a plastic bag!

If You Have To Do The Washing, Do It With style!

2011-01-06T11:02:00.005+11:00

I found this gorgeous fabric and thought it would be perfect for a new
peg bag for my washing trolley.

No more plastic peg bag for me!

Camping!

2011-01-05T12:25:00.005+11:00

Noel and the boys went on an overnight camp to the Cathedral Range State Park. As you can see by the photos, they had a good time.

A river to play in!

Why do boys always want to poke at fires?

Noel relaxing!
I stayed home and had a good time too - sewing!
Will show you another time what I was working on.

Happy New Year!

2011-01-01T10:09:00.004+11:00

Happy New Year to all our family and friends!
We hope 2011 is a great year for everyone.

Love from Christine, Noel, Mitchell, Austin and Nelson.

Dee Dee Dolphin, the Cricket and Zucchinis!

2010-12-28T12:30:00.005+11:00

With Noel and Mitchell at the cricket and Austin and Nelson having a quiet day, I was able to get some sewing done. I made Dee Dee Dolphin by Melly and Me. The green fabric is some of the Where the Wind Blows range by Melly Hurlston that I won on her blog.
Mitchell did his two days at the MCG selling cricket programs. Here he is looking very pleased with himself. Pity about the cricket score!
I went out to the vegie patch yesterday and found this huge zucchini. I must have missed it two days earlier and it's now huge. It weighed over 1kg! That's a 50 cent piece to show you the size. The middle zucchini weighed about 500g.

I just love the Christmas holidays. It means I can get some sewing done. So I'm heading back to the machine now to do some more creating!

A Pre-Christmas Delivery!

2010-12-26T07:41:00.007+11:00

The lovely Lana from It Seams To Be Sew had a Twelve Days of Christmas blog giveaway. I was the lucky Day 1 winner. My parcel arrived on Christmas eve.

This is what was inside when I opened the box.

Now I'll just have to decide what I'll make first!

Thank you Lana.

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day 2010

2010-12-25T21:27:00.009+11:00

Christmas Eve saw my side of the family come for tea.

We started off with champagne with a wild hibiscus flower in it!

The table's all set. We had a lovely spread of chicken, ham and turkey.
Along with some yummy salads.

Roasted pumpkin salad. Very yummy!

Caesar salad.

I missed getting a photo of the mini pavlovas fill with berries.
They were all gone before you knew it!

Then it was pressie time! I played Santa.

After tea we went for a walk up to a local street where
there were Christmas lights everywhere.

Christmas morning!

Here's the boys relaxing in their new bean bag lounges.

Austin and Nelson with Pa.

Austin with me. Not too sure where Mitchell is!

Then we were off to Noel's sister Rhonda's place for
Christmas lunch with the MacDonald side of the family.

Nelson played Santa this time.

Guess who likes having his photo taken!

Here's Ginger resting after a busy Christmas.

It's her birthday tomorrow and she'll be 12 years old!

Well, another Christmas is over. Noel and Mitchell are getting ready to head off to the MCG tomorrow to watch the Ashes cricket match. Mitchell's selling programs before lunch and then the two of them will just sit back and watch the cricket.

Wish you a Merry Christmas from the MacDonald's!

Christmas Baking!

2010-12-22T14:54:00.007+11:00

Lucky says "mmm what's in here?"

Lots of yummy things!

Yesterday I spent the day making biscuits for presents. I made anzacs and choc chip biscuits. I'd made almond bread last week too.
Today I've bagged them up all Christmassy! I thought I'd show you a fat quarter bag I made for someone too.Well, I'm all set for Christmas. I'm pretty sure I am! Only the cleaning and setting up for Christmas eve with my side of the family to go!
Are you all ready?