Four things and a Quilt

Jacquie from My Sew Called Life tagged me for this 'four things' meme a couple of weeks ago and I finally found five minutes to answer the questions. While you read my riveting answers I will also share with you some pictures of my latest quilt project.

Name four jobs I have had ~

1. Payroll clerk for Melbourne Water Board

2. Account Co-ordinator in various Advertising and PR agencies

3. Marketing Manager for Financial Services company

4. newbie @ Amitie Textiles


Four Movies watched over and over again ~

1. Room with a View

2. Shadowlands

3. 84 Charing Cross Road

4. High Society





Four places I’ve lived ~

1. Melbourne

2. London

3. Melbourne

4. Still here


Four Shows I watch ~

1. Trash telly - Big Brother, America's Top Model, Bachelor, Farmer wants a Wife - love em all

2. Gordon Ramsay Kitchen Nightmares - my current fave

3. Today Show - my time keeper in the morning

4. Bargain Hunt/Antiques Roadshow - preparing dinnertime telly





Four places I have been ~

1. New York, USA

2. Siena, Italy

3. Maldives

4. Budapest, Hungary


Four people who email me ~

1. Christina

2. Other bloggers

3. Family

4. Weird Nigerian people!





Favorite things to eat ~

1. Roast beef

2. Chocolate

3. Chinese Food

4. Sushi


Four places I would rather be ~

1. At my sewing machine

2. Swimming in a blue, blue sea somewhere

3. In a bubble bath

4. Asleep in my bed





Four things I look forward to this year ~

1. Watching my children grow

2. Sewing and designing more

3. Enjoying my new job at Amitie

4. Going away for a romantic weekend with my husband


I'm supposed to tag some people and I'm pretty sure lots of you have done this before, however, I would like to tag a couple of new blogging friends. Firstly Kellie who is a local blogger with a very cute family and she makes the most gorgeous quilts. And second Celandine a lovely blogger who I discovered last week. She makes and sells all sorts of lovely stuff. Go and say hi to them both.

The quilt is a wedding gift for my Brother in Law who is getting married this weekend (yes it will be a late present!) The pattern is the very popular Aunt Bec's 9 Patch from Amitie and is super easy and always really striking. It is going off to be quilted this week which is a first for me and I can't wait to see how it comes up. Now I'm off to bed - I have to 'work' tomorrow you know!!

Lotsa lovely Loot

Thanks so much everyone for all the lovely comments on my winter quilt. It is now safely with its owner Susan at Chickenfoot.

Now I want to show you the super quilt that I received.

When we signed on for the Winter part of the Four Seasons Quilt Swap we were allowed to request a partner and Margaret, our extremely capable swap manager, tried to put together as many as she possibly could.

Well, lucky me, I got the partner I wanted.

Kathy from Pink Chalk Studio makes the most wonderful quilts and I just knew she would create something special. You really need to read this to see the process she went through to get to the final quilt.

The design is amazing and the colours just pop. It is so well made and I just love looking at all the quilting.



I think it will find a home on our kitchen wall amongst a lot of other bright artwork.

And lovely Kathy was so incredibly generous. Included in the swap package were three beautifully packaged little kitties peeking out of their own little quilt. One for each of my girls who were nearly hysterical with the excitement of it all.



Kathy's 12 year old daughter designed this gorgeous little cat and we all think it is fantastic!



They have slept with them every night since they arrived!

Thanks Kathy for such wonderful creativity and generosity.

And speaking of generosity and creative talent, the very lovely Jade just nominated me for a 'You make my day' award. Well right back at you Jade - your posts are always a pleasure to read.

And to make up a list of ten I tag my dear friend Cathy, Ali, Jo, Fiona, Florence, Liz, Leslie, Jodie, and H&B who has just today delivered the most beautiful baby boy! All fantastic blogs that I have to read as soon as I see they have posted. They're funny, creative, thought provoking and endlessly inspiring - thanks girls for making my day!!

"Cosy Inside"

My first finished project of the year - and it is very late!



I have to admit that I wasn't too inspired to make a Winter quilt given that we have had several days of 40deg but I had a few ideas.



And with school holidays, working on my Mum's quilt and preparing for the return to school and my new brilliant job, I mucked around with it for ages.



Still, it is done and winging its way to a distant secret destination - I hope my partner likes it!



Now I just have to finish all the other projects!!

My Big Girls!

Guess what I did today!



Yes my middle girl started school and she looked so very little when she put her school dress on.



After initial nerves it all went well and she had a really great day!



And look at what my biggest girl has been up to.



We made this together and she won a prize over here. Check out all the gorgeous Melly and Me patterns - they are super cute and super easy to follow!

But not as cute as my big girls!!!

A very special Birthday!

My lovely Mother turned 70 today!

So I can finally show you my secret project.



We went for afternoon tea and presented her with this!



It's based on Judy Newman's lovely pattern 'Vintage Comfort'. Because I wanted it to go on a queen sized bed I had to adapt it slightly by taking out the smaller blocks and then added a yellow sashing and border.



Now I just have to hand quilt it - and hopefully she will get it some time before her 80th!!



Happy Birthday Mum!!!

A little bit of this.........

Well we're in the home stretch now with one week to go before school starts. Good timing too as the girls are getting a little restless.

We've done a little baking....



And a little eating....



And a little shopping....



I wouldn't normally buy such girly shoes but these are just divine on and I HAD to have them!

And I have done a little bit of sewing.

A small quilt (about 12" squarish!) for a couple of Lucinda's little soft toys - Fred and Cindy.



Do you like the back? It's very Denyse Schmidt don't you think. You get that look by not basting before you machine quilt to get it done really fast!!!



I kinda like it!

The girls had a very nice picnic dinner in the garden with lots of friends. My husband organised this and apparently everything was eaten which just goes to show how important the venue and company is!!



Little Daphne is making us laugh with her new style of dressing. Lots of bling and a backwards hat! All her own doing I swear!



Tomorrow is her first day at day care with Mummy along to see how we go. It's my first time putting any of my children in child care and I have the best reason for doing so because as of Feb 5th I am going to be working at Amitie every Tuesday - yippee!!!

Good Morning Christina!

Surprise! Yes I'm back after a little break from blogging. To be perfectly honest with you I just couldn't be bothered writing anything and downloading photos - is that bad?!

I had such a ridiculously busy lead up to Christmas that I think I just fell in a heap after New Years. Do you know I was running so fast to get something done and out the door one day about a week before Christmas that I fell over!!! Right in the middle of my living room. I hit my head really hard on the sofa, grazed my arm and landed on one hip which ended up with about an 8cm circular bruise on it. So I decided that it was time to slow down for a while!

We have been chilling out mostly. Sometimes with friends, sometimes with family, often in our PJ's for much of the day, and often just hiding from the excessively hot weather we have been experiencing.

We enjoyed a much anticipated visit from our Dutch cousins. As there wasn't a lot of English spoken it took the trampoline to break the ice. A couple of bounces and everyone was giggling and having fun.



I've done a little bit of sewing with the girls and their friends. Chloe, Lucinda and their friend Mia went through my fabric scrap box and created a mosaic each. I offered to turn them into something useful.

Here's Mia's.



And here is Lucinda's - photo also by Lucinda.



The girls also participated in a class at Amitie, check out their creations here

And I have been working on a few projects - some still a secret and some just for the fun of it. I have to get my winter quilt done for the Four Seasons quilt swap for mailing on the 30th but another slightly larger project has been taking up my time. All will be revealed in about a week!!

I have been visiting all my friends in blogland of course, and even won a prize!



I actually won the green bag but generous Jodie added all the other lovelies. Thanks heaps Jodie!!

The bag is currently being used to hold this little crochet project - a cushion for Chloe.



I figure if I can manage this then I might attempt a granny square quilt at some point this year. We are (my husband is) repainting all the girl's furniture the most divine shade of aqua. I also have fabric for curtains. I will probably show you all when it is finished.

And you might be wondering why this title. Well one of my bestest friends has been bemoaning the fact that she logs onto my blog first thing and there's never any new post. So good morning Christina and good morning/evening to the rest of you. Thanks for all your lovely comments regarding my wedding photos - it was rather self indulgent but I rarely look at them and loved showing them off.

I leave you with some shots of some of the ornaments I received in the 2007 Holiday Ornament swap.