Who Ya Gonna Call??!

Ok ... Did all of you children of the 80's answer that question with ...

GHOSTBUSTERS! :0)

My brother & I both loved the original two movies ... Bill Murray still cracks me up when a rainy day sees me curled up with some stitching & a movie marathon. 

So what has this walk down memory lane got to do with sewing, you may be asking. Well ... It all began when I shared a call for help put out by Jan-Maree at Aussie Hero Quilts. I'd heard of this wonderful group of quilters who send quilts to many of our defence force members who are serving overseas. It's a little bit of home when they're a long way from it & a reminder that their service is appreciated.

It seems an increase in requests for quilts & laundry bags combined with a lot of quilts & quilt tops being lost when Jan-Maree's house was gutted by fire last year led to requests outweighing supply of quilts.

I happily shared the call out for help, but I wasn't planning to put my hand up to make a quilt as I have my own deadlines to work towards. But ... As I skimmed through the list of requests, one caught my eye ... A quilt with a theme of "Original Ghostbusters". Growing up I remember my Mum making my brother a doona cover with the Ghostbusters logo on it. I had to do it! :0)

This quilt was not without its challenges ... How do some simple projects seem to throw up challenges?!?! However ... I persevered & it's now FINISHED! :0) Wanna see?? Ok ...

Ta da! I'm really happy with how it's come up. I've done this as a raw edge appliqué ... Which was the biggest challenge as it meant manoeuvring the 70"x42" quilt through my petite Husky ... Which in turn contributed to the problems I had with the easy fix not staying stuck. GRRRRR!  I've bound it in a fun red & white diagonal candy cane stripe fabric.

A big THANK YOU to my GORGEOUS Quilting Fairy Fabulous Fiona for squeezing this into her busy schedule so I could meet my tight deadline. Fiona has once again worked her quilting magic, though it's a bit hard to see as its black on black.

 So now I need to stitch the label on & it will be ready to be posted off. If you're interested in helping Jan-Maree & her merry band to encourage our defence force personnel by making a quilt or a laundry bag pop over to the blog to find out more HERE.

PHEW! So that's what has been keeping me busy ... What have you been working on? And OPAMers ... What have you FINISHED?!? If you haven't yet emailed Sweet Peg or me, you've got a couple more days before I do the draw.

Right ... That's it from me for today. I hope your week is going well so far ... & that it continues to do so. :0) Til next time ...

BEAR HUGS!

CHEERS! 

KRIS

 

 

And Now For The REAL Post!

Ah ... Technology! I wrote & edited a whole post yesterday only to have my iPad ap chucked a wobbly & ate it. So ... This is "Take Two"! :0)

So ... Here it is, the start of a new week & I'm EXHAUSTED after yet another busy weekend ... But it was FUN! :0) I threw some things into a bag, jumped in my little blue car & headed down the 'hill' for a sleepover play date weekend with my Bestest-Buddy-Since-We-Were-Nine Lynette. YAY!

We decided to start our time together with lunch & headed to a new-to-us spot, "The Rendezvous Tea Room" in Brisbane's Wooloongabba. We had a bit of trouble finding the tea room ... It really is a little hole-in-the-wall spot, but well worth the search. 

Here we are enjoying our low tea ... High tea has to be pre-booked, but we certainly enjoyed our tasty treats & freshly brewed tea in the wonderful "War Years" decor. It truly was like stepping back in time to the 1940's, complete with a 1940's music soundtrack, a tea leaf reader, schedule of spiritualist evenings ... & an air raid siren! :0) If you live in Bris or visit the city, I can certainly recommend "The Rendezvous Tea Room".

After that culinary beginning to our play date, the rest of the weekend was a bit of an antiques-&-collectibles hop ... Multiple antiques & collectibles shops & two great fairs. Both of us bagged some bargains, but I haven't had a chance to take pics yet ... Stay tuned. :0) Thanks for a fun belated birthday catch up, Lynette! We'll have to do it again soon. OOPS! Did you just hear two husbands pass out?!?! Tee! Hee! Hee!

So you can probably guess that with all of that tea-swilling, sandwich-munching, antique-hunting, catchup-chatting, best-friend-giggling going on there hasn't been any sewing happening here ... But I bet others in blogland have been hard at work. And since the end of the month is almost upon us ... OPAMers ... Have you updated your sidebar lists & emailed your finishes tally to me or my GORGEOUS Partber-In-Crime Sweet Peg? Well ... Get hopping before WE do! :0)

Right now, though, it's time to go hunt & gather something for dinner so I'll sign off. Have a fantastic week & to anyone being affected by Cyclone Debbie, please take care & stay safe. (For those wondering, we're quite a long way south of the cyclone, though we're hoping some of the leftover rain will come our way.)Til next time ...

BEAR HUGS!

CHEERS!

KRIS

 

Testing, Testing!

Check, one two! Just trying to determine if my blogging ap is playing nicely after it swallowed a post yesterday. Stay tuned! :0)

BEAR HUGS!

CHEERS!

KRIS

Bit Of A Birthday!

Hello to all you lovelies out there in blogland! I hope you're all having a fabulous week. Well ... We had to come home from the beach ... SIGH! But ... We had a wonderful time helping Grandma celebrate her 94th birthday.

In amongst the smoke from 94 candles, another March gal celebrated a birthday ...

Haven't changed much, have I?! Tee! Hee! Hee! Yes, my birthday sort of got absorbed into Grandma's celebrations, but I DID receive a few special treats to spoil me. My Beloved Geek Boy organised a foot massage for me, as well as a bit of a splurge at the Quilters Shack in Bundaberg ... Isn't it lovely to have someone who knows & understands you! :0) Here's what followed me home ...

Some YUMMY batiks. The blues & green will join a stash of batiks I have tucked away to make myself another patchwork tiered skirt. The reds? Weeeeeeellll ... They were just so PRETTY that I had to adopt them! :0)

I also received a special gift from one of the lovely ladies from the retirement village where I work.

A ring box. Just kidding! :0) But that will give you an idea of the size of the giftie.

Isn't it GORGEOUS!! This miniature teacup & saucer is holding a bunch of teeny-tiny flowers. Thanks Marg! :0) Now I need to find the best spot  to display it.

A big "THANK YOU" to all of you gorgeous cyber buddies who sent emails, FaceBook messages & texts to wish me a happy birthday. I may have had to be a grown up & go to work, but I certainly felt very loved! :0)

And as a bit of a delayed birthday treat, I'm off to Brisbane tomorrow for a sleepover play date weekend with my Bestest-Buddy-Since-We-Were-Nine Lynette. Did you just hear two husbands shudder in fear?! Tee! Hee! Hee! We haven't got any set-in-concrete plans but there are whispers of an antique shop hop, maybe some coffee shop visits & I can guarantee there will be LOTS of chatting & LOTS of laughing. :0) I promise I'll report back on our adventures next week ... Stay tuned! :0)

And since the housework is all over the shop at the moment due to our comings & goings, I need to go & throw some clothes in the washing machine so I've got clean knickers to take with me. :0) Whatever you're up to, I hope you have a fabulous weekend. Til next time ...

BEAR HUGS!

CHEERS!

KRIS

 

 

 

 

A Special Birthday!

I usually drop in to tell you what's happening at the Meares' Madhouse, but I can't do that today ... Cos I'm not there! :0) This was my view this morning ...

It's a tough gig, but we're coping! Tee! Hee! Hee! We're at Bargara beach to help celebrate a pretty special birthday ... My Grandma is celebrating her 94th birthday! WOW! 

Here she is blowing out the candles on her apple crumble cheese cake ... It's a good thing we found a "9" shaped candle & a "4" shaped candle ... We'd never have fitted 94 single candles on the cake ... & might have set off the smoke detector! :0) She's still keeping pretty well & has only recently moved out of her own unit into higher care as she isn't just as steady on her feet any more & is getting a wee bit forgetful. (Though, seriously, who isn't a wee bit forgetful!)

While our family is pretty scattered - Cairns, Brisbane, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth, Toowoomba - a few of us managed to be on hand to wish Grandma a happy birthday ...

There were lots of finger-food treats to be nibbled while we chatted ... & maybe a glass of bubbles ...

My Aunt & Grandma ... "Cheers Bigears"! :0) Had a giggle at this next pic when editing ...

We're not sure what Grandma was thinking, but it looks like she's suspicious of what is in her glass! Tee! Hee! Hee!

It's been nice to catch up with family ... & the view's not hard to take! :0) Sadly we head home tomorrow & hoping to take some of the rain that is currently falling home with us.

Hope you're having a great weekend, too. :0) Til next time ...

BEAR HUGS!

CHEERS!

KRIS