Beautiful Bali.

Daz and I are back to school tomorrow, the girls start on Wednesday so today is officially the last day of holidays. Thought I would share some snaps taken at Bali. We had an amazing time. So many West Australian's holiday in Bali because it is so close and so cheap, but this was my first trip. Daz has been before when he was straight out of high school with a group of graduating friends and doesn't remember much of that trip, this one was much different!

We stayed at a hotel in Nusa Dua called the Melia. The grounds were amazingly beautiful.

This was the view from the end of our corridor. This pool was private access only for the rooms on the bottom floor. You could swim from your verandah!! Next time we are staying in those rooms!

This was our daily view going to breakfast.

We had breakfast every morning at the hotel, buffet style, every single breakfast food you can imagine! Daz and I had omlettes made fresh for us, Milly had pikelets made for her. Both girls ate their body weight in watermelon each morning. Fresh pineapple juice and chicken noodle soup for me.

This man played this type of bamboo xyolophone every morning throughout breakfast. He always had a smile on his face and would nod hello. When a child approached he would switch from traditional Baliness tunes to Mary Had a Little Lamb. Milly loved it.

Daz's first bintang beer and nasi goring. I think we had been at the hotel for an hour when this shot was taken!

We stayed at the hotel mainly but did venture out a few times. We spent a day at Waterbom Park which was just awesome! Here is Grace being brave on the bungie jump thing.

Chips Waterbom Park style, served in a wooden cup with the sauce in a handmade coconut leaf basket! Love it!

Another outing we went to the Bali Safari and Marine Park. We rode a camel and also rode an elephant but I was so focused on hanging on I didn't take my camera on that ride and now of course I wish I did!

We had our photo taken with a baby orangutan also at the Safari Park. Her name was Chloe. The girls were trilled to touch a real orangutan.

Back at the hotel.... Kids Club was optional, Grace was so against going but of course when she got there, she loved it! They did things like crab catching at the beach, sand castle making and visiting a temple within the hotel grounds.

Dress up Bali style.

We had the traditional buffet one night for tea at the hotel. This was the fruit display at one end, on the side, behind this display was the real fruit to eat. We particularly loved the watermelon face here!

With the dancers after dinner.

My first of many pina colada's of the holiday! Happy hour was from 5 till 7, buy one get one free!!

This was my view poolside most days! I did go for a swim sometimes, but reading and people watching was just as much fun.

The girls had their hair braided on the beach. It took 3 ladies an hour to do Grace's hair. She was in tears the whole time. "It hurts Mummy!" But as soon as the last bead was put in, all the pain was forgotten. And now three weeks later as I write this post, both the girls still have the braids in!

"Mum we can't stand in the middle of the road!" On our last day there we walked 5 minutes down the road to a big shopping area called the Bali Collection to get the usual cheap dvd's and sarongs. It was a fantastic holiday, we all had an awesome time. The right mix of hanging by the pool and going out. It was perfect, I can't wait to go back!

2011 Quilt Review.

Time to review the quilts of 2011 and ponder on what 2012 will bring. I was thinking on the drive coming home that 2012 might be the year of the table runner for me. I have so many quilts, some table runners would be nice. But we'll see. 2011 started off finishing the above quilt, Pink Squares which was donated to the Queensland Flood Appeal.

A quick jelly roll quilt which was also donated.

Two quilts made for DQS#10 in March, one for me, one for my partner.

Blue and Green Askew Squares back in June.

And another askew block quilt. The Pink Askew quilt, cot sized made back in July. Only just given to friends new baby last month in Perth. It pays to have a baby quilt stashed in the present box for those occassions!

For the DQS#11 in August.

And Miss West's wedding quilt in September.

A queen sized quilt for our very own bed! Rainbow Squares was completed for the Naked Bed Challenge.

And the last quilt, finished in November, single bed sized. My favourite of the year I think, sewn with blocks from Around the Block 2. I'm in another block swap this year and I think I might have the ladies do the same block but a different colourway, red, orange and yellow maybe?

Writing this post has made me realize I don't have any photos of the Rainbow Squares Quilt all finished. It's hanging on the line now. I'll have to go take a photo. * edited to add - done! But realized I don't have a shot of the pink and purple strippy square quilt now! Have to go over to the friends place that one is at and photograph it!

Hello Blog!

Well I have been a bad blogger! 40 days betwen posts! That is terrible! But I do have a really good excuse, holidays. We have been on holidays since December the 19th. It has been a big trip, we drove 3,213kms to Perth which we did in three days. Here we are on one of our first stops, only 884kms down the road.

Only 2,240km to go! We spent Christmas in Perth then we flew to Bali for 10 days of pure bliss. That was our real holiday, it was beautiful. We then flew back in to Perth and drove another 3,213kms back up to Kununurra where we then moved house. The last five days have spent cleaning the old house and unpacking in the new house.

My sewing area has been downsized but that didn't stop me buying just a little bit of fabric while away. I won't be buying any for awhile now...

My Academic Achiever!

My youngest child is continuing to astound me with her zest for learning. I've had a suspicion that she is smart this year, smarter than an average year one child. But every Mum thinks their child is smart don't they? And this week at the end of year school assembly with the book awards given out..... well now I know she really is a smart cookie. She won the Academic Achievement Award for Room 12, the inscription in her book says awarded for all your hard work, dedication and persistence that you have shown in all academic areas in 2011. Your enthusiasm towards learning is amazing to see. Congratulations Matilda. My photos of her walking up to the stage to receive the award aren't very good as I was crying with pride when she went up. Here she is afterwards with her beloved teacher Miss West. We are so very proud of her. Milly you are amazing!

Dolls Quilt from Anna.

I opened my parcel from the EB Quilters Dolls Quilt Swap today. It has been sitting patiently on my bookshelf waiting for the one I made to reach its destination. I thought that was only fair. And it was worth the wait!!! I unwrapped this beauty made by Anna. It is so beautiful! The colours against the white, its no secret that I love the crispness that it creates!

The quilting is my favorite style, swirls! So time consuming, I know the work that goes into them but so worth the effort, it looks just fantastic.

I love the center panel, so whimsical! Its just beautiful Anna, thank you very much. :)

Sunday Stippling.

This quilt is due to be given to it's new owner in less than 2 weeks. Which means I had better stipple it quick smart! So guess what I did today? I haven't stipple quilted for ages, I am plesased with how smooth my curves are. I only have about a 50cm patch to go - taking a blogging break, as you do! - and then straight onto the binding.

A Sunday Sandwich.

I have spent my Sunday morning on my hands and knees sandwiching this quilt top. I'll admit that even though I finished this quilt top a few weekends ago, I have been putting off this bit! I don't like the sandwiching bit anymore! The piecing, yes, love that bit. The quilting itself, yep, bring it on. But the ironing, the taping, the smoothing out of wrinkles, the spray glue then all the pinning........ no wonder I have been putting it off! We are heading down to Perth for the Christmas holidays and already I am wondering just how I can convince my Mother to let me take her Happy Jack quilting frame back home in the car with me!

Sunday Sewing.

Hi my name is Helen and I used to sew quilts. *sigh* Used to! Not that much sewing happening around here lately and as we approach the end of term and Christmas and all the craziness that goes with this time of year, can't see things improving! Anyway, I did finish this today. A jewelled square table runner or dolls quilt, take your pick.

Happy 7th Birthday Milly!

Happy 7th birthday to our Milly Moo! Being a Tuesday you had to go to school, but you didn't mind as you love school, your teacher and your friends. You handed out 24 pink cupcakes before recess, you came home covered in stickers! You bring so much joy, happiness, laughter and pride into our house as you are our daughter. We love you very much Matilda.

Jewelled Squares Finished!

I finished sewing down the binding on the weekend. I love it! I think it's one of my favorite quilts made ever. I'd love to make one for Milly in a yellow, orange, red, pink colour way. Next year maybe....

I think I like the back as much as the front. I didn't have enough blue just to do a plain background, so I broke it up into rows with some random placed squares.

I quilted it just lines across, back and forth, little bit wonky, to add texture. And here is the confession part. Those of you that read my blog regularly know that this quilt was made with the girls from Around the Block 2. After I posted a photo of my quilt top I received an email from Rachel asking where was her block? I didn't answer her as I didn't know what to say.... But now the quilt is all finished (except for the label) I am ready to confess. I wanted my blocks to come back in one of these layouts here, but Rachel's came back different. Not bad different, just different. And I wanted the same colour all the way around each square. Again not bad different, just different. I put it on the front most people wouldn't have noticed it was even different. Except for me, I would have noticed!! And I'm sorry but it would have irked me. So I decided to trim it a bit and resew it and then add it! The middle 3 squares are from one of the different blocks. The rest of her blocks are in there somewhere too, I did use them all. It actually inspired the blocks for the back, I mixed up the fabric for each square. So there you go, I have come clean. It's my ummmm Grace's quilt and I wanted to be 100% happy with it. And I am. :)

And here it is on Grace's bed. She loves it so much she has folded her beloved Rainbow Log Cabin quilt up on the end of her bed.

Goodbye Holidays!

Well holidays are over for another term. I have felt like I have been in a race this weekend, trying to get this quilt top finished but I'm not going to get there. I have all the squares now sewn into rows of four....

And I have sewn three of the rows together. Getting there slowly. It's a Christmas present so I have a few months to go to finish it.

A Dinosaur.

I have been doing some hand sewing in the evenings while watching. The binding has been sewn onto this name hanger for agggggges and all it took was an hour to sew it down! Now just the label and I can post it away before the child in question is a teenager and doesn't want a dinosaur on his door!

Pink and Purple Stripes Progress....

Look what half a day of uninterrupted sewing time can produce! 18 squares. I'm thinking single bed size, so hopefully I only need to do do 6 more purple and 8 more pink. Easy! Just need another half day left alone. I love school holidays!

Pink Strips.

I have a week of school holidays left stretched out in front of me. Last week was spent here. Now this week is all mine! What does a girl do? Start a new project! I have wanted to do a strip-ish quilt for awhile. But not just strips, sort of a slash and sew back together strip block.

So I sewed lots of pink strips together till I had a square roughly 10 inches, using scrappy fabric from the stash.

Then I sliced it into quarters and rotated some of the quarters.

Then the finished block looks like this ready to be trimmed down. Thinking a row of pink, then a row of purple? Sashed with white, of course!

Ta da!

Yesterday was the greatly anticipated wedding of Miss W and Mr H. Milly in particular has been very excited!! The ceremony was beautiful, she looked absolutely stunning. Afterward we bundled the children back home to go to the reception, we walked in, found our table, put our gift on the present table. All that stuff you do at the beginning before the bridal party come in. I then turned around to see the quilt hanging on one of the walls! At the reception!! I was so surprised! And pleased. I thought to myself this must mean she really, really likes it. Later in the evening when I got to have a chat with the beautiful bride I said, wow, your quilt is here. And she then said that I have no idea how special it is to her and how much she loves it and how she'll treasure it always. Awwww, I'm glad it has gone to a loving home. :)