boot camp quilter

Triathlon pink

2012-01-29T18:17:00.005+11:00

Well a year ago my training partner and I embarked on our very first triathlon. We did the mini which was a 200m swim, a 6km ride and a 2km run. I was to be blunt rooted after it lol.

We had trained hard for our event but we didn't realise how hard we would go and in many ways we hadn't trained properly. How ever we enjoyed ourselves and since then we have done 2 other open water triathlons.

Today we returned to MSAC to participate again, this year we decided to go the long course. So 300m swim, 9km ride and a 3km run. I have been really crook this week with a flu bug, but dosed myself up to the eyeballs in cold and flu tablets and other immune helping stuffs.

The swim wasn't too bad, bit like swimming in a washing machine full of legs and arms. The ride was good as long as you knew how to avoid the newbies who wobble all over the road and the run, well that was bloody long! and you avoided the swamp that the nearby sprinklers had made. All in all it was a great event.

So how did I go you ask?? WELL.... I completed it in 46.32 and my buddy in 45.17 coming 42nd overall and 31st overall out of 222 entries. The most exciting thing though, is that I came 1ST in my age group!!! whoooo hoooo. Now that's a win!

Happy Australia day!!

2012-01-26T21:04:00.007+11:00

What did you do on Australia day??

I went for short 24km bike ride with my training partner, this is usually a 42km ride but I haven't been well these past few days with a flu like lurgy, by the time we had done that and had a coffee I must admit I felt like I had done a 100km ride.

I have my possibly last triathlon of the season on Sunday and it will be our biggest one yet. 300m swim, 9km ride and 3km run. All very easy when done by themselves heheheh. The only part that worries me is the final 1km of the run.

Here's another snippet of what I am working on.

I have been told that my pictures might be on the large side and take too long to download... has anyone found this to be so?? I need to figure out how to change the photos... Ive been told picassa..... another thing to figure out *sigh*

giant hail and quilts

2012-01-18T20:46:00.011+11:00

I bought myself some nice bike shoes to use with the beast. I have been practicing on the bikes in RPM class.... clicking in on the move isn't as easy as it looks!

On Christmas day we had very bizarre weather and the day finished up with a massive rainstorm with hail the size of large golf balls

It shredded my tomatoes that were doing really really well (shattered)

My poor lizard almost drowned!

This was out the front of the house, the hail stacked up against the wall and looked suspiciously like snow.

On a quilty note now.... here is a top I have made for a work colleagues granddaughter... now to baste.

this is the start of the next quilt I have to make for my cousins new baby

after I put it together I realised that I wasn't supposed to actually sew all the same coloured sections together! so a little frog stitching was done.

I selections of the fabrics that I am actually using for this quilt

All chopped up and ready to sew.

I'm now on 2 weeks annual leave whooo hooo! time to sew, exercise and drink coffee with my friends!

farmers market

2012-01-14T18:38:00.009+11:00

Today I met my friend in Ballan (country Victoria) and went to the local farmers market. It was small but some very nice produce at an excellent price. I bought some to die for biscuits... they are like melting moments but chocolate with a coffee centre.. OMG!! the noisy one came with me and chose some chocolate ones that she said were the best!

Of course we went into the quilt shop next door and oohed and ahhed over some of the beautiful quilts displayed.

I also purchased (well my friend bought it) the pattern for Gulliver from ric rac's Jodie. My friend loves crocs and has been asking me for yonks where her Gulliver is.... now I have no excuse!!

These photos actually have nothing to do with my post today.... they were taken at my sister in laws 50th birthday party recently. She had a 50 years and over theme.... she had this stuff all around the room... loved it!

I took some photos but haven't uploaded them yet, but here is some other photos for you all to see!

Here is Milly with her Christmas toy.... she is getting a big girl

Cookie wasn't really impressed with his new hat

Im a winner!

2012-01-06T21:00:00.003+11:00

I won a prize today! I'm soooo excited.

Its from skirt sports and its something from their new 2012 collection. I will be the first Australian girl to get something from their range.

I have admired their stuff for sometime but haven't gotten around to purchasing anything yet.... I will let you all know what I receive.

Last night at sewing I actually got some sewing done... a couple more arches of the double wedding ring were completed.

School holidays are stopping me from doing some of my regular things but that's okay as I get to do other stuff with the girls. Today I bought some plastic drawers to put in my walk in wardrobe to try and free up some space and make it all look neater.... not sure if I made it better or worse!

work to live

2012-01-04T21:41:00.003+11:00

not live to work!

I am lucky that I only have to work part time. I enjoy working most of the time.

I now have several days off, and will now become the taxi service for my girls as its school holidays.

I don't mind as it means they are seeing their friends and being social. sometimes it clashes with my training so I have to tweak my schedule so that everyone is happy and that's okay too.

going to get the machine out tomorrow and aim to do some sewing!!

I survived

2012-01-02T22:01:00.004+11:00

I survived!!!

what an amazing day. I rode 73km in 4 hours. I killed off 3141kcal.... gotta love that!

I think I drank 6 litres of water.

We left just after 9am from Geelong and set off at a nice steady pace, we had people overtaking us left right and centre.... but we just plodded along at our pace which was around 20-25kph depending on the hills etc.

My poor buddy really felt the heat and was done in about 10-12km from the finish line. We had an angel appear with a jug of iced water from her house that we were sitting outside in the shade that helped us continue on our way... it only took about 20mins and the water was hot.

I phoned her hubby to come and pick us up in the car..... she decided that she felt better and we started to ride again.... got a call from him to ask us where we were.... then we saw him.... on his bike!! omg, I think my buddy wanted to murder him. BUT she finished the ride, we stopped for another break and devoured lemonade icypoles then rolled into the finish line.

It was bloody hot!

the question is would I do it again??? YES I would do it tomorrow! Was a challenging ride without being ridiculous but the temperature.... no I wouldn't ride in 40 degrees if I have a choice.

Thank you to team coffee for participating in this event with me, makes eventing so much more enjoyable with friends

hot weather on the way

2012-01-01T20:18:00.005+11:00

I had the best new years eve with my family and bestest friends.

I hope that you all had a safe and enjoyable new years eve.

Tomorrow is going to be bloody hot, so make sure you all stay inside under your air conditioners or in the pool coated in sunscreen.

Take a moment though to think of my friends and I as we ride 70km through Geelong on Amy's ride. (if you aren't interested in my boot camp side of my blog you can tune out now). The ride has been developed to help stop rider fatalities by promoting rider awareness it also is run in Adelaide and Canberra.

I will let you all know that I haven't melted :)

Happy new year

2011-12-31T14:58:00.004+11:00

I haven't blogged in a while as my laptop has been stolen by my daughter as hers has broken.

I am using another one so have no photos at the moment.

I hope that you all have a wonderful new years eve. I know I will as I am celebrating with my friends this year.

Resolutions for the new year?? not really got any as I a pretty happy with my life. Might declutter a bit, exercise more (HAHAHHA) blog more regularly!!

I hope that you have enjoyed reading my blog this year, I have had a lot of enjoyment in taking photos and sharing my life with you all. I know that not everyone is into the same interests as others but this is what makes everyone individual.

See you all next year!!

Triathlon season!

2011-12-08T20:27:00.009+11:00

First here is a photo of our little Milly. She and Cookie are besties and play very well together.. more photos to come in future posts

Ive been rather busy recently so have neglected the blog somewhat.
I have lots to tell and quite a few photos but think I will blog for each event in individual posts.... so which to talk about first....
Well I guess I will get the brag over....

I didn't win a new bike, but my training partner and I participated in our first triathlon for the season last Sunday morning at 7am at Mordialloc Beach.

I don't have any photos of us at this stage but the weather was far from warm and the water was rather rough, making the swim leg very challenging

I am however very happy with my times and finished in 39.36.1 my partner in crime finished 38.28.3 She was 7th in our age group and I was 11th (10th if you discount the woman with no swim time!!)

I did a personal best in my ride and my run, so cant complain about that!

We have a plan for our events for the next 3 months.
Jan 2 - Amy's ride - 70km bike ride in Geelong
Jan 22 - triathlon at Elwood beach - 250m swim, 10km ride and 2km run (little bigger this time.
Jan 29 - triathlon pink - not sure if we are doing the mini or the long course at this stage.
March 4th - tough blokes challenge - this is an obstacle course with running between obstacles.... nets, mud, ropes, mud, monkey bars, mud, oh did I mention mud?? This one is going to be fun!

book to read

2011-11-19T15:26:00.006+11:00

Poor cookie was a little hot yesterday so he found a spot where the air conditioner was gently blowing and stretched out for maximum coolage!

I have my name down on the local library website for several books... imagine my surprise when I got the email to tell me that this book was in!! I must be the first to get it, a friend of mine just told me last week that she got her own copy!

I cut up and paired up all the fabrics for my friends granddaughters quilt.

I have now completed the blocks and need to put them together.

I'm quite pleased with the way they are looking and they weren't that bad to make either!!

new family member take 2

2011-11-16T20:25:00.006+11:00

Today we found our newest member of the family.

This is Milly.

She is a little Jack Russell. Her mum is the same colour as her and her dad was a mini Jackie so she isn't going to be a huge doggie

She is only 6 weeks old today so we wont be getting her for 2 weeks....OMG its going to take forever!!

Note the little heart on her head!!

new toy

2011-11-12T18:34:00.003+11:00

The beastie is home again. She has had a rear tyre alignment a little grease on the chain and her computer was fiddled with.

How ever no amount of fiddling would make the damn thing work so I decided to take it back to the shop and upgrade to a decent system.

It works with GPS and is soooo simple its not funny.

I sewed for a little while this morning after I came home from pump class, so I have sat down for a while.

This is the first block I have made for the quilt I am making for a work colleagues granddaughter. I have sewn up all the half squares today, so just need to iron and cut them later on.

feeling beastless

2011-11-11T23:47:00.003+11:00

The beast has gone visiting to my friends house for a little adjustment.

melbourne cup day

2011-11-01T21:10:00.002+11:00

Today was our Melbourne Cup holiday. Its the day the race stops a nation. I worked today but we did stop and go and watch the race on the big TV in the patients sitting room, was such a close finish... won it by a whisker!! I didn't win anything though.

However, I have finished my first entire ring!

I showed the froglet and she was very pleased with the result.... gave me crap about how long it had taken me.... then asked how many more do you need to make?? I cant remember if I am doing 4x5 or 5x6 ...... she decided 5x6 ..... might be done by the time she finds a husband lol

whats in your sewing bag??

2011-10-30T18:30:00.010+11:00

Yesterday after I did a mega pink class down the gym (2 hours of different classes) with all money raised going to breast cancer, I came home and sat down for a change and worked on my double wedding ring for a while. My team partner and I have decided on our next event, it will be our first Triathlon for the season on the 4th December... stay tuned for more!

I have taken my bernina to be serviced and used my older machine but wasn't happy with the results.. think my brother needs a service too.

While I sewed cookie the quilt inspector decided to get some much needed ZZ's in, oh the life!

While I sat here, I looked at my sewing bag and wondered if everyone has as much junk in theirs as I do in mine.

most things are sewing related, but I do have a few odds and ends that my friends have given me and reside permanently in my bag

I have threads of different brands. I use gutermann mostly but several of my friends use aurifil and love this thread so I have bought some to try out.

I love my little unpicker... Mr Plod!

Of course sewing bags are the best place to hide lollies or chocolate that you don't want your family to find, after all who would go into mums sewing bag??!!

I don't have a kitchen sink, but I do have a cow heheheheh.

wordless wednesday.... me wordless??!!

2011-10-26T20:17:00.006+11:00

Did I mention that I enjoy my coffee? and no this isn't cookie :)

who else has lettuce growing in their lawn??? I had lettuce in a pot last year that I let go to seed and I have now found where all those little seeds went!!

We planted a new clematis some months ago and I thought that it had died.

Thank goodness I was wrong!

fun run completed

2011-10-23T14:46:00.004+11:00

Today I ran my first fun run. surprised? Yeah I train a lot in the gym and do triathlons but never actually done a fun run (this word fun, I'm not sure about lol).

The day started out foggy and chilly but before we started the cloud cleared and out came the sun!! Was a glorious day for a great event. The fun run was held to raise funds for the Northern Hospital so I hope that they can buy some much needed equipment with the money raised.

I started out towards the front of the pack but we spread out pretty quickly and there was plenty of room for everyone. The volunteers did a great job and were stationed at all the corners and possible turn offs so we wouldn't go the wrong way. I knew quite a few of them which was great as they cheered me on and kept me going.

I struck trouble within the first 1.5km when a bee hit me in the face just below my eye and stung me.... oh the pain! I was crying from the pain but kept on going as I was on a mission. My head is still pounding, thank goodness I'm not allergic to the little suckers.

I decided that I would stop at the 3.5km after this as my eye was throbbing, but when I got to the gates they pointed to the 7km continue lane and my choice was made for me.

My team partner did even better than me and her son who is only 12 won the under 15, 7km division, way to go babychino!! (he wants to do a marathon now, I will watch him!)

I will admit that I didn't run the entire way but I'm happy that I finished in a time of about 46Min's, not the fastest time but for me its a PB. There was a few times that I felt like either throwing up or quitting all together but I promised myself that I would finish the run for myself and for a special lady who IS going to do a fun run with me when she gets her new lungs!!

busy busy busy!!

2011-10-22T20:50:00.012+11:00

Well those that know me, will be nodding their heads at the above statement heheheh.

My friend and I did our 2Nd round the bay in a day. We had her hubby, her 12yr old son with his new road bike and my other gym buddy come along. Was a great day out, I didn't enjoy the headwind at all, which was all the way to Altona. The best thing about the headwind is that I knew I would have a tailwind home whoo hooo. But it rained on us for a while so that was rather chilly.

We got a really nice finishers medal when we got back to Alexandra gardens so that was a lovely finish to the day (not to mention a crunchie bar or two!!).

Cookie was sitting eyeballing something this afternoon, he was supervising the unpacking of my new fabric purchases.

I took the noisy one and my mum for a little jaunt today, we visited Gail B's patchwork shop in Bayswater.

She has a large selection of fabrics, notions, and everything you may need to create a masterpiece.

I picked up these 2 yummy jellyrolls and was told that the yardage wont be out for a couple of months....

No probs I thought as the pattern I was going to use doesn't need any any extra yardage.

But then I read the pattern again and started to measure my strips and discovered to my horror that the pattern doesn't really suit these fabrics at all. so fortunately I had 3 other patterns that I was considering and was able to change my mind. The bad news is that I now need some background fabric grrrr. The good news is that I think I can get away with some other fabrics from other ranges... the stripey stuff is for binding (hope I have enough) So I may have to make another trip to Bayswater.... damn! Will go without non quilting people this time!!

Tomorrow I have my first ever fun run. I am not a big fan of running due to the fact it hurts my feet. This run is local and is only 7km I know the track as my team coffee mate and I have walked it several times together in the past weeks.

I will post how I go. The froglet is doing the 3.5km walk with some of my other friends. I know my friends will help me keep on going, I'm not doing this to win but to finish so wish me luck. I only did 4 training sessions this week, last week in 5 days I did a whopping 9 sessions! so hope it pulls me through. Just adding a little extra note here, will be dedicating this run to a fellow blogger that I admire greatly, she knows who she is...

Quilt shows

2011-10-11T17:27:00.008+11:00

I must have known that this was a winning quilt, it was one of the few that I took a photo of and in fact this is the only one that I took multiple photos of!

Marylin did an amazing job of quilting this masterpiece, I took some close ups so you can see the detail a bit better.

you could look at her quilt from the front or the back and still be impressed.

this was the small quilt that won viewers choice, there was a lot of wonderful quilts to chose from but this was what I class as less is more.

Now here is my quilt top that I finished on Sunday evening.

My little man, cookie is lounging on the top being the quilt police.

He approved of the top but not when I whipped it out from under him hehehehe

Now I need to get out some fabric for the backing and find some batting and get stuck into the quilting!

quilt show

2011-10-08T20:08:00.004+11:00

Today I went to the North of the Yarra Quilters, quilt show. I haven't been to a quilt show for some time and needed some inspiration.

I got to meet the lovely Karen from Mrs Martins Quilt shop again. The girls wanted to know if I rode my beast over to Eltham for the show. I had to admit that I hadn't, but the thought had crossed my mind.... hmmmm maybe I should ride there tomorrow morning?

I saw many lovely quilts and there was lots of wonderful stores there with tables groaning with goodies.

The Noty ladies had done a fabulous job on their community stall and had many gifts going for a bargain price. My friend Jennifer did a stack of Christmas shopping (clever girl!!)

I actually didn't take many photos, I was too busy talking with everyone (so unusual for me...) Was great to catch up with Amanda who was a noty girl but moved into the country several years ago.

I came home and finished putting the border on my quilters journey... you can see cookie voicing his opinion! I think I might have a little mojo back. Will take a photo when the sun comes up again tomorrow.

whats my name?

2011-10-05T20:46:00.007+11:00

Dawn from as sweet as cinnamon asked the question, where did your blog name come from?

I think mine is a little obvious hehehe. I am a certified loonatic.... or also known as a gym junkie. I love doing bootcamps and taking part in many types of physical challeges with my gym buddies whom we are known as team coffee.

Then there is my quilting habit! I have always been a crafter of some sort. My mum gave me my first sewing machine when I was about 12 and I have dabbled in clothes making over the years but never really enjoyed it. Then my best friends mum introduced me to cross stitch and tapestry which I have done since I was also about 12.

then one day about 8 years ago I saw in my local spotlight a class for a little patchwork wall hanging... the rest is history!

special gift

2011-09-21T19:22:00.005+10:00

I just logged into my blog a little while ago with the intention of uploading the photos below and telling you about another fellow blogger whom I greatly admire for many reasons. I always have a look at my blog roll to see who has blogged since I last logged in and lo and behold there is a lovely feature about her on flowerpress

I received this lovely gift last week but as the froglet had borrowed my camera for school camp until today I wasnt able to take photos.

I have made great use of this gift already and showed it off to my friends.

Thank you Cam for my lovely gift

just one look

2011-09-18T18:47:00.002+10:00

they say a picture says 1000 words!

maiden voyage

2011-09-12T21:50:00.004+10:00

Well I took the beast for her maiden journey.

I went to the gym and did a step combo class then did an RPM class (stationery bike) and then when I got home I discovered that my appointment with the osteopath wasn't until 4.30pm so I quickly got changed and jumped on the bike.

WOWZER!!! awesome ride and I only went whizzing around the back blocks... I did wheelies around the roundabout several times and if the neighbours were watching they would have been wondering what the hell I was doing.

When I got home I took the opportunity to take the photo of the beast resting... this brings a quilting theme to my post

shiny new road bike

2011-09-10T18:38:00.006+10:00

After thinking about buying a road bike for the past 4 years I finally got one!!

I'm so excited... I remember how excited I was when I bought my new hybrid. I am still going to ride my hybrid as my bestie wont be able to keep up with me! She has already asked the bike shop to fill my frame with lead to weight me down.

I got a text message from her lat night saying that she is going to call me the roadrunner and signed off as the coyote.... now I'm a bit worried as the coyote would always try and catch the roadrunner using Acme gadgets, the coyote was never successful but my friend is a little smarter than the original coyote and has already told me that when I get a puncture on our triathlons she will ride by and wave to me, so nasty!!!

in comparison to my seat on my hybrid this one isn't the most hoo har friendly either.... going to have to build up new muscles for this one!!

The fisherman was a little horrified when he saw my shiny new bike in the front room corridor, I told him it was no different to his rods and reels being inside the house! (no sense of humour). I might have to put it in our bed and see what he does!!

Organ donation

2011-08-31T16:43:00.003+10:00

After having a moan about my lurgy I read today another bloggers post and it made me feel a bit of a phoney. I know my lurgy will pass in a few days or a week but there are others out there that have conditions that will be with them for ever.

I have posted about donating blood before and hope that some of you have been able to do this.

Now I'm going to ask you to think seriously about organ donation. All my family are for this and we are registered with the organ donation register.

Please take the time to discuss this with your family and friends, think about the fact that we cant use our organs when we die (fact) but we could help many others live a full life and give a give a life saving legacy that money cant buy

Go and have a look at curlypops blog, she is a very talented crafter with an excellent blog who has all the info you will need to register for this.

ps i am feeling better thanks :)

bugs

2011-08-30T20:39:00.003+10:00

I seem to have caught some nasty lurgyc.... I thought it was the flu, had all the signs with the aches and pains. My poor fisherman didn't sleep well on Sunday night, I was freezing cold and shivering like crazy, he brought me my lovely warm dressing gown and 2 panadol and wrapped me up like an onion.

Then last night I just about drowned the poor guy! I think I sweated out most of the lurgy and felt better this morning. Of course I did a little cleaning up and had to strip the bed.... by 3pm I felt disgusting again.

I do love my neurofen at the moment....

My bed is calling to me, I think I will answer its call post haste!

wet cat

2011-08-28T18:28:00.006+10:00

I couldnt get a photo of cookies face, he wasnt terribly impressed.

Cookie has been 'washed' several times since he has come into our home, we are lucky as he isnt that worried about being washed and just hangs there while you wash what ever bits are needed.

The other day he was being a smart arse and was walking around the rim of the toilet while I was having a shower... he usually sits and yells at the door until I open it and talk to him. This time he slipped...... yep his backside had a cold wash cycle!

I grabbed him as he was shaking his back legs and washed him down with warm water as I was still in the shower... this made for an even wetter cat and I think he was rather unimpressed.

Now although we are searching for a dog to join our family this isnt our new puppy, this is my friends beautiful new boarder collie pup called Nelly.

I know she will be a lovely companion for my friend who is doing a great job of bringing her up.

finished my block of the month...

2011-08-13T19:33:00.006+10:00

A few years ago I made my first quilt that was designed by leanne's house called leanne's house. I enjoyed making that one so much that when I saw her next one called the quilters journey I set about making this one too.

I had enough fabrics left over from the first quilt to make this one without buying any new fabrics. This time rather than selecting fabrics as I went along I cut the entire quilt out in one hit.

I had some great cream fabric with little sewing notions on it that I wanted to use for all the embroidering bits and thought I would cut it all out at once to make sure I had enough. Then as I looked at the pattern I could see that many of the blocks were the same sizes and in fact some were identical.

So I got out my big zip lock baggies and cut them all out so that it looks random but goes together well.

I decided to sew my blocks together, press gently then traced the embroidery pattern on with the blue pens that wash out.

Once I had done the embroidery I washed the blocks and set them aside until I had several ready to sew together.

By the time I was finishing the last touches to the final block the first 6 were sewn together so all that needed to be done was the final 3 sewn to the bottom of the first 6 blocks. I now have the boarder fabric ready to hand sew onto the top, so in a way I guess the top isn't quite finished.... close enough for me to post about it!!

Now this random photo at the end of my post is my heart rate monitor that I bought myself a few months ago... when it was my birthday a few weeks ago I got up at 5.30am to go to circuit class and when I put my watch on I got very excited as the little cake was there to greet me.

no photos

2011-08-10T21:48:00.003+10:00

the froglet has stolen my camera so I have no photos to show you as I haven't uploaded them yet.

*sigh*

I had to go to the podiatrist today (much overdue) I got plantar fascitis some years ago and had to get orthotics. After many years of wearing daggy shoes it has pretty much healed.

Today they told me that rather than getting corrective orthotics I can now get supportive orthotics and this I hope will help remove the pain I feel when I am exercising. Think of the pain you get when you have been on your feet for hours walking or just standing and that's what I often experience after 15Min's of running around the gym.... not good when you are training for triathlons and such.

I'm on holidays for 2 weeks and I can see this time being taken up with visits to dentists, Dr's, the vet, the tax man, the mechanic, the auto trim man to fix the roof of my car that is falling off... makes for interesting backseat travelling.

Will retrieve my camera soon.

Weekends of fun

2011-08-07T21:34:00.006+10:00

Home from my busy weekend away. I was very naughty and didn't take one single photo..

I said in my last post about the things that I would be taking with me on retreat...

1. Double wedding ring (hand piecing) as pictured in the last post.

I did sew some of my DWR, and put together my first "melon".

2. Leanne's house, quilters journey, last block with a tiny bit of embroidery to finish and then sew the final blocks together.

I finished my quilters journey, now to audition some fabrics I have for the border and then to hand quilt it.

3. Fix the work quilt that I made... it was defaced by some plebs who obviously have the intelligence of a rock.

I fixed the work quilt, ended up fusing fabric together and fusing it to the quilt to cover the defaced squares which I did a simple stitch around the edge and voila!!

4. Table mats that I bought as a kit, finish these off.. some quilting.

I finished them off but didn't fancy quilting them.. maybe another day!

5. country sampler... hand pieced quilt that I am hand quilting (on and off.. more off than on lol).

Didn't take this one with me in the end!

Like most retreats, I slept too little, laughed a lot and sewed up a storm... a good time was had.

The dancing was excellent and the froglet and her team partner came 3rd in the 2 hand, so they are 3rd best under 19s in Victoria!!

quilting retreat

2011-08-04T19:49:00.003+10:00

the froglet went her her first 18Th birthday recently and made the birthday boy a special card... I found out he likes sparrows that's why it she chose this bird... my goodness she is talented (she gets that from her mother lol) I will post the picture she did for my birthday... is a butterfly, the noisy one said she is going to have it as her first tattoo (oh my)

One of my favourite times of year!! quilting retreat.

I'm off tomorrow with my quilty friends to spend most of the weekend indulging in things that I love to do.

Sadly I have to leave on Sunday morning as the froglet has her biggest dance competition of the year that day and I cant miss this.

For the first time in 4 years of going to winter inter club at MSAC I will miss this Friday night, but I felt this compromise was acceptable this year.

I have several things packed to go so that I can decide on what I feel like doing the most.

1. Double wedding ring (hand piecing) as pictured in the last post.
2. Leannes house, quilters journey, last block with a tiny bit of embroidery to finish and then sew the final blocks together.
3. Fix the work quilt that I made... it was defaced by some plebs who obviously have the intelligence of a rock.
4. Table mats that I bought as a kit, finish these off.. some quilting.
5. country sampler... hand pieced quilt that I am hand quilting (on and off.. more off than on lol).

I think that is all I am taking and I'm confident that I will complete numbers 2 and 3... specially 3 as my boss will kill me if I don't do this quickly!!

cornerstones on the DWR

2011-07-24T16:59:00.006+10:00

I posted a while back about my newest project that I have started.

I think I have cut out all the pieces that I need to make my eldest daughter a double wedding ring quilt.

I know that traditionally this is given to your daughter when she gets married, well I'm starting it early as it will probably take me that long to complete, poor girl doesn't even have a boy friend hehehe.

Now I have made a few of the arches and i threw them on the floor to see what they would look like with the cornerstones. I'm still happy with the colour of the 2 cornerstones and don't feel that they are too strong....

I'm going on my guilds retreat in a couple of weeks time and there is a shop along the way that has a large selection of fabrics along the lines that I have used, mainly Robyn Randolph's, so will look and make sure that there isn't something that looks even better than what I have already.

blood donation time again!

2011-07-21T17:05:00.003+10:00

I have been a little slack recently sorry.

Last week in our local newspaper there was an article about a young man who requires a blood transfusion every 3 weeks for a condition he has had since he was 6 months old. He was appealing to everyone to go and donate blood this month.

It turns out that we actually know him through swimming and my daughter, the froglet is due to give blood.

She has created an event on face book and invited all her friends to go with her and donate blood, she has had a good response and I hope that they do go through with this and donate.

I personally are unable to give blood any more due to living in the UK and I could have mad cows disease, this totally frustrates me as I have O neg blood which is the universal donors blood. (think I said this last time I blogged about blood donating).

Anyway I know another lovely blogger who also needs blood regularly so please, please, please go and give blood... I will come and hold your hand if you are scared... it really doesn't hurt... you actually get a buzz from giving such a precious gift. The froglet couldn't stop smiling after she did her first donation and said that she felt a bit funny... I was worried for a moment and asked her if she needed to lie down and she said "no mum, I feel good funny, like I have done something really special" tears welled up in my eyes.....

girls will be boys....

2011-07-08T20:05:00.004+10:00

Oh dear!!

turns out that our little cookie isn't a girl, shes a he! The first vet needs to go back to sexing kitten school, the vet who gave cookie h i s shots tonight I think was a little bemused.

The up side is that it will cost us less when its time to desex him! and 2 people have told me that males are better than females.

This explains why cookie loves to come into bed in the morning and snuggle into my neck!!

He is adorable kitten regardless of his sex, the breeder has now since admitted that she had her doubts about the vets diagnosis! (bit late lady!)

The noisy one whose kitten it is, I think is in a bit of shock and says once he has been desexed it doesn't matter LOL.... just need to think of cookie as a boy now, thank goodness we didn't call him princess and give him a complex for life!

On my fitness side of life, this week has been full on training... one of my friends has been doing personal training with me in their garage for the last 2 Monday evenings. His aim in life is to make me vomit... due to working out really hard (of course!) He hasn't achieved that yet, but I am quietly confident that he may achieve this in the next couple of weeks (not that I will tell him this!)

So with that and then dragging me out of bed at 530am I have only done 6 hours of fitness classes in the past 5 days. Today I took the noisy one to the gym as they are having for school holidays BYO child free to certain sessions. Today was RPM.... (stationery bike riding) poor thing felt quite ill by track 3 and I thought she was going to hurl her breakfast, BUT she battled on and didn't give in totally. I was very proud of her and so happy she came. She didn't like me sweating on her though heheheheheh.

My team coffee partner has found another event that we can do... this one if for epilepsy and involves riding around sandown motor course which is a 3.1km course with 13 turns. We get to ride for 6 hours!!! the idea is to ride as far as you can in this time. sounds like a challenge to me!

cookie has a visitor!

2011-07-03T18:48:00.006+10:00

School holidays have descended upon us down under and the noisy one is raiding the cupboard and fridge as she does at this time of year! The froglet is trying to look like cookie in the above photo!

My friend Jennifer came over with her eldest daughter and they took home with them cookies little sister whom they called Zoe. Oh my she is a pretty little thing! I had a text message from her this morning telling me that Zoe had managed to hide in behind some cupboards overnight so her hubby was busy making sure that all the holes were covered up.
her colouring is very different from cookies and she is a little bit smaller. I hope that Zoe settles into her new home soon.

Our little cookie has well and truly settled into our home and hearts and the fisherman was sprung playing with her on his hands and knees.

Today I did some work on the double wedding ring, I have grouped each arch together and counted how many more bits I need to cut out, I'm quite pleased with myself as my maths isn't my best subject and I don't have to cut many more out.

new shoes and a challenge

2011-06-24T19:03:00.004+10:00

These are my new and very unassuming runners that I purchased for a bargain price today. My team coffee partner bought some last week and I simply had to get some. I have worn new balance many years ago and changed across to asics for my last 3 or 4 pairs. They have been good runners but I have wondered if a change was needed... these are my change!

Now another very important event that I am going to attend is the hottie challenge that one of my favourite bloggers has been co ordinating. There are hotties from many well known bloggers, I have had a sneak peak at some on curlypops blog. I hope that some of my local friends might join me for a road trip to see them soon.

I have been doing a little sewing this week and I am hoping to finish the final block on my BOM, quilters journey. Shall post a few photos soon.

double wedding ring and give aways

2011-06-19T19:39:00.005+10:00

First of all I need to mention that there are 2 great giveaways up for grabs, I don't usually enter lots of these but I like the goodies that they are offering so thought I would put my hand up for a go.
the first one (not in any order) is for greenfairy quilts Judi is giving away a very nice looking FQ bundle.

The next one I have is for primitivehutch this is a new addition to my blog that I have started to follow and added to my list on my blog so that I can see when Robin updates her blog!

Now here is a peek at my newest project. yep double wedding ring.

A lot of these fabrics came from a wonderful lady that I met when I first started quilting and we formed a friendship through the Internet. She gave me a large bundle of offcuts and I have made several quilts and a bag and some friends have some of these fabrics in their quilts and bags too!

I chose fairly bold colours for the cornerstones and I still feel that they don't stick out like dogs bollocks.

My friends at sewing sat and cast their critical eyes across the fabrics and most of them agreed with my choice, will make up a few more strips and put them on the floor and take a photo... that aways helps!

New quilts

2011-06-18T19:50:00.006+10:00

I recently made a quilt for my cousins new baby. I have 3 cousins who my mum commissioned me to make a quilt for each new baby to their families.

I have made a few quilts now, I don't charge my mum to make these as its part of my gift to my cousins. This time I didn't have time to quilt it myself.

I asked my friend Anita if she would quilt it while I was oversea which she was able to do for me.

Once again I was very happy with the quilting that Anita did for me, this was just a nice all over design.

I joined strips of fabric to make a nice binding.

The quilt was given to the young family the other day and was very appreciated which is nice when you have taken the time to find something that you hope they will like.

long weekend

2011-06-12T17:24:00.004+10:00

typing one handed is slow and annoying!

why am i doing this you ask? cause my kitten has made herself comfy in my left hand and is nice and warm hehehee

I know you are all hanging to find out how my calf muscle is, it improving thanks for asking. I'm icing it and resting and one of my gym instructors is going to modify a class specially for me, shes awesome!!

Went out last night to hear a band play, first time in years the hubby and I have done that, worst thing was I couldn't dance grrr. We left the froglet at home with her friend, that was another first.

I have left the girls at home alone before but not at night and when I am a fair distance from them. Its not a matter of not trusting them as I do, its more if something happens and I'm not just around the corner... I kept checking the phone but they girls survived without me.

the noisy one has gone away with her friend for the long weekend so its been quiet here.

Work for me tomorrow... good thing is the pay as its a public holiday!!

Injury alert

2011-06-09T16:47:00.004+10:00

I'm not a happy camper this evening. I have been getting back into my training at the gym and was back to my weights that I was using prior to my trip overseas.... had been upping them little by little so I didn't hurt myself.

So today, doing the circuit class and was only jogging on the spot, nothing hard or overly vigorous, when "ping" I felt a nasty pain in my right calf.

Now this isn't a good pain I thought and tried to gently work through it to see if it let up. For a while there I thought I was onto a winner and it would ease off.....

nope.

I had a girly moment while I iced it outside the gym and had a little howl, then pulled myself together...

I was lucky enough to have an appointment with my osteopath/myotherapist, so rather than working on my upper back she tackled my legs. I didn't like the nodding and faces she was pulling while I told her what happened and the pain I was experiencing and had a nasty feeling she knew exactly what I had done.

She had a gentle fiddle with my calf and confirmed my fear that I had pulled the muscle in my calf ARGGHHH.

so now I have to be a good girl and no exercise for a week... oh I am allowed to do upper body weights and swimming, so will do this and no more as I don't want to have lingering pain or problems.

So the next 3 days I am icing and voltaran and gentle ambulation.... boy am I pissed off.

new family member

2011-06-05T18:47:00.006+10:00

just recently we found that we had acquired a new family member. this stunning black cat adopted us and is living on our back veranda, she is soooo friendly and such a pretty cat. my husband is a self proclaimed cat hater but this is the second cat to adopt us and he is a little smitten.

THIS however is our new kitten, cookie. she is a rag doll kitten and is a lovely natured kitten. the first photo is a little evil looking lol.

yesterday I did a 3 hour mega class down at the gym and then last night
I went out with the fisherman and danced for hours in my new shoes.... I was a little clever though and took with me some flatties for the end of the night, so happy that I did that!!

Ireland

2011-05-27T21:14:00.008+10:00

We went to Ireland and stayed in the town that my father in law lived in. The froglet got some authentic Irish dance shoes as she was needing some new ones. The fisherman got to fish with his Dad and the noisy one met her Irish cousins.

please note that you need to double the price of the fuel from Euros to Aussie dollars.... yes you are reading correctly.... now you may pick your jaw off the ground.

No trip to Ireland is complete without kissing the Blarney stone. We all did this and now you can blame the stone for my non stop blethering!

heart beats

2011-05-25T19:41:00.003+10:00

Well back to reality for me.... had to return to work after having nearly 7 weeks off. what a bummer! (have to take some more holidays soon!).

I will post some more pictures of the trip soon I promise, but here is a picture of my newest toy.

I have been admiring heart rate monitors for some time now and when one of my friends said she had bought one for a good price I thought I would check them out... the rain the other day kept me from going to the car so I ended up with this little beauty.

I have used it in a pump style class and burned up 330 Cal's. The idea of using a HRM is that you workout smarter and more efficiently so time will tell!

Bound for Ireland

2011-05-12T16:38:00.000+10:00

This is wollerton Hall, a very stately mansion near my father in laws. There are free roaming deer on the grounds and the girls were intrigued by the mole holes in the ground.

The mansion has some rooms done up like it would have been when the family resided there and the rest of it is a museum of the most unlikely artifacts from semi precious stones to stuffed animals. Now of course animal lovers would not be happy about this but these were done in the days waaaaaaaay before animal rights and it does give one the opportunity to see some animals up close.

We drove from Nottingham to Holyhead in Wales to catch the ferry to Dublin.

Had a chuckle when we saw this on the ferry.... made me feel so much safer lol

This was our first view of Ireland from the Ferry

Of course we saw many white swans as we travelled, I love our black swans but the white swans are very beautiful too.

In search of the sheriff of nottingham

2011-05-11T16:47:00.007+10:00

No trip to London is complete without a visit to Harrods!

This was the price of a nice piece of Salmon... 95 quid!!! eeeekkkk!

We left London and drove up to visit the fisherman's dad in Nottingham. We visited the castle and found the gardens to be in bloom with all the lovely spring flowers, I don't know what this one is but it caught my eye.

As usual the castle was decorated with gargoyles and other concrete beasties.

The oldest pub in England is here in Nottingham, it has small doors and low ceilings as they weren't very big people back in the olden days!

I must add that it is the coldest day ever recorded here in Melbourne in May, there has been snow up in the Alps (nearly 20cm in Falls creek) ski season could be massive this year!! We had snow up in the Dandenongs which is only about 45min drive from here..... my friend just said its very cold, to which I replied... cold enough to snow!! LOL

reliving holidays

2011-05-10T20:37:00.006+10:00

The beauty of blogging after a holiday is you get to relive your adventures all over again!

My daughters and I walked many miles through London and came across many things by accident. We walked down Old Bond Street and found this was littered with the designer shops. You could only get into some if they unlocked the doors and admitted you... some shops had doormen on the outside.

This is a doorman of a different kind! This very happy chappy was on duty at Buckingham Palace which was undergoing an enormous clean out ready for the royal wedding.

This isn't a sight you would see wandering around the streets of Melbourne every day, but in London the car drivers didn't seem to blink an eyelid.

Some of the iron work in the gates are amazing

You cant get much more traditional looking that these 2 geezers!!

further images of London

2011-05-09T21:27:00.008+10:00

The fisherman used to be a milko when he was younger and used to drive one of these electric milk floats. One came into the street while we were sitting in my sister in laws house so we stalked the milko.

They still have the glass bottles and they also have juice in the bottles too.

Of course we found squirrels.... we had a close encounter with one in Hyde park just before we came home but will show you pics of that later.

It was mothers day the first weekend we were in London so I had an early gift from my girls. In the local shopping centre was these little fishies who love to eat the dead skin off your feet.... I got to play with them!!

The age of this city never ceases to amaze me.

Big Ben constantly pops up in my viewfinder.

And the coffee? pretty shite to tell you the truth!

A taste of London

2011-05-08T14:07:00.009+10:00

Here is the first of my photos from my trip to the UK. I hope you enjoy sharing a little of my journey.

We arrived in London at 6.30am and we all managed to keep awake all day and of course slept like logs the first night which was great to get into our new time zone (coming home was a different matter lol).

This is Hammersmith Bridge, its still made from wood and moves when the cars and buses drive across it. They actually limit the amount of buses during peak hour so the bridge doesnt collapse.

Always a stunning sight to see when you step out of the tube station and there is Big Ben and the houses of parliment right in front of you. The froglet was in awe that during the Blitz that these stunning buildings missed being destroyed.

We went on the London eye and had a great view from above, the girls enjoyed being able to see many of the sights we were planing to visit in our coming days in London.

Westminster Abbey was unfortnately closed to the public the day we arrived but we loved the designs and many gargoyles on the outside of the Abbey.

Quite a few gruesome and scarey looking beasties considering its a church. The doors and stonework was amazing and now with the modern age of digital cameras I was able to capture many pictures that with old style cameras and film you couldnt afford!

Sorry I disappeared!!

2011-05-06T22:02:00.003+10:00

Howdy folks,

Sorry to disappear like that but I went on holiday to the UK for 4 weeks and had limited Internet access.

I will be posting some select photos from my travels in the coming weeks for your viewing pleasure.

Since coming home I returned to the gym after doing nothing like I had been. Day one wasn't too bad, with a little muscle tightness.... day 2 was a nice swim but I could feel it in my arms. Day 3 was pump....owwwwww that hurt! day 4, well, what can I say? My P/T decided to do our fitness test again (after being off!!!) nasty man.

I was pleasantly surprised, I improved on the beep test with a result of 5.3 (but my chest was really hurting) and then all my other exercises I had slightly improved, until I reached the final 20Min's then I started to fatigue. So all in all, I didn't put on weight nor loose too much fitness but I do feel a little less toned.

Today was day 5 and it was RPM... did well until the 2Nd last track and I started to struggle to maintain my speed.

I still have one more week off work so will continue with the gym each morning!

stay tuned for photos

community festival

2011-03-20T20:44:00.003+11:00

Today was one of our local community festivals. The froglet and her dance school participated for the second year.

this year they couldn't dance in the lake area as there is actually water in it!! There was a black swan enjoying himself though!

After the dancing (it was damn hot too, makeup melted!) The froglets friends all gathered together and we went to look at the rides.

You wouldn't catch me on this sucker, however for a large amount of money I would consider it!

The froglet and her friends went on... she loves these rides, no truly she really really loves them and the bigger and more scary the better.

I have a photo of her laughing and swinging her legs and her friend is screaming in terror lol.

I loved the animal farm and got to pick up some lovely little chickens and got a photo of me with a little piglet squealing its head off..... then to my delight on the way out we found the reptile guy with a great selection of beasties. A black headed python (about 10kg) got a pic with him on me, a lovely little gliding possum that was sound asleep, kookaburra, Tawney frog mouth that turned his little yellow eye on me.... a fat green tree frog, a large wombat but the coolest one was the fruit bat that seemed to like me hehehehhehe

Rain, rain go away....

2011-03-04T17:03:00.004+11:00

Well today 2 of my gym buddies, one of their daughters and a friend from my work went up to tackle the 1000 steps.

The weather, yes well, to be blunt it pissed down on us and we were totally soaked through. Apart from that I had a good time.

My team coffee partner and I aimed to do it 3 times, but the weather wasn't letting us. So we had to settle for twice. It was a bit slower than I expected (we did do a 6am class this morning too).
1st time was up in 12 Min's, down in 7 Min's. 2nd time up in 13min and down in 8 Min's. Then I ran from the bottom of the steps to the coffee shop hehehehe.

We went up to Sassafras and had a lovely lunch together (even though we were rather wet and chilly). There is a nice candle shop there that we popped into, it smelt Divine and better yet it had a heater that I promptly hogged.

the heater in the car on the way home did an awesome job and warmed us up a treat. As we drove down the eastern freeway we saw a heap of cops on bikes stopping the traffic, then a long line of official looking cars and a few more cops stopping the cars overtaking them.... bet they were annoyed!!

I forgot my camera so no photos from the very soggy Dandenongs.

kris kringle

2011-03-02T20:50:00.005+11:00

I had a an email from one of my friends who has moved up north. She told me in no uncertain terms that she is disappointed that I and indeedy our group of friends who gather weekly for our hit of craftyness haven't blogged about our recent and yes belated Kris Kringle swap.

I apologise for my tardiness and thank you Maddy for the boot up the bum to remedy this lol.

I was lucky enough to receive a home made gifty. Claire made me a beautiful angel doll. She did a beautiful job on her little face too.

I haven't made one of these kind of dolls and have admired them from afar... now I have my own!! best of all she knows that I love a certain fabric range and used some of her own precious stash to make the apron with this very fabric!! Even more special!!

So I dedicate this post to you Maddy up in Toowoomba and beg your forgiveness heheheheh

I must say that our group has been doing a Kris Kringle for a few years now and even though it stresses me out and I usually have months to think of something for my recipient, I do enjoy being part of such a great group of girls.... wonder if I will ever get a handbag??

Visual communications class

2011-02-26T22:46:00.007+11:00

The froglet is doing units 1 & 2 of vis comm this year. She had homework over the school holidays and produced the first 3 pieces of work.

The in class they all had to draw their mobile phones... I thought they were supposed to leave them in their lockers!!!

A pear was next on the list.... she is doing pretty good work, considering she hasn't had any lessons in art apart from the usual school ones!

Then there is the licorice all sort with the bite out of it... a little lop sided but still good.

I am led to believe that she is enjoying this class which is good... she has the creative bent from her mother :)

too many things to do

2011-02-22T20:58:00.002+11:00

My friend made an awesome picture for me, so I stole it and put it up on my face book profile and thought I would show you all here.

this of course is our special team name which started over a year ago in a boot camp training session.

On Sunday I managed to get some sewing done and have blocks ready to get their sashings and be ready to go to the quilter in the next week or two. Still have to do the binding on the baby quilt (I wont look to the right of me as it is glaring at me right now). Then there is the sister-in-laws quilt that needs to be quilted....hmmm.

no photos I am sorry but will take some when it is light outside.

Work again tomorrow, got some new contact lenses... gosh they are soooooo comfortable!! I thought my old ones were good, these shit all over them! Have to go and have the eye drops on Thursday..yuk Must make a dental appointment (double yuk)

Oh and I finally made appointments for the fisherman and myself to get our tax done.... yes for the LAST financial year.. thought we could do it real late then do our next one early and get a double hit lol!

back to school

2011-02-16T20:02:00.005+11:00

School has now been back for a few weeks.... feels like it anyway!!

I had to do the covering of school books yet again, but only for the froglet who has almost all new books for year 11.

Since being back at school she has been coming home and doing her homework. She has always been a good student and works hard to get good results.

Tonight she came and spoke to the fisherman and myself and said she was thinking about her career.... our ears perked up and we turned to her to find out her new thoughts... a food tech teacher! she announces. hmmmmm this is different, but gives her food for thought (pardon the pun!)

She is doing vis comm and has been doing some great work... I will have to steal her folder and take some photos to show you. She hasn't really had any formal art lessons apart from the school ones but like myself she has a creative eye and can turn her hand to most crafts. I'm not good at all the things I have tried but I do enjoy drawing and hope one day to do some water colour classes.

Tri hard...

2011-02-14T23:07:00.009+11:00

The weather was fine, chilly but clear...
We checked the map and walked the course

The finish line loomed in the distance

the water quality was below acceptable to swim in so instead of swimming in the bay we had to do a 500mtr barefoot sprint on the sand.... We hadn't trained for that!!

My friend was going so fast on her bike that she was a blur!

For a change she only saw the back of me!!

I did really well and improved my times from the last tri. I finished in 36.48 and did PB's in both the bike and the run.
This time I came 22nd in my age group and 116th overall out of 225. My partner came 28th and 156th overall, not bad when she had been ill earlier in the week and still wasn't 100%

We were disappointed that we weren't able to do the open water swim but I still really enjoyed the event and I'm looking forward to next season.

We need a new challenge!

triathlon take 2

2011-02-10T16:32:00.003+11:00

OK so the count down begins again for this Sundays Triathlon. This time my poor team partner has been ill all week (I have an advantage moohawhahahahahha) no seriously I do feel bad for my team mate and hope that she is feeling better by Sunday (gotta say that as she might read my blog!!). We haven't done nearly as much training for this event but we have been keeping up the fitness in general so I know we will be fine.

We are going to go down to the beach on Saturday as they are having a registration/pre tri talk thingy so she thought we could take advantage of this and check out transition and where we will be riding and running. I hope that I don't panic and loose my bike rack position and waste valuable time like I did in my last tri. If the weather isn't too bad we might even have a dip in the ocean, if its cold I honestly don't know what we will do on Sunday, freeze I guess!!

I am making my sister in law in London a quilt, its now ready to be quilted by yours truly, (thanks to my friends for helping me baste the other night) I also have a baby quilt for the great niece (EEK I'm going to be a great Aunt!!) this is awaiting its binding to be sewn down.

I also have a quilt to make for my cousins new baby here, my Mum has 'commissioned' me to make all my cousins babies quilts as they have arrived, so another little girl turned up a few months ago. I am using a Moda bake shop recipe but have found the directions a tad confusing so have sat and re written them so that I can understand them. I'm not saying that they aren't well written, just confusing to me! Its a lovely pattern and I will post a picture once its done.

I have however run out of time to quilt this before I leave on our trip to the UK (did I mention this??) So I have employed the services of my lovely friend Anita to do the deed while I am gallivanting across the globe with my family. Then when I return I can pop on the binding and away we go!!

cyclones and triathlons

2011-02-02T21:32:00.004+11:00

firstly like many others I am thinking about the cyclone that is about to hit the top part of Australia. All the crazy weather we have been getting in the last few weeks, its madness... mother nature is very pissed off.

Now my team coffee partner and I have signed up for another triathlon, this one is open water..eeeekkkkkk!!! This is when I hate the fact that I wear contact lenses and it worries me that in the washing machine that I will be getting churned around in that someone will whack my goggles off my head and that will stuff me up big time.

Apart from that training is on again, not that we really stopped lol.

School is back on Friday yeeee harrrr!! the noisy one is quite pleased to be going back to see her friends and I think the froglet is rather nervous as she is in year 11 and its no longer a walk in the park. She will be fine as she is a good student and works hard to achieve high standards, she has some new subjects which she isn't sure about but I believe she will do okay.

I have a baby quilt all finished except sewing down the binding and doing a label.... oooh poop forgot about that sucker lol. now to get the other quilt top basted and quilted.... not to mention the other quilt that i need to start.... sigh

ice skating

2011-01-30T21:53:00.006+11:00

I have done ice skating since I was about 10 years old, never did lessons or fancy spins but I can hold my own on the ice and skate backwards long enough to impress the girls!

The noisy one has been busting my arse to go ice skating for years, and now we have a beautiful new rink in the docklands so we finally made it there on Friday with my team mate and all the babychinos.

It took a little bit of persuasion to get the froglet to believe that her fingers wouldn't be sliced off when she fell over. She has stunning black and blue bruises on her knees and claims that her arms are sore too.

they have pond hockey there and anyone can have a go at ice hockey on their rink that is just behind the main skating rink.

My team mate enjoyed herself and the babychinos all had a good time, with her middle one starting out saying that she couldn't do this after being on the ice for less than a minute (no joking!) and by the end of the session she was managing to skate in a fashion without holding on the whole time.

I hope to get down the rink again soon, the 10 year break was too long!

Australia day suprises

2011-01-26T22:01:00.008+11:00

Happy Australia day!!

I was sitting here minding my own business when all of a sudden "BOOM"!!! yes fireworks! the local council put on a decent show and we are lucky enough to be able to see it from the street, so no crowds or local yobbos falling over us.

I missed the fireworks that they put on for new years eve so this time i had the camera set up ready to roll... think I managed to get a couple of decent pictures this time.

My most amazing day

2011-01-23T15:27:00.011+11:00

Today was the day that my team partner and I competed in our first triathlon. This was a special one just for women and proceeds go to breast cancer research.
the day started very early at 5am... yes you read correctly I was up at 5am and by the time I got the girls up, my support team arrived and we met up with my partner in crime.

Now no event is possible without coffee and this guy was making a killing!!

We registered and received a really nice singlet top, sun visor and swim cap. You can see here my timing chip that I had to wear on my left ankle (note the pink toenails and fingernails!!)

I have big black numbers on my right calf and right arm... in permanant pen!
The order of a triathlon for those who don't know, is swim, cycle and run. Our distances were 200m swim/6km ride/2km run. Quite doable we thought, this was the medium course. My partner and I have been training for months and felt really confident that we would do well and have little or no problem with the distances....

We were partly right... Swim was pretty good, I did get stuck behind a couple of ladies on the last pool can (floating thing to swim around!) so lost a few seconds and also at the steps waiting to get out... Then on the bikes and away I went.. need to work on those transitions! the ride itself was good, but I was puffing a bit and could see the running track.. it seemed MUCH longer than 2km.

My family and friends had placed themselves along the course at intervals which was great as I was cheered on not once but up to 4 times! They really kept me going.. and the thought of my team mate who had a big head start lol.

When I got back to transition I couldn't find my position on the rack for my bike and lost valuable time (lesson to learn!) this kinda threw me off my timing and I struggled to keep going. We had to do 2 laps of the running track, I felt that I ran twice as far as I was supposed to! The weirdest thing is that running is usually my weakest leg and I beat my partner in this and she beat me on the bike which I usually blitz her on... I think I better at hills than her lol.

At the end of the event we received a lovely medal and a huge sense of achievement.
I placed 43rd overall (out of 129) and 8Th in my age group out of 15. I have to tell you though that I placed 3rd in the run leg!!6Th in swimming and 9Th in cycle. My team mate really did well and came 22ND overall and 4Th in the age group. she came 4Th in swim, 3rd in cycle and 7Th in run.
We can now call ourselves triathletes and will be doing this again!

Triathlon pink

2011-01-22T22:38:00.003+11:00

I have been meaning to blog all week and got caught up with other stuff.

anyway tomorrow morning at 8am I will be doing my first ever triathlon with my best mate from the gym. I will post details and some photos as soon as I am able to move!

No seriously, I believe that we will do very well and will be on an incredible high afterwards. Got my friends and family coming to cheer me on and have received text messages and face book messages from other friends cheering us on.

I will be crossing the finish line not only with a sense of personal achievement but I will be thinking of all the friends I have lost to breast cancer and my Aunt who is battling this awful disease.

special occasions

2011-01-09T23:16:00.006+11:00

The fisherman was looking around the backyard yesterday and let out an exclamation of amazement when he found this lemon on our tree! the noisy one wanted to know if I had been feeding the lemon tree hormones heheheh.

Don't you just love presents?

My friend at the gym and her partner (who is also one of my best mates and boxing partners) became engaged and had their party last night at Monsalvat.

There was a beautiful sunset that I tried to capture.

I spent my evening with my family and friends laughing, having a few drinks and a gourmet BBQ. I danced until my feet ached and I had to give in and take my shoes off. I wasn't alone as my team coffee partner took off hers too (along with most of the women!) The floor was sooo sticky from spilt drinks that dancing became an art form, it was like dancing on fly paper.

I wish my friends all the happiness in the world, they truly are a wonderful couple who deserve everything and more. I look forward to their wedding which I know will be another amazing night of fun and laughter.

happy new year!!

2011-01-06T17:07:00.013+11:00

Hey gang!!
sorry for the lack of blogging but here is a blog with girth for you to get your teeth into.

This is the gingerbread house that my mum bought us for Christmas, I usually make one but she beat me to it... not sure if I was happy about that or not LOL.

Now I finally finished the quilt for work... the boss was about to fire me!!

Please ignore the threads hanging about but it was obviously not finished at this point. I used the techniques that I learnt at my guilds symposium late last year with Kellie Wolfsohhn. I need to practise some more!!

This is one of the new guys at the zoo! the new seal enclosure is really good.

we timed our visit quite well and managed to watch a little one on one training with the seals, this one was very cute.

The baby elephants are awesome... Mali's little brother is a right bossy boots and was trying to push her down the hill but she dug her heels in and pushed his little wrinkly butt back.

I nearly didnt renew the girls and my FOTZ memberships but we talked about it and decided that we would renew for this year and see how it goes. The girls are getting older and going off with their own friends more often... poor old mum gets taxi duties :)

It was a good day out at the zoo... first one for the year.

just a quickie

2010-12-26T23:37:00.002+11:00

happy Christmas to you all for yesterday!!

Just before I go to bed, I am very pleased to inform you all that the froglet successfully donated her first bag of blood on Friday. she was very brave and didn't do anything horrid like pass out :) there was another young lady who had given her blood and then had to lie down for some time as she was a horrid green colour. The froglet devoured 2 strawberry big M's and biscuits and cheese afterwards. I asked her how she was feeling and she said kinda funny.... great I thought she is going to pass out, but no she was on a high cause she had done something wonderful that will help maybe several people.

Christmas was great, I received my own tom tom as the fisherman thought I needed one rather than stealing his all the time ehehehhe. the girls got wii games, DVDs and other bits and pieces.

today I bought a wii fit.... how much fun is that?!!!! off to do some myself as the girls have finally finished!

time to give blood!!

2010-12-22T23:20:00.003+11:00

Tomorrow is the day! the froglet is going to donate her corpuscles at 3pm... cross your fingers for her that she doesn't freak out :)

tonight we strolled over to the shops and picked up her first pair of high heels, and I mean high! 4inch stilettos... gorgeous... she is now gloating that she is taller than me.

shall post again tomorrow after the donation. wish her luck

blood donating

2010-12-15T21:50:00.005+11:00

Not much time to blog tonight but will ask you all to go and look at curlypops blog as she talks about how important donating blood is, specially at this time of year.

Please don't put this off and say "I don't have time", make time!! I must tell you all that I am unable to donate blood due to being in the UK durning the late 80s, early 90s so they think I have mad cows disease.

I was a regular donor as I have O neg blood and I find this soooo frustrating as it was important to me to be able to do this and know that I was helping someone who needed my blood!

I am taking the froglet as she expressed to me earlier in the year that she would like to become a donor when she turned 16. So we are off to the blood bank in the coming week to do her first donation! She too is a O neg so hopefully she will be able to donate!

So don't come up with flimsy excuses, just do it!

quilt sells for $70,000

2010-12-10T21:39:00.004+11:00

http://money.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=8181169

if you go to the above link you will read about a lady who sold her quilt for $70k this year in Melbourne!!!

I had read about this a little while ago and then when I just logged into the Internet it came up on the news. Lucky woman!! of course she deserves the money as we all know how much time and effort go into making a quilt.

I have been slack in blogging recently but I promise to do a nice fat blog soon about all the goings on, 16Th birthdays, U2 concert, sausage sizzles (70kg of snags!) fun night at the pool with inflatables and pizzas, end of year Irish dance concerts, end of year swim club events.... oh me oh my the list goes on!

Then there are the book lists for next year! I need to get a second mortgage on them not to mention electives (and this is a public school) Also will need new uniforms for growing girls and shoes *sigh*

the jumper alone costs $81 Book lists had to be in 2 days ago and the noisy one hadn't even brought her books home yet, so I didn't even know what she had and if I could sell them (need to investigate that) I have ended up buying some folders which I know we don't need grrrrr. I guess I could set up a stand and sell them outside the school!

weeping calistamon

2010-11-24T21:05:00.008+11:00

I started to cut out the fabrics for my eldest daughters next quilt, you can probably guess what its going to be. Now I am going do this all by hand so it will take me some time she is about to turn 16 in a weeks time.... gosh time flies!

One of the girls at my guild has been making a double wedding ring and used a decor box, fits everything perfectly!!

I have a weeping calistamon in my back yard and every year its becoming bigger and bigger and when it flowers the show is amazing!

I actually have another one of these trees in the front nature strip but the local council sent around some men to 'trim' my tree as it was interrupting the view of people getting in and out of their driveways.... the thing is we live in a court.... there is no issues of seeing past anything. I told these men that they were in the wrong street and should be on the main road around the corner as I cant see to turn right!! They chose not to listen and butchered my tree. I rang the council and complained but it did me no good, the bastards came and did it again 2 years later!!! To add injury to insult the rubbish truck broke a branch a week later and really made it look sad.
I will chain myself to the tree next year!

Here is my tree last night. I took some close ups which I will post later.

gardens and rain

2010-11-04T20:02:00.008+11:00

Last week we had a tiny bit of rain.

This is the most rain we have had in our back yard ever. The frogs that live in the pipeline behind our house are croaking away... its been many years since I have heard them making such a racket...

I bought some seeds going cheap at bunnings the other week and threw them into pots. I think this lot is basil.

Then coriander.... I love this stuff!! the family don't share my love of this aromatic herb but that's fine as that means more for me!

Of course there are the tomatoes.

I have 3 of them. A black Russian, a creamy white one (this will be interesting!) and a Tommy toe as we love our cherry tomatoes.

Mixed lettuce in the last pot

Ive been busy tracing and cutting fabric for my next quilt... I'm surrounded by piles of fabric just waiting its turn to be chopped. stay tuned for more!

beautiful weather

2010-10-25T17:51:00.003+11:00

Its sunny at last!! today I sat outside having a coffee or two with friends in the filtered sunshine.... sooooo nice

Then this afternoon I came home and planted my last tomato into a bigger pot, so now I have a yellow a black and little cherry toms in pots. Then tragedy struck and the seeds I had sewn into their little greenhouse thingy all got spilt all over the grass, arrrgghhhh

I scraped it up as best I could but I think I might have some little flowers in my lawn..... think I will keep that a secret from the fisherman lol.

Speaking of fish, I have some very nice flake in my fridge for dinner tonight that he caught on Friday night.

No photos, sorry.... getting a bit slack with that so must go and take some pics now that the weather is improving.

can I do it again??!!

2010-10-17T17:14:00.013+11:00

WOW!!!!
Oh my goodness, what an amazing day.
I cant believe that the big day has come and gone.

My team and I conquered the westgate bridge twice in a day. Now it said 50km BUT they lied!!!! This is my friend and I at the start, Im wearing the red top!

We did 55km and it took Georgina and I 3hr 10min riding time. We also rode back to the car from Alexandria gardens so did a total of 60km riding.
The day started out with a promise of showers and 16 degrees. We did have a few little showers but nothing to write home about, and the temp in someways was pretty good as we did get very hot riding up the bridge.

There were bikes everywhere and people stretching in strange positions where ever they could find a plot of grass that wasnt muddy.
We are now plotting our next riding experience and are hoping to do the 80km next year, but with luck we might find another ride between these.
Essentials for the day... coffee! we are team coffee after all!

My trusty steed did me proud and she rode like a dream. My big fat seat saved my bum from getting extreme soreness... Im feeling the effects of the ride but havent stiffened up to the point of not being able to walk.

less than 24 hours!

2010-10-16T21:43:00.003+11:00

I can hardly believe it, the day is almost here! Round the bay in a day here I come whooo hoooo.

today my friend and her family went into Alexandra gardens and picked up the teams rider packs. they have found where to drop us off, and park the car. I picked up my rider pack at her house and dropped off my bike. Our other team member also dropped in with his bike and we had a coffee and discussed strategies.

oh my gawd I'm soooo excited.

the weather in the last 24 hours has been foul, rain, hail and snow in some areas. I don't know if I am going to be warm enough but I don't have much choice now so will have to go with what I have.

no photos again tonight, but I plan on taking photos tomorrow and will post action pictures of the days events.

wish us luck!!!

4 days and counting

2010-10-13T20:00:00.003+11:00

yes folks only 4 days till I go round the bay... well part of it anyway lol.

I have managed to get in the last week 3 pump classes, 3 rpm classes, one boxing class, one step combo class, tomorrow will be another boxing class, do you think I have done enough to be ready for my ride???

I took my friend with me to RPM last night, she gave me evil looks throughout the class and told me she hated the class and probably me too, but today she loves me again and isn't too sore so I might get her back again!

My friend Claire has been very busy lately and is featured in her first magazine article in this months issue of Homespun. She also has created her first softie using Mellys beautiful new range of fabrics

She brought him into our sewing group the other night, but he had lost an eye and some teeth and we all thought he was very cute being a one eyed monster.... we were thinking of names for him but I don't think Maddie the monster is going to stick!!

I can also brag here that I have another very talented friend, Anita who recently quilted a stunning quilt for Melly, she quilted my daughters quilt and our camping quilt, which I think I have posted about in much early posts.

While I am spreading the word about my very talented friends I should also mention Jennifer who made herself the bestest nappy bag ever!! She got some of Rosalie Quinlands plastic coated fabrics and came up with a cracker of a design. We were out fabric shopping a few weeks ago and several ladies commented on her bag... she should make up the pattern as I know there are many bag ladies out there! I personally love Bruce posing, versace eat your heart out!!

One of the things I love about my blog is my blogroll. I can read all about other peoples lives, some of these ladies I know and some I have gotten to know through reading their blogs. I have met a few of these very talented ladies (and their partners) selling their beautiful crafts and creations at markets. I hope to meet some more of you in the not too distant future.

quilting class

2010-10-09T21:48:00.009+11:00

One week until I do my first ever round the bay in a day.

I have always wanted to do a fun run or some sort of large physical event and finally my time has come!

My friends and I have done the training and we hope that we can last the bridge climb!

Now a few weeks ago I did a class with my guild and we were lucky enough to have the very talented Kellie Wulfsohn of dont look now I think we impressed Kellie with our skills as we did a 2 day course in one day.

How excited was I when I found that the materials that I painstakingly chose were the same as ones Kellie had used!

I have finished quilting my cushion top and now need to find the time to turn it into a cushion!!
I promised Kellie I wouldn't put a photo of her on my blog, so I hope her hands quilting aren't in breach of my promise heheheh.

I took many photos of her wonderful quilts and have found them to be excellent in helping me remember how to do her swirly quilting design, mind you I looked after I had finished my top and I had in fact done it incorrectly, but no one will know apart from everyone who reads my blog!
I bought my fabrics when I went on retreat a few months ago and was really pleased when I finally found a fabric that seemed to fit the criteria, once I had the first piece it was easy to find a few more to complement my selection. Kellie had suggested a striped fabric for the binding of the cushion and I found one that suited the job... more excitement!

my table runner

2010-09-26T19:42:00.009+10:00

Today my 2 friends who are doing the round the bay with me in 3 weeks time (eek) and I went for what is possibly our last training ride. We did 40km in 2 hours to Craigieburn and back. It was such a beautiful day to be outside.

I mentioned some time ago that one of my friends made me a beautiful table runner for my birthday, I took some photos a while ago but haven't had the time to blog about it so here is some pics of my very special table runner, many thanks Jennifer!

Jennifer knows that I am rather partial to frogs and used a very suitable background fabric

I must say my poor table runner met with a small accident and some Pepsi was spilt onto it, the noisy one grabbed the cloth and dabbed at it and was very upset as she knew I would be very unimpressed. Lucky for her I was able to wash it and between her dabbing and my washing it has come up clean and unstained.

Life is back to normal with the laptops now working and the noisy one has a brand new computor as the old one totally died in the arse. The fisherman worked very hard to fix it but the old hardrive/motherboard thwarted him. I must say I am impressed with his willpower as all he really wanted to do was put the old harddrive on the road and run it over multiple times with our trusty 4x4!

computor problems

2010-09-24T23:32:00.003+10:00

I have been missing in action off the net for the last 2 weeks. The program that was protecting our computers had a meltdown and we had to wait for the fisherman aka Mr I.T. to come home and fix it for us.

this is now done and I have much to catch up on.

I have now finished my 6 weeks of boot camp and I'm feeling rather sore but I know I have lost some inches and gained some fitness. My instructors were brutal in the nicest possible ways and my team mates kept me inspired and on target, I don't think I would have achieved some of the things without my team coffee to push me on.

I did a class last week and will post about that over the weekend with luck

fabric and exersize do go together!

2010-09-07T19:45:00.006+10:00

Today's images are from my garden... spring is sprunging!
Thursday morning we did an indoor challenge as the weather had turned foul over night. Teams of 3, so team coffee were off and running, literally! More circuits with ladders, weaving in and out of tires, weights, push ups, step ups, push ups, mountain climbs which are rather nasty, more push ups and then you do it all again! At the end of this we got to choose a reward.... ohh we thought, we selected a cardboard foot with the #10 and we got to do another 100 push ups!! OMG, so we did them and then decided to get another cardboard foot, this time we got to do another 70 mountain climbs, geeze, can it get any worse? yes, another 70 push ups. We decided that sit ups were needed at this point of time.

But as a reward to myself for doing well, my friend and I went on a little shopping spree to Gail B's and boy did we reward ourselves!

I haven't taken a photo of my haul, but I bought background fabric in a nice buttery colour for my eldest daughters next quilt, which will take me a long time to make, I'm making her a double wedding ring, yes she isn't even 16 but I want to make one and this will be for her... 21st probably lol. It will be by hand, and I am going to use up some of my Robyn Randolph's and similar fabrics.

I also bought a kit to make a baby's quilt to take overseas to my niece who will be due the day or so before we arrive in London, so thoughtful of her! I also have to make her mother one, another cousin here in Australia is having a baby so one for him and a bed runner for my friends engagement... Think I will be busy!

So this morning I was up again at 5.30am and the froglet came with me again to do swim training, so nice to have a grumpy teen in the car :) she is better on the way home as she is more awake.

Today was a bit of a horror session. We started with a run around the park (remember I don't run!) then back inside to do mini circuits of running again... around the stage and over it, bunny hopping side to side on the punching bags on the floor, lifting weights, spinning on the bike, stepping over extra high steppers and my all time non favourite push ups with a little walk between... so that is moving your hands along and your feet, still in the push up position then do a push up, move along etc.

Did it stop there? nooooo our group (we were split in half) then went outside again in the cold and damp, into the car park for some real boot camping. running up and down a ladder on the ground, carrying tires back and forward to witches hats and then donning gardening gloves as we had to run up and down on our hands and feet on the wet ground, and back again in crab method... that's hard.
Then we packed up and thought we will now do some ab work inside... not a chance. back outside for a final run around the park. I really felt ill.

All better this evening after a long day at work, home to do more work and cook a nutritious dinner... got some potato and leek soup happening.

The fisherman is overseas with work for 2 weeks so the girls and I able to eat lots of cheesy meals as he doesn't eat cheese. Lasagna was cooked and devoured for the last 2 nights, I love leftovers!!

cold, dark and wet

2010-09-01T21:44:00.003+10:00

At 5.30am think of me..... outside in the dark, and the cold and the wet!

Tuesday morning was a classic! We got into 3 teams and off we went to do battle. We all had sheets with exercises to do and the aim of course was to finish first. I had my team coffee with me and then there was the ring ins lol.

We had to run around the oval and one of the boys wasn't as fit as some of us, so we dragged him around, yelling encouragement to him all the way... the other teams and the instructors thought it was hilarious and great to have such team spirit. I think the people that live in the houses behind the gym might have been cursing us and wondering who in the hell was up at 6 in the morning yelling at the top of their voices.

We got our man around the oval and he did all the extra exercises then he found out we had to go around the oval again! He didn't let himself or the team down and made it around again. In fact the team did so well that we won the overall challenge against the other teams that had some of the more fitter men!!

So tomorrow we have John. He is no push over, actually he is bloody hard and if you stuff up or try to skip out or drop to the ground, the whole group will have to do at least 50 push ups... every time. *groan* But I don't mind being pushed, I will rise to the challenge as I don't like to be beaten.

To reward myself for my hard work I am taking the rest of the morning off and going shopping for fabric.

2010-08-28T21:26:00.006+10:00

Last night we had our family fun night down at the pool. What a hoot! We got the inflatable out which is a huge long bouncy castle type thing that floats on top of the pool... its a loch ness monster and you have to negotiate around a big head then a arch and a big cone to get to the tail where you can slide down.

I hope that no one got any photos of me as I was the biggest kid of all. I got bounced and splashed and fell off so many times I lost count. I got one of the boys to give me a boost up on the end so I could slide off the end. I got smart and was waving to everyone and I fell off sideways lol.

We had ordered the perfect amount of pizza and only had one and a bit over, so we gave some to the staff for putting up with all the screaming. (think that was me rather than the kids).

At retreat recently one of the girls gave each of us in our group a egg cup that she thought suited each of us, they are really funny! Seeing as I am going to do my first round the bay in a day she thought this one was me.

I love the little birdy with a helmet on!

Christine made me these gorgeous coat hangers than she made for me and a little bag that is full of lavender so you have a nice smell with your clothes.

Home made gifts are so much nicer than store bought gifts for the one reason that its been made specially for you by your friend. However I am happy to receive any gift, handmade or not!!

Today I only went for a swim for an hour with a quick spa at the end as my right shoulder blade/back is rather sore. I think I have a rib out as this happens every now and then to me... will be seeing my osteopath sooner than I thought. Thank goodness for nurofen, speaking of which I think its time for another one.....

rain, rain and more rain

2010-08-27T18:00:00.005+10:00

Yep its offical, I do have muscles in my thighs lol, Im not complaining just stating a fact.

It has rained shitloads here (shitloads is also an offical weight) I popped out the back in between showers and took a couple of pictures of our very very soggy back yard.

Im off back down to the gym, not for me this time, but for swimming training. But tonight we are having a fun night to reward the kids who swam recently at MSAC for interclub, we are having the inflatable and then pizza afterwards. It is going to be a family night so even if some of the kids didnt swim or arent even actual members of the club they can join in.... Im putting on my bathers and going on the inflatable too!! Hope no one takes my photo.

I have muscles in my thighs....

2010-08-26T18:09:00.007+10:00

I can officially say that I am in pain. Yeah yeah, I know its self inflicted, I'm cool with that :) I expected to feel pain and I better see results in 5 weeks time!!

Tuesday morning saw us lining up in 2 groups... those who could run 3km and those who could run 1.5km I must admit I took the easy way out and lined up with the 1.5km group. I'm glad I did, as the 3km group immediately took off in the dark for a run around the streets.... I have done this run before and its not the easiest 3kms.

the smaller group who stayed behind were brutally punished by John our evil instructor from hell. He made us put on gloves or pads, that in itself was a punishment as they stank and were wet inside ewwww (I was dry retching from them alone!) Anyway he made us do lots of sets of punches and core work and one of the girls slacked off so lucky us got to do an extra 50 push ups.

When the 3kers got back it was light enough for us to go outside for our turn with the other instructor from hell. We started off doing step ups on the wall (in the drizzling rain) and then off we went for our run around the park. I didn't stop and kept up with the front of the group so was happy with that. Back inside for a few more drills and home to shower and get ready for work!

We had an extra session on Wednesday night... only 4 of us turned up!! John was rubbing his hands with glee as it was an intensive hour of pain :) More drills, punching (brought my own gloves this time!) push ups, burpies with weights, squats with weights and chasing partners around the gym. I also stayed after and did a yoga session with Carlos.... he does tai chi and I find it a relaxing class after running around like a looney in most of my classes.

Back to the gym at 6am this morning for what we thought was going to be an outside session. Instead it was another team challenge CIRCUITS!! whoo hooo, love circuits! So we named our teams.... we are team Coffee! there was 3 sets of everything. 100 skips with ropes, 5 runs around the gym, 20 burpies with weights, 20 bicep curls, 10 stage runs,10 jump ups and the list goes on. our team came a very respectable 2nd by 2 mins which was good as the winning team was 3 big blokes and we are a team of 2 girls and one bloke.

Poor Seb, his leg was hurting by the end of the class so only Georgina and I ran around the park as we had finished earlier than the other teams (great reward lol). Of course that wasn't enough for us so Georgina and I returned for the knockout class with John (suckers for punishment aren't we!)

I figured that I have done over 6 hours of classes in 3 days! 4 of them within 24hours.

Ahh well its all fun isn't it :)
Have I been sewing? yes I have gotten some embroidery done on my final block for the quilters journey. Need to go and cook dinner so that I can go out to sew tonight with my quilting buddies

challenges and sewing machines

2010-08-19T19:16:00.006+10:00

Today was the first proper day of our challenge. We started inside the gym and did circuits in teams of 3. I had my best buddies Georgina and Seb to keep me on target, we flipped tyres down the length of the gym and picked them up and ran back only to do it again. then lots of sit ups and push ups in between all the sets. running up and down ladders on the floor, step ups onto the stage, side steps with 5 kilo weights, more push ups and running through tyres.

Then it started to get light...... we ran outside. Now, I'm not a runner and it usually hurts my feet and shins but I managed to run the entire course without stopping and I wasn't at the end of the pack! Last year I found another girl who jogged at the same pace that I did and she is doing the challenge again, so we found ourselves pacing each other and Georgina also jogs at the same pace.

We finally could see the gym again and Seb who had run ahead as he is an awesome runner, came running back towards us, yelling encouragement to keep going. I thought he was going to run past us and keep the back of the pack going, but he turned and started to yell at me to run hard, so I did! wow. Didn't know I had it in me. The thing that really impressed me was that by the time I walked back in to the gym I had caught my breath and didn't feel like throwing up!

Being the sucker for punishment and I'm on some sort of fitness mission, My partners in crime and I returned to the gym at 8.45am for another knockout class with our instructor from hell. He worked us even harder than he had at 6am and left us feeling like large jellies.

I was really fatigued earlier this afternoon but had a 15 min power nap while the froglet and her friend practised their dancing in the kitchen.

While we were on retreat Kate from Kate's sewing centre in Bundoora http://www.katessewingcentre.com.au/ came and showed us a new machine on the market.

This amazing machine does sashiko, yes that's right it does sashiko beautifully.

It was amazing to watch how this machine worked, it doesn't have a top stitch, it only has a bobbin and a little arm comes up and hooks the thread back down. Very nifty.

So if you are in the market for a machine to do your sashiko or indeed it also looks very much like hand quilting then pop in to see Kate and have a look at her machines, she has lots of other machines for sale and some fabrics too.

SOLD!

2010-08-18T22:11:00.004+10:00

In my last post I mentioned about a friend selling her can quilter, well the auction has finished and it sold which she is delighted with, so if you bought it... thank you and I hope you enjoy your new toy :)

Today at work I nearly had a close encounter with a phone receiver that flew through the air at an accelerated speed. I had actually had a vision of this occurring and it was pure good luck that I needed to use the photocopier at the precise time that a certain person using my phone decided to terminate the phone call and hang up the receiver across the other side of the room!!

I just love my job.

Tomorrow morning is the real start of my 6 weeks challenge down the gym. On Tuesday morning we did our assessments, this time (this is my 3rd challenge) we did 5 minutes on the treadmill, the cross trainer and the bike... then we did 1 minute on this water machine that I haven't used before, its like a bike for your arms... so you pedal with your hands rather than your legs.
Finally 1 minute of push ups and 1 minute of sit ups. doesn't sound like much when I think about it, but we did do 30 Min's prior to this of weights and burpies and other little delights.

So we recorded how far we got on each of these machines and how many of the sit ups and push ups and we do it all again in 6 weeks.

So now the fun begins... we will be inside for the start of the sessions, but they tell me we will go outside for maybe the last 20 Min's or so light depending... its so freaking cold at the moment I am not looking forward to that part.

I will be posting about my challenge a fair bit in the next few weeks, so sorry if I bore you all brainless but you do have the option to not read it all I guess :)

I will post pictures and talk about my quilting too so don't give up on me completely just skim the boring bits :)

bootcamping and quilting!

2010-08-16T16:12:00.015+10:00

Tomorrow I start my new spring challenge down the gym. This consists of me being at the gym for a 6am start to leap and jump around with several other lunatics that I call my friends lol. This events occurs on a Tuesday morning and a Thursday morning for the next 6 weeks. Not including the extra Wednesday night class that is on offer.

My friend who I am doing the round the bay with later in the year has been pushing me to get out of my comfort zone which is great as you need a buddy like that to make you work harder. We figured that we will be doing between 11-13 hours of classes each week for the next 6 weeks!

Anyway that's the boot camp bit..... now for the quilty bit!

The other week was my guilds retreat and I made all my friends a gift for their birthdays. I'm terrible at remembering to get them cards and gifts on time so I give them all a gift each retreat in honour of their birthdays!

This year I made them all a pencil roll, I found the pattern on the Internet and I'm sorry to say I have no idea which pattern I used in the end... I kind of took the idea and looked at many patterns and wrote my own using the information I gleaned from all the other posts... thank you to anyone who might have helped me :)

I used 2 different combos of fabric because the fabric I thought would make enough for everyone wasn't in fact enough!

I received some lovely gifts too as it was my birthday the week before, Claire gave me some lovely variegated cottons, which are really nice.... now to find the perfect project for them!! some of these I had bought from spotlight with my $10 gift voucher that I received for my birthday from them.
Christine also made me some lovely coat hangers... I need a better picture so I can show them to you.

my friend Jennifer made her two daughters butterflies from a Melly and me pattern. We both bought patterns months ago and she prepared her wings by doing the embroidery.... now I didn't realise that I didn't take pictures of the finished butterflies but here is an antenna.. or is it an antennae lol.

We had lovely food of course, some healthy and special diets catered for! and some not as healthy but still yummy!

this is a picture of the front of where we stay, overlooking a man made lake. We sit behind the windows and can see down the lake. Not so many ducks this year. A few superb fairy wrens were spotted but they are very fast little birds and I didn't get any pictures.

Every year I have looked at the canoes that Burnbrae have sitting on the shore and thought about going for a paddle, still thinking about it!

I went for a walk with my friend Madeline (who I think has finally recovered hehehe) and we came across a large mob of kangaroos who stood and watched us walking around. When we came across them the second time we realised that several of them had joeys in their pouches. I know I live here but I still get a buzz when I see my favourite Aussie birds and animals.

Madeline and I also found we could see a good view of the city from one of the vantage points.

Hope everyone is surviving the wet and cold weather we are experiencing here at the moment. Also some bloggers that I follow haven't been feeling the best so I hope that they are feeling better too.

Can Quilter for Sale

2010-08-13T23:41:00.004+10:00

If any of you enjoy quilting, or think you might enjoy quilting here is the perfect item to add to your quilting room.

This can quilter is lots of fun to use and very simple. you simply put your own machine onto a little trolley and away you go! its like having a long arm quilting machine on a small scale without the huge expense.

The lady who is selling this is moving and really need to move this quilting table onto a new home as she cant take it with her. Please have a look and if you know of someone who might be in the market for a can quilter.... then look no further!!!

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Sewing-Quilting-Frame-Can-Quilter-/290462746404?pt=AU_Quilting

I need to go to sleep as I have a busy day tomorrow... but need to upload some photos from my recent retreat and all the goss :) The pc is playing sillybollocks with me and likes to freeze up just to really annoy me.... the fisherman is going to wipe the hard drive clean and re start it and I hope it will fix what ever is wrong with it, otherwise you might all be reading about a flying laptop in my suburb!

I have to save all my stuff onto my external hard drive and nerd sticks ready for him to do his stuff when he gets back from his little fishing trip :)

birthdays

2010-08-01T20:44:00.003+10:00

I recently celebrated my birthday. Last year there was a lot going on in my world and I didnt really celebrate, in fact I worked and didnt tell anyone until I left at the end of the day.

This year was different!! My day was awesome and I was surrounded by people that I love. I started the day with my fisherman and the girls who gave me a stunning pandora bracelet with 5 charms. Then I had an excellent boxing/circuit session at the gym with my friends.

Lunch was next on the menu and mine was yummy.... I had a vegetarian breakfast with bacon.... yep you read correctly I had bacon with it heheh, much nicer than the full breakfast.

One of the girls had a nice thai beef salad mmmmm.

I also received another 2 pandora beads AND a beautiful scarf.... I love my scarves.

After lunch my friend from work came over and spoilt me rotten with not one but 3 more pandora beads. So by the end of the day I had 10 beads... need to photograph them in the light of day.

Dinner with my family at our favourite japanese resturant and then topped off an excellent day with my quilting buddies!

I was throughly spoilt and have my friends and family to thank for helping me have such a wonderful day

Lemons

2010-07-25T23:50:00.003+10:00

There is a saying when life gives you lemons, make lemonade!! My lemon tree is busting at the seams and I have picked several bags and given them to friends and still have more to give out. Its been a bit wet so am trying to time my picking so that I don't get soaked!

this weekend has been another busy one for us. Friday night saw the girls and I at MSAC for week 2 of winter inter club for the swim club. This entails our swim club and various other clubs from around Melbourne entering in teams to compete in 5 or 6 relays against each other. The teams are split in junior and senior ends and then according to the teams times. Our senior teams are doing very well and might take out premiers. The junior teams are also doing well, I have been babysitting one of the teams for the past 2 weeks, gosh that's been hard work! But Ive enjoyed it.

The froglet then had a Irish dance teams practice for 4.5 hrs, while the noisy one and myself swam at the local pool for an hour. Today was the Irish dance competition, the girls danced very well and I have come to the conclusion that the judge was indeed visually impaired lol.

The day then ended with another big swim competition for both the girls and they did the team proud in their relays and a few individual races. I of course didn't get to sit down until just recently after sorting dinner, ironing and sorting washing.... dang, just remembered I have a load of washing to hang out...groan.... a woman's work is never done!!

6 days straight

2010-07-19T22:14:00.005+10:00

I have new roster starting next week at work, today I finished the last of my 6 days straight and the last weekend I am rostered on. After doing weekends for 8 years I am happy to be giving them up and will occasionally pick them up when the other clerk is needing a weekend off.
I will now work 3 on 4 off then 2 on 5 off. Should fit in with the gym schedule, the quilting, swimming, dancing and all the other things that I seem to be involved in!

This weekend is no different with 2 swimming competitions a Irish dance teams practice and a teams competition on Sunday afternoon.

I only have 89 days left until I do my round the bay experience and I'm getting very excited about it, hope my buddies are just as excited as I am. I have been watching the tour De France and tonight there is another evening of riding to be seen, however I am not going to sit up till 1am yet again as the last 2 nights I have fallen asleep only to be startled awake because the fisherman is yelling at the television telling them to get a move on.

I want cheese with my whine....

2010-07-18T21:30:00.003+10:00

Tonight I came home and found the house in a mess, at least 3 loads of washing needing to be done, stuff on the line that could have been brought in days ago, washing on the drying racks needing to be folded,sorted and put away. the dishes not done still (noisy one hasn't done them still) *sigh*

So I quietly cracked the shits and decided that I wasn't going to make anyone dinner nor was I going to ask anyone... I don't think they have realised....

I was reading my blogs I follow and found frogdancer talking about housework and the flylady. I need to bring her back into the house as I found her system worked to a degree, I altered it to fit my needs but basically doing a bit of work each day stops me having to dedicate and entire day to cleaning the house and then ending up feeling very resentful that no one else does it.

I get the girls to wash the dishes on alternative nights, sort of works with one of them, the other one has the art of procrastination to a fine art! Now I need to up the ante and get some more help, I think if I can get them to clean up places like their bathroom then they will hopefully want to keep it clean to avoid having to clean it up all the time.

wish me luck!!, maybe you should wish them luck too lol

2010-07-14T21:14:00.005+10:00

Yesterday one of my friends and I went for our first training ride for the round the bay. We went for a ride along a path alongside the freeway. We did 30km round trip, the trip outwards took us an 1hr 15min as we had a hideous head wind. The return trip only took us 45mins! I love my bike!!! it was so comfy. my poor friend had a sore butt from her seat.

Today I feel fine, so will be doing a longer ride next time for sure....

The fisherman came home and taught the girls how to gut fish last week, I ended up with fish n guts all over the place, but they all did a great job.

Not enought sewing has been happening here, but with luck will be going to my guild night tommorrow to hear one of my friends talking about her quilting journey and hints and tips of how to produce better quilts.

taking a breath

2010-07-11T22:29:00.003+10:00

Oh my, the holidays have raced away with me.

So much has happened in the last few weeks. My mum has gone into hospital and had a brand new knee installed, she is now hobbling around and has a new friend in her room who also got a new knee, she informed me that they are now racing up and down the corridor with their frames! She will go to rehab for a few weeks till she is confident on her legs again.

the fisherman has a lurgy and wastes no time letting me know that he isn't well, poor thing, I know he isn't well but I cant be too sympathetic to him!

The froglet and the noisy one had an incredibly busy day today, as did I, they competed in our swim clubs annual invitational. Poor girls, they swam all their individual races and then also were put into all the relays, so they swam 10 races each, I'm confident they will sleep well.

I helped also being the club secretary, and ran around the pool doing various tasks as needed. The one thing I really hate doing is asking (they tell me not to ask but to tell) the parents that it is their turn to do time keeping. I am happy to do my turn at time keeping, but really really hate asking/telling others... the parents should be begging me to let them time keep LOL.

I have also been watching the tour De France, I'm getting inspiration for my first big bike ride later this year, I am doing the round the bay, but only the 50km over the westgate bridge and back... I think that will be more than enough!

I was going to add some photo, but I think my gym buddies and work colleagues might kill me for some of the pics I have! I ha vent uploaded photos from the last few days so maybe once the girls are back at school I might catch up with stuff around the house... HA!

school holidays again...

2010-06-30T21:25:00.004+10:00

School holidays are here again, I have been working for the last 3 days so not much has been done in this house.
The noisy one has a cold so that has kept her a bit more quiet than normal but after 3 days of being home I think she is ready to get bopping.

The froglet has been over to hang out with the baby bat and another friend of hers had a birthday so once again mums taxi was in action. I believe she has organised this friend to come and hang out here tomorrow for a while and then another friend is coming for a sleep over on Friday!

We are planing on going into the city to see the Tim Burton exhibition and if this weather gets warmer at trip to the zoo to see the baby elephant, new tiger cubs and the new seal enclosure.

This is a project that I am helping create for work, I need to spend some time working on the centre as it needs to be finished by the 14th July.... not much time left so I better get crackalackin as the noisy one tells me

20 years ago.....

2010-06-21T23:26:00.003+10:00

It was my 20th wedding anniversary last Tuesday, I find it hard to believe that 20 years ago I got married in Scotland to my then submariner husband!
The girls and I had gone to my mums a week or so ago and we found my wedding dress and the fisherman's uniform hanging in her wardrobe (I have no room in my house!!)

The girls couldn't believe that their dad used to be THAT skinny lol. Then I was scanning photos that I found and they were in stitches over how young their dad looked and how dark his hair was!!

I am pleased to say they didn't say that I had gotten older, even though I have aged...

I hope that one of the girls might even wear my dress when they get married (not for a long long LONG time lol).

Been a busy week here, just finished 6 days straight, have one off then work another day, so tomorrow will hit the gym, catch up with the gym junkies, shopping for food, cooking for a few days of meals, down to the pool with the froglet and probably another RPM class rather than sitting by the pool dropping off to sleep :)... sewing? gee might fit some of that in later in the evening!

blog dedicated to me!

2010-06-15T16:42:00.003+10:00

my friend Maddy posted a message just for meee :) I am hoping she isn't saying I'm a dog HAHAHAH. No I know she isn't, its about the band, as I have had a connection to brass bands/pipe bands and concert bands since I was a little girl. I was rather excited when I saw my name in lights so to speak!

Also I can see a road trip coming up again (Mrs Martins)as I have spotted a new project that has taken my eye straight away, that has to be an omen yes? I either like something straight away or not. I often like many things but don't necessary want to make them, but this one is one I am keen to see up close.

Its my 20th wedding anniversary today, so need to go and attend to my roast pork.

been slack

2010-06-12T17:12:00.005+10:00

oh my goodness, I have been soooo busy lately and not had time even to look at the blogs I follow let alone post on mine!!

Lets see..... I have had a cold, it went and then I think I got its cousin, the cold #2
the fisherman had his work do, on board a boat on the yarra which ended up being a fun night, I got to practice my moves I have been learning in danzika class!
These are a couple of views we had while cruising around the yarra!

The swim club stuff has taken over my life at the moment, lots to get sorted as the past past committee has let a few things go and we need to now move on and get it happening, so there is a bit of ground work to be done then it should be much easier going from there.

Training for my round the bay experience has shuddered to a halt with the weather and my buddies time tables clashing, but we are doing RPM and other gym classes to keep up the fitness, just need some road time.

Got a sausage sizzle on Monday at a local bunnings so hoping that will bring in much needed cash for the swim club. Have to be up at the crack of dawn to buy 20 loaves of bread arrgghhh!

Sewing has been limited to taking up 2 pairs of pants for the froglet for her work experience week, which went really well. So well that she may well gain some casual work from it!!

2010-05-22T20:41:00.004+10:00

When I woke up this morning I was greeted by this little feller waving his fin at me in the fridge.
The fisherman had a good night of fishing and caught a salmon, who turned into bait. The bait caught a shark of some sort, a skate and then this salmon. The first two headed back to sea but this little treasure came home to terrorise my fridge.
If you look at the picture (but not too closely lol) you will see the egg carton that my friend gave me with a dozen yummy eggs from her 3 chooks, sooty, sweep and sue.

I'm now on day 4 of 6 for work and then I have one day off and work another 2 days. The other girl that did my job on the days I don't work finished on Tuesday. Unfortunately there is no one else and I cant work more than 6 in a row so for the next month or more until they advertise and employ and then I train them up I'm 'the one'.

We did have a great night out for her leaving run, one of the boys and I got stuck into the black sambuca.... yum! I surprised myself and my work colleagues when I turned up to work on Friday morning bright eyed and bushy tailed. I used to drink like a fish but not anymore, so I did expect to feel a little fuzzy.

I also received my 2nd fruit and vegie box.... more nice apples, bananas, mandarins and onions plus the bag of carrots (need to eat more of them suckers!) This weeks special was an enormous bunch of silverbeet (gag) the chooks enjoyed a large portion of this and the rest I will give to my mum as she loves it. Persimons, kiwis, tassie potatoes and a box of cherry tomatoes.
I cooked up some apples that were going abit squishy, nothing like fresh stewed apples :)

Im now working on my last block for the quilters journey (I think I might have mentioned this before). I am hand piecing the final block and hope to trace the embroidery in the next week or two.

busy weekends

2010-05-16T21:09:00.006+10:00

Last night we had the swim clubs presentation night and A.G.M. The hardest thing was getting one of the parents to put up their hand and become the president. I am now the secretary of the club and we have some great people on board to help run a club that is all about helping our kids achieve their swimming dreams.

The noisy one did very well in the club championships and came 1st in 3 events, 2nd in 2 events and one 3rd place.

The froglet had ramped up her act this part year and her coach saw this in her efforts each week and her times showed her improvements weekly. She received a coveted coaches award and also came 1st in her age group in the club championships. She was rather stoked, I of course and rather proud :)

The froglet decided we needed to make some more pies and while we were making them a sorting hat appeared from a blob of dough....

From a frying pan of mince and shrooms appeared some more pies which didn't last long again.

nom nom nom

This is the box of fruit and veg I had delivered to my door last Wednesday night, my friend is working for this company that does these boxes, so I thought I would give them a try and see if it helped save me money, time and gave me quality fruit and veg (and helped her out of course!). I am so far impressed with the quality of the goods, its making me eat my fruit more as I know I am going to get more this week and my fruit bowl is bursting at the seams so its got to be good for me!

I'm now about to start my final block of the month for the quilters journey by Leanne's house. Will need to find a new hand piecing project... might just get my Dear Jane out!