Hello again!!!

Hello there, 
that was indeed a longer absence than I anticipated. I have been well, and a lot has happened since I was last here in Blogland. 
I have retired from work, well semi retired, maybe, maybe not.

One of my children has flown the nest. maybe, maybe not...it has been almost a year....and my husband took a generous redundancy and has definitely retired!! And that was only a month ago.

I was so exhausted after leaving my job that I could not even think about sitting at the computer, I didn't want to do anything that felt work related, I was burnt out. It took me three months to stop thinking about my previous responsibilities. When you run a one woman office and you have been fully responsible for everything for 12 years or so, it takes a while to feel that you finally can take the burden off your shoulders and breath.
I never knew that life could be so free. 

I have been reading blogs and following Instagram, I have been soaking in the creativity that is out there but letting it wash over me, taking instead of giving, allowing others to speak and just listening and nodding. Now I feel that I have a little to say again.

 

This is a very special gift that I made for my "boss". 
For the last 12 years of my working life my "boss" happened to be a priest, a lovely scholarly man who had been a wise and caring person in my life. 

Being Catholic I referred to him as "Father" (the correct formal title) he wasn't fussed about this formality and often said I could just call him by his christian name. He never wore a priest's collar and if you passed him in the street you would not see him as a man of religion, however his gentle calm nature and well chosen wise words did mark him as someone who deserved the title of Father.

I had not been bought up in a religious household, my parents being very anti religion, but I married into a family that was, and being closer to my married family I chose to open my mind and learn.

I can now see and say how lucky I was to learn so much from my previous job and my "boss". I learnt how judgements rebound and land back on your shoulders. I learnt that we are all just trying to make sense of this life and we all suffer as humans. I learnt that all faiths stem from the same desire to learn and relate. I learnt that mankind has and will continue to twist and corrupt anything in order to gain power over others. I learnt not to blame religion for the wrongs but use faith to overcome, I met so many wonderful genuine old and wise people through my work. They were human too, some loved a bit of gossip, some were strict rule followers, protocol being very important, some were mean, so many more generous but they all tried in their human way to come together in the church and celebrate life.

And that was the short version of what I am trying to convey in this quilt. I was madly trying to think of what design would be suitable for such a person. I was at one of the many Quilt Fairs that I attend and was flicking through Material Obsession's latest book by Kathy Doughty "Adding Layers"......and laaaaaaaa.(cue heavenly choir music) there IT WAS. The most PERFECT design for what I could make.

I tweaked it a little...as I thought red velvet would make the most perfect heart centre. I tracked down the Madonna fabric online, and I went into quilt shops asking for "shepherdy" fabric....you know like the robes we put together for Christmas pageants. I was so vague in my description, I knew what I wanted just could not describe it well. However some quilt shops know their stock very well and I found the fabric for the spokes that spoke to me of "shepherds".
 

I then thought that like sun rays through clouds..( we refer to them as Jesus rays) the spokes should be varied in length. The background in the original design was patterned and I was going to go down that path but then on the design wall the solid red just spoke to me of regal majestic tones, so I went with that. 
Appliqueing the heart was tricky and I hand quilted with perle cotton, and machine quilted rays coming out from the  heart centre to accentuate the spokes.

I was very pleased to have found what I thought was the perfect quilt for a priest. He was extremely impressed and I had to explain that it really was not as intricate as he thought.....but I did let him know it does take some time to throw together such a thing. 



The pictures were hastily taken on a very sunny day as I had a short time to finish and present the quilt before I left. So quality of photos are not the best.

Its been lovely to get back on the blog.

 

Feeling a bit cranky pants....

I will warn you now if you don't want to hear my cranky attitude then look away.  I have been having a C.C.M....a crap craft moment...and I am just cranky with it! 

In the spirit of keeping "it real" (whatever "it" is) I am going to share the moments when I loose it a little...(whatever "it" is) 

I am usually a stoic woman, to those whom I don't know that well. You know when people ask "How are you?" the polite reply..."Yeah, good thanks"......I mean we ask but do we really want to know? Do we want to stay and listen to the everyday aches and pains and ups and downs or do we then reply..."How are things with you?"......and really don't want to know, just being polite!

But there are those people in your life that will just listen, not try and fix you but accept that TODAY you are cranky...for whatever reason, real or imagined. My husband (bless him and I mean that sincerely) has learned that I will have days where I am not always pleasant and he still loves me. We all have those days when all the plans and anticipation of a long running project just don't come to fruition and out comes Mrs Cranky

 Take this little sucker......stitch after stitch I plowed on, I was making me a handbag and I really wanted to wear it ASAP.
I blocked that baby, waited days to see her dry and could not wait to stitch her up.
Well THAT didn't work well at all.....sure she looks straight there but meet her twisted sister

 Note the angle of the handles in relation to the bag side.

 And heres another torturous angle. I sewed her up and she wanted to twist the night away in her own direction. I tried everything to make her follow the right path but NOOOOOO! so I muttered and cursed and was ready to put her 

1. in the time out drawer
2. in the bin
3. send her to a professional straightener
4. forget the whole thing

Her partners in crime.....what a hot mess!
Instead I then uttered the "F" word......FOCUS....(why what did you think I was going to say?)
I breathed a deep breathe and said to myself, "self "I said  "pull yourself together, you going to let a little itty bitty piece of stitching bring you down?" "Yes!" I snivelled, "she is being mean to me"
And not just her. Look at this!

 There were tension issues with this one, a bit of stuff was ripped out. Hey that sorta felt better....still back to the beginning and try again.....back on track ....feeling betterer.

Piping issues. undo and retry again. Patience poppet. 

Fiddling and playing and don't care what happens here, not a lot of time or money invested. The shoulders are dropping 

 Oh YEAH...the cure to all cranky days.

 And because I don't want you to leave feeling cranky I will pop in these calming sunset images. The beauty of nature. 
Thank you so much for staying to chat even when its not all sweetness and light here. But that what life is all about.

Hello There........Remember me?

Its a new year, its a new day.....
I think there was a song with those lyrics out there somewhere.....over the rainbow...way up high......
Yes I am being a tres bit silly but that I feel is my natural state, it balances the other side of me that can be very dour and serious. 

Well 2015 hey, here we are it seems. My son was watching "Back to the Future" and mentioned that in the 1980's...way back...they programmed 2015 into the delorean ...DeLorane, time car thingy and we were all in flying cars and really futuristic groovy. The more things change the more things stay the same. 
I have been around, but Instagram has ensnared me with its groovyness and I have been hanging out there a lot. There is a quick and easy way to snap and load a photo, whack on a filter and get some instant feedback.....whats not to love! But I still hung around with my blog favourites also, it freed me up so I could pour my craft into witty and pithy comments and I have been making some lovely connections. Thus I feel I can balance the two media platforms..(oh listen to me you would think I knew what I was talking about) and share some perhaps more considered musings, as opposed to the "look at me, look at me" action in that other arena.

 I bought a cutting machine recently. I was in a mad state of mind as I has recently firmed up my semi retirement date.....oh joy of joys. I am leaving a job of 12 years to have a well earned break, travel and then try to work out what direction life takes me.
Anyway I felt that with said cutting machine (that I could afford now but not later) I would be able to whizz up many quick quilts to perhaps sell or just make to save my sanity.....I mean what to do when work no longer fills your mind. And before you all roll your eyes, I know exactly how days are filled! I fell for that trap when I first had a child, I mean I was going to have SO MUCH FREE TIME, I could bake bread, make biscuits, spin wool, weave cloth and sew a wardrobe, I mean I said to myself what does one do with a small child at home ALL DAY.  Lesson well and truly learned.

Cutting machine bought and tested, yet to go into full production but has proved useful so far.

 So I will continue on the flower theme. These are from my garden, they are simple sweet roses.

 The plate something I picked up at an op shop (thrift store) and also loved its sweet simple art. In fact I have a thing for plates as I see them as art. I have a wall full of plates displayed but cannot resist buying more. One day I may live in a house lined with plates.

 So then I started trying to capture the full beauty of the rose. I am always drawn to the macro world in photography

Its a challenge to get the light and composition just right.

 A more complex and no less stunning rose

Would you believe these two roses come from the same plant? It starts off as a simple flower and then develops a ruffled overblown bloom.

Another plate and another flower.

This is from my gone to seed parsley plant. I cannot seem to stop the flowers forming in the heat of summer so I have just let it go for now.

 They are quite delicate as you draw closer. Hmm are they ants in there?

 Yes, they are ants!  I have a great macro lens and I am not afraid to use it. And for Christmas I received a tripod so now I can hold a steady shot.

 Not a flower, not a rose but who said succulents didn't have a charm all of their own. Not me.

Its been nice to catch up......and if you want to catch me on Instagram...I am susanc269. 
Till we meet again......dont know where.....dont know when, but I know we'll meet again some sunny daaaaaaaayyyyy

My new hobby.....

Oh dear, it seems I have may have been infected lately, not by any nasty virus I hasten to add.......was a tad poorly last week as in feeling listless. All good now. But by the crochet thing. Seriously I thought I was stuck on stitching with thread and needle. Quilting being the main passion. 

But no it seems that after mastering a granny square, I see them everywhere and I LIKE them. Then I saw all those cute amigurumi and I thought I would not understand those patterns.

Well be prepared to have your little world rocked because I did a small project from Mollie Makes and my skills are going up a notch. mind you only if its in DC and SC and not too much increasing and decreasing.

 

 Loooook, see what I have did there!
This was an adorable pattern from Mollie Makes and it was easy.
I put it on my instagram and got 19 likes...I KNOW  19!!!! 
It was basically a circle as the base and then up the sides. Then two ears which are sewn on.
Not bad for this beginner. I now want to increase my repertoire and make a larger basket, because I love baskets.

Then I noticed this little blanket tossed on a pile in my local opshop, I didn't grab it straight away as it was falling apart and unravelling. I certainly didn't need another project on my list but the price was only $4.00. I slept on it and the next day it was still there, so I grabbed it then. I planned to make a few cushions from the squares. By carefully unpicking and redoing, this was the result.

Having some fun with filters on picmonkey, little distracting at times, tell me if you approve or not.

So as I was saying. chopped out some squares by carefully unpicking and this was the happy result.

Magnificently modelled by Maxi the chihuahua, in his normal position on my daughters bed. I have now completed two cushions and had quite a bit left of the blanket. My plan now is to sew them into a square and crochet a new border to increase the size and for $4.00 and some spare time I have fashioned two cushions and a throw rug. Well, yes there is the cost of cushion inserts and a few balls of yarn but still I will have these items done quickly because someone spent most of the time crocheting this neglected little throw to start.

Love the little gems one can find, one mans trash.......you know the rest.

I um had to stop when this huge butterfly was attracted to this huge gerbera.............see told you I was distracted by the photo shopping one can do these days

Also waiting to read this book recommended to me by Denice from

Denice's day. I was taken by some of the books she has reviewed as well as the fact she is a interesting person with a chatty blog.

Hello Denice!

Then I decided I had better start chopping up my summer wardrobe.

 Dress done!

 I actually had bought this as quilting fabric and luckily as it was on sale I bought a few meters. Enough for my dress YAY. 

A blouse and some linen pants. 

I think they will go well together. So now the hard part is done I hope to make some start on them during the week because there 'aint nothing on the TV to watch so I may use some good productive time to get my projects under control.

This is my current TV watching project, loving it but I MUST get some other things done to a finish....I MUST....

I haven't bought any more projects or fabrics without purpose so that's good, but seriously I am starting to get nervous as I am not finishing too many lately.
And I have a definite to do as a gift for my bosses retirement, that's in July next year but if I don't get a wriggle on...

A Little trip away

Hello again dear readers......I know you are out there because my page count says so.......ahhhh...unless they are all spammers!

My hubby and I took a short break just recently so I dont have much to show in the way of projects but I have got a few snaps of the wonderful city of Hobart to share if you wish to stay around.

We stayed on the waterfront of this wonderful city, which for you overseas visitors is situated on that little island that sits at the bottom of Australia. We have a big boat race that starts from Sydney on Boxing Day and ends here in Hobart whenever all the boats make it safely through Bass Straight and up the Derwent River.

And there are the most beautiful buildings on the waterfront. This was near the hotel and had lovely shops and a cafe which served the most tasty food. We ate there a bit, you could say!

The stones had the most amazing texture.
And whilst my hubby quenched his thirst for the good life I ran around taking arty shots of the walls.......and I am sure the locals see this a lot. 

What do you think? 

Then we took a walk around to a place called Battery Point which still has original settlers cottages perched on a hill with a common green in the centre. Hubby complained the whole way up the hill, but it was so worth the walk for the charming vista. 

Now you lucky people in England and Europe get to see such things possibly on your way to the shops each day. But we here in Australia are young and free....sorry silly national anthem snuck in there. We are young and I am starved for history in architeture compared to the rest of the world.

 The slope was pleasant, and I was pleased to get this shot as I had to snap it quickly in case his lordship got impatient and walked back down the hill. I make him sound like a dragon but he really just likes to tease me whenever I get enthusiatic about buildings.

 I then couldnt stop snapping away at this house. So pretty, I could really live here.

Have you finished yet?

You can see the mocking grin under that mustache. Can I tell you he has had that mo for as long as we have been together (coming up 30 years thanks for asking) and now they are fashionable he gets a lot of attention from young ladies and men, they are impressed. 

 I was then persuaded to take a senic flight in this flying machine, the worst part was telling them my weight, the rest of the trip a breeze.

You weigh how much?
LOL

Mount Wellington rising up behind the city.

And then I made him walk a lot of streets so I could walk off the morning tea and find a divine little shop called Le Petite Marche

which delivered what it promised in a little vintage.

We had a wonderful time and the camera got a nice time too.

 Even on a dull day, Hobart shone.

The view from the hotel.

 

Yes folks this is a stunning little town and I will return.