Stashbusting, frogs and a definative moment.

I really thought I was a successful stashbuster. But I find out I need to work more on this principle. I am doing well at low buying ( not quite NO yet) and I am working on the UFOs - these things are all positives but letting go is a difficult thing.

How did I get to this discovery? Well, Colly needed new sheets for rest time at school. We had perfectly good sheets which have been used over the years but they are for small stretcher beds and now they are using mattresses (a bit like yoga mattresses). They are longer and less wide so I though I would just adjust by putting a fancy strip on the top and cutting the sides down. So Colly and I go to investigate the stash...... and found a frog fabric that he wanted. I showed him how I would put the strip at the top. This was not an option in his opinion - he wanted the whole sheet made out of the frog fabric!

Now this where I started to hyperventilate - and where I realised that I have a problem. I didn't have anything planned for this fabric but I still didn't want to let it go. Then it hit me, Colly will use this fabric five days a week for the rest of the year, if I left it in my cupboard it would still be there at the end of the year. So I gave myself a strict talking to and agreed to do it. Maybe this is my first step on controlling my stash, and getting my priorities right.

And here's the end result...

P.S. I still have a little bit left so I can put in in a scrap quilt some day.

The Birthday Week...

Well, on Valentine's Day I turned 50. And it didn't hurt one bit.... Here I am blowing out the candles on my white chocolate mud cake. The following day we went away for a few days which is why I am only catching up with this now. And while we were away we went to Underwater World and I did what all adventurous 50 year olds should do - I got kissed by a seal. I did actually get a photo of the seal ( whose name was Oscar by the way) kissing me but I don't have a scanner on this computer so this will have to do.

( And in case you are wondering about the T-shirt - it is a band shirt. Great band!)

And I even got some quilty gifts which I will share over the next few days. Thanks to everyone who sent me wishes for my birthday too. Hugs.

Six weird things about me

Thanks (I think) to Pam for tagging me for this.

I don’t think that I am weird at all but…

I really don’t like strawberries. I don’t know why, I just don’t like the smell or the taste.

Eeeewwww warning – I can touch my nose with my tongue, but don’t ask for photos. And no, I don’t do imitations of Kiss members.

I asked my daughter about this – she said the weird thing about me was that I was old. (for a mother I think she means )Thanks kid.

I drink tea. It should be made in a pot and preferably from Indian leaves - none of those teabags for me. I have almost given up drinking tea when I go out as even cafes etc use tea bags. In fact there is a family joke that this is the reason my husband and I got together. He said to me something like – we could go out for coffee some time. (What a pickup line!!!) I replied that I drank tea made in a teapot and rarely drank coffee. That is also the way he feels about tea and so that was the moment that he knew I was the one for him. Romantic aren’t we? We still share a pot of tea at least three times a day – breakfast, afternoon tea and after dinner.

My 14 year old son just told me I have a weird taste in movies – but couldn’t explain why. I wonder if it has something to do with the fact that I think any movie with Owen Wilson in is not even worth considering. And my favourite movie of all time is The Seven Samurai.

And I know I am not alone in this one – and so it probably isn’t really that weird. I am much, much better at starting things than finishing them. This probably explains why I have so many Works in Progress.

Photograph courtesy of Colly, taken Christmas Day 2006. I also have lots of photos of windows, television aerials,and odd unattached body parts which were taken at the same time.He loves the camera - you can tell, can't you?

First Day of School

There has been a change in the school system this year in our state ( Queensland). Preschool has gone and in its place is prep. The starting age has been raised also by 6 months - the idea is that children will now need to be at least five and a half years old when they start in Year One. What it also means is that Colly has started school ( prep). Here he is on his first day last week - he had tried to give himself a haircut which is why there is a gap at the front. I gave him a better one that afternoon. There is a big smile in this photo but we did leave him screaming at school, knowing very well that a minute after we left he would be alright, and he was. I thought that I would have a lovely week sewing - well, there was the mending..... but I ended up trying to catch up on all the things that I hadn't done while the children were on holidays. I keep dreaming....

On the 14th of this month ( a Valentine's baby) I turn the grand old age of 50. I really don't see this as a milestone or anything to bother about - I know I'm too bah humbug! But I don't feel 50 - after all I am the mother of a 4 year old. ( and yes, I have been described as Colly's grandmother by people who don't know and look at my grey hair etc.) I have mixed feelings about this birthday - probably because other people are placing a bigger importance on it than I am. But I won't say no to being spoiled for a few hours, and I'll keep my fingers crossed for some quilty gifts - even if I have to buy them myself.