Quilting in My Pyjamas

Making Whoopie

2012-01-28T19:49:00.000+10:30

You may recall that Sister of Pyjamas gave me some recipe books for Christmas. Baking books. Funny.

Rarely, if ever, do I turn out anything that involves using flour and eggs and the term "folding" that ultimately looks like the picture in the book. I don't fold . I beat the crud out of things. For me , baking is like being a Gladiator. We fight to the death, and it's almost always the baked goods that lose.

One of my goals for 2012 is to work my way through one of those books and cook at least half the recipes. You'll notice I didn't add the word "successfully" to the goal. But somewhere inside my head that's what I'm aiming for. My mantra for 2012 is there is no such word as "cant". There must be an inner Julia Child or Nigella in me somewhere.

So, last week I girded my loins and made my first batch of whoopie pies. Chocolate. And according to my recipe book this is what they are supposed to look like.

And this is what most of mine looked like . Frisbees. Crunchy Frisbees. They were too flat. Aren't these things supposed to be puffy like cake?

I took them to Claire's last Saturday and tried to feed them to my unsuspecting Farmers Wife Quilt group. Only Loz and I were brave enough to eat them. They did taste really good though once I'd put so much buttercream in them I could feel my arteries hardening every single time I took a bite.

Not to be deterred by less than 100% success today I decided it was time to give them another go. Maybe mastering Whoopie Pies takes more than one try. I settled on Jaffa Whoopie Pies because I had plenty of last weeks chocolate butter cream left over. On a side note I put just about everything in my freezer including leftover icing but I'm just not good at labelling stuff. I know what it is ..but nobody else does. It's made for some hilarious moments when someone pulls out chocolate icing thinking it's gravy.

Thankfully no piping was involved today . The recipe said I could just put tablespoon fulls on my biscuit trays. That saved me having to wipe cookie dough off my ceiling which is where some of it ended from last weeks great piping accident. I'm not very coordinated.

And lookee here...

Fooled you didn't I? This is what they are meant to look like. Mine didn't look anything like that.

Mine were mutant sized. The size of baseballs. They had too much puff like cake. And my jaffas wouldn't crush properly because it's currently about 110F. They just kind of melted into one another and I had to push them into the icing.

While Mr. P was appreciative and made Mmmmm noises while munching on one, I just can't shake the feeling that I'm Goldilocks. She was a fussy perfectionist cow too. Next week I'm hoping my whoopie pies will be just right. I may give the chocolate ones a miss and move onto something else since chocolate appears to be waging a personal vendetta against me.

I immediately reverted to something I know I'm good at and I redeemed myself with the roast duck I did for dinner....sublime.

PS. Don't tell Little P - his favourite animal in the "Old McDonald had a farm"song is the Duck. I'd hate for him to have to spend years in therapy.

Favourite Things Friday

2012-01-27T08:58:00.000+10:30

This time next week I'm sure my post will hold some sort of lament about having to go back to work on the following Monday but today that's still a whole week away. There 's still plenty of time for me to enjoy a plethora of favourite things. If you'd like to join in and share one of your Favourite Things, write your own post, link it up and leave a comment so I can skip on over to see what made your heart sing this week.

I'm counting on the fact that if you've hung around here for any length of time you wont be easily offended but I'm adding this disclaimer anyway. This post will contain some wanton but necessary profanity. There will be pictures of said profanity. Words I have never used before on my blog. Do not proceed further if you are likely to be upset. My delicate constitution can't cope with losing any more followers this week.

My favourite thing for this Friday came by way of the post office (as so many wonderful surprises do !)I was talking to Little Miss Sunshine recently about my dwindling fabric scraps in certain colours and she said she would send me some of those colours so I can continue with my quilting greatness for the Log Cabin quilt. I also got strict instructions that I was not to make the log cabin scrap quilt into a dog blanket using her scraps (Some people are so bossy !) I was thinking about it actually but since I'm about 65% of the way through making blocks now, I have decided it's a people quilt because it's too pretty for dogs, especially since apparently dogs cant see colours like red and green. If I decide to practice free motion quilting on the blocks and it all goes pear shaped I could change my mind again. It's a bit like Russian quilting roulette.

Anyway, I digress....

I opened the parcel to find this pile of deliciousness

But a couple of extra surprises were hidden in the folds of the fabric that made me laugh out loud. It's very cool when one of your friends knows you so well. No cute butterfly stamps here.

I've spent the better part of three days contemplating how I could get away with taking those to work and using them and I don't think I'm going to risk it. I have started stamping all our bills with the WTF one and returning them unpaid back to the senders....

There..now you know Little Miss Sunshine isn't all that ladylike either. I've outed her . The carefully crafted image she has worked hard to present to you all has been shattered.

Looks like my work here is done. Have a fabulous Friday!

Regular Programming Will Resume Soon

2012-01-26T08:19:00.000+10:30

It's like I wandered off to make a coffee last week and just never made it back. It's been a mad house here. Miss P and Little P have been in residence and there just hasn't been time for blogging. Or cleaning the house, or hanging out the washing or even scratching myself. I don't know how anyone with kids ever manages to get to the computer to read emails let alone maintain a blog!

And if I'm being honest, it was part of my plan for my holidays to not spend all of it on the computer/blogging so I think we can say that's been successful too. Before I went on holidays I'd lost my blogging mojo and thought a bit of a break might be in order. I apologise for all the unread blog posts and ignored emails but sometimes a gal just has to shake things up a bit and change her routine to get back in the saddle. I usually spend a huge amount of time blogging, commenting and replying to emails and I just needed a break (wow - do I sound whiny!)

There hasn't been a lot of progress on my own sewing and quilting projects this past week. Miss P announced she wanted to learn how to make baby bibs so she could sell them to people on the Facebook Young Mum's group that she is a co-owner of. It's taken me about a week to get over the shock of her announcement (Miss P wants to sew ?) and we've been busy buying and choosing fabric, cutting out backs and fronts, and sewing bibs. She has orders for about 15 bibs already and is full of other ideas about things she could make and sell and we've been tossing round the idea of a market stall at the end of the year as well as some other products she could make for sale. I finished my last contribution yesterday to the bib cause (the rest is up to her - lets see how serious she is !) and I'm ready to get back to doing some of my own stuff. I have floor cushions calling my name as well as the modified log cabin blocks for my scrap quilt.

I'm bibbed out.

In other news, my ex father in law passed away early this week so I'll be off to his funeral tomorrow with Miss P. Without going into a lot of detail, the relationships my ex in laws have with the people closest to them tend to be very complicated. My ex husband hasn't spoken to his own parents in over 17 years. I doubt he'll be attending the funeral but if he does it will be an emotional day and there could be fireworks since he hasn't seen Miss P since she was 4 years old. I'll be the one holding it all together for every one else and sweeping up the tarnished reputations and handing out the tissues if he does make an appearance.

Favourite Things Friday will be back tomorrow and normal blogging activity will resume from then. I'm going to spend some of my Australia Day eating lamb burgers and checking out what's been going on in my prolonged absence. If I get really organised I may even bang out some lamingtons.

Favourite Things Friday

2012-01-20T11:38:00.000+10:30

I've had a terrific week . But my favourite thing for this week isn't that I finally got round to mopping my floors or cleaning out my guest room or feeding ducks or taking little P to the beach for a swim (He rode the dodgem cars for the first time with his grandpa- it was hilarious-Little P was driving ) This week my favourite thing is a good furniture makeover.

I love to take something and make it over. There's something infinitely satisfying about taking an old piece of furniture and making it into something that means it'll get used for more years to come. Old furniture is generally built to last and I think it's a huge shame to send it to the tip. Another plus for re- finishing furniture is that it's generally a lot cheaper than going out and buying a piece of mass produced furniture. And you end up with something completely unique. I've spent hours looking in second hand stores and on Ebay for the "perfect" piece because I've had a vision of something that would be "perfect" for a particular space in my house.

One such hunt was the tale of the kitchen dresser. I'd given up finding something that looked like this after months of searching when BAM - there she was in all her (former ) glory.

A coat (or 5 ) of paint and this is what she looks like now.

Or you can take a table and a set of chairs you bought second hand for under 80 bucks

And spend 40 bucks and spend some time and elbow grease to make them look like this

Take a 50 year old desk and strip and paint and glue the crap out of it

to breathe this kind of life into it

On the downside I have a really small house, so I have to be selective about what I bring home. I had a couple more brilliant ideas recently and yesterday this piece of potential lusciousness found a home at Maison Pyjamas.

That fabric is truly truly hideous.But look at some of the details and past it's current hideous state and pretend its re-covered in something wonderful.

I'm already auditioning other colour palettes.

I must admit to some trepidation with this project . Firstly I have to find the perfect fabric. Then I have to google myself blind to get a ton of tips about how to recover something of this magnitude without completely ruining it. But I'm up for the challenge. There's always profanity to let off the accumulated steam. Stay tuned. And with another "brilliant " idea fermenting in my brain it looks like I'm going to be one busy chickee over the next couple of weeks.

If anything has particularly thrilled your heart this week feel free to shout it from the rooftops and link it on up to this post so we can get excited with you. Have a brilliant Friday!

15 Minutes with Kate

2012-01-17T18:52:00.000+10:30

I'm joining in on Kate's 15 minutes linky party again this week to report back on my progress. You can join in too . Just pop on over and pay Kate a visit at Life in Pieces for all the details!

I realised on Monday my holidays are half over and I haven't really done all that much in the sewing department so I decided to see if I could focus. And while not everything on my list from last week got ticked off I'm pretty happy with the results.

Aside from finishing my Merry Go round quilt (thankyou so much for your comments about my quilt - I feel very humbled by your kind words ) I also started and finished some other projects this week.

The zebra cushion became a pair . These are for Miss P who is positively potty about zebra anything.

The Christmas bunting is done . This would have been far more newsworthy if I had pulled off a finish BEFORE Christmas but I'm telling myself the late finish means I'm amazingly organised for Christmas 2012. I'll be pulling out that old chestnut again when I finally finish my Flurry quilt.

You know how I said I was going to try to take more interesting photographs this year . Above was one of my attempts. A photographer I am not. Bunting is incredibly hard to photograph.

Four more rainbow scrap blocks got added to the pile.

I came to the realisation that The Love Heart Applique quilt was NEVER going to be a quilt so I started making it into a cushion instead. It's backed in white chenille (have I mentioned lately how much I love chenille ?) so it's perfect for snuggling up to . It's a gift for a friend so I'm valiantly trying not to get too attached to it.

And I cut hexies for a rainbow scrap cushion I'm going to start this week. Im loving playing with my scraps. Colour makes me happy.

My Goals for this week
Pay some attention to my hourglass blocks
Finish 4 more blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Quilt
Start sewing hexies together for the scrappy cushion
Give one of the roadkill rescue footstools a makeover
Pyjamas for Brooke
Survive Babysitting Little P (the terrible two's have hit hard !)

Life is A Merry Go Round

2012-01-16T19:41:00.000+10:30

My first quilt finish for 2012 is done. Merry Go Round got the final stitches in the binding this afternoon.

I don't usually blow my own trumpet . In fact I'm often self critical and deprecating. That being said I am completely , utterly and hopelessly in love with this quilt. I'd go so far as to say it's my most favourite of all the quilts I've ever made. It's close to perfect.

My original vision was for this quilt to be done in 30's repros. But then I saw the Tonga Hard candy line I ordered that as well as the repros. The second the fabrics arrived it was no contest.

From the fabric to the quilting (Thanks Sharon - you did an utterly fabulous job !) I LOVE it. My cruddy pictures don't show this well but it's quilted in variegated thread the same colour as the fabrics.

To the binding which caused me so much grief on Saturday and led to an almost tear fuelled breakdown with some very sailor like swearing....

I love the back and I think it's very "me"

In all it's glory.

This one is staying here to be loved and used by me ! I love every single stitch in it.

In other news I went on a fabric buying kick a couple of weeks ago and this parcel of yumminess arrived today from Fabricworm.

Pinks and Greys

Im loving chocolate and blue at the moment.

And check out this "scrap " pack. Scraps ! They're huge and look at how beautiful they are. And only $13.50 for all of this. Amazing!

I also may or may not have done a run to Spotlight today where further fabric buying may or may not have occurred....but I'm just going to absorb that into my stash and pretend it never happened. I can't resist a sale.

Recipe Wars

2012-01-15T20:05:00.000+10:30

Something I haven't blogged about to date is that my sister and I are have been engaged in an ugly standoff since Christmas. I am usually not the type of person who airs dirty laundry in public but this is just too big to keep to myself and we're all friends here right?

I know you're imagining some deep dark family scandal. Like the revelation my sister was adopted at birth and I've known all these years and didn't say anything. Some of you probably ran and got your popcorn already and are settled down waiting for full disclosure. So here it is : Our standoff is over trading recipes.

SOP served an awesome potato salad on Christmas night and I asked for the recipe. Past experience dictates that I should have stood over her with a stick until she gave it to me there and then but I'm a trusting soul. Sharing is not her middle name. Case in point : I have been begging for her scone recipe for YEARS and she steadfastly refused to give it to me. She just used to smile enigmatically and say she couldn't give it out. It had gotten to the point where the thought of her taking that scone recipe to the grave was keeping me awake at night. She eventually confessed last July after 20 years of baking the best scones ever, that she uses the CWA box scone mix you buy at the store.

Then on Boxing Day I served up that awesome galette I snaffled from Mrs. X who shall remain nameless (for reasons that will be come apparent as you read this sorry tale) and my sister asked me for the recipe. Now it isn't that I don't trust her and it isn't like she's promised to swap recipes with me before and they've never materialised (cough cough) so this time I told her I'd happily give her the galette recipe just as soon as the potato salad recipe hit my Inbox. And for good measure I told her I'd throw in my cinnamon bun pancake recipe for free because I'm a loving sister and I'm not precious about sharing my recipes.

It's been three weeks since Christmas and I've got nothing and I've been hankering for that potato salad because it really is THAT good. Like Veruca Salt "I Want It Now !". I'm starting to wonder if my sister is waiting for potatoes to become extinct as part of some dastardly plot to ensure she continues to have world domination of the Best.Potato.Salad.Ever.

SOP keeps asking me for the galette recipe and I keep telling her she can have it just as soon as I have that potato salad recipe in my hot little hand because up until this point I've been using that awesome galette recipe as my insurance. I've even taken my plight to Facebook as a way of shaming her into sending me the recipe. And still nothing. (Insert your own visual here of me sitting round tapping my foot , looking at my watch and doing nothing besides waiting, waiting, waiting for a bloody potato salad recipe......)

Then today I remembered that Google is the font of all knowledge. Google knows everyone's secrets and isn't hoity toity about blurting them out. So accordingly I googled . And look what I found.

So, guess what we had for dinner tonight....

A mature and loving sister would hand over that galette recipe to her sister now for free wouldn't she ? Even though her sister didn't come through with her promised recipe.

I'm still thinking about it. But the potato salad was awesome.

Favourite Things Friday

2012-01-13T18:39:00.000+10:30

Late to my own linky party this week! I confess I forgot what day it was. That happens when you don't have a point of reference like going to work Monday to Friday.

This week, I've been thinking about what I want to achieve this year. I don't do New Year resolutions. Bitter experience has taught me that if I resolve to eat better, or lose weight or be a better person or whatever - it just doesn't happen. But making some goals for a little direction and to make sure I'm getting the most of out life seems to work much better for me.

The truth is - I bumbled my way through most of 2011 with little or no direction. In fact for the last half of the year I was hanging on by the skin of my teeth and just taking things one day at a time. Most unlike me , I didn't have a grand plan or goals beyond surviving week to week.

But this year I'm feeling ready to conquer the world and so some goals are in order. And then Thea came up with the brilliant plan to list her goals for this year and get people to join in and report back so my favourite thing this week has been making a list of things I want to do. Here it is :

1) Eat out once a month and keep the budget for the year under 300 bucks

2) Do something social at least once a fortnight -if I don't make this goal I'll never leave home

3)Go to the movies at least 6 times this year

4)Watch an entire series of something on DVD

5)Go see a live show/theatre at least 3 times in 2012.

6)Make a quilt using greys

7) At least half the birthday gifts I give have to be handmade or thrifted

8) Make February a frugal month

9) Have two weekends away this year

10) Crack FM quilting

11) Finish 10 quilts this year including 2 quilts using scraps

12)Start knitting a blanket

13)Cook a new main meal recipe once a fortnight

14) Work my way through at least half of one of the baking cookbooks SOP gave me for Christmas

15) Practice taking better photographs

16) Start planning a big holiday

17) Buy 52 individual items worth a buck each -stolen from Thea - I love this idea

18) Buy fruit and vegies from the Farmers Market at least 6 times

19)Teach my Mother in law how to hand piece hexagons

20) Secret goal - to do with quilting but it involves putting myself out there a little more than I have in the past

21) Participate in at least one swap and one quiltalong online

22) Finish my Farmers Wife Quilt by the end of the Year

23) Go to a Basketball Game

24) Attend at least two festivals

25) Let the little things go

26) Practice random acts of kindness

27) Get a professional manicure

28) Have a pamper day with a friend

29) Spend time quilting with my Mum

30) Make fresh bread and foccacia at least a dozen times this year

31) Update the front veranda

32) Reupholster something to give it a new lease of life

I'm sure I'll think of more as the year goes along but I think that's a good start. I just want to be present in my own life a little bit more rather than going with the flow.

Does anyone else have any goals for this year they want to share?

15 Minutes with Kate

2012-01-11T10:06:00.000+10:30

There hasn't been a huge amount of sewing going on round here since I'm currently playing "Let's do the annual Pyjamas house cleanout". That involves going through every single room in the house and taking everything out of cupboards, drawers and wardrobes and freecycling or chucking out things we don't need. I get to ask myself burning questions such as "Why am I keeping plumbing hoses for a washing machine I haven't had since 2001?" and "Holy Cow how can one person have so much underwear?".

But occasionally a gal needs to take a break from organising and when that urge hits I head for the sewing room. I spent some of Sunday cleaning out my scrap bins. There was some real crap in there. I got really serious and went through every single scrap and "retired" a lot of stuff I am never going to use. Ugly stuff. And now I have about half the scraps I used to have but it's all use-able.

Playing with my scraps inspired me . There has been a lot of scrappy talk in the Blogishphere lately and so I jumped on the bandwagon and started making blocks for a quilt. Because goodness knows I dont have enough unfinished quilts lurking round here that I could be working on. I need another project.

I made a couple of cards from scraps while I was at it.

Remember the zebra cushion that pissed me off beyond belief a week ago? I dragged that out of the rubbish bin and finished it. My first finish for 2012 ! Now it needs a mate because it looks lonely.

I made some more selvage blocks .

And since I've been fairly slow in the sewing department lately I should probably make some goals for this week so I'm aiming to :

Work on the binding for the Merry Go Round Quilt

Finish Christmas Bunting

Finish another Zebra Cushion

Make another 20 selvage blocks

I'm linking up to Kate's 15 minutes challenge this week. Pop on over and have a look at what other participants have been up to. Thanks for hosting Kate!

May the Craft be with you.

Favourite Things Friday

2012-01-06T12:20:00.000+10:30

Welcome to the first Favourite Things Friday for 2012 !

Favourite Things Friday is my version of a linky party where all you have to do is write a post about something that made your week a little brighter and share it with the rest of the Favourite Thing Friday crowd. It's a way to reflect on at least one positive in the week and to float blissfully towards the weekend. I'd love you to join us.

Unless you're from another planet you wouldn't be ignorant about the fact that I'm on holidays. Looooong holidays. Let's face it , I think I mentioned it in just about very single post I did pre-Christmas and I had grand plans for my holidays which included a long list of things to do.

I've been on holidays now for just a smidge over two weeks and nothing on that list has been finished. Of course I'm not being helped by Little P, who doesn't understand I have a master plan. I spent most of yesterday changing Little P's jocks since we're hitting the toilet training pretty hard and he is currently having an accident approximately every 3 minutes.

One of the nice things about being on holidays is that there is always another day to do the things on my massive list of things I hope to eventually achieve. Another day to clean my house , another day to shop for a new car seat, another day to bind that quilt, another day to work out how to change that halogen recessed globe in my kitchen that burnt out a month ago. Holidays are meant to be as different as possible from your real life or what's the point?

So my favourite thing this week is chilling ...doing nothing, achieving nothing and dreaming of the day I'll start ticking things off my list ...eventually... because right now I have to go watch Shaun the Sheep with Little P and then make a triple layer chocolate cake.

Hello 2012

2012-01-01T12:51:00.000+10:30

Happy 2012 to each and every one of you!

My final sewing finish for 2011 happened yesterday afternoon. It was inspired by Little P showing great promise as a budding chef with mixing cinnamon bun pancakes this week. I'm secretly planning to enter him in Junior Masterchef in 2012.

And every junior chef needs a special apron.

So here's a recap of what I did with the other 364 days that made up 2011.

I grew a lot as a quilter this past year. I tried things I hadn't done before like paper piecing and hand stitching and more complicated blocks and it didn't kill me nor was there more swearing than usual.I'm still avoiding free motion quilting quite successfully and will probably continue to do so as long as there is breath in my body. Some things are beyond even my capabilities. Fiddly baking also makes that list. I was mildly obsessed with quilting last year and here are my finishes for 2011.

There was lots of other craftiness going on at Maison Pyjamas too. It makes me wonder when I had time to go to work.

And as usual I'm starting the new year with plenty of WIP's. I'm not even going to pretend I'll finish all of these before my ADD kicks in and I start something else.I swear my Dresden quilt is going to be vintage before I get the binding on.

I publicly bragged I was going to buy under 100 yards of fabric in 2011. At last count I was up to about 310 yards for the year so I don't think we can call that an unqualified success. Needless to say I wont be making the same vow in 2012 because I obviously have no willpower. I really admire people who do (I'm finger pointing at Kate here)

I participated in my ever first swap hosted by Kat and my first ever quiltalong hosted by Becks in 2011. Both were a lot of fun. I'm joining in a Farmer's Wife Quilt Along this year with some fabulous people which I'm sure will teach me patience while I try to make 100 different blocks with seams that actually line up.

Little Miss Sunshine and I visited back and forth between her house and mine. It's always fantastic when you meet a blog friend in real life and they even awesomer than they are in the virtual world.

I finished a computer room makeover, a dining room makeover and a sewing room makeover and there wasn't nearly as much bitching and whining as when we did the kitchen and laundry in 2010. Maybe I'm maturing.

That just leaves the bathroom (which is truly hideous) and the garden, which I didn't touch in 2011. In fact many plants suffered from involuntary planticide at Maison Pyjamas in 2011.

I keep waiting for the plant police to knock on my door and drag me away to be locked up for cruelty to plants. I already have my defence prepared and my lawyer on speed dial.

We lost a car because some peanut wasn't looking where he was going.

and I almost lost a finger trying to make Assaggio root vegetable soup.

2011 was the year of the never ending haircut. Every time I went to the hairdresser I got another 3 inches cut off. I started the year looking like this.

and ended it looking like this. Thank goodness the year ended because another month or two and I would have ended up with a mohawk.

My Dad managed to be in hospital or requiring medical attention for his birthday, my birthday, my mother's birthday and my sister's birthday. Pure attention seeking. Thank goodness we ran out of birthdays. Kidding Dad. I'm glad it was nothing seriously serious in the end.

But if you pull the same stunt this year we're going to Grandpa dump you at the hospital and leave you there until all the birthdays are done.

Miss P thrilled my heart by stitching something. I had high hopes she had been bitten by the crafting bug but alas she used up all her crafting mojo in one hit for the year.

And finally, in 2011 I got my arse kicked by a sock monkey. That frigging thing was never going to get finished. It was a blessing when I lost it's face and had a legitimate excuse to put it in a plastic bag, although a demented sock monkey without a face staring at you accusingly is the stuff nightmares are made of. Susan offered to come on over and help me stick pins in it voodoo style while we drank wine and chanted a spell to rid my house of the demon monkey vibes but in the end I decided death by binning was the kindest thing to do. Sometimes you have to know when to fold.

Meantime since I had visions of becoming the queen of sock monkey making I'm stuck with these two pairs of socks.

If you're impervious to the possibility of demonic possession I'll send them to you so you can make your own sock monkeys. Otherwise they'll just sit round here mocking me.

So, as the sun has set on the old year I have created this pin up board of 2011 memories to remind me of the wonderful people who have shared my life in the past year. Thank you for being one of them.

Here's to a fabulous 2012 !

The Aftermath of Christmas.

2011-12-30T22:06:00.000+10:30

Pigs of the world can breathe a collective sigh of relief. I swear I don't want to see a slice of ham again until at least April.

Christmas is done for another year. For the Pyjama family it was a day where we ran around like hairy goats trying to see everyone to keep them happy and then it was done in the blink of an eye. I think next year I might just hibernate out at home like a bear. However, Little P (who has that curious supermodel quality of being able to knock out an engaging smile the second I say"Cheese") had a bunch of fun on the actual day despite telling Father Christmas the week before he didn't "think much of Christmas ".

The big hit of the day was the almost life sized fire truck we bought him. Too bad it didn't come with some hunky firemen for his Bella.

My family continue to give me gag gifts.These will join Planet Cake on my recipe book holder so it looks like I can bake worth a damn. Perhaps one day in a moment of madness I will attempt to bake a recipe from one of these books.

My love of gorgeous hair was satisfied. My old GHD died several months ago and I couldn't justify the 300 buck price tag when I had another functional hair straightener worth $220. I know I sound vacuous and like a complete airhead. For all of you muttering "A hair straightener is just a hair straightener" that's simply not true and you obviously haven't experienced the sheer bliss of a GHD. I didn't just do a happy dance people, I practically danced a whole musical.

Mr. P almost did a wee when he got a Wii. He refused to believe it was an actual Wii until he'd opened the box and pulled everything out because Im the type of person that would cruelly stoop so low as to put a Christmas dustpan in a Wii box. The Wii was an investment in ensuring many happy hours of uninterrupted sewing for me .Worth every cent.

Christmas night was very relaxed and full of stupidity as evidenced by these photos of my sister doing a Popeye impersonation.

(SOP, if you're gonna post incriminating pictures of me on Facebook you better know I'm going to get payback)

We move on to Mother of Pyjamas doing jelly shots.

And deciding she didn't think they were all that.

but later actually believing she could sing like Barbra Streisand (so the jelly shot had it's desired effect)

My parents dancing after a few beverages. It was just like Dancing with the Stars but without the costumes. Or the official judges. Or the class.

And I laughed. A lot.

Boxing Day included moving slowly, a three hour nanna nap and letting my liver process several different kinds of alcohol. Thank you liver- you did an awesome job and I am eternally grateful.

We hosted a recovery dinner on Boxing Day. Thanks to Kirsten's recipes I had plenty to feed everyone.

Mini chicken salad croissants

These are spinach-less because my sister spat on all the spinach the night before being a cartoon character.

And a galette which is honestly the most idiot proof dessert I have ever made.

The day after the day after Christmas I woke with a burning desire to start my annual house clean out. That's where I pull everything from every cupboard in my whole house room by room and get rid of things that haven't seen the light of day since the last clean out. I started with my sewing room which used to look like this.

And now thanks to Ikea..looks like this

Wednesday night I tried to kill myself by eating a chocolate ball that had ground up almonds in it. I survived due to quick thinking and an epi-pen.

I hit the post Christmas sales and bought new bed linen. I cant help myself. That makes 7 quilt sets of bed linen I own ....

Mr. P looked very dubious about all that pink but tough cookies.

And this appeals to my minimalist nature.

I have spent the last three days entertaining Little P and having him "help "me. This is him pulling every pin out of every pincushion I own and putting them in a basket. The basket was subsequently emptied on the floor and then he got tired of "helping".

I have listened to twinkle twinkle little star about 2385 times and have sung "galumph went the little green frog" (minus the sadistic verses ) at least 93 times. And I'm still trying to get the black sparkly nail polish off my cream ottoman but that's another story.

Enjoy your New Years Celebrations! I'm off to check out what you've all been up to while I've been held hostage by a 2 year old with a pin fetish.

PS. My Mum is so gonna kill me for those photos....

Merry Christmas

2011-12-24T08:40:00.000+10:30

Some of you may have been wondering if I'd been kidnapped by Santa's elves and made to work in a North Pole sweatshop for the last two weeks but the reality is that work and home life in the lead up to the holidays has been kicking my sorry butt. I'm tough- I survived and as of yesterday I'm officially on almost 7 weeks holidays. That means I'm planning to annoy you all far more regularly since I'm officially a lady of leisure. Last time I was this leisurely was in 1995 when I had a 4 year old.

As I write this post it's Christmas Eve morning here. My presents are all wrapped and under the tree. The house is decorated.

My fridge and pantry are full of good things to eat , all the grocery shopping having been done yesterday. It was a complete zoo. The shops are shut for three days here from tonight and it's like bread and milk have become the most precious commodities on earth.

I need to bake my ham today and prepare a chicken salad for my chicken croissants tomorrow night. (Thanks for the recipe and inspiration Kirsten!)

Two remaining jobs include cleaning the house and picking up Miss P who is staying the night. We're going to do a Webber chicken for dinner and then take Little P for a walk round the neighbourhood to see the Christmas lights after dinner. Then it's home again where he can open one present which will coincidentally happen to be a picture book edition of "The Night Before Christmas" and we'll read that and then cross our fingers that he'll go to sleep before we do. Little P went into a big boy bed 10 days ago and has been coming out of bed 1275 times and falling asleep at 11pm every night since. He told Miss P at 4.30am the other morning he was coming in to my room to play with me. I think we need to work on getting him to tell time and to clue up to the fact that anyone who wakes me at any time is really taking a risk of having their head bitten clean off.

So, I went out and bought Little P this bedtime buddy yesterday and also on the agenda for today is to make up a photo story about the big bear that stayed in bed when it was dark outside. And then he can take the bear to bed with him at night. Wanna bet the bear starts coming out of bed 1275 times a night as well?

I have aback up plan. If the non aversive bear idea doesn't work I'm going to super glue Little P into bed.

In my absence, I've finished a double sided baby quilt,(one side was for a boy the other for a girl because we don't know what my friend is having) 9 bibs, the Dresden cushion , and a pincushion for my mother in law. I've ignored my Christmas bunting and my Christmas quilt. Now I have a jump on my 2012 Christmas projects.

Somewhere in amongst all that crazy Miss P and I decided it would be an awesome idea to make a gingerbread house. I have discovered gingerbread house making is not among my many talents. I'm hoping this note in my 2012 diary will remind me of the agony of 2011 and save me hours of angst.

I'm still scraping icing off my bench tops. That stuff sets like concrete. And the result of all this labour? The sorriest looking gingerbread house you've ever seen...

I'm going to stick to cooking hunks of meat in future. I rarely bugger that up. Fiddly and I are not friends.

And so, on this day before Christmas, from all of the Pyjamas clan to all of you and your families I wish you a very Merry Christmas full of wonderful food, laughter and the creation of some very special memories.

With love,

Favourite Things Friday

2011-12-16T07:56:00.000+10:30

And so we come to the final Favourite Things Friday for 2011. This time next week we'll all be up to our eyeballs in last minute Christmas preparations, unless you're one of those organised types that has had their crap together since about October. If you happen to be one of those people- I hate you. I've finished my Christmas shopping but I haven't started wrapping anything yet.

Among my favourite things for this week is the fact I'm still mostly sane despite a crazy week at work (one more day until the weekend whooooo hooo!). I'm missing hanging out with you guys and can't wait until I have time to pay you the attention you deserve again while I'm on holidays. Holidays ....I just want to keep saying that word. Who wants to bet I'm going to be writing blog posts bitching and whining about being bored by the end of week 3 ?

This week has been all about working and quilting. I realised this morning that the last time I finished a full sized quilt was in August! So my favourite this week is ultra sweet.

The No Frills Quilt is finished ....Ta Da!

I decided on the quilting about three minutes before I did each section so we have straight line, echo quilting and some random"organic " stuff going on in the borders too. I want to keep this one for myself....I really do. I love those fabrics.

While I was quilting this I decided I hated it. I kept repeating "It's not over until the binding is on". And once it was washed and chucked in the tumble dryer and came out in all it's crinkly glory I fell in love with it. I think my sister in law will too. It's very "Brooke". No frills and no fuss.

There has been lots of other crafty activity going on around here as well but the icing on the cake is that this week "A Day At The Beach" got finished too. I know! Two quilts in one week. I rock.

Sharon the quilting guru did an amazing job and quilted it using a subtle variegated thread to represent waves. Thank you Oh mighty Quilting One. She always makes my quilts look amazing.

My nephew is going to LOVE this. I love this!

That quilting is so beautiful and makes those solids look ultra special.

And you know what ? I think I can squeeze one more quilt finish in before Christmas if I try really really hard because the Merry Go Round quilt is ready for binding.

Finally, to everyone who has linked up , commented and played along with the Favourite Things Friday linky party in 2011, -Thankyou. I really enjoy popping over and seeing your favourites and appreciate you taking the time to write about some of your favourite things. It's always one of my favourite things for the week. Favourite Things Friday will be back for 2012 on January 6th.

Link away. You know what to do !

Mail Call

2011-12-13T08:00:00.000+10:30

I really must try to get to the post office more often but since Australia Post work actual business hours and since (mostly ) I do too , that means getting into my local PO is a real pain some days. At the moment having the postie drop my parcels off at my front door would be a real time saver for me. As it is, I often don't get to the post office for a week or more at a time. (The whiny , pity party part of this post is now officially over )

Monday marked about 10 days since my last PO foray and my postage dude had a plethora of parcels and mail for me. He likes to guess what's in each parcel before he forks them over. It's become a ritual.

From the wonderful Susan at Canadian Abroad.

A closer look at her stiffy snowflakes (sorry that's an in joke ) Aren't they gorgeous ? I have coveted these from the very first second I saw them weeks ago and now I own some!

I adore hand made ornaments and these look gorgeous on my tree.

And from the delectable Sara over at Lone Sock Productions who knows about my fondness for all things Babushka.

My own little gym bag (that will never see the inside of a gym ) Hopefully the bag will be appeased if I drive past one occasionally.

This is what vacuum packed selvages look like when you unpack them. A mountain of selvages.

After these two parcels I'm officially in selvage heaven. A BIG thank you to Susan, Sara, Thea, Char, Michelle, P, and Kat who kindly donated their selvages to my cause. I'm going to get cracking on that quilt while I'm on holidays. I cant wait !

And finally but not least -From Becks over at Sarcastic Quilter. Quilting Software so I can get creative while still sitting on my patootie. This may help me avoid future design disasters.

Thank you ladies. You made my week.

I now haven't officially cooked dinner for 7 days. Some one call the Guinness book of world records. I'm in the running for the title of slackest person on the planet. Work is totally kicking my butt at the moment and I just don't have the reserves to cook when I get home. I'll be back on Friday (hopefully with my sanity intact -sort of ) for the final FTF for 2011. Hope to see you all there !

Favourite Things Friday

2011-12-09T08:46:00.000+10:30

Another Friday - another favourite. I hope you're all managing to stay sane and calm in the lead up to Christmas. I think we can safely say I have officially lost it.

With less than two weeks to go before I start my Summer Holidays (for almost 7 weeks! - I'm going to have so much fun doing nothing) I'm officially counting down the days. And with all the things that are going on at work and home you'd think I wouldn't have any time for creative thoughts and brilliant ideas or to fit one more thing in. But this week has seen my brain working overtime and a plethora of brilliant ideas just keep popping in there and once my brain processes the thought it says "Brilliant-you can fit that in before Christmas". And who am I to ignore my brain? I love being inspired and challenged and working to tight deadlines and that is my favourite thing this week.

It doesn't matter that with 70 working hours left until I start the aforementioned holiday that I have 300 hours worth of work to do. So what if I'm only about 1/3rd done with my Christmas gift shopping and have had parcels destined for the post office packed and sitting here since about Monday . And we don't really need to eat anything particularly special for the Christmas season. ...Baked ham and chimchurri beef is highly over rated. My current Christmas grocery list has draining paper and gherkins on it. I can probably make a meal for the hoards that will be here for breakfast out of that.( I'm taking gherkin and draining paper recipe suggestions if you have any)

I must make an apron (or two or three ) out of this fabric line which I love but cant see myself making a quilt out of. But I'm going to have to buy the pattern first.

I must make another quilt using these fabrics (and some other fabrics too that I haven't cut yet )I can finish another quilt before Christmas in addition to the two full sized ones I'm also planning to complete can't I? ? It's only a little quilt.

And while I'm at it I decided it wouldn't take all that long to knock up a few bibs. Bibs don't take long and you can never have enough bibs.

I'm planning a project with two of these manky footstools that I found by the side of the road. (How many of you secretly think that's kind of gross?)

My front verandah needs a makeover. It looks woeful. I have a head bursting full of ideas to make this look like something out of a magazine cover (or at least less like the entry to a crack house ) Do you like my 99 cent bucket plant pots? Classy.

I'm going to update these old cushions that have been lurking around since August ...

And as if that list isn't completely unachievable all on it's own I've decided that the sewing room update I decided to do while I'm on holidays needs to be done BEFORE Christmas so I'm off to Ikea today.

The scary thing is that these are the ideas I've had this week ...who knows what I'll think of next week ! But you know what? I can do this. I am woman -hear me roar. I have blind faith I can do anything I put my mind to. (even if it drives me into a nervous breakdown in the process)

I want to confess that this week I have cooked dinner once - on Monday - and that was only because Little P was here and has nutritional needs. It's been pizza and Maccas and eating out all the way for the rest of the week and I'm not planning to cook tonight either. That's how you get things done. And I'm not planning any housework for the next two weeks either. Or any sleep....

So what's your Favourite Thing this week ?

Domestic Bliss

2011-12-04T23:46:00.000+10:30

I started the week with a bad attitude and more WIP's than you could poke a stick at. I'm happy to say I'm ending the week exhausted but happy. I found my quilty mojo (and flogged someone else's too I think)

Its been the very picture of domesticity in the pyjamas household this weekend. Quilting, baking and decorating. I didn't touch a single cleaning product all weekend, and I didn't wash clothes and I don't feel one bit guilty. But I might feel like a tool tomorrow when I'm forced to go to work naked.

On Friday my blog disappeared. Yes- totally disappeared. People who visited got a message saying that it had been deleted. Apparently there was some suss activity on my account so my blog was suspended. For one brief moment I wondered if google counts the swear words on your blog and cuts you off when you reach 1000 or something.

After my whiny Tuesday post about lost mojo and my quilt avoidance (yada yada yada) all of sudden the quilting fairies decided to smile down on me and throw a ton of motivating quilty type feelings in my direction. So on Friday with 4 seams left to go before I finished the Merry Go Round quilt top I discovered I'd sewn two blocks arse up in the middle of the quilt . It was a real slap yourself in the forehead/send-an-email-to-little-Miss-Sunshine with bad swear words in it kind of moment.

Doh!

I'm lazy and thought about leaving it but sanity prevailed and I spent some time cuddling up to my unpicker and muttering bad things under my breath. For the main event I cut the backing for this quilt all wrong which meant I had to use 4 pieces instead of 2 . And for the finale when I was squaring the backing I managed to somehow neatly slice my backing in half ...Hi my name is Shay and I'm a dumb arse. Anyway it's finished and off at the Quilter so she can work her magic because as far as this quilt is concerned I used up all my brilliance matching up the 4726 seam on the half hexagons.

The Wonky Block Quilt has been quilted and I'm thrilled with it. I've attached the binding to the front and am planning a finish this week but I can't resist giving you a sneak peek. I've decided to call this quilt "A Day at the Beach". My quilting guru is a goddess. Plain and Simple.

And the Blue and Brown quilt (which I have decided to name "No Frills") is about 80% quilted.

I am a bad sewing machine mama since this is what I found today when I finally went to clean out the guts of my machine (it's been a while ) . Thank goodness they don't have a department for cruelty to sewing machines ...on the positive side I now have enough fluff to stuff a cushion.

In between all this frenzied activity I managed to put my Christmas tree up, decorate the outside of the house, bake a chocolate tart, do some Christmas shopping, go to the quilt store, nick into Spotlight, buy some more Christmas decorations (like we need any more ) and I squeezed in some Bella time with this little guy who is sleeping over tonight. And Mr. P changed his first ever crappy nappy. Alert the media.

Gratuitous Grandchild Shot .

Work is about to get insane for me for the next couple of weeks because it's the end of the school year. So I may not be around all that much for a bit. If I dont comment or respond to email it's not because I dont appreciate each and every one of you - it's because I've fallen asleep face first in my mashed potatoes at tea time.

Favourite Things Friday

2011-12-02T07:55:00.000+10:30

Another week almost done. On Monday it felt like Friday would never get here. I've had a flat out kind of week and I'm so glad the weekend is almost here. And I cant wait to see your favourites for this week.

When we renovated the kitchen last year (who can forget the horror of the kitchen renovation that went on forever - I'm still in therapy which has now officially cost me more than the kitchen did ) I wanted a few quirky accent pieces for the benches, walls and top of the fridge.. I looked and looked for the right bits and bobs and found everything I wanted except for a metal perpetual calendar. They seem to be as rare as hens teeth here.

Out shopping with Miss P last week I finally found one. And even better it was a bargain price. Totally doing the happy dance here and it's my favourite thing this week.

This may just be the shortest FTF post I've ever done. Being time poor this week time saving is also a favourite !

Hit me with YOUR favourites for this week.

My week In Sewing-15 Minutes with Kate-

2011-11-30T07:55:00.001+10:30

I don't know what's going on over here. I spent another week practising quilt avoidance and with about 5 weeks until the end of the year multiple quilt finishes are looking less and less likely. I'm still hopeful of knocking off a couple of quilts, but beyond that I think I'm stuffed. So my question is: Do I admit defeat here and now or go for the big stressful effort as I dash to the end of the year ?

It's not all doom and gloom . I have finished stuff. Just not the stuff I need to finish, which makes me feel like a slacker.

Miss P 's Pyjamas got a waistband.

Little P's Christmas stocking got finished. All it needed was a loop and a button ...it's been sitting there for months ...

I started a cushion to match my Dresden quilt

And I made a table runner for my Christmas breakfast table...

I did manage to stitch in the ditch this week in the centre of my Blue and Brown quilt (that quilt still needs a snappy name ) But I also spent some considerable time un-sewing all the previous scallopy quilting I had done because I decided I hated it. And with the quilting I'm now doing I'm going to have to bury about a billion thread ends which I've never done before and the thought is making me slightly sick.

I'm still studiously avoiding this

And this

And the ~~octopus~~ monkey is firmly ensconced in a plastic bag where I am hoping it will suffocate.

To see people that have actually achieved their goals and have not sat round twiddling their thumbs and practising quilt avoidance go on over to Kate's for a looky loo.

If I don't find some quilting mojo soon I make take up ceramics.

Lazy Weekend (Honestly!)

2011-11-27T21:26:00.000+10:30

After the torture that was Friday (5 and a half hours of Christmas shopping during which I bought three whole presents, although spending time with Miss P and Little P totally rocked ) I treated myself to a very laid back rest of the weekend. Occasionally I forget I am a classic over achiever and let my ADD take a back seat to doing nothing.

Yesterday I managed drag my sorry behind out of my pyjamas at 4.40pm and that was only because I had to go grocery shopping. Let me tell you when you have 20 minutes before the shops shut it's amazing how fast you can chuck random shit that looks like food in a trolley.

I had a lovely lazy Sunday today stitching and gossiping with Loz and her sister, Marilyn,(you need to get a blog Marilyn) Val and Claire at my house. It was the best way to spend a Sunday afternoon. Thank you ladies for gracing me with your wonderful company. And thank you Ms. Loz for my hostess gift. I'm sitting here stuffing my face with rum and raisin clusters as I type (and the little decoration was so cute !)

I threw some vittels on a plate and we all helped ourselves because I'm a lazy hostess. (honestly it was this or a Kentucky Fried bucket !)

I made an apple galette( as recommended by Kirsten) and it was easy and delicious and I even made the pastry from scratch . That's two baking type successes in one week without a stuff up . Pinch me! You really have to try this recipe.

This is Claire modelling an upcoming group project. A bunch of us have decided to do a Farmer's Wife Quiltalong next year. I'm equal parts excited and wanna throw up. Hopefully I won't be the quiltalong dunce ( or get stuck in the naughty corner again)

For all my blathering about promising to do some quilting on lurking and neglected quilts this weekend (like that was going to happen for real?) , I started and finished a Christmas table topper/runner this weekend.

I'm especially loving that binding.

In the end , I did drag the blue and brown quilt out and stared at it for a while as if I could telepathically make it quilt itself.

It's still sitting on the floor of the sewing room but if I just think hard enough I'm pretty sure I can bend it to my will.

Favourite Things Friday

2011-11-25T08:03:00.000+10:30

I'm doing the Happy Dance because it's Friday and I'm hitting the shops with Miss P and Little P today to knock off most of my Christmas shopping. Time is a ticking on the Christmas Countdown clock people!

A special occasion prompted me to put my big girl panties on this week and get out my baking tins. We had a celebration at work and it's not the same if you roll up with a hunk of char grilled beef unless it's a barbecue.

I started with vanilla cupcakes and decided to make them ultra special in celebration of the arrival of a grand daughter for my friend D.

No matter how careful I am I usually end up picking up fairy dust for the rest of the week from places it shouldn't be like the bathroom and in my bed.

I could have stopped there but where would the fun be in that? These cupcakes have to scream "Look at me , Look at me "

I just realised my goth/emo nail polish needs a touch up....and that I could stand to lose some weight off my hands.

Honestly can you ever have enough marshmallows? Especially pink and white ones?

And for the finishing touch (because there isnt anywhere near enough sugar in this recipe already?) I melted some white chocolate and drizzled that over the marshmallows. Voila. Cupcakes fit for a Princess.

Instant sugar rush and my favourite thing this week. (We were all pinging off walls for the rest of the afternoon )

I've been the lone grandmother at work for over two years. It's been kind of stinky not being able to gush and rave on with someone who understands what it's like to have the smartest , most adorable grandchild in the universe. Welcome to the world Isabel. Your Nanna and I are going to have so much fun swapping Grandma stories!

Time to share your favourite thing for this week. Feel free to link on up and tell us all about it.

15 Minutes with Kate

2011-11-23T08:30:00.000+10:30

I kept a list this week of my progress so I could give an accurate accounting of my craftiness for Kate's 15 minute challenge linky party. I can't find that list now so I think I threw it out with the rubbish. That's what happens when you do a frenzied tidy up on a Sunday morning so your breakfast guests don't think you live like wild pigs. However, I'm happy to report I managed to spend at least 15 minutes a day doing something crafty every single day this week. I just cant remember what I did when and as I write this post I'm amazed by how little it seems I actually did.

Three more hexie flowers were completed this week. My mother in law saw me doing these on Sunday and has decided to start her own project after Christmas.

5 more selvage blocks were completed and I am about halfway through another 5. Still no squaring up so this looks like a big pile of mess. I swear there are completed blocks in there somewhere.

I finished another sunglasses case for a birthday gift.

Miss Pyjamas pyjamas are just waiting for me to finish the waistband.

And I started this very "simple" sock monkey for Little P which has been a complete pain in the arse. If it's so simple why does mine currently look like a demented 2 legged octopus?

One of the tragedies to befall this poor little monkey-to-be was that I accidentally cut him a butthole and had to perform an emergency butt-hole-ectomy. There's nothing scarier than a monkey with stuffing leaking out of his bum.

I also spent some time this week sorting my stash and coming to the realisation that I don't have as much fabric as I thought I did. Does that sound like a justification to run out and buy some more fabric?

For more 15 minutes of creativity , pop on over to Kate's. I'm thinking I've pushed my "not working on my quilts" phase just about as far as I possibly can and am really going to have to focus on them this week. Eek!

Happy Thanksgiving to all my American friends. Enjoy your day and have some turkey for me.

A Post for Patty

2011-11-20T21:14:00.000+10:30

My Mum called me yesterday to comment about my lack of quality posts of late. Apparently I've been boring the pants off my own Mum with my repetitive sewing posts. So this newsy post is especially for Mother of Pyjamas so she can see I do things other than sew.

On Friday night I dragged my sorry bum home from a week at work around 5.30pm and had my pyjamas on by 5.35 pm. When Mr. P arrived home I told him I had no intention of cooking dinner in 95 degree heat and sent him out on an important mission to bring me back a triple cheeseburger. He also had strict instructions to check the burger before he left Macca's because they already ripped me off once this week by giving me a double instead of a triple. I was too lazy to go back the first time because 1 patty of mystery meat really isn't worth my time. Yeah- I ate McDonald's twice this week. We also got chicken takeaway for tea another night, and I was out for dinner Tuesday. I'm planning to snatch the crown of Queen of Not Cooking from my sister.

Mr. P came back with the last instalment of Harry Potter on DVD and my maccas and I subsequently discovered that the Hamburgler had stolen one of my three meat patties again. Either that or Ronald McDonald has decided four bits of pickle (which I don't eat ) = 1 meat patty. Seriously you can count to three using your fingers. You don't have to have a maths degree. How hard can it be to get it right?

Saturday morning I woke at sparrow fart (that's Aussie for before dawn) and full of good intentions. By the time my Mum called at 2.30 pm I was still in my pyjamas and I hadn't achieved a damn thing for the day besides commenting on 30 blog posts, harassing Indy and Lola , and laying in bed playing with my I pad. I kidded myself that I was productive by putting on two loads of washing while I listened to Mr. P scrub the bathroom and deciding my help would hinder his progress.

By 3.30 I was sick of myself and dragged myself out shopping. I saw these cute glass birds in the window of this shop when I was out for dinner on Tuesday and had to go back and get them. The lady looked quite taken aback when I said I'd take every single one they had. For a moment I thought she was going to refuse but she must have seen the murderous glint in my eye because she went and wrapped them up in tissue paper without further comment. FYI - I bought 7.

And while I was there I spied this felted handmade chicken basket from Nepal and had to buy that too.

I did some Christmas shopping for Little P. Every little boy wants a pirate puppet and who doesn't love Shaun the Sheep?

Then I came home with the brilliant idea of making a quilt cover for our bed which meant I had to drag my fabric out and throw it all over the floor to see what it might look like if I ever find the time (and motivation) to work on something for longer than 10 minutes again. I'm still thinking about it. And the fabric is still on the floor.

Last night Mr. P and I went to see a movie (In Time with Justin Timberlake - very good actually!) and then when we got home I started some pyjamas for Miss P . I lost interest after one leg. I think pressing in those pleats took it out of me. So she's either going to have to wait until I feel like doing the other leg or walk round with half her bits hanging out.

We had some of the family round for Sunday breakfast this morning so that meant running round for 30 frenzied minutes from 8.10 - 8.40am trying to make our house look habitable before everyone arrived. It's amazing what you can achieve in a short time span and how you can make a filthy floor look good with a chux wipe. While everyone was here I sewed some more on my hexie flowers, promised my sister in law a pair of pyjama bottoms and waxed lyrical about how fabulous my I pad is.

After everyone left we went and did some more Christmas shopping...which I cant show you because Miss P and my sister and other nameless people do sneak in here every so often to see if they're being mentioned. So I'll just show you what I bought for myself.

I had three spare inches of hanging space in my wardrobe that is now filled and I feel complete.

I spent the afternoon wrestling with socks while watching a DVD but since this post is already way too long and I have visions of everyone falling asleep while reading , I'm going to thrill you with that story in my Tuesday post. I do hope everyone is having a fantastic weekend. Did you know it's only 35 sleeps until Christmas? Time to panic!

Favourite Things Friday

2011-11-18T07:46:00.000+10:30

Hellooooooooo Friday. It's so nice to see you again.

My Favourite Thing this week includes this mush alert disclaimer- so you may want to wait until your breakfast/lunch/dinner digests before you proceed.

I'm sure some of you wonder what it is I do all week given the deliberately vague description of my job in my profile. The reason it's vague is that I don't want to be recognised in my real life from my blog posts. You can imagine that I don't wander round in my professional life dropping words like crap and bugger and letting it all hang out like I do here. I'm very much into keeping my work life and home life separate.

A bit of context: My job is all about advice, and trouble shooting and sorting problems and dealing with the highs and lows of having a child with a disability or significant developmental delay. It's a roller coaster of emotion. It's about being able to juggle 30 balls in the air all at once and to make each person feel like they're the only person I work for. It's about thinking you've sorted something on Tuesday only to have something new crop up on Thursday. I have to give the appearance that I'm completely in control because families look to me for answers. And like with any job, some days are diamonds , and some aren't.

I work pretty much full time. And when you're spending 34 hours a week at work it helps to actually like the people you work with. I work with a very small team of amazing people. People who are incredibly gifted in their respective professional fields. People who are very experienced and committed to the work they do. And when you stick 8 or 9 people with strong personalities in one place and get them to work together 8 hours a day sometimes you get fireworks. I'm probably the one that sets off those fireworks most often because I'm not always very tactful and sometimes I engage my mouth before my brain. (Is anyone surprised by that little news flash ?)

But in amongst all of that - not only are these ladies great at what they do , they are incredible people to work with. When you're having a great day and something big has happened they'll celebrate with you. When your butt is dragging on the ground they'll pick you up and commiserate with you. Just before Little P was born these gals took me out to lunch and gave me a "grandma to be" bag which included reading glasses, laxatives and a shower hat because that's what every grandma needs. They wrote me a book about being a grandma that still cracks me up every time I read it.

During Miss P's teen years my work buddies kept me from completely melting down over the tragedy of having a teenager who wouldn't do a bloody thing she was told and everything we didn't want her to do. One person in particular managed to convince me I wasn't the worlds worst. parent. ever. She has no idea of how wonderful she is because she is one of the most humble people I know. Another person I work with is the calmest most unflappable person I've ever met and she doesn't see herself that way at all. Everyone brings their own unique personality to our team and adds something fabulous.

For their never ending patience, for their unfailing optimism, for their ability to make me laugh when the last thing I feel like doing is laughing and for all the support they give me personally and professionally , for making it OK to be me (warts and all ) it's time I said thank you.

If I have to spend 8 hours a day not sewing I can't think of a better way to spend it than with you guys. You're awesome and I appreciate each and every one of you.

You all know the drill- now it's your turn to tell me about one of your favourite things this week.

The 15 minute Challenge with Kate

2011-11-16T07:20:00.000+10:30

I mentioned I've been in a bit of a quilting funk lately. I've been ignoring the fact I made a public declaration to have 6 quilts finished before the end of the year. My uber cool quilting guru is going to do a custom job on the Dresden quilt and informed me last week that she can't do that until January so the number has been down graded to 5. At this point it could be one and I'd still be doubtful of a finish!

Sadly my quilting mojo seems to have been lost under a pile of quick to finish projects over the last month. And the trend continued this week. I keep telling myself I'll get those quilts. Plenty of time . 45 days to finish 5 quilts is eminently do-able. Right? Stop rolling round on the floor laughing please - it hurts my feelings . True blog buddies would buy into my fantasy and pretend that my dreams are possible.

This week I played with a handbag

I finished 5 selvage blocks (I haven't squared three of them up yet but lets not spilt hairs )

I made a sunglasses case for my friend , Nat.

And I did two more hand stitched hexie flowers for a quilt that doesn't have a time frame for a finish attached to it (But it was quilt related so I was kinda proud of myself !)

By Saturday I was sick of my own procrastination so I loudly announced to Mr. P I was going to work on the Merry Go Round quilt. And then a friend called with her own quilting emergency so my afternoon was taken up with helping her sort that out. Epic fail on getting any MGR done!

Sunday dawned bringing new resolve. I unplugged the phone, turned my front door "Welcome" sign to "Go Away " and planned to get busy.

You know those moments we all have where you think you calculated your yardage wrong and you don't have enough to get what you need out of what you have? I had a moment like that making the final 7 blocks for this quilt. Thankfully as so often happens- since I am a maths idiot - I was wrong.

Finished! I was hearing trumpets and angels at this point. Until I realised all those blocks had to be sewn into 14 individual rows . But I slogged on and got 10 of them done.

The challenge for this week will be to sew them into a quilt top where the seams actually match up. Pop on over to Kate's for a look at other 15 minutes of fame.

Nanna Napping

2011-11-12T22:27:00.000+10:30

One of the best things about being a Nanna at such a young age is that I can legitimately Nanna Nap. One of my biggest problems is that I have no concept of "napping". The only way I sleep is to fall into a state of complete unconscious-ness.

I woke at 6.30 am today after about 3 hours sleep. I only got three hours sleep because I supplemented my sleep from the night before with a nanna nap yesterday between 4 and 7 pm. Let's just say we had dinner really late last night.

So since I was awake bright and early today I decided to get a jump start on my day. I planned to be really tasky. And it went really well - I stuck to the plan. I read blogs , responded to email, got two loads of washing in,(Mr. P isnt allowed to do the washing) had a shower, tidied the house and hit the road,all before 9 am.

First stop was Spotlight to get some interfacing for a project I had to put on hold yesterday because I ran out. Yesterday, I ended up having the Nanna nap instead of getting in my car to go buy the interfacing and by the time I woke up the shops were shut.

Today I not only got the interfacing , but Spotlight were having a crazy bargain sale so I stocked up on stash fabrics. Most of these were only 4 bucks a metre so I bought a load of half metres.

(Whispering so Mr. P cant hear. I've been doing a lot of "stocking up" this week. I'm ashamed to say out loud how much fabric I've bought which means it must be a LOT) I figure I totally blew that 100 yard vow so I may as well finish the year in style. I just have to figure out how to hide the parcels when they start arriving.

Yesterday I hit the op shops on a mission to find the ugliest handbags in the universe. I'm sure you'll agree that I succeeded.

Have you seen the price of handles in the craft shops? $14.95 a pair. Are they joking? I got all four of these for 12 bucks. Can you see where I'm going with this? Basically I was using those ugly handbags for their handles. Yes- those handbags had to die so that I could create frugally.

Today the interfacing and I got jiggy.....

With my new iron because my old one was total crap and I've pretty much hated it since the day we got it. It probably doesn't help that the old iron has been dropped multiple times and has probably worked the equivalent of 60 hours a week for the last 21 months. It's like a Chinese sweat shop for irons here.

And I knocked up (drum roll please) an actual handbag. That I actually like.

Then, flushed with my own brilliance I decided to take a 10 minute break and read a book on my Ipad because it was 2 pm and I'd already achieved so much.

I may have gotten a little too big for my britches. I took another unplanned nanna nap and woke at 7pm. (Does 5 hours even count as a nap?) And yes we had dinner at the fashionable hour of 9.15pm again tonight.

You may well ask why Mr. P isnt allowed to do the washing. I'll let his picture tell the story. Two identical new bras. Worn the same amount of times. Washed once each. Guess which one Mr. P washed? Idiot. And it isn't the first time. All my white bras are this particular shade of grotty grey.

Favourite Things Friday

2011-11-11T21:39:00.000+10:30

Welcome to Friday but only just! I'm fashionably late to my own blog party this week. I've been hanging out for Friday since about 6 am Monday morning so I'm really glad it's arrived. How sad is that? And to my boss, who sometimes reads my blog, I honestly love my job , but thank you for approving my summer holidays because I'm all over the idea of sitting on my bum doing nothing for 7 weeks. Seriously. And that's my segue way into Favourite Things Friday this week. Pretty lame huh?

There are always swaps going on in Blogland. Many of you participate , and some of you are even brave enough to host and coordinate them! I've never joined up to do a swap before for a few reasons which Im about to enumerate here.

1) I like to march to the beat of my own drum and do my own thing. I'm not really a group person . (Have we forgotten who got put in the naughty corner at the Kellie Wulfsohn workshop?)

2) I always worry that whatever I send my swap partner will be a disappointment to them. My stuff isn't perfect and what I like isn't always what other people like. Conversely I cant work on something that I dont love. If I sent something that some one hated I'd be mortified. I imagine that email would do the rounds of everyone on the entire internet proclaiming me to be the worst swap partner ever. Yeah Im desperately insecure -and have an over inflated sense of my own importance. Dont be surprised. It's not like I hide it.

3) Some people turn swapping into an Olympic sport. They have been in training for years to get the Gold Swap Buddy medal and will stop at nothing to attain their goal. So when the swap rules are for a specific crafty item and a little present those people go overboard and include 15 yards of fabric, 8 pounds of chocolate hand made by a tribe from the Amazon that hasn't been discovered yet , a hand made quilt that took them 4 months to finish, and new Mercedes Benz. I'm not one bit interested in having "Best Swapper EVER " put on my gravestone when I die. I'm also not overly competitive.

Anyway ...Kat announced she was doing a secret scrappy swap a month or so ago. She had rules that limited what you could send because she wanted it to be a low stress fun swap. I thought about it and decided with some trepidation to dip my toe into the swapping pool. I figured I love scraps, even I can make something little as a gift and I live in the land of Haigh's so the local gift was easy.

So I sent this to Cindy, who was the easiest going swap partner in the whole swap and is one of the nicest people I know. I had a lot of fun putting this package together for her. And I honestly didn't stress out at all!

And yes- I sent her Haigh's. You can see Cindy's photo of the package here

Tammi drew me as her partner and I received this parcel early this week. It was full of special little touches that thrilled me. Is that the cutest way to wrap a gift ever?

Scrappy Goodness and a gorgeous little vintage sheet purse!

Oh Yeah- Chocolate!

Thank you Kat, Cindy and Tammi for making this such a terrific experience. I may have conquered my swap anxiety particularly if I get partners and swap Mamma's like you next time!

The 15 minute Challenge with Kate

2011-11-09T07:14:00.000+10:30

Holidays and a lack of crafting generally have meant I've been absent from Kate's challenge for a couple of weeks. I could have linked up but you would have been reading a post titled "15 minute challenge with Kate" that was completely blank.

I haven't been feeling the quilty love lately, however this Friday has been set aside as "Major Quilting Day" so I can make some progress on all of the projects sitting here poking their tongues out at me and whispering "There's no way you're going to finish us by the end of the year". Bastards- I hate it when craft taunts me.

Two quilts made their way to the professional quilter this week so I'm counting that as progress simply because I had to touch them to put them in the car. That's how desperate things are. But while quilts haven't been on the agenda, a number of other little projects have been completed. Sometimes I have the attention span of a gold fish so fast and easy is good.

4 paper pieced hexagon flowers - done!

I made myself a new case for my sunglasses using the cut up an old tape measure method for the closure at the top. Thanks Annie for the heads up on this- it's brilliant and I didn't poke my own eyeball out with sharp tape measure pieces in the process. Always a bonus.

The love of my life (my Ipad) got a cover.

I made making travel tissue holders. Thanks Erin. They are easy.

I got around to changing the cruddy old quilting blocks that I had in these frames to things that reflect my current loves.

And I downloaded and printed every cute thank you card and Christmas gift tag available for free on the internet. Thank you various designers and creative people for making these available to people like me that cant design their own cute cards.

I think my period of craftitis absentitis had officially ended.

I wanted to send a shout out to the glorious Char at Cloth Stitched who sent me a squishy parcel last week containing these beautiful goodies-just because she is amazing and while I had 8 million metres of the blue fabric in that design I didn't have a skerrick of pink. I really do have amazing blog friends. Thankyou!

To see more amazing people and marvel at their creative work pop on over to Kate's to oooh and ahhh.

Favourite Things Friday

2011-11-04T07:58:00.000+10:30

I went back to work on Monday hence the absence of posting from moi. One of the problems with having a job is that they expect you to turn up and actually do things so you can get paid. And work stuff aside it's been a challenging week and I've spent a fair amount of time ruminating on life, current events and planning and implementing some significant changes in my personal/home life.

And now it's Friday and that means it's time for me to pony up about my favourite thing for this week. Due to the aforementioned crappy week , I felt like the teacher announced "Pop Quiz " and I was totally unprepared. Initial panic set in when I wasn't sure I could even dredge up a Favourite for this week. (I really need to have a back up post for weeks like this....)

Thank Goodness for that flash of inspiration on Thursday at lunchtime. Do you ever have brilliant inspirational ideas and act on them immediately? I had one of those yesterday and ten hours later it was a done deal. That was my favourite thing this week. Quick change that worked out exactly the way I planned it in my head and instantly made me feel better. I think I may have caught Spring Fever (albeit two months late ) because all of a sudden I'm interested in feathering my little nest again.

So yesterday after work I was a woman on a mission to make this room look as different as possible because it was looking kinda daggy and tired which is exactly how I've been feeling this week too.

First stop -Every.Single.Store. at the Plaza in search of the perfect quilt cover , which I finally found at Myer. On sale, which meant it was still expensive but I didn't have to re-mortgage the house.

Add in some new cushions, new pillows, new pillowcases and lamp shades. I actually slept in this bed last night instead of my usual trick of crashing out on the lounge. ( I just realised how grotty my curtains look so maybe I'll replace them too!)

Stay tuned for more transformations because I'm on a roll people. There's no stopping me now. The lounge will be getting makeover this weekend too. I need more colour in my life.

If you'd like to share something that's coloured up your life this week and given you a flash of happy feel free to link up and tell us all about it.

Making Pyjamas in My Pyjamas

2011-10-31T20:44:00.000+10:30

Somewhat ironically, given the name of my blog, I have the worlds largest collection of daggy pyjamas. I know I'm about to burst your bubble because you think I swan around here in satin peignoirs with those fluffy toed high heel slippers quilting my little heart out but honestly my pyjama collection consists primarily of washed out flannalette pants that no longer have functioning waist elastic. I want you to imagine me hoisting my pants up every three steps to avoid flashing my plumbers crack (mmmmmmm attractive)and throw in a mental image of a few ratty old t-shirts that are no longer fit for human eyeballs, because that pretty much sums up my sleeping wardrobe. In case you're not gifted enough to creatively visualise this hot mess, here is a picture because I want everyone to know exactly what I'm talking about.

Disclaimer: Don't send me your therapy bills . If you actually conjured up a mental image or looked at my picture you're on your own. It's not my fault you did what I told you to do.

While I was staying with Little Miss Sunshine two things happened that relate directly to this post. Firstly, I saw some pretty cool kids pyjamas at the markets and then I saw Little Miss Sunshine wearing pretty pj's every night. I took one pair of pyjamas for my entire stay because I only have one set that are fit for public viewing. Last time I nipped outside in my jammies to drop the bin at the end of the driveway the garbo's gave me 5 dollars because I looked like a homeless person.

Side note: Basically I'm mingy. I refuse to pay 40 bucks for something Im going to wear to bed because it has Elmo/Flowers/Snoring Sheep (insert other pyjama related themes here ) on it. For 40 bucks I can buy 1/16th of a pair of cheap Ferragamo's and feed my shoe addiction.

This led me to thinking about the last pyjamas I made from crusty old sheets. And while I thought I was pretty crap hot when I made them almost 2 years ago, they aren't doing me much good sitting in the bottom of the drawer not being worn because they're hideously fugly.

So with a plan in my brain and trepidation in my heart I set forth to make myself some pretty pyjamas which meant I had to go to Spotlight and get some fabric. And I had to buy 12 metres because it was on sale and Spotlight may never have a sale again.

After I'd washed that fabric, and made myself a pattern from an old set of pyjamas (yes I made a basic pattern ) I made this set of pyjamas so I can look like a totally hot babe while I'm asleep with my mouth open drooling on my pillow.

And then I did a long leg version.

Third time was a charm !

Does anyone else hear angels singing? I made ruffles and didn't sew my finger to the hem once. Another challenge mastered.(Kat, dont even start about zippers-let me bask in my ruffly glory for a little bit longer)

Spring Break!

2011-10-30T19:42:00.000+10:30

Let me just say that what happens on holidays stays on holidays so there will be no tattling in this post ( I bet 20 people just clicked out of this post without reading any further) Little Miss Sunshine and I are sedate mature ladies and we behaved accordingly for my entire stay. Despite what she may tell you over on her blog, it's all lies and I did not lead her astray one little bit. There was one slightly drunken night (and the tables were too high to dance on ) and not a whiff of potential arrest until I was leaving. More about that later.

I packed so much crap going over I was only 200 grams under the weight limit at the airport. Thank goodness they didn't check my carry on because I took the biggest handbag I owned and stuffed so much in it that it weighed approximately 43 kilos. Then to add insult to injury I got picked for bomb and drug testing going through the scanners. Apparently I look suss or like a drug courier.

I was met at the airport by Marg holding a box of Krispy Kremes instead of a name card saying "Mrs. Pyjamas" because I live in a dimension where KK doesn't exist. As far as I'm concerned donuts are the perfect welcoming gift and the week just got more sugar fuelled from there. Chips, Chocolate , Booze, Cheese, Oreos and prosciutto for protein. I think we covered all the main food groups. I didn't actually poop for three days at one point which gives some credence to the idea that vegetables are probably necessary for good bowel health.

I was completely inspired by the Quilt show in Brisbane and these were a few of my favourites. There were lots of Ooh's and Ahhh's from me while people around me talked about the technical brilliance and colour placement of the blocks and tone and shade and other things I know nothing of because I just look at it and either like it or I don't. In fact I pretty much left my brain at home and was content to utter non words to describe how I was feeling.

I popped in to see Natalie Bird who created the 'Tis the Season stitcheries and to have a look at Michelle's fabulous patterns which were being sold on Natalie's stand. Yes- I name dropped that Michelle is a friend of mine. I love to ride on my blog buddies coat tails since I have no actual talent of my own.

We massacred some frog cakes that I brought with me (that got slightly smooshed during transit ) That chocolate one looks like he's screaming doesn't he? I think he knew his time on this earth was limited. If you've never had a frog cake- sucked in because they rock. It's probably one of the few good things about living in Adelaide.

Little Miss Sunshine seriously is the hostess with the mostest. I had a fabulous time and everything was done to make sure I enjoyed myself to the max. I finally got to see her house (utterly gorgeous and exactly how I want my house to look if it ever grows up) and with a view like this to stare at every time I went outside who wouldn't have thought they were in Paradise?

I was a bit slack on the taking pictures thing while I was away and only got two pictures of Little Miss Sunshine . In one she is flipping me the bird (which I intend to use for blackmail purposes at some point ) and in the other she is fuzzy. It's all a bit spooky because when I looked at her that night she WAS all fuzzy. But I cant recall a lot about that night so perhaps we should move on.

The biggest thrill of the trip was driving with Young Miss Sunshine who has perfected the art of driving round roundabouts at 100 kilometres per hour on two wheels. She has a career in the wings as a stunt driver if her other career doesn't pan out. It was a bit like being on the Matterhorn after drinking a bottle of Vodka. I'm just grateful to have survived.

Kirsten this one is for you . I saw yellow watermelons!

I retail therapied my credit card to the max . I highly recommend having a secret credit card so when you spend money with wild abandon you don't give your husband an apoplexy. It works for me . At one local quilt shop, I was recognised as Quilting in My Pyjamas before I even had a chance to open my mouth .That's because I'm a rock star and I'm recognised everywhere.

And now for the fabric spoils. By the way, I've given up on only buying 100 yards of fabric for this year since this pushed me over the 200 yard mark for 2011. I have no willpower.

(I'm blaming you for this latest Japanese obsession Kate!)

As an aside , outside of Spotlight, I have never seen so much fabric in one place in my life as I did at Maison Sunshine. You know that saying "She who dies with the most fabric wins" . Don't even bother trying to compete . Little Miss Sunshine has already won. This is a small part of her ~~obsession~~ collection. I have already called dibs on her fabric stash when she dies. The friend who has been charged with packing it up in a semi to send it to me has told me that will take so long I may as well come up for the funeral and stay to start sewing my way through it all.

We did the markets and I forgot to take any pictures. We ate brunch twice and I forgot to take any pictures. We went out for dinner and I took this picture and then promptly forgot to take any more pictures because I was too busy stuffing my face with half a cow's worth of steak and the best potato and onion galette I have ever tasted.

Minor crafting did occur while I was away. A stack of hexies got cut and glued with significant help from Young Miss Sunshine who also flipped me the bird when I tried to take a photo of her doing such an awesome job. I'm starting to think that flipping the bird thing may be genetic.

The sum total of my craftiness while I was away amounted to this. (and two half finished sunglasses cases that I cant find in the wreck that is my house at present)

I shopped. Oh how I shopped! I bought clothes, I bought bags , I bought fabric and I bought thongs (the foot kind not the other kind ) and some where along the way I realised that if I was at my weight limit coming up it was likely I was going to be well over going home especially when I factored in getting this on as hand luggage on my way home. Through wonderful unexpected circumstances I am now the proud owner of a Go! Baby Fabric cutter. (Was I doing the Happy Dance or what!) So I posted 10 pounds of other stuff home via Australia Post. The added bonus was that it was a way to circumvent Mr. P seeing all my new goodies when he picked me up at the airport. It looked like I only bought three things during my entire trip (coffee, rocky road, a present for Mr. P ) because I picked the rest of it up from the post office while he was at work the day after I arrived home.

Unfortunately security at the airport had never seen a Go ! Cutter and when it went through the scanners, bells went off and people came running and I got rugby tackled to the ground by three burly guys and then got hand cuffed while they searched my handbag for other illegal weapons. I'm not saying my picture has been circulated round every airport in Australia as a drug mule but twice in one trip is a bit of a coincidence don't you think? It was lovely to finish off my trip with a strip search and twenty questions about whether I intended to attack the flight crew with a fabric cutter during the flight. Perhaps they thought I was going to cut them into hexagons?

PS. Don't you believe a word Little Miss Sunshine says about Bitchy Poo . She's utterly delightful!

Favourite Things Friday

2011-10-28T10:17:00.000+10:30

Welcome to Favourite Things Friday. Yes- I'm back. Yes-I'm in one piece. Yes-I'm exhausted.

I know you're all expecting a fun filled post about my holiday with Little Miss Sunshine as my favourite thing this week so I'm going to fly in the face of convention and expectation and give you something different. My time with Little Miss Sunshine deserves it's own special post so until my brain cells regenerate sufficiently for me to write a coherent post you're going to have to wait. I'm still in holiday mode or at least trying to be. Little P hit my house like a whirlwind on Wednesday a mere 12 hours after I arrived home and it's been utter chaos ever since.

I have been blathering on for at least 6 months about wanting a new laptop/notebook/I pad/tablet. Do you like how decisive I am? I loved the idea of being able to wander round the house and access the internet in the toilet, the bedroom, and sitting on my backside on the lounge. The idea of not having to run backwards and forwards to the computer room to see what the next step in a recipe was seemed like an added bonus too. I reckon I waste about three hours a week doing that. My current laptop is about 5 years old, weighs approximately 60 pounds and is clunky and huge. I bought it from Noah who had it on the Ark and sold it to me cheap. As so, for my birthday this year Mr. P gave me perfume and a voucher to go buy myself a laptop/I pad/tablet/notebook.

I've been debating what mode of portable technology would suit me best. What would reflect my personality ? What would make it look like I know what the hell I'm doing? What are all the young hip things using? What can I use without going back to university to get a degree in computer geekness? Sara and I exchanged several emails about the relative merits of each during which she tried to help me by explaining technology but it just made my head hurt a LOT like when I have to do maths, or think serious grown up thoughts.

I finally bit the bullet after having a play with one of these while I was away and bought this on Wednesday.

Best .Thing. Ever.

Is it wrong to want to marry my Ipad? I'm sleeping with it and Mr. P is starting to get suspicious. Anyone want to Face Time? (See! I even know the lingo!)

If you'd like to tell me all about your favourite piece of technology or any other thing that floated your boat this week, write your own post and link it up so uber cool people can pop on over to your place for a squizz.

Bon Voyage !

2011-10-20T06:08:00.000+10:30

Today is the big day. I finally finished packing 6 hours ago and I'll be amazed if Im not over the weight limit at the airport.

I'm leaving Mr. P to keep the home fires burning with some trepidation, while I wander off to play for 6 days with Little Miss Sunshine. I am hoping and praying that the "home fires burning " part, is in fact, only metaphorical and that I won't come home to the charred remains of my abode. Let's face it -any time a woman leaves the house for longer than 12 straight hours it becomes an excuse for a bloke to live the single life, get drunk, eat junk food, and sit around in tatty undies scratching his unmentionables with impunity because basically we wont let them behave like that when we're around. Anything could happen while I'm not here.

I'll be back next week with news of my adventures and I have no doubt, pictures of fabric purchases. Everyone behave while I'm gone !

15 Minute Challenge with Kate

2011-10-18T06:33:00.000+10:30

Thanks to the magnificent Kate for hosting another week of the 15 minute challenge. I'm posting early this week, although it's Tuesday here already. In case I haven't mentioned this in the last 5 minutes I'm going away this week so Im working against the clock.

It's been a reasonably good week for sewing at Maison Pyjamas. I've gone fabric basket crazy. You may recall my disastrous attempt last week. Not to be beaten by fabric and bad mojo I went ahead and tried again. I'm happy to report success.

For a friend who is having a birthday this week

For my scrappy Swap partner - Side 1

Side 2

For a special friend

A little bit of quilting happened on the Blue and Brown Quilt. I have a lot more to do ! I'm making this a priority after I get back from holidays.

I started a new stitchery from one of Michelle's patterns.

I played with some selvages.

And the Merry Go Round quilt got quite a workout. Getting to this stage was not without a significant amount of unpicking and quite a bit of swearing. I had a case of "everything I touch turns to s***" on Sunday.

Can anyone else see where I managed to stuff up?

Discovering I had sewed them together upside down did not thrill my heart.

Unpicking is not my favourite thing this week. Neither was realising I was 9 blocks short when I thought I was finished with the block making! Hopefully my relationship with this quilt will be repaired by a little "absence makes the heart grow fonder" therapy.

Current tally on the "7 quilts finished before the end of the year" deal:
1 completed
1 ready to be quilted (by me )
1 in the process of being quilted by me
2 ready to be quilted (by the quilting guru )
Lots of progress on the Merry Go Round Quilt this week
No progress on the poor Hourglass Quilt (sorry Thea!)

Drum Roll Please

2011-10-15T09:47:00.000+10:30

Unaccustomed as I am to public writing I just wanted to take this opportunity to thank everyone who entered my give away over the past week. In just a few minutes we'll know who the lucky winner is.

But first ....One of the cool things about being part of the blogging community is that when all of Australia is snoring it's head off and I'm pretty much one of sixteen people in the country who is awake at 3.20am, I have my Northern Hemisphere friends to keep me company. Thank you people on the other side of the world for getting me through another night of cruddy sleep. I took the opportunity to get busy in my sewing room as well. Naturally I'll be asleep tonight at 9pm but I'm starting to enjoy living like a 90 year old woman who has to get up 43 times a night because she has a bladder capacity the size of a pea.

Ok I was just sort of building the tension there ...I like being dramatic. Let's hop on over to Mr. Random Number generator and choose a winner.

You’ll just have to trust me on this because I can't get that little number doodad result thing to paste in my blog....The winner is:Number 53

Pokey said...

I'm glad to have you blogging, Shy, and even more, to visit with you in your blog window, and you in mine. Keep it comin' girlfriend, you are a bright spot on my computer ~

:-}pokey

Pokey will be mortified that the very first time she doesn't proof read her comment and and calls me Shy (I can hear most of you rolling round on the floor with laughter at this point ) random number generator picks her comment to be regurgitated for all the world to see. I'm pretty sure that the universe wanted you to have this fabric as consolation Pokey! Congratulations. Please send me your address and I'll get this off to you this week.

Thank you everyone for playing!

Favourite Things Friday

2011-10-14T08:24:00.000+10:30

I was blown away by all the participation in FTF last week. Thank you for dropping by, linking up and playing.

My favourite thing this week was prompted by an influx of mail which had me doing a funky happy dance. You may recall when I asked for donations of selvages for a quilt I'm making next year. Some lovely kind people responded and my selvage pile is growing ever larger!

First from Thea over at California Dreamin'

And from Kat at Mumma's Time to Create

Who also sent me these because I'm a Babushka addict.

And a chocolate addict.

And from P at The Way I Sew It (who sent them all folded like this - I'm pretty sure she has a touch of the Virgo about her . Who else but a Virgo would send these folded?)

Who also popped in this piece of beauty that I had admired on her blog a few weeks ago.

It's not that I don't adore every single one of the goodies I was sent this week. But the selvages made me squeal like a 13 year old at a Justin Bieber concert.

What this means is that I think I have enough scraps to start my selvage quilt as soon as 2012 hits. It took all of my will power not to roll around amongst this pile of gorgeous-ness.

Alright! I did roll around in the pile. Sheesh. At least I wasn't naked because that would just be plain weird.

I also didn't have the internal fortitude or sense NOT to start the quilt either. Could you resist with all those selvages staring you in the face and begging you to come and play?

So...my favourite thing this week is selvages. The ones I've been collecting for about two years and the ones that have been gifted to me by awesome friends. Thank you awesome friends!

Kat is some kind of comedian - she sent me a zipper. Apparently she is expecting me to make some dolly zipper purses. Pftttttttttt...that zipper is likely to perish from age before I attempt a zip. I'm planning to leave it to one of my grandchildren in my will with the story of how hilarious Kat is.

Maybe I should frame it....

P.S.I will be away next week visiting Little Miss Sunshine (go me !) so FTF will be on hold while I'm actually enjoying one of my favourite things- holidays! I'll be back the following week though so hold onto those favourite things thoughts.

The 15 minute Challenge with Kate

2011-10-12T04:09:00.001+10:30

You know when you put off a task forever and then when you make a start it gets done really fast and you wonder why you put it off for so long? That wasn't me this week. I know why I've been avoiding finishing my quilts. It's the basting process. Ever since we laid tile my basting has gone to crap. My tape won't stay taped. My backs don't stay taut. I get puckers when I quilt and I end up crying like a three year old. It's even got to the point where Mr. P finds something massively essential to do out of the house in another suburb the very second I drag out my basting pin container.

That left me with a choice this week. Do I baste one of the two quilts lurking round here that are ready to take that next step towards quilting greatness? How resilient was I feeling? Did we have any alcohol to soothe my wounded pride if it all went pear shaped?

I decided to ponder those questions and other mysteries of the universe (like why you can't actually tickle yourself) while quilting and binding Hamish's quilt which was already basted.

And then because I am a whizz at practising avoidant behaviour I moved on to finishing the Wonky Blocks quilt top. Since this one is going out to be quilted the finish felt amazing instead of "Oh shit-another quilt to baste ".

Then I wandered away and played with my stash for a while (which sounds a bit rude now that I come to think of it ) and pulled some fabrics for Kat's scrappy stash swap. These are for my secret partner.

And then ,and only then, I decided to suck it up and baste the blue and brown quilt. And since I have the un-stickiest floors in the known universe I did it outside on my table , with high hopes of a stellar result since I used about 84 clamps and 33 bulldog clips to stretch that backing nice and taut.

And then I moved it very carefully and basted the other side. There are so many pins in this it looks like a freaking hedgehog.

I know you're all waiting for the punchline. The one where I tell you I managed to pin that sucker to the table top , or that my dogs jumped up on the table as I turned my back and danced a rumba across the top.

I've got nothing people - except this slightly puckery quilt back. And the fabric basket with the popped seam that I've fallen in love with in spite of it's imperfect-ness.

Pop on over to Kate's for a look at her "15 minutes" of manic Christmas sewing as well as what other participants have been working on this week.

Current tally on the "7 quilts finished before the end of the year" deal:
1 completed
2 ready to be quilted (by me )
2 ready to be quilted (by the quilting guru )
2 still in various stages of undress

^@#*!%#!!!!

2011-10-10T22:47:00.000+10:30

If you've been a follower for a while you'll know that my rampant bag insecurity makes an appearance every so often. Some people can't bake , some people can't garden and some people can't make bags. I am all three of those people.

Encouraged by a recent bag success (my only success in fact ) with Kat's pouch tutorial I decided to make a fabric basket. I started it last night and finally finished at half past midnight. Look! When I turned it right side out I still had the handles in the right place. That never happens for me. I was doing the happy dance because it was so darn cute.

Until I was admiring my awesome-ness from different angles and telling myself I could make 20 of these because they are so easy and I spied this..Bugger.

See that popped seam on the orange square? Too late to fix it unless I whip out the glue ...which is exactly what I'm going to do. Why do bags hate me so?

..it's enough to drive a girl to eat half a kilo of Belgian chocolate.

Back to the drawing board....sigh.

Time for a Giveaway

2011-10-08T18:03:00.000+10:30

Almost two years ago I tentatively dipped my toe into the world of blogging after reading some quilting blogs by accident. I'd only been playing with quilting for about a year and wasn't a hardcore quilting addict.

In my early posts when nobody was reading I struggled with showing my actual personality. In real life I'm the kind of person you either really really like or really really don't. And because I wanted to be liked in the great kingdom of Blogland all of my early posts are about as exciting as watching paint dry. I worried that I might offend people by being me, which is sometimes a problem I also have in real life because I say what I think in the very moment I think it and often have to pull my own foot out of my mouth. I swear sometimes. I'm not always very rational. I have an unusual way of looking at things. I have strong convictions and opinions and sometimes I share them without being asked. Some people call that refreshing and entertaining and others roll their eyes a lot and run to avoid me when I walk in their general direction.

At some point I put on my big girl panties and decided I was just going to be me. So I started ranting on bad days, and saying crap and bugger if I felt like it and thinking out loud on my keyboard and people started to show me they liked what I had to say. And, unlike Vincent Van Gogh I didn't have to cut my ear off or wait until I was dead to get some positive feedback.

Blogging has opened up a whole new world for me. I've made friends , real friends, and I love conversing with each and every one of you. I love to pop over to your place with a cup of tea or coffee and have a sticky at what you're getting up to . You inspire me , you lift me up, you make me laugh , and you touch my heart.

This week I reached the magical milestone of 200 followers (!!!) so it's time to send out some bloggy love of my own. I'm offering this fat quarter pack of Joel Dewberry Modern Meadow in the Berry Palate as a way of saying "Thankyou".

I'm going to put some guidelines around this giveaway to keep it fair. To enter all you have to do is leave a comment but you must be an existing follower at the time this post was published because it's all about celebrating the people who have come and commented, supported and read and generally helped make this blogging experience so much fun for me!

I'll draw this sometime next Saturday 15th October (Australian Central Time ) so you have a week to enter and I'm happy to post internationally. Good luck !

You guys rock my socks.

Favourite Things Friday

2011-10-07T08:04:00.000+10:30

Hello Friday. Do you have any idea how much I love you? It seems like only a few days since you were last here but you're always welcome.

My week has been full of good intentions and subsequently a healthy dose of feeling sorry for myself. I intended to get into work early some days this week and it didn't happen. I intended to sew after work - it didn't happen. I intended to keep my house tidy and clean during the week so this weekend would be completely mine and free of housework - and that didn't happen either. And that set me to thinking about how much it sucks to have to work , and how I don't get to sew whenever I want and how much I hate house work. A lot of my time this week has been spent feeling resentful about the things I have to get done every week and the fact that a lot of my life is taken up with things that given the choice, I'd rather I didn't have to do.

Until last night when I was reflecting on my week and playing my favourite mental game of comparing my life to every other person I've ever even heard of. I love that game because I start off by thinking about how much better or cooler or easier everyone else has it and wind up by coming to the realisation that everyone has stuff they wish they didn't have to do-no matter how great their life might look from the outside.

Sometimes in the hustle and bustle and mundane of every day life we forget to be thankful for the things we have . Things that seem like annoyances or barriers or mundane things and so we take them for granted or spend a lot of time being resentful of them. The conclusion I came to was that I was spending too much time looking at those every day things all wrong. So I started thinking about the things that had been making me pissy in a totally different light. Epiphany.

I have no right to complain about my job. I'm lucky to have a job when so many people don't. It's a good job and I work with fantastic people. I have a boss who believes in giving credit where it's due and recognises that the people who work for her are experts in their field. There is no interference or micro managing or checking up. Plenty of people would kill for my job and while it comes with a high degree of stress and unpredictability I can't think of anything else I'd rather do. (unless I won lotto and opened my own book store ) And that job brings in the money that enables me to have a life when I'm not there.

There is no point in whining about housework. If you live in your house stuff is going to get dirty. It shows you're really living. And the fact that nobody is home during the day should mean the house doesn't really get that grotty. Oh who am I kidding? We have inside ~~horses~~ dogs . Our house is a tip. But our house is still ours and we have a roof over our heads and this house reflects who I am. It's my safe haven from the world. This is the place where living and loving and crying and wound licking happens when the world is unkind. It's warm and dry and full of the things and people I love. Lots of people don't have that security.

Next time I whinge about not being able to eat fillet steak every night or that we have "nothing to eat in this house" I really need to remind myself that we eat very well. Sometimes I cook things just to see if I can. I don't usually worry about the price of things too much. If I want a lamb roast I go and buy it. Lots of people don't have that luxury. I've never known actual hunger like many people on the planet who would be grateful for that two week old suss looking avocado in the bottom of my vegetable crisper.

The conclusion I came to at about midnight last night is that I have a pretty good life. So ultimately my favourite thing this week is the ability to be thankful for those things and the gifts I've been given. Good friends, my health, the ability to make choices and have a bit of fun occasionally. (But I'm never going to adore doing house work )

I'd love to hear what little things you're thankful or grateful for or any other favourite things you'd care to share this week.

15 Minutes with Kate

2011-10-05T07:18:00.000+10:30

As the sun sets slowly on another week of 15 minute snippets hosted by Kate, I had another productive stint in the sewing department. I feel like I'm in control and this finishing projects stuff isn't just a pipe dream. By next week I may be a gibbering mess in the corner cursing my stupidity but I'm living large this week.

I've decided not to be all show off and "look at me" this week with my 15 minute achievements. Nobody likes a braggart and I'm trying to get to 200 readers so I can do a giveaway. If I alienate anyone with being a smarty pants it'll take me that much longer to get to the magical number. Honestly I don't keep tabs on the numbers or my stats usually but someone pointed it out to me and I got pretty excited. Who would have thought that there are 198 people out there that read my rantings and ravings and misadventures. If you've hit the follow button by mistake and don't know how to un-follow can you not google the tutorial until I get to 201 because I haven't done a give away in ages. Thanks.

I worked on a few quilts this week, too fickle to stick to one project again. I made two lots of binding and a certain quilt got lots more blocks done. It's starting to look like a rainbow exploded in my sewing room. I'm still not doing 15 minutes every single day but that's the way I roll. Some days are diamonds where I'm full of energy and some days I'm ready to go to sleep at around 3.30pm , which is unfortunate since I work until 5.00.

I ignored two quilts totally this week. Eventually they stomped off to the cupboard in a huff and I'm sure I can hear them crying occasionally. It's a good thing there are no laws for quilt abuse. I'd have the department of quilting on my door step demanding I hand over my quilts so they can go live with someone who doesn't practice quilting neglect.

So the tally is this: Of 7 quilts currently laying about here in a WIP state , three are completely done including backs and binding and are waiting to be quilted. One quilt top is significantly on the way and is likely to be a finish this week. One is nowhere near finished and one is halfway. I can hear you counting on your fingers and saying "That's only 6"....

Yeah ...well...I made this over the weekend. That's number 7 just waiting to be quilted. When I knock this off I'm back to 6 . This is a gift for my fur brother Hamish. As far as I'm concerned dogs need pretty quilts as much as people in the Pyjamas family.

In other news, I got lovely mail again late last week . Michelle sent me my first lot of begged for selvages and managed to trip and stuff the postal bag with a whole load of other things. You have to watch Michelle because she'll pretend to want your address so she can send you selvages while in reality she's trying to do a sneaky and is plotting all along to send you a birthday present. Little P adored the Babushka bag and wouldn't leave the "happy lady" alone.

And Elizabeth always knows the way straight to my heart. Birthday Sugar.

Oh and a gorgeous hand made notebook that I don't want to use because it's so pretty. I think I'll just put it somewhere I can stare at it. Thank you both for your surprises.

My youngest nephew pretty much cleaned me out of Oreo's last night. I think he was going for the world record for eating the single biggest number in one sitting. Eventually I hid one pack for myself while fending him off with a few well placed ninja kicks. This is the same kid that considers his greatest achievement in life thus far is the ability to not shower for 17 days straight. If only he would use his talents for good and not evil. Sigh.

For more classy, crafty and sewing filled posts pop on over and visit Kate.

The "I Haven't Been Quilting My Butt Off" Post

2011-10-02T20:45:00.000+10:30

There hasn't been a lot of sewing of current projects going on here this weekend. I spent Friday with Miss and Little P at my sister's and then was back there yesterday for Grand Final. Collingwood got pasted. I just want to say that out loud because I was going for Geelong.

Apparently it's rude to take your sewing machine to other people's houses when you're supposed to be socialising so I had to take some hand stitching. That meant starting another new project (that would be number 8 in my current queue) I'll do a round up of current projects later this week because even I'm starting to lose track of what I have on the go and what needs to be done.

The eventual plan for these blocks is for them to be a part of a much bigger quilt with flowers and butterflies and 9 patches in 30's repro fabric. I am still at the concept stage because I had to bang together something to do 10 minutes before I went out to my sisters yesterday, so this hasn't had a lot of thought yet.

I got the urge this weekend to use some of my other creative talents and wandered out shopping and bought about 100 bucks worth of scrap booking supplies. We'll see what eventuates from this lot.

The wonky block top is half together. I'm really liking how this is turning out. Let's hope nephew No 2 does too. I don't think I've uttered one profane word yet while making this. Spooky- and most unlike me.

And a bit of retail therapy today with a Spotlight gift car yielded the perfect binding for the brown and Blue quilt . Of course I got it home and realised I already have some of that blue and white dot in my stash but that doesn't mean I love it any less.

And the perfect backing for the Merry Go Round Quilt. I love it when I get things on HUGE sale. Half price! They'll be able to see this quilt from deep space without the aid of the Hubble telescope.

I'm hoping tomorrow which is a public holiday (yay a free day off !) provides an opportunity for some actual sewing to get done although it's been relaxing being a bit slack for a change.

Favourite Things Friday-Reality TV

2011-09-30T09:24:00.000+09:30

It's a long weekend here this weekend. Our first since June. Imagine me doing a very vigorous happy dance at the thought of four days off. It's also AFL grand final weekend which means all of tomorrow will be a testosterone filled day at my brother in laws because his team is playing. Loz will also be very happy. AFL is a big deal in this country for anyone who lives in Victoria or South Australia. Other states have the distraction of rugby. I have never watched an rugby game in my life. Sorry New Zealand. I know rugby and the TV show "Outrageous Fortune " are your main exports.

Anyway, on to FTF for this most wonderful of long weekend Fridays.

I'm really putting myself out there this week with a confession that I am sure will subject me to much ridicule and pity. Obviously that doesn't worry me too much or I wouldn't be making a public confession. I need to unburden my soul. For far too long I've been pretending to be classy and high brow (I'm rolling round on the floor with laughter here ) and it's time you all knew the dirty truth.

Until my sleep went to pot in April I had pretty much sworn off TV. Give me my internet and my sewing machine and I was a happy little vegemite. With the weird sleep thing I started to sack out on the lounge in front of the TV a little more and discovered a whole new world. At the start I was hand stitching and I told myself that I only had the TV on because I needed background noise and something to glance up at occasionally to break my intense scrutiny of my awesome stitching. You can imagine my horror when I started working my weekly after work sewing schedule around some very trashy "reality" TV shows.

Looking back I should have seen the signs. In 2000 Survivor debuted and I loved it. All that skullduggery and back stabbing was pure gold. In 2001 Big Brother appeared on Australian TV for the first time and I became seriously hooked. 7.00pm BB was a viewing must and I didn't miss it for anything. If a crisis hit at 6.59pm you just had to suck it up until 7.30 when I was back in the real world again. Nobody was allowed to speak to me, call me or knock on my front door for that 30 minutes a day. Seriously.

Big Brother was axed in 2008. I was devastated and lost the will ~~to live~~ to watch the 400th season of Survivor and the 221st season of The Amazing Race. I figured I was over my reality TV stage and went on happily with my life.

Until recently...

When I discovered such gems of TV shows like Hardcore Pawn, Pawn Stars and Operation Repo. Something about seeing unfortunate people having their cars repossessed really appealed to the "sucked in, deadbeat " side of my nature. I've since found out that the show is totally scripted and it's kind of lost it's appeal for me. That Matt is a classic over actor, a bit like Jim Carrey. Ditto watching people come in and pawn stuff. And argue about stuff they've pawned. And bitch about how much they're being offered when they try to sell stuff. I've never been in a pawn shop in my life and it's fascinating TV viewing. It's like a train wreck . I don't want to watch but I can't look away.

My favourite thing this week is (un)reality TV ..I admit it . I'm addicted. What's the trashiest TV show you'll confess to watching?

Big Brother is coming back for 2012. I can't see this trashy reality TV kick ending any time soon. And I'll be there with bells on watching at 7.00pm every night. Don't bother emailing or calling me- I wont answer.

15 Minute Challenge with Kate

2011-09-27T21:18:00.000+09:30

Panic sets in and motivates you to sew like a crazy lady when you set yourself unrealistic goals and can't let go of the idea that you can finish a ridiculous number of quilts in just over three months. But I'm half way there- sort of. Half my projects are ready for the basting and quilting stage and since three of the 6 are going out to be quilted properly (unlike my usual slap dash methods ) I really only have three quilts to get done. That's my logic and I'm sticking to it. The alternative is to realise how much work I really have to get done and go down in a screaming heap.

I got everything done on my to do list from last week. Last time that happened was about the same time man discovered fire and learned to talk in intelligible sentences so I'm pretty chuffed.

So with all the Merry Go Round strips sewn up into threes , I went ahead and started making some actual blocks. I think I'm going to love this when it's done. (assuming all the blocks go together without sending me to the nearest mental health facility) Imagine how bright and gorgeous this is going to be. Break out your sunnies. These colours make my heart sing and further reinforce the idea that I'm so not a pastels girl.

I made the back for Flurry and then made the binding. Onto basting and quilting next....

I got jiggy with 6 more hourglass blocks and cut all the remaining coloured strips. They look so pretty waiting to be sewn up. And I'll be doing a lot of that this week . I have 49 of those blocks left to make....

I started marking the quilting pattern onto the Blue and Brown quilt..I've never marked a quilt before. This led to a flurry of emails to Little Miss Sunshine as my desperate insecurity about whether I was doing it right reared it's ugly head. How can you stuff up marking a quilt unless you do it in permanent marker? Why do I worry so much about inconsequential stuff?

I started the wonky blocks quilt for my nephew. All the blocks are done. All 48 of them. The binding is done. The sashing and borders are cut.

And I started a new stitchery for a card I'm making. I'm hoping for a girl...but I'll make a boy card too just to cover myself. It's so inconsiderate when people wont tell you whether they're having a boy or a girl .

This weeks goals:
Start sewing the wonky blocks together into rows
Complete 12 more Hourglass blocks
Make 10 hexagon blocks
Start quilting the blue and brown quilt
Ignore Flurry for another week

For more crafting genius take mosey on over to Kate's to see how other people spent some of their quarter hours this week.

If I don't write a post about something other than sewing soon I think my head is going to explode....

Starting Number 6

2011-09-26T05:58:00.000+09:30

It's Monday again. Back to the daily grind for another week. Why do weekends go by in the blink of an eye and the equivalent number of working days seem to drag on forever? Chocolate for whoever comes up with the best answer that doesn't involve complicated scientific theory. My head can't cope with complicated.

I had a productive weekend of sewing and got a stack of things done. More on that on tomorrow. In the meantime I want so share a sneak peek of a quilt I started this weekend that's on my list to finish by the end of the year.

This one is for nephew number 2 who not so subtly reminded me on Friday night that I made his brother a quilt and he wants one too. I've been planning this one for a while and it's easy peasy. Saturday morning it was a pile of fat quarters and as of Sunday lunchtime only 5 blocks stood between me and starting to put a quilt top together. That's my kind of quilt! I was a bit dubious that I'd be grooving on the colour scheme or the fact it's all solids but so far so good.

I stepped out of my comfort zone this past week and signed up for my first ever swap. Kat is hosting a scrappy swap and it looked like a low stress , fun swap. I stress out at the the thought of swaps . My internal dialogue runs something like this "What if what I make is crap? What if the recipient hates it? What if I don't send enough and my partner thinks I'm mingy?". Kat's swap has rules on not going overboard so it was perfect. Now I just have to get over my Flickr fear.... and suck up enough courage to make a mosaic.

My Dad is still in the hospital and no word yet on when he might be coming home. We totally busted the "2 visitors at a time rule" when visiting him today. At one stage we had 8 people in his room and played musical chairs for three hours with the two whole chairs they provided. When the Pyjamas clan get together we're none too quiet either. I bet that comes as shock to all of you. That kind of normality probably aided my Dad's recovery no end.

Favourite Things Friday

2011-09-23T06:17:00.000+09:30

It was another week where I struggled to keep up with the goings on in Blogland and my email Inbox and with juggling work and home responsibilities. With another Little P sleepover, my Dad having surgery (which he never does very well)and a mega busy weekend coming up I'm looking forward to focusing on something today that has been the highlight of my week. Come and play Favourite Things Friday with me!

One morning this week I woke up early as usual. I got in my hour at the computer before Mr. P woke up. And when he woke up he gave me this because apparently I stink.

And because it was my birthday.

I also got a "Go and Buy yourself an I Pad, tablet or notebook since you have wanted one since the dawn of time and spend 90% of your waking life at home playing with your Blog friends " note. Sara , you and I will be talking about what I really want to buy since you're my techno expert and know about all this new fangled technology stuff.

When I got to work my office was awash with gifts and a birthday cake. I think my Babushka love is well known everywhere but especially at work.

Lunch with my mother and my sister yielded even more bounty. A subscription for home inspiration and a Spotlight Voucher so I can make more beautiful quilts. I can probably spend that voucher in less than 3 minutes. The magazine subscription will last a year. Plenty of time to be inspired and decide I want Mr. P to re-paint the entire house in purple or orange.

Later in the day, I got a parcel from Little Miss Sunshine. Apparently I'm a bitch who loves Faith Fabric. Right on both counts. I almost squealed when I opened the package. Words fail to convey how much I love this fabric. But I know you all understand that feeling.

From another wonderful work friend, the most divine diffuser for my bathroom. It really is too bad this isn't smell-a-vision. You'll just have to take my word for it that I have the best smelling bathroom in all of the Southern Hemisphere.

Miss P and Little P came over for my birthday and stayed the night. Miss P looked kind of mischievous when she handed me my gift which turned out to be this. A disposable camera. I've been complaining about my 7 year old digital camera for a year so maybe she thought this would help me out.

Until she couldn't contain herself any longer and forked over the real present. I think I know where some of that hard earned money from working a couple of weeks ago went.

And in case you're wondering how old I was

(the donuts were for Miss P and Mr. P )

And Little P had his first frog cake while Bella ate about her 1 millionth.

I think he enjoyed it even if he did eat it all wrong. Everyone who is anyone knows you eat the head last so you can hear the frog screaming until the very last bite. PETA members don't send me hate mail - I'm totally joking. (You tape their mouths shut so you can't hear them scream )

Birthday celebrations continue this weekend. I've had so much fun with this birthday and intend to wind it out as long as possible.

If you'd like to show off one of your favourite things for this week -you know the deal - link on up and show us something you love!