Ladybird Kick!

I've decided I'm on a Ladybird kick! No, no, no!! It isn't a new sport or a hip new dance move or something you need to call the RSPCLB (Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Ladybirds!) about!! I just seem strangely drawn to ladybirds and red and white dotty things at the moment!! For example, you may remember my most recent addition to the Tag Along Teddies Adoption Agency page on my web site, Dorothy ...


Then, my beloved Geek Boy asked what background I'd like for the visitor counter on the side of my blog and I chose ... the ladybird! (and isn't it a CUTE ladybird!! I often catch myself watching it flutter for ages before remembering I signed in to add a post!!) Then there's the coffee mug I bought myself to enjoy a morning cup of tea from at my new 'grown up' job ...


Then ... there's a new stitchery pattern I'm working on that, in part, features ...


Can't give away too many clues yet, as I'm not finished the prototype!! AND, as if I needed ANOTHER example to make my point ... I've got a quilt design in the rough-draft stage that features ... wait for it ... ladybirds!!! (among other things!) When I pointed out these things to my ever-practical Geek Boy, he just casually shook his head and said, "It's nothing to worry about. You're just a bit dotty!!" Hmmm ... remind me why I keep him!?!?! Just kidding! Good tech support is hard to come by, THAT'S why I keep him! And he's cute ... I'll stop now before he turns as red as a ... LADYBIRD!!! AAAAAAARRRRRGGGHHHH!!!!

I'm fine now! Really! Actually, I got rather excited this afternoon when I found a package in my mailbox - bet the postie was glad I was out when he dropped it off!! I found ... THIS ...


Ooooooooh! A parcel from Kerry at Cottage On The Hill! It's all Chookyblue's fault! Tee! Hee! Hee! You see, I saw a photo of some fabrics (that were JUST the right blue and green for the aforementioned rough-draft quilt!) on Chookyblue's blog that she said she'd bought from Kerry when she was playing at her shop for a recent quilting day. So ... I rang Kerry and had a chat, ordered some of the fabrics Chookyblue had featured ... and a couple of others ... and the Challenge Kit! Oh dear! There goes the play money for the next few weeks! Tee! Hee! Hee! This will be my first ever patchwork/quilting challenge - I have to qualify that with the 'patchwork/quilting' has I've been challenged in plenty of OTHER areas of my life!!! Want to see my pretties??


These are the blues and greens - and a couple of others! - that will join my stash towards the new quilt design.


And here's the challenge pack. The cut off date has been extended to the end of September, so I SHOULD have time to get it done - if I manage to organise myself!!! I already have a couple of ideas, but nothing definite yet! Will keep you posted.

So ... all in all, what with a ladybird obsession, fun mail and starting a grown up job ... it's been a full and busy day! In fact, I think I feel the need for a sit down and a cup of tea - out of my matching dotty cup!! (Buy one get another half-price deal!! Tee! Hee! Hee!) I really WILL be seeing spots! Til next time, Bear Hugs!

CHEERS!
KRIS

Painting Progress!

About this time last week, I shared that my beloved Geek Boy and I were painting our bedroom and while most of this was accomplished last weekend (amidst a few dramas!! Check out the Painting Dramas post!) there were all of the little fiddly bits left to take care of. The window still needs to be painted, but GB tells me he'll tackle that tomorrow. Then there was the process of moving all the nick-knacks back into the room - all of those little touches that make it 'yours'. I think this process actually takes almost as long as painting it!!

So ... the first task was to iron all of the vintage linens that had their spring clean during this process - GROAN!! I HATE ironing! And of course, I have a passion for vintage COTTON linens, so you can imagine how much FUN this job was!! NOT!!


This is a wonderful half-tester valance I bought as a bit of a bargain a few years ago at a doll show, where the woman I bought it from estimated it was about 80 years old. Even the netting is cotton, which means it had to be ironed too! However, it was worth it because after my handy GB worked out a better way to hang the frame, this is what it now looks like ...


I was really pleased with how it all looks - new doona cover in place, cozy cushions piled up with a flapper bear called Lola, reclining decadently amongst them! The only problem I found was in taking the photos! The very contrast between light and dark that attracted me to this colour scheme, makes it REALLY hard to get good photos. Either the white flashes or washes out, or the green is too dark, so hopefully these will give you a little bit of an idea of how it all looks. Here's another shot, a bit of a close up of lounging Lola!


And some more linens were pressed and put back on my dressing table.


The mirror caught the flash a bit, but you can see the green walls a bit better in this photo. I love the painting above the dressing table! It was painted by a very talented artist from my hometown of Mundubbera, Sue Ledderhose, and the house is actually a wonderful old house in the main street of the next town over, Gayndah. Growing up in a small town, our nearest big shopping destination was Bundaberg and we had to drive through Gayndah to get there. Each time we went through town, I would drool over the lovely old house, so it's great to have a painting of it, particularly since the artist is a friend!! And it looks great on the dark coloured walls!!

While GB was working out the best way to hang the bed canopy, I decided to give my cane hutch a bit of a shabby make-over to match the new look room. Here is the before photo.


And after ...


I just love the white against the dark green!! Happy dance!! Tee! Hee! Hee!

Thanks to everyone who has left encouraging comments about my colour choice - it's nice to have others validate my decision and I love seeing how people decorate their homes, so thought other people might enjoy a peek at our room make over!! Glad they have!

I have another photo to show you, too, which was one of those 'happy accident' shots! Before I brought the hutch back into our bedroom, I decided to take a photo in the same spot as the 'before' photo was taken for continuity. Well, Wombat decided he'd like to be a media star, so plopped himself in front of the hutch. When I was previewing my photos to decide which ones worked best, I decided I preferred the hutch photo in front of the dark green wall, but I discovered something funny in one of the outside shots! When I zoomed in a bit, look what I had captured!


Can you see?? Wombat looks like he's closed his eyes, stuck out his tongue and said "NYAHHHHHHH!!" Tee! Hee! Hee! Not at all a dignified look, but gave me and GB a good giggle!!

So ... that's how our painting has progressed so far. Once GB finishes the window trim tomorrow, it will be up to me to make new curtains to cover the timber blind we've put up to block out the neighbours' annoying outside light that they leave on, shining right into our bedroom window!! It's great for shadow puppetry, but not so good if you want to sleep! The blind was self-defence!! And it will be covered by curtains ... I'll share once it's all done - promise!!

For now, however, I think I'm off to try to get white paint out from under my nails - how on EARTH did I manage to get it there when I was using a SPRAY PAINT and didn't even TOUCH the paint or the hutch while the paint was wet!! Yet another of life's little mysteries!! Til next time, Bear Hugs!

CHEERS!
KRIS

Rainbow Cows!

No, no, no!! I haven't been inhaling strange substances to make me hallucinate or forgotten to drink enough water today so I'm having dehydration dreams - well, OK, maybe that second one cos I've been busy! The Rainbow Cows from the title are the subjects of the latest BOM block from Lynette Anderson's "Noah's Ark" free BOM. And, actually, they're not 'rainbow coloured cows', really, the block features COWS in a pasture with a RAINBOW overhead ... maybe it's just easier to show you my finished block!


Now do you see what I was trying to explain?!? And can you guess the cow's name? (Because we all know only ONE of these can be a COW, as such, because Noah took COUPLES of each animal and we ALL know there are no MALE cows - they're BULLS!!) It's 'Blossom', of course! You just have to look at the pretty flower behind her ear for the clue!! Tee! Hee! Hee! Oh, yeah! Lack of sleep starting to tell here tonight!! I love how the rainbow came up in this block, though was annoyed at myself that the border ended up a little crooked - looks like the farmer went on a bit of a bender before he built the cow paddock fence! Tee! Hee! Hee!

So, for those of you who have joined this story part way through - where have you been!! Just kidding - kind of!! I can't BELIEVE you've been missing out on the fun and excitement of Lynette Anderson's generous offer of a free BOM! Here are the three blocks available so far ...


Not only is Lynette offering this fun and funky pattern to all in blogland for FREE, she's introducing us to talented stitchers all around the world by giving us links to blogs featuring finished blocks - I've met some fun new friends!! The most recent of these being Granny Loz in South Australia. Make sure you take a peek at her cows under a rainbow - there, I found a more accurate way to describe the block this time so there was NO confusion about psychedelic bovines!! Tee! Hee! Hee! So, thanks again for the great BOM, Lynette, and for introducing us to new blogging friends!

Well, as you can tell from the muddle-headed-wombat ramblings tonight, I'm a little weary and in fact, I think my brains have dribbled out my ears tonight, so I think it's time to go visit my pillow! Oh! Thanks for all your encouragement and confirmation of my colour choice for our "Let's paint the bedroom" project - much appreciated!! The main painting of the bedroom is finished (walls, ceiling, door, skirting boards), just some trim to finish around the window, so I'll keep you all in suspense a little longer until I have the "After" photos taken at the very end!! Til next time, Bear Hugs!

CHEERS!
KRIS

Painting Dramas!

Those of you who pop in for a visit frequently will know that I've been trying to convince my beloved Geek Boy for some time to paint our bedroom. Well ... with his RDO on Friday and the May Day holiday on Monday combining to give us a four day weekend (and the budget looking so sickly that we couldn't really afford to go away!!) I finally got my wish! YAY! I've got a new doona cover that I've had tucked away for months now, waiting until the painting was done and have had make-shift curtains up ... until the painting gets done ... can you see the pattern here?!?! So, I was very excited to FINALLY be painting. Off we went to get the paint - not even an argument this time!! You see, I'm a colour freak who's married to a colour conservative! So, usually, there are lengthy discussions along the lines of "You can't have a colour that BRIGHT in there!" and "That colour is so dull it will send me to sleep!" We usually find a compromise that, I have to give GB credit, is usually closer to my pick than his, but this time I just showed him what I wanted and he said "OK". WOW!

Then it was home to clear out the smaller pieces of furniture and cover the bed so we didn't find any abstract paintings on our sheets.


No, I haven't been secretly turned into a 'pink' person - the sheets were a wedding present and too high a quality to not use. Besides, they were either covered with the doona or it was dark, so I couldn't be offended by the pink!! Tee! Hee! Hee! Apologies to all those pink-lovers out there - it's just one of my least fave colours!!

So, then we hit the paintbrushes. Want a sneak peek?


Here's Geek Boy in action - see? Not just a computer geek!! What do you think of my colour choice?! It's called "Emerald City", but it's actually more of a dark teal. It will have the winter white trims that all of our house will eventually have and the bed is winter white iron, the new doona cover is white with Battenburg lace inserts, the mozzie net and half tester valance are white ... I saw a dream bedroom done this way in a magazine years and years ago and have been working towards it ever since!! It reminds me of the ocean - the deep teal of the water with the white foam - very peaceful and serene - at least to me! And Geek Boy actually doesn't care too much, especially when I pointed out his good fortune in not being married to someone who wanted the bedroom all pink and frilly and lacy!! Tee! Hee! Hee!

Now, things were going swimmingly today on day two of our bedroom make-over when GB's paint bucket made a wild bid for freedom - from the top of the ladder! I was outside painting skirting boards at the time and only heard the loud crash and resulting loud muttering about the parentage of said paint bucket!!! On cautious inspection (didn't want the same verbal haranguing the bucket got!!) I peeked around the door to see a fairly sizable puddle of paint on the floor and GB frantically trying to get as much back into the offending bucket as possible. After much huffing, several buckets of water and lots of dark teal rags, the mess was attended to, but GB decided lunch and a little kindy kip might be in order before he went into battle again.

So while he was napping, I wandered out to soak up some sun and thaw my frozen tootsies. Which was when I discovered a couple of little hidden surprises in my front jungle - oops! I mean GARDEN!!! (It's a little overgrown at the moment!!)


This banksia was one of our free plants from the City Council nursery that we got about three years ago. (each year, our city council used to send out a voucher for two free plants from the Council nursery for each rate-payer, but our regional councils have just amalgamated so no one is certain whether this will continue!)It was only about 6" high when I chose it and although it's grown to about 6 ft, this is the first time it's flowered in that time - so I was a bit excited! There's another immature flower, too, but the photo ended up flurry - oops! Then, in another little corner of my overgrown garden I found this ...


It was a birthday gift the first year we were in this house when I was trying to get some gardens happening on a shoestring budget. My sister-in-law and her hubby gave me five plants from a market stall and all the label on this one said was "Pink Wisteria". Well, it doesn't behave or look at all like the traditional purple wisteria that is a perennial vine, but it is very pretty and the flowers are so delicate looking. It's a bit of a 'surprise' plant, in that, it sends up random runners that pop up in some very unlikely places in the garden, flower, then die down and disappear, only to reappear somewhere else next spring. My garden is as unpredictable as I am! Tee! Hee! Hee!

Anyways, I think Geek Boy's nap allocation is almost gone, so I'd best go crack the whip to get him moving again - hopefully without any more catastrophes! I'll keep you posted on progress! Til next time, Bear Hugs!

CHEERS!
KRIS

Play Dates & Craft Shows!!

Well, here I am, back from the Stitches and Craft Show in Brisbane! HAPPY SIGH!!! Lynette and I had a WONDERFUL play date exploring the Craft Show, though it did seem a little smaller this year, an opinion shared by my blogging buddies, Linda from Lilly Cottage and Linda from Many Things To Do. (I seem to be accumulating a collection of friends called "Linda" - what a nice collection to have!! Tee! Hee! Hee!) Still, there were plenty of goodies to catch our eye - and spend our play money on! Tee! Hee! Hee!

We arrived at the Show at about 11am and decided we both needed a caffeine fix, so made our way to the food court. Hmmm ... short lines, fresh food just being put out ... an early lunch was voted on to build up our energy!

Thus fortified, we ventured forth!! There were cross stitch patterns, scrapbooking supplies, beads, beads and more beads!!, buttons, wools, threads, bears, dolls, quilts, and ... FABRIC!! Mmmmmmm!!! Fabric!!! I've decided I have a serious addiction going on here!! Particularly when I got home and discovered that, apart from some relatively boring perle thread for bear noses (haven't been able to get the nice dark brown in a ball at Spotlight for ages!), and a new keyring (photo in a minute!), the only other thing I bought was FABRIC!!! Oops! In my defence, it was all for a new quilt design I'm working on ... Aaaaahhhhh! Who needs a defence, I just like fabric!!! Tee! Hee! Hee! Would you like to see what I bought at the Craft Show? OK!


Tee! Hee! Hee! Tricked you! Actually, I was just a little depressed to find that all of my buys fitted into one small brown paper bag! Sigh! The play money really doesn't go as far as it used to. Although, in craft, it isn't really size that matters - it's quantity and quality!!!

OK, so ... here is the keyring I found.


Isn't it pretty!! It's not very big, but that's what I was looking for. I've needed a new one for some time after the tassel on my old one disintegrated - it wasn't pretty!! Tee! Hee! Hee! Plus, I knew the bell tinkling would drive Scott nuts - oops! Did I say that out loud!!!

And here are my new additions to my fabric stash ...


Aren't they cool!! A little bright, but the quilt I have in the design process is going to be a nice bright one that will be great for a child's room - or my sewing room, which is where mine will live, as the colours match the fabric I've used for fabric panels in my shabbily chic restored cupboard! Can you guess what these fabrics will come together to create? You'll have to wait a while for this quilt, though, as I have a bear pattern to finish first or I'll be forced to walk the plank - that's a clue about the bear pattern I've got to finish!! Oh, you might notice there's some yummy jumbo rick-rack there, too, also to be incorporated into the quilt - I think!!!

By the time I'd accumulated all my goodies (and Lynette had a few in her bag by this stage as well!), we decided it was time for a little sit down, a cup of coffee and a sweet treat to replenish our energy supplies. We got a very kind lady at the next table to take our photo.


Ooooh! Look! Lynette SHRANK!!! Tee! Hee! Hee! No, actually the bench seat was heaps lower than the other chairs - which I discovered when I was the one to sit on it for our early lunch - and all but disappeared under the table!!! After a lifetime of Lynette towering over me, it was nice to briefly be the same height!! And the coffee was pretty good, too!!!

We then had a last quick look around - to make sure we hadn't missed anything!! and headed off to collect Lynette's offspring from school. Aaaaahhhh!! A successful play date!!

Actually, I also got to catch up with a great mate at the show - but didn't get a photo, sorry! Jacqui Rose of Bears On The Wharf at Mooloolaba was the person to first encourage me to take the plunge and start designing my own mohair bears. She was incredibly supportive while I was learning and gave me lots of tips, good advice - and helped me adopt more than a few bears! Tee! Hee! Hee! These days, we seem to only catch up at Craft Shows, or if I'm lucky enough to get away to the Sunshine Coast for a week's holiday, so it was great to catch up on her news.

So ... there you have it, a round up of my play date with Lynette at the Stitches and Craft Fair! Stay tuned for the continuing adventures!! Tee! Hee! Hee! For now, however, I think I'm off to have breakfast! I know, it seems late to be breakfasting, but I woke up a little earlier than usual - with some assistance from a horrible dog next door barking!!!! - and decided to jump on the computer to pop this post on before I got side-tracked by daily life. My beloved Geek Boy as a four-day weekend, thanks to an RDO today and Monday's May Day holiday, so I'm hoping - fingers crossed! - that I can talk him into doing some painting - will keep you informed!! For now, I'm off to find a nice bowl of Uncle Toby's porridge (with apple and sultanas of course!!) to warm up my tummy, as it's once again pretty cold here. I'm REALLY NOT looking forward to winter!! Til next time, Bear Hugs!

CHEERS!
KRIS