quilt exhibition

 Today was the day I finally got to go to the dear Jane exhibition that I have been waiting to see for what seems forever!!

 There was dear Jane galores!!  for those who are uninitiated into the world of dear Jane, this is a quilt that has billions of little blocks with billions of little pieces that we insane people decide that we simply must make.

 There was traditional ones that followed the pattern and colour precisely, then there were the variations on colours and placement of the blocks themselves.  Each and every quilt was a joy to behold.

 I took many photos of the quilts and then the blocks themselves to use for my  own reference while I attempt to drive myself mad reproduce them exactly as the photo shows them.  The one with circles and leaves I have always thought for some reason was a bike!  therefore to me its the bike block!

 There was one quilt that rather than piecing with material she embroidered all her blocks, one for Maddie!!

 I had several light bulb moments when I looked at a block such as the one below that I had tried to make and put aside in frustration.... duh!  applique the outside diamonds!!  why didn't I think of that?!

 I am also making the outside pieced triangles between some of the squares for several reasons.  One is for variety and the other is so that when i have finished all the squares and then I realise I still have all the bloody triangles to go I wont think stuff it and not complete them as I will be either finished them or at least halfway through!

 The hand piecing was spectacular, the applique simply exquisite.

There was one quilt that had a block that instantly appealed to my bogan side.  In the outside top corner was 4 blue stars, I saw them to be the southern cross... I'm so going to copy that idea!!

There was several with fun names, some baby Jane's that are smaller sometimes due to quilters deciding they cant finish them or change their minds or run out of time!!  Its always wonderful to see other peoples work and take home with you an urge to get your project out of mothballs and finish the blessed thing!!

Triathlon pink and ninjas

 Yesterday was the BIG day that I have been training for over the last 8 weeks or so with my best friend and training partner.  This year they let our family and friends onto the pool deck so they could cheer us on, take photos and tell us later how terrible we looked lol.  My friend and I were the first 2 pinkies in the water for the day!

 By the time we got to our first buoy we weren't coming first any more... I'm the one just coming up to the buoy with my right arm coming out with my black watch!  We swam 300m and usually I enjoy the swim and feel okay at the end... not this year, for some reason I really didn't enjoy the swim and found it hard going.

 The bike leg.... my favourite leg!  I did really well on the short 9km course. My stats of 27.7km average and 39km max speed. I took 19mins to ride including running with the bike too and from the racks.  Best of all I came 1st in my age cat and 13th overall out of 313 entries, gotta be happy with that!!

 The run was a hard slog, we hadn't trained very much for the run this year due to my partner having back problems and other aches and pains.  I saw a message on face book a few days ago that one of my friends, friend has breast cancer and had received some bad news.  As tripink is all about raising money and awareness for breast cancer I told her I would run the entire run leg in her honour and not stop even when it was really hurting.  I told my legs to shut up twice and sucked it up and thought about Tracey and her family and how much harder her journey will be.  I didn't stop for the whole 3km... didn't go fast but I didn't stop or walk.
My overall time and placing was 48.16   I placed 5th this year in my age division and 68th overall.  I will say I had hoped to be under 45mins but my swim and transitions let me down, however in the end I finished and I felt good at the end and still do today so I'm very happy.

 I must have exhausted the beast so much that her front wheel fell off LOL.... no seriously I had to take it off so that I could fit my other daughter in the car after her Judo training.

 speaking of Ninjas.... here is the other little ninja that I finished.... they both went for a ride on the beast.

 Then they did what ninjas do best.....

I don't think Milly was very worried about them as they stalked her in the long grass.

I have been sewing

 Now I can hear some of you thinking OMG there is the beast again, what does this have to do with sewing?  But wait.... the saddle isn't quite matching.... yes its a test saddle, I'm looking for a little comfort on the old hoo harr!

So, the sewing?  well I thought I could incorporate my two loves.....

 Ive been working on my double wedding ring and as the weather has been hot I have gotten a few done.

 I thought I could skillfully drape them outside for a photo shoot and then spied my beast, perfect for draping.

 I have had this pattern for a while... bought it at the quilt show last year with the fabrics.

 I must admit I thought this second photo had the photo and name of the pattern.... Its Ninjas!  From Melly and Me.

 I finished one of them and he wanted to go for a ride on my beast straight away to go down to the dojo for some training.

His partner in crime will have to wait as I don't have any red thread in my stash and horror of horrors I go back to work tomorrow after a wonderful 5 week break.  Its always the way, I don't do anything till the day before I go back to work!!

Bed runner finished

 I finally finished the bed runner for my friends for their wedding pressie.

i chose a Japanese fabric for the backing as I know they love those fabrics and I put in Bali fabrics as they were married unofficially in Bali so thought that they were very apt.

here it is on my bed, which is a futon so not high enough so show how long the runner is.

happy christmas

Of course what do you think I did first thing this morning??  got up at 6am and went for a 64km ride with my training partner of course!!

We had our tinsel on our helmets and were very festive.  We also spotted a lot of wildlife as it was so quiet on the road.

We saw over 20 bunnies, 2 wallabies, several black cockies, lots of random birds and the best one was a massive lyrebird!

for those who don't know about Lyrebirds, they are very shy creatures so you don't see them very often they also can mimic any sound they hear from chainsaws to people laughing... I was soooo excited specially as I had just said to my friend that we just need to see a wombat, echidna, lyrebird, emu and camels to top our morning!

Now onto today's work.... cooking dinner for the family, it will be my first hot dinner that I have cooked down under as I have always done cold buffet but its not stinking hot so a roast it is!

Have a wonderful Christmas day where ever you are and what ever you are doing

I rode with Cadel Evans!

 Last Tuesday night my friends and I went into Fed square and participated in an event called futuride.  All we had to do was to ride a stationary bike for 15 Min's as hard as we could to generate power. 

 This shows a random person waiting beside me to get on the bike.  We received one of these nice jerseys and a pair of riding knicks for nothing!! also hat and drink bottle.  As you can see I was very near the stage and Cadel Evans was riding with us.

 We saw some interesting people at this event!

 We broke 2 world records and received a very nice medal.  We powered over 35,000 lights and generated over 4000 kwatts.  It was a very warm and balmy evening so we got a bit of a sweat happening!

I have nearly finished the wedding pressie... will post pics very soon.

special birthday

18 years ago my little froglet made an early entry into this world.

We celebrated her birthday here at home with her friends and our family on Friday night as today we were off to yet another Judo competition.

Today was the Victorian championships, once again she was up against much higher belts with years of experience.... in fact her coach told me that she was fighting girls that have all  represented Australian levels so he was extremely proud of her, likewise with her team mates who supported her. 

She didn't win her fights but made the other girls work hard for their wins.  She was happy with her efforts and had fun going out there and mauling some biatches as she likes to call it.

happy birthday to a wonderful daughter who has brought me much joy and happiness for the last 18 years, I look forward to many more years of laughter and times together

xxx