A Photo a Day in August - 30

I turned up to Luke's parade the other day and was completely surprised when he received a You Can Do It Award for Confidence. Specifically for demonstrating leadership in maths investigations. YCDI is a social/ emotional programme they run at the school focusing on confidence, organisation, getting along, persistence and resilience. I was so proud!
Sorry for the blurred faces, I don't know the kids or their parents so won't publish their faces.

A Photo a Day in August - 29

So I've missed a few days again! This time I have excuses ranging from job interviews (went well, fingers crossed should find out by end of next week) to eye surgeries. I had something called an Implanted Contact Lens (ICL) put in my right eye, with the left eye scheduled for next Thursday. Surgery seem to go well, sent home. Ended up with a horrendous headache which we put down to the general anesthetic. Went back in for follow up on Friday only to find out the headache was caused by increased pressure in my eye. Normal pressure is below 21 - mine was 42. Drugs to bring it down didn't work, so it was decided to put me under again and take it out. So three million eye drops later and another op I was back to square one. So, today, 24 hours later, this is what my eye looks like.

Lovely isn't it!!

A Photo a Day in August - 23

A slight cheat - this was taken by Leigh this morning on as he paddled his kayak

A Photo a Day in August - 22

Luke had Odo out of his tank. Odo headed for the warmest spot he could find!

Frog Sandwich!

I sandwiched one of the frog quilts today. One of the things I love about this new house is the large expanse of hard wood floor space. Perfect for sandwiching a quilt without having to worry about people stepping on it!

Sandwiched and pinned!

A Photo a Day in August - 20

Whoops. Missed a few! Finally saw dolphins today, they swam right past the jetty as I was waiting for the ferry to come home. Unfortunately, my phone chose then to run out of battery! So instead today you get

fabric! This is the fabric I will be using to finish my two frog quilt tops. The dark blue on the right was chosen by Luke as the backing for his original top. The lily pads next to it may be the backing of the other one, or maybe the blue with yellow dragon flies next to it. The green on the end will be used as a sashing on the back that is now a front! The green and the dark frogs came from one of my favourite online fabric shops - Bug Fabric!

A Photo a Day in August - 16

A mangrove seed I took about a week ago. Everywhere we have gone today, I've forgotten to take a camera with me!

A Photo a Day in August - 15

My kids. What more do I need to say!?

A Photo a Day in August - 14

Back on track. More amazing garden colours from next door.

A Photo a Day in August - 13

Yes, I know it's a day late! These flowers are on the fence line between ourselves and our neighbours. They almost look plastic! I love the colours in the plants up here.

Sweetie Pie Bakery Felt Cake GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

Sweetie Pie Bakery Felt Cake GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

Head over to Grosgrain and check out these amazing felt creations. And she gets to give one away!!!

Seriously, what little girl wouldn't love one of them?? I know mine would.

Currently reading...

The Good Husband of Zebra Drive by Alexander McCall Smith.

The last time I read a book from the No 1 Ladies Detective Series, I mentioned that I thought I had missed one. I did. This is it.

A Photo a Day in August - 12

Eleven days before I missed a photo - not bad. Yesterday was manic. Today was a pupil free day here today for most, if not all, of the schools in the Redlands. . It was also a public holiday for all Brisbane city workers for the Ekka . Luke still had gymnastics and I still had to work this afternoon. So off we went on the 2.45 ferry - along with all the day trippers heading home!

The photo was taken with my phone, from the back of the ferry. It was chockers, but everyone was happy and in a good mood.

A Photo a Day in August - 10

This is what you want the water to look like when you turn up to paddle at seven in the morning! When we got there on Saturday, there was white caps - not good! Lovely paddle this morning around the island - a couple of dolphins but too far away to take a photo. Maybe next week.

A Photo a Day in August - 9

Another beautiful day at Coochie, so we decided to take the boat over to Peel Island. Was hoping for dolphins, but sadly, once again no luck. I am paddling tomorrow, so hopefully...

We went for a lovely walk around Peel Island and came across some wonderful mangroves.

Some times I find it hard to believe I live in a place so beautiful.

A Photo a Day in August - 8

Sorry, no dolphins. When I got down to the front of the island this morning it was very windy! The guys went out at about 6.30am and nearly capsized twice when the wind picked up. We went for coffee instead!

We needed some ground cover for the front garden. We've planted a fair amount of stuff, but we needed to put some stuff lower to the ground. This was a haul.

Our garden is made up completely of Australian natives. Best thing about natives is once they are established, they pretty much look after themselves - perfect for Leigh and I who are lazy gardeners. We were very fortunate to have Leigh's parents give us money for the garden and they have pretty much funded our front yard! That and the generosity of some of our neighbours who have donated plants as well means we will hopefully have one kick arse garden in twelve months!

A Photo a Day in August - 7

Yesterday we took the boat out (which is why the photo is a day late!) and ended up pumping for nippers at a place called Blakesleys on Stradbroke Island. Leigh and the kids pumped nippers
and I took photos. I found this little guy on the edge of the sand.
I'm off paddling the out riggers this morning. Taking the camera and hoping for some dolphins!

Monthly Checkup - August

Only a week late this time!

Completed projects July - two! The Eye Spy quilt and G's quilt. I also finished the last of the mystery designer blocks.

Projects started -None. Concentrating on getting stuff finished!

Books read -6.. (Last counted Look me in the Eye)

So, current projects as listed at the side of my blog.

• Blackboard Quilts - No progress.
  

• Sampler Quilt -No progress!

• Luke's Frog Quilt -Backing done, but won't be used as a backing. (See previous post!) I now need to buy some new backing and batting to finish this off.
  

• G's quilt –finished, labelled and ready to go!
  

• I Spy quilt – finished – needs labelling - waiting on a friend to do some stuff around this before I can label it.
  

• Designer Mystery Block quilt – all blocks made. Next to do sashing and complete the top.

Other things I really need to get onto this month are:

• Luke's Quilt - need to finish off. I want this on my completed list this month

• End of year presents - I want to make a start on my end of year presents for teachers and carers. Thinking more eye spy quilts. Most probably 3 made in conjunction with each other.
  

A Photo a Day in August - 6

This is the only photo (well this and two similar ones!) I've taken today. Despite the fact my son has been home from school with conjunctivitis since Tuesday, I have still made him do his spelling homework and reading. One of his spelling activities was to make his words out of clay or playdoh. We made the playdoh yesterday and did the words today.

In which I realise I have made a monumental stuff up!

I've been working on the disappearing nine patch for the back of Luke's quilt. The front of Luke's quilt will be quilted using stitch in the ditch. I was going to do a back alternating frog and blue squares in 9 inch blocks. Then Emma pointed out how difficult it would be to line the quilting up on both the front and the back. Taking this into consideration, I decided instead to do a disappearing 9 patch which can be very random, thus it not mattering so much about the grid quilting. Now here is a picture of the completed back. Can you spot the problem??



Yep, I completely forgot why I chose a D9P (randomness) and made a very organised, non random backing! There are now three options.

1. Unpick the back completely and make the D9P random. (BTW, this option will not happen!!)

2. Use the back and just accept it may look silly, but know it will only be on Luke's bed.

3. Turn the back into another front and find some plain backing fabric for both.

I'm leaning towards 3, as are the lovely quilters I talk with over at EB. What do you think??

A Photo a Day in August - 4 and 5

Tomorrow is Wednesday. Wednesday is hell for me, so the chance of taking a photo is minimal, so today you get several photos for days 4 and 5.

This is Coochiemudlo Island from the mainland. This is where we live - a 7 minute ferry ride from the mainland.
More island.

The other end of the island - closest to the mainland.

This is red rock. Coochiemudlo is a local aboriginal work for red rock. Most of the island is made up of this and it gets every where!
Sun on the water. Taken from the ferry.

A flower and a staghorn I encountered on my walk down the hill to the ferry.

I Love Chain Piecing!

It makes sewing a large number of blocks so much easier! Today I made 48 of these:
in about 2.5 hours chain piecing.

On the left if a pile to be sewn together, behind the machine the pile already done! Chain piece the lot, cut the threads between and voila! 48 Disappearing 9 patch blocks which are currently being sewn together to form the back of Luke's frog quilt! If you click on that link, you will realise I finished the top over 12 months ago. My poor boy - he has been so patient. I promise no other sewing until this is finished!

A Photo a Day in August - 3

These shells live in our bathroom. They have been collected from Coochie beaches as well as Stradbroke. I've cropped the picture to hide the bottle of mouth wash behing the sink! *blush*

Currrently Reading...

The Slap by Christos Tsiolkas

I've started a book group with some friends. Actually, it's more an excuse to get together once a month, have a few drinks and a chat! This however is our first book.

A Photo a Day in August - 2

Water fern in our pond. This fern is amazingly soft.

A Photo a Day in August - 1

I followed a link from Tinniegirl to The Byron Life where Megan is hosting A Photo a Day in August. I followed it thinking "Yeah, maybe, it might get me into blogging regularly again." Then I saw Megan's photo. A little girl, on a swing, wearing a butterfly jumper with sand, trees and water in the background. Kira loves swings, owns the exact same jumper and while not exactly like Coochie, the background was close enough I took the whole thing as a sign and decided to join.

So, what to photograph today? I cleaned upstairs today and afterwards finally took photos to put up on facebook for everyone to admire my new house! Nothing really worth posting here, but then I went into Kira's room and she was sitting at her desk drawing. Perfect.
Now, I am by no means a great photographer, but I like this. The desk she is sitting up use to belong to Leigh's mother. When they were up here to help us move, they bought it with them and Nanny painted it pink, just for Kira. It fits perfectly under her window and she loves sitting there and colouring. It happens at least once a day. The lid of the desk lifts up, storing all her pencils and papers. I'm hoping she inherits her great grandmother's artistic talents.