Some card making at long last :-)

Hi everyone, I am really feeling like my life is settling into a new routine which finally includes crafting again.  I did let my job take over but fingers crossed I am back on track.  

Here are some cards I have made and loved putting together.  This one was for my Mum, the starting point was green which is her favourite colour.  I found this vellum with tiny flowers which sat nicely on the checkered paper background paper.  I don't think I have used this label die-cut before and really like the look.  Added some paper punched flowers, the vellum flowers I ran through the swiss dots embossing folder.  Added the bow and bling.  The Mothers Day sticker was black but I coloured it with a permanent silver pen.

This card I made for my Mother in Law and is part of the Uniquely Creative Dreamer Card kit I bought to help with motivation and inspiration in my card making.  The kit has certainly done the trick as well as the beautiful papers I came to realise that patterned papers don't have to be only used as background papers.  If they have a busy design, a piece of the pattern can be cut out and used as an embellishment which is what I have done with the flowers above.  I am now looking at my papers in a different light.

This card I made for the Craftmad Monthly Swap - theme was Black and White.  I put my new found inspiration of using patterned paper as an embellishment and hand cut these beautiful roses out and attached to the striped patterned paper, finished with some pearls etc.

The second part to the swap was two tags.  The first tag, I decided to put to use a stamp (one of many) that a friend had given to me.  The light house which I have coloured with with water colour pencils.  The sentiment stamp was also another gift from the same friend.  I'm not the greatest stamper and the words were a bit hit and miss so I added the light beams from the lighthouse to cover the flaws.  I hand drew the rope border and layered up the tag, finished with a variety of ribbons.  The second page started with the flower which I simply added to a layered tag and added some bling and threads.

Hope you have enjoyed my cards.  Thanks for popping on by.

 

Crumb/Scrap/Crazy Quilt

 

In January, I decided I needed another quilt for our lounge and I needed to use my scraps of fabric that were really too small for anything but either too pretty to toss or had memories attached to them e.g. I had made something for one of the kids, or they were part of the quilt block swaps I used to do, or Mum gave me the fabric.

So, I decided on a crumb/scrap/crazy quilt (whichever term you like).  I gathered all the pieces together and randomly started sewing fabrics together.

After sewing each section I ironed the seams flat then made sure there was a straight edge I could sew to another straight edge then it was back to the sewing stage.  I think I went through this cycle about five times so that the fabrics were really mixed up in the 7" blocks I created.

I decided on a black border to seperate the blocks and allow the eye to see each of the blocks lovely patterns that had been created.

I just love how tiny some of the pieces of fabrics became and the shapes that were created by cutting the straight edge and randomly picking another straight edge to be sewn together.

Then came the quilting itself - not my favourite stage but I am happy with the results and how smoothly it went together.  One of my best investments has been a quilting foot as that has stopped so much puckering.  The other thing I have learnt is to tape the backing fabric to the floor the layer then batting on top, next the top panel.  I then grab all the safety pins I have (one year I may purchase proper quilters pins) and start putting them in place ensuring they pin right through to the back panel to hold all sections in place.

This is the end result which I am really happy with - it's a bit in your face but I love that I could use pieces of fabric that were really too small for anything. I decided to bind the quilt in a binding that I created from remaining fabric scraps and I think this is my favourite part of the quilt.

I always use a pattern background fabric to hide any puckering and not so straight lines.  I saw this fabric and it reminded me of a circus which I think was appropriate for the front panel colour craziness.

The back panel with the scrap binding.

The best bit is - this quilt only took me four months to create as opposed to the two years I think the last quilt took to be finished.

Thanks for passing on by.

Babinda Kayaking edited to show flooding

Well its back to work for me today, I'm happy that it is raining today and looks like it will be all week rather than on my holidays.  I have gotten this far on a jigsaw of Bondi Beach in Sydney, really not sure if I will finish the sky and the water - we'll see.  

Last Friday, I ticked Babinda Kayaking off my bucket list.  Had a fantastic time and will definitely be doing this again, hopefully with Sully sitting on the front. $50 for the kayak hire, life jacket, kayaks ready for us to row away, then a pick up at the other end to bring us back to the car.  Oh, and can't forget the bonus iceblock we received.  

I was all covered up and lots of sunscreen as there is not much tree coverage along the way but not too hot as you can take a dip anytime you felt like it.

So peaceful and quiet, the kayaking is done at your own pace.  There were another two groups (1 x 4 and 1 x 8) floating down when we did, we would pass each other every now and again as one of the groups would pull off to a sandy bank to eat or swim or just take in the surroundings.

This is how clear the water is - taken from in the kayak.

The end

Thanks for visiting - I am hoping to keep this new routine of occasional blog posts and occasional blog visits happening as I have loved reconnecting with everyone. So fingers crossed - life does not speed up again and get in the way. 

This is the same creek 3 days later, so we timed it very well.  

 

Holidays full of gardening and sewing

Hi everyone, I'm happily on two weeks holidays enjoying the sunshine in our garden and trying to tame the jungle it is.  My succulents were first off the list which I weeded and added a couple little pots to the garden on the far right.  I still want to add a couple of small mounds so the garden is not flat, hopefully give it a little character as it was a veggie garden before succulents came along.

I got rid of all the dead branches out the passionfruit vine and now waiting for these yummy fruit to ripen and fingers crossed the visiting cockatoos don't find them.

Next was the bromeliad garden which had these lovely flowers happening.

This time of year my Rose of Sharon (type of Hibiscus) never fails to delight me.  I love the fact it's starts the day as a lovely crisp white flower…….

and finishes the day with this lovely vibrant pink.

Our Easter was very full of chocolate as I was lucky enough to win this hamper at work…..gave a lot of it away otherwise my husband and I would have been rolling everywhere. :-D

Brisbane went into lockdown just before Easter and this time round all of Queensland had to wear masks inside.  This is our first time throughout the whole of COVID that we have had to do this. So we are very lucky living in the tropical north.  So I decided to try out a few Pinterest mask patterns trying to find the best for masks that were anti fog.  I found this pattern which was quick to cut out and sew and seems very effective. https://diyjoy.com/how-to-make-a-no-fog-face-mask/  Love to hear if you have a favourite mask pattern.

Still looking for ideas to keep Sully busy, he is healing well although has a little fluid on his knee.  I discovered VitaRapid Tranquil Daily Treats and these have really helped calm Sully of an afternoon when he is really, really bored with his current cage constraint.  I like that they have natural ingredients.  We have quick sessions of training - sit, stay, come and down - hoping to tire his brain and perhaps his body a little.  Decided to make a snuffle box so he can dig through to find his food.  Sully does have a good time with this and keeps him busy for 20 mins or so.  This is a - keep an eye on Sully activity, with his past history of swallowing strips of fabric.  I went in search of items for strong chewers as Sully has chewed through most of his toys.  I discovered Aussie Antlers and now have a goat horn and antler which seem to be working well and lasting longer than a day and keeping him busy.

After a morning of gardening I have been getting back into my crumb quilt.  I'm loving seeing the random combinations and now have 15 of my 32 required squares done.

Thanks for passing by.

Silly Sully

 

Well last week was definetly not been a quiet sedate one.  Let me start off with Sully's graduation photo from Canine Training School

Sully ended up with a badly broken leg after his leg was caught in his long lead (10m) and he decided to chase a bird in our backyard.  :-(  Sully and I had been out gardening for a good 1/1/2 hours - me gardening and he sniffing, investigating, chewing on sticks and resting.  I was showing my husband what I had done in the garden and packing up when this happened.

Other than the the initial yelp and cry in the yard, Sully didn't seem in extreme pain although he would not put pressure on his foot. As it was 5:30pm we thought we would see how he was in the morning.  Still the same not showing any signs of pain other than wouldn't walk on his leg.  So off to the vet at 9am, where she stretched his leg out -nothing, she moved his leg another way - nothing, then she put a little pressure on his knee and he casually turned his head and looked at her, no noise, that was his only reaction.  The vet said we would have to come back the next day (Monday) for X-rays as he has possible torn some ligaments and maybe broken his knee.  Back for the X-ray then get a call saying he had badly broken his knee and he would have to fly to Brisbane for surgery (thats a two hour flight south).  This cast went on as we had to wait to hear from the Brisbane specialist when they were available to operate to organise flights.  In the meantime, thankfully, a friend - who is in the trade with working dogs recommended another vet that could do the surgery here in Cairns. :-0 This vet looked at the X-rays and said he could do it but we had to wait as Sully had eaten.  

Now Sully was waiting at home with this lovely cast on his leg which he was starting to chew, even with a cone on his head.  So I had given him a chew bamboo bone that we had bought when we first got Sully at 8 weeks.  Back then he was too small to hold the bone to chew, so I cut some ribbing from the neck of a t shirt and tied it and knotted it and tied and knotted it at least ten times.  Firstly, so it was secure and secondly so the knots would raise the bone a little.  Well…… when I had given Sully the bone I glanced up a couple of times and could see that he wasn't chewing on the cast so good back to my book, third time I thought you are really getting into this bone I better have a closer look.  Sully had somehow chewed all of the fabric off in a matter of ten minutes.  My husband and I looked at each other in disbelief although we knew with Sully it could be possible as he had swallowed an anklet sock when we he was 3 months old and had to take him to the vet for them to induce vomitting.  So off to the vets we rushed, me thinking the fabric he swallowed was probably 15cm in length at the most.  Sorry for the gross photo above but that is what Sully had swallowed the top length is about 30cm, the smaller sections are the knots. How he swallowed that top section whole is beyond me….not a cough or a gag at any stage.  The vet kept saying he was a cool dog, I was struggling at the time with the word cool, :-)  when he had swallowed this and had a cast on his leg.

Sully has now had his surgery - three pins are now in his knee. The first photo above was his first night home with us - second night after surgery.  Second photo shows the bruising towards his ankle and the line above is the neat finish from the surgery to his knee - he has internal stitches. 

 Our next journey is the six weeks of restricted movement.  Thankfully he loves his crate, as you can see in the photo (something I never thought I would have for a dog but we bought it at 10 weeks because Sully was/is very hyper - best thing ever).  

Yesterday, was day five after surgery and we can tell that Sully is feeling better.  He is putting a little pressure on his injured leg and he just wants to move, and jump.  He is chewing any toy we give him to pieces.  Yes, he is so over the crate life and the short trips to the toilet.   

Omg!!!! six weeks is going to be so long.  :-D  I forgot to mention that Sully had just been desexed so had spent the week and a bit prior with a cone on his head already.  I think that is just making this ordeal seem like we have been at the vets forever.

If anyone has any suggestions on keeping a 6 month mini poodle busy while on restricted movement please share.  I have remembered to give him a carrot to chew on and we started learning and playing the magic cup game - hiding a treat under a cup and he guesses which one. Otherwise life is pretty ordinary.

Two Weeks and a lot can happen

Two weeks and a lot of events. Lucky for us not much mess or work to do but we had freak winds and rain before a low was declared a cyclone.  So was at work (a school) when the 85km/hour winds happened.  Everyone was safe, just fun signing students out of school with their parents when we had no power or telephones.  The following day was a student free day at school while staff cleaned up the grounds with other contractors.

At home thankfully we only had a lot of leaf litter and smaller branches that had come down, still three hours of work clearing that up.  Other people had trees.  We also lost our power but unlike the school that lost theirs for 1 1/2 days we lost ours for 2 1/2 days.  Again thankful, as the humidity wasn't around due to the rain and no sun and my brother who had electricity had a generator we got to borrow after a day of no power for our fridge and freezer.

Last weekend I was very lucky to fly to Brisbane with work to learn more on a new computer program.  This is the view from my motel room.

Yummy food for lunch.

I managed to catch up with a close friend and do a walk to the top of Mount Cootha to get this view back to Brisbane.

This was the walking trail, so nice and easy to walk although hilly.  I also got to catch up with my sister who I haven't seen for two years. 

And on Monday…………Sully graduated from five weeks of Puppy Training. :-)