Block 6-FQSQAL

Block 6-catherdral windows of fqsqal

This block is called 'cathedral windows' . It goes together so easily, it almost makes itself!  I loved doing this one!  I have top stiched the window in green contrast on the orange. I might do the pieced center on my other block of this . This one is one square as the other is 4 squares stitched together. If you look on konda's blog you will see it. here is my pic it has come out a bit darker than in real life. This is for chey's quilt.  I have yet to do my one and the next one is due tommorrow!

"I'm injured"

On Wednesday evening I burnt my hand . I was cooking chips in a chip pot of oil and it was turned off and pushed to the side but was still in my way and i pushed it and hot oil splashed out the side of the pot and got me!  Boy did that hurt!  I shoved my hand under the cold tap and had it there for about 4 or 5 minutes . Our water is  really cold as it is in  a tank and my hand was getting so cold from the water  i had to take it out...then i put it back .....so painful!  The next morning there was a big blister and i was trying not to bang it but yes... I banged it and popped the blister...It looks sore but is ok now except the centre where the blister  bit is....I will live and won't do that again in hurry!

my "fryed' hand.

On Tuesday my sister Pam and her daughter and grand kids came to NZ to do a surprise afternoon tea for my mum who turned 80 on 13th dec.  We took her to a hall up the rd and had her friends meet us there and try to surprise her.  She got  surprised and really enjoyed herself.  She doesn't really bother to celebrate big '0' birthdays or anything much.  I made the cake and ended up doing a fruit cake which i have made before...it is actully my christmas cake recipe i make out of the edmonds  cook book. It was nice and moist not dry like i thought it would be as i cooked it in the wrong size tin! If i had left it in the oven for the full time i think it would be dry though,  So when i make our one today i think i will make the same size and cut down the time...  In the last year she has had about 6 of her close friends die. So it was a good turnout for her.

this is the cake i made for mum...very plain and simple but very yummy!

I made a beaded bauble and showed everyone and miss Tallulah thought it was pretty enough to hang from her ear lol! I am going to make some more of these hopefully over the xmas break.  There was a drama when i was making this but will tell you about that another time.

Do you like my lovely earring?

 ...don't know if i will be back here till after xmas so I hope everyone has a great xmas .

"I got mail"

my sscs prezzy

Just after I posted my last post I told you I was hoping for my sscs swap  parcel  to arrive ...and it has!  I opened it and this is what was inside...

A lovely wall hanging ,love it thank you kate. It's so cute!   Kate was my swap partner this year SSCS SWAP 2011  organised by Chookyblue. She does such a great job too...thanks Donna.
 I have temporarily pegged  it this hanger but will adjust it so it fits.  It is already up on the wall.  She also made some lovely handstitched name tags with all our names on too i have just got them hanging on the side for now. .."Don't they look great"

a close up of some beautiful stitching.

a lovely wall xmas wall hanging

There is also a small pack of peppermint candy canes for us to nibble on but ii forgot to take a pic. (sorry)  I must get the tree up this weekend so i can put the other prezzy under it.

Block 4 FQSQAL

Last weekend I managed to do one of the blocks in the FQSQAL . This is block 4-quilt 2. I had abit of a problem cutting the squares...i kept reading the instructions wrong and cut the wrong fabrics, not once but two times!. got there in the end. Now i just have to do the same block for chey's quilt....i hope i don't muck stuff  it up !  At least the  current one is an easy one.

block 4-quilt 2

Last weekend I made some hummus, really yummy too.!  Then i was wanting to try out a cake recipe . It is called 'the ultimate chocolate cake from Annabel Laingbine, she has heaps of cook books .  It is a really large cake and you whizz it up in the food processor ...so really quick to mix, then cook in the oven for an hour. I sliced it in two and put strawberry jam in the middle.  It's ok but i thought it lacked chocolate....There is only about a quarter left! the boys have eaten it. Conor came out and had a midnight feast as i found half a piece in the fridge...his eyes were bigger than his belly!...

My piece of chocky cake...it was yummy!  Whoops my pic  has gone sideways ,sorry i don't know how to turn it around.

Then I made a batch of mustard pickle.  It makes quite a few jars and fairly cheap to make too, we love pickle.!  It will make nice gifts to give friends for xmas . I will dress the jars up a bit with some decorated lids and try and get the old label off as it is still on one jar.

my mustard pickle.

I bought a string of solar xmas tree lights so i could hang them in the garden  ..they go quite well ..the pic is not great..but that's just me i'm not good at taking photos but you get the general idea

The solar lights in the tree...it's so dark you can't see the tree!

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Now i am waiting for my SSCS parcel to arrive...it's not here yet.  Maybe tomorrow afternoon it will find me. well I'm off to do some rippling.....but first I shall eat that piece of cake on the plate !! mmmmm !

Little xmas stockings.

6 little stockings!

I have been busy making these cute little xmas stockings.  I follow this blog  where angie has the pattern if you are interested in making any for the little people in your family.  They are really easy to do...if i can do them anyone can. All I need to do now is embellish them with some flowers or buttons or anything you like really. Maybe someone's initial of their name stitched on. Then I will stuff them with some little sweets and toys.

my little xmas stockings.

what a mess this pup makes...she is chewing on henrietta ...she stole from the bin!

yep...the socks fit perfectly!

chippy suits these colours don't you think?

Another block done !

Well I have finished another  of my blocks in the fqsqal from moosequilts.blogspot.com . I am doing 2 quilts so this one is for 'chey's quilt.   He loves penguins so i hope he will like this block.  Now I just have to do  my other block and the next 2 current blocks are also up now so I better get my "a into g" or i will be behind before i know it.  The next block is an easy one ...not so many pieces  in it...yay!   57 pieces in the last one...lots of pieces!
I have also posted off my SSCS  Swap parcel for 2011. will post pics a bit later on of course, (it's a secret)

My fiesta star block 4- chey's quilt

"My cat thinks this is great"

My cat,Hurley, thinks this is nice and cozy to sleep on.  He's my 'golden eyed' boy.  So he is allowed  but the others are not because  they drop fur really bad where  blacky and him  do not seem to.
 It  is hard to get a good pic of this as it is gettng longer by the day  night as I sit and watch some tv while crocheting.  Usually hurley is underneath it on my knee while i am crocheting!  and as for "naughty Norbitt"  - he's not allowed near hurley as he tries to beat him up and he is half his size... he is bit of a bully to him, don't know why? possibly they need the old "snip-snip" lol!

My golden eyed boy nice and cozy here!

Norbitt has a ugly  smug face . We gave him a new look. What do you think?  ha! ha!  Poor Norbitt!

Norbitt with his new look!

I have just figured out why my uploading of pics took so long to do.....someone changed the size of the pics for emailing to really large.. must of been Mr Nobody again,,,,he visits this house quite regularly....Now it works quite quickly... and it's a breeze!

my blanket is still growing ...slowly.

My ripple blanket is growing slowly.    I have now done 76 rows . It will be a single bed size i think.  I like a blanket to be longer than wide....so it covers your toes!

76 rows done!

I went to spotlite on tuesday afternoon and was looking through the bargin bins and found a lovely book with about 6 nice versions of other ripple blankets...so I bought it home with me..only $3.00 . There  is a couple in the book that i might have ago at in the future.....when i get time that is. here is a pic of my blanket so far. (I took this pic in a hurry  so it is not great  ,sorry) I will try one in the daylight , this is a bit dark.

his car

the back view

My pajero died , again.! The turbo blew it's guts!  I had no truck for a week but I got to drive my other half's car he just bought recently. It is so quiet compared to mine as mine is old, and rattly !  I recon we should swap.... I really liked it. It runs totally on LPG ...no petrol  so much cheaper and even better his boss payed for it.  I am on the third turbo at the moment!  this is also the 4th  or 5th windscreen too!  I have lost count.  I have never known a vehicle to go through so many windscreens!!   It seems to chip really easily!  This time we might sell it as soon as he fixes his oil leak in his ute.  His new car is a falcon station wagon.  They were going to wreck it for parts where he works (automotive dismantler)  for 'ford'  parts. It has  had a bump in the bumper and a wee dent near the front, but runs really well.