It's a fish-eat-fish world

We have embarked on our first attempt at pet ownership ...  FISH!!!

After many warnings of impending fish funerals and general kiddie disappointment, I was optimistic as everything started out well.

Until Day 2 ... when Flora (the gold coloured one) started 'bullying' Spotty.
When I say bullying, I mean nipping at him constantly, pushing him into the corner and generally harassing him.

Without telling the kids, I took Flora "the bully" back to the pet shop and replaced her with Flora 2, a much more acceptably behaved fishy who looked remarkably like her predecessor.

In hindsight, maybe Flora 1 was just defending herself from impending doom.

Day 3: Flora 2 has disappeared completely from the tank. I fear she has been EATEN!!!

RIP Flora 2

What to do now?
Do we add another fish to the tank and cross our fingers?
Do we get rid of Spotty "the cannibal" and start fresh with 2 new fish?
Do we abandon this caper altogether?

Fish for dinner anyone?

Andi xx

Respect

A new found respect for folks who make softies

And especially for those who write softie patterns (like you, you, you and you)

People who can imagine turning flat shapes into rounded ones

With a head, a body, a hump and four legs (albeit slightly splayed ones)

Who can help to create this kind of happiness

(Except she doesn't actually get to keep it. The toy is a gift for a camel-mad sixty year old man.)

Not sure I'll be making another one in a hurry. It was rather labour intensive.

But I do know it will be well loved.

Happy Sunday to you.
Andi xx

PS Camel pattern purchased here

Babushka needed a friend

Have a great weekend.

Andi xx

My creative space

... is soft and cuddly

... and smells delicious

Recipe from here with loads of added seeds and grains.

And here's Ella's creative space after a day off from school yesterday

At least she included a little quilt!!

Hope your space is a creative one. More spaces here.

Andi xx

My day with Kaffe and Brandon (and 30 other squealing women!)

Get ready for a long post with LOADS of photos ....

Kaffe and Brandon are in town and I was lucky enough to get into a workshop they ran today at Amitie, the happiest land of them all!

This image above is of the original bordered diamonds quilt from the book Simple Shapes, Spectacular Quilts. It was our focus for the day.

There were so many lovely people there today:

That's me with Jenny, owner of Amitie

Miriam, Me (and my chins) and Cathy

Melissa, Cathy and Me

Blogless Sue and Judy

And so many other awesome women........

..... who brought with them LOADS of delicious fabric:

Lisa was obscenely neat and organized.

We ate well:

And drank well ...

But mainly we worked hard!!
There were design walls everywhere:

Here are some of the wonderful designs that were created today:

Here I am hard at work:

Check out the progression of my design wall:

It eventually became this:

After all the designing (and eating and drinking and singing and laughing and chatting) was done, Kaffe went from design wall to design wall offering insights and lashings of praise and encouragement.

Here he is critiquing my design:

During the day, Kaffe was generally quiet, measured and a bit serious.

The only real 'smiley' shot I got of him was standing in front of Linda's quilt ... my favourite of the day:

Brandon on the other hand ...

What an amazing day!!
Thank you to EVERYONE who made it possible.

Andi xx

What the tuck?

Textured block for Jo for this month's Beehive.

I call it 'organic' pleating.
AKA: I didn't really know what I was doing!!

Hope you are having a stitchy weekend.

Andi x

My creative space

I'm hoping this has a Moroccan feel.

 

What do you think?
 

The back really shows the quilting!!

More spaces over at Madame Koo's. Go check 'em out!

I hope your space is creative today.

Andi xx

Cute t-shirts for a cute little person

Happy birthday little man!

Love,
Andi xx

Celebrating and remembering

Happy birthday Dad!

Nigella's Chocolate Fudge Cake

And the remembering bit ...

3 years ago today, on my Dad's 81st birthday, my brother-in-law John, a beautiful man, passed away from an AIDS related illness. We loved him very much.

He was a big kid at heart who would have loved to lick the bowl!

With love,
Andi xx

A new beginning

Andi xx