Stitching Rainbows!!

"RED and YELLOW and PINK and GREEN,

PURPLE and ORANGE and BLUE,

I can sing a RAINBOW, sing a RAINBOW,

sing a RAINBOW too."

That song is stuck in my head at the moment and I thought I'd share with you all! Tee! Hee! Hee! You see ... I currently have a rainbow spilling all over my dining room table ... and dining room floor ... and ironing board ... and ...!!! :0P I'm working on a new design ... a fun, cheerful, bright and COLOURFUL kids quilt and this is half of my colour palette ...

There is another version of each of these colours, too, along with a nice splash of clean white. I finished all of the tedious applique prep yesterday and am starting to place and press ... can't wait to start playing with some raw edge machine applique! I promise to show you the finished top soon.

I LOVE rainbows! To me they are a precious promise, a symbol of hope, a reminder of the magic we find in God's creation around us every day ... if only we remember to look and appreciate it.  What does a rainbow mean to you?? I'd love to hear. :0)

Right ... off to make a cuppa and get back to placing applique bits ... Red and yellow and pink and green ... !!!! Til next time ...

RAINBOW BEAR HUGS!

CHEERS!
KRIS

Procrastinating 101!!

If there really was a class with that title, I'm pretty sure I could teach it ... in honours ... for a doctorate, even! :0) Yesterday I had a long list of jobs to tackle. I was up early (Rats! Days off are supposed to be for sleep-ins!!), had great intentions and got off to a flying start with a load of washing ... and that's where my productive Friday went pear-shaped! :0)

You see ... here in the Land Down Under, it's spring and although I'm a confirmed summer gal, I love what spring does to the garden. There are things shooting, flowering, growing, changing and developing every day. So, when I'd hung the washing, I thought I'd just have a 'little' walk around the garden. Hmm ... over an hour later, I made it back inside to put the second load of washing in!! So then you can imagine what happened when it came time to hang the second load out, right?! Yep ... more garden wandering! :0)

I have taken heaps of photos of the spring garden to share with you, but need to crop a few more of those yet, so thought I'd just give you a little taste for now ... just enough to make you understand how I kept getting sidetracked! :0)

The number 1 attraction today was something we've never tried growing before ... Foxgloves. I absolutely LOOOOOOOVE the English country cottage style of gardening, but unfortunately, with our shortage of water (we only have rainwater) and our Queensland climate of extremes, many cottage garden plants turn up their toes pretty quickly, so we're gradually experimenting to see what will grow here and what we need to just admire on Pinterest. :0)

And we've discovered that Foxgloves do pretty well here in our sunny north facing garden. Aren't they great?! There are still a few opening up, but I just love those trumpet shaped flowers. It's like having fairytale flowers in my garden. :0)

Don't you love that depth of colour and the speckled throats? And they're pest free due to their poisonous nature ... remember all those Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot books that had killers using digitalis?? :0) And a particular favourite at the moment ...

We have four crabapple trees across the front of our house and at the moment they are absolutely FULL of blossoms and bees! And they smell GORGEOUS!! The blossoms, that is ... not the bees! Tee! Hee! Hee! You can't see them in the photo of course, but there were hundreds of honey and native bees buzzing around this tree as I clicked away with the phone camera. Fantastic to see for the health and balance of our garden. So ... you can see how I may have been drawn away from my productive plans for the day. :0)

But ... there HAS been some sewing happening here lately ... and I have photos to prove it. :0) The first project is actually my finish from last month's OPAM tally ... sort of! :0)

A version of my patchwork skirt for my MIL for her 70th birthday ... at her request. Apparently, she's been eyeing off MY skirts (I have about five different ones now!!) and decided that they looked cool and comfy ... and they are ... hence the ever-increasing number of them in my drawers! Tee! Hee! Hee! It was a bit of a challenge to work with these colours, as my MIL's colours and tastes are quite different to mine, but I'm pleased with how it came up and ... more importantly ... so was she! :0) Now, it was a 'sort of' finish for me because it was a bit of a joint effort to make this skirt on time ... I cut the squares, Mum overlocked and joined them into tiers and then I threaded the elastic ... so I did the first and last steps ... does that count as a finish?! :0)

The second project is one that's been a while in the making. You see, when my brother and SIL had their first son, I made him a quilt ...

He's grown a bit since this pic was taken! :0) So, when their second son was born, I said I'd make a quilt for him ... but was told that one per household was probably enough, thanks. Hmmm ... obviously they have never lived with quilters. :0) Fast forward a year and in chatting with my brother he said ... "You know how you were going to make a quilt for "T" ..." Yes, says I, but you told me not to. "Yes, well, we were talking and thought it might be nice if he had one of his own after all." Hmmmm ...!! :0) So I started to ponder a quilt for "T" ... then came our house selling/buying/moving chaos, then we had a revolving door of visitors, then it was Christmas, then we were moving Mum and Dad in with us ... and time just seemed to get away.

Finally, during my recent break, I returned my thoughts to ponder a quilt for "T". And this is the result ...

A couple of Vintage Volksies! :0) I'm really happy with how this came together. There's blue and yellow for Australia's oceans and sandy beaches, green for our rainforests and a couple of cute vintage Volksies for "T's" slightly quirky and offbeat Auntie Kris and Uncle Scott ... rather fitting since my brother continually tells me I'm a left-over hippy!! :0) I had so much fun cruising Pinterest and clip art sites to look at photos of Combi vans and Beatles to get just the right angles to draw up my sketches. In fact ... I had so much fun that I've started on a new quilt design featuring some of these fun vehicles ... stay tuned! :0)

So Vintage Volksies has now been handed over to the Fabulous Fiona to wave her magic quilting wand over it. I LOVE how Fiona puts the final polish on my quilts! I hand them to her with vague mumblings about quilting designs, end up telling her to do whatever she thinks will look best and ... ET VOILA!! She weaves her magic to make my quilts look spectacular! :0) Thanks Fiona!!

Right ... I'm now off to make a cuppa and watch "Gardening Australia" ... which will possibly lead to me being drawn out into the garden tomorrow again, but ... What a way to go! Tee! Hee! Hee! Whatever you're up to for the weekend, I hope you have some fun stuff scheduled. OH!!! And make sure you pop across and congratulate my Gorgeous OPAM Partner-In-Crime Sweet Peg ... who has become a first-time Grandma!! Congratulations Grandma Peg and Poppy Jimmy!! :0) Til next time ...

BEAR HUGS!

CHEERS!
KRIS

PS. I'll leave you with a sweet something from my good blogging buddy Kerryanne over at Shabby Art Boutique ... something for us all to aspire to. BH! KRIS

A Reno Reveal!!

HELLOOOOOOO!! I'm finally back here to let you know what we've been up to at the Meares' Madhouse, home of Tag Along Teddies. I had intended to be back earlier ... but there were some computer issues to deal with ... SIGH! Let's just say "Microsoft", "Windows", "Automatic Update", "Non-compatible Forced Updates" ... GRRRRRRRR!!! It was a bit of an epic battle for my Beloved Geek Boy to sort out the issues that the unasked-for update caused, but he finally emerged victorious. No damsel in distress appreciated being rescued from a dragon more, I can tell you! :0) So it's catch up time ... brace yourself Chooky ... there's a few photos to follow, so grab a cuppa and a comfy chair! :0)

Right ... when last I popped in, I showed you this pic ...

... and asked what you thought we were up to on our long weekend. Most of you guessed correctly that we were doing a spot of painting in our main bedroom ... although one lovely bloggy buddy was sidetracked by the cradle in the background there ... strictly for bears, I assure you! :0)

Now those of you who pop in regularly to visit me know that I am a COLOUR FREAK and that I have struggled a wee bit with the very NEUTRAL colour scheme of our dream house. Since moving in last August, I've discovered that although I love to drool over photos of lovely neutrally decorated houses and white-on-white rooms ... I can't live without my colour! :0)

 The nice thing about this house is that there is no prep needed before painting except a quick dust down and furniture rearrange, which makes it a lot easier and quicker than starting from scratch. So ... are you ready to see what our bedroom looks like? It started off looking like this ...

This was the real estate pic when we bought the place. After our GB's painting efforts last weekend (he said it was to crowded for both of us to work in there, but I suspect he didn't trust my painting techniques!! Tee! Hee! Hee!) this is what it looks like ...

Bit of a difference, right?! :0) The walls are now a lovely deep teal blue/green. It's very close to the colour of our main bedroom in our previous house and always makes me think of deep, peaceful oceans ... I am a Picean, you know and fishies need their water around them! :0) Combined with white furniture and bed linens, I just find it so relaxing and cozy, I know some people would find it too dark, but I LOOOOOOOOVE my mermaid grotto! :0)

Here's the other end of the bed ... sorry the pic is a bit dark. There's that cradle of bears. :0) And you can see there's a bit of a French splash in there too.

And the GORGEOUS full-cloth quilt I commissioned the Fabulous Fiona to quilt for me when we first moved in ties in beautifully. So ... that's our re-vamped boudoir. Now I just have to manage to spend some time in there. :0)

Now ... this is actually the second room to get a colour infusion ... I just haven't had a chance to show pics before this. We've also made over the guest room. Bit of a funny story ... when Mum and Dad were living with us earlier this year, the guest room was their domain. I showed Mum a colour card of the colour I'd chosen to paint the guest room and her comment was ... "Oh! I hope you're not going to do that while we're in the room. It would be so much trouble!" So ... when they went off for a week of house sitting ... we painted the room! Tee! Hee! Hee! The very FUNNIEST part ... neither Mum or Dad noticed we'd painted the room until we told them! :0)

So here's what it looked like when we bought the house ...

Don't you love the real estate agent's tool of the wide-angled lens on the camera! :0) OK ... this is the made over room ...

Ta da! It's now a pretty Tiffany blue. I forgot to upload pics of the room with our furniture in it before we painted ... it shows a huge contrast. The quilt (one of my faves made from a Paris Flea Market layer cake) really pops against the blue, as does the restored white brass bed and the vintage half-tester valance.

In the corner of the room looking back at the entry door from the hallway.

It's now soothing and warm and welcoming for guests ... and Mum approved once I pointed out the new colour! Tee! Hee! Hee! I think I do need to make a pretty cushion or two for this bed ... in my spare time. :0)

So ... there you go. We're slowly putting our own mark on our dream home, adding colour and character ... and bears and quilts! Tee! Hee! Hee! I'll share more with you as we go ... promise. :0)

In other news ... Sweet Peg and I have done our blog-hopping and Sweet Peg has done the prize draw for the OPAM prizes for September ... if you haven't already visited her, pop across and see if you were one of the lucky winners. Well done to all of you again this month for your creative work ... there were nearly 250 finishes for September ... WOO! HOO! Which means there was probably even MORE behind the scenes stitching and creating going on working on long-term projects ... like I was chugging on with. Whether you added finishes to your list, or made some progress on some WISPs ... if you took some time out to create, to recharge your batteries and let your imagination roam ... then you did good! :0)

Right now ... I'm off to spend some quality time snuggled in my mermaid grotto bedroom, so I shall sign off. Hope you all have a fantastic week ... don't forget to give yourself permission to take time out regularly to catch your breath and create. :0) Til next time ...

MERMAID-Y BEAR HUGS!

CHEERS!
KRIS

Guess What We're Doing??!

This is a photo of our sitting room this morning ...

Hmmm ... what's happening in the Meares' Madhouse this long weekend?? If I tell you that most of those items are usually in our main bedroom, does that give you a clue? :0) Stay tuned for updates!!

Til next time ...

BEAR HUGS!
CHEERS!
KRIS

SURPRISE!!

Big surprise ... not only am I posting twice in two days (Chookyblue just fell off her chair! Tee! Hee! Hee!) but I'm also about to share a photo that has been five years in the making (or six? can't remember!!) ... something else that might give Chooky heart palpitations. :0)

Back at a time so far in history that I can't pin it down, I signed up to be part of a stitch-along to make Anni Downs' "A Gardener's Journal" quilt. I had the book tucked away and I thought joining the stitch-along would motivate me to get it done.

I dutifully stitched away on the blocks ...

... I slowly pieced them together ...

... and muttered and swore about one and a half inch blocks! :0)

... Until I had the bulk of the quilt together! YAY! And then ... I came to a screaming halt!! You see, when I started the stitch-along, I made myself (and the long-suffering Beloved Geek Boy!!) a promise that it wouldn't cost anything, I would only use fabrics from my stash. That was pretty easy until I got to the border stage. The problem was ... the largest cut of fabric I buy 'just because' tends to be 40cm ... half a metre if I REALLY love it. So I just didn't have enough of one particular fabric for  the outer border in my stash ... and the quilt got stuffed in the sewing room cupboard. BLUSH!!

From time to time, I'd pull it out and look at it, um and ah ... and put it back in the 'too hard' basket. Until last week ...

I FINALLY came up with a way to make it work with what I had in my stash. So I stole the last couple of days of my holiday to hit the machine. Do you want to see what I came up with?? OK ... :0)

TA DA!! It may not be the way I would have chosen to finish it, but I rather like it. :0) (The photo doesn't really show the true colours as it was taken late in the afternoon.) I had three pieces of different green fabric, but they were all a little different, so to pull it all together, I decided to mimic those swear-word-inducing one and a half inch squares in the border ... with bigger squares and lots of bright colours. It reminds me of a favourite saying of most quilters ...

When Life Gives You Scraps ...

Make Quilts!!

So it is now ready for the Fabulous Fiona to wave her magic quilting wand over it ... but I'll let her settle into her new sewing room first! :0) Thank you Chookyblue for wielding the "get it don" whip on the stitch-along. I'm probably one of your tardiest participants, but I got there ... a few years late! :0)

That's it for now ... no more surprises ... just another gentle reminder to all you lovely OPAMers to update your sidebar lists and email your finishes to me or Sweet Peg. But right now ... I'm off to put on my jim-jams and crawl into bed. This pretending to be a grown up is an exhausting business! Tee! Hee! Hee! Til next time ...

BEAR HUGS!

CHEERS!
KRIS