10 consecutive bad hair days .... and loving it!

'Bula' from beautiful Fiji!

We got back on Sunday night from a 10 day family holiday / honeymoon.

I am still rather jet-lagged and I'm writing this at 5am Melbourne time so I might just let the pictures do the talking .....  (Click on the mosaics to see more detail)

We spent some quality time together as a family:

Met some wonderful people:

And encountered some incredible wildlife:

Apologies to anyone who has been expecting emails from me in the past couple of weeks. I've been otherwise engaged.

Back to crafting very soon .... promise!!

Andi :-)

Boyish

The Hebrew writing says 'Naphtali' which is the name of a brand new baby boy.

Andi :-)

School holiday crafting

Tie-dyed t-shirts.
Thought the kids might enjoy getting involved ....

First, tie up your nice clean white t-shirts.
(The kids actually helped with this bit)

Dip half into the dye colour of choice

Give a bit of a stir every now and then

Once dyed, dip the other half in a second colour.

Admire the results

Untie those ties. (Not easy to do!!)

With a bit of help from Mum and Rosie

Soak in a salt bath

Hang on the line

Happy little people

Andi :-)

A post of belated 'thank you's

I have been so very lucky in recent weeks and have neglected to share my luck in this forum.

So here are some of (but not all of) the lovely items I have received of late ........

Last year I won a competition over at Wendy's. There were 2 items on offer and I won the Christmas bag.
A couple of months later, Wendy was ready to send me my prize when she realised that, being a Jewish sort of a person, I might not actually want a Christmassy sort of a bag so .... knowing I am collecting scraps for a scrappy quilt .... she thoughtfully send me a selection of gorgeous scraps instead. Including lots of lovely Wonderland fabric which I adore.
Thanks so much Wendy.

More recently, I won some more scrappy pieces over at Sheridan's place.
Yes, those ARE Heather Ross camper-vans and gnomes you can see in that photo.
Thank you so much Sheridan. These will also make a stunning addition to my new quilt.

And lastly (for today), Tanya gave me one of her highly coveted 'T is for towel' tea towels in exchange for a book that I KNEW had to belong on her bookshelf.

She also included this extra tea towel which I absolutely adore.
Thanks Tanya. How good is the blogosphere!!!!

Well, that's all for now although I have plenty more treats to show you in the coming days.

Until then ....

Andi :-)

Seven things x 2

A couple of weeks ago Andrea kindly nominated me for a Kreativ Blogger Award.

I've had so much on my plate lately that I have neglected to thank her and to follow up with a post about the award.......

Until today when Kathryn nominated me for the same blogging award.

Feeling the love people!! Thank you both for thinking of me!

The way this works is that I now tell you 7 things about me that you didn't already know ... then pass the award on to 7 other lovely bloggers.

So here goes:

1. I can speak fluent(ish) Hebrew which doesn't sound too useful outside of Israel but take me to any synagogue in the world and I can make myself understood!!

2. Before I started up my crafty business, my "day job" was working as an Occupational Therapist in public mental health services.

3. Two and a half years ago I had gastric banding surgery. I spent eighteen months researching the surgery and making the decision to go ahead. Best decision I ever made. I have my life back and can look forward to a normal life expectancy. (Also, I have an entirely new wardrobe to play in!!)

4. I'm a big Monty Python fan and can pretty much recite the "Holy Grail" movie by heart.

5. I think becoming a mother for the first time was simultaneously the most wonderful and the hardest thing I have ever done in my life.

6. My father is a survivor of the Nazi concentration camps. Nuff said.

7. I am in the midst of a kitchen renovation. Soon I will be able to show you glorious photos of my new patchwork kitchen!! Yes, that's right .... a patchwork kitchen!! My husband is so very understanding.

I now pass this award on to:
Mary, Jo, Jen, Abbe, Cathy, Cindy and Tania

Andi :-)

Oh Beehive!!!

Some new blocks for my virtual quilting bee, The Beehive.

For Katrina who sent mainly Amy Butler 'Love' fabrics and requested mega star blocks a-la Red Pepper Quilts.

The first step in making these is to make a bunch of half-square triangles.
I didn't trust myself enough with the suggested size so I made bigger ones that I then had to trim back.

I really should have trusted myself.

Katrina's month was March but my fabrics didn't arrive until last week due to postal stuff-ups.
Don't you just hate that!!!

This was a really fiddly block to make and I have a new found respect (as if I didn't have one already!!) for the likes of Rita who can make an entire quilt's worth of these blocks. Exhausting!!!

April is Tanya's month.

She sent out fabrics in a red, green, grey and white palette and requested lots of circles!!

Here's what I've done:

This one (above) measures 12.5 inches square.

The next 2 are 6.5 inches square each.

Feels good to be up to date.

I think I'm a one-bee-at-a-time kind of girl.

How do people keep up with multiple bees and still have time for other crafting?

Andi :-)

PS I'm playing with my blog layout. Feedback?

Look at me!!!

The lovely Amy (who initiated and has been running the Blogger's Online Quilt Festival for the past couple of years) has a regular spot where she features one of the bloggers from the festival so we can 'get to know' them a bit better.

This week it's my turn. Go check it out!!

Thanks again Amy!!

Andi :-)