"EEEK!!" And "AAAH!!"

It's a rainy, icky grey day here on top of our 'hill' and after a morning of running errands and getting a hair cut (I was starting to look as fluffy as a dandelion!!) I was looking forward to spending an afternoon in my sewing room. I'd barely got going when I needed to get something out of my cupboard. I opened the door and ... spied a large patch, clump, group, army ... what DO you call a whole lot of ANTS in one spot???? ... well ... whatever you call them, I spotted them ... in my SEWING CUPBOARD! Oh no you don't!! So being a good Aussie gal, I reached for the 'can of Mortein' and sprayed them. Then ... I spotted ANOTHER  patch, clump, group, army  on the shelf below, so I sprayed them too! Just when I thought the insect invasion had been thwarted, I began to be aware of a 'clicking' sort of sound ... coming from my CUPBOARD!! On closer inspection ... and with no small amount of horror!!! ... I found that the ants had in fact decided to invade the human world ... starting with my CUPBOARD!!!!! OH NO!!!!! EEEEEEEEEK!!!!! Man, did that can of Mortein get a work out!!! When I finally stepped back to get clear of the fumes, this is what I saw ...

EEEEEEEWWWWWW!!! Dead ants! Can you see the pile of deaded ones on the floor ... there were several of these piles around the cupboard.

NOT Happy Jan!!!!! Here they are, pouring out of my cupboard. GRRRR! So now my Saturday, which WAS to be spent happily sewing, will have to be spent cleaning out my cupboard. SIGH!!!!

For now, though, the fumes have given me a headache and driven me to abandon the battlefield in favour of the couch, my flannel blankie, a nice cup of tea and a blog post with something MUCH nicer than a cupboardful of ants!!

You see, last week I was the lucky (and very excited!!) recipient of TWO lovely "Just Because" gifties .... AAAAAAAAAAHH!! :0) So to balance out the ickiness of the ant invasion, I thought I'd share them with you ...

How spoilt am I!!!! :0) The little green Depression Glass bowl was a surprise giftie from my dancing buddy Lynda. She was strolling around a local market and spotted this little pretty ... and knew I'd love to add it to my collection ... THANKS LYNDA!!!! :0) The GORGEOUS bear wall hanger was a giftie from the super-talented Miss Toni from the Red Boot Quilt Co. Isn't it FABULOUS!!! I absolutely LOOOOOOOOOOVE Toni's applique designs and I keep telling her that if I wasn't kept so busy stitching samples for my own pattern designs, I'd certainly be whipping up some of her GORGEOUS quilt designs. THANK YOU TONI!!!! Oh I do feel spoilt ... and it does balance out the icky ant invasion ... though I am NOT looking forward to cleaning out that cupboard tomorrow ... SIGH!!!!

So ... how has YOUR Friday been this week?? Hope you've had more "Nice" surprises than "Nasty" today. :0) And I hope you all have a fantastic weekend that DOESN'T include unscheduled cleaning!!!! GRRR!!! I'll just sip my tea and blog hop for a while to calm down I think ... and then some therapeutic stitching on a surprise gift for a friend ... that should cheer me up! :0) Til next time...

BEAR HUGS!
CHEERS!
KRIS

We Will Remember Them!

April 25 is a special day on the Australian calendar ... ANZAC Day. We remember that men and women ... sons, husbands, brothers, daughters, wives and sisters ... put their hopes and dreams on hold to step forward in service of their country. Some never left Australian shores, some never returned home. While those men and women are always close to the hearts of their loved ones, on this one day each year, all of Australia pauses to acknowledge the service and sacrifice of our defence forces, past and present. We say "Thank You". And we promise that we will never forget.

"At the going down of the sun

And in the morning,

We will remember them.

Lest We Forget"

Bags With Bags & A Reveal!

Here we are again, time has flitted by and I'm wondering how it came to be Sunday afternoon ... but I think we ALL ask ourselves that question every week, don't we! :0) BTW ... is anyone else tired of computer programs/blog hosts etc making changes to formats when things have been working very nicely before hand thank-you-very-much!!! SIGH! If it ain't broke, don't fix it I say ... but apparently I just have to get used to a new blogger format ... AGAIN!!!!!!

OK ... enough whingeing about computer programmers who think they know what's best for me without actually ASKING me ... I've had a busy week this week and have a couple of things to share. Firstly ... do you remember a few posts back I told you to pop across and visit the delightful Fiona of Bubz Rugz cos she had posted a pic of a bag made from my "French Shopping Spree" pattern?? Well ... we met up on Friday when our "Quilting Angels" gathered at my Home-Away-From-Home Quilters Angel and there was a big ...

SNAP!!

She had her beautifully made French bag with her and so did I ... so what do two good bloggers do? Why, of COURSE they get a third person to take a photo! :0)

Ooh! La! La! Tre Magnifique!! Here is Miss Bubz herself and Moi modelling our Eiffel Tower-adorned bags ... or as we joked while having our photo taken ... "Bags With Bags"! Tee! Hee! Hee! It's always fun to see how people interpret my pattern designs and I LOVE to see where they've added their own little touches or made little changes to make the finished project truly their own. One of the reasons that I struggle through the instruction writing process to publish craft patterns is to encourage people to be creative and to find the joy of taking 'bits and bobs' and transforming them into something beautiful and/or useful and having that lovely warm glow that says, "I made that myself!!" :0) Thanks for bringing your bag for 'Show & Tell', Fiona!! It was lovely to catch up!! :0)

Speaking of writing pattern instructions ... there's some more of my 'favourite' (NOT!!!) chore on the horizon for me this week, cos I finished the top of my PINK quilt ... otherwise known as "Blissful Butterflies". :0) It's been whisked off to the lovely Rosalie of Rose Quilting for her care and attention, but I thought I'd share a pic of the top that I took before handing it over to Rosalie. Ready???

Ta! Da!! Four pink fluttering butterflies gathered around a sweet topiary rose bush. I'm pretty happy with how it's come together and really enjoyed working on the applique, which is all hand-stitched blanket stitch. I'm gradually switching to using Cosmo threads and have to say I find them much nicer to stitch with. Added to that, these applique shapes are a bit larger and simpler than my "French Amour" quilt that I'd previously stitched, so nice and quick to stitch around. I've got a little bit of breathing space while it's at the quilters before I start that dreaded instruction writing chore, so maybe I'll stitch something just for 'fun' for a week or two. :0) What are you stitching at the moment? I'd love to see some pics and hear what sort of projects you're loving as much as I'm loving blanket stitch applique at the moment. Maybe some pics can be posted and leave me a link in your comment so we can all come and visit your stitching corner ... it's always nice to have company to stitch, isn't it! :0)

Right now, though, I'm off to finalise the applique outlines for "French Amour", which I hope to have on my web site and available in store at Quilters Angel by the end of this week. Marion and Steph have done up some kits for this French inspired pattern in the same Rouenneries Deux fabric range that I've used, so stay tuned for it's release! :0) I hope you're all having a relaxing weekend and that your coming week includes some time for you to enjoy the company of family and friends, sit, stitch, relax and daydream ... cos life is richer with all of these things in it! :0) Til next time ...

BEAR HUGS!

CHEERS!
KRIS

Think PINK?!?!

Who would have ever thought that this card-carrying, anti-pink, green-and-red-lovin' gal would be designing a VERY PINK quilt?!?!?! What IS the world coming to! :0) But ... playing with pink is exactly what I've been doing in my cornflower-blue sewing room. (I just felt I had to mention the BLUE to counteract the effect of the PINK on my delicate colour sensibilities! Tee! Hee! Hee!)

It all began ... as I told you a couple of posts back ... when I saw some of the new-to-store "Cabbages And Roses" range of fabrics at Quilters Angel (AKA. my Home-Away-From-Home!). I just had an immediate mental picture of a quilt that I HAD to make. I know ... pretty weird ... even for ME! Tee! Hee! Hee! Well ... it's progressing rather nicely and I thought I'd share a sneaky peeky with you to see what you think about my pink. Everyone who knows me well ... BRACE YOURSELF!! :0)

A fluttery butterfly ...

... ANOTHER fluttery butterfly!! Don't butterflies just make you want to ... :0)!! And butterflies need something to perch on ...

... a pink rosebush is just the place ... of course! :0) So there you go, a sneaky peeky at what I'm working on. This girly quilt will be called "Blissful Butterflies" cos butterflies always make me happy and they are quite soothing to watch as they flit and flutter around the garden without a care in the world, enjoying each moment to the fullest. AAAAAAHHHH!!! To be a carefree butterfly! :0)

However ... right now, I'm flitting and fluttering off to the sewing room to keep playing with pink. Oh! If you want to see a rather special bag, pop across and visit the lovely Fiona at Bubz Rugz ... she has made a Rouenneries Deux version of my "French Shopping Spree" bag and has done a GORGEOUS job! She and I will be a matched set when we meet up this Friday for our Quilting Angels gathering! Tee! Hee! Hee! Hope your week is off to a 'BLISSFUL' start!! :0) Til next time ...

BEAR HUGS!
CHEERS!
KRIS

A WHOLE Day At Home!

Oh JOY! Oh BLISS! Oh HAPPY DAY!!!!! I have a WHOLE day at home today to stitch and create!! YAY!! This is indeed a very rare treat for me, so I do hope you'll understand me turning metaphorical cartwheels. (I'd do myself and probably some furniture a damage if I tried to turn REAL cartwheels! Tee! Hee! Hee!) Friday is my 'don't-have-to-go-to-work' day, but so often it ends up my 'run-errands-on-my-day-off' day. But not today! It's overcast and drizzly ... not to mention cold!! ... so I'm going to put on my daggiest, comfiest house clothes, pop on some 'Midsomer Murders' DVDs and STITCH my little fingers off!! :0)

I'm madly stitching away at a new quilt design sample using my fabrics that are THAT colour, but over the weekend I hope to finalise my "French Amour" quilt pattern, too, so that all of you out there who are also having a love affair with all things French, can make your own version of "French Amour". The instructions are written and double-checked by my 'technical expert' (Thanks Steph!!!) so I just have to tweak some applique outlines and get a decent cover photo and I'm good to go.

The cover photo has been a bit tricky due to the size of this quilt ... it's a double bed quilt or a queen bed topper, so a bit tricky to get good light and angles. I even tried the ol' "hang it on the washing line" trick last week ... but the light was not friendly enough to get a cover quality pic. I DID however get one that I can share with you to give you a pretty good idea of how it's come up. Ready for the unveiling?

Ta Da!! It's a bit hard to see the stitched writing ... told you I was having trouble with the light levels!! But it does show you the overall layout of my sweet French quilt. I'm pretty chuffed with how it's come up and Rosalie of Rose Quilting ... as always!! ... has done a brilliant job of long-arm quilting it for me ... lots of Fleur de Lise! :0) The pattern (and a limited number of kits  in this delicious 'Rouenneries Deux' fabric range) for my "French Amour" quilt will soon be available at my "Home-Away-From-Home" Quilters Angel, so stay tuned if you'd like to add a bit of French flair to your home. :0)

Right now, though, I'm off to pop the kettle on (I do that so often I almost need to change my name to 'Polly' ... you know ... 'Polly put the kettle on, Polly put the kettle on, we'll all have tea.' Tee! Hee! Hee!) I hope you've had a fantastic, if a bit short, week and that you, too, manage to enjoy some chore-free time to create this weekend. Til next time ...

BEAR HUGS!!
CHEERS!
KRIS