AJ's Antics

The tradition of noticing 26 January began early in the nineteenth century with Sydney almanacs referring to First Landing Day or Foundation Day. That was the day in 1788 Captain Arthur Phillip, commander of the First Fleet of eleven convict ships from Great Britain and the first governor of New South Wales, arrived at Sydney Cove. Australia Day . Celebrate what's great. Australia Day, January 26, is the biggest day of celebration in the country and is observed as a public holiday in all states and territories. On Australia Day we come together as a nation to celebrate what's great about Australia and being Australian. It's the day to reflect on what we have achieved and what we can be proud of in our great nation. It's the day for us to re-commit to making Australia an even better place for the future. There are many great things about this country: The people - The life savers on the beach and the farmers in the bush; the larrikins; our sporting heroes, artists and v...

What does this mean you may ask....Has AJ actually finished a quilt?? SHOCK HORROR!! Well no actually it just means that, thanks to the Australian Open Tennis on TV, I have managed to finish the hand sewing on the Wedding quilt of the year...the year 2006 that is!! It is off to a professional to be quilted...no peaks...it needs to be unvailed properly!

In this weird and wacky and sometimes cruel world in which we live there are some bright and shinning stars....and the online quilting friends I have would have to be some of the brightest...just when life had really got me down some beautiful flowers arrive at the door, bringing with them the sweetest smell, the warmest wishes and a gererous sprinkling of baby dust. Thank you ladies for your wonderful support it is very much appreciated! And a special thank you to Helen....who I know would have orgazinsed it!! ooxx

A fun game of "see who has got the biggest mess"...Taken from Helen's blog, who got it from Kylie who got it from Sister's Choice Quilts ....This isn't at its worst...in fact it is not that bad!! Can you find these 15 things?? 1. A beautiful drawing by the lovely Grace 2. A Christmas pen with a furry top 3. A Quilting Journal full of ideas 4. Cut out pieces of a mystery quilt 5. A pin cushion 6. A box full of ribbons 7. A lamp 8. A pink box full of hexagons 9. Squares of Christmas fabric from a swap. 10. Sewing machine 11. Upside down foot pedal for machine 12. A pile of dress fabric ready for sewing 13. Knitting rolled up and held with the needles 14. A finished quilt top ready for sandwiching...there are actually 3 15. A beautiful wall hanging done by the lovely Helen!!

Bear with me as I attempt to give you instructions for a mystery quilt...I like the idea of a mystery quilt but can never bring myself to make them as I want to make sure I like the quilt before I put time and effort into it! So I designed and made a mystery quilt of my own. I have given two examples of fabric here and here . Any feature print will work well as the squares of this fabric are fairly large (6.5"). You can fussy cut them to get the best out of the fabric but you may need more fabric than instructed. Cutting instructions include seam allowances. I will be giving all the cutting instructions together. I used snap lock bags to store the pieces labeled with letters. Instructions are for rotary cutting and machine piecing. I will include pictures and diagram where needed. If something doesn't make sense please leave a comment on my blog and I will fix the problem or explain what I mean a little more. FINISHED QUILT SIZE = 54" square (135cms) Fabric Requirements ...

FABRIC 1 A feature print....I fussy cut these out of two FQ's that I had. FABRIC 2 A light tone-on-tone print...this one is bright but it works well with the feature print FABRIC 3 A medium toned small scale print FABRIC 4 A dark tone-on-tone fabric Another fabric sample canbe found here

Flashback Friday sounds better...but I was busy so this will have to do...Visiting Mum over the holidays and getting ready to make her an album for her 50th, I found more great photos...will post some older ones soon, not of me...but these are my Pixie Photos taken at 6 months, and with my brother ages 23 months.

These 5 quilts went from FQ's on Saturday to Quilt tops on Thursday...so 5 quilts in 6 days....not too bad...I am so loving pink right now....strange cause I've never really been a pink person...

Measures 40" x 40"

Measure 30" x 40" The butterfiles aren't quiet finished yet...I have to add the body and feelers...but you get the idea. I hope this one will be going to a cyber friend...if she has a girl that is...Can you guess who it is??

Measures 30" x 40" I quiet like this one...simple but effective

Doll Quilt Made from Scraps....Measuring 13" x 16".......I have heaps left enough for about 4 more doll quilts I think...I just have to get creative with the half-square-triangles....hummmm thinking thinking!!

So after three weeks holiday and rain fall of 407 mm over 11 days in January alone...the grass sure did grow... Thank you to my wonderful DH who takes such great care of our gardens....saves me doing it!!

Dear Grandma Thanks for the treats you sent us for Christmas. They were delicious!! We chowed down on them straight way. I especially liked the quail egg in my chicken, which I put on the floor to eat it properly. And I like the big box of biscuits,so that I get one everyday. Thanks Grandma Love Jester and Nikita

It took over half an hour to open all the mail...most of which was wet...but I did get some good things inluding two quilting magazines (subscripions), some quilting instructions, for a mystery quilt, from the lovely Sandi and a package from the FQ Shop...25 FQ's in lovely pinks...and instructions for 4 baby quilts... and some Charm squares in the 'A Little Romance' range by Moda....yum!!

After a long three weeks visiting family and friends we have arrived back home safely!! We travelled 3762 kilometres, at an average speed of 76 km/hour. We used 266 litres of fuel, with an aveage of 7.1 litres/100km. With only 3 sunny days out of 23 it can make it harder to enjoy the Sun shine Coast, but we did. Trip Highlights include.... Cruising Noosa River in the rain!! Yep we decided to go ahead with our plans of hiring a boat even though the weather was lousy...and we had fun putting up the river, the boat was so slow and I even had a turn of driving and then we anchored for a picnic...we had planned to go a shore but we open the esky on the boat as the rain continued to pour! There were a few family dinners and get-togethers...We had dinner at an Indian restraunt followed by present opening at Mum's Kaicee is almost 7 months pregnant in this photo Mum's dog in her fishing hat...silly I know....poor dog! We got a lovely haul of Christmas presents for the kitchen and sewin...