no reality for me thanks

That's right we are still at the beach, and having some wonderful weather which means that beach exploring is a must everyday. So our days are filled with lots of sun, sand, water, shells, crab spotting and even glimpses of fish.

But my nights are spent concentrating on creating winter for the Four Seasons Quilt Swap while watching the Australian Open.




Such a contrast has led me to step outside my comfort zone with quilting and try something different. This is just a peek as really I am not ready for the reality of daily life, back to the beach for me.... see you soon.

Distractions

This is what happens when you bring home new books on Friday night.  What you are looking at is our couch showing off its newly created cover.  The poor thing has been looking very tired and worn of late (especially after I washed the covers and they shrank - argh!) but structurally there is nothing wrong with her (or so Mr Whizzme keeps telling me when I mention replacement).  

The way it happened was.....,

Friday I popped into Borders with my discount voucher to get myself a copy of Jane's lovely book - The Gentle Art of Domesticity.  The trouble with me and book stores however, is that I find it very difficult to leave with just one book.  While looking for my proposed purchase I also discovered this book which Miss Whizzme became immediately mesmerized by, and then a little further on Jane Cumberbatch's (hmm, bit of a Jane them happening) book Decorating easy leapt into my hand.  I have wanted this book for a while but hadn't come across a copy.  And then of course I spied Lauren Child's recent project about Pippi Longstocking which I never read as a child so Miss Whizzme and I are discovering this together.  Finally, on the way to the register I also grabbed just a few mags to take down to the beach (what's a beach holiday without some reading material?!).  Eventually we made it home where I spent the rest of the night happily flicking through my purchases.  And that my friends is how a book can be such a distraction that before you know it a new sewing expedition has begun.  What made the whole distracted sewing adventure however, was when Mr Whizzme said, "Hey that looks great!", Thank you.

Now I really must get to bed, for it is off to the beach in the morning....

*Project notes; Fabrics used purchased from Ikea about 9 months ago, originally planned as new dining chair covers.  Cover constructed without pattern with help from Decorating easy (as mentioned above). P.s. If you really must you can see how hideous the couch had become here.

and now for some relaxation...or not!

Well the Whizzme clan is back at home base for a brief recoup and reorganisation before we head off to Phillip Island for two weeks - the real holiday - beach, beach and more beach (with a fair bit of crafting slotted in).  Don't get me wrong, Christmas in Adelaide was great, but hectic.  I'm looking forward to that go slow pace I think I mentioned in the last post, especially since the weather is heading back into the 40 degree category.  Pimm's anyone?

Enough for the moment though about our constant jaunts around the countryside.  This post was going to be me showing off all the things I've made (since this did start out being a sort of crafty blog).  I spent most of today taking photos of things and making lists of all the stuff I haven't shown you yet, except that the list is so long now and there are so many photos it has sort of all got out of hand.  I am now trying to categorize them into readable blog posts (should keep me posting until the end of January at least!) so I don't overwhelm you like has been known to happen before.  As such this post is now sort of rambly shambles!  Little Miss Whizzme and Mr Whizzme both have some sort of tummy bug (thankfully not the gastro kind) which has meant little sleep for me, and a lot of listening to whiny whinges (oh how patient I am!).  My highlight for today was finally convincing (promise of new kid's mag) Miss Whizzme to come to the post office so I could pick up my new purchase from Wallace Cotton (thanks to Megan for the lovely tip).

Some of you will have noticed that not only is our bed sporting a lovely new summer quilt with matching pillowcases, but that the bed is in fact in an entirely different room!  You must have missed this post which mentions the crazy lady (me) making Mr Whizzme rearrange three rooms just before we left for Christmas.  Everyone is extremely happy with their new rooms, and I am loving the new outlook from my bed, and my new extra big bedside table (which is hiding a fabric stash inside).  Wally however is now extremely put out as he can't get to my side of the bed, which is where he used to lie in our old room.  He is sulkily making use of the new floor space and floor cushions in the lounge instead!

After changing the linen etc, I found the wall stickers I bought before Christmas for Lucy's room but had put away.  (With the Christmas presents for Lucy that I left behind - oops! at least we know what we are getting her for her birthday this year).  Anyway, because Miss Whiny Whizzme wasn't feeling the best I thought I'd sneak in and jazz her new room up while she was lying on the couch watching the 3rd run of Pocoyo.

I must say I was dubious about these wall stickers being reappliable(?) but they are! I am really impressed with them.  I have hidden a couple of them around the room for her to find.

Now I really must go and get a little shut eye before the first sickie awakes.  

Lucky this is above the bed as a constant reminder.

back on the chain gang...

ok, so it's not quite that bad. Although, I wasn't going to post until the house was in order, but given that we have now been back 5 days and it is hard to gauge any progress I thought it I'd better post before you Mum sends out the search party! It's a good thing that you cannot see the washing still to be done, the roomful of washing to be folded and put away, the beds to be made, dishes to be scrubbed, bills to be paid let alone the emails to be answered, all now added to my pages of the ever growing 'Must get this done soon' list.  Instead I will fill your eyes with the good times from our holidays.

For me this meant a lot of time enjoying this

finishing some projects

spending a lot of time at the beach with Miss L

and other lovely family pursuits that can be found at Phillip Island.

For Miss L a large part of the holiday was enjoyed by collecting jellyfish from the shoreline (hundreds of them, all about coin size) and then releasing them into an appropriately surveyed rock pool.  Thank goodness my only involvement in this daily project was pointing the oozy little creatures out with my toe. ick!  When we were able to drag Miss L away from the beach, it was to spend over an hour in the animal farm holding her favourite adoptee guinea pig. Sheesh!  

The upside of this activity being that Miss L is now intent on being allowed to have her own guinea pig, and so is attempting to prove her ability to be responsible.  I am of course milking this situation for all its worth using this as a perfect time for her to learn tidying up, putting away, packing school bags etc. etc.  We will see how long this lasts.

For Mr Whizzme it meant mainly spending much cherished time with his girls.

Since returning

- I have started the training course to become a telephone counsellor at PANDA

- joined my often partner in crime into guilting inspiring each other with joint gym sessions

- got about 1/3 done of both chevron scarf versions

- started the Christmas shopping

- organised the next sewing session for shop goodies.

Now that I am feeling better about my no more neglected blog I will return to the 877 posts still to be read in bloglines, the 15 commentors I still have to reply too and probably the washing.

off again

I think I mentioned a few posts ago that the Whizzme family is not that good at staying still for too long, so tomorrow Miss L and I are off to Rye for a few nights, then Friday the whole Whizzme clan (including the black one) are heading down to Phillip Island for 9 nights.  This has meant that my sewing plans have met some serious snags and I am currently hand-piecing and quilting in a frenzy to get my seasonal quilt finished.  It has nothing to do with the fact that I leave things until the last minute - nothing to do with that at all!

I must say a HUGE thank you to all your wonderful feedback I have received of late - it has me blushing with pride.  Mr Whizzme liked the fact that Dani had finally cracked my secret - I am a crazy lady wielding knitting needles  - sorry if I have ruined any illusions you may have had of my awesome multi-tasking skills - HA!

Also another awed thank you to those of you that snapped up my Aunty Cookie tote's so quickly.  When I get my hand's on some more of Shannon's fabric I will try to stitch a few more.  

In the meantime please excuse me if I do not visit in the next little while or I'm late to reply to your comments, I'll be at the beach....

where is she?

She, I mean I (R mentioned the other day that we, as in him and me, need to stop referring to ourselves in the 3rd person for Lucy, like, mum doesn't like it when... or mum thinks..., anyway I'm off topic already so let's leave this!) so I, have been neglecting this poor little blog... again. And I truly apologise for not responding to any comments, I will try to get to them soon. I am sure, however, you will all be relieved to know I've been having a wonderful time in my absence though!! You see, (here come the excuses) my best friend and her family are living in my town for 6 months, so we are trying to do as much as we can, while we can, lovely I hear you say! Oh yes, but now we are down to the last weeks, weeks and there is still so much we planned to do! Not that I'm panicking. No, I just realised that it was much easier to let everything else slide and do what I did for exams - cram! Therefore, the rest of this post will be all about our long weekend away, to Apollo Bay, a beautiful part of the Victorian Great Ocean Road, even if a little nippy in June. What did we do? Well, you know the usual, eating, drinking, playing, eating, drinking, reading, eating, shopping, walking, eating, dvd's, drinking... I'm sure you get the picture, and here are the pictures.


Tree top walk in the Otway Ranges
fascinating collections of fungi
buying gourmet finds, sampling local cafe, finding new friends, enjoying the beautiful sunshine in Biregurra

But you see one weekend is not enough for moi, so we are off again this weekend to explore Daylesford. The best part of this weekend being it is just us two girls. So the weekend is more likely going to be, talking, eating, talking, drinking, talking, shopping, talking, walking, talking....

Since I am neglecting you, I feel I should be at least leaving some enticing links for you to explore, but I haven't even had time to browse the web. I'm sure you all know how to amuse yourselves though until I get back from best friending, like, buy a dog!?